What Daggerheart one-shots have I run? | The pile after the kitchen night

I keep a saucer of Fear tokens on the fridge now, and after that first kitchen night I started grabbing other published one-shots and running them.

I have run eight published one-shots, and I score each night out of five for ease, theme, and whether I would hand it to you. Sablewood, The Wish Thief, 300 Zombies, Flight of Fortune, and The Quest for the Crimson Lady are the fours. Dying Spire, Phantom Peak, and Goat Herders Wanted sit at three.

Here is how the number works, which free file I print first, which nights I would not hand a stranger, and what I print once they already know the game.

How I score the one-shots I have run

This is the pile, not a catalogue. The number is one score for how it played: ease, theme, the way the mechanics showed up, and whether I would hand it to you. I am not splitting that into four mystery scores, and I am not calling any of them the best, because best is a table word. These are the ones I could actually get, and the nights I had with them.

The Sablewood Messengers is a four. Spenser Starke wrote it, with Rowan Hall and Mike Underwood, and it is free. It is a crate, a carriage, a village called Hush, and the Whitefire Arcanist at the other end of a map. There are two to five of you, five Level 1 pregens, and five acts. There is no clock printed, and you will not need one. It is the easiest thing I have put on a table, and I dock it one because a sealed one-shot would have let us go home finished.

The Wish Thief is a four. Rob Hebert wrote it, and Sadie Lowry edited it. It is free. You get a royal birthday, a wish tied up in a tiara, a lockdown, a chase through a festival, and a fight. There are nine pregens, one of each core class, and it is Tier 1 and Level 1. It has a beginning, a thief, and a confrontation, which Sablewood refuses to give you. I am not giving it five because the clock is tight, and because that last solo wants tuning.

The other fours are 300 Zombies, Flight of Fortune, and The Quest for the Crimson Lady. The threes are not failed nights. They are nights I would not put in a stranger’s hands first.

Which one-shot I print if nobody has played

If nobody has played, print Sablewood, and tell them the spire is next week. It plays like The Edge Chronicles sat down with Avatar: The Last Airbender, because you get a kind forest, hybrid animals, and a first sit that wants to teach you how to be at the table. People like it because you can cut the standees and go, and of course they do. It is the official first session. What I like is the same thing that still annoys me, because it does not close. The Arcanist points west at a spire and you want next week.

If you need a closed night and a free file, print The Wish Thief, and cut the festival before it eats the thief. I ran it on a night when we had three hours and no patience for a sequel hook, and I compressed the festival because if you let the carnival breathe, three hours will eat the thief. We still got there. The last fight is meaner than the cake. I liked the lockdown because I spent Fear to make the castle actually close, and for once the token felt like a door.

Those two are the first print because I can get them this afternoon. Sablewood if you want the game to teach the table. Wish Thief if you want to go home finished.

Which one-shots are the wrong first print

Dying Spire is a three. The booklet is a pain to get, because it is a Free RPG Day night at Level 2 and Tier 2, with pregens and standees. Carlos Cisco wrote it. I ran it as the sequel because we still wanted the spire, and Duality was already in our hands, so the night was cleaner than Sablewood, and meaner, because nobody was teaching us to sit. If you do not have the booklet, do not plan tonight around it. The play was fine. Getting the booklet is not.

Phantom Peak is a three. Louise wrote it. You get a lodge, a mountain, a mining accident, and things in the snow that look like people you loved. There is no printed tier and no printed clock. I ran it as a winter night, not a festival, and I left it modern. Guilt as a monster is a clean Fear spend. I liked it more than the number, and the number is still three because I would not tell you this is the one to print first.

Goat Herders Wanted is a three. Erik Smith wrote it. Old Farm Woman Edna hires you to fetch her prize-winning goats from a jealous neighbour. I ran it as the stupid job that is not the job, because Fear is for the neighbour and then for whatever is actually eating the goats. The joke has to land. It is a good second night, and not the one I would hand a stranger.

Which one-shots I print once they know the game

If the table is sick of courtesy, print 300 Zombies Walk Into A Bar. Erik Smith wrote it. There are three to five of you at first or second level, and it takes three to four hours. You survive until dawn, and there is a new Death move and a zombie virus. I ran it in that window. Horror is easier than I expected, because Fear already wants the room to get worse, and a virus gives you somewhere to spend it. If you came for high fantasy courtesy, this is the wrong night. I am not putting it at five because it is not the Daggerheart most people sat down to play.

If they want a job, print Vaultbreakers: Flight of Fortune. Arcadev wrote it. The job is a heist on the Gilded Glider during the Gilded Gala. You steal the Floatstone and get out, and there is no printed clock. I ran it as a heist night, because Hope is for the plan and Fear is for the gala noticing you. That is a five for theme if you like a job, and a four for ease once you accept there is no printed clock.

If they already picked Witherwild, print The Quest for the Crimson Lady. Gm Atari wrote it. You find Mar Dornov in Wildfar, keep harvesting the Crimson Lady, and stop Haven turning to stone. I ran it for a table that already wanted Witherwild later. I am not giving it five because it is a preamble, not a closed world of its own.

Print the free file that matches the night you have. Leave the threes until the table can carry them.