Hi there, I'm a new DM that got the essentials kit and I'm running Dragon of Icespire Peak for a single player. I need a few things cleared up and some advice
How do I run a campaign for 1 player and how do I incorporate sidekicks?
I may be misreading but the adventure book is a bit misguiding to me, how exactly would I start the adventure?
How should I be organizing my DM screen?
What's the best way to take notes in the campaign? (e.g. keeping track of the dragon's location etc.)
How does initiative work and how should I be running encounters? (as well as how AC works)
Do I know I'm doing the right thing if me and the player are enjoying our time playing?
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¨Lord Modus never expected Zenith to return, alas--here we stand in front of the lord to bring us to our knees.¨ - an excerpt from The Aegis Neverland; Sabines Passion (made by me :D)
I’ve not played this adventure, but I can answer some questions.
Last question first: Yes, if you’re having fun, you’re doing it right. Even if you don’t necessarily follow all the rules.
Running for one player can be hard, most combats assume 4-5 party members, and a more diverse suite of skills than one player will have. Probably, you’ll want to remove a couple enemies from each fight, especially at level 1-2. As far as skills, just be forgiving if they don’t have the right ones to complete a task. To incorporate the sidekick, you might put that on the player. Tell them their character has one and let them decide why. Some options could be simpler like a hired helper, a younger sibling, a childhood friend. But most anything can work. Just make it clear that you will need to approve the reason.
Organize your DM screen will likely be trial and error. After a couple sessions, you’ll come up with something that works for you.
Each creature in the fight rolls initiative at the start (initiative is d20+dex modifier) highest goes first. When you get to the end, you go back to the start again. Often, DMs will roll one initiative for each type of creature (if there’s 3 goblins and 1 orc, all 3 goblins will go on one roll. Then the orc on its own.) For AC, attacker rolls a d20, adds appropriate modifiers, and needs to meet or exceed the target’s AC. So if you are +5 to hit and roll a 20, you will hit a 15 AC, but miss a 16.
I have not run this module, not have I DMed for one person, so I can’t help you there, but I can help with some of the more generic questions:
How should I be organizing my DM screen?
There is no right or wrong way to organise your DM screen. Figure out what works for you (and your table shape/space requirements) and that is the “right” answer.
The one major question you have to ask is whether you roll your dice in front of the screen or behind them. Some DMs like to roll dice behind the screen, not letting their players know what the numbers are. This allows them to fudge dice rolls to make combat encounters in a pinch (say to avoid a monster missing three rounds in a row, leading to boring combat). This also allows you to roll honestly, but hide monster attack or skill bonuses from the players. Other DMs like to roll publicly and keep information all out in the open. Again, no right answer, but it’s probably the most important decision related to the DM screen, so figured I would bring it up.
What's the best way to take notes in the campaign? (e.g. keeping track of the dragon's location etc.)
Again, whatever works best for you - but I would recommend you don’t get so bogged down in your notes that you spend too much time making annotations or looking something up. The DM should always be prepared to make changes and adjustments on the fly for the sake of gameplay experience and narrative. For your dragon, you could probably just have a general idea of where it is, without specifically tracking it too in depth.
How does initiative work and how should I be running encounters? (as well as how AC works)
You roll initiative at the start of combat and take actions in initiative order. If the player rolls a 15, Monster A an 8, and Monster B a 22, the order will be B, Player, A. You then cycle through this order until the fight ends.
I recommend using the encounter builder on this site - it’s great for tracking HP, initiative order, and seeing what the monsters’ abilities are, all in one place.
As for how to run encounters, try to think how your monsters would react to a situation. An intelligent band of bandits might target a healer first, followed by squishy characters. A beast is likely going to go after whoever made it the most angry or hurt it the most. Thinking from the perspective of the monster goes a long way toward making encounters feel different and believable.
Do I know I'm doing the right thing if me and the player are enjoying our time playing?
Yes. So long as everyone is having fun, you’re good to go, even if you get some of the rules wrong. It’s much more important to have fun and be consistent in your rules than it is to follow the exact letter of the official rules.
Hi there, I'm a new DM that got the essentials kit and I'm running Dragon of Icespire Peak for a single player. I need a few things cleared up and some advice
How do I run a campaign for 1 player and how do I incorporate sidekicks?
The book includes sidekicks for you. Just treat them as a player character, except instead of having a single player control a single character, someone will control the sidekick in addition to their own character. Either the DM or the player controls the sidekick. We had the player control ours because the DM has enough to worry about. Each encounter tells you how to modify it according to how many characters and sidekicks you have to maintain balance - something I've not found in other adventures.
I may be misreading but the adventure book is a bit misguiding to me, how exactly would I start the adventure?
Just have them start in Phandalin, introduce them to the town using the blurbs the book provides, and encourage them to explore the town. Gently nudge them to the noticeboard outside the town hall when they're ready for a quest.
How should I be organizing my DM screen?
They provide a screen which you can't reorganise. If you mean how to organise your bits and bobs behind the screen, whatever works for you.
What's the best way to take notes in the campaign? (e.g. keeping track of the dragon's location etc.)
I didn't bother. I'd remember what quests they've done, and not much else needs recording. Where the dragon has been is not important. If it rolls on top ofnthe party, they have an encounter. If not, check the map to see if the dragon is visible, and if it is describe it, otherwise don't. After you've resolved the dragon, its position becomes irrelevant.
How does initiative work and how should I be running encounters? (as well as how AC works)
Every creature involved in the encounter rolls a d20 and then adds their dexterity modifier to it. Highest goes first, then second highest, and so forth until everyone has a place in the order.
AC is calculated using your armour and dexterity modifier - depending on what armour you use. Attack rolls (plus relevant modifiers) have to be equal to or greater than the AC to hit. If it hits, you roll the damage die (plus relevant modifiers) and that's the damage dealt.
Each creature takes their turn according to that order. In each turn, a creature gets and Action, a Bonus Action and they can move up to a maximum distance equal to their speed (usually 30ft, but it can vary). Those options cab ve taken in any order and the movement can be broken up. Once everyone has taken their turn, the round ends, and you start again using the same order.
Do I know I'm doing the right thing if me and the player are enjoying our time playing?
Define right. According to the rules? Not necessarily. However, the aim of the game is to have fun. If you're having fun, who cares if it's according to the rules? The rules are there to help you have fun, and for no other reason.
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.
To be honest with you OP it sounds like this is your first time running a game period. I wouldn't start with this module for a first timer. I would do the Lost Mines one and at minimum get 2 people to play with you. Just one on one is gonna be rough not gonna lie.
To be honest with you OP it sounds like this is your first time running a game period. I wouldn't start with this module for a first timer. I would do the Lost Mines one and at minimum get 2 people to play with you. Just one on one is gonna be rough not gonna lie.
Due to my circumstances, getting another player is not an option sadly.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
¨Lord Modus never expected Zenith to return, alas--here we stand in front of the lord to bring us to our knees.¨ - an excerpt from The Aegis Neverland; Sabines Passion (made by me :D)
I’m running Dragon of Icespire with my Daughter, so pretty much running for for one player. I’m also running a game for my friends - a larger group, so I can gauge the differences quite well.
Running for one player is more difficult as it’s harder to balance against the variety of challenge types. Luckily in my Daughters campaign she selected a Ranger, so along with the sidekick there’s actually 3 individuals (the ranger gets a companion beast).
it’s going to be important to give good consideration to the sort of sidekick you want your player to combo with. If your player is going to wade into a fight, sword swinging they might work best with an healer to back them up. If they are a long range spellcaster they may benefit from a fighter sidekick, who can intercept any enemy getting close …. Etc etc. in my game my daughters ranger has a Wolf companion and a mage sidekick and it works quite well.
feel free to adjust encounters if your players group lack vs particular challenge types, such as traps then consider reducing the impact or frequency of the traps. If your group is lacking fighting skills, dial down the number of monsters. Maybe you need to make healing potions a bit easier to get hold off and so on.
It’s going to be a bit of trial and error on your part if you’ve not run the game before, but if you both go into this with an open mind and understand the above, the it certainly worth having a go.
Mike Shay of Sly Flourish ran an Actual Play of Icespire Peak a couple years ago for one-on-one play. I found it very helpful. https://youtu.be/DtO8qLtsJ6c
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Hi there, I'm a new DM that got the essentials kit and I'm running Dragon of Icespire Peak for a single player. I need a few things cleared up and some advice
How do I run a campaign for 1 player and how do I incorporate sidekicks?
I may be misreading but the adventure book is a bit misguiding to me, how exactly would I start the adventure?
How should I be organizing my DM screen?
What's the best way to take notes in the campaign? (e.g. keeping track of the dragon's location etc.)
How does initiative work and how should I be running encounters? (as well as how AC works)
Do I know I'm doing the right thing if me and the player are enjoying our time playing?
¨Lord Modus never expected Zenith to return, alas--here we stand in front of the lord to bring us to our knees.¨ - an excerpt from The Aegis Neverland; Sabines Passion (made by me :D)
I’ve not played this adventure, but I can answer some questions.
Last question first: Yes, if you’re having fun, you’re doing it right. Even if you don’t necessarily follow all the rules.
Running for one player can be hard, most combats assume 4-5 party members, and a more diverse suite of skills than one player will have. Probably, you’ll want to remove a couple enemies from each fight, especially at level 1-2. As far as skills, just be forgiving if they don’t have the right ones to complete a task. To incorporate the sidekick, you might put that on the player. Tell them their character has one and let them decide why. Some options could be simpler like a hired helper, a younger sibling, a childhood friend. But most anything can work. Just make it clear that you will need to approve the reason.
Organize your DM screen will likely be trial and error. After a couple sessions, you’ll come up with something that works for you.
Each creature in the fight rolls initiative at the start (initiative is d20+dex modifier) highest goes first. When you get to the end, you go back to the start again. Often, DMs will roll one initiative for each type of creature (if there’s 3 goblins and 1 orc, all 3 goblins will go on one roll. Then the orc on its own.)
For AC, attacker rolls a d20, adds appropriate modifiers, and needs to meet or exceed the target’s AC. So if you are +5 to hit and roll a 20, you will hit a 15 AC, but miss a 16.
I have not run this module, not have I DMed for one person, so I can’t help you there, but I can help with some of the more generic questions:
How should I be organizing my DM screen?
There is no right or wrong way to organise your DM screen. Figure out what works for you (and your table shape/space requirements) and that is the “right” answer.
The one major question you have to ask is whether you roll your dice in front of the screen or behind them. Some DMs like to roll dice behind the screen, not letting their players know what the numbers are. This allows them to fudge dice rolls to make combat encounters in a pinch (say to avoid a monster missing three rounds in a row, leading to boring combat). This also allows you to roll honestly, but hide monster attack or skill bonuses from the players. Other DMs like to roll publicly and keep information all out in the open. Again, no right answer, but it’s probably the most important decision related to the DM screen, so figured I would bring it up.
What's the best way to take notes in the campaign? (e.g. keeping track of the dragon's location etc.)
Again, whatever works best for you - but I would recommend you don’t get so bogged down in your notes that you spend too much time making annotations or looking something up. The DM should always be prepared to make changes and adjustments on the fly for the sake of gameplay experience and narrative. For your dragon, you could probably just have a general idea of where it is, without specifically tracking it too in depth.
How does initiative work and how should I be running encounters? (as well as how AC works)
You roll initiative at the start of combat and take actions in initiative order. If the player rolls a 15, Monster A an 8, and Monster B a 22, the order will be B, Player, A. You then cycle through this order until the fight ends.
I recommend using the encounter builder on this site - it’s great for tracking HP, initiative order, and seeing what the monsters’ abilities are, all in one place.
As for how to run encounters, try to think how your monsters would react to a situation. An intelligent band of bandits might target a healer first, followed by squishy characters. A beast is likely going to go after whoever made it the most angry or hurt it the most. Thinking from the perspective of the monster goes a long way toward making encounters feel different and believable.
Do I know I'm doing the right thing if me and the player are enjoying our time playing?
Yes. So long as everyone is having fun, you’re good to go, even if you get some of the rules wrong. It’s much more important to have fun and be consistent in your rules than it is to follow the exact letter of the official rules.
The book includes sidekicks for you. Just treat them as a player character, except instead of having a single player control a single character, someone will control the sidekick in addition to their own character. Either the DM or the player controls the sidekick. We had the player control ours because the DM has enough to worry about. Each encounter tells you how to modify it according to how many characters and sidekicks you have to maintain balance - something I've not found in other adventures.
Just have them start in Phandalin, introduce them to the town using the blurbs the book provides, and encourage them to explore the town. Gently nudge them to the noticeboard outside the town hall when they're ready for a quest.
They provide a screen which you can't reorganise. If you mean how to organise your bits and bobs behind the screen, whatever works for you.
I didn't bother. I'd remember what quests they've done, and not much else needs recording. Where the dragon has been is not important. If it rolls on top ofnthe party, they have an encounter. If not, check the map to see if the dragon is visible, and if it is describe it, otherwise don't. After you've resolved the dragon, its position becomes irrelevant.
Every creature involved in the encounter rolls a d20 and then adds their dexterity modifier to it. Highest goes first, then second highest, and so forth until everyone has a place in the order.
AC is calculated using your armour and dexterity modifier - depending on what armour you use. Attack rolls (plus relevant modifiers) have to be equal to or greater than the AC to hit. If it hits, you roll the damage die (plus relevant modifiers) and that's the damage dealt.
Each creature takes their turn according to that order. In each turn, a creature gets and Action, a Bonus Action and they can move up to a maximum distance equal to their speed (usually 30ft, but it can vary). Those options cab ve taken in any order and the movement can be broken up. Once everyone has taken their turn, the round ends, and you start again using the same order.
Define right. According to the rules? Not necessarily. However, the aim of the game is to have fun. If you're having fun, who cares if it's according to the rules? The rules are there to help you have fun, and for no other reason.
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.
To be honest with you OP it sounds like this is your first time running a game period. I wouldn't start with this module for a first timer. I would do the Lost Mines one and at minimum get 2 people to play with you. Just one on one is gonna be rough not gonna lie.
1 shot dungeon master
Due to my circumstances, getting another player is not an option sadly.
¨Lord Modus never expected Zenith to return, alas--here we stand in front of the lord to bring us to our knees.¨ - an excerpt from The Aegis Neverland; Sabines Passion (made by me :D)
What are the circumstances.
1 shot dungeon master
I’m running Dragon of Icespire with my Daughter, so pretty much running for for one player. I’m also running a game for my friends - a larger group, so I can gauge the differences quite well.
Running for one player is more difficult as it’s harder to balance against the variety of challenge types. Luckily in my Daughters campaign she selected a Ranger, so along with the sidekick there’s actually 3 individuals (the ranger gets a companion beast).
it’s going to be important to give good consideration to the sort of sidekick you want your player to combo with. If your player is going to wade into a fight, sword swinging they might work best with an healer to back them up. If they are a long range spellcaster they may benefit from a fighter sidekick, who can intercept any enemy getting close …. Etc etc. in my game my daughters ranger has a Wolf companion and a mage sidekick and it works quite well.
feel free to adjust encounters if your players group lack vs particular challenge types, such as traps then consider reducing the impact or frequency of the traps. If your group is lacking fighting skills, dial down the number of monsters. Maybe you need to make healing potions a bit easier to get hold off and so on.
It’s going to be a bit of trial and error on your part if you’ve not run the game before, but if you both go into this with an open mind and understand the above, the it certainly worth having a go.
Hope this helps
Mike Shay of Sly Flourish ran an Actual Play of Icespire Peak a couple years ago for one-on-one play. I found it very helpful. https://youtu.be/DtO8qLtsJ6c