[RPG] good way to have a party of adventurers with only one player

dnd-5eone-on-one

My sister expressed interest in playing D&D, and I'm interested in DMing, so I decided to try and run The Caves of Chaos from the D&D Next playtest packet. Reading through the materials, I became worried that my sister's elf rogue wouldn't last very long by herself. None of her friends are interested in D&D, so I've been toying with the idea of including other party members, either controlled by me or by her (The way Jason and Marcus play in FoxTrot).

This adventure isn't the most serious thing in the world, obviously…just some Summer break fun. But do you guys see any reasons not to do this? Or, do you have any suggestions on how to run the adventure?

Best Answer

A rogue could perhaps play solo. But only if she devoted herself to stealth and avoided all out combat at all costs.

D&D is a very much a party based game. And it's best played with a table full of friends, each with their own character. But at the same time, occasionally circumstances require something less than that ideal. There are two options.

  • Go with a single PC per player and find a playstyle that works for this party composition
  • Let the limited number of players play a whole party full of PCs.

In your case, especially in a new system, I'd highly recommend the first. The character your sister want's to play is ideal for this style of gameplay as stealth is key.

Some things I would change/instigate:

  • less tactical gameplay, stealth roles are going to a major part of play.
  • Make sure situations are there where she can quietly and quickly take down the baddies (Don't put in guards with 20 HP, make sure she can take a guy out before he even sees her).
  • Make sure there are places where if she makes good tactical choices she can route a small group of enemies
  • Provide a lot of healing potions.
  • Design encounters to success is not based on completing combat. Give her clear non-combat objectives.
  • Rogues are pretty good at sniping, so if she is coming up on a fight in the open, giving her plenty of opportunities to pick people off before they see her is an excellent choice as well.
  • Advantage should be gained and used wherever possible. If she is attacking without advantage she will get slaughtered and quickly. The key to making quick work of bad guys is isolation and dealing her sneak attack which needs advantage to function.

Caves of Chaos might not be the best adventure unless you add enough story so as to provide the require non-combat objectives. There is at least one adventure that necessitates the rescue of prisoners, this would be a good one. But things like cleaning out a Kobold nest should probably be written (and the flavor/story is pretty much up to you as the DM) in such a way that the objective isn't Kobold death, but Kobold cooperation or migration. She can't kill all the Kobolds, but she can certainly get to their leader and threaten him.

Related Topic