Seeking some ideas for a solo campaign

[Rel]

One of the reasons that I'm a little resistant to starting her off with the NPC's was that I ran another small, solo campaign for her when I first got 3E around 2 years ago (pre baby) and that's what I did back then. I just hate to do all the same stuff all over again.

Part of the reason that I came up with the staff was that it would give her a sort of limited buffing ability without forcing me to put in a cleric. But it is only useful for a few rounds each day so that it does not become the dominant feature of the character.

All of that said, I don't want to come off as saying "Give me some suggestions." and then ignoring all the suggestions. Even the ideas that I don't use help to remind me of some of the potential pitfalls I'm headed for. So thanks.

 

[kengar]

As far as magic items like the staff are concerned, I prefer the idea of findable healing salves or potions instead of a "reusuable" healing item like the staff. A friendly cleric NPC who stays in town that will heal her up for a reasonable fee or sell her a potion is good too. I like the idea of her having a scroll or two of her spells. It boosts her effectiveness, but she needs to "manage resources" carefully since they are 1-shot items.

Reward her with non-combat XP. Also, give her intangible in-game rewards like standing in the community/reputation; not just gold & items.

 

[djinni]

I just hate to do all the same stuff all over again.

Part of the reason that I came up with the staff was that it would give her a sort of limited buffing ability without forcing me to put in a cleric.

Suggestions from Kyramus were really good, but I'll add some of mine own.
The staff isn't bad idea, but maybe make it somewhat less powerful, that it won't win her fights for her.
Wizard trial could be good and put in some competition, some fellow mage, who would use more subtlety than direct conflict.
The next adventures should be some mystery scenarios with XP got for good ideas not only combat. Maybe an adventure about dangerous magic item with little known properties?

So when she is 3rd-4th level she can enter Sunless Citadel if you want it.

 

[Rel]

As far as magic items like the staff are concerned, I prefer the idea of findable healing salves or potions instead of a "reusuable" healing item like the staff. A friendly cleric NPC who stays in town that will heal her up for a reasonable fee or sell her a potion is good too. I like the idea of her having a scroll or two of her spells. It boosts her effectiveness, but she needs to "manage resources" carefully since they are 1-shot items.

Reward her with non-combat XP. Also, give her intangible in-game rewards like standing in the community/reputation; not just gold & items.

All of these are great ideas and I plan to (in some form or fashion) incorporate most of them into the game.

As far as XP goes, I've always used a variant that allows characters to gain points via good roleplaying and skill use that doesn't require actual combat. So that part is covered.

She will get a few low level scrolls as part of her "Wizard Trials" and resource management will certainly be emphasized as the campaign goes on.

The thing you mention about "healing salves" brings up a good point. She has taken quite a few ranks in Alchemy and considers it an important skill (part of her background was as "snake oil salesman"). Perhaps allowing her to make minor healing salves with her Alchemy skill would be a good solution to the healing probem.

Any recommendations on that?

 

[Rel]

Wizard trial could be good and put in some competition, some fellow mage, who would use more subtlety than direct conflict.
The next adventures should be some mystery scenarios with XP got for good ideas not only combat. Maybe an adventure about dangerous magic item with little known properties?

So when she is 3rd-4th level she can enter Sunless Citadel if you want it.

Just so all my cards are on the table, here's the path I expect her adventures to take:

Adventure 1: Her master has created a set of trials to test her ability to survive in the "real world" before he sends her off on a mission he wants done. The trials will involve a small amount of combat and lots of required use of her spells and skills (especially Spellcraft). Along the way, she will gain a couple of low level scrolls that she can use or scribe into her spellbook later, as she sees fit. The culmination will be a test to see if she can locate and determine the school of magic of the Staff of Light. I'm going with the idea that you have to be fairly Lawful and Good for it to work and that her master did something not so lawful or good in the past and it is fairly useless to him now.

Adventure 2: After she passes the trials, her master will send her on a mission to retrieve something from a coleague of his (an Herbalist). The something she is supposed to retrieve is some seeds from a magical fruit (if you've read or played The Sunless Citidel, you have an idea of what these are about). She will travel a week or so to the mansion of the Herbalist to find that it is recently considered haunted.

A quick search around town and she will find Kol, the Half-Orc servant of the Herbalist who is rudderless now that his master has disappeared and his former home is "haunted". He will band together with my wife's character and they will go to the haunted mansion to try and determine the fate of the Herbalist. This will involve minor combat with some vermin now inhabiting the mansion and some "bogans" (small humanoid constructs run amok due to an alchemical experiment left unattended in the Herbalist's absense). Most of this adventure will be about finding the clues to what happened to the Herbalist. Which will lead them to...

Adventure 3: The Sunless Citidel. By this point, both my wife's character and the Half-Orc should be level 2. The first forray into the SC should get the wizard to 3rd level. At that point she and the Half-Orc should be able to deal with most of the challenges presented in the module if they are cautious. Especially if they ally with Meepo to give them a bit more ability in the sneaking and ranged attack areas.

So, there you have it. But I'm still open for suggestions/modifications for the types of encounters I should include between the adventures and in the "haunted mansion".

 

[mseds99]

I like the idea of the staff.

I thnk you should give her the staff AND makeit have a persoanlity. Perhaps it sees itself as a vehicle to promote justice and it sees the wizard as a perfect accoplice. That would provide great roleplaying, and everyone will think she's crazy when she's speaking to the stick she's carrying.

 

[kengar]

A quick search around town and she will find Kol, the Half-Orc servant of the Herbalist who is rudderless now that his master has disappeared and his former home is "haunted". He will band together with my wife's character and they will go to the haunted mansion to try and determine the fate of the Herbalist. This will involve minor combat with some vermin now inhabiting the mansion and some "bogans" (small humanoid constructs run amok due to an alchemical experiment left unattended in the Herbalist's absense). Most of this adventure will be about finding the clues to what happened to the Herbalist. Which will lead them to...

Just for flavor and as sort of an RP/alignment "test" why not have Kol being harassed by townsfolk when she finds him (rocks/rotten veggies thrown, surly mob, etc.)? The people never really liked having a half-orc around, but they respected/needed the herbalist too much to get on his bad side. Now that he is gone and Kol is "adrift", things go hard for him. It will also make sense for him to be loyal to her if she helps him out.

Adventure 3: The Sunless Citidel. By this point, both my wife's character and the Half-Orc should be level 2. The first forray into the SC should get the wizard to 3rd level. At that point she and the Half-Orc should be able to deal with most of the challenges presented in the module if they are cautious. Especially if they ally with Meepo to give them a bit more ability in the sneaking and ranged attack areas.

I take it that Kol will go a fighter-type route? Even SC might be rough for only 2 characters (Meepo is not going to add that much power to the party). Maybe have a 1st level cleric or paladin hook up with them for the adventure? Or even a rogue might be good if you don't want to push combat; some of the SC traps are harsh! I agree that if she's careful, they could make it. One large combat, though, between them and the kobolds or the goblins or the blights/evil druid/"woody" NPC's could get ugly fast.

If you don't want to give her an extra NPC, consider a scroll or two of Sleep or Web or Color Spray. These are great low-level spells for thinning out some low-HD ranks. What's nice about these spells is that they are non-lethal. That leaves RP opportunites open and won't cause alignment-related conflicts as easily.

 

[Old One]

Coming Late to the Party...

Rel -

Before I read most of the responses, my first thought was...Murder Mystery, ala "The Name of the Rose".

She is traveling to a remote magic school with her mentor and the half-orc lackey. Her mentor is tight-lipped about the reason for the journey, but let's slip that something is killing the wizard-monks that live in the school. Any magic items (I like the staff, BTW, but definitely think you should give it a major personality...have it sulk if offended, refuse to manifest powers if it is mad at her, loudly complain at inopportune times, etc) should belong to her mentor.

During the course of the investigation, her mentor is murdered, leaving it to her to unravel the mystery and unmask the killer. This provides:

• A tightly controlled initally playing area (isolated magic school/monastary)
• Plausible reason for getting a major magic item so early
• An excellent long-term nemesis (the killer is a cambion or tiefling and is forced to flee by the wizard-monks when exposed. He/she could leave clues behind about some ancient mystery...lots of plot hooks for further exploration)
• Limited number of NPCs to create and manage

My 2 coppers...

~ Old One

PS - When do we get to see the finale of your SH?

 

[Rel]

Just for flavor and as sort of an RP/alignment "test" why not have Kol being harassed by townsfolk when she finds him (rocks/rotten veggies thrown, surly mob, etc.)? The people never really liked having a half-orc around, but they respected/needed the herbalist too much to get on his bad side. Now that he is gone and Kol is "adrift", things go hard for him. It will also make sense for him to be loyal to her if she helps him out.

I like that idea a lot. I'll have to use that.

I take it that Kol will go a fighter-type route? Even SC might be rough for only 2 characters (Meepo is not going to add that much power to the party). Maybe have a 1st level cleric or paladin hook up with them for the adventure? Or even a rogue might be good if you don't want to push combat; some of the SC traps are harsh! I agree that if she's careful, they could make it. One large combat, though, between them and the kobolds or the goblins or the blights/evil druid/"woody" NPC's could get ugly fast.

If you don't want to give her an extra NPC, consider a scroll or two of Sleep or Web or Color Spray. These are great low-level spells for thinning out some low-HD ranks. What's nice about these spells is that they are non-lethal. That leaves RP opportunites open and won't cause alignment-related conflicts as easily.

One of the reasons that I think she will do ok in the Sunless Citidel is that the character is designed to be very "social", kind of a salesman type. A lot of the challenge involved in the SC is in manipulating the political climate to minimize the conflict. I think she'll do well at that.

Those spell suggestions are good too. As it happens, she opted not to specialize but did take Spell Focus in Enchantments. So her Sleep and Hypnotism spells should help out a lot.

 

[Rel]

Re: Coming Late to the Party...

PS - When do we get to see the finale of your SH?

Thanks for offering your advice, Old One. I love The Name of the Rose, by the way.

Life has been a little too "interesting" lately. It has kept me out of the Story Hour forum entirely until today. But it is high time for me to come off hiatus and finish the Story Hour. The campaign has been over for months! Time to get back on the horse.

Chances are I'll be able to do some writing on Sunday night.

Thanks for asking about it. Sometimes I feel like writing and then I say, "Is anybody even going to read it?" But your comment and seeing kind comments by Broccoli Head and Malachai Rose in the "What's your favorite SH" thread remind me that I've left at least a few folks hanging for too long. And that isn't fair.