Not every Dungeons & Dragons campaign needs to span months or years. Often, the most memorable adventures happen in a single session. DnD one shots are perfect for holiday parties, game store events, conventions, or just a casual game night with friends.
If you want a fun story without the long-term commitment, the list below has what I think are the best free DnD one shots available for 5e. I've run these adventures personally, and I can confidently say that each one of these one shots delivers an exciting and memorable 5e experience for your party.
If you want a quick overview, you can use this handy-dandy table, and for more details on each of the one-shots, continue reading through the list.
Best Free One Shots for DnD 5e
Ranking | Title | Reason for Choice |
---|---|---|
1 | Grammy's Country Apple Pie | Hilarious, flexible adventure with multiple playthrough options and pre-generated characters. |
2 | Claus for Concern | Fun, silly Christmas-themed adventure with overwhelmingly positive reviews. |
3 | The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse | By Kelsey Dionne, creator of the Shadowdark RPG. Polished and easy-to-run, Skyhorn makes for a smooth and engaging experience. |
4 | Wild Sheep Chase | A lighthearted, funny adventure that's easy to pick up and play with minimal prep. |
5 | A Most Potent Brew | The perfect introduction to D&D 5e, designed specifically for players using the free Basic Rules. |
6 | Ice Road Trackers | Introduces the Icewind Dale setting and offers flexible play options for different time constraints. |
7 | Frozen Sick | Engaging story written by Matt Mercer of Critical Role, on D&D Beyond and Roll20 with pre-made assets. |
BONUS | The Liching Hour | Quick, fun adventure, great for Halloween, features a Vecna cameo |
BONUS | Phandalin After Dark | Travel to the Shadowfell to save the fan-favorite village from The Lost Mine of Phandelver. |
1. Grammy's Country Apple Pie

Grammy's Country Apple Pie is, without a doubt, my favorite DnD 5e one-shot adventure. It's a hilarious and surprisingly flexible adventure where a powerful wizard just wants… apple pie.
I've run this module multiple times, and each playthrough has been completely different. From goblin massacres to peace summits to building a global apple pie empire, the adventure has changed each and every time I've run it.
The one-shot is a free download from Wizards of the Coast, but you can also snag it on DMs Guild for only $1 to support the creator and get a hand-drawn map and pre-generated characters. I even made my own map in Dungeon Alchemist. Just click the image to open the full-size map.
If you end up running this free DnD one shot, let me know. I need to know how your party handles things.
2. Claus for Concern
In late 2020, things were awful in my life (and the rest of the world, admittedly). Part of what I did to cope with that was to get really into D&D. Then I wrote up a fun, silly, DnD one-shot for Christmas. I put it up for free on DMs Guild, and it turns out that people really enjoyed it. The reviews and ratings seem to indicate that it really is a good, fun, 5e one-shot.
So, yes, I am being both shameless and biased on this one, but I'm very proud to have a one-shot with over 22,000 downloads and a Mithral best-seller rank (less than 1% of content on the site has that!). The ratings and reviews that hold up to anything else on this list. So yeah, I'm proud of it.
I bet you'll really enjoy Claus for Concern, Have a great time trying to save Santa from Eldara the Christmas Witch!
Bonus Holiday DnD One Shots
And if you're really into holiday-themed adventures, I wrote Halloween one shots called The Liching Hour and Phandalin After Dark that will definitely make your spooky season a little more fun. Enjoy! Either is also great to slot in anytime you want some creepiness for your Phandalin/Phandelver adventures!
3. The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse

I would definitely be remiss if I didn't mention The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse. This is one of the best free D&D adventures you're going to find. Period. Everything about it is refined, from the player experience to the dungeon master running the game and getting the info they need on the fly.
Nearly everything in the adventure is presented in the easiest-to-digest way possible: bulleted lists. You don't get a ton of extraneous information, but you do get an incredibly fun and engaging one shot for 5th-level characters. Just look at this:
And just to wet your whistle even more, here's what the description says it includes:
- Three new monsters that prowl the ocean depths
- A goblin submarine, a darkmantle sea captain, and a marid with a pet starfish grove
- The Arcane Library's signature format to make running the adventure effortless
- Printable handouts/references for monsters, PCs, and special treasure
- Gorgeous maps designed for easy use with Roll20
And this one isn't even PWYW. It's just straight-up free. Don't miss The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse and its follow-up for level 8 characters, The Corruption of Skyhorn Lighthouse, which is still only $4.99.
Note: If you're a fan of the Shadowdark RPG, you should know the game's amazing creator, Kelsey Dionne, is also the mastermind behind these ,too, and they're absolutely some of the best DnD one shots out there.
4. Wild Sheep Chase
Another silly DnD one shot that you can nab for free is Wild Sheep Chase. If you're not a fan of silly D&D, you may want to skip this one, but if you are…there's no way this description won't hook you immediately.
Adventure, danger and a decent dose of downright weirdness erupt when the party’s attempt to grab a rare afternoon of downtime is interrupted by a frantic sheep equipped with aScroll of Speak to Animals.Soon they are dragged into a magical grudge match that will test their strength, courage and willingness to endure extremely baa’d puns.
Will our heroes be able to overcome a band of transmuted assassins on the hunt for a mutton dinner and fend off an extremely bitter ex-apprentice packing a dangerously unstable magic item? There’s only one way to find out…
Wild Sheep Chase should be possible to run in a single session of 3-6 hours. The designers at Winghorn Press put this one together really well. Plus, the download includes all the maps you need to do it in person or on a VTT. Plus, it's one of the few adventures I've seen that is pretty much written to be used out of the box. You shouldn't have to spend a long time prepping to run Wild Sheep Chase. It's totally worth the price.
5. A Most Potent Brew
If you're new to D&D and TTRPGs in general, you might not have copies of the rulebooks lying around willy-nilly. Lucky for you, the Basic Rules for D&D 5e are free online (including the new free rules for the 2024 update), and A Most Potent Brew is built to be run on those alone. You don't need even the core rulebooks. Just the free PDF for the rules and the free PDF for this high-rated, bestselling adventure.
This adventure has everything you could want in a DnD one shot: a quest to kill giant rats, exploring a wizard's tower, disarming traps, and solving puzzles. All at level 1! It's really awesome, like pretty much everything else Winghorn Press does.
It's PWYW, so you can pay $0 if you want, and even the recommended price is only $1. Either way, A Most Potent Brew is a steal.
6. Ice Road Trackers
While Ice Road Trackers, is available as a free 5e one shot directly from Wizards of the Coast, you can choose to purchase this one on DMs Guild to support the site and creators. (Which is worth doing if you like their work.)
A trek toward Icewind Dale turns deadly when an avalanche blocks the heroes’ passage through the Spine of the World. Rescued by a menagerie of strange creatures, the heroes are asked to return the favor in exchange for answers about what’s happening in the cold and frozen North.
There are some really cool things (heh, heh, puns) about Ice Road Trackers, too.
The first is that it introduces players to the Icewind Dale setting, which can directly tie the party into the full Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. You can also run this as a one-shot for your local Adventurers League. Or it's written so that you can do it in a single 4-hour session one shot, or you can spread it across four 1-hour sessions.
Like I said, pretty cool.
7. Frozen Sick (D&D Beyond, Roll20)
Frozen Sick is a little different because it's available for free on D&D Beyond and on Roll20. It takes place in Exandria, the world designed by celebrity DM Matt Mercer of the hugely popular Critical Role, which means that you may either love this or hate this because of that alone.
Even if you're not a fan of the show, I think you should absolutely give Frozen Sick a shot. You will find a fully fleshed-out setting, intriguing hooks, well-paced encounters, and a strong narrative.
The lab you will find later on in the adventure is no joke, either. My character died really hard in there, and I had to reroll mid-adventure. It was a lot of fun.
As I said, you should also be able to access Frozen Sick for free on Roll20 just by making an account. You get full access to tokens, maps, and everything you need to run without having to prep it and set up the VTT for your party. That's worth its weight in gold.
As a DM, I've used the Frozen Sick module in Roll20 a few times as a base for sessions without even touching the story, too. The tokens, maps, and different monster stats are great to pull into games as miscellaneous, pre-prepped content.
Which is the Best of the Free DnD One Shots?
Overall, I still think Grammy's Country Apple Pie is the best one-shot adventure for 5e. Also, if you're running holiday adventures, Claus for Concern and The Liching Hour are really solid choices.
The easiest to run, however, is The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse. Of all of the D&D one shots that I've personally DM'd, the content structure in Skyhorn is just the best.
Now, these are just my favorites of the one-shots out there for DnD 5e. If you've played others, what are some of your favorite DnD one shots? Have you run something special that you want to share? Let me know in the comments so I can add it to the list!
Want More DnD?
Well, “The Lost Mine of Phandelver” might just be the best DnD for beginners, even if it's not a one shot. Plus, don't miss what we think are the most overall.