One Room One Shots - Preorders

August 2026 Update - A Deep, Deep Dive...
15 days ago – Mon, Aug 03, 2026 at 11:04:34 PM

Hello everyone! 

For this month's update, Alex is going to take you on a deep dive into how he manages the art development of the project, as well as revealing our previously teased illustration for the Hydra of the Deep.

We are also excited to say that relevant backers will be receiving a notification from BackerKit very soon with a download of the Temple of the Forgotten Depths play-test! 

Temple of the Forgotten Depths was the first adventure created for One Room One Shots, and is aimed at a party of level 5 characters. It's a big adventure in a unique location, with some wonderful mythological creatures and an epic boss battle to wrap it all up. 

We are excited to share this play-test with backers of All-In and above, and look forward to reading your thoughts and feedback on this adventure - it's quite different from Tomb of Grief! 

But now, over to you Alex...

Art Development on One Room One Shots

Hello! Alex here. We've met before, as I mostly write or edit these updates! However, when I'm not updating you on our current ongoings, or editing Matt's monotonous lists into a coherent (and interesting!) update, I'm also the Art Director for No Short Rests! So, it's time to remove my editor's cap and place upon ma tête la béret of Art Direction, we can dive right in...

The Hydra of the Deep

The Hydra of the Deep is our boss monster for Temple of the Forgotten Depths, and was designed way back when Matt was first attempting this venture solo.

The original concept art was done by Harvey Passfield, who also worked on the Coral Abomination and Drowned Ones, and he did a fantastic job at capturing a really unique creature. Unfortunately, Harvey had to leave the project early on and we never got to work together, but we knew we really wanted to keep the spirit of his ideas when developing it further. 

As with many self funded projects, cost is always a rather large hurdle to overcome, so we've had to go about the design process of our initial adventures a bit arse about face (to use a British idiom). Where we would normally develop this concept much further before going into illustrations, we really had to prioritise art that would actually sell our adventures first and foremost.

I contacted the fantastic Martin Mottet about producing an illustration for our adventure where we wanted to capture a 'moment in time' of the Hydra about to burst forth upon a group of unsuspecting adventurers. So, what does that look like I hear you ask? Well, in this instance, it starts with a brief.

I try to be as specific as possible with the brief where needed. For this illustration, we already knew what the temple would look like in terms of layout, thanks to the battle map design. We also had Harvey's concept art and Matt's adventure descriptions. Having said that, I also like to give artists as much space to add their own vision, so whilst I provide a lot of reference, I won't always hold super close to it if it begins to interfere with the image.

As you'll see, for this brief I provided some thumbnail sketches to Martin to get an idea of the kind of tone or action we were looking for. These aren't always necessary, as you'll see later, but for cover images (or as this was very early in development at the time, a double page spread) they really help us focus on what is important. We tend to discuss the type of image we want between Matt, Gareth and I before we engage with an artist. When we have an idea of what we're looking for, I'll do a few sketches and then find the right artist for the job.

In regards to the Hydra for this image, we knew we wanted it to still remain fairly obscured, not giving too much away. I wanted Martin to hint at the size of the beast, but we didn't really have the funds to figure out all of the details of it's full form yet - plus it wasn't important for this illustration either as we were going for a specific narrative feel. 

I won't go into too much detail about the back and forth between the artist and I for this illustration, as we can go into that for our next image, but you can certainly see the development from these initial images and the final, gorgeous work from Martin.

And here we are, post Kickstarter where Martin's incredible work, along with many of our other artists, allowed us to reach the funds we need to do things a little more properly!

Which means we can now finally design the Hydra's full form! Every good D&D manual needs a nice boss illustration, and our books are no different. Whilst we want to include as many beautiful narrative illustrations as we can, we also want to make sure that we have gorgeous artwork of the enemies and allies as well.

For this, I reached out to Israel Botelho, a fantastic creature artist and who's work had already inspired the type of image I wanted for our book.

Once again, I supplied a brief with our references for how the Hydra has appeared in the book so far. However, this time I also included an example of how the page layout will look, along with a placeholder of a previous piece of Israel's art to give him an idea of how I want the page to flow.

Israel came back with some really cool and unique ideas for how the Hydra could look, along with in-depth descriptions of his thoughts. It's always great to work with artists that get fired up about the briefs we provide, and we've been very fortunate that all of ours have shown the same level of passion for what we're working on.

We bounced back and forth a bit, to make sure we were both on the same page and had a direction we liked, then he came back with his first round of sketches.

Above, you can see the initial ideas and Israel's thoughts and explanations, below, you'll see my paint over for the direction we liked best. Paint overs are the easiest way for me to communicate ideas and changes to the artist, without a constant back and forth of text and interpretation. Here, I loved the flowing, sinuous design that felt primordial, yet still eel-like. I wanted to connect the heads to the body a bit more visually, so I suggested the inclusion of long tendrils seen on deep sea angler fish. I also wanted to add a long dorsal fin that ran along its back to give it some more thickness (so thicc...) to really sell its biology as being specific to the sea. I want it to look like it could survive on land, but not for long.

One of Israel's additions that I really liked, were the primordial limbs, harkening back to the classic image of a hydra, yet specialised for a totally different environment. This is obviously different to Martin's design, where if you look closely, he gave the Hydra plesiosaur-like flippers. This is a good example of not being precious over design. Martin's image is narrative, and works to provide viewers with a tone of the adventure. It doesn't have to be perfect and I think of these illustrations as being more like a player's 'minds eye' type image. This is how it should feel to play our adventure. Israel's art on the other hand should feel more like a bestiary image. This is what the Hydra looks like, a snapshot of it in its element.

Of course, from here, Israel worked up that design into a finalised sketch, which after a few minor amends, lead us to this...

This fantastic artwork now takes its rightful place next to the stat-block for the Hydra of the Deep, spread across two pages in all its monstrous glory. 

I hope you've enjoyed this peek behind the curtain, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the Hydra itself in our play-test adventure! If you have any questions about the Art Direction process, please ask below and I'll try to answer as best I can! 

Until next time!

July 2026 Update - it's HOT!
about 1 month ago – Tue, Jul 14, 2026 at 08:28:01 AM

It's very hot...

Hello everyone, we hope you are all doing well and - for those like us in the UK - have managed to survive the scorching weather we’re having 

Play-Test Feedback & Changes 

Following the play-test and UKGE, we’ve started to get feedback on the play-test which has all been really positive to read! 

Some of the recurring themes: people love the background lore to Tomb of Grief, groups are able to run the adventures within our estimated time and enjoy how easy it is to run the adventure direct from the book thanks to the layout. So, golf clap for Alex - huzzah!

"Within 4hrs! Which is a first for me and a one shot!" 

- A Very Happy Camper (Hamilton) 

What this feedback has allowed us to do is really start fine-tuning the adventure, going through with a fine-tooth comb and picking out those little things that work, but could be improved. For example, we’ve realised that we use multiple amulets providing very similar effects within Tomb of Grief. We'll be changing one of those items to a ring, as well as altering the items stats to provide more interesting and unique benefits (or detriments!), and changing the location it can be found to make more narrative sense.  

This may seem like a minor thing, but changes like this help us look at our other adventures for similar occurrences and ensures that these main adventures are as streamlined an experience as possible! 

Beyond the Tomb of Grief play-test, Matt has been focusing on internal play-test and rewrites for the different encounters that take place during the Flayed Performer. These are, on average, clocking in at around 30 minutes each; which considering the variety of encounter (and all the chaos the players inevitably cause!) is a really great achievement. (Matt clearly wants his own golf clap here...)

New Artwork! 

This is the really exciting part of the process, and something we love sharing, but as with all of our illustrations it takes time to produce these high quality pieces. We do have a lot currently in the works, but we wanted to share a tease for one particular new piece that we're very excited about!

Right at the top of our list for must-have new artwork following the Kickstarter, was a full creature illustration for the epic Hydra of the Deep. This giant monster has been featured in several illustrations already, but never fully revealed. We can't wait to be able to share this stunning beast in all its glory, illustrated by the incredibly talented Israel Botelho. 

Next update, we'll take a deep dive into art development, and a new digital play-test surfaces as the Temple of the Forgotten Depths nears release to relevant backers! 
 

UKGE Battle Report
2 months ago – Tue, Jun 09, 2026 at 09:34:30 AM

Post UK Games Expo

As we have only ever attended UKGE for a single day previously, it was a little daunting getting to be an exhibitor for the entire weekend! 

We arrived Thursday to setup our stand, constantly changing our layout (and getting to experience the emptiness of the halls before the doors open), before attending the UKGE press show. From then on, it was non-stop all weekend - talking about the project, making new friends and seeing old ones. 

We won’t go into the full details here - unless you would like an in-depth analysis of what we did, how it went and what we would do differently next time (sound off in the comments if that update interests you!) - but needless to say, it was an amazing weekend and we achieved everything we hoped and more. 

It was also amazing to meet some of you lovely backers in person - including our very first backer on kickstarter, as well as a few surprise backers from people within the industry whom we admire greatly. It was also very beneficial (mostly for Matt!) that having a stand meant we were restricted in how much we could go and spend while in attendance. 

We also discovered the perfect icebreaker to connect with other companies and stands by doing a walk around with our replica of Grief’s End, the Red King's sword, letting people pose for photos and finding out more about the different businesses in the process. It was very entertaining seeing people start to immediately execute each other, or knight one another. Probably a lot to unpack there…

There are so many people want to call out from the weekend, so here are a few that really helped make our first UKGE a success:

Band of Badgers - the Badgers were the first group outside of our friends and family to really support and encourage No Short Rests! on the path to publishing, so it is always a pleasure to see  them at any event. 

Midnight Tower - producing some truly wonderful campaigns with beautiful illustrations, they have been an amazing source of advice and encouragement and we really don’t get to see them enough! 

Elliott from Inkblade Publishing - on a similar journey as us, Elliott is working on the fantastic Gothica: Plagueworlds 5e source book and was in attendance to say hello as he takes a well deserved break from writing. 

Our neighbours in hall 4 Dungeons & Dyslexia - always a pleasure to chat to Adrian, he was in attendance supporting and selling books form independent publishers unable to attend or get a stand of their own, and he did an amazing breakdown of his own experience with UKGE on his YouTube channel. 

We definitely feel like we all levelled up the past weekend, and having these in-person moments with the community really highlights why we decided to start this journey in the first place.

We've added a full gallery of our favourite pictures on our Discord if you'd like to check them out!

Adventures Ahoy!: Temple of the Forgotten Depths is now live on Youtube!

Part two of D&D on a Boat is now live on our YouTube channel, so do check it out as it was an absolutely hilarious adventure with a wonderful cast. We are working on making some shorts of our favourite moments, but as with all things this takes time. 

Having two of our adventures recorded has been a great way of showing that what we are working towards, epic adventures in a single session (to quote our marketing), is very achievable, and proof that any kind of group is able to take our books and run with them.

Tomb of Grief Play-test 

The Tomb of Grief play-test is in full swing, and we’ve already started to receive the first bits of feedback. Everything has been amazingly positive so far, and we plan to share a more in-depth insight into the comments received, and what changes we may make, in future updates. 

So keep the feedback coming and don't forget to check out our Discord channel if you'd like to discuss the play-test both with each other, and us personally.

And remember, keep those blades sharp adventurers, as there'll be plenty more fish in the sea with our next update!


 

No Short Rests! For the Dead - 10% Discount Code
3 months ago – Mon, May 25, 2026 at 09:39:02 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

May 2026 Update - UKGE, Play-test Release & More!
3 months ago – Mon, May 25, 2026 at 09:38:36 AM

Strap in folks, this is a big one!

We know this update has come a little later than normal, but that's because we just have so much to talk about this month, that we needed a little extra time to get everything together!

We'll be attending UKGE 2026 as an Exhibitor!

First on the docket, we'll be hosting a stall at this years UK Games Expo - the UK's biggest TTRPG convention! With around 50,000+ attendees this year, we're hoping to really get the No Short Rests! name out there and pull in even more backers and investment. 

We've already had several content creators and brands contact us for opportunities, so we have all our fingers crossed that we'll have some incredible partnerships to share with you all throughout the year. Next to funding, the most important thing for us right now is presence within the world of TTRPGs and we're excited at the prospects attending this con might bring!

Of course, we haven't stopped working on the books themselves, so if you're in the UK and planning to head over to UKGE, make sure to come by our stall so you can chat with us and see some of what we've been working on!

The Tomb of Grief Play-test is finally here!

All-In backers and above will all be invited to participate in the play-test for Tomb of Grief, our level 1 adventure! 

We invite you to test this adventure out yourselves, including a snippet of the Expanding the Adventure section. Challenge your parties and let us know your feedback! We want to know your thoughts on the current adventure, from layout design to mechanics and rules clarification, or any changes you might wish to see. 

The more of you that play and provide your thoughts, the better both this adventure - and all future adventures - will be!

Backers will receive both an invite to our private Discord play-test channel and a download link for the digital PDF of the adventure. This private channel will allow all play-testers to interact and discuss with each other - and us! - about the adventure, as well as find groups to play with. We'd really like to build our community as much as possible, and this is a fantastic way for backers to not only get an early look at the adventures, but get to know us and each other a little better too.

We have a lot more plans for this play test than just releasing the adventure, so keep your eyes peeled over the coming months for special, play-test focused updates and challenges!

Of course, we haven't forgotten about those of you that aren't part of the play-test, and we'll be providing the results of the feedback to you all via updates as well so that you can still be a part of the overall process and see what's been going on! 

But, that's not all folks!

To celebrate this milestone, we're releasing a Tomb of Grief themed set of t-shirts! 

What started off as Alex designing some custom t-shirts and hoodies for himself to wear whilst on set, has somehow turned into a full line of clothing options. 

The team (and our mates!) loved his designs so much, they all wanted one, but couldn't quite decide on which they liked best. So, Alex being Alex, he created three different sets, with three colour options, so we're certain you'll find at least one you like!

We know fashion might feel like an odd side-step from D&D books, but additional fun things like this allow us to be creative and explore different design styles without wasting resources. The additional revenue earned from these sales also goes directly back into the books, allowing us to improve the final quality even further.

Originally, we really wanted to provide sweater and hoodie options as well. However, after receiving the sample garments, we were not happy with the level of print quality on the sweaters and hoodies. We refuse to sell anything that doesn't meet the quality standard we strive for, so even though clothing is not what our business is built around, it is still held to the same standard that you can come to expect from us.

Having said that, if these designs prove popular, we will look into other print services to bring you high quality sweater and hoodie variants.

For now, we're partnering with Gelato to provide high quality, on-demand printing and world-wide delivery for these t-shirt designs via our website www.noshortrests.com. 

We're also giving all backers 10% off on t-shirt orders made for the next two weeks, so keep an eye out for that discount code in your inbox!

The Call of the Deep

We weren't lying when we said we had a lot to talk about this month, so keep those hooks tentered, because the call to the Deep is just around the corner!

You may remember that during our campaign, we released Adventures Ahoy! a live play recording of Tomb of Grief, starring some of the UK's best TTRPG content creators.

Well, weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! It's been a while, but No Short Rests! is back and ready to set sail once again with part 2 of Adventures Ahoy! - an actual play of Temple of the Forgotten Depths, our level 5 adventure, whilst cruising along the River Lee. 

Starring our very own Art Director, Alex, as Dungeon Master, he is joined by our wonderful selection of guests:

Liz Campbell (Realms of Peril & Glory)
Jess Jewell (Questing Time)
Pan (@stellarencore)
Liv Kennedy (3 Black Halflings)

So, join us at 11am GMT on YouTube, Friday 29th May, for the premiere of Adventures Ahoy! Part 2 - Temple of the Forgotten Depths!

Chapelwick & One Room One Shots

During the campaign for One Room One Shots, we were thrilled to offer a special reward bonus for backers of both our project and Chapelwick. We wanted to share a bit more of what that looks like with you today as we approach the end of our late pledges on June 1st.

Inspired by the incredible setting of Chapelwick, we have written 13 One-Hour Encounters that each provide a unique story within the many districts of the city. These encounters have two parts, a Day version and a Night version, building upon the mechanics of Chapelwick’s main adventure where supernatural elements of the city grow stronger and more dangerous at night.

Day versions of the encounters are generally more forgiving, prioritising role-play or puzzle solving, whereas Night versions provide a more deadly encounter; with more of a focus on combat and survival. Some of these encounters are linked, with a narrative that crosses both Day and Night, while others are simply an alternative based on the time of day players are exploring.

With these 13 (or is it technically 26? Matt may have got a bit carried away here…) encounters, we wanted to provide the sort of side stories that can enhance your players’ journey as they explore the city, diving deeper into the various districts’ lore and the rules that govern them.

Each encounter is set in one of the 13 districts of Chapelwick, so the stories you can experience are incredibly varied. From taking the time out to rest at a questionable spa in Caravinn to finding strange new reading rooms within the Library of Records, or witnessing a new maypole dance in the Revelry Quarter with a very special guest; we are excited to bring our unique, narrative adventure style to the city that crawled from the sea!

Thanks for sticking with us

That concludes this month's big update... for now.