Short demo

[Xar]

I've been asked to run a game demo, but only a 2-hour time slot. I'm thinking of using a fantasy setting, but I'm having trouble thinking of something that will play in such a short time, and yet be memorable.
Party composition is very stock, to keep it simple.

Soldier, Wizard, Thief, Priest of Light, Ranger, etc.

I would love to hear some suggestions, please. Thanks much.

[Glistam]

At the entrance to the dragon's lair, they must now enter and retrieve the relic.

The ancient temple guardian has awoken and is chasing them right out of the collapsing temple - run for your lives!

No-one expected the tournament to be interrupted by a monster war party. Their cunning preparation has poisoned or felled most everyone else. Only the players stand between them and the heir to the throne.

"Remind me again why we thought it was a good idea to agree to collect the 'back taxes' from this Wizard who's been holed up in his tower for years? I guess we begin by knocking..."

[Bill]

Play out a variation on the three little pigs. The players must evict a small clan of hairy jacks from a village that they have stolen from peasants, enslaving many of them. There's a write up for them in Rifts Conversion Book One Revised. I don't know if there's a more fantasy-specific version.

I think it's a good option in that it applies the supernatural strength rules, horror factor, and a small amount of magic to make things interesting. They're clearly evil creatures, so you don't have to do a lot of discussion regarding whether they've got any right to the place. They're not too over-powered, so the players can probably beat a small group of them in the allotted time. They also work with other evil fairies, so you can escalate things easily if it starts to go too quickly.

[The Dark Elf]

If this is a demo game can we assume it is meant to attract new players?

Give it more thought then pls.

Why play PFRPG over other fantasy games?
What does PFRPG have in it that no other game has? Use this.

Two hours is a REALLY short time to demo something other than combat. As a demo the combat needs to be smooth and quick.

Personally I would run a dead reign scenario whereby the players are in an old supermarket looting when a couple of lurkers attack. somehow a loud noise is made (by a thinker zombie?) and attracts others surrounding the supermarket. Players need to survive.
Add zombies working the checkout still, zombies in the airducts, zombies bursting out of stacks of tin cans/promotional products, lots of weapons/make-shift weapons at hand. etc.
quick, simple action, intense, exciting and all the story plot is: go shopping!

You'll be able to tell the new players "If shopping is this much fun, wait to you see what the other games have in store!" (in-store; see what I did there?....)

[Icefalcon]

I have to agree with Dark Elf, Dead Reign makes a better choice for a two hour demo. It lends itself better to the short time frame.

[Xar]

It's not necessarily meant to attract new players, but that would be welcome. It's actually part of a party that a friend is putting on, and there are various activities during the course of the evening. Last year we played Magic the Gathering, and this year I volunteered to run something.

I picked fantasy because I thought it would be easiest to explain. Dead Reign makes sense-- it's my least favorite game setting, so I didn't even think of it.

I'm remembering an awesome short form game that J. Lionheart ran at one of the Open Houses. It was about two hours long.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

[Xar]

I made the players all high school students. Jr. Counselors at a summer camp.

They were stuck in the dining hall cleaning and making decorations while most of the camp was at the lake, swimming, and having a BBQ. Suddenly a sick little boy was brought in. He'd cut his foot on something in the water...and the wound was looking bad.

He rapidly gets worse, and despite some CPR, by one of the players, stops breathing. Just as the girl who rescued him starts having trouble breathing also, the body starts twitching, then growling at the players. Hilarity ensues. Cans of food used as impromptu missile weapons, as well as rolling pins and frying pans.

Epic moment of the night was when a big farm boy swung an extension ladder from the back of a maintenance truck to sweep to zombies out of the way for the rest of the survivors to make it out of the dining hall just before the entire camp population decends upon them.

Flammable cleaning fluids splash all over the zeds who are shortly thereafter en flambé, as the survivors peel out, and get away in the nick of time.

[MaxxSterling]

Do it for a fantasy setting, but have a rift open and something bad come out of it, like Kreeghor or the coalition, or both and have them get involved whilst in the middle of a dugeon crawl. OR... they start out doing a dungeon crawl, couple of rooms with orcs/goblins, but then have them pass through a "portal" (rift) in the middle of a hallway and have the walls now be all smooth and clean, with ambient lighting. Little do they know, they rifted into a lonestar R&D facility...

If all else fails, people love zombies. Run Dead reign.

But for a 2 hour slot, honestly I'd just play a board game or something else entirely.

[Noon]

Write out STRONG character motivations for your pre-gens.

Leave room for players to change their character motivation, but if subjectively to you their new motivation doesn't seem strong (like 'I just wanna grow cabages!') then they default to the characters pre written motivation.

Tie the motivations into the world you lay out.

[Alrik Vas]

I made the players all high school students. Jr. Counselors at a summer camp.

They were stuck in the dining hall cleaning and making decorations while most of the camp was at the lake, swimming, and having a BBQ. Suddenly a sick little boy was brought in. He'd cut his foot on something in the water...and the wound was looking bad.

He rapidly gets worse, and despite some CPR, by one of the players, stops breathing. Just as the girl who rescued him starts having trouble breathing also, the body starts twitching, then growling at the players. Hilarity ensues. Cans of food used as impromptu missile weapons, as well as rolling pins and frying pans.

Epic moment of the night was when a big farm boy swung an extension ladder from the back of a maintenance truck to sweep to zombies out of the way for the rest of the survivors to make it out of the dining hall just before the entire camp population decends upon them.

Flammable cleaning fluids splash all over the zeds who are shortly thereafter en flambé, as the survivors peel out, and get away in the nick of time.

Excellent work, sir.