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View Full Version : 1 player only: Alternate initiative system // which Adventure?



Madeiner
2014-06-26, 10:01 AM
Hi there!
So, my GF insists she wants to play d&d. However, she is too shy to play with my friends, and we also have conflicting schedule.
I was thinking to let her play a Pathfinder Adventure Path, but i don't know which one.
Im reading a few reviews for now. Maybe you can advise me a good module/AP to run?. Im looking for a lot of interaction and roleplay, not many combat encounters, and few to no dungeons.

The biggest problem i can think of is management of combat encounters. She is not interested in the rules or details, she just wants an adventure.
I let her play "We be goblins" a while ago and she really enjoyed it, but i had to play the other 3 PC kobols and i was doing 90% of the combat (3-4 monsters, 3 NPCs, and 1 PC...)

I was thinking i could run an alternate initiative system, in order to make solo fights funnier and easier.
Under this initiative system the two "sides" alternate the action. An enemy acts, then the PC acts, then the next enemy act, regardless of how many enemies there are.
Basically the PC gets as many "rounds" as the enemies get.
I understand this would make the character A LOT more powerful, especially against many weak creatures. But can you estimate by how much?
Would you think a system like this could work? How should i use NPC allies that she may encounter?

Thrawn4
2014-06-26, 01:48 PM
Forgive my ignorance, but I think you might look at it from the wrong angle. Your GF doesn't seem to like the things you want to implement, so I recommend to leave them out.
Why don't you just make up your own campaign? You could easily design some adventures without combat, which should suit your GF. Just focus on character interaction, making decisions and solving puzzles.
Also, as she apparently dislikes complex systems, use a very easy system like D6 or Fudge (I recommend the latter).

Madeiner
2014-06-26, 02:08 PM
Forgive my ignorance, but I think you might look at it from the wrong angle. Your GF doesn't seem to like the things you want to implement, so I recommend to leave them out.
Why don't you just make up your own campaign? You could easily design some adventures without combat, which should suit your GF. Just focus on character interaction, making decisions and solving puzzles.
Also, as she apparently dislikes complex systems, use a very easy system like D6 or Fudge (I recommend the latter).

Yeah i know it may look like this...but she actually wants to play d&d, not something else.
She tried it once and she liked it, plus she wants to play that specific system.
I also want her to play d&d in hope that she can find her own gaming group (we live quite far and cant play together during the week), but she is too shy and she thinks she would be a burden because she doesn't know the game well enough.

We also played HEROQUEST a while ago, and she didn't like it that much, disregarding it as too simple.

Thrawn4
2014-06-26, 05:48 PM
Well, how about a small series of town adventures instead a huge campaign that would require an entire group? Have her come up with a character and create a plot (e.g. needs gold to buy medicine for her mother) that can be solved by a single character.
Introduce the mechanics slowly, for example using some skills to barter, persuade or lockpick in a first adventure that allows her to get to know the town and some NPCs. In the next one, you could introduce one enemy (like a burglar) so they can just trade attacks and your GF can become familiar with the basics without worrying about the more complex aspects. Once she understands the basics, you can ellaborate if you want.

Libertad
2014-06-26, 11:21 PM
I recommend Scarlet Heroes. (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/127180/Scarlet-Heroes)

It's an old school retroclone pretty much designed for this in mind. The first chapter, character creation, can be found for free on Sine Nomine Publishing's website, but it's currently down or something as of this posting.

There's also Black Streams: Solo Heroes, which was a Labyrinth Lord precursor to Scarlet Heroes. You can check it out for free. (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/114895/Black-Streams-Solo-Heroes?term=black+streams+solo+)

Both products apply rules to up the survival rate and combat efficiency of lone PCs.


Also, I'd heavily recommend against running Pathfinder as-is as a 1-on-1 game without some heavy changes and extra attention to planned combat encounters. Definitely do not start out at low level, use much lower CR opponents (CR < 3 as the average for the PC). If your girlfriend isn't a new player, then suggest putting up some Character Optimization or looking into classes which can do a lot of things competently (Alchemist, Druid, Summoner, etc).