another discussion subject.

[technoir]

So there is an interesting discussion I came across in a podcast and i thought i would run it past my Laping homies. Now the vast majority of us play in long running campaigns. I was wondering if any of you had any thoughts on one shots. There is a school of thought that says an inclosed single event story can be more effective. While you may not get as involved in your characters the story can be very compelling if it has a well defined begining and end is very structured. I can honestly say some of my more memoriable larp moments came from one shot convention games. I still have people who talk to me about Uncle Vito and that was years ago. I was wondering what yall thought though. With all the continueing Larps people play, how many of you are actually fans of One Shot games.

Comments

[moosea1.livejournal.com]

I think the occasional one-shot is fun, but prefer to be able to develop a character. That said, as a busy mother, the appeal of one-shots has increased dramatically as I don't have the time or money to commit to a campaign and find it frustrating to attempt to hop in & out of a campaign because I feel like I'm always playing catch-up. With a one-shot, I'm on an even level with all the other players. And there's no long-term commitment to worry about.

[technoir.livejournal.com]

That is probably there one true strength. It is not an investment of time and energy beyond that day(well minor prep work). Now strangely the project is far more work than a single event of a long running game for the folks organizing.

[moosea1.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely! They are a TON of work because players expect to be entertained the whole time rather than spending some downtime entertaining themselves. Thus the downside of no character development.

There is a middle ground. One shot events with some continuing characters (The ones that survived the previous game). The plot isn't continuous, per se, but the characters can be.