The Lantern Hall
Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermTabletop term

One-shot

A self-contained adventure designed to be played in a single session, common at conventions, for trying new systems and in Actual Play specials. Critical Role itself began as a birthday one-shot.

A self-contained adventure designed to be played in a single session, common at conventions, for trying new systems and in Actual Play specials. Critical Role itself began as a birthday one-shot.

Quick answers

What does "One-shot" mean?
A self-contained adventure designed to be played in a single session, common at conventions, for trying new systems and in Actual Play specials. Critical Role itself began as a birthday one-shot.

Nearby in the archive

Adventure module

Tabletop term1975

A prewritten adventure published for game masters to run: maps, room keys, monsters, treasure and a hook to get the party moving. Classic modules such as The Keep on the Borderlands and Tomb of Horrors taught a generation how to design dungeons.

Critical Role

Phenomenon2015

A home game among Los Angeles voice actors went live on Twitch in March 2015 and became the most influential actual-play show ever made, spawning a media company, a record Kickstarter and an Amazon animated series.

Gen Con

Convention1968

Born in a rented Lake Geneva hall with fewer than a hundred wargamers, Gen Con became the largest tabletop gaming convention in North America, where D&D's creators met and Magic: The Gathering debuted.

Session zero

Tabletop term

A meeting before a campaign begins in which the group agrees on tone, themes, rules, scheduling and Safety tools, and often creates characters together. It aims to prevent misunderstandings before they reach the table.