It goes against how the game is regularly played in some sense, which again is why I’d like to have some second thoughts from others who have tried this, but for the moment it is my suggestion for the keen DM of a solo game. I should also note that I trimmed out a lot from the adventures of Lady Eleanor, including an orc war, a battle against the Prince of Vampires, and numerous other hefty quests. Lady Eleanor began the group campaign at 4th level, started the solo campaign at 11th level and we ended the campaign at 20th level. Archon the King of the Gods is slain in treachery by the Dark Gods in the Sacred Hall where no god can harm another, but the Dark Gods sneak in powerful mortals with divine gifts to ambush and slay Archon. Lady Eleanor is sent to recover an ancient key, which he will use to summon UR the over-power to issue a challenge on behalf of the gods of light.
Sometimes the best way to sell a romantic interest is final fantasy quiz to have others sing his praises, this could be his friends, family members, or even underlings. This is a common relationship in D&D and represents many NPCs who interact with a PC from the stable boy to the mercenary hireling to the scribe to followers. Cohorts often fall into this relationship, but are often also friends which help define their unique relationship. From my experience PCs will not tolerate incompetence; in fact they are more willing to tolerate an unruly servant than an incompetent one. Servants are usually best played as silent and reliable as this is what is respected from this relationship. Special abilities should be scaled to both the world and to the Character involved.
In general, improvisation, when trained, can help you by filling in the blanks as you go along rather than burning yourself out trying to create an expansive list of geographical features, organizations or NPCs. Note that, as over the top as this is, this campaign setting is relatively low on magic. Hence, neither Aozrayn nor his parents believe(d) that demons exist. Earlier in this thread, there were comments on council meetings and the role of the PC in such situations. Although Aozrayn’s father was the natural leader during that event, it had previously been established that his parents were grooming him for leadership. Hence, the precocious prince was allowed to interject freely during the conversation, and his parents often let him speak for them.
Originally Posted by quarkstomper
Due to her political ascension she is given an additional cemetery to manage as well as Novice Demarches and a few more Ghost Knights. One of the scrolls from the great battle, was a scroll of teleport circle that looked to lead back to a temple of Orcus. Demarche Camina kept this for herself and recruited a group of high-level adventurers, much higher-level than herself, to take out this temple.
Be Comfortable Enough to Play Different
Both of us are fairly experienced DMs and run Group Campaigns, but we are also both married and have run a staggering number of solo campaigns for our wives. Thus all that follows comes from experience and a deep appreciation for the magic of solo campaigns. Gloomhaven has sat at the top of the BoardGameGeek chart for some time now, and is very highly regarded. The scenarios are played as part of a legacy campaign, and the world evolves depending upon your choices.
The other slack I cut myself was to allow liberal retconning of any social interactions. This was actually pretty enriching since I was able to backfill in parts of the story where things might not have made a ton of sense at the time. I tried a few different options for rolling dice, including physical dice. I think we’ll see a nicer official dice roller from Wizards at some point, but for now the best option I found was an iPhone app called Dungeon Dice.
Survival is the hope and the goal is to give the gods of light any edge in this battle. Arendius came to her one day with information about Theus an ancient king who was elevated to godhood, but who returned to the world to be reborn as a mortal king for the ages. He unfortunately was betrayed by dark gods, and his ancient kingdom collapsed, but legends say that Theus continues to be reborn with no memory of his existence, but waiting for his chance to rebuild his kingdom. Lady Eleanor and Brunsk began a quest to find the reincarnation of Theus with Arendius providing research and occassionally joining in on the quest. He was killed by elves, or actually by his wife on behalf of the elves, but his tomb was forever hidden.
Character Development v. Story Development
’ Simple, these things affect one of my criteria in some way or other – Bad components can affect my enjoyment of the game; the artwork can influence the thematic feel of a game. Make it too difficult and you end up feeling like you’ll never win; make it too easy, and you don’t get any satisfaction from beating the game. The other great thing that Scythe offers is the progressive level of the Automa.
KJW, thanks for sharing with us the adventures of Soledad Castenada. I must confess, aside from playing and DMing (when it flows), reading summaries or logs of excellent campaigns is one of my favorite pastimes. Therefore, I thank you not only for the example, but for the entertainment and inspiration that reading it grants me.
Spouses who are a DM and a player will run a more personal campaign than college roommates. No matter the relationship, a solo campaign will always feel a little awkward at first, the trick is to plow on and find the level of roleplaying that makes both DM and player comfortable. Since solo campaigns involve a continual one-on-one roleplaying experience, if the player can come up with something to enhance the experience for both the player and the DM, a spot award would be appropriate. It is the DMs job to make sure such awards are scaled appropriately.
Beyond the potential for great roleplaying opportunities, many DMs and players find that solo campaigns are just plain fun. Without anyone to share the spotlight, a player will often find the ability to directly influence the pace and style of play to significantly enhance the game beyond what a Group Campaign is capable of achieving. Illion the Red – As KJW mentioned, I too, have a passion for solo campaigns as well as a number of years of experience with them. In fact, the homebrew world I am currently running for my Group campaign has the cities and regions developed from a myriad of solo campaigns dating back as far as 1997.
They are also joined by Numestra (Lady Eleanor’s new cohort) who was a bard that wished to sing songs about this legendary female knight and hero. The first time I encountered the idea of the prologue was in the second campaign my friend DMed for me. This campaign, which he has titled Shrouded Stars, is a science fiction campaign initially based on the premise of piloting gritty, “realistic”-style mecha.
No matter what the reason the previous warnings about balance and timing are the keys for successfully reintegrating side adventures to the group campaign. It is not a bad idea to have the missing PC run a NPC while his character is off on her side adventure. The DM and player must find their comfort level, and this usually reflects their relationship.
