Requested: DM Aid!


3.5/d20/OGL


I finally realized that DMing for one person is about 10 times harder than DMing for 3-4 people. With other people, the characters talk and have fun and I give them what's happening and they go at it. Without other people, DMing with just one person -- You're it. You have to do EVERYTHING. You're the one-man entertainment.

Not to mention trying to make "Cool" combat encounters. But then rolling 90% of the battle on rocky slopes yourself turned out to not be as cool as an encounter as I thought it would be. "Orc Misses. Second Orc Misses. Third Orc... Hits! 4 damage to that Dwarf. Dwarves turn. First one misses. Second one hits! 6 damage, that orc dies. Dwarf Leader rolls... Misses. Alright your turn." *Roll* "Miss." "Okay, First Orc.."

......Yeah, it was that bad. I'm sorry, really, I am. I was like "Well this sucks...REAL BAD"

The worst part about it is that I don't know how to fix it... Yet. Smaller encounters? Just the PC and a few mobs they can actually handle? Then it's just dungeon crawling with little to no "grand" sense because... You're all alone. Who's going to believe/care?

It's frustrating too because I don't know exactly what my PC wants. It's a family member who's visiting, and they only really play with me. But the first few times we played, my friends came over. (I don't have any to invite right now). When I ask, they don't know exactly what they want because they haven't played enough to want more of something, so I'm trying to do a good amount of both roleplaying AND combat. But the roleplaying seemed forced and the combat almost made ME want to leave the table.

Any help/advice would be most welcome. It's like... I'm in drastic need of help right now, it's crazy. Any General tips on what to do would be GREAT. I feel really lost right now.

If you want to know more about what's going on in-game right now... (Read at your own discretion... It's long. Sorry, lol.)

The PC is a 3rd level Sorceror (Almost 4th). They're currently on a mission to return a dead dwarf from a mining endeavor back to his home city for a proper Dwarven burial. Unfortunately, the trading town they passed through says that the dwarves never came down from their mountains to trade the Iron and Silver they mine at the Celebration of Sildar (The once-yearly time the Dwarves come down from the mountains and trade in large quantities). It's been two months now. The Dwarven Patrols that patrol the pass between the human town at the foot of the mountains and the Dwarven City Entrance have stopped. They've sent their own scouts, but only a few returned talking about masses of orcs guarding the passes. They've requested help from the large human city north of them (Who often purchases the large amounts of iron), but so far no return word.

DM Info: Orcs are just the patrolers for more vile creatures that have started a war with the Dwarves. They've risen up and have taken control of the wild beasts and creatures of the mountains to wipe out the pesky dwarves. The Dwarves are, at the moment, holed up in their city, guarding its two entrances like a steadfast. They also have to watch their lower tunnels now because it seems the creatures underneath have found ways to connect to the Dwarven tunnels and route the forward-miners and patrols. After telling the Dwarves of the supposed call for aid from the nortern human city, the dwarves can only hope, wait, and prepare their counterattack.

The only thing for an assured victory is Garrix. Garrix is the Young adult gold dragon that lives on a peak southeast from the Dwarven city. Dorgoth Malak, the Dwarven Leader of this mining city, was once a young adventurer himself. On his last adventure before retirement (at least from adventuring), he took on a Red Dragon in its lair, deafeating him and finding a gold dragon egg that the red dragon had apparently stolen and was planning to eat. The only thing Dorgoth could do was to take the dragon himself, not knowing where it came from or where else it could go. So when he was assigned as Caretaker of Dumadan, the Undercity of Iron and Silver, this was his perfect chance to raise the dragon nearby and let it live its own life while still being able to keep an eye on it.

Fast forward 150 years. Dorgoth has grown into an older and wiser, unshakeable leader. The Dragon has turned into a fine adult who is now part of the Dwarven rituals. He is even the symbol of Dumadan, emblazoned on their shields and banners. He is also an integral part of the Celebration of Sildar. They use his dragon fire to light the first fires of the forge, and to smelt a good amount of silver to be forged into a purely ceremonious piece of armor or weapon which is shown off at the celebration in the human town and then promptly returned to their Dwarven vaults in the city proper. But with the dragon, they could be able to gain an immesurable advantage in this war, possibly ending it in one swift blow. But where is Garrix? The evil creatures know of this Dragon and have ambushed and tied it down in its lair. Guarding it and keeping it captive. The PCs quest after getting to the city is to locate Garrix's Peak and find out what happened to Garrix himself. Once freed (if it so happens), the Dragon reigns fire down on the masses of orcs, hobgoblins and other creatures that are, at the moment, doing open battle with the Dwarves. Just in time for the Knights of the Silver Faith from the Northern City to come and route the retreating hordes and clean up the mess. Giant Celebration ensues.

Unfortunately... Is this too grand for one PC? I know it feels like it, definately. But I thought it was pretty awesome. I'm just having a hard time making it more... One-person oriented instead of seeming like it needs an entire party. I originally wrote it so that there WOULD be 2-4 people playing, but it's only her. I guess I could always just scrap the quest and do a normal dungeon delve or something. But they already started on the path, so I don't want to be all "So, ignore what happened yesterday..." Anyway, any help is appreciated. Sorry it's so long... People will probably ignore it because it is. If you do ignore this... Oh well. If you don't... Awesome!


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber
Ankounite wrote:


Not to mention trying to make "Cool" combat encounters. ... "Orc Misses. Second Orc Misses. Third Orc... Hits! 4 damage to that Dwarf. Dwarves turn. First one misses. Second one hits! 6 damage, that orc dies. Dwarf Leader rolls... Misses. Alright your turn." *Roll* "Miss." "Okay, First Orc.."...

First off, stop describing NPC combat like this. Ex: "The Orcs first few swings are clumsy but the third connects a solid shot with his club to a dwarf's head. The dwarf staggers back dazed a bit,then lunges back with a battle cry, eviscerating the suprised orc with one swipe of his battleaxe." With just one player, you DO have to work much harder at the visualization, and that means especially in combat. If there are LOTS of NPCs fighting each other, and it helps keep the flow going, stop tracking actual damage they do to each other entirely and come up with something else. Can be 2 d20s and the highest roll wins, then you describe the combat scene based on the variance between the rolls (evenly matched or one obviously overpowering the other, etc.) The point is, put your emphasis on describing what's happening, not calculating hits, misses, and remaining hpts. Save that for combat with the PC.

As for your storyline, I don't think it's TOO grand, but I DO think you need to remember to focus on the PC and what HER place in all this is. Have the NPCs emphasize how important it is that she find the dragon learn what's happened to it. Keep your focus on the small scale of what's going on around her and your work on making it REAL for her. When the combat scenes happen, you don't want to spend more time describing combat she's NOT involved in than combat she IS. Then, when the grand celebration happens at the end, make sure she's honored for her part.

In general, when we found ourselves with a 2 man show (one player and one DM), this is the formula we tend to use: The player runs 2 PCs and the DM runs one NPC as part of the group. And that doesn't mean you have to do a dungeon delve. In fact, if you're having trouble focusing on "keeping it real" for both of you, I think a dungeon crawl is the LAST thing you should run. There's nothing worse for monotony than the "check for traps, pick the lock, open the door, check the floor for traps, enter the room, search the room" rut. Focus on storyline, making them engaging (or personal to the player's PC history), and regardless of the scope of the big picture, keep the action around the PCs smooth and personal.

Contributor

I agree with Tiger Lily!

Go ahead and dispense with rolling for all the NPC vs. NPC combat. Just describe it in really cool fashion, or roll a d20 for All The Orcs and one for All The Dwarves, every round, higher one gets the advantage that round and slaughters some of the others.

Also while on the topic of NPCs, I'd go ahead and throw some important ones in to help the PC (and give the PC a chance to shine by saving these important NPCs bacon periodically).

Also gives you a chance to roleplay consistent characters and kind of riff off the PC like a player in the game (the best interactions come from these constant back-n-forths often).

I'm sure you'll rock it out and make that player happy! Good luck!

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Small encounters that cater to the character's strengths should be your bread and butter. Only prey upon the character's weaknesses to advance the plot or to present a key villain or storyline to the mix.

If you want some ideas about what a single-player game could look like, read The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore.


To further back up Tiger Lily:

You (as the DM) do not need to roll to see what happens between NPCs. It's totally unnecessary and (as you have seen) slows the game to a crawl.

In between the PC's turns, adjust the other minis (I'm assuming you're using minis), knock some over - but don't roll the combat between them, and try to make the adjustments quickly to get the focus back where it belongs; describe what the character saw, but only in so much detail as someone in the middle of his own combat could make out.

"All around you there is a flurry of movement as the orcs and the dwarves assault one another. Up from the ridge come darts of flaming arrows and a steady drumbeat. Beside you one of the dwarves falls, but another quickly takes his place."

I suggest instituting a victory point system (check Heroes of Battle/the Savage Tide AP for a detailed description). Essentially, the more goals the PC succeeds at, the better the battle goes for his whole side.


I handwave a lot of NPC combat by making a "best roll wins" d20 roll. Saves me time and yawning by the players. Most players want to hear about what their characters are doing, not what an NPC is doing.


Try having the player control multiple PCs - like a 4-6 person party of adventurers. That way the player has as much dice rolling as you (the DM).

OR - have the player control a single PC, like a rogue, and only use "death trap dungeon" style adventures, where there isn't much combat (maybe a few single monster encounters), but lots of puzzle solving, exploring, skill use, etc.

OR - city adventures involving lots of role playing with intrigue, diplomacy, mysteries to solve/ clues to be found, etc.


Hey Everyone. Thanks a lot for the replies and helpful advice. In my mind it's helping out QUITE a bit. It's making my adventure continuation(read: rewrite) much more focused.

So what I’ve got so far is don’t roll for each group individually, such as the Orcs and the Dwarves because it slows down the game way too much (It really does.) Roll 2d20 and the higher number gains an advantage that round. Describe more the general fight around the PC and then get back to what her character is doing.

Second thing is to add an NPC to help the PC, or let them control two characters (or both). I think I’m gonna go with sending an NPC Dwarf to aid her in going to the Dragon’s Lair. I don’t really want to confuse them too much with worrying about having to take care of both of their characters.

For sure design the lair (I haven’t actually done that yet) more suited to the PCs strengths. More magical inclined things. Only the final battle to cut the dragon free should involve something more challenging but still make them feel an integral part of the encounter. (And yes, I’ve read The Dark Elf Trilogy. Most of the stories involving Drizzt, actually, but it’s harder to make a fight with a sorceror being the only party member.)

The Victory Point thing sounds cool (Haven’t read Heroes of Battle or The Savage Tide AP yet). The more things she’s accomplishing, the more those on her team accomplish. And yeah, I’ll have to focus very much more so on the PC than anything else really going on. What THEY’RE doing is what’s changing the world around them. Without them things wouldn’t happen the way they would otherwise. I got it.

Anyway thanks again for your helpful advice. Any more would be great, even general DM tips. I plan on running a 2-person party in a few weeks, and I can only get better and better while this keeps going along.


Controlling more than two characters is difficult for anyone without reducing at least some of the characters to just number of stats...some of which you are bound to forget. It hasn't been once or twice when I had more than one character and remembered 15 minutes too late that "oh yes, this character had this spell which might have been useful and that one had that immunity so that encounter should have gone completely different...".

As others have suggested, if there are large combats concentrate only on what the PC (and his immediate opponent) is doing, and handle the NPCs with one roll (or sometimes you can just make an estimation how the battle should go and describe accordingly).
Or maybe just dispose of those NPC allies and indeed run the character against the world. Of course keep in mind the power level, the character should be higher level than those encounters if he is planning on going alone...


magdalena thiriet wrote:

Controlling more than two characters is difficult for anyone without reducing at least some of the characters to just number of stats...some of which you are bound to forget. It hasn't been once or twice when I had more than one character and remembered 15 minutes too late that "oh yes, this character had this spell which might have been useful and that one had that immunity so that encounter should have gone completely different...".

As others have suggested, if there are large combats concentrate only on what the PC (and his immediate opponent) is doing, and handle the NPCs with one roll (or sometimes you can just make an estimation how the battle should go and describe accordingly).
Or maybe just dispose of those NPC allies and indeed run the character against the world. Of course keep in mind the power level, the character should be higher level than those encounters if he is planning on going alone...

Hahaha, and I can't have that. Especially considering that there's still some things they don't completely understand mechanics and game-wise. So reducing them to stats would reduce them to a mass of unsure confusion.

I'll stick with the one character theme. Although I really might send a Dwarven Ally in there with them to "show her the way" and such. But yeah, besides a few help, it's the one character against the world. It'll be more fun this time though, I promise. Unfortunately it also means the encounters last much shorter and I have to take that into consideration. But again, thanks for all your help.


Ankounite wrote:
Unfortunately it also means the encounters last much shorter and I have to take that into consideration.

This is a good thing. Shorter encounters means more encounters, which can be more varied. Variety is the spice of life, or so I've been told.


Actually, it's paprika.

Liberty's Edge

Ankounite wrote:
Although I really might send a Dwarven Ally in there with them to "show her the way" and such.

While this might be unnecessary advice, I feel compelled to give it anyway:

If you add a persistent NPC, be extraordinarily careful not to overshadow the player character. In particular, I suggest that you make the NPC almost completely reactive. For example, let the PC ask the NPC questions; don't have the NPC volunteer information often at all. Let the PC make the decisions without lobbying from the NPC. And make the NPC less powerful than the PC in most situations.

If you add such an NPC without being quite careful, you can end up with what is usually referred to as a DMPC. Historical evidence suggests that the probability of a DMPC spoiling the game for the player(s) is too high to take the risk. (See any of the several dozen DMPC threads at the WotC message boards for graphic examples of how this works.)


I would echo what Doug has said - be careful when implementing persistent NPCs. If you're not careful, they have a tendency to overshadow the PCs - reign that NPC in! :D

Grand Lodge

All of the things mentioned so far have been good so I'll try to help in another direction other than game mechanics. Find out what the player wants!

No, you won't be able to get this in game mechanic form, the player can't answer that yet. You may not be ready for it anyway. Instead, ask what the player wants her PC sorcerer to be like. Develop her history a bit. Ask the player what characters from books, movies, even citcoms that have nothing to do with D&D but lots to do with character personality, etc., she wants to be modeled after. Does she want to be like Aspirin's Skeeve or Cunningham's Liriel or even like Terminator's Linda Hamilton -- just with spells.

Then, when you both know the PC's character background you can confront issues of your game design and the PC can shine. Soon you'll find the game mechanics that fit in with the PC and game.

Hope this helps,
-W. E. Ray


Make sure the PC has an experience that adds depth to the character. This can be done through interaction with a persistent antagonist that maims the PC, interaction with a cursed item that affects the PC in a superficial way, a comical "sidekick" NPC that relies on the PC (think Meepo here), or a more powerful NPC that has taken the PC under his/her wing and sets more long term goals for the PC that can act as side quests. Good luck!


I have found it helpful if the NPC is only semi helpful like mepo from sunless citadel, or one that a DM had travel with me, he was a mute dwarven rogue named "Fingers"


Vy-Dann wrote:
I have found it helpful if the NPC is only semi helpful like mepo from sunless citadel, or one that a DM had travel with me, he was a mute dwarven rogue named "Fingers"

In the one-character game I am currently playing (see my campaign journal) Allustan serves as sort of helper...he does not join my character in the adventures but provides services, answers questions, acts as a sage...

When I have played NPCs helping out the player character(s) they also tend to fall into sage or healer roles, folks who hang in background, help when asked but do not take part in active planning (while usually being smart enough that if the characters are planning to do something really stupid they can chime in).
Yes, it is important that NPC should be reactive, sidekick for the real hero.


[emote]*Dances the Victory Jig x2*[/emote]

So two really good things happened recently. First of all, when I just came on this morning (Just now... 6am), I find that my order has finally been shipped! Woohoo! Although it's the slow way (I Uhhh... Spent too much to begin with, and I really wasn't in too huge a rush to obtain what I ordered [although they would be helpful and nice for that adventure I'm running]). It feels like it's been forever since I placed that order... Soooo last year. LOL.

The second thing, of course, is that we played again and it was soooooooo much better. She seemed way more into the game when it was all about what her character was doing, and that what she was doing was turning the tide of battle. This was so much more fun for her (and interesting), instead of having all the little dwarves have a say in what's going on, it was her alone that was really the one deciding the battle. (Thanks for the 2d20-highest wins tip. It helped immeasurably). There was also some RPing between her and the Dwarf Cleric in the convoy (the one I'm eventually going to send with her.)

This leads me to my reply. I completely agree with what you guys are saying. He's a cool character in his own right, but he's just an NPC for help/healing. He's only going to show her the way and help out in the melee fights. I've been designing the caves of the dragon with the one PC in mind. Almost everything is magical or requires her skills. There's going to be a few guards that are hanging around, but for the most part all the creatures are out preparing to join the coming battle.

There's only two creatures that are of any concern. The first is the battle kind -- A Sea Hag (I'll explain why in a bit). The CR of a Sea Hag is 4, which is... 4 times what a level 4 Sorceress should be fighting alone. But with a lower SR and completely denying the Evil Eye ability, she should be fine. (She's a slightly overpowered character to begin with -- Hey, I was a noob DM onc--- I mean... Still. Sort of.) She's the one who used her voodoo magics to set all the other magic traps up (I know she doesn't have any magic abilities other than her two supernatural abilities unless I gave her character levels, but bear with me, it's going to be pretty much a one on one battle).

The second one is completely an RP encounter. This will determine where the PCs character really wants to go in terms of alignment. There's an ettin who, with the help of the Hag's magic, wrestled the Dragon into submission (while it was sleeping, helped). But unfortunately the Ettin suffered a large gash across its stomach. It was given a poor bandage job and left in the main chamber with the chained dragon as a guard. The Ettin is suprised at the characters intrusion, and gets up to fight, but just by looking you can tell it's in no condition to fight, let alone do anything else, and will go down quickly. So the question is, do you kill the almost-dead-anyway ettin, or let him leave the caverns to die (or perhaps live?) somewhere else. While gaining the same XP either way, what do you lose otherwise?

So yeah, the Dwarf doesn't know the caverns by heart, just the way to them, and helps out when he can, but it's mostly all about the PC. Oh, and as for the Sea Hag part... She'll find a black statuette of a merfolk woman(mermaid, I guess) screaming while wrapped and bound by kelp. Its aura is magical... And also evil. This leads to her next adventure, which I'll leave for another time.

But yeah, that's what's going on. I kind of don't want her to leave now because of all the stuff I've been planning. Oh well. Cie La vie. If we don't get to play at all really anymore (as will be the case one of these days), I can always just rehash/reuse the ideas.... Or not. Unfortunately (maybe not), I'm writing three different adventures for three different groups/people. One for this person, one for my friend and some of his friends that live a little ways away -- I'm going to try to get going soon, and one I started in high school and have been building/thinking/obsessing about way too much because I like that aventure too much. But all 6 of us live in about 4 different states now and the likelihood of us all joining back up is very small. Yeah. This post was too long, sorry. LOL. Again, thanks for all the hints, tips and help. And AID!


Saern wrote:
Actually, it's paprika.

Variety is paprika? "Death and danger are my various breads and butters."

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