Birthday games. Several of our recent articles and episodes discuss our passion for running birthday games for our game group, whether it be D&D, the OSR, Avatar Legends, or the classic Marvel Super Heroes system; it’s become our thing.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the recent Birthday Game they ran where The Doctor teamed up with the Sensational She-Hulk and members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to stop the impending Cyberman invasion orchestrated by the wielder of the Cosmic Control Rod, Annihilus, and do battle against the Brood in a giant Space Whale (believe us…. It made way more sense at the table!)
We then discuss our 7 best tips to help you build your own Very Special One-Shot for Birthdays or any other day!
And what makes a better birthday gift than dice? Check out our affiliate link at FanRoll Dice and use code 3WISEDMS10 to get 10% off your entire order!
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2:20 Finding the right type of setting and property to showcase the gift of the Birthday Game. DM Tony revisits his love of the classic AD&D adventure, Castle Greyhawk.
4:30 Tip #1: Have a Solid Theme.
5:30 DM Dave gives a brief overview of the impetus for the “Lost Episode of Doctor Who” that birthed this episode.
8:25 Tip #2: Use Existing Properties: How we’ve built existing properties like Masters of the Universe into existing games, like our Curse of Strahd campaign. Shout-out to the team over at Nerdarchy!
16:20 Tip #3: Choose the Best System for the Setting AND the Players.
18:00 Tip #4: Go All Out. Terrain, minis, costumes… really stretch your limits.
19:00 We revisit DM Tony’s Murder Mystery One-Shot that he based off Clue.
20:19 Tip #5: Use the Players Favorite Character/Campaign as the Focus.
22:28 Tip #6: Tie It into Your Existing Campaigns… and our overarching Multiverse.
24:50 Tip #7: The most obvious… Focus on the Special Player.
30:45 DM Chris brainstorms planning a Birthday One-Shot in real time.
36:45 Final Thoughts.
What have you done for special one-shots? Have you run birthday or holiday games? We’d love to hear your stories!