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Heliomance
2013-09-25, 11:19 AM
Since leaving uni, I'm missing gaming a lot. Coincidentally, my little brother's interested in finding out what this D&D thing is all about. I wondered about the possibility of running a solo game for him. How well do they work, and what do you need to do differently to normal games? Any suggestions of what sort of plots work well, any pitfalls to avoid? Many thanks!

Vin Robinson
2013-09-25, 11:41 AM
Skillfull classes lend themselves quite well to this format. Assassinations, thieving jobs, etc. Anything that would have slowed the pace to a crawl in the usual D&D situation. For once, the action economy favors your enemies, and even a bunch of mooks can seriously endanger a character. I have had an E6 RHOD game and one week only one player could make it, so we ran a one shot. Now, this was a Goliath Knockback + Shocktrooper Dungeoncrasher, and he ended up getting taken out by the overwhelming odds, even six mooks were a problem.

I ended up having to do the same thing with a Swift Hunter with a heavy focus on scout. She snuck around, skirmished, did a smash and grab, and got out by the skin on her pants. It was way more fun and interesting. Even a solo dungeon crawl I think would work better with a clever character/player.

But this is seriously doable, either way.

Brookshw
2013-09-25, 12:22 PM
It's doable, I've had great solo games with strong roleplayers. Maybe consider gestalt to give him more flexability?

Logic
2013-09-25, 12:30 PM
Avoid any enemies that can one shot the player.

Pull ALL your punches until at least 5th level.

Never have more than 3 foes to fight at once, unless the player has backup.

Don't let your player's companions outshine the player (my biggest mistake from my last solo campaign.)

D-naras
2013-09-25, 02:49 PM
Does it have to be DnD? Because DnD doesn't handle solo games very well, especially for a beginner. Gestalt is a way to do it, though gestalt is kinda hard for a beginner to grasp. Alternatively you can have your brother create a whole party and focus on 1 character. Kinda like a console Rpg of old. You could also try another system, say M&M, that can handle solo gaming better. I run a post-apocalyptic M&M solo campaign for about 6 months with a friend, and it was the best roleplaying we've ever done.

CarpeGuitarrem
2013-09-25, 02:59 PM
Solo should work for 1-player stuff, they just need to focus on doing things that their character is competent at. You could run a game like Thief, where the main character has a core competency but is also vulnerable to certain approaches.

Give them prompting and allow for them to find clever ways to circumvent difficult challenges. And don't make 0 HP the end of the road, use it to introduce a new turn on the story, and give them a way out. At early levels, being knocked out might put them in prison until an opportunity arises (and they're a hero, so it will eventually arise...). At higher levels, they might die--and make a bargain with Death.

(If you're interested in doing a solo game of another system, Dungeon World (http://book.dwgazetteer.com/) plays a really fast-paced solo game that even offers solutions for the problem of death.)

kidnicky
2013-09-25, 03:52 PM
I run 4E with one PC all the time. Mostly I have him fight minions,or an encounter with one level one or two guys and one or two minions. The end "boss" of course is stronger. One thing I sort of houseruled is that we're using the Dungeon Tiles set,and one of the tiles is a table with a thanksgiving feast on it. So I'll usually include that room somewhere and have one or two minions eating dinner. If he dispatches them,he can eat the food and get his HP back,like an 80's video game. He's only actually gotten down to 0 HP once,and I just had him wake up with a headache after being tossed out of the dungeon through the garbage chute.

He's almost level 4 now even though he's by himself 75% of the time,so I'd have to say it's working.

All that being said,you could run something different like a superhero game. Spider-Man is usually alone in his adventures.

MonkeyBusiness
2013-09-25, 03:52 PM
One of the best campaigns I ever played in was a solo adventure based on a novel my DM loved: The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Pope. It "translated" perfectly to AD&D (which was the only edition at the time). Back then Rogues were called Thieves, and being a bard was essentially a prestige class. Anyway: I was a Thief, but if we played the same game today I'd probably be a Bard.

My point in explaining these details is this: the game involved lots of problem-solving, riddles and mystery, intrigue, songs that alluded to history and myths, swashbuckling solo heroics, and interpersonal problems. Among other things, my character had to rescue a stubborn male character and outwit his kidnappers while living as one of them. This was the perfect story line for a solo player.

Now, what the game did not have were many battles. My character did get into fisticuffs once or twice, but with a single antagonist each time. Those encounters were intense and brief. In a different solo campaign, my character hired followers to help her clear out a dungeon, and that was fine too, but sometimes became tedious, because I had to wait for all these NPCs to have their turns just so my character could do something. So the problem-solving type campaign was much more satisfying because I didn't have to wait for a bunch of imaginary people to take their turns.

So in your shoes, I'd look for a book or movie with a single protagonist (or possibly a protagonist with a sidekick or friend) and see how the story works around a single character, but remains exciting. And make it a book he has not yet read, but might enjoy. I'd look for a storyline that involves a mystery or intrigue, or a personal challenge or quest.

There are plenty books and movies like this, but here are some examples that I love:
The chapters of The Hobbit where Bilbo is on his own ("Riddles in the Dark" is one);


A Wizard of Earthsea might give you some ideas, though I am sure that your brother would not be as brooding a character as Sparrowhawk. But it has good examples of how a solo character can screw up and survive the experience. Sparrowhawk makes many bad choices.


The Puppet Master by Katherine Patterson might be good if he'd like a game set in a D&D version of Japan;


Two movies by Akira Kurosawa, Yojimbo and Sanjuro would work well as a taking-off point: the protagonist is a ronin. Both movies are too dark and complex to use for a kid, but they might give you some inspiration.


Another movie The Secret of Kells is already age-appropriate, and has a charming story. There are lots of "NPCs" in that movie who challenge or help the protagonist, and it would translate well to D&D.


When you have some ideas, decide what classes work and do not work in this solo epic. Let your brother know what choices he has, but don't let him pick anything in the Player's Handbook! Make sure it will be a character that meet the challenges of the story.

Hope that helps!

-Monkey

.


EDIT: @Kidnicky ... the garbage chute! Bahahaha! I love it! :smallbiggrin:

.

Mr Beer
2013-09-25, 05:49 PM
Just because there is one player, does not mean there has to be one character. I would suggest at least one back-up, whether that's other "real" characters or NPCs/henchmen that become "real" if the main guy dies.

Sajiri
2013-09-25, 08:46 PM
When it's one player, it's all about them. Play to their strengths, and dont abuse the weaknesses- if they have no way to deal with traps, dont make a dungeon full of them.

My DM has been planning a solo game for me for a while now- it's a pirate campaign where I am the captain and I recruit my crew and pick who comes with me on 'missions' somewhat like Mass Effect for example, so there's that option. Let him play the class he wants, don't make him stress about covering everything, and either leave out what he can't do or introduce ways (hirelings/friends) that help him deal with things.

If you dont want to do gestalt (or even if you do) you could give him some bonuses, there aren't any other players to complain, such as a free template, extra feats, an animal companion on a class that doesn't normally get them, extra skills etc

Lorsa
2013-09-26, 06:31 AM
I've been running a lot of solo games in my life. They have the advantage that they're much easier to organise (due to the fewer players involved) and there'll be a lot fewer expectations on what the game should be and how to enjoy it.

Things to remember is that you can't rely on intra-party roleplaying to pass the time for you, all conversations have to be between the PC and NPCs.

It's a great way to play if you like to be detailed about a character's life. It's much easier to explore various relationships (don't necessarily mean romantic here) without other players that get bored. The fact that there's only one player means there's less pressure for you as GM to make sure everyone gets equal time.

While it's certainly not a necessity, solo play is also a great way to let a player have a REALLY powerful or epic character (or very epic story). In a solo game, the PC actually CAN be the chosen one without overshadowing other players. I ran a D&D 3.5 game fairly recently that took place in Forgotten Realms and I made the character a chosen of Mystra. It worked pretty well (and the added constitution really helped keep a sorceress alive). If your brother is into that sort of epic feel, don't be afraid to use it. Solo games is exactly the time for that.

If it's just an ordinary character, keep in mind to keep the opposition on the lower end. Solo characters can be fragile things. It's still possible to take on a large number of foes by being creative (I once had a player whose very low-level ranger taking out 8 orcs in a camp by using stealth and ranged weapons). Unlike larger groups where there's always one character ruining the stealth approach, it works very well in solo games.

Heliomance
2013-09-26, 07:48 AM
I was thinking about doing a stealth and/or intrigue focused game, with him playing a skillmonkey - a lowbie in a thieves' guild or something maybe. Not much in the way of plot yet, though.

For background incidentally, my brother's 15.

Delta
2013-09-26, 09:28 AM
One game this works really well with, in my experience, is Exalted, because the power level of even a starting PC is so high that you can find a ton of challenging situations for him that would be way too much for a single low level character in most other systems.

I've tried it with 4E too and it worked reasonably well, one thing you might consider here is using companion characters as introduced in the DMG2, and the Paladin class seems almost tailor-made for running solo, you can tank, obviously, you can dish out a ton of damage at low levels already and you got some backup healing to boot.

BWR
2013-09-26, 10:26 AM
Most of the points have been covered here, but you can ease the burden of solo play some by having a companion (hireling, shield-grog, slave, whatever). As long as you make this a genuinely interesting character and make sure she doesn't overshadow the player, it can work. One of the main problems of solo play that I've discovered in nearly 10 years of solo games on both sides of the screen, apart from having to scale back encounters, getting stuck is a bitch. At least when you have other players you can all put some effort into making a plan but if you're on your own everything hinges on you. With an extra character there you can feed hints to the player with at least some pretense of it not being the Word of God. Just make sure the companion is a support class and doesn't outshine your player's character.

Jormengand
2013-09-26, 02:27 PM
my little brother's interested in finding out what this D&D thing is all about.
One game this works really well with, in my experience, is Exalted,
*Sigh.*

Anyway, you should make sure your character is capable of doing everything himself, without needing an NPC to do it for them. That said, NWN did the whole mercenary thing pretty well (you always took the rogue because your character could never unlock doors/chests). Maybe look at his sheet and give him a companion who does everything he doesn't do. Probably not putting too much combat into it is a good idea.

Delta
2013-09-26, 02:37 PM
*Sigh.*

Please, enlighten me, what was so sigh-worthy about my post? I shared some advice about my experience with D&D solo gaming which you would know had you read more than the first sentence of my post, I just gave some additional input. He never explicitly stated that D&D is the only thing he'd ever consider running, and in my experience "that D&D thing" is often used to describe the whole of tabletop RPGing.

Jormengand
2013-09-26, 02:39 PM
Please, enlighten me, what was so sigh-worthy about my post? I shared some advice about my experience with D&D solo gaming which you would know had you read more than the first sentence of my post, I just gave some additional input. He never explicitly stated that D&D is the only thing he'd ever consider running, and in my experience "that D&D thing" is often used to describe the whole of tabletop RPGing.

If someone wants advice on running a game of D&D, it's not generally appreciated to tell them that another system is better and should be used instead.

Oh, and I did read more than that. I only quoted part of it because only part of it was relevant to the point I was making. I'm not quite as stupid as you think.

Heliomance
2013-09-27, 03:32 AM
Please, enlighten me, what was so sigh-worthy about my post? I shared some advice about my experience with D&D solo gaming which you would know had you read more than the first sentence of my post, I just gave some additional input. He never explicitly stated that D&D is the only thing he'd ever consider running, and in my experience "that D&D thing" is often used to describe the whole of tabletop RPGing.

I'm a she, by the way :P

I'm sure he would be interested in other systems, but D&D is what I know best and certainly what I'm most comfortable running. Much as I love Exalted, I don't think I have a good enough handle on the setting to do it justice.

Emperor Tippy
2013-09-27, 04:28 AM
I was thinking about doing a stealth and/or intrigue focused game, with him playing a skillmonkey - a lowbie in a thieves' guild or something maybe. Not much in the way of plot yet, though.

For background incidentally, my brother's 15.
Gestalt Factotum//Psion as an assassin/thief works great for solo games.

Think Adam Jensen from Human Revolution, Corvo from Dishonored, Garret from Thief, or the like.

Possibly dump gestalt if you want something a bit weaker.

Straight Factotum can do solo games very well and makes a great thief/assassin.

---
Although, quite frankly, you can run a solo game with pretty much any class in the game as the PC just fine.

As for going easy on the players, you don't need to do that. Just tell the players up front that they need to think, plan, and be stealthy. Oh yeah, and that coming up with ways to remove bodies is a good thing.

Also, be willing to work with the player in terms of magic items and special abilities (especially if the PC is a non caster).

Aliquid
2013-09-27, 02:40 PM
Most of the points have been covered here, but you can ease the burden of solo play some by having a companion (hireling, shield-grog, slave, whatever). As long as you make this a genuinely interesting character and make sure she doesn't overshadow the player, it can work.
I agree. I've used this a few times when running a game for one or two players.

The "doesn't overshadow" is very important. Things to consider:

If PC were to take companion on in a fight, PC would win

Companion can make suggestions, but doesn't tell PC what to do.
Stories make the PC the hero, not the companion
Treasure & rewards benefit the PC more than the companion