One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast

46 episodes listed below

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Short RPG arcs, loud genre turns.

The gist

One Shots treats actual play as a rotating playground for short RPG arcs. Recent stories move from Canada by Night’s Vampire the Masquerade tension to Hallmark action-movie absurdity and Goblin Quest mayhem in the 41st millennium.

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About One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast

One Shots is an actual-play anthology that uses short RPG arcs as permission to change worlds, tones, and hazards often. The recent excerpts show a show comfortable moving from gothic danger to broad comedy without pretending those modes are separate. Canada by Night brings Vampire the Masquerade into New Haven, where Everett Fry arrives and is quickly drawn into sheriff duties, frenzied kindred, deputies, feeding, torpor, and small-town urgency. That story has shadowy stakes. It also pauses for domestic details, uniforms, awkward intimacy, and the strange practical life of being a vampire with a job. Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up swings in another direction. Holly Ringer returns to Hallmark after her mother’s death, Ringer’s Sweets and Treats sits at the center of family obligation, and the Chestnut Festival becomes a launchpad for drones, escape plans, America Force, and action-film logic. The contrast is the joke, but the table plays it as a real problem for the characters. Then the Goblin Quest material goes louder. No Grotz, No Glory and The Nightmare Before Squigmas turn the 41st millennium into a chain of reckless plans, stolen rockets, bigger knives, holiday revenge, and slapstick catastrophe. Characters die, return, shout, grab, stab, steer, and fail forward. The rules are present enough to matter. The performance stays loose enough that a failed roll can become the best thing in the scene. That balance is the show’s engine. It favors momentum over polish and consequence over neatness. The players build bits out of mechanics, but the stories are still legible: protect the town, escape the trap, launch the rocket, save the holiday, survive the night. One Shots is best understood as a genre lab for actual play. It gives each premise room to become ridiculous, dangerous, or unexpectedly sincere, then lets the table find out which version the dice prefer.

Made for: Suits a listener who likes actual-play RPGs with fast genre changes, theatrical character work, and dice-driven chaos. It is especially fit for someone who enjoys both dark supernatural scenes and broad comic escalation.

What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its anthology structure: Vampire the Masquerade, Hallmark action pastiche, and Goblin Quest chaos can sit beside each other without one campaign tone taking over. Each arc gets a distinct premise while keeping the table’s improvisational energy intact.

In their own words

One Shots is a Dumb-Dumbs & Dice live-play podcast where professional voice actors and improvisers tackle "one shot" adventures set in different RPGs. Join us in Eberron, Avernus, an 80's Buddy Cop Film, Star Trek, the grim future of Warhammer 40K and more! Our intrepid heroes and villains are joined by various DMs, GMs, and more as they explore new worlds and new games! The show is hosted by our Dungeon Master, Tom McGee (@mcgeetd), and our regular players Ryan LaPlante (@theryanlaplante) and Tyler Hewitt (@Tyler_Hewitt)! Follow our heroes, experience new RPGs and enjoy the ongoing insanity!

Why you'd press play

A bakery handoff, then drone swarms: your appetite for tonal whiplash has found its table.

Press play if you want

  • a hometown bakery dilemma to turn into a desperate bus escape
  • vampire deputies whose feeding problems complicate their police work
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
actual-play RPG arcsvampires and kindred troublesmall-town supernatural troubleHallmark-style action parodyGoblin Quest chaosdice-driven combatimprovised character choices41st millennium comedy

Talks about

Best episodes of One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

1.02 - The SituationJan 20, 2025

A new sheriff's involuntary diablery forces his deputies to rethink what his authority now means.

Everett Fry arrives in New Haven expecting a desperate errand to Calgary, only to have a sheriff's authority land on him at the worst possible moment.

1.01 - Welcome to New HavenJan 20, 2025

A stolen hearse, a cryptic message, and reluctant vampirism pull Everett Fry out of Montreal.

Everett Fry arrives as a homicide detective turned reluctant vampire, pulled away from Montreal by an incomprehensible message from Ridley Beef and toward New Haven.

Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up - Episode 2 - Escaping HallmarkDec 16, 2024

A Hallmark evacuation turns movie-star heroics, family loyalty, and a runaway bus into a sharply escalating escape.

A chestnut festival curdles into a survival scramble once Polaris Roman's ninjas, evil carnival workers, drones, and engineers overrun the event, with released gas making escape the only sensible move.

Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up - Episode 1 - Heading Home to HallmarkDec 16, 2024

A bakery homecoming drifts from Hallmark comfort into drone-lit conspiracy.

Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up starts with Holly Ringer returning home after her mother's death, caught between a family bakery she has inherited and the big-city life still pulling at her.

The Nightmare Before Squigmas - Part 1Oct 31, 2024

A Warhammer 40,000-style holiday one-shot where grots chase fortune through a war camp made for quick, messy consequences.

The Nightmare Before Squigmas sends a holiday one-shot into the Granch's war camp, giving the grots a suitably brutal stage for quick schemes and faster consequences.

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Episodes

  1. 1

    1.02 - The Situation

    Hidden gem

    Everett Fry is forced into New Haven's sheriff role after a station fight ends with him almost committing diablerie and the victim decomposing in seconds.

    Jan 20, 2025·54m·3 clips
  2. 2

    1.01 - Welcome to New Haven

    ["Ridley Beef sends Everett Fry from Montreal to Calgary to rescue his mother from Damien Black, and Everett leaves in a stolen hearse with a driver he barely knows.", "The episode confirms Everett is a Ventrue with prey exclusion, so he can only feed on other vampires while the Camarilla would treat that as a capital crime.", "New Haven runs on vampire night shifts: Val's Cherry Hellcat, Evangeline Clark's tailored sheriff uniform, Teddy's daytime routine, and Doris's attic apartment of candles and cards.", "The first New Haven crisis lands when four frenzied vampires, including a Nosferatu, a gangrel, and Fabienne Lacroix, smash into the sheriff's office and force the team into combat."]

    Jan 20, 2025·56m·4 clips
  3. 3

    Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up - Episode 2 - Escaping Hallmark

    Hidden gem

    Polaris Roman's crew turns Hallmark's Chestnut Festival into a siege with chestnut gas, drones, guns, and armed rich tourists.

    Dec 16, 2024·50m·3 clips
  4. 4

    Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up - Episode 1 - Heading Home to Hallmark

    ["Ryan LaPlante launches Hallmark Never Stop Blowing Up with Josh Halbert, Dil Borvik, Guy Bradford, and Pam Sparrow as Holly Ringer flies home to Hallmark after Kelly dies and leaves her the bakery.", "Holly's phone call with Johnny Evans, who is shooting Forever in a Day 2, shows her split between a big-city life and a hometown she meant to leave behind.", "Hallmark itself gets a full map: chestnut fields, Springwater Lake, Holiday Castle, Fimblewinter Ski Resort, and the mountains Mama, Papa, Baby, and Dog.", "At Ringer's Sweets and Treats, Patricia \"Patty\" keeps Kelly's bakery running while Janice Fimblewinter, Jagger Wicks, and a stack of real-estate letters turn the Chestnut Festival into a pressure point."]

    Dec 16, 2024·1h 15m·5 clips
  5. 5

    No Grotz, No Glory - Part 1 (of 6) - Enemies To Lovers

    Hidden gem

    One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast begins “No Grotz, No Glory” with four Gretchens attempting to steal and launch a rocket across Armageddon during the third war between Commissar Yarek and Ghaz’Kul.

    Oct 31, 2024·55m·3 clips
  6. 6

    No Grotz, No Glory - Part 6 (of 6) - No Grotz, No Glory

    One Shots’ “No Grotz, No Glory - Part 6” follows Gretchens attempting to launch stolen rockets across Armageddon during the Third Battle of Armageddon.

    Oct 31, 2024·47m·3 clips
  7. 7

    No Grotz, No Glory - Part 2 (of 6) - Shoom! Shoom!

    Hidden gem

    One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast follows Tom McGee, Ryan LaPlante, Tyler Hewitt, Laura Hamstrack, and Del Borovic as Gretchens steal fuel and rockets on Armageddon in Goblin Quest.

    Oct 31, 2024·45m·3 clips
  8. 8

    The Nightmare Before Squigmas - Part 3

    Oct 31, 2024·46m
  9. 9

    No Grotz, No Glory - Part 4 (of 6) - Squig Bait

    Hidden gem

    One Shots: A Live-Play Mini Series Podcast puts Gretchen characters inside a Goblin Quest mission to move stolen rockets across Armageddon.

    Oct 31, 2024·43m·3 clips
  10. 10

    No Grotz, No Glory - Part 3 (of 6) - Bogartin’ The Bugeye

    Hidden gem

    One Shots: A Live-Play Mini Series Podcast follows GM Tom McGee and players Ryan LaPlante, Tyler Hewitt, Laura Hamstrack, and Del Borovic as Gretchens prepare a stolen rocket launch on Armageddon.

    Oct 31, 2024·41m·3 clips
  11. 11

    No Grotz, No Glory - Session Zero

    Oct 31, 2024·59m
  12. 12

    Quinny Quest: A Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons Story - Part 3 (of 4) - Ratface’s Riddles

    Oct 31, 2024·53m
  13. 13

    Quinny Quest: A Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons Story - Part 2 (of 4) - Welcome to the Gauntlet

    In One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast’s “Quinny Quest,” Truck, Cinder, and Yuro enter Ratface’s lethal thieves’ gauntlet in Greifandel, a city affected by Quinny Brownbarrow’s infamy.

    Oct 31, 2024·46m·3 clips
  14. 14

    The Nightmare Before Squigmas - Part 2

    Hidden gem

    One Shots presents the Goblin Quest continuation “The Nightmare Before Squigmas - Part 2,” following grots aboard Jake Scallington’s modified Drukhari raider.

    Oct 31, 2024·58m·4 clips
  15. 15

    No Grotz, No Glory - Part 5 (of 6) - Ocean's Squig-teen

    Hidden gem

    One Shots: A Live-Play Mini Series Podcast stages the fifth part of “No Grotz, No Glory,” as Gretchens prepare a stolen rocket during the Third War for Armageddon.

    Oct 31, 2024·44m·2 clips
  16. 16

    Quinny Quest: A Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons Story - Part 4 (of 4) - The Third Leg

    Hidden gem

    One Shots a Live-Play Mini Series Podcast presents a Quinny Quest side story in which new characters enter Greerfundell seeking a place in Quinny Brownbarrow’s elite thieves’ team.

    Oct 31, 2024·59m·4 clips
  17. 17

    Quinny Quest: A Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons Story - Part 1 (of 4) - Welcome to Griffondell

    Quinny Quest: A Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons Story - Part 1 follows Cinder Darkbane, Hugo “Truck” Bell Pepper, and Euronymous Kosh as they arrive in Greifandel for Quinny Brownbarrow’s thief recruitment.

    Oct 31, 2024·49m·3 clips
  18. 18

    The Nightmare Before Squigmas - Part 1

    Hidden gem

    Tom McGee opens Believed's "The Nightmare Before Squigmas - Part 1" as a GrotQuest one-shot, a Warhammer 40,000 reskin of Goblin Quest, with Ryan, Laura, and Del at the table.

    Oct 31, 2024·58m·4 clips
  19. 19

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 3 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·48m
  20. 20

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 1 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·58m
  21. 21

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Session Zero

    Jul 13, 2024·51m
  22. 22

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 4 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·49m
  23. 23

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 2 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·46m
  24. 24

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 6 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·44m
  25. 25

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 5 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·53m
  26. 26

    One Shot - Wrath & Glory: Traitor's Hymn - Ep 7 (of 7)

    Jul 13, 2024·1h 7m
  27. 27

    Crucible of the Gods - Ep 4 (of 4)

    Jun 26, 2024·1h 32m
  28. 28

    Crucible of the Gods - Ep 3 (of 4)

    Jun 19, 2024·1h
  29. 29

    Crucible of the Gods - Ep 2 (of 4)

    Jun 12, 2024·58m
  30. 30

    Crucible of the Gods - Ep 1 (of 4)

    Jun 5, 2024·59m
  31. 31

    Camarilla Crossover - Ep 3 (of 4)

    A live-play RPG podcast episode where eight vampires plan a heist in a Vampire: The Masquerade one-shot adventure.

    Apr 2, 2024·1h 5m
  32. 32

    Camarilla Crossover - Ep 4 (of 4)

    Apr 2, 2024·1h 37m
  33. 33

    Camarilla Crossover - Ep 2 (of 4)

    Apr 2, 2024·56m
  34. 34

    Camarilla Crossover - Ep 1 (of 4)

    Apr 2, 2024·1h 7m
  35. 35

    Blood Pact: Prison Break – Part 6 (of 6)

    A live-play RPG podcast where professional voice actors and improvisers play one-shot adventures in various game systems.

    Jun 24, 2021·1h 9m
  36. 36

    Blood Pact: Prison Break – Part 5 (of 6)

    Jun 17, 2021·1h 47m
  37. 37

    Blood Pact: Prison Break – Part 4 (of 6)

    Jun 10, 2021·1h 40m
  38. 38

    Blood Pact: Prison Break – Part 2 (of 6)

    A promotional segment for the Dumb Dumbs and Dice Patreon and merchandise, featuring the show's hosts and a character named Executron.

    Jun 3, 2021·1h 13m
  39. 39

    Blood Pact: Prison Break – Part 3 (of 6)

    This episode is a Patreon and merchandise promotion for Dumb Dumbs and Dice, a production company creating multiple actual play RPG podcasts.

    Jun 3, 2021·58m
  40. 40

    Blood Pact: Prison Break – Part 1 (of 6)

    Jun 3, 2021·1h 54m
  41. 41

    Echoes of Chaos playtest – ‘The Show Must Go On' – Part 4 (of 4)

    Feb 22, 2021·1h 12m
  42. 42

    Echoes of Chaos playtest – ‘The Show Must Go On' – Part 3 (of 4)

    Feb 22, 2021·58m
  43. 43

    Echoes of Chaos playtest – ‘The Show Must Go On' – Part 1 (of 4)

    Feb 22, 2021·1h 2m
  44. 44

    Echoes of Chaos playtest – ‘The Show Must Go On' – Part 2 (of 4)

    Feb 22, 2021·1h 16m
  45. 45

    Pick Me – Ep 1.5 (of 6)

    Dec 24, 2020·37m
  46. 46

    Pick Me – Ep 1.6 (of 6)

    Dec 24, 2020·48m