Hi, i just got the pathfinder begginner box and only have one person that I can play with often. I realized that it might be hard to play the gm campaign 1 on 1. Does anyone have any 1 or 1 on 1 campaigns/ideas?
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My experience is that there's a real split in the community over the idea of 1 on 1 games. RPGs are supposed to be social affairs where people bounce ideas off of one another and interact in unexpected ways, so a 1 player-1 GM dynamic strikes some people as weird. On the other hand, a 1 on 1 game lends itself much more easily to a focused narrative, and the story can be tied much more closely into the PC and you get a much more strong sense of the game having a protagonist. If it's two people with very compatible play styles and the right attitude, I think it could be fun.
Personally, I've never run a game for just one player, and I think in a lot of ways it would be harder for me to do so than a group of even 2 or three players. A lot of my fun as a GM comes from watching the interaction of the players and seeing how they overcome the obstacles I set up. If you can find just one more person to add to your group, I think it will improve your game tremendously.
Remember, the beginner box is perfect for for introducing new players - and even if you think no one else you know would be interested, it never hurts to try to recruit people who may have no RPG experience. You can never tell who will take to the game, and you may be pleasantly surprised.
My experience is that there's a real split in the community over the idea of 1 on 1 games. RPGs are supposed to be social affairs where people bounce ideas off of one another and interact in unexpected ways, so a 1 player-1 GM dynamic strikes some people as weird. On the other hand, a 1 on 1 game lends itself much more easily to a focused narrative, and the story can be tied much more closely into the PC and you get a much more strong sense of the game having a protagonist. If it's two people with very compatible play styles and the right attitude, I think it could be fun.
Personally, I've never run a game for just one player, and I think in a lot of ways it would be harder for me to do so than a group of even 2 or three players. A lot of my fun as a GM comes from watching the interaction of the players and seeing how they overcome the obstacles I set up. If you can find just one more person to add to your group, I think it will improve your game tremendously.
Remember, the beginner box is perfect for for introducing new players - and even if you think no one else you know would be interested, it never hurts to try to recruit people who may have no RPG experience. You can never tell who will take to the game, and you may be pleasantly surprised.
Ok thanks!
I've tried 1on1 (with another experienced player) once, it didn't go well. When she GMed she wanted it story driven and I just robbed random people in town.
When I GMed she got an idea what I was up to pretty fast as I didn't invent for a group, but only for one person.
2 players is better, 3 is much better (and 4 is the usual "great"). As Wolfsnap said, they have to have the right attitude.
While it's true that RPGs are meant for groups, I must say that I have a GREAT deal of experience running one-on-one campaigns, some of those quite successful. All of my successful ones worked like this: the player played two or three characters, and I played two or three "DMPCs" in the party.
Of course, my "DM omniscience" would have given my PCs an unfair advantage in "thinking up ideas", so I left it to the player to think up the ideas of how to solve problems. Actually, I eventually found that the ability to cheat by having my own PCs "think up ideas" was quite useful sometimes. Sometimes, when the party is in trouble and about to get wiped out, or gets stuck with no idea how to proceed, I would feel the need to cheat rather than watch the campaign grind to a halt. In my youth, I would fudge die rolls, but I soon decided that this was a bad solution. Instead, I would have some NPC - possibly one of my DMPCs - "think up an idea". Obviously, this was a last resort, as I would have to give the player a chance to think up the idea first.
Again, while I admit that having several players is better, a one-on-one campaign CAN WORK.
Sorry. In my post above, replace every "DM" with "GM".
Remember, the beginner box is perfect for for introducing new players - and even if you think no one else you know would be interested, it never hurts to try to recruit people who may have no RPG experience. You can never tell who will take to the game, and you may be pleasantly surprised.
Yeah, I've tried to recruit people. Generally, those people I recruit quit and I'm left with just one player, thereby starting one of those greatly successful one-on-one campaigns I described earlier. So I can't deny that Daladaen's advice is good.
When I first started playing in the original AD&D it was a 1 on 1 campaign for some years. There were some very memorable games! I really had no issues with how those games went.
Sometimes I would run more than one character, so there was some entertainment in trying to emulate different people with different beliefs. Eventually other people came into the picture and it added to the game, but you don't need very many people. The GM would sometimes run a character himself. It would keep the game going the direction he needed it to go and still maintain the fun factor.
It all really depends on how you perceive the game.
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Here is what I have:
My wife and I are interested, and we can easily play a game just her and I. Both of us want to understand the rules so we are not slowing down and fumbling during our game nights with a larger group on 'Regular Pathfinder' (no beginner box stuff).
We look at our Beginners Box purchase as a way to get the material and mechanics down cold, as well as to know what tools and strategy work with the iconic characters of the game.
But the 'out-of-the-box' campaign is geared for four players plus a GM. We are both 'n00bs'. I am not clear how best to rework the 'out-of-the-box' Black Fang campaign for one-on-one.
If someone would recommend adjustments on monster counts and monster stats, as well as 'Cover-Your-Assets' gear for each Level One Iconic Character to bring, I would like something that makes this a challenge to each single Iconic character without the 'as-is' dungeon being a death sentence.