I'm wondering if there is a demand for one shot adventures.

I've been writing adventures for conventions, play testing them there, adjusting, and publishing on DriveThru RPG. So far I've stuck to fantasy, but I'm currently putting something together that takes place in the modern era - characters are thru hikers on a remote part of the Appalachian Trail - of course something goes wrong - opens with a murder scene.

It uses my own rules lightish d20 system, but that system, although well play tested, is not in a format that is ready for publishing.

1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

Thanks.

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of available simple systems that are "modern" and under a license that works well with independent publishers.  If you were to go with either classic scifi or cyberpunk it would be a lot easier to recommend systems.

There are some small audience systems that are OSR and Cepheus Engine but you're talking a subset of a subset audience at that point.  D20 Modern is still a thing and under OGL so you could go that route but, again, it's a small audience.  This goes for Open D6 as well.

You could do it as a 5e adventure and just mark it a "A modern adventure for 5e."  It would be up to GMs to figure out how they'd want to alter it or their game to make it work.

Finally, BRP is done under the ORC license now so you could use that.  Based on the last time you brought this up, it sounded like a Call of Cthulhu type adventure so it could be a good fit.  (BRP is the core of COC.)

You could always bite the bullet, find a system you like, and talk to the publisher to see what kind of license agreement they would give you.

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

There's always a place for one shot adventures.  If anything the market is starved for them and decent adventures get bought up quickly.

I wish you luck, your project sounded cool to me the last time we talked.

Don't take candy from strangers or unverified advice from the internet but I hope I helped illuminate things a little.

There seems to be good demand for one shot adventures for Call of Cthulhu.  There are a crapton of them available anyway with more being puslished all the time.  I own quite a few. 

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
It uses my own rules lightish d20 system, but that system, although well play tested, is not in a format that is ready for publishing.

1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

Thanks.

I'm afraid I can't be of much help for #1, although if you wanted wide appeal you could always keep the game concepts close to what's popular: ability scores, HP, some version of Armor Class.

Now for #2, I think a cinematic game would go over well, but it all depends on who you're appealing to. I've heard that most 5e players only go about 6 sessions for an average campaign, so I think that something longer than a one-shot, but shorter than a full-fledged campaign (lasting years) could be popular. In fact, a lot of my friends like to run games of shorter length. Not so much out of the inability to keep a game running so long, but because we like to swap out DMs and try out new campaign ideas.

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
I'm wondering if there is a demand for one shot adventures.

I've been writing adventures for conventions, play testing them there, adjusting, and publishing on DriveThru RPG. So far I've stuck to fantasy, but I'm currently putting something together that takes place in the modern era - characters are thru hikers on a remote part of the Appalachian Trail - of course something goes wrong - opens with a murder scene.

It uses my own rules lightish d20 system, but that system, although well play tested, is not in a format that is ready for publishing.

1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

Thanks.

I agree with the others that D20 modern is probably your best bet due to accessibility.

As for the second question... what exactly do you mean by "cinematic?"  Are you meaning creating one shot adventures that play out like loosely a movie scene?  If you just mean a 2-3 episode adventure.  Yes.  There is a market for that but you would likely want to compile several into a single printing.  There were lots of adventures for 3.5 that were less than 10 pages back in the day.

These days, I don't think anyone wants to pay for 6 pages of content.

Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 28, 2023, 12:28:01 PM

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
I'm wondering if there is a demand for one shot adventures.

I've been writing adventures for conventions, play testing them there, adjusting, and publishing on DriveThru RPG. So far I've stuck to fantasy, but I'm currently putting something together that takes place in the modern era - characters are thru hikers on a remote part of the Appalachian Trail - of course something goes wrong - opens with a murder scene.

It uses my own rules lightish d20 system, but that system, although well play tested, is not in a format that is ready for publishing.

1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

Thanks.

I agree with the others that D20 modern is probably your best bet due to accessibility.

As for the second question... what exactly do you mean by "cinematic?"  Are you meaning creating one shot adventures that play out like loosely a movie scene?  If you just mean a 2-3 episode adventure.  Yes.  There is a market for that but you would likely want to compile several into a single printing.  There were lots of adventures for 3.5 that were less than 10 pages back in the day.

These days, I don't think anyone wants to pay for 6 pages of content.

Um... I do...

Actually, there's a whole lot of shorter adventures that sell platinum on DriveThruRPG.  That being said, the more complete the adventure is the better it sells.  Things like maps, fleshed out NPCs, details to use when the PCs break the the thread of the adventure plot, and background details to the complete story go a long way towards giving a GM confidence in running an adventure. 

Quote from: BadApple on December 28, 2023, 12:41:31 PM

Um... I do...

Actually, there's a whole lot of shorter adventures that sell platinum on DriveThruRPG.  That being said, the more complete the adventure is the better it sells.  Things like maps, fleshed out NPCs, details to use when the PCs break the the thread of the adventure plot, and background details to the complete story go a long way towards giving a GM confidence in running an adventure.

The AI creators are salivating...

I always find myself scrounging for one shots for 5e at various levels. There aren't that many (at least good ones), if you run one shots a lot. Eventually I will just publish my own.

To the OP:

Yes, there is a market for one shots, specifically for cons and public events. I would (and do) gladly spend money on such products.

If your system is simple, release it as a free document. Then sell the adventures.  You could even offer a POD verson for sale. 

Quote from: BadApple on December 28, 2023, 07:29:40 AM

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of available simple systems that are "modern" and under a license that works well with independent publishers.  If you were to go with either classic scifi or cyberpunk it would be a lot easier to recommend systems.

There are some small audience systems that are OSR and Cepheus Engine but you're talking a subset of a subset audience at that point.  D20 Modern is still a thing and under OGL so you could go that route but, again, it's a small audience.  This goes for Open D6 as well.

You could do it as a 5e adventure and just mark it a "A modern adventure for 5e."  It would be up to GMs to figure out how they'd want to alter it or their game to make it work.

Finally, BRP is done under the ORC license now so you could use that.  Based on the last time you brought this up, it sounded like a Call of Cthulhu type adventure so it could be a good fit.  (BRP is the core of COC.)

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

There's always a place for one shot adventures.  If anything the market is starved for them and decent adventures get bought up quickly.

I wish you luck, your project sounded cool to me the last time we talked.

Don't take candy from strangers or unverified advice from the internet but I hope I helped illuminate things a little.

Thanks!  I wanted to go D20.  Your suggestion of a modern adventure for 5e is an interesting idea.  I wonder if there are other that you that phrasing.  If that is a thing, I'd seriously consider that.  CoC is a contender.  I'll have to look into the ORC license.

Quote from: 1stLevelWizard on December 28, 2023, 09:51:43 AM

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
It uses my own rules lightish d20 system, but that system, although well play tested, is not in a format that is ready for publishing.

1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

Thanks.

I'm afraid I can't be of much help for #1, although if you wanted wide appeal you could always keep the game concepts close to what's popular: ability scores, HP, some version of Armor Class.

Now for #2, I think a cinematic game would go over well, but it all depends on who you're appealing to. I've heard that most 5e players only go about 6 sessions for an average campaign, so I think that something longer than a one-shot, but shorter than a full-fledged campaign (lasting years) could be popular. In fact, a lot of my friends like to run games of shorter length. Not so much out of the inability to keep a game running so long, but because we like to swap out DMs and try out new campaign ideas.

I'm aiming for something that takes 2-3 sessions to complete.  In the play test at a con I'll compress it into an efficient 4 hour block of time.  A bit stressful, but good fun.

Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 28, 2023, 12:28:01 PM

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 07:08:10 AM
I'm wondering if there is a demand for one shot adventures.

I've been writing adventures for conventions, play testing them there, adjusting, and publishing on DriveThru RPG. So far I've stuck to fantasy, but I'm currently putting something together that takes place in the modern era - characters are thru hikers on a remote part of the Appalachian Trail - of course something goes wrong - opens with a murder scene.

It uses my own rules lightish d20 system, but that system, although well play tested, is not in a format that is ready for publishing.

1. What do you think would be a simple, good simple system to release it under that would have wide appeal?

2. Do you feel there's a market for something like this - "cinematic", it would probably take two or three sessions to complete, and would only cost a few dollars?

Thanks.

I agree with the others that D20 modern is probably your best bet due to accessibility.

As for the second question... what exactly do you mean by "cinematic?"  Are you meaning creating one shot adventures that play out like loosely a movie scene?  If you just mean a 2-3 episode adventure.  Yes.  There is a market for that but you would likely want to compile several into a single printing.  There were lots of adventures for 3.5 that were less than 10 pages back in the day.

These days, I don't think anyone wants to pay for 6 pages of content.

When I actually wrote a ran a version of this scenario about 10-12 years ago I used D20 modern.  Since then I've become much more fond of rules lightish systems - 3.5 is just too crunchy for me these days.

By cinematic I mean dangerous, high reward scenarios.  The Alien RPG has a version of play like this.  It's really lethal.  The idea is to have a couple of NPCs so that if someone dies, a player isn't out because they just make one of those NPCs a PC.  This works well for one shots, I think.  People play a different way when they know the GM isn't pulling any punches, I think.

These days, I don't think anyone wants to pay for 6 pages of content.
[/quote]

Um... I do...

Actually, there's a whole lot of shorter adventures that sell platinum on DriveThruRPG.  That being said, the more complete the adventure is the better it sells.  Things like maps, fleshed out NPCs, details to use when the PCs break the the thread of the adventure plot, and background details to the complete story go a long way towards giving a GM confidence in running an adventure.
[/quote]

I actually just released a series of 10 one page fantasy side quests on Drive Thru.  I'm pretty proud of how it came out.  Includes player and GM maps, NPCs, multiple hook options.  If people buy it, I want to churn out more - it was a really fun project.  HEre's a link if it interests you and you'd like to help me out:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/464843/Evocative-One-Page-Fantasy-Side-Quests-and-Encounters-I?term=evocative+one+page&

Everyday Heroes is supposedly a 5e game.  Maybe it can work for your adventure?

Quote from: Vic99 on December 28, 2023, 04:14:57 PM
I actually just released a series of 10 one page fantasy side quests on Drive Thru.  I'm pretty proud of how it came out.  Includes player and GM maps, NPCs, multiple hook options.  If people buy it, I want to churn out more - it was a really fun project.  HEre's a link if it interests you and you'd like to help me out:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/464843/Evocative-One-Page-Fantasy-Side-Quests-and-Encounters-I?term=evocative+one+page&

Those look pretty cool. Gonna add them to my collection because I always have use for diversion mini-adventures. Sometimes they grow into long campaigns. I have my own catalog and should get off my ass and publish them.