Heyo!
I just recently got back into D&D after a 3 year hiatus from tabletop gaming. Started playing and DMing AD&D, then 3.0/3.5, then Pathfinder (skipping over 4e. Just didn't "blow my beard back" the way other editions had.)
My wife and I liveaboard a sailboat, and were talking about adding cheap entertainment to our lives that we can bring with us as we voyage under sail (we had to give up the gaming PCs and consoles to live this way), and our history of playing video games together led me to bring up table top RPGs.
I purchased the PHB, DMG, and MM and have been blown away with 5e. It is exactly the system I have been looking for, having been previously burned out with all the blow and crunch that came with previous editions.
Anyway, enough back story (yawn right?)
So my wife is interested in playing, and has shown an incredible aptitude towards storytelling. My own DM style has always been geared towards "collective story telling" and so I am incredibly excited to share this hobby/passion of mine with her.
I have run plenty of "1 on 1" games in the past, and I honestly *almost* prefer it as it can focus 100% on character development in a way that a party cannot.
We sat down together and came up with a cool back story for her and an NPC I will be running. She will be playing a Dwarf Ranger. The setting will be FR homebrewish.
She came up with the starting area, an ancient dwarven city, in serious decline. A place that used to be home to dozens of clans, and thousands of dwarves, whose population has dwindled over the centuries for a reason long forgotten.
Recently there was an attack by a monstrous horde (kobolds, gobins, Orcs, maybe giants) which killed hundreds and saw hundreds more finally pack up and move on leaving her poor home town with only a few hundred now remaining.
I'm looking to un a GoT style game, with various peoples and organizations working to control the town, mob the remaining folk out of it, etc. Her family includes a artisan, a merchant, and a priest, ensuring that a few different view points, opinions, and goals can be used as hooks, drama, and plot points.
While I have an idea of where I can take the story (I'm really leaving it up to her haha) she isn't quite ready to *drive* the game more or less on her own. I need a good, solid first, second, and third session to really sink the hooks in, and keep her interested and playing. Sessions that are so good she can overcome the awkwardness, insecurity, and "wait and see" mentality that most first time players experience.
So TL:DR
I am running a solo fame for my wife, a Dwarf ranger, and need some inspiration to help me "shake the rust off" my DM skills yo hook her on the game so it can be something we enjoy playing together for years to come. I need a mind blowing first session or three in which she can really grab on and experience what makes D&D different (and imo better!) than playing a video game.
Once we get rolling I know where to go, but I never had a new player whom I had a personal investment in, as far as their future of playing is concerned.
Cheers,Jeggrim
P.S. Sorry about any spelling, grammatical, or writing errors. My windows phone seems to hate posting on these forums and for some reason I cannot scroll the text block and have been typing blind since the first paragraph. Hope this all makes sense....
What could be some fun challenges that would be impactful to the character? Track and observe the enemy in hopes to better fight them? Knowledge is power, after all. Why are these monstrous humanoids attacking the Dearves now? Is it because they see them as weak due to their decline? Is there some other nefarious plot afoot? Seems like a lot of questions need to be answered. Maybe a brave scout could help provide some of them.
Danny_Montanny wrote:
You can always use this RPG classic:
As a ranger, she returns to the city after a long hunt to find it has just been attacked. Many tracks lead away from the main gates and the place is deathly quiet. She would have options to search the city for clues as to what happened (and encounter a few stragglers from the raiding party no doubt) or follow a conspicuous set of monstrous footprints that could only belong to the ones responsible.
I think giving her a chance to use those Favored Terrain and Favored Enemy abilities early will really bring the ranger to life.
As for te bigger picture, it sounds like the city has been cursed. Perhaps a rival city has resorted to dark means to get the upper hand. Or an ancient evil has been awakening beneath the city and its very presence is drawing evil creatures to the site.
And welcome! I hope you have a lot of fun with this most excellent edition of D&D.
have her reclaim the abandoned lower levels where she finds out why the city is in decline. perhaps she scouts the lower levels hunting underdark vermin and collecting fungi for sale in the dwarven city, even though the area is off limits. have a huge menace under the city that no one is aware of because they are to busy bickering over scraps.
Is the Dwarf the take charge type or the take orders type? Military Ranger, or Ranger to support their family? The opening in a 1-on1 should depend on the PC's personality. Tailor it to them. If militaristic, frame it so they're ordered to follow the receding raiding party (sneaking past or fighting the rear guard) to find out the base of operations if they can and why the attack happened. If the other way have your player buy into the idea that they're the only one (because of their skills) that can help by doing the same thing (following for information). That way you're staged for the same scenario, but the hook is slightly different.
The session should involve the Exploration and potentially Combat pillars of play. There might be opportunity for Interaction as well. Never pigeonhole the encounter to one of the pillars, though. Present the PC with an obstacle that's in the way of their goal. Start each encounter with a dramatic question fraiming the goal and what the obstacle is. "Can the PC get past the rear guard that's blocking their path to the main force?" Once the goal is met, or has utterly failed, then the encounter ends and another scene starts.
If this was my game, I'd start with the hooks I mentioned above. Set up a rear guard, awarding XP for however the challenge is overcome. Be sure to award XP for any encounter (an exciting scene that requires the PC to overcome an obstacle in the way of their goal), not just combat. There can be wild creatures in the way. Heck even following the monsters is a challenge in and of itself. Throw in 3-4 encounters for the first session and end it with PC approaching the advanced force's night time encampment.
A little-known part of the story of Abraham and Lot might be good here:
Your PC encounters the raiders with all their loot and captives, heading away from the newly-plundered town. She has a few friends nearby she can call in to help - some friends are fighter-types, some friends are sneak-types, one knows a spell or two. She sees some (not all) of her cousins / uncles / grandparents among the captives. She has not yet been detected, and can stay hidden as everybody passes by. What do you do?
Thanks for all the fantastic replies! Using and drawing on each of your inspirations I put together the first session and we played through last night and it went fantastic. All three pillars were in effect, my wife did wonderfully and displayed her bond, ideals, and flaws in excellent ways throughout the session.
Ending on a cliffhanger, she spent hours after the session speculating and plotting. Exactly as I was hoping. I really appreciate the help from the community. It certainly helped me shake the rust off.
Cheers,
Jeggrim
Don't leave us all in suspense! It would be great to hear a quick recap of the session even if it's just the bullet points. 
I'm really intrigued by 1-on-1 games.
Varden_Khol wrote: