The second guideline is to make simple characters, both on mechanical and characterisation side. That is, each should have a clear hook that helps in roleplaying it, such as a simple manner and a strong personal goal.

The third guideline is to be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm always helps.

Kurt: If your players are eager to do character generation for a one-shot, you’re in good shape. It can be a lot of fun to tinker with characters, and a one shot like yours gives you a good excuse to do so.

Age: Sounds perfect– quick and easy.

Darth Krzysztof: I haven’t read Blood Brothers, but your idea of running a module for a one shot sounds like both a good way to enjoy a story you’ve read and a good way to try out something new.

I always wanted to use one of these as a standby, but it’s never come up.

If you’re using a familiar system, you don’t necessarily need pregens on a crunch-heavy system. I ran a one-shot with a week’s notice to make up 16th level (D&D 3.5) characters, and we all had a blast.

Unless the system supports a very quick generation system or an “on-the-fly” method of generation, a one shot game just about demands that pre-gens be used. I like D&D 3.5, for example, but I don’t want to invest the time necessary to create a good D&D character that I will only use once. That would be about twenty-five percent of my game time spent in character creation… not good.

I think rules light or rules lighter games are more ideal than the medium or heavy rules games both for people new to gaming to learn, or for experienced players to pick up on quickly. D&D 3.5 with pre-gens and a simple straight forward scenario might work for a one-shot, but something like Star Wars Saga Edition or Spirit of the Century would probably work better.

As far as unusual experiences go, Spirit of the Century was (is) primed for that sort of thing. It was geared for wild pulp action goodness where almost anything could happen. Some of the actions that Paul and I took in the game were because it was a one-shot and we felt like fully embracing the genre of pulp action. Why play it safe in a pulp action one-shot? For some reason, we forgot this in our second one-shot, but I digress. With Spirit, it was a combination of rules light and genre that was so suitable for the unusual experience.

For a one shot, I generally follow the KISS rule (Keep it Stupid Simple). Campaigns have time to evolve grand plots which will change the course of nations or empires. One-shots aren’t really geared for that sort of thing. The players should be presented with a simple and fairly straight forward objective that will keep everyone focused. That simple plot should include really nifty parts of the rules such as the nifty chase sequences in SotC, the gritty gunfights of Coyote Trail, or the rich-in-theme morality struggle of Dogs in the Vineyard.

As far as handouts go, I can’t recommend them enough. The at-a-glance handouts for Star Wars Saga Edition or the handout you passed out for SotC are perfect examples for an easy to read, easy to understand, as well as useful tool for teaching the basics of the game. I think these things are important: Easy to read, easy to comprehend, and useful without going overboard. For a game that has lots of skills, letting the players know what those skills do might be good. The players don’t have to know how everything works mechanically, but they do need to have a good idea of what their character can do in the game.

I think that a short background snippet of information can be extremely helpful in getting players into their character. A pre-gen character with stats and skills is just a character sheet. A pre-gen character with the addition of a short bio (a couple of paragraphs at most) and perhaps a few personality notations can be the ticket for a one-shot player to really shine during the game.