Kasper Brohus Allerslev recently made a cool post talking about prep and premises for one shot adventures. Premises are a great way to help the players know what the game’s going to be about and make suitable characters. It also sets a goal to direct play towards, making it more possible for you to wrap up an adventure in one session.
So let’s have a thread with some cool premises for starting in media res and establishing what your one shot is going to be about.
You’ve managed to sneak into the forbidden temple unnoticed, past the cultists and creatures that make it home. You’ve stolen the unholy artifact, and the alarm has sounded! now you have to fight your way out!
ask at least one of these questions, then start playing!
-What did you sneak in to steal?
-Why are you stealing the Artifact?
-What do the cultists worship, and how is it linked to the artifact?
-What else makes the Forbidden Temple home?
You have caught Briston, a human mobster, and you are currently holding him in his angle… out from the top of the Spire of Contemplation in Vayurill, the City of Mists.
Ask at least one of the following questions, then start playing!
– What gang is he a part of, and why are you seeking them out?
– What did he steal from the Hundred-Handed that you have to get back?
– Who does he know that you have vowed to kill, and why?
You stand at the edge of the cursed forest of Grimwood as the sun sets. You would wait until morning, but time is running out. You need to enter the forest, find and save someone before midnight, and then try to escape before dawn traps you in the forest forever.
Ask at least one of the following questions, and start playing!
-How was the Forest originally cursed?
-Who have you been sent to rescue?
-What nightmares are said to stalk the Forest?
-What makes the trees and plants of the Forest so strange?
Both great examples guys… setting brain to simmer, hope to come back with something equally inspiring.
The Countess’ ball is in full swing, and you almost had the information you needed, when exactly the wrong person makes their grand entrance. This is going to get complicated – messed up ballgowns and explosions complicated!
Ask at least one of the following questions, and start playing!
-Who just walked in, and what trouble will they cause?
-How did you reprobates manage to get invited to the Countess’ ball, anyway?
-What information were you trying to learn?
-Who here can you absolutely not afford to offend?
-Who here do you need to keep alive?
You’re on a boat, heading upriver toward the fabled ruins of the City of the Dead. Explorers have searched for it for decades, and most think it’s a myth, but you know better.
Each player should answer one of the following, in any order.
– What legendary artifact is said to rest in the City of the Dead, and why is it so important to you?
– What brought to the City of the Dead last time, and who else got out alive?
– Where did you find that map to the City of the Dead, and what other seemingly useless trinket did you find with it?
– How did you convince the others to let you come on this expidition, particularly with a promise of three shares?
Once the questions have been answered, ask where each character is on the boat. Then pick one character to notice the wet handrail and watery footprints… looks like a number of someone’s just got on board this boat!
(Yes, stolen shamelessly from The Mummy.)
You all stand back-to-back in the dirty, stinking alley. Jenny Six-finger stands hunched behind the mob of thigs, low-lifes, and thieves that surround you, clutching at her bleeding side. She’s screaming at her gang to gut the lot of you.
Ask at least one of the following questions, and then start playing!
-What deal just went sour?
-Who injured Jenny?
-Why did the deal fall apart?
-Who here is the double-crosser?
The storm is ferocious, a raging tempest. Waves rock and assault your little ship, flooding the deck and knocking you and the crew off your feet. You think some of the crew have been washed overboard – or have they been grabbed by the strange shadowy shapes that are occasionally illuminated by the flashing lightning?
Ask at least one of the following questions, then start playing!
-What monstrous thing did you catch glimpses of in the flashes of lightning?
-What dangerous cargo are you transporting?
-What happened to the Captain?
-What vital thing or person has been washed overboard?
Freaking SUB
The roar of the crowd is muted to a dull thrumming in the stone around you and the sand underneath you, making the great brass doors before you shudder. You have one last chance to check your armor before the doors swing open, and the crowd cheers and bays for blood – your blood. You step out into the large arena, the smell of sand and sawdust and sweat and blood filling your nostrils. the coliseum shudders from the sound of the crowd as you stride out, facing the covered balcony where those in power sit. Today, you live or die by your blades and your wits.
Ask at least one of these questions, then start playing!
-What got each of you arrested or sentenced to fight in the Arena?
-Who sits in the sheltered Balcony, presiding over the bloodsports?
-Who, or what do you face in the arena?
-What makes the Arena itself dangerous?
-Who in the crowd secretly supports you?
/
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One I used to launch an entire campaign:
You’re on a rope hanging on the side of a stone wall. 10 Meters above you there is a window. 20 Meters below you are rocks being battered by huge waves.
☆What building is the stone wall?
☆Why are you there?
☆Are you coming or going?
☆Why is there a dragon breathing fire on you as he flies by?
+Adrian Thoen It is the bard that got washed over board, naturally. The bard always dies.
Or has his soul sold to the devil accidentally.
You are prone in a field in the blazing sun, trying your best not to be seen. Dead bodies are strewn around you. An explosion twenty metres away sprays you with rocks and dirt. The smell of gunpowder and blood stings your nose.
A filthy little goblin runs by, cackling to himself as he starts looting the corpse of your best friend.
☆Who are the two armies destroying each other on the battlefield around you?
☆You are not soldiers. What are you doing there?
Wynand Louw Nah, the bard always lives. After all, who will write and sing the ballads of our heroes’ adventures if he dies???
Sub