By all reports, the Plaguestone module is pretty brutal — significantly harder than the other entry level adventures Paizo has put out. (It was written as the rules were being developed, and the staff were still getting a feel for the difficulty level of the game.) So that’s one thing to keep in mind.
As far as advice for how to build/modify encounters for one or two PCs, Jason Bulmahn has a nice video going through the process, and giving lots of helpful, concrete suggestions for how to do so:
Jason Bulmahn’s Tips for Running Games for One (or Two)
I found this very helpful. Hopefully you will too!
Hello,
I and my two children are new to the Pathfinder system and roleplaying in general. We have played through one of the demo scenarios using the pre-generated characters. I would like to move onto the Plaguestone Adventure Path, but know that it was created with four players in mind. Does anyone know if it is possible to play with only two characters or should I have each of my children control two characters? If playing with only two characters is possible, are there any recommendations on modifying the difficulty level to work better for fewer players. Thank you for your help!
The fall of Plaguestone is a stand alone adventure, and the two long-form adventure paths are Age of Ashes and The Extinction Curse. I would say definitely try the stand alone Plaguestone first since you're new to the game, and Porridge wrote above some good advice, such as watching Jason Bulmahn's video and also being wary that the adventure itself has been called very difficult by some who have played it.
I can recommend the Gamemastery Guide. It has tips for running smaller groups of 2 or 3 players, and the Dual Classing option is a great way to allow two players to play stronger/more versatile characters while having to roleplay only one personality.
I am actually running Plaguestone for 2 people right now! (i had 2 drop out and i had been trying to get the game off the ground for 8 months...) The biggest thing we did was to give the players a "robo cleric". he is a stern emotionless cleric of pharasma. Luckily, my players are super experienced so they have full control of the cleric for heals and combat. The cleric never takes the limelight, and is a big enough tank to keep the party alive.
When it comes to combat, I make sure encounters roughly match the number of players, and if I see the fight turning pear shaped, I adjust how much hp the monster has and make the fight almost be deadly, but not quite. I usually take the boss of an encounter and apply a weak template on it. luckily, most encounters in the first 2 chapters (of 3) are with 4 or fewer enemies.
The final thing I have done is to play fast and loose with magic items. this is a standalone adventure for us, so I wanted the players to have fun toys. There is an alchemical crossbow that uses bombs on arrows that is super cool, but you get as loot in the final boss. I have an alchemist, and wanted to give the player the super cool item for the game!
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I think you can run the APs with minimal modification (drop an enemy here or there, drop a boss' AC or saves a bit on the fly) if you run it with three characters. Have each of your kids have their own character and then have them collaborate to create a third character that you control (and maybe nudge them towards it being a support heavy character like a bard or buff cleric) but let them suggest what it does in combat. So not full control but also not a GMPC.
Alternately, just have them each create their character, but then give each of them a free full fledged animal companion (as if they were a druid). So they each have a pet that they fully control, which buffs them significantly (particularly in terms of action economy) but doesn't put the onus of two "real" characters on each of them. I'd think this might be especially fun for kids. In particular it might work great with Extinction Curse, since the set up for that is working in a circus. That's just ready made for each PC to have an animal companion.
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I think you can run the APs with minimal modification (drop an enemy here or there, drop a boss' AC or saves a bit on the fly) if you run it with three characters. Have each of your kids have their own character and then have them collaborate to create a third character that you control (and maybe nudge them towards it being a support heavy character like a bard or buff cleric) but let them suggest what it does in combat. So not full control but also not a GMPC.
Alternately, just have them each create their character, but then give each of them a free full fledged animal companion (as if they were a druid). So they each have a pet that they fully control, which buffs them significantly (particularly in terms of action economy) but doesn't put the onus of two "real" characters on each of them. I'd think this might be especially fun for kids. In particular it might work great with Extinction Curse, since the set up for that is working in a circus. That's just ready made for each PC to have an animal companion.
You could even give them the performing animal archetype for free at appropriate levels for Extinction Curse!