Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 AdrastusDarke May 28, 2015 13:17:48	Hey guys I'll be playing in a new campaign over the summer in which I will be the only player. I'm worried that having only one player and one dm will create the following problems: 1. Having only two people will require both of them to be 100% focused at all times, whereas in a campaign with more players you can rest while others are in the spotlight. 2. With only one player character there will obviously be no interaction between pcs which is always a lot of fun, I'm worried that interacting only with npcs may not be as engaging. 3. Hired help will most likely be required which puts a lot of pressure on the dm to play so many characters without making them dmpcs (dmpcs never work) My dm is fairly new to the role of dungeon master and while I have confidence in his abilities I worry that this will be very difficult for him. Any advice on how to minimise these issues and maximise fun would be very appreciated And if you have any anecdotes about this kind of campaign feel free to share them! Thanks in advance
#2 AdrastusDarke May 28, 2015 13:19:00	Formatting was ruined presumably because I'm posting from my phone, sorry about that
#3 AdrastusDarke May 28, 2015 13:35:37	Also now that I think of it this should be in the dungeon master advice section. How do I move it?
#4 AaronOfBarbaria May 28, 2015 13:40:51	Ah, a subject I have much experience with. Glad to offer what help I can.   First, when posting from your phone, you can create paragraph breaks by putting a p inside this <> sort of bracket at the beginning of your paragraph, and a /p inside the same <> type brackets at the end (at least, that should work, the software of this forum is often uncooperative)   Then on to the good stuff: 1. Yes, having just the DM and 1 player means the game can only be moving forward when both are engaged - so you should plan for that. Play for a bit (20-30 minutes), take a break of specific length (5-10 minutes), play for another increment of time, take another break, and so on, and don't be afraid to have short sessions since a 1-on-1 session that only has an hour of play time feels like as much time spent playing as a 4-on-1 session of 4 hours would, if not more.   2. You can include NPC party members for more interaction if the player desires such, and depending on your player they may actually enjoy having control of another party member character to interact with themself a little bit via the two different personalities. It's likely not to be a problem at all, since most of the sort of interaction that will actually be missing and not replaced by interaction with various NPCs is just the party debating what to do next.   3. Suggest that the DM do as I do when DMing small games, which is to have any hired help be "in the background" types - a cook that can offer some translation skills and find food while traveling, a pack bearer that has heard a lot of rumors and knows the local area very well, etc - instead of characters that would be "in focus" outside of when the PC is actively interacting with them. Then, you give the character being played a few levels to make sure the chance of sudden and accidental death or defeat is very small, and use the DMG's encounter building guidelines to make sure that a general idea of how tough the encounter is going to be with only 1 protagonist is possessed.   Basically, embrace that their is only one "main character" to the story, rather than trying to have the same kind of things happen as you would with a full party and struggling to fill in all the gaps.   I run campaigns for just 1 player (usually my wife) fairly often, and about 1/3 of the games I've ever run have been with just 2 players (which is odd to realize when most of the other 2/3 of the games I've run have had 8+ players in them), so my anecdotes on the topic are too numerous to really pick out a good one - at least not without it having some particular relevance to a proposed scenario.
(Reply to #3) AaronOfBarbaria	AdrastusDarke wrote:
(Reply to #4) AdrastusDarke	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#7 LuisCarlos17f May 29, 2015 4:40:35	It may be an oportuny to test rules about warbands for skimirshes, monster allies and some mass table. You could add a little group of  "demi-PCs", allies like hechmen and magic pets.    Also you could allow a second PC with some telepathic power.
#8 SirAntoine May 29, 2015 9:44:43	The campaign could be lots of fun.
(Reply to #8) AdrastusDarke	SirAntoine wrote: