My friend and I watched the D&D movie yesterday and now he wants me to show him the game. As a solo campaign. I've never GM'd before or introduced someone to the game. What do I do?
I don't know 5e though. I only played it once several years ago.
Does he want a whole campaign or just a demo to see how he likes it? What type of character is he interested in? Unless he is really interested in magic a marital character might be better. The learning curve for a magic using character is a lot higher. A paladin might be a good start. They start off fairly simple but have some cool abilities. They do get some magic but it is far from the focus of the character. They have a lot of defensive abilities and can heal themselves. Since the character will not have a other character to depend on having good defenses and being able to heal himself is going to be important.
Start the character off with more than normal starting gold so he can get some decent equipment. The trait Rich Parents gives a starting character 900 gold. That seems about right. Figure out a main villain that would be appropriate for a 4-6 level character. Have the minions of said villain attack the paladins' friends or family and let the campaign unfold from there.
Mentioning 5th eddition D&D is an evil act that can cause a paladin to fall.
What things do you have available?
Honestly, your best bet might be to just run him through the first part of the first volume of an Adventure Path that starts at 1st level. Keep it limited to Core Rulebook stuff so he doesn’t get overwhelmed, but let him know there are tons more options out there that allow him to flesh out his character.
Assuming you can’t round up a couple of other players from somewhere I would suggest starting with a character at higher than 1st level because the numbers in the game assume multiple characters, and a single 1st level PC isn’t going to be able to handle a CR1 fight, especially if the player is still learning the basics of the game.
Don’t, as a previous poster suggested just run an AP, because on top of that issue, a lot of them have extra weird mechanics to bring in the flavour of the adventure - e.g. the first half of War for the Crown book 1 is an extended use of the Ultimate Intrigue social rules.
Have a look for pre-written 1:1 adventures. We found a couple which were for D&D 3.5, but easily converted to PF1 that specify ‘for an X level class A or B’ (e.g. A 6th level ranger or druid), because that then allows the writer to limit the type of skills & spells included to what that character will have. Failing that, there are a couple of modules that are specifically designed for new players (Gallows of Madness is one) which have simple plots and introduction to game concepts. Because every new player has to kill their first goblin.
Here's a Matt Colville YouTube videos about running for a solo PC.
Suggestions: Give the PC a sidekick, a loyal follower who offers his own (cowardly?) opinions, but trusts the PC and takes orders. Since parties without many characters tend to be a bit vulnerable to losing battles if they get a couple of bad rolls, consider putting them in situations where defeat is likely to result in capture rather than death. You could also start them two levels higher than normal - two level 3 PCs should be able to handle challenges meant for a full level 1 party.
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Just because he asks for a solo campaign, you are not obligated to do exactly that. You could offer him to watch a session of your usual players, with the chance to control a pet or summon sometimes.
Just a warning: A casual interest like "oh, I watched this movie, and now would like to try it" often results in "ok, not my cup of tea". Especially if they invested little time and effort to make it happen. Don't make it too comfy for them, let them read up some stuff on their own, and let them make their own decisions (even if they are quirky or mechanically ineffective).
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Is your friend asking specifically for a D&D game because of the movie? I'm just asking because you posted this in the Pathfinder 1E forums. You'll probbaly get more on-brand feedback in the 5E forum. On the other hand, if you know Pathfinder better, using that instead is perfectly fine, as long as your player is OK with that.
A solo campaign can be a difficult choice for your first time GMing a system. A game like D&D or Pathfinder is designed for a group of roughly 4-6 PCs, so trying to run it as a solo game completely changes the action economy (how many actions the heroes get vs. how many their enemies get in a round) and the basic assumptions about what abilities and resources (fighting, spells, skills, etc.) a party should have available. There are adventures out there for smaller parties, but they run very differently from those designed for the standard size group.
Alternately, your single player could control multiple characters in order to have a more well-rounded party, which will require less work on your part to adapt published adventures (or to find the proper balance when making up your own). But the extra characters will be more work for them. For someone brand-new to the game, especially if they are new to RPGs in general, their learning curve will be high enough with just one character. And one of the best parts of the RPG experience is having that single character you can identify with and invest in, rather than having to manage multiple puppets.
Here are a few suggestions that may help you and your friend out:
1. See if the other people you usually play with would be willing to play a low-level one-shot adventure to introduce your friend to the game. A good group will be supportive of new people trying to learn the game, and of players trying their hand at GMing (both are needed to keep the hobby alive, after all), and will be happy to answer questions either of you have during play.
2. Find one of the introductory adventures for the system you're using--either the Starter Kit for D&D or the Beginner Box for Pathfinder. Those modules are usually pretty good models for how to run and design an adventure, and a campaign, all in bite-sized chunks. You can sometimes find them marked way down in used bookstores, or on sale when a game store or department store needs to clear out some inventory. (Keep in mind that all of these intro adventures play best with a full-sized party.)
3. If you play Pathfinder Society, bring your friend to one of those games. There are a lot of scenarios available for low-level play, and some are specifically written as introductions to the Society (and Pathfinder) for new players. Most GMs will have pregenerated characters available if players need them, or you can help your friend build their own starting character before game time. Organized Play is a great way to try out a system to see if you like it, with minimal investment of time and money needed up front, and you can play as much or as little of it as your interest and schedule allow.
I'll see if I can find some of those. I have plenty of characters of my own to fill in any slots needed.
Tbh, I wouldn't start a newbie on a solo campaign. I'd take your friend down to your local Ye Olde TTRPG Gaming Store and see if you can join in on a 5e group together, that way you and your friend can have a proper 5e experience with a full party.
You already know how to play PF1E so picking up 5e rules will be easy for you, but you probably shouldn't DM a 5e game until you play 5e at least a couple times. There are quite a few changes due to the Advantage/Disadvantage system and this changes almost every feat and spell that you're familiar with. The ASI's and Feats are completely different, and they made some slight changes to Action Economy, but you'll learn probably 80% of what you'd need to know to DM a 5e game within the first 3 sessions you play.
Also, as a new 5e DM, you're going to need to buy quite a few books and add them to your D&D Beyond account so that you can get access to all the spells, feats, and sub-classes; as a player, you shouldn't have to buy any of the books-- you can just have your account join your DM's campaign on D&D Beyond, and then "borrow" his books while you create your character. But you'll easily spend $250-$500 on books just to get the main books PHB, DMG, XGtE, VGtM, and TCoE, plus a few of the others that look interesting.
To be fair, you don't have to use D&D Beyond, but if you don't you're really missing out. DDB pwns.
Personally, I've been loving 5e, but you might not, and it would be a shame to waste all that money getting books for your D&D Beyond account just to go back to PF1E or PF2E.
Also, taking a stroll through the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide before you play/DM couldn't hurt.
Oh, I definitely prefer Pathfinder. The reason I only played 5e for such a short time is the lack of character options. Everything felt the same.
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I prefer Pathfinder too tbh. PF2e is very polished, but PF1e will always have a special place in my heart due to the wealth of options for customizing your character.
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I can see a lot of reasons that short solo campaign might be beneficial to a complete newbie. Introducing someone to gaming can take a lot of time and many tables may not be forgiving about wasting table time teaching a new player basic things, like what HP are and how combat works. In all honesty the first few games with a new player usually end up with either the new player not doing anything or the new player sucking up all the time. A short solo campaign can be used to teach the player the basics without wasting everyone else’s time.
Use a human paladin with a 25 point buy and give him the trait rich parents. For his feats pick up power attack and cleave. Cleave is normally a wasted feat, but this is going to be a short campaign. Start him out with banded mail, heavy shield, a masterwork longsword and a bow. Also give him some potions of cure light wounds. Also use the fast XP chart so he levels up quickly. Have his first encounter be 4 goblins, which will put him nearly halfway to 2nd level. For his second encounter make sure he has not used smite evil in the previous encounter or wait a day, so he has smite evil. For the second encounter have a single Dretch and 2 more goblins attacking some soldiers. His Smite Evil will overcome the DR of the Dretch . This encounter will put him to 2nd level and give him Divine Grace and Lay on hands. 8 more goblins put him to 3rd level. have a clue found in the second encounter lead to the goblin lair where he can encounter enough goblins to raise him to 3rd level, before meeting the goblin leader. This should be able to be done in a single session.
After that run a few more sessions until he is ready to join a group. Don’t go past 5th level. Cleave gives him multiple attacks so teaches him full attack vs single attack.