The dinosaurs had been one thing, but this was ridiculous.

You stand there facing down a humanoid who looked to be wearing armor of some type that completely covered their head. It was black, but it seemed to have a glass faceplate that allowed the person to look out. The glass seemed to be glowing though as if lit with some strange magic. The person had a pack on that was metallic and sleek. They were holding a blade that seemed to be made of energy and pointing some sort of crossbow at you though it had no wood or bolts. In stead it fit in the person’s hand and had numbers blinking on the side. The person was gesturing at you and saying something you didn’t understand.

Before, you’d been walking in a meadow and dinosaurs had appeared out of these portals. Now, in this forest, more portals had opened. A group of people who looked like your opponent had all appeared and immediately started fighting you. They’re weapons seemed sophisticated. They’d already downed on of your friends. Then it hit you. Maybe these people were from the future?

What would you like to do?

Welcome back to the 12th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Here, we’ll learn how to weave better stories for you and your friends as you play Dungeons and Dragons 5e.

Usually, I like to give you tools to create awesome stories rather than giving you awesome stories to just use. Kind of the idea of teach a man to fish rather than giving him a fish.

Today, I’m gonna just give you some fish. You’ll still have to prepare them for consumption however you like, but at least this should get you started. So let’s talk about a ideas for one shots.

Hopefully, these ideas do 2 things for you.

It should jump-start your creative juices and really get you moving on your campaign or next session.
It should give a starting point from which to make these one-shots your own. I’m not going to give you everything, but you’ll have enough to get going.

I also want you to know that I’m purposefully not giving you a lot. I want you to be able to come up with some on your own and make them happen. I’ll probably come up with more down the road, but for now, here are 2 to get you started.

1.Grimstock Manor

This is the haunted mansion that I just finished up with my group. Admittedly, it wasn’t a one shot, but you can modify it to be that way. Just a heads up, I’m going to give you a spoiler so if you want to play this yourself, you might want to close your ears.

The group will be tasked to clear out a mansion of ghosts in order to repurpose it as an orphanage. The mansion has always been haunted, or as long as the people in the nearby town can remember.

The group will encounter only undead creatures in the mansion. You can fill the mansion with puzzles (like I did) as well as many encounters, but the story of the mansion is that a suitor named Mitro Zelx came and courted Anandra, daughter of Lord and Lady Grimstock. She fell in love with Mitro, and Mitro used her pure love to turn the mansion into a demi-plane of undead necromancy. He gave her three gifts in order to cement his control over the house. You can modify it for time to be one gift or two. I would recommend for sure a ring and either a golden rose or a music box. You can have as many encounters as you want, but I would at least have the group fight Anandra (an undead bride with the stats of either a banshee or a wraith) and Mitro (a Death Tyrant with stats that are modified to fit your groups level). I would have these be two separate encounters. Once the group defeats Mitro, Anandra reappears to thank the group for setting her free (even if the group had killed her before fighting Mitro). Simple but a nice and easy one-shot.

2. The Fountain of Armolenos

Legend tells of a fountain that will grant the answer to one question of anyone who is worthy and enters into its pool. Lately, reports have emerged of the fountain having become tainted. It seems a local cult is trying to siphon the pool’s magics and bend them to their will.

This is another side-quest I’m taking my group on. It’ll be about 1 and a half sessions but I’ll probably find a way to string it along.

You’ll have the group make their way into the wilderness. At one point they’ll come to a clearing in that they have to cross. As they do cross, portals open up and actual dinosaurs walk out. The dinosaurs will be confused, but once they spot the adventurers they’ll attack them. After the group defeats the dinosaurs they will move on towards the fountain.

The next encounter will happen with the group finds themselves walking through a copse of trees. Suddenly, portals will open up and strange people will walk out, again acting confused. They will attack the adventurers. These people will have stats the adventurers can handle, but they will look like they are from the future, shooting laser weapons and force rifles. It give the players a puzzle in their minds to think through.

Once the group gets to the pool, they see priests trying to steal the magic from the fountain. Obviously they’ll have to defeat the priests (and any beasts or elementals the priests summon). After that the group will have to surmise a way to cleanse the pool. You can think of a fun way to do this. Then the group gets to have a question answered and you can leave the session on a cool cliff hanger. Viola.

There you go. Two one-shots, ready to go.

Let me know what you think and how these go for you.

If you have any suggestions, send them in a private message to @geronimolevis on Instagram. I can’t wait to hear from you.

Thanks for listening and until next time, roll initiative.

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