One Player Campaign?


Wrath of the Righteous


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Hi all,

I am looking to run Wrath of the Righteous for a single player and was wondering the best method.

At the start of the first book you obviously get a few people following along, albeit with injuries and drawbacks that make them fairly useless (Anevia, Aravashnial and Horus).

I only have the first book so far, but my understanding is that a number of these NPC 'companions' will be available throughout the entire AP. Could a single PC use just these NPC companions (presumably more at once than normally allowed) to play without having to make a fake party?

My player isn't keen on the idea of running multiple characters himself, and I don't want to be roleplaying and controlling the 3 NPCs plus 3 GMPCs to his 1 PC.

What is the best method for handling this? And is running just the APs NPCs (in greater number to bring up a full part size) viable in later books?

JDH


I've run Jade Regent, which also begins with 4 supporting NPCs, as a single player campaign.

We went for a high point buy single character, which enabled the single player to create a strong character with a variety of utility abilities (somebody with 14 INT and 14 STR has at least useful skills and melee abilities regardless of their class).

At the beginning of each setpiece (a dungeon, a city, etc), the player essentially gets a character select screen (just like a video game) to choose a single NPC to accompany them. The others were designated some hand-wavey tasks (guard the wagons, scout the area, gather food, etc) to explain their absence. It worked very well, as long as the player is prepared to let go of the plausibility a bit.

We primarily went for the one NPC at a time route to cut down on the workload of running them all. To compensate, I tended to cut the number of minions in half, and un-advance the bosses (half HP, -2 to all saves and defences). They also tend to avoid using save-or-die effects, or effects like paralysation which really screw a smaller party.

You could also work on giving the player full HP every level, or possibly an animal companion as if they were a druid (it requires controlling, but being an animal, not a lot of roleplaying heavy stuff).

I would suggest remaking the original NPCs as full-blown PCs of appropriate classes, then having one of them be uninjured in the original fall (and thus able to accompany the PC on the first adventure). Depending on what you like, the others could become the future party, or you could use future module NPCs and pick them up one at a time.

Hope that helps!


Hi Reverse,

Thank you for the insightful comments.

The idea of a 'character select screen' is fantastic, and as both long term gamers of things like Final Fantasy, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights we are both used to that as a concept.

Now that I have access to the full AP I think something like the following might work;

SPOILERS AHEAD

The single PC will have a 25 point buy and encounters will be reduced in difficulty to account for a single Mythic PC and up to 3 GM NPCs who will be higher level and mythic to different degrees depending on what Trials they complete just like the PC.

Book 1: The Worldwound Incursion - Anevia Tirebade, Aravashnial and Horgus Gwerm accompany the single PC. Anevia has no broken leg, and a full stock of arrows rather than just 4. Aravashnial is still blind and Horgus is still a massive pain in the backside, but might help out if encounters start proving too challenging.

Book 2: Sword of Valor - On the journey to Drezen, Anevia, Aravashnial and Horgus stay behind in Kenabres for their own reasons, and are replaced by Aron Kir, Nurah Dendiwhar and Sosiel Vaenic. While I could have all 6 come along, I feel it would prove too many GM NPCs for 1 PC, especially in combat. Once the Queen turns up, Anevia, Aravashnial and Horgus come along to gain their roles within the city.

Book 3: Demon's Heresy - All previous NPCs are available, in a 'character select screen' fashion up to a maximum party size of 4. Those not chosen stay behind in Drezen to carry out their appointed city role. Arueshalae will join them once rescued.

Book 4: The Midnight Isles - Galfrey, Arueshalae and 2 'character selected' previous NPCs will head to The Midnight Fane. Both Galfrey and Arueshalae will follow into the Abyss with the 2 other chosen NPCs.

Book 5: Galfrey and 3 other chosen NPCs will be teleported to the Cathedral and taken to the Ivory Labyrinth.

Book 6: Galfrey and the 3 other chosen NPCs will be the final party, but all can be swapped out at any point other than Galfrey if she is the Herald.

If anyone else has attempted something similar, or just has feedback I would very much appreciate it!


I'm running it as a solo campaign but my player has combat control of the various NPCs (which I designed but he now levels up) while I have roleplay control over them. I got the idea from Dragon Age. Obviously this won't work for players who can't handle all the stats.

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