What’s the deal with one shots? 🤔

A little Seinfeld 🤓 A question for everyone looking for a campaign: why is no one interested in playing single session oneshots, especially spontaneous pick-up-and-play oneshots? It seems to me people, in general, would rather not play than play in a oneshot. Or is it me personally as a newer gm?  For me, playing oneshots allows for a wide range of systems to be played and tested, and there may be a better rpg system out there for a player or gm; perhaps there are players or gms out there that would be better suited for individuals that will, perhaps after the game currently played is finished or on a different day, form a new group and play a new game system. I also feel that this is another way to grow the hobby.  For millenials, I will say I am just asking a question and am looking for a general argument, and if you feel negatively about the word “argument”, please look up the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary.  Thank-you all for taking the time to read this post. Please keep your answers in mind with the query stated at the beginning of the post for those kind enough to reply. 

I use one-shots as a filter for campaigns. I find it's the best way to find out if the group meshes or not before committing extra resources to getting a campaign going. As an added benefit I also find it reduces the no-call no-message no-shows.   If someone is too busy to make the single session (one shot chargen/world building) and unable to spend 10 seconds to send a quick "sorry something came up" they are most likely too busy for a 4-6 hour regular commitment.

Conan 2D20 isn't very popular. That's probably your biggest problem.

For many roleplayers character development and following the same cast of characters through a long chain of stories is a major part of the roleplaying experience. Using a non-D&D 5e system that a substantial portion of available player base needs to learn from scratch probably further detracts from the proposition.

Lex said: Conan 2D20 isn't very popular. That's probably your biggest problem. I get “wrong time zone” ⌚️ players often interested in a Conan campaign.  Are any of the 2d20 settings popular, because the system is awesome for pulp. Eventually I will be running the  Forbidden Lands - Retro Open-World Survival Fantasy RPG setting when I recieve the PDFs (early, as a KS backer).

Karl V   Using a non-D&D 5e system that a substantial portion of available player base needs to learn from scratch probably further detracts from the proposition. So, what you are saying is that people don’t want to try new things, or put the effort in to do so?  If this is not what you mean, please reword your statement.

rschweik said: A question for everyone looking for a campaign: why is no one interested in playing single session oneshots, especially spontaneous pick-up-and-play oneshots? It seems to me people, in general, would rather not play than play in a oneshot. Or is it me personally as a newer gm?  People do play one-shots, and a lot of them play one-shots exactly for reasons you have described. However, DnD 5E is so widespread that you can always find any number of players, at any time, even on the shortest notice, while finding group for any other system (except Pathfinder, maybe?) would require more time and patience. If a system is heavy or appears to be heavy on crunch, of course a lot of people would be hesitant to learn it.

noi said: However, DnD 5E is so widespread that you can always find any number of players, at any time, even on the shortest notice, while finding group for any other system (except Pathfinder, maybe?) would require more time and patience. If a system is heavy or appears to be heavy on crunch, of course a lot of people would be hesitant to learn it. When you say 5e, are you referring to the system or the setting? First thing I would do is make elves sahuagin-like. 👐🙏👊. Not a fan of the magic system, either.  Wow, pathfinder is not crunch heavy?

I noticed that when 3E/3.x was the system of choice, that enticing players to play any other system including but not limited to 1E and 2E, was rather difficult but not impossible. You just needed to invest a little time. One-shots are one way to market yourself as a GM, particularly on Roll20 which has an international reach and a massive user base. With so many games out there, if you choose to market yourself this way, it could be a way for you to rise above the rest. Of course there are many ways to go about doing that, but it just seems to me that you might exponentially increase your success chances if you run a one-shot using the system used by most of the base. Speaking for myself only, I don't run one-shots simply because I don't have the time to do all of the work that running them entails. From my perspective, time spent on a one-shot is time not spent on my own projects even if running the one-shot would ultimately help those projects along. If I had more time in the day - if I didn't have a job that required long hours, for example, or if my living situation were such that I didn't have a partner - then I suppose I would run them in addition to my own games. But I'm an old guy now.... ;)

rschweik said: Wow, pathfinder is not crunch heavy? It is, but it also has a fairly large and established player base that makes up for this. The more people that actively play a system, the more likely you are to find people who would be interested in a one-shot (or, well, a game - period). 

IMHO: I know it's more complicated than this but to simplify: System popularity(x) and crunchiness(y) add to the time commitment. Less popular increases x and more crunchy increases y. Your average group of players, and largest group, have an average amount of time to commit(z). If x+y > z; you lose that base of players. You then move down the list of groups of players, which means less players, until you hit that sweet spot of x+y < z.

rschweik said: When you say 5e, are you referring to the system or the setting? System. rschweik said: Wow, pathfinder is not crunch heavy? I was saying that it's popular enough to make finding players relatively easy.

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