How to Write a One-Shot D&D adventure - with my DM, Jesse Jerdak!

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Ever wanted to write a one-shot adventure for Dungeons & Dragons? Here are some tips from my Dungeon Master, Jesse Jerdak, on how to craft the perfect single-session D&D game!
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[@GinnyDi]

Grab the "Bard Behind Bars" adventure on my website: ginnydi.com/calendar And keep up with Jesse on Twitter: twitter.com/JesseJerdak

[@alaskankare]

I want to know how you get combat to be only an hour?! lol never happening with my group.

[@GinnyDi]

Please note the use of the word "minimum" 😅

[@fenixmeaney6170]

@@alaskankare it's cuz his biceps are carrying the party

[@notoriusbookworm48]

The other 10% out of the 3s is the 10% you deleted lol

[@L3raje]

"You don't write "The Story", you write the story that will happen if the players don't involve themselves." Definitely the best writing advice.

[@Calebgoblin]

Jesse is an actual goliath?? Jesse: **talks** Jesse is an actual goliath.

[@tiervexx]

Yes... but I think Ginny is also a bit smol! lol.

[@barkon34]

@@tiervexx the dude's arms are bigger the some people's heads. He is an actual Goliath.

[@thomashull7776]

OK thank you, I started the video, saw this mammoth of a man, paused to scroll comments, and you delivered what I was looking for.

[@loraleitourtillottwiehr2473]

Have you seen his Grog cosplay?! It's perfect

[@orange4573]

He has hair tho

[@DeVoLt13]

I always love Ginny's videos, but Jesse was such a soft spoken guy with a lot of great advice. I'd love to see more of the both of you in the future.

[@GinnyDi]

Make sure you subscribe to his channel!! He is wonderful!

[@CrispysTavern]

If keeping it brief is a priority, I don’t think there’s a problem with DMs using NPCs to subtly hasten roleplay. Also, a lot of my baddies in one shots are glass cannons: low health, high damage. This keeps the stakes high and the combat snappy. We tried a streamed 1-Shot and it became a 5 part mini campaign. Wasn’t a problem, we had a good time and in the end that’s what matters.

[@Reoh0z]

My players insist on checking in with NPCs on what they should be doing.

[@vikiai4241]

@@Reoh0z Give your NPCs some extremely (possibly obviously, if you are feeling nice) questionable judgement on such matters and they will soon learn better :-D More seriously, this situation probably calls for just enough NPC-opinion questionability that they aren't going to ignore every NPC going forward, but will still have a good hard think about any advice they get from NPCs.

[@ryanatkins5736]

@@Reoh0z have they never been betrayed by an npc giving bad advice for their own selfish reasons? "Remember the gold is cursed it must be cleansed, so bring all of it to me so I can do the ritual at the far away secluded mountain"

[@UltanMcDonnell]

Why waste time on an NPC when you can have a dead body on the side of the road who took the time to mark an arrow with the word "Bastards", pointing where you want the player to go?

[@FlatOnHisFace]

Totally. It seems silly to role-play in a role-playing game. Monsters.

[@LMan120]

Between this man, and Travis Willingham….I’m surprised that giant buff dudes are gettin down with DnD and the atmosphere of the game. It’s truly a bridge builder for all kinds of people. So thankful for this game and the people that play :)

[@lennethebeauty]

Not to mention Joe Manganiello, and Vin Diesel too! Big into DnD

[@MellonVegan]

It's not even that. Us strength athletes can be nerds, too 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@bibliophilecb]

I swear no DnD campaign is complete without a huge guy. My partner (who was one of my first DMs and now plays in the campaigns I DM) is the same. Huge, deep voiced guy who just really nerds out for DnD.

[@TheShoo]

NFL players are playing too!

[@mrdrprofsteve506]

Travis is a theater major, DnD is probably one of the less nerdy things that hes done

[@Tharrel]

It’s like a halfling doing a colab with a half orc and I’m here for it 😂😁

[@katiethornton5407]

lol i like that

[@ashildrtheswift3028]

I got so excited when I saw this was a collab with Jesse! Your "Jester's Mom" collab is partly what got me into Critical Role, and Jesse and you are both such awesome and kind people.

[@leonadawn9489]

I highly recommend running Bard Behind Bars!! It was super fun to run, and my players still talk about the characters :)

[@GinnyDi]

Ahhh, that makes me so happy to hear!!

[@famminak852]

Found your comment in the wild and couldn't be happier! I am interested to run my first one shot and Bard story seems like a fun one!!

[@ProPirateRyan]

My preference for how to write one shots: FIRST: write it with the intention of over preparing SECOND edit it WAY down into something punchy and fun to read THIRD add some easily findable appendices in the back that still HAVE all of the extra useful information you cut. Some gms will for sure use it, but no one needs it to have fun. I'm really inspired by the pathfinder 2e rulebook- you can run a whole campaign with just like, 1/3rd of the chapters, but the other 2/3rds are there if you have questions, and are very well organized and indexed so you can find the niche mechanics FAST if you want one. It really feels like it was layed out page by page specifically so you can quickly reference it at the table. I love it, lol

[@UltanMcDonnell]

I have wondered: I've heard that DMs at conventions sometimes don't have much time to read through an adventure they're about to run. How easy/hard is it to write an adventure for that given scenario? "Your DM has one hour to prep for this adventure. Write appropriately."

[@AngeIsnt12]

I have never written or wanted to write anything of my own for D&D but this makes it seem super achievable! I'm now terrified and excited to write something for my table!

[@jeremyfrost2636]

Do it, I bet it kicks ass.

[@benjapizarro981]

So how it was

[@visbs88]

One thing I asked to my followers when writing down a one-shot for other DMs was: "Do you prefer a single solution to the situation, or multiple suggestions?"; everyone chose the second. So I ended up not deciding whether those "spirits of the forest" were just funky little pixies or something more gruesome - I gave both the light-hearted scenario and the grim one, in order to let each master feel free on how to run things.

[@RCCraigoOnline]

30% combat, 30% RP. 30% problem solving. The other 10% is exposition.

[@ameliabrittain158]

Balanced, as all things should be

[@AlkioIki]

At first i read it as 10% explosions xD

[@mikeesplace]

I got the PDF for the one-shot and I can see how the advice Jesse is giving here was applied to it. It was very malleable, with the pieces able to be put together in different orders depending on what the players try to do. I really liked that. The encounters were pretty clever too.

[@Drowmerc]

Yeah I do have to agree. The most important part of a one-shot is letting the players know the tone first. Don't spoil much but let them know how combat or roleplay heavy it is. It maximizes fun.

[@BriMBaca]

I wish this was around when I was making my Call of Cthulhu one shot that Jesse actually played in. Having him there to help us keep things moving was the saving grace for my nerves! There's so much good advice and content in this video! Well done and thank you for taking the time for answering our questions~ 💕

[@Magdahlana]

I just go your Calendar today, and absolutely elated to play the one-shot with my friends!

[@GinnyDi]

Ahhh I hope it goes well! It was so much fun to work on!

[@wesrose4258]

This is so lovely and informative. It’s also like seeing Iris and Gladiolus together in real life.

[@adamnaameeazim6365]

Well, this video dropped at the exact perfect time. I'm about to fly back home and run my very first in-person oneshot in less than 48 hours! My friends and I have always played online since we started in 2020, so this is a big deal. This video will definitely help lol. Also love the new intro! It's an absolute delight.

[@MariannesStudio]

Oh my gosh, so exciting!! I played IRL for the first time last month and it was the best session ever. Have fun!!!

[@UltanMcDonnell]

How did it go?

[@adamnaameeazim6365]

@@UltanMcDonnell Not very well, I'm afraid. It was really disheartening watching everything fall apart. I guess it's a positive thing since I can learn from all the mistakes I made, but I took a real nasty blow to my confidence in my DMing skills.

[@UltanMcDonnell]

@@adamnaameeazim6365 It is always dishaertening, but remember, it was only one session. You can do it!

[@pauligrossinoz]

I think that the ideal "one shot" should be designed to be short-and-sweet, but with various options to extend to a full-blown campaign if everyone really gets into it, and if the DM has the creative juices to run-on with the direction that the players choose.

[@JustMe-um8zp]

Got the deluxe calendar a few days ago. Looks great! And the adventure looks like lots of fun too. Stay shiny, and keep having fun!

[@TeaganBAllen]

I've never actually been able to play a one shot. They've all extended by a pretty large margin. My first one shot evolved into a whole summer campaign and the next became a 6 shot because we were having so much fun with the high level characters

[@KnightsofTuveHall]

Thanks Ginny and Jesse! Bard Behind Bars was a fun New Year's Adventure one shot. Got some players I hadn't seen in a while (cause we all live in different cities) but we got together for New Years. It was fun to pick up and run with, and everybody really liked it. Spoilers: I set it in Neverwinter in the Forgotten Realms and two of my players made agents for the Lord's Alliance who worked for the Chancellery offices (A Lady Knight and her Squire going undercover as sell-swords). The upshot of which, Clover was pardoned by the Lord Protector of Neverwinter for aiding officers of the Lord Protector; Augury went to prison for smuggling, conspiracy, fraud and jail-braking; Nymwen went to jail for practicing forbidden Necoromatic rituals; Nakrasaha got offered a new job in the Protector's Guard with better pay, Edith was never bothered by the odious Warden's unwanted advances ever again (he's not dead, but he may have lost his job) and Morellia made a lot of friends and regular customers.

[@larkermouse]

"You don't have a lead-up" is key for time. It's a one-shot, and players shouldn't feel railroaded by the premise. I've started a couple with "You've all been hired to do this job" and had no complaints, because everyone understands that I've prepared something specific, and it isn't a campaign.

[@davidioanhedges]

“Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away" : Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

[@origaminosferatu3357]

I think I can speak for the entire RPG community when I say: "I am over-hyped to play/watch/enjoy Capy-Battle!" Also some really great advice, thx!

[@fynnsternis6432]

I'm DMing for the first time in two weeks, a oneshot, so this video is great :3 Especially the question "how do a get my players to actually do the quest" kinda bothered me but you're right, if someone wonders off even though they know that i'm following a prewritten adventure here, they aren't really playing in good faith. (Also i was really distracted by these arm muscles the whole time. Not even in a thirsty way (bonk) but like, that's impressive)

[@xDMrGarrison]

I love the advice of writing the story that will happen when the players don't interfere. I'm definitely going to implement that.

[@dnf-dead]

I'm really glad I found your channel

[@GinnyDi]

I'm glad you found it, too!!

[@dnf-dead]

@@GinnyDi well I'm glad you're glad 😊

[@nathalieboelens6568]

Hi Ginny & Jesse! I just wanted to write and say thank you for this awesome D&D one-shot. I purchased it a while back and this week I finally ran it. It was my first time ever as a DM. It was a success and really has boosted my confidence to continue to pursue DMing. The pdf really provided everything I needed to prepare. Thanks to Ginny's videos with the NPCs in the story, I felt confident to role-play them. The players thoroughly enjoyed it and have asked for a sequel 🙂

[@CharlieStuff407]

Love when you and Jesse collaborate. It's always fun!

[@agnostican]

Really liked the conversation there and the tips were really solid. Much appreciated.^^ As for my own two cents: for one-shots, I tend to start with an atmospheric prologue where the characters are getting dropped into the setting, experience it and immediately get some information on who they are teaming up with. In a pirate one-shot i ran that was a mock trial (a time-honoured tradition among pirates) and in my witch one-shot (every player played a different kind of druid that we flavoured around fairytale witchcraft and the koldunic tradition) everyone arrived at a wedding they were either invited, or not invited to (think Maleficent vs the fairies). Then I usually go for an inciting incident. Either a problem occurs, a threat appears or a (very simple) quest is given. That tends to send the players on their way elsewhere with a little bit of exploration or getting to the place were yay task needs doing. In terms of combat, I mostly go for 2. One "trouble on the road" one and "the final battle".... In my second to last, I had to drop the first one and in my last one-shot I had no combat at all, because my players are rp-est of roleplayers.^^ In terms for endings I like to go for "things yet to come", or "but that is another part of the story" kinds of epilogues. (recently some of my players commented that my one-shots make for good opening chapters) Rewards are either narrative or useful little trinkets -- often minor magical items like a flowerpot that creates a rainbow or you plant a gold piece in it or a piece of glass that always shows the state of the sky above you.

[@turnipslop3822]

Ah, literally the thing I've been pondering for a month... Suddenly the perfect Ginny Di video appears to help! Awesome :]

[@kris.monroe]

This is an incredible format for you! Fantastic questions, engaging pacing, and immediately applicable nuggets of insight. Thank you for this!

[@mimharries4349]

What a great video! Jesse is such a warm, chill presence. I kinda want you two to have a podcast (not that you have time lol), I could listen to you talk for way more than 13 minutes!

[@BrendonTheBrewbarian]

I really loved this video and the format and look behind the curtain at the process was great

[@seanfsmith]

This was such a good watch! I'm a fan of how concise and direct your words are usually Ginny, but to have you both in conversation felt really useful. I've been running and writing one-shots for years (mostly horror tbh) and this truly is a perfect breakdown of the considerations

[@triceratops2653]

You’re literally wonderful. This is so helpful. Chat with your DM more.

[@philiplewis8213]

This certainly makes me want to pick up these adventures. A fine and useful discussion. Thank you.

[@neverthelessthesun1428]

There's so much good info in here! Thanks Jesse and Ginny for sharing. 🥰

[@MikeThepiper]

This was such a great video! I'll be watching this multiple times, I really liked the section on time constraints

[@conradshockley4936]

I have been playing D&D for years, even ran the D&D Club at my school way back when. Despite that, I have yet to run a one-shot that lasted one session and I have made it a personal goal to do so. This video is greatly appreciated and will prove useful :D

[@123q3rqwe]

Really cool to see your guys ideas on this, much love!

[@kingjawley5546]

this came at a perfect time haha, currently having writers block with my One-Shot I'm trying to make haha

[@westaylor1489]

I loved this. One-shots are tough to write and this was very informative.

[@eyjayy]

very fun to see you interact with another dm!! and a very helpful, informative video

[@MonkeyJedi99]

This is a good video that has helped inform my creation of even long-arc adventures. Thanks, y'all!

[@Theportraitdude]

This was so fun to watch! Thank you both SO MUCH for sharing your hearts for something you very obviously really care about. That's not easy and it is very much appreciated. Miss your crew and hope our paths cross again someday :)

[@lizzuuu3831]

I love your tip videos! D&D's still pretty fresh for me, though I've been in a campaign for almost a year now, and watching your videos has given me a lot of ideas both as a player and as someone who wants to eventually be a DM. Now there are too many ideas. 😂

[@jasonlarue5694]

Thank you for all the helpful information. Going to try a one shot for some friends who are just wanting to get into D&D.

[@renakellner4448]

Great video! I am creating a one shot right now and this is really helpful advice!

[@archthrone5815]

This was a perfect video, on a perfect timing! Writing a one shot thats in 1 week!

[@scdef.6009]

What timing! I literally just finished creating my first one-shot, now to see if it's up to snuff.

[@amongmateswithmodbrat6799]

Perfect timing on release! Just in the process of attempting to write my first one shot for an audience! Thanks again Ginny and wish me luck everyone

[@TransGuyShane]

I planned a one shot for Halloween. We ended up making it a campaign after one 8 hour session. we have now played 15+ episodes and we aren't even half way through ♡♡

[@cassidy9604]

This has been maybe my favorite DM-tips type video you've done! I've only led one one-shot and it was... fine. Everyone had fun but I wasn't very encouraged to keep trying. After this I think I might try again!

[@CharlesStacyII]

I'd love to see more videos like this! Very cool.

[@RunnerLogan]

I like hearing the differences in opinion when it comes to preparedness. There is a fine line between too much and too little sometimes and I think distillation/organization is key.

[@JediKnightDTV]

Ginny, talk about a perfectly timely video, I am about to run a Christmas-themed one-shot 1 week after Christmas! I backed it on Kickstarter a couple of years ago, and I love it so much! SO much good advice, as always! Keep up the GREAT work!!!

[@IndexMess]

Perfect to watch as I plan my Christmas one shot:)

[@MysticRick]

Great conversation! Loved to meet Jesse through this post.

[@danielgay4924]

Lot's of great info, thank you.

[@rh2219]

I feel like this is also good advice for running one shots too, great video!

[@nightfall89z62]

Thanks ginny thanks Jesse. I've often struggled with one shots and making mini missions. I'm running a game right now that is essentially going to be a chain of mini missions related to each other and having a bit of trouble figuring it out. So thanks.

[@gayane_igityan]

Thanks for the video ! I have recently tried DMing for a first time and the one shot turned into an 8-shot... however as it was only for one player we just embraced it. I did learn that a contained location is key if you really want to keep track of the time and not make your players feel like they are railroaded and pushed all the time.

[@raevynwoods9403]

I think this might be the how-to-one-shot video I've been looking for! Your advise is practical and I think easily applicable. I will definately come back to watch it again :)

[@MandalorV7]

This was great timing as I’m doing a one shot this weekend

[@juliarosa1711]

I loved it, so many good tips!

[@billbishop6109]

Great timing for this one, am about to run my group through this adventure, setting it in Nicodranis as the party is going to ask Augury for information, which she will give after the party helps her with a little issue she has.

[@GodzillaB210]

Jesse, hell yeah! I would love to see yall do a one shot with other friends with Jesse DMing. Also another idea is to see you both do an opinion video on your channels on season 3 of CR now that Travis is back.

[@YorozuyaNeesan2010]

Thank you so much. I'm new to D&D and want to try writing a one shot and try out as a DM. This was some great advice.

[@m.gardner6173]

very timely! my thanks you two.

[@dem1s3]

Thank you for this. I'm getting back into GMing and am trying to start with building a one-shot. Right on time.

[@angelalewis3645]

There is so much good advice in here, and not just for one-shots!

[@Warnerboyz31]

The collaboration we were all waiting for

[@vtsphinx]

Yay! This video was great & I liked the conversional style of it. Feels very chill & like you're sitting at a table of friends talking about d&d. Love it!

[@PhoenixForce85]

That’s essentially what was happening!

[@vtsphinx]

So true!

[@WhatIfBrigade]

I really like the moveable clues idea. So many adventures in books I bought have clues in places the players never think to look.

[@manusaxena6691]

A lot of good ideas here, I liked the points about evoking a particular emotion and constraining the setting. IMHO you can’t *guarantee* a satisfying end to a one-shot without railroading; since I try never to railroad, I just accept that going in.

[@rmorganslade]

I have nothing to add here except that I heart both of your vibes so much

[@csikosendre2746]

Thanks! Really nice and practical advice :)

[@julieaubutgaudet4403]

Lots of awesome tips!! I am such a long campaign type of DM but I do want to try doing more one shots.

[@emilymacdougall184]

Perfect timing on this video! Currently working on a one-shot where everyone has to play a different cereal box mascot... it should be interesting :)

[@kairon156]

One of my DM's would often put in puzzles but I guess our group sometimes ignored them so many of the puzzles had a bruit force option. Nice, I enjoy the saying "less is more" quite a bit.

[@lesleybeckmann9078]

Apropos timing, I'm trying to cobble together a one-shot-in-the-middle-of-a-campaign for tomorrow to accommodate a simultaneous missing player and guest player, lol. Good points made all around that helped me clarify some floating puzzle pieces.

[@Reoh0z]

The nice thing about being an over-preparer is having content already in place for the next week or two. Less great for a one shot, where you might need to just cut or trim down some content to speed things up.

[@feitocomfruta]

I’m working on a Candela Obscura one shot, and I have been scripting parts of it, but the main part of the document is a list of the facts for each section: the key NPCs, the discoverable facts, and the main reveal of the scene. From there, each scene is a mini sandbox. Because it isn’t a combat-based system I’m using, I’ll detail how I will determine success in the more combative parts of the scene.

[@gleggett3817]

this is fascinating discussion between people who obviously put more thought in a single session of DM-ing than I have over years.. Though a bit at the back of my head keeps remembering what the character Mickey says in the film Snatch "Would you look at the size of him".

[@1danwynn]

Great video! I ONLY run One Shots. I have a group of about 20 players in my home city (Edinburgh in Scotland) and 30 more at work (various places in the UK- we play on Shard - thank you for introducing me to Shard, Ginny, it literally changed my life!). So I only have time for One Shots which I re-play with different groups. That allows different groups of players to play together each time as the adventures are stand alone, which makes for nice community bonding. I link the One Shots so each sets up the next and there are call-backs to previous adventures so they also have the feel of a campaign. Players keep their characters and they become invested in them, the world, and all the other players in the group. Another way to do it is to write a series of One Shots which are each part of a larger adventure. Each team of players must succeed in their One Shot for the group as a whole to succeed in the adventure. Great for big-team bonding! When I started DM'ing I wrote One Shots that were far too long. A friend in my work group who also DMs gave me similar advice to Jesse's on how to construct a One Shot; 1 roleplay, 1 puzzle, 1 combat, in a contained geographical area. Works a treat! I still write the One Shots as step-by-step instruction manuals so that other DMs in the group can run them but by the time I run a One Shot for the 3rd or 4th time I don't need the notes as much and it flows more freely. Also, general advice for new DMs: if you're going to use images on a VTT or to project; it can be really hard to find images to fit your scene, so find images BEFORE you write scenes and adapt your scenes to the images. Have fun everyone!

[@TheClericCorner]

Definitely good to have the players make characters already knowing the quest line or purpose. They will want to make a character that will help progress that story

[@Vertrucio]

Nice to see some of the techniques I've learned in parallel confirmed by another good GM, and get a few more techniques too!

[@davidparkes7741]

This was awesome Ginny, very informative. I didn't realize at first that Jesse was the Fjord in Jester's Mom, lol.

[@BlinkyTrigger]

i needed to hear this. My friends laugh at me when i tell them im still working on my campaign. I was prepping a town and thought to myself, "this town is probably big enough to have more than one blacksmith."

[@josephschubert6561]

Oh hey! I'm running a one-shot next week! Perfect timing!

[@paulscouten1868]

Yay Jesse Jerdak!

[@ItsWindHere]

This video couldn't have come at a better time for me! Just decided to sit down to write a one shot for my solo player as a sort of side story with one of his favorite npcs becoming playable.

[@maritntaylor2442]

The sword / wizard hat on the capybaras made me laugh way too loud at 3 in the morning.

[@sleepytime999998]

This is all great advice, and OMG I have been wanting Capoeira Capybara to a thing for a literal decade.

[@donateyourblood]

Jesse gave me great advice at fan expo. 👍 Great dude

[@user-mc1ik7qg7k]

I've DM'ed with my twin twice now and its so fun! we did the same oneshot with 2 different groups - the 2nd group we took 2 sessions to do it so we could flesh it out more and they had so much fun rping we just kept it going 😂

[@denisp.artstudio2226]

Super helpful , thanx