I am going to run a Solo Campaign and could use advice.

[HermitIX]

I will be running a solo campaign for my brother. I am doing it to learn pathfinder better. He is doing it because at the moment I'm the only game in town.

I told him to make a level five character and he is planing a ranger/bard. (he loves to multiclass.)

I plan to start with him taking a secret important item from point a to point b. But other than that I am low on ideas. I have never run a game for less then four players. Can any one give me tips and advice for how to run a game for a single player?

[Alex Head]

Since the game is going to be so focused on one character it might be cool to do more with stealth and sneaking around. Of course, that's only if that's his thing.

Combat with one character can be dangerous if you aren't careful, but that can make stealth all the more attractive.

[Stubs McKenzie]

I found lower str monsters to be more appropriate... goblins, kobalds, skeletons, etc instead of orcs, ogres and the like. With multiple characters you the DM have the choice in who to inflict pain on after a lucky hit, with a solo player it isn't so easy to keep someone alive... especially one of the most MAD multiclass combos possible that will need decent str and high dex or vise versa, con is required as he will get hit a lot, wis for ranger spells, int shouldn't be dumped (one of the nicer reasons to play a bard solo is you can identify anything you come across with knowledge checks... dumping int makes that less of a sure thing), and CHA for bard spells.

If you run an NPC for him, give the NPC a quirk or behavior you can quickly jump in and out of... running an NPC in this sort of environment is time consuming, and can be a big pita, if you have a voice or quirk you can jump in and out of quickly it can make the npc easier to play, more fun for the both of you, and less confusing for the player whether DM is talking or NPC.

Finally, prep work is key... I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants DM, but when I DM'd a solo campaign for my brother I couldn't rely on my past experiences or old tricks. Reread the bestiary, find some new creatures you don't normally throw at a party, try some new techniques. Alternatively there are some decent (so I hear) solo adventures through third party publishers on this site... if you need some different ideas but don't like playing by the book it might still be worth flipping through a couple of them.

GOOD LUCK! I have been a player and a DM for solo campaigns, and they have always been a ton of fun :)

[Rylar]

A treasure hunter type campain is where I would go. I would give better than basic stats, either a high point-buy system, or roll for powerful characters (like 1d6+12 for each). Make sure to have a focus on the RP part of it. He can play with both skills and combat very well as the focal point.

If you run out of ideas look at any single player RPG out there. KoA: reckoning, elder scrolls series, heck many MMO's are single player focused nowdays (with group thrown in at end game).

Another idea is to let him play multiple characters. While I wouldnt suggest 1 player playing a full party I could see 2 characters being played without too much trouble.

[Jeffrey Palmer]

I ran the first 3 adventures of Second Darkness with one other player. He played as a tiefling summoner and I changed the rule that he couldn't have his eidolon and summoned monsters at the same time, thus he had his character, his tough as nails eidolon and as many monsters as he could summon during combat. We had a great time and with some helpful NPCs and extra potions of cure light wounds, he did fine.

Might be more challenging with the bard/ranger you mentioned. Maybe consider a Figurine of Wondrous Power or a powerful wand of summon monsters or bottled creatures (ala the alchemist) and then let him play the summoned creatures in combat.

On a second note, the same guy is running me on Carrion Crown solo, and I'm playing with a party of 4, which I'm really enjoying. One character is the group’s voice, which allows me to role-play with NPCs and such from one-character’s point of view, but otherwise I make skill checks and control each of the 4 in combat. No interparty role playing, but I do some writing between sessions to flush out the groups relationships, which is fun in itself.

Both the "one-man-army" or the solo-group approach work well and are a blast when you don't have available people to game with. Also don’t be afraid of checking out the adventure paths and modifying them up (given he’s starting at 5th level, take a look at the 2nd adventure in the paths). As Stubs McKenzie said above, just don’t be afraid of taking the number of monsters down a bit or changing what they are.
Good luck!

[Artanthos]

With a solo character, defense and self healing will be much more important than offence.

With a bard, social skills, intrigue and stealth are probably much better solutions than combat for most problems.

Tailor your encounters to his strengths. Encourage diverse abilities rather than trying to be "the best" at just one or two. A broad skill base is much more important in a solo campaign than have a 20 strength or max ranks in just 2 or 3 skills.

[Crysknife]

Have you considered letting him play a gestalt character?

[HerosBackpack]

When you're calculating for a solo character, a good rule of thumb is to aim for APL-3 (in this case, start him on CR 2 encounters) Don't have too many enemies at once, or he may get swarmed under.

[Knight Magenta]

A very important consideration is that in a party, you have different people handle different situations. In a one-man army, everything is on the single character's shoulders.

I recommend a higher pointbuy for stats. No lower than 25 and maybe 30. Also, let him take a few extra skill points to make him more rounded.

[Beebs]

If you're ever looking for premade content, Expeditious Retreat Press's line of 1 on 1 adventures are pretty cool. They have a number of rogue ones. Lots of sneaking l, spying and mystery solving.