1st post here. My wife and I really would like to play an RPG (I have resources for 5E & Starfinder) but we cannot find any other players to join us (It would have to be local games). So I was wondering if there were adventures or options tuned to having a GM and single player?
I have light experience GMing for both 5E & Starfinder but my wife has no experience but would like to give it a go. Any good intro adventures that would work with just 1 player (+an npc) but not going to feel too overwhelming for her?
If there isn't any adventures specifically tailored for 1 player, what the options for adapting one? Also in terms of GMing what options are there that would help?
There are adventures on dmsguild.com that are made for single players.
In terms of WotC adventures, no, I don't think there are any adapted for one player. They are all written for a party of four(ish). The Essentials Kit contains Dragon of Icespire Peak and has rules for adapting that adventure for parties of different sizes. However, it isn't perfect, and will still be harder for smaller parties.
For low levels, you could add sidekicks. They can help pad out the party, and so give some extra firepower. For my first campaign (I mostly only get to play with my wife), that's what we did.
Later, we found it was better to have additional player characters. As DM, I controlled one (however, he was purely for firepower and stat support like rolling skills, it's really important the DM doesn't intervene for the party in decisions, roleplaying, etc) that acted like an NPC permanently attached to the party. Meanwhile, my wife had a second character who acted similarly to my character. She mostly played the part of the her main character, but used the second character to pad out the party. Then as a DM, I granted extra feats and magic items to help increase their power to that of a four man party. This method is much more complicated and awkward...but we found it was the better way to keep the party all levelled up and the adventure at the right difficulty level.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Thank you so much for that. I have had a look on the DMs Guild and I have found an adventure (A trilogy actually) that is specifically tailored for 1 GM & 1 Player+sidekick. I'll discuss this with my wife and see what she thinks.
I Dm'ed a game years ago with one player. It was great fun. Its easy to wipe out the character if you are not careful but equally simple to bore them with easy fights. I ended up giving them less fights and more skill based challenges. The player chose to create a rogue which worked beautifully completing burglaries, chase across rooftops (think Aladdin movie here), joined a party for one mission (one who betrayed the others), rescued a prisoner, became a member of an underground resistance and plenty more.
Having a NPC partner is a good idea but perhaps a companion would work even better (think Drizzt & his magical Panther Guenhwyvar). It would mean less juggling for you as a DM and stop any chance of your player not leading or making decisions in their own game. It's easy when you run a NPC character to influence or even direct the player/s into going down a certain path. Thus takes away the fun from the player and stops the temptation of you railroading. The Companion could be a magical animal or creature ( A Pixie or, Fairy Dragon, a mephit, a modron, a blink dog, an awakened animal etc)
Healing is critical, so if the character doesn't play a class that has healing, they are going to have rely on resting. This isn't always possible so give them a magical device or have their companion able to heal them. This will keep them upright more and the game going much longer.
Anyway, good luck. Sounds like you'll have plenty of fun!
Sly Flourish wrote a great set of articles on DMing for one player. Among his tips are 1) don't use magic spells or abilities against the player that completely remove them from combat (eg sleep, stone gaze from basilisks) 2) give the player a sidekick or magic items that fill in where they're lacking 3) prepare for the player to get through more of your content than you'd normally prep for a group. It's a great series of articles that gave me lots to consider when writing my solo adventures.
Greetings All,
1st post here. My wife and I really would like to play an RPG (I have resources for 5E & Starfinder) but we cannot find any other players to join us (It would have to be local games). So I was wondering if there were adventures or options tuned to having a GM and single player?
I have light experience GMing for both 5E & Starfinder but my wife has no experience but would like to give it a go. Any good intro adventures that would work with just 1 player (+an npc) but not going to feel too overwhelming for her?
If there isn't any adventures specifically tailored for 1 player, what the options for adapting one? Also in terms of GMing what options are there that would help?
Any help would be appreciated.
With thanks and regards,
There are adventures on dmsguild.com that are made for single players.
In terms of WotC adventures, no, I don't think there are any adapted for one player. They are all written for a party of four(ish). The Essentials Kit contains Dragon of Icespire Peak and has rules for adapting that adventure for parties of different sizes. However, it isn't perfect, and will still be harder for smaller parties.
For low levels, you could add sidekicks. They can help pad out the party, and so give some extra firepower. For my first campaign (I mostly only get to play with my wife), that's what we did.
Later, we found it was better to have additional player characters. As DM, I controlled one (however, he was purely for firepower and stat support like rolling skills, it's really important the DM doesn't intervene for the party in decisions, roleplaying, etc) that acted like an NPC permanently attached to the party. Meanwhile, my wife had a second character who acted similarly to my character. She mostly played the part of the her main character, but used the second character to pad out the party. Then as a DM, I granted extra feats and magic items to help increase their power to that of a four man party. This method is much more complicated and awkward...but we found it was the better way to keep the party all levelled up and the adventure at the right difficulty level.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Thank you so much for that. I have had a look on the DMs Guild and I have found an adventure (A trilogy actually) that is specifically tailored for 1 GM & 1 Player+sidekick. I'll discuss this with my wife and see what she thinks.
I Dm'ed a game years ago with one player. It was great fun. Its easy to wipe out the character if you are not careful but equally simple to bore them with easy fights. I ended up giving them less fights and more skill based challenges. The player chose to create a rogue which worked beautifully completing burglaries, chase across rooftops (think Aladdin movie here), joined a party for one mission (one who betrayed the others), rescued a prisoner, became a member of an underground resistance and plenty more.
Having a NPC partner is a good idea but perhaps a companion would work even better (think Drizzt & his magical Panther Guenhwyvar). It would mean less juggling for you as a DM and stop any chance of your player not leading or making decisions in their own game. It's easy when you run a NPC character to influence or even direct the player/s into going down a certain path. Thus takes away the fun from the player and stops the temptation of you railroading. The Companion could be a magical animal or creature ( A Pixie or, Fairy Dragon, a mephit, a modron, a blink dog, an awakened animal etc)
Healing is critical, so if the character doesn't play a class that has healing, they are going to have rely on resting. This isn't always possible so give them a magical device or have their companion able to heal them. This will keep them upright more and the game going much longer.
Anyway, good luck. Sounds like you'll have plenty of fun!
Sly Flourish wrote a great set of articles on DMing for one player. Among his tips are 1) don't use magic spells or abilities against the player that completely remove them from combat (eg sleep, stone gaze from basilisks) 2) give the player a sidekick or magic items that fill in where they're lacking 3) prepare for the player to get through more of your content than you'd normally prep for a group. It's a great series of articles that gave me lots to consider when writing my solo adventures.
https://sayeth.itch.io/