I’ve always been a fan of Greek mythology when it comes to RPGs – especially with … Adventures That Send Your Players on an OdysseyRead more The post Adventures That Send Your Players on an Odyssey appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

I met Jason Woollard as a mutual fan of RPGs, GURPS, and various other interests. It … Guest Author – Jason Woollard’s Bitter Song of the Black MangrovesRead more The post Guest Author – Jason Woollard’s Bitter Song of the Black Mangroves appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

Believe it or not, among the dozens of adventures I’ve written for this site, there is not a single “dungeon adventure.” Sure, there’s many that feature small underground areas, a mini-dungeon or two, or even a trip to the Underworld, but none that are really a pure dungeon adventure. Which is odd, because I love […] The post Designing A+ Dungeons – 99 Devils of Uzrah’s Palace appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

Random encounters have been part of RPGs ever since the beginning. Every dungeon had its carefully designed rooms, but the real threats were the rolls on the wandering monsters table that could disrupt a party’s rest or surprise players at a bad time. Random encounters fell away from roleplaying for many years, but have surged […] The post Can Random Encounters Make an Adventure? Railgun Road appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

Every year I check and see which of the free one-shot TTRPG adventures on this site gets the most eyeballs. Obviously, it’s hard to tell how many plays each one gets (which is why I ask you to tell me!), but it’s clear some adventures are more popular than others. This year it was a […] The post Top One Shot Adventures – 2025 Edition appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

This month, I explore a genre I have not spent a lot of time with — Victorian horror! Most of my horror gaming has happened in the 1920s, the default setting for Call of Cthulhu. The 1880s never pulled me into its dark embrace, but the excellent new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight inspired me […] The post Methods of Madness for Gaslight Horror – An Opera Unceasing appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

I learned a big lesson writing this month’s free adventure! Mood changes everything. Coming off of Gotham ’39, a noir adventure filled with twists, interconnected families, and dark secrets, I yearned to move on to something simpler. Good GMs know when to pull back and do something different for their players (and they’re own sanity). […] The post Moody Folkloric Fantasy – The Beast of Black Keep appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.

Years ago a common criticism of Call of Cthulhu‘s investigative adventures was “if the players fail a single Spot Hidden roll to find a clue, the adventure is over.” I think that’s mostly a lazy critique. It’s like saying if your D&D players never find the dungeon, the adventure is over. But there is some […] The post Placing Clues is Hard – Gotham ’39 appeared first on 1Shot Adventures.