THEME: Rules-Lite One-Shots: The Hits
Hello! I’m going to give you a list of some of the games I’ve loved recommending over the years.
Atma, by Meromorph Games.
Welcome to a world near our own. The volcanic mineral atma empowers the living and entwines the dying, while artificial intelligence and alien titans join humanity in this daunting new century. Yet in the Restless Zones, beyond society and law, trouble lurks. Gather your fellow adventurers and prepare to test yourself against the world’s most dangerous frontiers. The sky’s getting darker…
Atma is a complete roleplaying game system in a tiny package. It’s portable, quick to set up and teach, and plays in just 2 hours — perfect for game nights or pop-up sessions! A Game Master and 1-4 players use illustrated tarot cards to fuel RPG gameplay focused on creativity and quick thinking. Atma excels as a tutorial for first-time GMs who’ve always wanted to run an RPG, while allowing limitless creativity for roleplaying pros.
With three seasons successfully crowdfunded, you can play Atma for ages and ages… but you can also just play a single 2-hour session. The game is designed to play out-of-the-box, with a learn-as-you-go mindset. Currently Meromorph Games isn’t able to ship outside of the US or the EU, but they do have a free Online Game of ATMA for you to peek at if you are interested!
Sunset Kills, by Hedgemaze Press.
Sunset Kills is a tabletop roleplaying game about a family or group of friends who investigate supernatural mysteries and fight the monsters trying to take over their town. It’s a little bit horror, a little bit drama, and a little bit campy comedy in the vein of shows like Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Sunset Kills uses a simplified version of the Apocalypse World system, perfect for new players or those new to Powered by the Apocalypse-style games.
I’ve talked extensively about Sunset Kills and why I think it’s an excellent choice for a one-shot game, especially for groups that are interested in games that are Powered by the Apocalypse The rules are simplified so that each player only has to reference their one character sheet, and the GM is presented with a series of roll-tables that all fit within the genre of monster-hunting really really well. If you want to add some more horror to your game, I made my own playbooks inspired by Stranger Things, titled Stranger Hills; I think they mesh really well with the original game.
Something Is Wrong With The Chickens, by Elliot Davis.
Bryson Foods, Inc has taken everything from us.
We are Chickens.
We are Eldritch Horrors.
Make. Bryson. Pay.
Something Is Wrong With The Chickens is a one-page, rules-lite TTRPG of Chickens, Eldritch Horror, and Revenge for 2+ players, including 1 Chicken Master (CM).
This is another game I’ve personally played with friends. It’s goofy, it’s quick, and it’s an easy-to-understand concept that your players will understand with very little explanation. My own table included a half-chicken-half-sheep abomination, and a staunchly anti-fascist Comrade Cluck. There’s also a holiday expansion, called Something Is Wrong With The Turkeys, if you want some new villains, new stakes, and a bonus Side Dish Rule!
The Great Soul Train Robbery, by Cloven Pine Games.
On the road to hell there was a railway line. An express train to the infernal city of Dis, crewed by furies and carrying treasure and souls to damnation. You’re going to rob it.
The Great Soul Train Robbery is a tabletop roleplaying game for 2–6 players and 1 gamemaster about Desperados robbing the train to Hell.
Spin an allegorical Weird Western yarn as your sharpshooters, fiddlers, homesteader widows, and other Desperados attempt a Hellish train heist. Will you claim your prize from the train, or be overcome, damned, or broken by the heist?
Another game with a clear-cut concept and simple rules to boot, The Great Soul Train Robbery absolutely sings to me because it takes a very simple system (Honey Heist) and pairs that system with top-notch GM advice. Character creation feels fleshed out even though it’s mostly two series of roll-tables, and the act of moving through a series of train cars limits the players in a rail-road that makes complete sense, without taking away agency. This is great for game-masters who are concerned that they might be unprepared for unexpected twists that their players might throw at them.
The Vampire Next Door, by Cat Elm.
It’s the late 2000s, school’s out for summer, and you’re headed out of town to stay with your grandparents in the idyllic Yorkshire village of Wymton-on-Tee. Your summer plans include exploring the countryside, and most importantly enjoying Grampy’s famous chocolate chip cookies…. except that you’re pretty sure that Vladimir Alucard, Grommy and Grampy’s new neighbour is an evil bloodsucking vampire.
And none of the adults will believe you.
The Vampire Next Door is a roleplaying game for 3-7 players, intended for single-session or short form play. It’s an homage to classic shows like Scooby Doo, Mona the Vampire, and Gravity Falls, where it’s down to the kids to be smarter than the adults and save the day.
I played this with a first-time GM four years ago and had a blast. Characters are simple, and the game comes with a map and a series of events and clues that are laid out for the GM to drop into the game as their players snoop around town. There’s only one change that I’d recommend making to this game, and that’s reducing the # of clues the kids need to find in order to prove that your neighbour is up to no good. Four is hard for a one-shot, but three is totally do-able!
The Family Rat, by V2S Games.
ONE OF YOU IS THE HEAD OF AN ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILY.
The rest of you are ‘friends’ or members of the family, who will be forced to decide where your loyalties lie.
Who can you trust? Who’ll be left standing? How will the family survive?
The Family Rat is a Tale of 21 and a hack of The King’s Poisoner. It’s a one-page tabletop roleplaying game for 3–8 players, which can be played with a deck of regular or virtual playing cards OR two ten-sided dice (2d10).
I’d consider this to be a rules-lite game if your players are all familiar with the game of blackjack. It uses tropes from The Godfather series, in which an increasingly suspicious mafia leader attempts to root out disloyalty among their ranks; potentially fomenting a great deal of resentment along the way. If you love tragedy, revenge, and terrible people, you’ll probably like The Family Rat.
Faewater, by A Smouldering Lighthouse.
In the darkest woods, you may find the fae. Old and strange, their power and pleasure can be intoxicating. In the darkest waters, you may find the same.
A group of mortals have gathered to seek the deep fae. Tonight is your final act after months of secret meetings. You must not fail now.
Faewater is a one-page dark fantasy game about underwater fairies and the mortals they prey on. This tabletop role-playing game is designed to be played in a single two to three hour session.
For fans of folk horror, Faewater is a GM-less game meant to last just over 2 hours, Slowly but surely, your group will lose the mortals among their number, while the fae you are seeking out contribute to the eeriness of the scene and offer temptations that will chip away at the mortal numbers one by one. As is true for many horror games, Faewater works so well for one-shots because there’s a definitive ending to these types of stories; the moment when there are no more survivors.
Lady Blackbird, by John Harper.
Lady Blackbird is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe. She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover: the pirate king Uriah Flint.
HOWEVER, just before reaching the halfway point of Haven, The Owl was pursued and captured by the Imperial cruiser Hand of Sorrow, under charges of flying a false flag.
EVEN NOW, Lady Blackbird, her bodyguard, and the crew of The Owl are detained in the brig, while the Imperial commander runs the smuggler ship’s registry over the wireless. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the outstanding warrants and learn that The Owl is owned by none other than the infamous outcast, Cyrus Vance.
How will Lady Blackbird and the others escape the Hand of Sorrow? What dangers lie in their path?
Will they be able to find the secret lair of the pirate king? if they do, will Uriah Flint accept Lady Blackbird as his bride? By the time they get there, will she want him to?
Lady Blackbird is the GOAT, in my completely biased opinion. I say this because this is the first ever game I ran as well as the first game I ever played. I loved the setting, loved the game advice, and loved the scenario & characters that it set our group up with. Everything in this game sets you up for success, and I highly recommend it.
When You Want More….
I’ve got a nice full one-shot tag that you can browse if you want to see more.
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