So I've seen about a dozen videos recently and more than a dozen RPGs designed specifically for "one shots" lately.
A one shot is running a one or two session long campaign.
A campaign is the entire duration of a canonical play experience of a RPG.
I know I don't usually define terms but in this case I felt it necessary because one-shots are what happens when your game dies, not what happens when your game completes. You don't even really get invested in a character properly until you've been playing them for 2 months of weekly sessions or so.
That means one-shots are specifically not something you should aim for. To do so is to be a fucking idiot. There are people who say otherwise I will now defuse these bad opinions:
Firstly, some games are designed specifically for one-shot play. These games simply aren't designed properly to be roleplaying games. Garbage like Sorcerer and Powered by the Turdpacalypse where advancement is either not considered or a complete afterthought, follow me here, are designed poorly. Being light is fine, but mechanics have to maintain interest in their own existence or they are POOR mechanics. Humanity, in every system that has had it as a mechanic, has always been a shit sandwich of useless boringness that nobody cares about. Any game that's design doesn't account for campaign play is TRASH. Campaigns by their very nature should be able to last at least a year of weekly play.
Secondly, people say it's a good way to test out a new game system. If you need to test out a game system above and beyond what you could do yourself without involving anyone else, and you're specifically not testing out the long term mechanics like level up procedures or the like, you're an idiot. I'm not sure you should GM because you don't make logical choices when given a set of options.
Thirdly people say it's a way to keep yourself from burning out on a system. So, GMing is actually the thing you burn out of. Not a specific system. You can run the well of ideas dry, or be tired of the genre or the cast of characters or your own world. None of these things is the game system's fault. What you really need is a break from GMing, or a break from RPGs entirely. That's why your crew should also be into board games, wargames, card games, and lastly cinema viewing.
So that's what I recommend. Diversify tastes beyond roleplaying and essentially develop a cadre of friends who also roleplay, instead of a roleplaying troupe.
