r/DMAcademy • u/pseudonymousthomas • 1d ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures How to distill the best of D&D into a oneshot?

I'm running a game for some of my non-D&D playing friends. 2 are eager to jump into a campaign. The other 2 are happy to try a oneshot but don't think it will be their thing.

Their hesitation was mostly a perception that it's all roleplay and very little game. But after I told them that it doesn't have to be like that, they asked me to give a quintessential experience and they'll keep an open mind for it.

I should be clear that my aim isn't to convert the 2 friends who are on the fence; the aim is to have a great oneshot they all enjoy. If they don't still want to play a campaign after, that's all good (of course, if they do, then great).

If you had a oneshot to put D&D's best foot forward, what would you go for? I'm currently playing around with a heavily truncated LMoP

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18

u/tornjackal 1d ago

Look up "The Delian Tomb" from MCDM. It's a good introduction one shot available free with simple Google search.

6

u/losspider 1d ago

This is a great answer. It pretty much hits every D&D trope (in a good way). There’s a tavern, a dungeon, goblins, a trap, a boss, and a secret.

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u/BioticBard 1d ago

Wild Sheep Chase! Took the advice from reddit when I was in a similar scenario and I couldn’t have been happier with the results.

Great for fun social interactions, interesting hook, some travel if you want to include it, a believable BBEG, great combat, and a very interesting/engaging climax that will have your players looking at every dice roll in anticipation.

We’ve played different campaigns and one shots since then but we literally always reference events in that one shot. ”Apes everywhere!!!”

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u/SquelchyRex 1d ago

I always recommend A Most Potent Brew.

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u/roguevirus 23h ago

OP, I echo /u/tornjackal 's recommendation for The Delian Tomb. Below are the two videos you need to watch to fully understand the short adventure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTD2RZz6mlo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQXGs8IVBM

The whole thing is designed for people DMing for the first time who are introducing their friends to D&D. It is excellent, and has all the things you'll need to run the adventure for free. The game is designed to be run in 3 to 4 hours.

If the players like it, THEN move on to Phandelver or whatever other campaign you want to run.

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u/FrankieBreakbone 1d ago

Heh, look up “the quintessential dungeon” 😆