Scaling an adventure for "One-on-One"-Gaming

[Fjoergyn]

Hi,

my girlfriend and I started playing some P&P. I'm the DM of course. Both of us never played P&P-RPGs before btw. So far so good we had our first gaming session using the microlite20 system, which I'm planning to expand to include more and more D&D 3.5 concepts. I designed a few quests, a small town in the Forgotten Realms (played much Baldurs Gate, so it's an obvious choice) and got things going. We had a lot of fun smashing goblins, rats and other critters and freeing some bloke from a bear-trap. After preparing a larger dungeon for our next session, I'm wondering how to convert an adventrue ( let's say the "Sunless Citadel") for One-on-One gaming?

She is a ranger/druid at Level 1 and is going to get a animal companion on Level 2 (an eagle). Now let's say I want to run an Level1 Adventure, how do I scale it?

I could get her a cleric-sideick for healing & tanking, but (in addition to that) I'm more intrested about tweaking the numbers. Should I reduce the enemys AC? The HP? The Attack-Bonus? What are good rules-of-thumb? If it says three dire rats attack, should I reduce them to two? I don't the the farsight yet, to determine how much the impact will be.For example if I reduce the AC by 2. Too much? Not enough? Dont know ...

What are your suggestions and ideas? Are there any resources?

Edit: i stumbled upon this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/296064-playable-just-myself-my-daughter.html

Now I'm wondering? Should I move towards 3.5 or 4e rulewise? Isn't 3.5 more One-on-One friendly with 4e having "Solo" and "Brute" monsters? How to scale those?

 

[Uber Dungeon]

For scaling down an adventure if the total CL (monster difficulty or level) or ECL (total monster difficulty or level) of all the monsters is greater then your party, then knock off a monster till it's about the same. Also for a one-on-one campaign the Gm should play a NPC in the party to keep a good balance (especially for pre-maid adventures), but that might be to much for a novice gm to handle.

I think 4e might be easer for a beginner to get into if they don't have anyone helping them. However 4e gets boring, 3.5 is so much more... player friendly I guess would be a good term for it. it has far more content and depth that can be put into you characters class and Pathfinder is still adding content that is compatible with D&D 3.5.

 

[Fjoergyn]

For scaling down an adventure if the total CL (monster difficulty or level) or ECL (total monster difficulty or level) of all the monsters is greater then your party, then knock off a monster till it's about the same.

hmm ... i thoght an EL(1) is meant to be a challenge for 4 Level-1 PCs. But you are saying if I have 2 Level-1 PCs (Party Level 2) I should throw an EL2 at them? I don't think that's right, is it ... ?

 

[Uber Dungeon]

It should be a good to intensionally under shoot it for the first battle, Something you feel confidant your party can beat. If that was to easy then bump it up a notch. If it felt right then you know where your party is at. I Personally do not relay on CR, CL or ECL. It doesn't really take into account you party's personal ability's.
I would suggest for scaling down "Sunless Citadel" knock off a creature. like this encounter "Dire Rats (3): hp 6, 4, 3." I might remove the dire rat with 6 hp, but i bet you could probably handle it. just keep lot of potions at hand. this might be a hard creature to kill;
Yusdrayl: Female kobold Sor3; CR 3; Small humanoid (reptilian);
HD 3d4; hp 21 (+3 Con); Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 17;
Atk +1 melee (1d4/19-20/x2 crit, dagger), +4 ranged (1d4, sling);
SQ 60-ft. darkvision, -1 penalty to attack rolls in bright light,
AL LE; SV Port +4, Ref +4, Will +3; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 10,
Wis 10, Cha 14.
Skills and Fears: Concentration +6, Hide +8, Move Silently +4,
Spellcraft +6; Alertness.
Spells Known (6/6): 0—daze, detect magic, prestidigitation, ray of
frost, read magic; 1st—hypnotism, mage armor, magic, missile.

----------------------Change it to something like---------------------------

Yusdrayl: Female kobold Sor3; CR 2; Small humanoid (reptilian);
HD 2d4; hp 10 (+3 Con); Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 17;
Atk +1 melee (Dagger 1d4), +4 ranged (Sling 1d4);
SQ 60-ft. darkvision, -1 penalty to attack rolls in bright light,
AL LE; SV Port +4, Ref +4, Will +3; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 10,
Wis 10, Cha 14.
Skills and Fears: Concentration +6, Hide +8, Move Silently +4,
Spellcraft +6; Alertness.
Spells Known (6/6): 0—daze, detect magic, prestidigitation, ray of
frost, read magic; 1st—hypnotism, mage armor, magic, missile.

It's not a big change, but it's easer to kill and players are less likely to die, the only things I changed are in bold. It's pretty simple, I think a Ranger/Druid 1 and a cleric can make quick work of this thing.

Also I'm wondering it this a Gestalt Ranger/Druid 1?

 

[lamia]

When I ran a solo game for my boyfriend, I didn't try running modules. So I imagine if that is the route you are going others advice will be better! But if you are running your own stuff, the best advice I can give is:
1. Make the social aspects of the game take the forefront. Interesting NPCs to interact with, intelligent enemies who can be diplomacized/bluffed. Maybe give her more than the normal amount of skill points so she can be more equipped to handle all the things a larger party would.
2. You might consider allowing her access to the higher level animal companions. They don't have to increase in power, just stay the same hit die until she reaches the level required to have it. I know when I play druids I get paranoid to send them into combat. Especially a delicate little thing with no hit points. If you give her something stronger it can function as another party member who is very easy for her to run.
3. Don't make any problems with only one solution. Particularly in the way of puzzles. One brain working at something will never be as easy as four or five, and you don't want the game to come grinding to a halt if she can't figure something out.
4. Running an NPC is definitely a help. It can get a little confusing when you are a new DM to be running an NPC in addition to running the game, so just make them the silent type to make it easier on you!
I hope it works out for you and have fun!