I’m a beginner DM running Lost Mines of Phandelver for a group of 4 newbies, and they have a party “familiar” who is really just one of those goober characters that the party thought was funny and convinced them to join.
His name is Goblin Jr, appropriately named that because he’s about half of the average height of a goblin. He poofed into existence as a joke to be a referee in a wrestling match against Klarg, the bugbear from Chapter 1 of LMOP.
The party had to leave him in Phandalin when going to Cragmaw Castle, and didn’t have time to pass through the town again on their way to Wave Echo Cave so he is still there. Sildar and Gundren departed at the beginning of the dungeon (to make my life easier), and the party requested Sildar to convince Goblin Jr to make a journey from Phandalin to Wave Echo Cave and reunite with the party. I thought this would be a great idea for a one-shot, and it would help my players explore other classes/characters since most have only ever played their current one.
I was hoping for some general advice for designing and DMing one-shots, and was hoping we could brainstorm some ideas. Alternatively pointing me in the direction of any resources for this would be helpful too!
I’m also wondering if a certain party member should play Goblin Jr? I feel like they should have their own unique characters, but then I don’t really know what to do with him. Him being a DMPC makes the most sense but I like to avoid those if there are better alternatives.
Any ideas?
If you’re actually wanting a one-shot, as in just one session, you’ll need way less stuff than you think. It’ll vary depending on your players of course, but for a four hour session with my players, I think three encounters (with only one of them being combat) would be about right. My “one shots” always end up being “some shots” of 4-5 sessions.
Same remarks as Boatswain, the most important in a one-shot is to reduce the number of plot points in your story, because players will deviate from it and spend a hell lot of time on what you thought were details. Gladly, your scenario is quite simple : going from point A to point B on the road, it’s hard to derail. By the way, make them start on the road, or those “details where they spend time” will be half the session spent in Phandalin shopping to prepare for the trip.
Regarding having the goblin as a DMPC : it’s perfectly fine to have an NPC following the party and even fighting with them, you just have to make sure they never overshine the party. Make them a few level lower, and play them in a support role, never let them have the kill or solve a problem by themselves. And when the players will start asking questions to the NPC thinking they’re the voice of the DM and know everything, make them say stupid things or obvious errors, explaining, as the DM, that the NPC doesn’t seem to know better. From there, you will be fine.
Note: this is no general one-shot advice, but given the context you mentioned : keep in mind that the characters your players will create for your one-shot will then be part of your campaign.