Rulebooks for pen-and-paper role-playing games like the D&D Player’s Handbook 🛒 are often hundreds of pages long, with detailed descriptions of rules, worlds, and monsters. This artist has set out to do the exact opposite with the One Page Adventure, creating complete rulebooks and adventures that fit on a single page.
The adventures of gshowitt can be found here. Most of the rulebooks are available for download for a voluntary donation.
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KOBOLD ENDEAVOUR
The first of these rule sets that we tried out years ago was KOBOLD ENDEAVOUR. Players assume the roles of kobolds who serve a (super awesome) dragon king. However, there is a (naturally less awesome) rival to the dragon. Now the group must embark on a mission to steal as many treasures as possible from this rival and bring them to their own dragon without being detected.
Creating characters is super easy. First, a D6 is rolled to determine the color (and thus the element). Then, two D20s are rolled to determine which abilities the kobolds have for distracting opponents. There’s everything from “pointing somewhere” to “sales pitches” and “magical items”.
The game master then rolls a few more D6s to find out what type of enemies they are and where to find them, and you’re ready to go!
During the game, players simply roll a D6, and there are bonuses for the skills that were previously determined. It can also happen that the kobolds “involuntarily retire” if they fail too often.
With this set of rules, you can start within 10 minutes and have a lot of fun. The rounds will be so different each time that you can play it multiple times. The rules are simple and therefore also suitable for first rounds of new players, although the game master often has to improvise quickly and should perhaps be a bit more experienced.
One Page Adventure: Honey Heist
Another One Page Adventure, which might be familiar to some from Critical Role, is Honey Heist. This adventure involves a group of bears attempting to steal a vast amount of honey.
The characters are different types of bears and have various skills that are crucial for the heist. These are determined by rolling a D6. During the heist, players must ensure that their bear neither becomes too wild and escapes back into nature, nor becomes too much of a “criminal mastermind” and therefore betrays and abandons the rest of the group.
The game master rolls a few D6s to determine which obstacles are in the way and what special treasures await the band of bears. There might even be a plot twist once the safe is finally cracked.
This adventure is also quick to set up, very simple, and lots of fun. It does require some improvisation from the game master to weave a coherent story. If you’re still unsure, you can learn more about improv in pen-and-paper role-playing games here.
Of course, you can also prepare these adventures beforehand, or even incorporate them as mini-adventures into your own homebrew world. That’s what Marisha from Critical Role did:
