I'm looking for pretty much any advice on running a game for one PC, by themselves. There will probably be NPCs to help them out in their adventure, but I'm looking for advice specifically for running published adventures. Tricks like Gestalt, and starting at a higher level only provide so much, and later in the course of things, simply aren't enough. Action Economy is the biggest issue I see with doing something like this. Anyone have any advice to help me out? This is not something that I'm doing right now, but I have been thinking about it lately, and may do so soon. Thanks.
You could let him run two characters. My group is running two published adventures with GM and two players, having each run two characters at the same time has been very succesfull.
Suggest he uses a class that has a pet, like druid or summoner. Master summoner would be great, as they usually hog everyone elses playtime but that is not a problem here.
Make him a noble or somesuch and have the NPCs be his underlings. Let him order these underlings around but ultimately you will be running them, so as to not give him free Leadership.
Actually, why not give him free Torchbearer and later Leadership? Just have a story reason for that.
Use GMPC(s), but don't let them hog the action.
In AD&D we had games with one or two PCs who were a part of a larger adventuring company. And they were not the leaders either. The NPCs were strongly characterised, some were stronger and some weaker than the PC's, but they did not overshadow the PCs as they fulfilled different roles in the party.
An easy but homebrew way is to simply allow the character to act twice per round. Initiative and initiative - 10.
An easy but homebrew way is to simply allow the character to act twice per round. Initiative and initiative - 10.
There is a creature in Iron Gods AP with that ability and it can be devastating against the party.
Make recruiting NPCs to help quite a big part of the story - create some that have ties to the adventure locations or groups.
Make the player have to put some effort into getting them to help - choosing who they want to recruit, who is trustworthy, some take some persuading, some want paying, some have side quest objectives.
This could give a lot of roleplay potential that isn't always there in a larger group.
I'd tie the potential NPC helpers to a location or a story objective, so when the player character moves on to the next adventure they will likely stay behind and the PC needs to find new allies.
Or boyfriends. :-)
Having them gain NPC allies can help. My partner and I have also run several adventure paths with just the two of us. The way we work it is that each of us will play two characters and one of us will GM. The one who's GMing will have the others' characters make the active game decisions, but they all participate in combat and such.
It opens up a lot of sidequest and roleplaying opportunities because you don't have to worry about the other players sitting there bored while one of the characters goes off and does something.
Go over to the Adventure Finder link on the left side of the screen and navigate to the One on One Adventures Compendium. It has 11 adventures for various classes, with a potential level 3 to level 10/11 series, for which the GM need only write a hook between Gambler's Quest and the first Olindor adventure.
One on One Adventures Compendium chapters that I refer to are all based on a rogue or similar skills monkey. My 12-year old son is doing this with me.
In order:
1. Gambler's Quest (level 2-4): The default character is a level 3 rogue that will get to nearly level 5 if you play it right, and adding a few extra XP to get them all the way to 5th is not difficult. This took us a total of 12 hours, though plan on more if your player is heavy into role-playing. If you start a character at level 2, I'd make sure to give them better than WBL loot and a higher point-build. My son used the default character, but I let him rebuild with 25 points and standard WBL (5th level) for the next part.
2. Custom "bridge" build: I am taking my son's PC from level 5 to level 6 with a short adventure focused on traps/problem solving, and I'm giving him an additional PC/NPC to help (it is a tomb, with undead, so a cleric). The end of Gambler's Quest provides a pretty good hook, IMO, which I turned into a simple mini-dungeon/quest for the town of Rhiannon. We will start this within the next few days, and probably finish in 1 or 2 short sessions.
3. The Star of Olindor: start at level 6, end at either level 7 or 8. I have not worked this up yet.
4. The Shroud of Olindor: start at level 7 or 8, end at either level 8 or 9. I have not worked this up yet.
5. Vengeance of Olindor: start at level 8 or 9, end at level 9 or 10. I have not worked this up yet.
6. The Sixth Cavalier: start at level 9 or 10, end at level ???. I have not worked this up yet, and it is not specifically for a rogue (bard or rogue), nor is it specifically aligned with the previous chapters. However, I do not expect to have much trouble "converting" it to work with the others.
