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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbhorrentLesson" data-source="post: 6785126" data-attributes="member: 6808177">Hi, let me start out by saying I'm a fairly new DM, and as the title indicates, I have a very small potential gaming group. In total I have three friends to play this with, but due to conflicting schedules, I am only able to consistently see one. I originally wanted to create my own campaign from scratch, but with school and my job I have not been able to find the time. I went out the other day and got the pre-written adventure module "Out of the Abyss" as it seemed the most interesting out of any available, and plan to run it starting with only one person and myself as a sort of practice to work out all the kinks. Now I understand that many feel that this adventure is not good for a new DM and requires a lot of prepping, but I am still intent to make it run smoothly and have it be an enjoyable experience.That all being said, I already have some ideas to help in the single player campaign such as:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"Reskinning" monsters, by using the stat block of a different monster while describing it the same</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Giving the player a very high initiative and changing the system where they get to go between each enemy's turn,instead of the player going then ALL the monsters going.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Swapping out dying from a defeat by enemies to passing out and waking up at the nearest friendly settlement at the cost of all their money on hand, items, and possibly armor. (I might also initiate a mechanic where if they can find the monster that stole their gear and defeat it, they can get it all back.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Of course, giving them a group of NPCs to travel with (I'd probably just use premade NPC stats from either the Monster Manual or if there's any in the Dungeon Master's Guide, I really don't want to have to keep track of characters that level up)</li> </ul>I understand that one player can not handle much, so what CR in the Monster Manual should I be looking for when reskinning monsters, and what would be the recommended amount of monsters to throw at them per encounter? I plan to have the player start at level 1, but I could always have them begin a bit higher. I just don't know where to start on creating encounters that would be a challenge, but not always a death (or in this case, knockout) sentence. I really wish there was a table to calculate challenges for a single player in 5e!Is there anything else anyone can think of to help out? Either new ideas on mechanics to help the player, tweaks on the ones I've already listed, or tips on ways to edit Out of the Abyss to be more manageable for DMing in this situation? Thank you, I really appreciate it everyone!</blockquote>

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