Going to start running a game soon as a side game for our regular D&D group and am looking for some ideas. My game will be irregular, with varying number of players and no core group, so I am going to be running one-shots when people need some mid-week RPG fix. (I will be pulling from EotE, AoR, and F&D, but trying to focus on more EotE and AoR)
So, what are some of your favorite one shots you have run?
Ideas?
Anything goes!
Hello
I run several one-shots during the past two years for EotE (with characters from AoR). I had a similar set up (no core group and a variable number of characters) since I was running a West Marches/Open table style of game.
All the adventures were tailored to the PCs Motivation and Obligation since I knew the PC roster in advance (sort of).
My honest advice? Work with the Players and take note of the PCs motivation and obligations. Ask them what they want to see. Try to encourage related obligations (like a shared debt or a common enemy). Keep dose notes updated, and use it for your adventures.
When you know who is going to play, you will have a pretty good idea of what to run in that one shot. In a 3 hour slot, you could play 2 big "encounters" (fight, chase, negotiation, aggressive negotiations, etc.)
Since you have an irregular group, beware of the following:
1) You can't roll obligation in advance unless the PCs doesn't have an issue with you rolling before (probably using D1C3 to keep records)
2) Use a set additional obligation for XP and credits at the moment of creating the PCs. Depending on the number of players, over 6 players a 100 of group obligation is easy to reach.
I've run a few one-shots for Edge.
One Night on Far Station - Set on a once-powerful space station now fallen on hard times. A young princess has gone missing the day before her coronation. As the characters investigate (at the behest of the station warden) they encounter a spice gang, mining union thugs, corrupt cops, and a brothel run by a Zygerian slaver.
Escape From Olonet - Set in a trading post/smugglers' port. A deal gone bad has lead to the players' ship being impounded by a local Hutt crime lord. A rival gang, a retired slicer-turned nerf herder, and a couple of desperate bounty hunters with their own agenda are potential allies. Can the players skipjack their own ship?
A Treasure in the Dark - Set in a four thousand year-old nebula. The players, investigating a lead bought from a drunken Toydarian junk trader, discover an ancient space battle frozen in time. The crews of the Old Republic and Sith ships died instantly when a nearby star went nova, though the vessels were largely undamaged. Now the ships are infested with dangerous nebula dwelling space creatures, and an even more frightening evil lays dormant in a cryogenic chamber on the Sith battleship.
I'll echo the advise @Rithuan said and just do what your group would want to do.
And with that, here's a one-shot I ran a while back:
I called "Appreciation of the Arts", and designed it to be a funny art heist we could all laugh about. The party sees an ad for an "Art Appreciation Tour of the Outer Rim" that is very overtly a contract to come help an overconfident and mildly arrogant (but rather incompetent) Rodian steal some valuable artwork off of a bulk transport ship. I ran it with my group of 4 and they had a blast: just break into the ship, disable some security measures, steal some art, then hold the line while the art is being loaded!
A more to the point one shot idea:
The Hyperlane job: The PCs are contracted by a Hutt to steal the precious cargo from a famous criminal lord: an assault (or skill robbery) to a freighter mid-flight in hyperspace. He will provide a detail hyperspace route and time. Are the PCs up to this dangerous task?
A twist?: the precious cargo is... (roll Obligation + add motivation from another PC)
Any of the Beginner Games are tremendous, but "The Corelliean Shuffle" from SONS OF FORTUNE is actually a pretty great one-night adventure.
If you manage to find it, Rescue at Glare Peak was fun for a sleeper cell of Rebels.