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Osiris is many things. An annual tabletop roleplaying conference, a collective of fun-loving geeks, a medium for creative expression and kinship - the list goes on. However, it is also one of our very favorite things; an acronym.
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Since the inception of the project nearly 10 years ago, the name Osiris has stood for "One-Shot Immersive Roleplaying Invitational Series." This is a representation of the project's core idea: what if we got a ton of experienced Game Masters together to each run their own short, one-shot campaigns during a single weekend?
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This concept was created with the goal of allowing players to experience a vast diversity of campaign settings, playgroup compositions, and unique roleplaying styles - all in just a few short days. In addition, and potentially most important of all, this core idea was meant to encourage the collective celebration of what we believe to be this hobby's core principle: the creative expression and ingenuity of those we play with.
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Well, as it turns out, this concept ends up being a pretty darn good time.
The first Osiris event was held at the beginning of 2017 and has continued to grow since. The annual conference is now generally held over a weekend in July. The core of the event consists of six two-hour campaign sessions throughout the weekend accommodating as many players as we can manage. In 2025, the Osiris event had five campaigns running per session with 20 players actively scheduled per two-hour block.
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The overall schedule of the weekend also generally follows the same format each year. On Fridays, attendees arrive at the event and spend time catching up with one another. Friday night also includes an Opening Ceremony to kick off the festivities and catch everyone up on the details of the event. Saturday is then the busiest day of the event as there are four two-hour sessions during the day starting at 9 AM and ending at 8 PM with a one-hour break in-between. The event then wraps up on Sunday with two more gaming sessions running from 9 AM to 2 PM. It is finally concluded with a Closing Ceremony where winners are announced, additional prizes are distributed, and plenty of other excitement is shared. The goal is to then hopefully get everyone on the road on Sunday no later than 4 PM.
Once registration for the event closes, the Osiris planning team handles scheduling campaign sessions for the given year. All campaign placements are randomly assigned with emphasis on diversifying the individuals you play with from session-to-session. The campaign schedule for each Osiris is generally finalized and shared with participants within one-week of the event.
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With so many individuals participating, there is often the need to assign off-rounds when numbers don’t quite add up. Typically, the planning team tries to distribute these off-rounds evenly, which averages to one off-round per participant each event. However, upon request, more or fewer off-rounds and the scheduling of off-rounds during certain times can potentially be accommodated.
To maintain consistency between gaming sessions, we've established a unique campaign format that has been utilized ever since the first Osiris event. This style of campaign can be simplified as the 1-2-3 Format: One Game Master hosts a two-hour campaign for three Players.
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The campaign itself can be in whatever narrative setting, game system or playstyle the Game Master decides. For instance, in one session you may find yourself playing as a crew of spacefaring nomads exploring a newly discovered world, the next might be set around your group playing as professional criminals pulling off a modern day bank heist, and your last session of the day could have you acting as woodland creatures protecting your forest from an encroaching logging company. You never really know what you get with each session at Osiris until you sit down to play.
While the sky is the limit for campaign narratives, the format still includes a few restrictions to keep sessions organized. First, all character preparation, story explanation, and rules introductions must be included within the two hour window of the campaign. That means Game Masters cannot ask Players to write their characters, read exposition, or do any other prep work ahead of your scheduled session. In addition, the length of each campaign is limited to exactly two hours (or less if you finish early). That means each session has a hard stop at 120 minutes - all pencils and dice down on the table once time is up.
An additional core component of the Osiris event is the act of providing feedback to both Game Masters and Players after each session. Once a campaign completes, a brief score card is provided to all participants involved. This includes each Player giving a quick grade to a few attributes of the campaign, which are then tallied up by the Osiris admin team. Inversely, the Game Master also fills out a score card for each Player to provide feedback on how they performed during their campaign.
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For Game Masters, their campaigns are scored by Players on the attributes of Story, Creativity, Scene Building, Mechanics, and Enjoyment. Meanwhile, Players are also graded by the Game Masters based on the quality of their Roleplaying, Immersion, Attention, Cooperation, and Enjoyment. With both types of scoring, there is also the opportunity to write-in specific comments about the campaign or to share your favorite aspects of the experience. These comment cards are then distributed to all participants at the end of the event.
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After score cards are completed at the end of each session, they are collected and tallied up by the Osiris admin staff. At the end of the event, scores are compiled and the results are shared at the Closing Ceremony. Traditionally, this includes recognizing the participants who score in the top-5 of Players as well as the top-5 scoring Game Masters.