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So you wanna run a one-shot...

Seriously, the topic of one-shot adventures came up over beers the other night, so I thought I'd open it up. Have you run any one shots? How did they go? Any one shots that you've always wanted to run? Tell us about them? What about themed games? Here are a few that came up in our conversation the other night:
  • Pick any fictional character. You are playing that character.
  • Pick any historical character.
  • Players each pick one deity from the Dieties and Demigods. Once they're assembled, a Gamma World death machine comes through a dimensional portal and kicks their butts (John got this one from a session that was apparently really played)
  • You play your real-world self (always hated this idea, but it's got possibilities)
  • Each player gets a blank character sheet. The PC's all have amnesia and someone's trying to kill them. As they discover their capabilities, they get to write them down on their sheet (John came up with this one, too).

[edit -- here's a few more -- JSH]
  • Play children. City of Lost Children, The Golden Compass, etc.
  • Play the monsters that inhabit a D&D dungeon. Hardly original, but it could be fun.
  • Everyone plays the exact same character. Perhaps they're clones, or copies from other dimensions, or victims of a bizarre curse.
  • Doomed characters. Passengers on the Hindenburg or Titanic. The Roanoke colonists.