Hi guys
my friends opened a game room in a library and asked me to create some one-shot adventures to let players play pathfinder and learn what a role-playing game is.
The range of players at the table will be various and always different i think, so that's what i think about:
Idea 1 or "The standard one" for every player (most newbie): In the first session i present with a lot of different pre-gen characters, created with the 20 point standard creation system. In the first half-hour i'll explain the bases of the game and i will probably print a resume of the most important rules attacked to every character's sheet. We start from 1-2 level and we play a one-shot adventure with a super fast xp rating level. If we play from 21.00 pm to 3-4 am (with a pause in the middle) i think it could be interesting gaining 3-4 levels.. for newbie players i can print some "suggestion feats" to choose level by level a based on the character concept. This idea is a sort of group that play in this game room one time every 2 weeks (or 1 month).. If people like this I can continue with the story to let them at high level in 4-5 game session.. Obviously people can change and i'm sure about that.
Idea 2 or "Funny Games" (lol): This is my favourite, but it's only for experienced characters. I put an advice in gameroom for a one-shot session speaking about the title of this session and some explanation like a published adventure.. for example (under a big image of a castle at the top of a mountain that watch a dark cold land) "Enter the realms of the Winter Witch and help the citizens of -place name- to rescue their land" and a little explanation of the adventure like "The lady know as winter witch (it's not the real idea it's an exmaple) has mastered the practise of the Dark Cold Ice and starts creating strange undeads infused with a dark cold power...
(experienced player can now create their characters for this session with the knowledge that they could meet undeads, probably cold resistence and so on...)
One-shot adventure for characters of - level decided -.
Rules:
- You can Use material from (material/books list)
- Characters restrictions: Type of characters allowed (single class - which archetypes - PC allowed or not and so on - alignment - traits etc)
- starting wealth and rules to buy them (the use of item creation feats.. the magic level in the adventure..)
- Send your character to my email.. (i want verify all the pcs and i probably need some time if the level of the adventure is high)
Any suggestion?? what do u think about these?? For the first idea i'm a bit relaxed cause it is a sort of "long term group with a fast leveling". I choose this one cause i think this like a film divided in 4-5 sessions to let the player become a hero inside the big story.. more for kids probably..
I like the second one but i'm not experienced in one night session..so plz any suggestion about everything is GOLD :)
Dealing with new players of unknown rpg experience? Why not start out with the Begginner Box. It does most of that for you and it does it in a fabulously well designed visual way that is easy to grasp, and even has a quick introductory adventure built in. Make that your first session and then decide based on how they do how you are going to proceed.
I second the idea of the Beginner Box for those completely new to the game. It is also pretty easy on you.
As soon as they play just a little bit and get the basic concept down, you could probably switch to the CRB. Oddly enough, I've heard some groups of non-hardcore RPGers are choosing to stay with just the Beginner Box and having a blast with it. More power to them.
For the more experienced players looking for one-shots not a campaign, I would seriously consider just starting a small PFS group and running that. Then the players can use their characters some where else if the mood strikes. The adventures are already written for you and the few I've read so far are pretty easy to run for the GM.
