Suggestions for a 2 player game (1DM,1Player)

[FireLance]

Back in the early days of 4E, I wrote a few solo adventures for a paladin PC which were kept on my ENWorld blog. The blog is down now, but here's a pdf of the 1st-level adventure. The series went up to 3rd level, so if your friend is willing to play a paladin (or try to take on the adventure with a class that may not be as well-suited to the challenges), you can run these for him. If you do decide to run the adventure, please let me know how it went.

 

[Kerberos1976]

Wow! Thanks so much for the great response and fantastic ideas!

 

[Wednesday Boy]

There was a series of 2nd Ed. AD&D modules designed for just one player of a specific class. The encounters might not work as a direct conversion for later editions but the dynamics of the encounters and plot as a whole is probably still useable.

They're obviously out of print now but you may be able to find them at a used bookstore or being sold by a private owner.

The titles are:
Cleric's Challenge 1 & 2
Fighter's Challenge 1 & 2
Thief's Challenge 1 & 2
Wizard's Challenge 1 & 2

 

[Herobizkit]

I've spent the past decade as a solo DM and player. I haven't done so with 4e yet, but here are my thoughts:

Storytelling: Without a bunch of other players to muck up the central plot, you can really give the player his time to shine. The story is about him and always will be.

NPCs: Lots of them. Lots and LOTS of them. The more, the better. You need to fill out your world with personas (shallow and deep) because everyone the player talks to could be important, or may cause him to do a dovetail off your planned plot into one of his own.

Episodic: You may find at first that it will be easier to run a "monster-of-the-week" series of adventures to get the player comfortable with playing one character.

Buddy Cop: Adding a companion as your mouthpiece will help the player considerably. When I ran my last homebrew, the player had six 'dedicated' NPCs that he 'swapped out' at random (actually, by design - we had a fiat that he couldn't bring more than three at a time on an adventure due to the balancing act that 3e did with its pre-gen adventures). The adventure became very much a soap-opera with action/adventure elements, and it worked extremely well (IMHO).

In 4e, the complexity of the combat system can take away from the storytelling feel, so make your combats SHORT. Avoid artillery-typed monsters. Spellcasters are fine, but probably no more than two. Never outnumber the player more than 2-1 unless you're using minions. And use minions a LOT.

 

[Rechan]

Something to consider when you are playing with 1-2 people:

Avoid status conditions that take away actions. If a character is Stunned, the player sits on his hands. If the character goes down, he's 9 out of 10 times: dead. If his companion drops, he's very SOL.

I have certain opinions about monster mixes. But once more, it really depends on the character's role/class. If you tel us what the player picks to play, that will impact adventure design as well as encounter design. Let us know what he picks, and it will shape the advice here.

Be aware that it is likely going to be tough to run this game with little prep, considering the amount of story effort and encounter design effort you'll have to put in.

Also, FYI: Beast Hunter is an RPG designed to be played with just 1 Dm and 1-2 players. In case you wanted a system that didn't require heavy lifting to fit your game.

 

[Quickleaf]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Dark Awakening) is a 1st level adventure in Dragon #382. Its designed for solitaire play and I can't vouch for it, but the premise is your adventuring party has been abducted and you go to rescue them with your courageous goblin henchman Splug.

 

[Kerberos1976]

Thanks again, some great ideas here! I will definitely report back and let you know what happens. Looks like we will be getting together tomorrow night, so I'm going to have to figure something out quick. That being said, all the input here has kind of got me excited to look at some existing "non solo play" adventures and either modify them for my own uses or maybe take some time and create my own adventures.

I'm thinking of busting out the DM Guide (I don't have any of the Essentials line, just the original PHB, DMG, MM that I bought when 4e came out years ago) and looking up how I might be able to modify some of the adventures "down" to a 1-2 player style adventure. Thoughts?

I'm really liking the concept of a 2 player party ... make the stories much like say "Lethal Weapon" where a group of two buddies "save the day" if you know what I mean.

Thanks again, lots of valuable input here ... I'm impressed by this community!!!

 

[Rechan]

I'm really liking the concept of a 2 player party ... make the stories much like say "Lethal Weapon" where a group of two buddies "save the day" if you know what I mean.

It can be like that, or the 2nd character can be more of a sidekick.

I sort of like the idea of a ghost or spectral entity that "protects" the main PC by way of healing, and has a simple AW, but can't really interact with the physical world.

Another option is to have rotating companion characters. Sort of like they're part of an organization that sends agents on missions and assigns them based on skill set/appropriateness. The trick is that these are recurring characters, but not always available.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Dark Awakening) is a 1st level adventure in Dragon #382. Its designed for solitaire play and I can't vouch for it, but the premise is your adventuring party has been abducted and you go to rescue them with your courageous goblin henchman Splug.

I played it as a solitary as well as a 1+1 adventure and it was fun both times.

I ran it with a bard solitary (human with barbarian multiclass) and my brother made it with a paladin. Actually we both were doing well. A much better experience than i could imagine with any other edition of D&D...

 

[S'mon]

There was a series of 2nd Ed. AD&D modules designed for just one player of a specific class. The encounters might not work as a direct conversion for later editions but the dynamics of the encounters and plot as a whole is probably still useable.

They're obviously out of print now but you may be able to find them at a used bookstore or being sold by a private owner.

The titles are:
Cleric's Challenge 1 & 2
Fighter's Challenge 1 & 2
Thief's Challenge 1 & 2
Wizard's Challenge 1 & 2

I had a great time running Thief's Challenge 2: Beacon Point - as an OGL Conan adventure for a full party of 1st level PCs.