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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ivocaliban" data-source="post: 4147198" data-attributes="member: 17596">I've been DMing for more than 15 years now and about 90% of the time I run solo campaigns. Because of this my style of DMing is very different from the typical DM who is dealing with 4-6 players. I agree with many of the points you mention (particularly the odd-numbered ones), but there are a few I'm not so sure about. 1. Player Imput - Right on. When you only have one player it's much more of a partnership than if you're running a group. 2. Episodic Adventures - Not so sure abput this one. I think episodic v/s epic is really a matter of taste. One that perhaps mirrors Swords and Sorcery v/s High Fantasy.3. Varied Encounters - Very true. You generally need to learn which elements a player prefers and try to stick to those or things can quickly go sour.4. Clear Goals - While I would agree with this one, it's one of the hardest for me as a DM to master. I tend to leave things with a definite direction, but vague enough to give me some wiggle room later down the road just in case things don't go as planned.5. Extra Resource - Never actually thought about this, but I've done it all along. Unlike most adventures where the NPC who hires you just vanishes at the end of an adventure (or dies or turns out to be a bad guy, etc.), those NPCs become important farther down the road.6. Limited Scope - Under usual circumstances I would agree with this, but I would like to mention the perfect solution to this problem: a ship. Be it a sloop or a TARDIS a ship can give you both limited and infinite scope...all in the same place.7. Strong NPCs - Absolutely. While it's important that the NPCs never steal the PCs thunder, they do need to be more prominent, present, and interesting than they are in a game where NPCs are essentially plot elements.The only other points that I would add are probably just personal preferences, but I'll mention them anyway:*I've always found the idea of a destined character to be effective in solo campaigns. Many myths and stories feature a single destined hero who overcomes great odds and wins the day. Having a destiny gives the solo character a certain sense of importance and focus that you might not get just playing a rogue who, for whatever reason, isn't in a group. If the character has a destiny they can be intimately tied to the adventure and will feel uniquely equipped to handle what comes their way. Which leads to the one that usually upsets my fellow DMs...*It's okay to fudge occaisionally in solo campaigns. Unlike in a group campaign, the death of the PC means the entire game grinds to a halt until the player can create another one. Considering I've known some players who can take over an hour to make a 1st level character (what with all the 3.x books to browse), this can be a vicious cycle. So, the player makes a character, the game begins...and the character dies because of a lucky arrow in the first thirty minutes of gaming. You could conceivably end up spending your entire session rolling up characters and killing them off. This gets monotonous quickly in a solo campaign.I'm not saying you always fudge the dice. If the PC is blatantly flaunting his stupidity or perceived invincibility then you let them get just what they deserve, but you don't let the dice make all of the decisions all of the time or you'll never get anywhere.My two bits.</blockquote>

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