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Quick 2-hour one shot recommendation

I was browsing the 1-shots available on the marketplace and the average finish times were not listed or I was missing them. I am trying to get a group of D&D skeptics to give them game a try with a 1-shot and anything longer 2-2.5 hours will be too much for them. Any help on this would be appreciated. To add to this I am going to be GMing for the first time on roll20. I have played on roll20 before and GMed IRL but not on roll20 and not with a pre-made adventure so I am looking for an easy adventure where I can learn as well. Thanks in advance!
1601324549
Brian C.
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Compendium Curator
Take a look at these one-shot packages from AAW Games. You can choose what level your party will be at, and then you get a group of one-shots at $1 per encounter. MDT 5E: Level 1 Adventures MDT 5E: Level 2 Adventures  -  Trailer MDT 5E: Level 3 Adventures  -  Trailer MDT 5E: Level 4 Adventures MDT 5E: Level 5 Adventures MDT 5E: Level 6 Adventures MDT 5E: Holiday Adventures Realize that you will spend a bunch of time just getting them up to speed on the interface and D&D in general, so 2-2.5 hours is a bit optimistic. You might want to focus on just some role play and a single encounter rather than an entire one shot.
Hi Brian, thanks for the links and the advice. I actually have 3 hours with them and I am handing them premade characters. So, with all the intro and such we should have about 2-2.5 hours for a short adventure. Looks like what you sent is pretty nice for a quick roleplay/single encounter session. If they decide to stay on, I might weave a couple of them into an adventure. Do you have a specific mini-adventure you would recommend to start in the level 1 MDT? Thanks again!
1601356623

Edited 1601356913
Gold
Forum Champion
Sounds like you are on a good track with Brian's AAW offerings. In terms of the official 5E modules by WoTC, the only one that fits your needs and has fit that for a long time is LMoP -- the Lost Mines of Phandel. Truly is-was designed as an introduction adventure, one of the first 5E products that came out. Personally, my recommendation is create your own entire one-shot adventure. Use some of the free graphics in Roll20 or buy 1 or 2 marketplace Art Packs (such as a Gabriel Packard map pack, and a BrassBadger token pack, for example). Put it ALL on one large PAGE of roll20 (that you create in advance spending a few hours of prep time). Page size of 50x50 is my recommended starting size for you if making this. You're making Pre-Gen characters already, you will place their pre-made Tokens on the page (top left corner, recommended) and have everything ready for start-time on game day.  An adventure of 3 locations ("3 maps") will be MORE than enough for your time slot. To me, the adventure can be as simple as: City Gates > Forest > Heart of the Forest encounter. (1, 2, 3). Put an NPC guard at the city gates. Put an NPC (a hunter?) and 1 beast monster in the forest section (sabre-tooth tiger?? large spider?? ettercap??). Put a "boss monster" in the Heart map for the finale' (Owlbear??). Done! Make up the verbal descriptions and clues, as you go along, just dream about it for a while in advance to have some ideas ready depending on what the players say-do. For example maybe the Guard at the Gats will say "There is a reward 100 GP for a feather from the mysterious owl that has been reported in the nearby forest." And I promise, in my experience that's enough material for a 2-hour one-shot with new players and starting GM.
1601375170
Brian C.
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Compendium Curator
Neurolancer said: Hi Brian, thanks for the links and the advice. I actually have 3 hours with them and I am handing them premade characters. So, with all the intro and such we should have about 2-2.5 hours for a short adventure. Looks like what you sent is pretty nice for a quick roleplay/single encounter session. If they decide to stay on, I might weave a couple of them into an adventure. Do you have a specific mini-adventure you would recommend to start in the level 1 MDT? Thanks again! From Level 1: Hobgoblin Lair: for a more traditional dungeon crawl The Soularium: for "investigate the nice clerics who are actually evil" The Spinner's Hole: for something a bit more stealthy For a bunch of new players, you may want to scale the difficulty back every so slightly, let bad guys run away, etc.
I really liked the Stranger Things adventure. It was fast and pretty fun, especially if you are fans of the show. We skipped using the included characters and made our own. I would recommend it.
You want this to last about 2 to 2 and a half hours, correct? Don't have the players try and create their own characters, that alone will take over an hour unless they are completely familiar with the rules. Use pre-generated characters, that you create and build a short story encounter around those characters. Have them start on a road perhaps heading to a town, they could be assaulted by bandits, orcs, goblins, or whatever you can think of, keep it simple, have them end in town in a tavern (instead of starting there) and let them Role Play from there. Maybe you have the sheriff come in and inquire about the attack, maybe he offers a reward or another quest. I guarantee that will fill your time and if you've got them hooked they will have a lot of fun just Role Playing in the tavern...
1601631582
Coryphon
Pro
Sheet Author
Arcane Library has some lovely reasonably priced one-shots, very easy to run with minimal prep and generally very well regarded I think...
Finished my game today. Thank you all for your advice. @Ajax, I give them pre-gen characters and it was great. We will be starting a longer game with them now.