Tips for Single-Player Games

[JohnnFour]

From RPT GM Liam

If GMs are playing with one player, they might want to consider some tricks that solo players like me use when playing DND to help even the odds.

You see, one of the problems with playing a party of one is that combat encounters can get very dull, or very deadly, very fast. You’ll always be fighting very small groups of weakish NPCs and low rank monsters - especially if your player picks a full spellcaster. Why? Because a single player lacks the action economy and hit point pool of a full party. As a result even a small group of relatively weak enemies can be a deadly challenge for a single player and their companion NPC.

One of the ways I (and others) have got around this playing solo is by giving our character some buffs.

For example:

1. Boosted HP. At Level 1 the player takes (Max Hit Die HP x4) + (Con mod x4). For every level after, 4 Hit Die + (Con mod x4). This massively boost to HP makes them far less squishy, able to take way more hits, thus able to fight bigger bads.
2. Powered Up Short Rest. Short rests restore all HP and 2/3 of spell slots. Helps them do more in a day and feel as productive as a party.
3. Expertise. Regardless of their class, let them boost one or two of their skills. They’ll be rolling (and failing) a lot skill checks. This can help even the odds.
4. Healing Surge. Let them use ab action to expend up to half their total hit dice to heal. Cf. #1.
5. Legendary Actions & Resistances. Letting them have 3 legendary actions to use remaining movement, attack, or cast a spell (costs 2) or cantrip, etc. helps them get closer to the action economy of a fuller party. On the other hand, 3 Legendary Resistances (per long rest) helps them, again, feel less squishy.

(I first read about this approach in G. Bento’s Solo Adventurer’s Guide: Legendary Characters).

I’ve seen others allow single player parties to create gestalt characters with two full classes instead. However, I find that cumbersome to manage, overwhelming for a new player, and doesn’t deal with the action economy issue.

All of these are optional and by design create an OP character. That might concern some DMs, but trust me your player will feel like a total boss the first time they solo a group of mind flayers!

 

[jamesoleg2]

Thanks for sharing these tips, JohnnFour! This is a great resource for Game Masters running single-player campaigns.

The ideas for buffing a solo character are interesting, especially the concept of "Legendary Actions" and "Legendary Resistances." It definitely sounds like it can make the solo experience more engaging for the player.

Of course, as you mentioned, balancing the difficulty is key. A Dungeon Master needs to find the sweet spot where the player feels powerful but still challenged.

For those interested in taking their single-player adventures to the next level, the Next Level Gaming Store offers a variety of resources that can be helpful:

• Solo-focused RPG supplements: These can provide additional rules, story hooks, and challenges specifically designed for solo play.
• Worldbuilding tools: Creating a compelling world is essential for any RPG campaign, and these tools can help flesh out the setting for your solo adventure.
• Digital art assets: Visually stunning maps, character tokens, and other assets can enhance the immersion of your solo game.

[Redacted and warned]

Happy gaming!

 

[Subdued Wasp]

My feeling is that combat doesnt work too well in solo play. The ideas here are good of course, but I still find solo combat lacking as making characters more survivable is only part of the problem. Even the choose your adventure books (designed to be solo) feel to me rather like roll, roll, roll hope the other guy dies first which isnt super engaging. One option that I have thought of if going along the lines of a batman type character where winning the combat is rarely in question, but instead its more about getting it done and dusted before the police or henchmen arrive.

Perhaps playing a thief/rogue character who survives by stealth and cunning, avoiding face to face confrontation? This to me makes a bit more sense for solo play.

 

[ExileInParadise]

My feeling is that combat doesnt work too well in solo play. The ideas here are good of course, but I still find solo combat lacking as making characters more survivable is only part of the problem. Even the choose your adventure books (designed to be solo) feel to me rather like roll, roll, roll hope the other guy dies first which isnt super engaging. One option that I have thought of if going along the lines of a batman type character where winning the combat is rarely in question, but instead its more about getting it done and dusted before the police or henchmen arrive.

Perhaps playing a thief/rogue character who survives by stealth and cunning, avoiding face to face confrontation? This to me makes a bit more sense for solo play.

For single-player or solo play - there are three things to consider trying with the combats:

Option 1 - "Don't have one" - Zozer Games' "Solo" has an interesting system where you get into a situation where combat would decide the outcome - then you decide the "risk level" of the plan and the "difficulty" ... this represents the players making their "plan" on how to pull off the whatever and you pile in whatever plusses and minuses you want for any factors that you can imagine *might* shape the encounter ... and then resolve the *entire* combat with a single roll that decides the outcome of the plan. Then, succeed or fail, you solo out the *results* of the plan ...

Option 2 - "Make a bot" - you can run the combat rules as a simulation, but create a table of actions for the enemies to use to decide what they do - this has worked well for me in both solo and single-player games.
A sample table might have a d6 roll 1 - 6 as the "rows" and 3 "columns" - what the enemy does when unwounded, when the enemy is above half hitpoints, and when they are below half hitpoints. The unwounded column has the most aggressive actions like charge, attack. The "wounded but above half" has more cautious actions - move to cover, drop prone, aim and then attack, etc. The "very wounded" column has careful aim from cover, move to better cover, retreat to cover and all out flee. With that, turn by turn you can have the players and baddies dance on the battlemap but not have foreknowledge of exactly what the baddies will do or how the PCs will make out. The choices of terrain, setup of the players, etc will more dicate the outcome.

Option 3 - "Play Both Sides To Win" - In this one, you play both sides to win, and you play them to the fullest of their capabilities. The most important part of this is really setting up the *goals* for each side. Players must achieve X, Y, Z. Baddies must achieve or prevent X, Y, Z. Then have at it. Wargames call these "victory conditions"

Now one of the most fun parts of the solo side of play - if you are not happen with how an encounter played out using the method you chose... throw it out and change it up and do it over. I would only recommend this if the PCs have it too easy or there's a TPK from the baddies totally overwhelming. The most interesting results are always when the PCs are partly successful somehow and yet suffer some complications from the parts they didn't succeed at. Full setbacks where you need the PCs to regroup and come up with a new plan against an alerted opponent are generally pretty good too.

Hopefully there's some ideas in here that you can run with to have more fun with these ...