DM'ing for 1 Player, Need Advice

[Torm]

A rogue character is great for running a more skills-based adventure than a combat one, which is handy since combat is really danerous for a lone low-level character.

To be considered on top of this is the fact that women RPG players tend to prefer detail oriented play to combat. This also lends itself to adventures based more on skills and character interactions and PUZZLES (especially PUZZLES!) than combat - not to say there should be no combat, but the "you encounter 4 random kobolds in the forest - fight!" variety is right out in favor of the "you have just realized this is the man who killed your brother's wife" or other story hook variety. Also, if at all possible, use lots of props and make them important to the outcome of the game.

(P.S. to women reading this thread - I'm not making casual sexist remarks. I'm making very well researched and thought out sexist remarks. I did a series of polls (not on EN World) on the topic of what women like and dislike in video games and RPGs a couple of years ago for market research for a product that has still yet to come to market, unfortunately. Puzzles consistently polled as the most important aspect of games for women, with Social Mobility and Intrigue being next. Item Accumulation, and then Design Beauty (an asthetically pleasing game) followed. Competition between players ranked a good bit lower, about tied with Combat, and romance bottomed out the list, but I'm not sure that wasn't in part a knee-jerk reaction to game designers who have handled it badly.)

 

[Creamsteak]

Let her use Iajutsu Focus from oriental adventures. Being able to sneak attack for 5d6 and 6d6 at 1st and 3rd level will make it possible for her to get in and out of trouble spots, and give her a start on combat (basically teaching what a surprise round, and what rolling highest on initiative can do). If you allow her to do it with a sap, then she can single handedly handle most any infiltration mission designed without even killing anyone.

Just a mechanics idea... that's all I really have.

 

[FireLance]

For those of you who have run these types of games: how do you balance challenge levels for single players?

Generally, a PC should be able to handle a fight with an opponent whose CR is 2 less than the PC's level. However, even more so than in a 4-person party, DM judgement is essential to determine whether a particular encounter is too dangerous.

 

[Deadguy]

Generally, a PC should be able to handle a fight with an opponent whose CR is 2 less than the PC's level. However, even more so than in a 4-person party, DM judgement is essential to determine whether a particular encounter is too dangerous.

I had a nice long reply to this question, when my PC went kaput! Suffice to say, my main point was that any fight where there is only a single PC can go awry - and quickly. Good rolls on the monster's part - or bad rolls on the player's - can turn around a fight that the PC should win and put them close to the line. You have, as DM, to be prepared to cut your sole PC some slack in fights, giving them more chance to get away safely. Otherwise, every death is a TPK!

An additional problem that isn't often addressed in these sorts of threads is that a lone player has no-one else to bounce ideas off, no-one to discuss the plot with, no-one to point out logical errors in their ideas, or to shout 'stop!' when they are about to do somehting stupid. It can be quite stressful for a solo player in handling all elements of the story by herself. But the obvious option of being able to talk things out with an NPC doesn't always work either - since it's hard to avoid DM omniscience - even subconsciously - when dropping clues. I think the pair of player and DM need to work their own way around this difficulty.

That said, it is worth the effort. Solo games have the advantage that there are no other players to get bored whilst your character chats to a shopkeeper, no-one else who needs to be assured of spotlight time. So the game can be quite intense, filled with a lot of roleplaying - and I would take advantage of this.

But as for the types of adventure, there are really few limits. All will need some tweaking, but they can be done. Indeed you can do some things that are awkaward where there is more than one player. If the player wants to play a junior officer in some fantasy army, then she can - there's no-one else to object to being bossed around by another PC! If she wants to lie, cheat and backstab her way to head up a hidden death cult, then she can - she doesn't have to worry about keeping secrets from other players, or offending them when offs their characters!

I started role-playing in a small village, were there were only 2 of us that RPed, so my first taste of the game was in one-on-one play. And to this day, I think it's the game I prefer. So good luck CalrinAlshaw and GF!

 

[Cassander]

To be considered on top of this is the fact that women RPG players tend to prefer detail oriented play to combat. This also lends itself to adventures based more on skills and character interactions and PUZZLES (especially PUZZLES!) than combat - not to say there should be no combat, but the "you encounter 4 random kobolds in the forest - fight!" variety is right out in favor of the "you have just realized this is the man who killed your brother's wife" or other story hook variety. Also, if at all possible, use lots of props and make them important to the outcome of the game.

(P.S. to women reading this thread - I'm not making casual sexist remarks. I'm making very well researched and thought out sexist remarks. I did a series of polls (not on EN World) on the topic of what women like and dislike in video games and RPGs a couple of years ago for market research for a product that has still yet to come to market, unfortunately. Puzzles consistently polled as the most important aspect of games for women, with Social Mobility and Intrigue being next. Item Accumulation, and then Design Beauty (an asthetically pleasing game) followed. Competition between players ranked a good bit lower, about tied with Combat, and romance bottomed out the list, but I'm not sure that wasn't in part a knee-jerk reaction to game designers who have handled it badly.)

I'm not saying you're wrong, but perhaps it depends on what you mean by "puzzles". For my male friends that I've DMed for, I've had to add puzzles in... stuff like assembling handouts found in a dungeon or figuring out clues and what not. In general I'd take a standard Dungeon adventure and add a puzzle to keep em happy. My wife, however, is not as much into the puzzles and analytical stuff. She much prefers the role-playing in character aspect in characterization and story. She also likes a good combat now and then, but in general for both rpgs and crpgs, it's all about the characters to her and then to some degree the story. Of course, her favorite crpgs are Final Fantasy cause of the rich characterization and she intensely dislikes crpgs where you create your own characters cause then there basically is no characterization.

I originally introduced her to D&D (she already had a crpg & fantasy novel background - she actually introduced me to Dragonlance), and then she basically turned out to like it even more than me. When we do one-on-one, which is most of the time, we usually add dreaded dmpcs or additional pcs, but it is certainly tough. As for CR, do it as if for a party 4 levels below the character. Remember, halving always lowers the CR by 2. If you are going the solo pc with no other friendly npcs along, I'd definitely suggest less combat (then again, I try to do that anyway cause, well, I'm kinda similar in that regard... my favorite part of crpgs + rpgs is exploration and discovery (as well as story and characters)). You also could have different dmpcs along each adventure. So she might team up with one npc for an adventure and a different one for the next. If she has to help someone do something (oh so common), then they can just come along.

And the fantasy novel thing you might want to keep in mind... I have a feeling the number of women reading fantasy novels far outmatches the number of men reading them.

 

[Rel]

Just wanted to chime in to say that I think a Freeport (from Green Ronin) campaign would work well for this PC if you scaled down the combat a bit. It is an excellent series city-based adventures and a stealthy approach tends to work well. Lots of mystery, puzzles and intrigue as well.

 

[Torm]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but perhaps it depends on what you mean by "puzzles".

I don't see where you really disagreed with me. Those sort of polls always represent an average, and that doesn't mean that everyone represented has to then turn around and feel the way the poll said, of course. Characterization wasn't listed in the polls we did, because we felt that if we couldn't get that right, we didn't need to be making a game in the first place! Seemed universal, rather than gender-biased, in other words.

As far as you and your male players liking puzzles, maybe you're just more in touch with your feminine sides er sumtin? (I prefer those sorts of games, myself.)

 

[Cassander]

As far as you and your male players liking puzzles, maybe you're just more in touch with your feminine sides er sumtin? (I prefer those sorts of games, myself.)

I donno... I think it might be like chess. Go to a chess tournament and count the number of women. They exist, but if you thought there were few women in rpgs....

So chess-like puzzles, those to me seem to appeal to the same people who like, well, chess. The puzzle thing just doesnt seem like a feminine thing to me. But neh... all people are individuals and I think just using what you know of a person when DMing for them is the best idea.