Help! Most boring 3.5 campaign yet!

[Metus]

That sounds pretty funny, actually. Kinda like having "The Sims" as a campaign. I'm with the others who say go for the first choice, if only because I'm interested if he genuinely would be satisfied with doing that for hours on end.

 

[barsoomcore]

But if it were me, I'd nuke the campaign from orbit; its the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I've run campaigns like that. You think you can make it work, but you can't.

Little advice I've picked up over twenty-odd years of DMing:

Once your players have WRITTEN THEIR NAMES ON THE MOON WITH A PARTICLE CANNON, you're pretty much hosed.

*looks around*

What was the question again?

 

[howandwhy99]

I don't know if you have ever played in some 1-on-1 campaigns before, but they can be really fun. Depending on how serious (and levelheaded) this guy is you may have the potential for a really great campaign and a real learning opportunity.

It sounds like your player is playing himself, so I would be cautious on how you treat both him and his character. Don't feel the need to throw all of the standard D&D elements at him. If he really does want "To watch this area grow and study the local area while avoiding dealing with people" then maybe this can work.
First, three points that you should keep in mind when planning and my want to ask him (w/o being harsh to his answers):

1. How can you make this fun?

2. How is his character heroic? (or will become heroic?)

3. What adventures does he envision his character embarking on?

Here's my idea, but this could be wrong. It's hard to tell what his expectations may be.

I would start with your first option to roleplay this fantasy of his out. But... make it interesting. Tarzan grew up in the woods and somehow they wrote an entire adventure series about it. Give him a wide variety of looks to see what he latches onto. I'd start with a very introspective look with you mostly narrating and he playing out his character 3rd person style. No small patch of forest is a static world. Think somewhat survivalist, somewhat Thoreau. Keep it active. If it isn't interesting to you it probably won't be to him. I imagine most play being man vs. nature or man vs. himself. This is a great opportunity for you to work on the wonderful little details and description.

Then slowly I'd work on incorporating in your second idea. It sounds like your player doesn't want forced interaction with people, so maybe start with animals. His animal companions could be his network of friends. Slowly this could include sentient forest creatures. (i.e. dryads, nymphs, treants, niaids, etc) The troubles of the plants and animal-folk in his "home" could ideally take on personal meaning. Only later would I introduce another player race. Maybe something where he is out hunting and his eyes adjust noticing a druid perfectly camoflaged looking straight at him. (scary!).

I would not force other people on him and definitely NOT burning down his home. He may sooner or later go looking for people anyways. IME, most players want some combat, but if he wants it let him make the first move. As he gets to know more and more of his home he'll probably start to realize how it is also part of the outside world. I know he's a ranger, but it sounds like he has the temperament of a druid. Perhaps envisioning how you would play a druid in a 1-on-1 game could help?

Lastly, if you're willing to play with the guy, at least he's dealing with one person on a routine basis, right?

 

[Zogg]

I have to agree that you should actually tackle this challenge head on. Sure, to many it would sound boring, but as howandwhy99 has noted, you can actually make the campaign exciting in a non-conventional way.

Basically this player is asking you to think outside the box. Are you up for it?

 

[reapersaurus]

JLXC - it took me a couple minutes to think of WHY you'd want to do this, but then I think I understood.

So if you're bound and determined to try and help the guy, you gotta find out what you can manufacture that would spurn a Neutral character to action.

Got it - treat him like an Ent, and you've gotta coax him outta the woods, into the Real World again.

Maybe make him long-lived, and literally go into hibernation for decades at a time - he sees the forest growing up around him, yet he stays the same... unchanged.

 

[Mytholder]

I'd go with something like option 1. Have the major NPCs of the game be animals, plants, fey etc. Have the first few sessions be him just exploring the area and meeting the residents. Do up a relationship map of all the NPCs, detailing their likes, politics etc.

Let him get comfortable and familiar with it, invested in it. Then threaten it with badness.

I'd be very, very tempted to spin this into a Robin Hood-esque campaign, with the forest folk as the innocent folk being oppressed. It might also be worth picking up back issues of Swamp Thing.

One question, though - do YOU want to run this game? If both players and GM aren't enthused, it won't work.

 

[JLXC]

Thanks everyone, here's a smidge more of backstory.

He's my best bud, he's very immature for his age, he's very angry at the world. I'm playing this one-on-one because he cannot handle group games in the long term, really. He needs personal attention only, because he is very selfish. I like playing D&D and I like a challenge, so I want to give this a real try. Some of you guys have posted some GREAT ideas! There is so much more I can do than I thought at first, and I really appreciate all the effort you guys put in. Thanks... I will respond to individual posts when my time allows which should be later I hope. Thanks again.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Here's a couple more things for the suggestion pile.

Here's one for the "weird stuff finds him" angle. There's this new strain of vine growing that he's never seen before. Eventually it flowers, pollinates and spreads, growing thorns as it goes. At some point, it starts choking out some of the normal plant life around, which begins killing some of the animal life as well. It's tough, and leaks a poisous sap when cut. Over a long period of time, it continues spreading. Maybe at some point it becomes able to attack living things, or drops some sort of dangerous spawn (like twig blights). It could have been placed as part of a larger series of events.

As far as the day to day events go, have an animal exibit some strange behavior. Not a lot, just a thing or two that seem out of place. Maybe he'd be more willing to deal with an animal than a person. And if not, well, we can always go back into the weird stuff.

And here are a few more ways to make this fun. Make it post apocalyptic. After the gods sundered the world, and the demons came forth, everyone who didn't run died. He's found a place now, but who knows what else is out there.
Make the basic parts of survival difficult. First, he's going to need to be able to build a winter shelter. Does he have tools? What happens when his boots wear out? Then he'll need to go barefoot or go hunting. Play out every detail of the hunt. You can stat the woodland in such a way where hunting can be fairly dangerous, and an adventure in and of itself.

Well, hope that helps. And good luck.

 

[Numion]

Have slavers capture him and force him to be a gladiator in the PITS OF DEATH!!1!!

Thats my solution

 

[bushfire]

But hey, if this is what you want to do, then its what you want to do. Go back to the basics. Orcs invade. Orcs are great monsters. Give the nasty ones a few levels of barbarian or adept for variety.

Or throw in a dimensional rift. The rift is to the Abyss or some other nasty place. The demons are invading at this point because, except for the ranger, there's not much in the forest. The only way to shut down the rift is to go through it and handle the problem from the Abyssal end. After he does that he'll have to find a way back home. Much plane-hopping ensues.

"Buffy the Orc Slayer"

The spot o' Forest he is in contains some sort of shrine or "hellmouth" that draws evil creatures to it. His mother the ranger knows of it and "watches" over him. He has the aid of all the big and little furry creatures in the woods (scooby gang) as he battles the eevvill creatures that want to reconsecrate/use/summon forth more eeevvill from the whatever.

Plot it out like Buffy, lots of little problems and the occansional "big bad". Let him know that he is somehow "choosen" to defend the forest from evil. You can have him try to cleanse the woods of whatever is drawing evil to it, of course this would require him to travel and seek out a sage or someone.

bushfire