Using a one-shot to ADD to your storyline.

By now the Monday post will probably have clued in on the fact that I ran a one-shot adventure over the weekend to get my two vet players "up to speed" on the game's mechanics. Monday's post explains all of that and what happened in it, but I'd like to talk about what I was doing, and why I'm doing it. I'm gonna have to put a warning right here and right now, if any of you assholes from the party are reading this, you're awesome but you gotta stop reading. This post has some spoilers and I really would rather you guys not read this.

The Prologue

The gist was that Maggot and Dunmur were given two throw away characters, and were thrown into a prison. I start off the game with them being on a boat and having a short 'cutscene' where the boat is destroyed and they fall unconscious from hitting their head. They wake up in a cell and have to escape from a Naga infested dungeon. The dungeon was actually an underwater research lab where these Naga were doing tests and experiments on humans, following the orders of a superior that isn't present. The players have no idea who is giving these orders but through the game they get the hint that these kidnappings are not for money or food, but for research.

But ... Why? This is exactly the kind of reaction I was looking for, and more importantly just these two players. The other players aren't around at the time but they also don't really need to see all of this because they're trying to learn rules let alone all of this foreshadowing with the story. But more importantly, the other players don't really need a lot of time to learn the rules, so to entertain them a bit more, I hope to drag them in with the story; because, after the first few games of D&D you stop having that "WOW HOLY SHIT I CAN DO ANYTHING" feeling and you need more to enjoy the game nearly as much.

The point of this hook was to let their brains ask questions, and as they play through the main campaign they will start to see the same Naga that they ran into. They will start to see Doppelganger's and other strange creatures that these Naga have been working on, and they'll start asking questions. Very likely they will direct these questions to me, like, no subtlety, just asking. And I don't mind this, in fact, I love it.

These Naga are working for a higher being hiding in the ocean, that's working for another being ... But for the first few sessions, the players will not really be doing much except muddling about and murdering things. They'll be fighting kobolds, goblins, and more until they're strong enough to take on stronger questions. I'm significantly undermining what goes on in my game, but it's the general gist of their tasks. I'll be bleeding in hints that these lower levels monsters are serving something greater until they find out that these are all under the control of the same Naga, they ran into in this session. There characters don't know it, but the players do, and they will get excited.

And so far, I think this has worked, fast forward about a week or so and I actually was able to run the game, it's going perfectly.

The Point

Really, it comes down to this: You can use one-shots to tell stories without endangering, or giving a direct hook for the characters. It can be as subtle as an attempt at foreshadowing, or a direct out-of-character reveal about what's going on while they're characters are busy. It also can be a fantastic source of contrast; two characters stuck in a cell, barely surviving, and then you have a whimsical adventure about saving some sailors so they can go on their merry way to adventure.

You have to be careful about how much information you'd like to give, and to who. If your players can't be trusted with out-of-character knowledge then you should try to hide some stuff. However if they're more manageable and tame, then you can essentially go all out and just have fun with it!

Cheers!