First, I've never DMed before, but I am determined to do it this summer if not sooner. I am also a bit nervous, so I figured that a campaign with just me and one player I already know and like would be nice. However, I have not had the chance to see this done before, and I'm sure that it will involve challenges unlike a classic group campaign.
I have plot ideas, so I don't see solo-content being a problem. For example: trying to win a coliseum/competition with conflict in and out of the ring, a classic "chosen one" plot, something based on a specific class origin (such as sorcerer or warlock), an evil campaign where you are a grunt trying to go up the ranks, campaign based off a game/show (think Dragon Age 2 or Fushigi Yûgi), and others. But the more game-mechanic side of things may throw me off.
I'll take any and all advice, but these are a few questions I've wondered and would like opinions for as a starting point.
Can this be done without giving them a cast of NPCs as a support party? I'd like to avoid it on average.
Would it be cheap and take away tension if I made it so they can't die? Instead, they pass out and wake up elsewhere, someone having saved or captured them?
How many encounters should generally be planned for a 3-hour session?
Would exp level up be best? Or would it be better for me to decide when they earned a level up?
1) You can let your player run multiple characters if they would like to. You can also just adjust encounter difficulty to match a small party and give them plenty of potions of healing if the lack that capability.
2) I deliberately avoid killing chaacters sometimes (particularly at the start of a campaing if things go horribly wrong). Don't tell the player that they can't die though, bcause that would remove a lot of the tension.
3) Encounters should be faster, but considering that you're a new DM I would say that 5 encounters and plenty of social interaction is reasonable. This kind of thing is also very dependent on how focussed you are during sessions.
4) XP will work fine here. They'll be handling fewer monsters, but they won't have to split XP so it pretty much balances out. I would use it because if you're a new DM then it is simpler than trying to work out when is an appropriate time to level up the player.
If it is just going to be ONE PC, by itself, then you will probably want to include a bunch of house rules to help. You might want to look at the books "DM Yourself" or "The Solo Adventurer's Toolkit" on DriveThroughRPG. These are for soloing without a DM, but the rules on what to do to help the characters will be helpful for 1-on-1 if you are just having one PC.
Both of those books, I think, and definitely DMY, recommend having a single sidekick, using the sidekick rules. They also recommend doing things like, always taking max HP when you level up, rather than average or rolling.... You might also want to look into starting with a better stat array (something like 17-15-13-12-10-8). Also, you may want to allow a point of "plot armor" - one time when you should have died, you don't (DMY has a table to roll on and see what happens instead). You spend it to avoid dying, and you don't get it back until you level up. Like inspiration, you can never have more than 1 point of it at a time.
You might also want to consider using the Savage Worlds idea of "Bennies." You get 3 "coins" per session and you can spend those coins to re-roll anything you want (to-hit, skill checks, damage). Bennies are kind of like Inspiration on steroids.
Between 3 bennies a session and 1 plot armor per level, the character, solo, should be able to survive OK even without a party or sidekick as backup.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
You can certainly run solo characters without a "pit crew" although you have to launder pre-written material that envisions a party of 4.
Nothing's cheap and takes away tension if you and your one player are on the same page. Give them three lives, like an 80's video game character. You only have one player, so you should be giving each other a lot of feedback. Incidentally, when you spring what you thought was a great surprise on your player and they are just totally unimpressed, that will eat a tiny piece of your soul, so be prepared and learn not to take it personally. Now that I'm thinking about it,, as a general rule, I'd say an undervalued DM skill is the ability to receive critique. It's one of the few D&D related skills that have any application in the real world. It's one of the truly useful things about forums like this.
Difficult to give a hard and fast rule, but 1/hour of play and maybe 3/long rest, so that you both understand the resource management part of the game. But this is where you'll need to massage the most. In addition to the advice above, I'd add thinking about non-violent ways to navigate an obstacle. If something's realistically too big for one player to fight, there might still be an objective they could sneak past or outwit an opponent to achieve.
The fourth question overlaps the third. Once you answer the third, you'll know what's best for the two of you. Also, talk to the player. They might like the scorekeeping aspect of XP; it's something they actually get to write down and have control over. If so, they might even want to go out and farm XP, like a WOW player would. If eating popcorn and rolling dice and doing arithmetic is a fun way for you to spend an hour (and if it's not, here's your chance to pull the ripcord on D&D as a whole), then you don't need to worry about storylines much at all, just lean into the fight scenes. You know what your friend likes. The better you can facilitate that, the more successful you are as a DM, imho.
Thanks for far for all the advice, everyone! I'm taking it all into account!
To note a few comments so far, I do like the idea of giving them superior stats, maxing out their level-up health, and having alternative non-combat solutions all sound perfect for what I am imagining. And Bennies sound really useful; it's a classic main character move to get that second chance. And I'll think more about sidekicks and the like, at the very least I can make non-permanent ones who just get recruited to suit the specific dungeon; it's an idea. And yes, XP level up is a lot better of a way for a new DM to function on default. Although the person I'm thinking about playing with is majorly story-focused, so they may enjoy merit-based/story threshold kind of level up. I'll ask. Farming definitely seems like a downtime activity that I could allow and/or encourage.
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First, I've never DMed before, but I am determined to do it this summer if not sooner. I am also a bit nervous, so I figured that a campaign with just me and one player I already know and like would be nice. However, I have not had the chance to see this done before, and I'm sure that it will involve challenges unlike a classic group campaign.
I have plot ideas, so I don't see solo-content being a problem. For example: trying to win a coliseum/competition with conflict in and out of the ring, a classic "chosen one" plot, something based on a specific class origin (such as sorcerer or warlock), an evil campaign where you are a grunt trying to go up the ranks, campaign based off a game/show (think Dragon Age 2 or Fushigi Yûgi), and others. But the more game-mechanic side of things may throw me off.
I'll take any and all advice, but these are a few questions I've wondered and would like opinions for as a starting point.
Thanks!
1) You can let your player run multiple characters if they would like to. You can also just adjust encounter difficulty to match a small party and give them plenty of potions of healing if the lack that capability.
2) I deliberately avoid killing chaacters sometimes (particularly at the start of a campaing if things go horribly wrong). Don't tell the player that they can't die though, bcause that would remove a lot of the tension.
3) Encounters should be faster, but considering that you're a new DM I would say that 5 encounters and plenty of social interaction is reasonable. This kind of thing is also very dependent on how focussed you are during sessions.
4) XP will work fine here. They'll be handling fewer monsters, but they won't have to split XP so it pretty much balances out. I would use it because if you're a new DM then it is simpler than trying to work out when is an appropriate time to level up the player.
Chilling kinda vibe.
If it is just going to be ONE PC, by itself, then you will probably want to include a bunch of house rules to help. You might want to look at the books "DM Yourself" or "The Solo Adventurer's Toolkit" on DriveThroughRPG. These are for soloing without a DM, but the rules on what to do to help the characters will be helpful for 1-on-1 if you are just having one PC.
Both of those books, I think, and definitely DMY, recommend having a single sidekick, using the sidekick rules. They also recommend doing things like, always taking max HP when you level up, rather than average or rolling.... You might also want to look into starting with a better stat array (something like 17-15-13-12-10-8). Also, you may want to allow a point of "plot armor" - one time when you should have died, you don't (DMY has a table to roll on and see what happens instead). You spend it to avoid dying, and you don't get it back until you level up. Like inspiration, you can never have more than 1 point of it at a time.
You might also want to consider using the Savage Worlds idea of "Bennies." You get 3 "coins" per session and you can spend those coins to re-roll anything you want (to-hit, skill checks, damage). Bennies are kind of like Inspiration on steroids.
Between 3 bennies a session and 1 plot armor per level, the character, solo, should be able to survive OK even without a party or sidekick as backup.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cYabwDZNAs
Pay particular attention to scale as well as how instrumental a sidekick can be.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
You can certainly run solo characters without a "pit crew" although you have to launder pre-written material that envisions a party of 4.
Nothing's cheap and takes away tension if you and your one player are on the same page. Give them three lives, like an 80's video game character. You only have one player, so you should be giving each other a lot of feedback. Incidentally, when you spring what you thought was a great surprise on your player and they are just totally unimpressed, that will eat a tiny piece of your soul, so be prepared and learn not to take it personally. Now that I'm thinking about it,, as a general rule, I'd say an undervalued DM skill is the ability to receive critique. It's one of the few D&D related skills that have any application in the real world. It's one of the truly useful things about forums like this.
Difficult to give a hard and fast rule, but 1/hour of play and maybe 3/long rest, so that you both understand the resource management part of the game. But this is where you'll need to massage the most. In addition to the advice above, I'd add thinking about non-violent ways to navigate an obstacle. If something's realistically too big for one player to fight, there might still be an objective they could sneak past or outwit an opponent to achieve.
The fourth question overlaps the third. Once you answer the third, you'll know what's best for the two of you. Also, talk to the player. They might like the scorekeeping aspect of XP; it's something they actually get to write down and have control over. If so, they might even want to go out and farm XP, like a WOW player would. If eating popcorn and rolling dice and doing arithmetic is a fun way for you to spend an hour (and if it's not, here's your chance to pull the ripcord on D&D as a whole), then you don't need to worry about storylines much at all, just lean into the fight scenes. You know what your friend likes. The better you can facilitate that, the more successful you are as a DM, imho.
Thanks for far for all the advice, everyone! I'm taking it all into account!
To note a few comments so far, I do like the idea of giving them superior stats, maxing out their level-up health, and having alternative non-combat solutions all sound perfect for what I am imagining. And Bennies sound really useful; it's a classic main character move to get that second chance. And I'll think more about sidekicks and the like, at the very least I can make non-permanent ones who just get recruited to suit the specific dungeon; it's an idea.
And yes, XP level up is a lot better of a way for a new DM to function on default. Although the person I'm thinking about playing with is majorly story-focused, so they may enjoy merit-based/story threshold kind of level up. I'll ask. Farming definitely seems like a downtime activity that I could allow and/or encourage.