1 player and 1 GM. Suggestions?

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

It's damn tough to find other players. First, you've got to like being around these people. Second, you've got to live fairly close to each other to have a regular face-to-face game. Third, most people who don't already play wouldn't get caught dead being this geeky.

It really isn't that tough to find new players. I've been part of two groups that came together fairly easily using the interwebs, the first I put together in a small city of less than 50k people and it was a great group, the second I joined when I moved to Las Vegas using the same means and I'm loving this group too. There are plenty of websites that you can go to so that you can find other people interested in gaming. There's this site, meetup.com, penandpapergames.com and quite a few others out there. End of rant.

Anyhow as to the OP and only having one player. Two of my most memorable campaigns came when playing only one player and the GM. The first was when I just started up back in AD&D, it was my best friend at the time as the GM and he ran a great game for me/my first PC as a half-elven ranger. He did as a lot of people on this thread already said, he made me the star and let me do whatever I wanted, very sandbox in that respect, but he still had an overarching storyline that I had to complete (think save the world from a great evil).

The second one that was with the same friend, only this time it was my turn to DM after a few years of playing and getting used to the game. He played 2 PCs. This was awesome. He played a necromancer and a big dumb barbarian meat shield. His "main" character was the necromancer and the barbarian was the muscle who didn't think for them, just got into the front lines and hacked at their enemies.

Another idea that you might want to play with if your player can't or won't play 2 or more PCs and doesn't want a hireling. Go with the DMPC, roll up your own character who is the brother/sister/lover/cousin/best friend of the PC. Don't use the DMPC to make any decisions, just allow them to be there in support of the character and NEVER EVER outshine them, they are there to lend a hand and to try to watch their back. I've had much success in running DMPCs in the past and having a buddy along that can help save your arse if you get in over your head is a great thing.

 

[Water Bob]

It really isn't that tough to find new players. I've been part of two groups that came together fairly easily using the interwebs, the first I put together in a small city of less than 50k people and it was a great group, the second I joined when I moved to Las Vegas using the same means and I'm loving this group too. There are plenty of websites that you can go to so that you can find other people interested in gaming. There's this site, meetup.com, penandpapergames.com and quite a few others out there. End of rant.

We're very particular about who we let game with us.

 

[kitsune9]

Not my cup of tea when it's just you and 1 player, but I'd run the story as is with pretty much very low-powered encounters.

Personally, I'd look to add players. I just won't run a campaign with less than 3 players, it's not worth the time when I can get a D&Dish boardgame and play that.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

We're very particular about who we let game with us.

So am I, but it's easy to weed out the ones you don't care for by meeting up ahead of time at a Starbucks or something, which is what my second group did. You never know who is going to be a good player until you actually meet up with and play with them. If you don't give people a chance then you never know. My other suggestion is to give them and yourself an out such as: "we are getting together to see if we mesh well and if not, no hard feelings and we move along in our lives."

From my groups we only had to let one person go from each (one was a bit too immature for the group and the other kept no-showing). I think that's pretty good odds to find a group of people who like the same hobby you do and another plus is that you make more friends. I still keep in contact with my other group that I had to move away from via Facebook and email to see how their gaming is going. I'm just saying that it's not that hard to do if you keep an open mind and try without preconceived notions. If you are happy with your group and the amount of people in it, then my advice means nothing to you. I wanted to speak from my experiences because the first post I quoted from you seemed like you thought it was impossible to find good players to join your group. If that wasn't the case, I apologize for jumping to conclusions or misunderstanding you.

Anyhow, I hope that the OP is able to either find more people for his group or is able to run a cool adventure for his single player. In the end, it's all up to him and what he wants to do in his campaign. Just have fun doing it!