One shot, "convention" adventures

[Quasqueton]

I am thinking strongly of running a D&D game for the next NC Game Day gathering. What would be the best way to handle the PCs for the game?

Hand out pre-gen characters to the participants?

Let the participants create their own characters prior to the game day?

Let the participants create their own characters at the game day?

The one game day event I participated in (not as the DM) allowed the Players to create their own PCs prior to the day. Of 6 Players (with ~4 weeks notice), only myself and one other (a regular in the DM's normal game) actually created our characters ahead of time. So we ended up spending something like an hour waiting for the 4 Players to create their 7th-level PCs for the game.

I like the idea of letting the Players create their own characters, because it lets them play whatever they want to play. But I have no illusion that all/most/any will actually have their PCs ready at the start time.

What is the best way for a one-shot, convention style game?

Quasqueton

 

[Piratecat]

A good question! First, there's great advice in these two threads:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=100115

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=171536

My opinion: Character creation in game is boring and wasted time that eats into the few hours you have available to play. I've run about 300-400 one-shot games over the last fifteen years; in my experience the best solution is definitely to write up and hand out pre-gen characters. I've a huge fan of adding personalities and party interactions, but even without that, having a page of stats and abilities is better than nothing.

 

[Buttercup]

I agree with Piratecat. Don't waste precious game day time in character creation.

There are several ways you can handle this:

1. You can create as many characters as you have slots in the game. This makes it easy for you to ensure that all the bases are covered. Also, it allows you to create characters with the players in mind. The farther your game is from core D&D, the more important it is for you to have pre-gen characters, I think.

2. You can create a whole bunch of characters and let your players choose whichever ones they want. I think this is probably your best option if you don't know your players. Just make sure you're capable of running the session effectively no matter what combination they choose!

3. Create characters, but ask the players to take 10 minutes to flesh out their personalities. You could even let each of them choose a potion or something.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I third the above commentary. Designing the PCs yourself gives you two distinct advantages:

1. Tailoring to the scenario - as in eliminating undesired traits and including specific skills, powers, abilities and items that you want in play.
2. A firsthand idea of the PCs capabilities to minimize surprises.

Some tips:

*Include either generic, vaguely masculine/feminine names, or have a "split" name with a male name and a female name option for the individual PC.

*One or two extra PCs helps with choice issues. Make sure to specify to the players which PCs will be important or helpful to the adventure.

*Keep suggested background very light. Limit to a couple sentences. (Trying to cram a page of backstory and motivation into your brain when the game is going to last four hours? Well, they do a better job with a short paragraph.)

*Give your PCs to someone else to proof in advance. Geeks will find the errors that you made and point them out. Sometimes in the middle of combat.

*Try to give each PC a) one unique/cool ability, b) one non-combat "shtick" and c) one tie or connection to another PC.

Good luck! Sounds like fun.

 

[JDragon]

I have not run anything at the game days, but have been running & playing games at conventions for almost 15 years now.

Personally I detist premade characters, this is primarly because most of the time they are the last thing the GM does and are just thrown together. The only way I would do pre-gens is if everyone of them is of a quality that I would personally play in a game.

I agree with the previouse comments regarding having players build characters at the game day. Thats just going to use up a lot of time that could be used for playing.

As long as you can make sure everyone has the character creation guidelines for your game before hand, you should be fine to have them make their own. And if they don't have a character ready, then let someone play that does. This is because to me we are all adults and should be responsable enough to arrived at a pre-planned event prepared.

just my 0.02

JD

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I've not anywhere near Piratecat's experience, but I concur. Make the characters beforehand. It saves precious time, and it gives you a handle on what the rough range of possibilities are. It avoids having players waste points on skills that won't come into play, or feats that won't be useful. And given that you're most likely going to be DMing for people you don't know, it avoids having to police character sheets and the inevitable arguments. Plus, a lot of times people are playing a game because its with a system they aren't familiar with, and may not even have the books or any prior knowledge needed to make characters.

The point of one-shots is the scenario; the characters' traits outside of their utility to the adventure are secondary. It's about having fun playing with new people and new systems, not getting to play the exact niche you want.

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

Pre-Gens are the way to go.

If you have the time and inclination, create a brief background for each character and role play notes.

Some players don't care, but there are those who will. Create a motivation for the adventure.

The only customization I ever did for a pre-gen was a Wizard. He had set spellls in his book, but I left open a couple of extra spells per level. The player picked PHB spells I never have used and used them well and unexpectedly.

 

[Buttercup]

Personally I detist premade characters, this is primarly because most of the time they are the last thing the GM does and are just thrown together. The only way I would do pre-gens is if everyone of them is of a quality that I would personally play in a game.

Not all GMs just throw their pre-gens together at the last moment, willy-nilly. I sure don't. If you end up playing one-shots with ill thought out characters then you need to avoid those GMs in the future.

Plus, a lot of times people are playing a game because its with a system they aren't familiar with, and may not even have the books or any prior knowledge needed to make characters.

Yes, exactly. If you're playing in that one-shot to find out if you'd like an unfamiliar system or genre, you could easily spend the entire four hour session creating your character.

The point of one-shots is the scenario; the characters' traits outside of their utility to the adventure are secondary. It's about having fun playing with new people and new systems, not getting to play the exact niche you want.

Again, exactly right. The reason one-shots are fun is that the experience you have is completely different than the experience of playing in a regular campaign.