Summary
Whether it’s because your party has a lot of newcomers, adult life is making games more complicated, or your friends prefer short stories so they can try multiple characters (among other reasons), not everyDungeons & Dragonscampaign needs to be a massive adventure that goes from level one to 15 or more.
That said, there are a few interesting pre-made campaigns that last from just one level to five or six levels at most. This means they could last just a few months to a year, depending on how often you play, while some options here can be done in one sitting, being perfect One-Shot adventures.
Updated on Jul 15, 2025, by Lucas Olah:There are always new adventures to find, either because of hidden gems among all official publications or literally new adventures. Because of that, we decided to expand the catalog offered here, giving you more options to throw at your players. These short adventures can give you glimpses of D&D’s multiverse, stories that can be further expanded if needed, or anthologies that allow you to swap characters and players with ease.
Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye
3-3
Involving any glimpse of Vecna into a story can immediately intrigue those who are more familiar with D&D. Obviously, no one will fight him here - it’s a level three adventure - but this very short story against followers of Vecna in Neverwinter is a fun way to get players invested and maybe play more.
Also, considering its length and simplicity, you can theoretically run this entire campaign as an overly elaborate side-quest while doing some other campaign here. It’s a simple dungeon with only a few hard-hitting folks, and it’s a fun preview in case you want to run Eve of Ruin later with the group.
Lost Mine of Phandelver
1-5
The first campaign of many adventurers, this campaign is both short and a perfect starting point for a new group of players. Its main story is short enough to be made in four to five sessions, though there’s enough side content to expand this adventure for a few extra months if possible (you may want to level the party up faster if you don’t intend to do side missions, though).
You have classic fights against Goblins, a whole story revolving around a small village and its surroundings, fun characters for them to meet, a dragon, and an ending that is both a good conclusion and also an easy ending to expand upon if needed. There’s also the updatedPhandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk,but that’s a long campaign that can reach level 12.
Spelljammer Academy
1-4
Spelljammers are magical ships that travel through space, which makes an adventure featuring such a vessel quite entertaining. Your players can go through the initiation and become cadets of one of these vessels in an adventure quite different from most here.
This adventure is also divided into four parts, one for each level. They’re not particularly big, but you can take one of these parts separately to create a small session or even a one-shot in case the whole thing doesn’t appeal to you, or you just want something very short.
Eberron: Forgotten Relics
1-2
If you are still looking for other settings, Eberron also offers a different environment to explore, in a more gritty land, desolated by war, but one that also combines more modern technology in its fantasy through magic, allowing you to take trains, for instance. It’s also where artificers originate from.
you’re able to then use this very short adventure, Forgotten Relics, to get everyone - including you - acquainted with a different scenario and its perks, breaking the Forgotten Realms escapades for a bit.
Both the Eberron and Spelljammer settings have quick appearances in Vecna: Eve of Ruin, so these short adventures could be a fun warm-up for a bigger campaign later on.
1-3
3-5
5-8
8
9-11
11-14
Tomb of Horrors
10-14
If the problem is that you’re not sure whether the party will go the distance and want a long adventure — or if you want to start at higher levels — then this book has got you covered. Rather than a long campaign that goes from one to 14,it has multiple short stories,working as an anthology.
You have seven tales to choose from, and though you could start at the first-level story and work your way up, that would end up making a long campaign. Thus, you can just pick one or two that you like more or have a starting level that interests you and be done with it once the tale is over.
4-6
6-8
A Reckoning in Ruins
8-10
If you like the magic school idea for you and your players, Strixhaven is perfect for you. Not only does it have a highly distinct concept compared to most official D&D campaigns, but it also has four relatively short adventures that can be completed in a few months each.
They have a small sense of continuity, as each adventure revolves around the characters' grades at their college, but nothing stops you from just running one of them. It’s also easy to swap characters or even some players in between these adventures.
1
2
Book of the Raven
3
A Deep and Creeping Darkness
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Xanthoria
16
Candlekeep Mysteries is another good case of an anthology series, meaning you canpick any of its short storiesand do it, and they’re short enough that a story can be done in a single session, depending on how much time you have. There are 17 adventures, one for each level (though there are two level four stories, so the highest one is a level 16 adventure rather than 17).
you may also choose to start at the beginning and work your way up if the party shows interest, or you can pick whichever one you find coolest. A high adventure is also a perfect opportunity for players who haven’t had the chance to be in a high-level campaign, as not many adventures reach the level 15 mark.
Reach for the Stars
Axe from the Grave
Shard of the Accursed
Fire and Darkness
The more anthologies, the better. Keys from the Golden Vault adds even more short stories, each of them being a single-level adventure, and they all revolve around the same theme: Heisting. The players will both plan things out and try to execute them or improvise based on the consequences of their choices.
As for the DM, there are 13 different heist options with different starting levels, so you can make both grounded heists with little room for error by using low-level adventures, or you can make things feel more fantastic and over-the-top with the high-level options.
Dragons of Stormwreck Isle
Starter campaigns tend to be short, as you never know whether newcomers will handle long stories. That said, not only can you have a fun little adventure on a small island for easy exploration, but the book also comes with a good explanation of how to create characters.
The set even comes with pre-made characters in case your newcomer players are having a hard time with character creation, even going as far as reasons to be in the story to help them out.
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Similar to Phandelver, you may have to cut some side content depending on how short you want your campaign to be, but this one is still good for a few months-long campaign, and it offers a different experience with its heist.
From the DM’s perspective, you even have multiple villains to choose from, with the story changing depending on who you decide to be the baddie. Or make one to catch veteran players by surprise. If everyone likes it and wants to continue, you can go with the campaign Dungeon of the Mad Mage (Levels five to 20) as a follow-up.
