one-off RPG for 3

February 2, 2022 2:01 PM

My partner, our 16-year-old kid, and I want to play a tabletop role-playing game that's intended to start & finish in a single session (including character creation, tho pre-made characters are probably even better) of 2-4 hours. One of us can act as GM if required. Any recommendations?
posted by slappy_pinchbottom to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (21 answers total)

"Back-in-the-day", I fondly remembered HeroQuest for this type of thing.

However - apparently you would have to find a vintage copy at an outrageous price. (There is a crowdfunding campaign to bring it back, but...)

So - personally, that is where I would start my search - look for alternatives or replacements.
posted by rozcakj at 2:08 PM on February 2, 2022

One page RPGs are great for this exact situation.

Here's a list of recommendations for Grant Howitt's various games, which are designed to be a bit lighter and sillier in tone but are very fun (you might have already heard of Honey Heist).

I also enjoyed Lasers & Feelings, which is sci fi themed.
posted by fight or flight at 2:15 PM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

Two PCs and a GM is pushing it a bit for most any RPG.

Ten Candles does this, but it's also designed to be very sad. (the "tragic horror" genre, and everyone dies by the end). Character creation is a collective exercise. One upside of the premise though is that no one need worry about "winning" - there's no win condition. This leaves everyone free for storytelling.
posted by mrgoat at 2:55 PM on February 2, 2022

How experienced are you? Most of the adventures written for organized play societies like D&D Adventurer's League or Pathfinder Society or intended for single session play, so targeted at around 4 hours. The adventures are affordably priced and can be used outside of the context of organized play easily enough. That said, they assume that the DM/GM is experienced and that the players already have characters made (or use a pregen).

If you wanted something more on the indie end, but still feels like D&D then something like Dungeon World + The Indigo Galleon should take 2-4 hours assuming you are on task and the DM knows how to run a Powered by the Apocalypse game (i.e., has read the rulebook and maybe watched/listened to other people play).

You could also look for quick start or jump start adventures for whatever game you might be interested in. Most of the medium sized press and higher publishers make these as introductions to their systems. The idea being you pick one of the characters and run through an introductory adventure that teaches you the basics. The hope is that you then go on to buy the books from them. This website has a pretty good list.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 2:57 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

(There is a crowdfunding campaign to bring it back, but...)

Which was successful - sadly, HeroQuest 2021 is $125 - not exactly entry level.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:58 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

It's already been linked above but I will second the recommendation for Honey Heist. It's my go-to for short no-prep games. I've played it with several groups at varying levels of experience (for one group, it was their very first rpg) and it's easy to pick up and always a great time.

If you want a more standard "daring heroes having dangerous adventures" kind of game, I will recommend running an Ironsworn oneshot. This requires a little more prep (in that at least one of you should probably read the rulebook before playing) but character creation is really easy and the game is designed to be generated as you play so no one has to do any sort of adventure pre-planning. Also, it can be played with or without a GM, depending on your preferences. Plus it's free in PDF form.
posted by darchildre at 3:10 PM on February 2, 2022

Do you want to pay or are you only after free options? Silly or serious (broadly speaking)? Any particular flavor of game (sci-fi, fantasy, western, etc.)? Have you all played a tabletop game before or not? Is there a system you and/or the players are already comfortable with?

I ask these questions because there's a lot of good stuff out there, but there's lots of caveats. For instance, the one-page RPGs by Grant Howitt linked above are amazing, but they rely heavily, in my eyes anyway, on the GM being very comfortable with only the basic sketch of a premise instead of something more explicitly detailed. There are tons of single-session adventures for Dungeons & Dragons, but if you're not familiar with the core of the game, just making up characters can eat up time like mad.

Some options that I think have enough to go on without too high a bar for entry:
The Deep Forest
You Awaken in a Strange Place
Lady Blackbird
Death Takes a Holiday
No Boundaries
Suited

Hope that helps a little. Feel free to Memail me.
posted by xenization at 3:10 PM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Not directly what you asked, but if you like the fighting part the most and not as much the role playing, you might be interested in playing a boardgame like Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion instead. It has scenarios where you do one or two per session so there is a start and end. I think there are 20-something scenarios in the box. No DM so all 3 of you could play a character and you would play your character throughout, improving, gaining levels and items and such.
posted by cmm at 3:20 PM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

I saw some folks on YouTube (Drawfee) play The Quiet Year and it looked real nice. Creative, short, well directed, and no need to create characters.
posted by phunniemee at 3:37 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I see that xenization has mentioned You Awaken in a Strange Place which I also know because of Drawfee, and that one is great, too!
posted by phunniemee at 3:39 PM on February 2, 2022

Question: do you want an RPG that only takes 2-4 hours per session and you intend to play it more than once? Or more like you're going to play it only once and it can't take longer than 2-4 hours. Any RPG take be done in 2-4 hour increments, as long as the group is in agreement and you use adventures that have a ETA of less than 4 hours. It takes a little skill but it's not impossible to have interesting short sessions.
If you mean to never play it again, one of the RPGs xenization listed is probably good, or try Fiasco or an RPG-like board game. You can also usually find previous year entries to Free RPG Day or other quickstart rule sets floating around. It's usually enough to start playing and an adventure that runs under 3 hours.
posted by fiercekitten at 3:41 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ditto Lady Blackbird.
posted by juv3nal at 4:01 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I asked this question before and the best answer for us was Goblin Quest.
posted by gnutron at 5:12 PM on February 2, 2022

If you’re willing to pay for a game, the Time Stories fantasy expansion was a good single-sitting RPG experience for my wife, who is new to tabletop. It’s sort of a board game, but the cards play the role of a DM (strategically revealing info, etc) and there are very simple stats and combat mechanics. The lore even lampshades roleplaying conventions (your player characters are inhabiting the bodies of existing characters via time travel handwavium, so of course you’re pretending to be a rogue, Palladin, wizard, etc)!
posted by Alterscape at 6:02 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Lasers and Feelings also has loads of hacks, so Swords and Scrolls, for example, a fantasy themed version that uses the same super simple rolls structure. There's also Fiasco
posted by Geameade at 7:40 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, Dang! Bigfoot Stole My Car (With My Friend's Birthday Present Inside)

Based on Lasers and Feelings, but more ridiculous.
posted by rouftop at 8:30 PM on February 2, 2022

Fiasco is pretty great. No GM but it's better if someone reads the rules ahead of time at least. You can pick a scenario with the flavor/setting you're in the mood for.
https://bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/
posted by february at 3:46 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Kosmos the game publisher has a series of $15 single adventure games where you just draw a card and play through a pre built map and story. It plays more as a point and click adventure that you are playingnthrough cooperatively but your individual characters will have different skills and attributes and you will need to work together. Heres one of them that I played and enjoyed. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267813/adventure-games-dungeon
posted by edbles at 5:41 AM on February 3, 2022

Ross Cowman's Fall of Magic is an amazing gm-less storytelling game that uses a map and prompts to guide the players through a fantasy setting. The physical version is spendy (and beautiful) but the digital/print-and-play version is excellent and only $20. It's great as an intro to role-playing and mixed-ages groups, since the players choose which story elements (like violence) they want to bring in or leave out of the game. The full game is more than 3 hrs, but you can get pretty far into it in that time (if you start at the beginning) or you can always begin "further" into the map, if you prefer.

Link to Shut Up and Sit Down's review.
posted by radiogreentea at 9:02 AM on February 3, 2022

Going to second the Goblin Quest recommendation, I've played it with experienced gamers as well as people who've never done a TTRPG and everyone has had a good time. It works with and without a GM and has several variations as well, like Sean Bean Quest, Space Interns, and even Regency Ladies! Start to finish you can play it within your timeframe, especially with only 3 people. Highly recommended!
posted by dellsolace at 9:28 AM on February 3, 2022

Seconding Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion if you'd consider standalone scenarios that link with a story arc. You can download an app to have events narrated, which is cute, and you don't have to spend any time being the DM, which can be a nice change. Set up is fairly quick. You build up your character and progress through a story in a very easy going way, which sounds like a thing you're looking for.
posted by mkdirusername at 9:36 AM on February 4, 2022