One-on-One Games - Running RPGs 

I can't wait for Seth to teach us how to play with ourselves.

My therapist: "Chaotic evil monochrome Seth doesn't exist and can't hurt you" Seths new upload:

Solo games are a good way to learn the game as a new player too

"I love how Duet Games sound but my games usually aren't that romantic" USUALLY

My only experience with RPing is one-on-one and it ended up being an incredibly detailed ongoing campaign that was more like two co-writers creating a world and a story. Good times! :)

I have done this so many times for friends or kids who couldn't make a larger game. I found it's the best way to introduce kids to the game. They can find their voice in a setting where the competition for attention isn't a problem.

My players once stumbled across an inoperative android in the early stages of a puzzle dungeon. They reactivated her and asked if she could provide clues as to how to get through the puzzles. The response: "I'm not programmed to provide assistance, only make sarcastic observations" The players "Even better!"

ah, yes. The "Have your girlfriend try the game" game

The npc/talking the problem out loud is totally a thing in development that some call Rubber Ducking. It comes from a tale of a lone coder who realized explaining the problem out loud engaged a different area of the brain but didn't have a colleague to talk with. So he kept a rubber duck in his drawer and would pull it out to explain the problem to it. Most of the time it went like in the video, partway through the explanation the solution presented itself.

I want to point out that it's "Fewer people to silence", but that might get me added to the list...

Its kinda creepy how I was wondering “I’ve never ran a solo game, wonder if Seth is gonna do a video?” And then i log onto youtube

New term: limelight games.

that "less people to silence" was far too sinister to be a joke

"One on one, I wanna play that game tonight". -Darryl Hall

When I first got started gaming, many moons ago, I'd say 40 to 70% of my gaming was trading the GM seat with another guy, running a solo game for each other. We were young and stupid, and the games were invariably a train wreck. But it is still to this day THE experience I try to recreate and recapture every time I sit down to play.

"They're not rolling anything above a seven." 8:54 Seems to be a permanent curse my collection of d6 suffer from.

I ran a solo campaign for my son way back in the 4E days. I had him play as a ranger so that he could run with a companion, and on some missions where I wanted to have bigger groups of baddies, he was paired with an NPC who would usually be more badass power-wise, but would defer to my son's character for story decisions. It was working pretty well for the most part. It helped my son learn how to play the game, and gave us that one on one time. We eventually got to a point where other people we knew wanted to play, so we started a whole new campaign, but I really enjoyed where the solo adventure was going. It was going to be pretty epic in the end (chosen of Bahamut with a gold dragon companion, fighting against the forces of Tiamat in an epic final battle). Maybe some day I'll be able to get back to running something like that again.

Seth: I like duet but that sounds more romantic than how mine go Me: *sips coffee* Seth: So let's talk about these small intimate games... Me: *sips coffee with undertones of irony*

This was the way I learned RPG's with my brother and honestly remains my preferred method of play. I feel like big groups end up turning things into a comedy session or a slog while one-on-one remains focused. Downside is as a DM you do burn through content faster than in a larger group when they take much more time to make decisions and the solo player doesn't quite have that need to deliberate before acting. Everything you say here is spot on Seth. I hope this introduces people to a style they may not have considered before.

I've always referred to it as a "solo adventure", at it's an adventure with a single PC, rather than a "solo game", which implies that the game itself is "solo", and thus, played when alone.

With regards to tailoring the character: I've always liked the idea of the character sheet representing the player's challenge wishlist. If the player puts a bunch of points into stealth, the GM should take that as a sign that the player wants to encounter lots of stealth opportunities. If the player puts very little into investigation, then that's perhaps an opportunity for some contained drama. Definitely sprinkle in other encounters that the player's not good at to either keep them humble or make them feel extra awesome for overcoming the odds to get a bonus, but try to base the main challenge on what the player is asking for.

I write so many “solo adventures” for my players, so that their 2-weeks-off income has a story. When they want to. It’s fun to write a TOTALLY rogue centric encounter for the halfling, or an intrigue riddled court scenario for the charismatic ranger.

Love that you're talking about this. My hubby and I are both GMs and one of us always has a game running for the other (even if we have group games running at the same time) - we switch turns hehe. I use a lot of NPCs - the player is never alone and can rely on their friends and contacts - I let him choose who he wants in his team. The player will usually be in a group with 2 or 3 sidekicks, depending on the setting and adventure - it can be more. And I agree with you - it's way better to learn to GM with only one player!

Usually I run one of these if there's a system or setting I really want to try but can only scrounge up one friend to try it. I also call them solo games. Running and playing yourself is called "writing a novel."

14:00 I was scared you were going to say a companion should offer advice. I think Matthew Colville goes into detail on the logic of why not but obviously that's a bad idea. The roleplaying actually added something Matthew couldn't present as well because it showed how a companion can fill the pauses without trying to give answers. Really liked that, clarified a lot.

I did actually do a 1 on 1 game during a CoC campaign. I had setup hooks for the Mr. Corbitt scenario (thanks to Seth's review of it) since the beginning. During a few weeks where it was me and the single player around, we played it and it was pretty fun. All on his own, he developed a fear of loose body parts, fed his pet snake hallucinogens, and almost got himself arrested by the police during a nervous breakdown. Then the creepy basement monster got out and started a grotesque rampage outside of town till federal officers took it down. Good times. I also did another 1 on 1 with the same player to practice Pulp Cthulhu rules.

I love how a 1 person channel has such a cast of characters. Seth isn't Matt Mercer but he has enough range for a great game master

A friend and I did this for a couple of years, cuz as you adult schedules change. We had tons of fun switching off between the DM/player roles. Then we tried to get back into group play and we hated it. Lol

Me and my partner have been running one on ones four years now and find them very enjoyable. And yes sidekicks are super important. I recommend 2 partners to the player. They help add skills and balance combat. They also provide somone for the player to RP with consistently.

Solo games are also a great way to give a player who may have missed a regular game session a chance to earn some experience. For games like D&D that keeps the group from having huge level gaps between players.

I’ve recently discovered, subbed and am in the process of watching every single of this guy. And I’m a better man for it.

This is literally one of my favorite ways to roleplay, now being discussed by one of my favorite RPG youtubers. Hell yeah.

I've been running 1 on 1 sessions called sideventures with my players after my campaign went on haitus at the end of it's 'Act 2'. Not only have these sessions been much less stressful for me but after asking for feedback from each player, they said they thoroughly enjoyed their own sideventures! They've allowed me to have a deep dive in their backstories without them feeling any pressure of 'wasting other player's time', allowed me to introduce new NPC connections to them and really help just flesh out their characters in a way that might not be really possible in the 'main plot' of the normal campaign. I will be running these sideventures in all future campaigns I run from now on, I highly recommend other DMs try them out.

2 minutes in and I've already laughed a ton. The jokes are on fire in this one.

That I can't give you a million thumbs up for a Big Trouble in Little China reference is basically a crime against humanity.

Your videos are always informative, interesting, amusing, and oddly calming. They have saved a small portion of my sanity over the past year, so thanks!

Back in the day (80's for me) playing D&D with your brother was the only way you could game. My little bro still plays in my group to this day. Never told him how much I appreciated all those one on one games. This game night I will.

Just bought a new system and was planning on doing one with my brother. And then I saw this. Stop spying on me Seth, it was funny before. Now its just terrifying

I love that Pulp Cthulhu has an actual Sidekick archetype to use. My player's driver (heavily, um, "inspired" by Kato) has saved more than one solo game from ending in tragedy.

There is a big side effect of this playstyle, it might inspire you to write an epic bestselling fantasy series like the Malazan book of the fallen, use at your own risk.

Another thing on sidekicks, in my opinion. One great part of rpgs are the growing relationships between characters as they learn more about each other and develop more friendship (hopefully). A sidekick gives the player someone engaging to talk to while traveling, And allows for character relationship development as they learn about the NPC. Also, simply having another friendly character around would likely increase the amount the player speaks as their character, helping them get into the role better.

You just accidentally inspired this lonely madman to dungeonmaster for himself. I'm like; "Wait... YOU CAN DO THAT?" *glances at stack of dusty books nearby*

Early 1990s. Backroads around Avon, Clancy, Wolf Creek Canyon, MT. Toyota Supra. I used two dice, a D20, D6 in the ashtray (clean) Buddy is a driving prodigy. I would DM from the passenger seat & read the paperwork with the vanity-light on the visor. He would drive & talk, and I would roll. We ran Vault, Homlett, & some homegrown. Best friends. Effing halcyon days.

Nice video! I really like the sidekicks sound-boarding. I feel like I need a real life sidekick because it took me too long to solve the beam puzzle.

13:50 I want more Sidekick Herb Adventures!

My favorite rpg for a "duet" or a "trio" game was the old Victory Games James Bond 007 Game. It is one of the best genres and rulesets for "duet" play. The player creates a 00 agent level character or plays Bond himself. The 00 agents have the skills to make in through a scenario on its own.

I find intelligent familiar-like companions to be really helpful in solo campaigns. It allows the DM to have a voice or be a sounding board when needed, but doesn't involve having a full-blown character to account for in combat.

I once ran two one-on-one games in the same session, where the "non-active-player" acted as Backup GM, including some "N"PC sidekicks. The Cleric had this visionquest and the Wolfman searched for a master to teach him more wolf powers(houserules for TDE). We combined the sessions as the story wasn't really extensive enough for a whole session each and they were ok with playing second fiddel to eachother. It was quite weired but it worked out great.

I’ve had to do one-on-one for most of my gaming life. Other than 3 years in college, I’ve never a had group of players.

WOW! I never thought about the fact that Kurt Russell was the sidekick in BTiLC. !@%mind blown%@! Great Video!

A note on Side Kicks, and NPCs. To expand on Seth's advice Side Kicks can be more than just a third hand and a sounding board. They can also relay the danger of a situation, or story, by suffering the dangers of an adventure. Last game I ran was a solo with my friend. His side kick was the character's brother. He died horribly to the undead sorcerer in the climax of the first part of the campaign. Now my player's character had a personal stake in hunting that sorcerer down for the rest of the campaign. I also had NPCs that became allies that he could take with him, and consult if needed. By the end of the campaign he gathered a full party to attack the sorcerers temple. These were a variety of NPCs that had their own stakes in going after the sorcerer. It was a brutal fight that left some dead, permanently crippled, and my player's character achieving that bitter sweat vengeance that almost kills you yourself. Also knowing his god approved of his dedication to village and family. He controls the side kicks actions, while I speak for them. In addition any friendly NPCs can be controlled by the player. If the player's character is not a good researcher then let him roll fro the librarian NPC while he talks explains what he needs.

I was the dice they rolled in that first table top RPG with only the DM and one other player and I have been on the run ever since...

I think learning to DM 1 on 1 is a must especially of you have small parties. I mean it might just be me but my players have such a low show up rate that I can have 6-7 players in the campaign and still end up doing 1-2 sessions. Must say not having any plans for 1-1 sessions has been kind of foolish on my part (especially with the sessions with smaller pools I've been doing recently). Am I hte only one in this situation?

You are never going to believe this, but a few days ago I was trying to plan a one-on-one game for a friend, and thought you had made a video on it (I mistook one shot for one-on-one). This could not come at a better time for me, thank you so much.

One of the best games I ever played was a one on one game where the GM handed me a pregenerated noble character in a Travellers game and told me I needed to assemble a team and go solve a crisis at an archeological dig site on a different world. Time pressure, limited resources available in specialists I could recruit, etc. That turned out to be one of my favorite characters and games. It spawned a number of follow up games, and a few different campaigns.

I've only run a very few one-on-one games like this. The first was a woman who was the only one to show for the game that day. I pulled out a little scenario I'd had just for such and occasion, but she left after only an hour. The other two were pick-up games for people who had not been able to make several games, but were now planning on coming back to the regular game, so I used the one-on-ones as both a reintroduction to what was going on and to give them a little information that could be useful to the rest of the group. Those were both a great deal of fun. By the way, I didn't see the link to the other video in your description.

Not gonna lie I've never considered a one on one game, but you've got me curious

One on one games are great for scouting in my experience. When one player is going to scout out a location ahead of the group I have that player come in an hour or two early. People don't have to sit and watch as they scout and later during the game they get to explain where to go and what to watch out for. The party doesn't just know from meta knowledge.

1:51 This earned my thumb up.

One-on-one games have had some of the best roleplay out of one of my best players. A situation with a body-snatching alien that I thought would just be a spooky set piece for drama with the character turned into a long drawn out discussion with this alien as it spoke in a way the character could finally understand and went from being sure that the character was the enemy to convincing it that what it was doing was wrong and making it a major ally for the rest of the story.

I like to run one on one prologue sessions for my players, sometimes two on one, before they all meet up for the first campaign session. This was especially useful for my current group, which consists of all first time players.

One-on-one games are also handy for nervous GMs learning to run games. Find a friend you're comfortable hanging out with and run one-on-ones to get used to narrating, managing plot threads, and running combat in your system.

_Clicks the video:_ ok, which Seth is going to be the player 🤣 13:10 not disappointed.

When the player couldn't figure out the puzzle solution, I half expected the DM to just tell him he took so long the beam eventually aligned naturally.

This is highly relevant content, Seth, as I've only recently (two weeks ago) started playing in my first proper one-on-one campaign, where I'm the player and my Curse of Strahd GM is yet again GM-ing for me. It's going very well and we're both having quite a bit of fun. It's a lighthearted isekai/harem setting, where I primarily use monster corpses and rocks as weapons (Tavern Brawler) and wrestle everything else by way of an off-color grapple build (Fighter + Phoenix Sorcerer + homebrew Grappler class from dnd5ewikidot). Similarly, I had a Session -1 for Curse of Strahd where I played a mini one-on-one campaign that established my character's backstory and it was, hands-down, the best time I've ever had playing DnD (granted, I've only actively played DnD for ~3-4 months now, but still).

I have a lot of experience with one-on-one as a player. I tend to be the only one who makes characters that have larger ambitions and goals (e.g. my steampunk noble is very heavy on intrigue, business, and influence). And we try to leave these things largely between sessions. Sometimes GM decides that a full one-on-one session is needed. It can of course increase the GM's workload (so I really appreciate it). And it's a pity that other players aren't there if something exciting happens to happen. But on the other hand, these side events will give material to GM: news, rumors, NPCs, plot hooks, ways to share information needed for the main game through me, ideas, locations, even whole quest lines. And my GM seems to enjoy when something that I did comes back later to bite the party's ass: Other players try to figure out what went wrong while I try to act innocent while being in shock...

The solo adventure in the starter kit is how I learned the basics of CoC 7e

That last blurb about the PC being a sidekick and the NPC being the big damned hero was ingenious! The rest of the video was great too, but that was mind blowing.

I literally just started a one on one game the other day and was looking for tips. I swear your account is just simply my favorite account.

I am running a solo game where I gave the PC some sidekicks so he could take on larger groups. He actually controls the sidekicks during combat and action scenes. I control the sidekicks during downtime when the PC protagonist wants to bounce ideas off of them. Sometimes the sidekicks rotate. When the PC protagonist wants to do something specific, he'll call on the past NPCs he knew that have the special skills he need. We've made a lot of Ocean's Eleven jokes. I frequently go Captain Kirk style where one sidekick gives a logical perspective and the other gives an emotional perspective but the Captain makes the decision and/or comes up with a solution to incorporate both views.

I just started with my son he’s 8. I am going to have my hands full because I’m designing a party to help him along so we can have those melees. Making characters is my favorite part anyway

I'd never heard them referred to as "Duets" and now I'm personally thrilled to pitch one to my wife with that 10/10 branding :)

There's a one-on-one Star Wars actual play podcast called Silhouette Zero. The GM, Chris, said one method he likes to use is to let the player make their character and then make a droid PC as a sidekick. It fits thematically, and the droid can make up for whatever areas the PC might be missing. I just ran through the Star Wars Edge of the Empire beginner game and follow-up adventure with my husband as the GM, and I played two of the pregenerated PCs. It was a lot of fun, and I didn't find the bookkeeping to be overwhelming, even though it was the first time I'd ever played an RPG. For our upcoming campaign, I've decided to make an intellect-focused pilot who is weak in combat skills, and her sidekick is going to be an assassin droid.

"Best sidekick ever." Indeed!

I have another idea along the sidekick line. Have a recurring villain that *only* shows up in 1 on 1 games, preferably if they take place in the past. You have to do it for each player, but never have this villain in your main games, just some far flung in the past baddie they faced once. Then in a main game after the baddie has been set up, reveal that he's been stalking every player individually and trying to bring them together to destroy them, exclaiming every move they made in their quest was part of his grand plot or some nonsense. Then make him easy to kill and loaded with treasure as a way to pay back the past from the present. Then, back to main quest, just a bump on the road.

What? A new Skorkowsky video? Lets watch it three times in a row =) .. Thanks Seth for sharing all this good stuff! Cheers!

Just did two separate solo games for my campaign. One was for the Master Thief who had two “sidekicks” - a 5th level Barbarian and a 4th level ranger. The fighter types provided some much needed combat prowess but also were invaluable as a means to drop hints to the PC without it being railroady or patronizing. The other was the Magic User thanks to a teleport gone bad due to an evil book ala Necronomicon. He was less fortunate but picked up a magic bag that he pulled his only companion for the adventure from, Clucko, an ordinary chicken. The bird proved to be a life saver as it alerted the MU to approaching ghouls while trekking thru a cursed area of a desert. The direct one on one play was a hit for the players and myself. Also BTiLC is a personal favorite

Solo games were great when friends in the game group was busy, out of town, TDY ect. But those few left who still was in the mood to have a game, this was the way to go. I like the example of one player mini adventures. Lets be honest almost every party with a rouge... wants to go out and do rouge things. Now is the perfect chance to do so, while the party's paladin isn't looking ;)

I like one-on-one games a lot because they can have tigher themes than group games can at times. If you're playing a setting for more mature stories, like a cyberpunk or noir setting, the player's character can go through a more personal storyline that can go more indepth with the character's beliefs, background, and world view.

Good advice overall. A couple of comments: 1. When it comes to puzzles and the like, I highly recommend focusing on puzzles without one fixed solution. Set up a situation (e.g. "there is an octopus in your stomach, and it's biting you"), but then be open to working with what the player comes up with to get through it. 2. NPCs companions/sidekicks are great, but they aren't necessary to have a sounding board. The GM can just fill that role by prompting the player to express their thoughts or concerns, similar to how single protagonists in other media would share their inner monologues.

The scene without and with a sidekick made this video a good piece IMO.

I have dm'd a session for a single player, and he played a character who was imprisoned and had to escape this nightmarish prison inside this fortress. Let me tell you what I have learned, a solo session can be TERRIFYING for the player. It was literally a horror session and he was so careful the entire time. So many things happened that session!

As a DM, I never ran an extended one on one campaign per se, but lengthy breakout sessions during my multiplayer games were a necessity, usually in order to keep the actions of one player secret from the rest of the group.

I once ran a solo adventure where a player that secretly was a secret society agent ran a solo assassination session that he then had to hide during the next session as the party investigated said assassination. It was pretty fun.

I haven't played much tabletop, but I would consider my first game a solo/duo game. We were playing Star Wars Saga Edition, and our GM was handling one story solo with our bounty hunter player before I got there, and then picked up myself and my friend as a duo Jedi story where we were starting as Padawan on our knighthood test. We were eventually supposed to meet all three characters up for shenanigans, but we didn't have much more than a few sessions. Seemed tough basically running two games at once but he (the gm) handled it really well.

"One-on-one, I want to play that game tonight" --Hall & Oates That's what popped in my head when you said "'Duet games' sounds more romantic" than your 1-on-1 games usually are. The old James Bond 007 game by Victory Games, Inc. was a pretty good 1-on-1 game. The scenarios were specifically written with 1-on-1 options and they were lots of fun for both GM and player. A 1-on-1 session or two are also good for getting a new player up to speed with the game system and puts a little experience under their belt for joining an existing campaign. That way the new player and his or her character don't have that freshman look on their face and maybe have a story or two to tell when they join the main party.

Back in my early 20's before AD&D2e moved into 3rd e. I was at game shop, there was a single newbie and a small click of elitist snobs that act like the new guy was not good enough to teach the game to. So I started off a dungeon game and have the N.G. play with 12 characters with three characters for each class so he can work on Role play acting and to understand small group tactics. Snob, " Hey one player equals one character ! " Shop owner, " His game, his rules." Later that night the more .. mature .. DMs show up to run a game, they set down at the game and ran multiple characters. End result three of the snobs left the other and started to act like normal decent people. Thank you for your videos.

Great video! Thank you!

I have played in two 1 on 1 Cypher system games. One was a fantasy adventure on a Dark Sun style world with a fellow NPC, separated from out tribe and the other was a modern collage student mystery game that ended with my character and 2 NPC, "sliding" to a new alternate timeline! I so enjoyed both of them!

Somebody else commented that the phenomenon of answering your own questions because you have a sounding board is sometimes called "rubber ducking". Since I work in tech, I've heard it called that before. In fact, I have a good friend with whom I used to work who would play that role for me often enough that I joked about getting a cardboard cutout of him. But I have also heard it called "ask the duck". Which is the first version I heard. The origin story is similar, but the details make me suspect that this might be the original. Who knows. But here it is (The rest of this comment is a quotation, none of it is my writing. I would have spelled "superintendent" correctly.): When I was a younger person, my first full-time adult-type job was designing automatic fire sprinkler systems. It was an eye-opening and educational experience, and even though the job basically sucked, I learned all kinds of crazy stuff in that job that I use daily in my present-day non-sucky job, so I can't complain. One interesting lesson was learned at the hand of the Chief Superintendant, Bob. Bob was in charge of installing the systems that me and my group designed. People who put things in, I quickly learned, have a wealth of knowledge and experience about things that people who only design never gain. As a result, when I first started in that job, I wound up going and bugging Bob for answers on a regular basis. This annoyed Bob. Bob liked to sit in his office and shoot the shit with his buddies on the topics of fishing or hunting. He did not like fielding questions from young designers. This was especially true because, in his opinion, many of the questions could be answered by me, without bothering him, if I would just think about it the right way. At one point he got fed up. When I came into his office and opened my mouth to start asking whatever question I had, he told me to stop. Bob pointed into a corner of the office. "Over there," he said, "is a stuffed duck. I want you to ask that duck your question." I looked at the duck. It was, in fact, stuffed, and very dead. Even if it had not been dead, it probably would not have been a good source of design information. I looked at Bob. Bob was dead serious. He was also my superior, and I wanted to keep my job. I awkwardly went to stand next to the duck and bent my head, as if in prayer, to commune with this duck. "What," Bob demanded, "are you doing?" "I'm asking my question of the duck," I said. One of Bob's superintendants was in his office. He was grinning like a bastard around his toothpick. "Andy," Bob said, "I don't want you to pray to the duck. I want you to ASK THE DUCK YOUR QUESTION." I licked my lips. "Out loud?" I said. "Out loud," Bob said firmly. I cleared my throat. "Duck," I began. "Its name is Bob Junior," Bob's superintendant supplied. I shot him a dirty look. "Duck," I continued, "I want to know, when you use a strap hanger, what keeps the sprinkler pipe from jumping out of the strap when the head discharges, causing the pipe to..." In the middle of asking the duck my question, the answer hit me. The strap hanger is suspended from the structure above by a length of all-thread rod. If the pipe-fitter cuts the all-thread rod such that it butts up against the top of the pipe, it essentially will hold the pipe in the hanger and keep it from bucking. I turned to look at Bob. Bob was nodding. "You know, don't you," he said. "You run the all-thread rod to the top of the pipe," I said. "That's right," said Bob. "Next time you have a question, I want you to come in here and ask the duck, not me. Ask it out loud. If you still don't know the answer, then you can ask me." "Okay," I said, and got back to work. In the months that followed, I had many questions. I followed Bob's directions and asked the duck my questions. I believe that 50% of the time, asking the duck produced the answer.

I deeply appreciate this video. Thanks Seth!

OMG! Jack Burton WAS the sidekick! How have I never thought of that before?

DM Tip: If you're running a 1 on 1 game and your player doesn't have a sidekick, do not use creatures that have something like Pack Tactics. My wife tried to run a 1 on 1 game. My paladin got surrounded by hyenas. My character lasted longer in the creation phase than he did in game.

I've done this a few times in Pulp Cthulhu. We only ever had two players (which required a lot of adjustment), and even then only one of them showed up to every session. I also used it for my girlfriend, who is very unfamiliar with TTRPGs. Last week I Keepered for her while she played Alone Against the Flames for CoC, which was mostly me narrating to her (English isn't her first language), and guided her through any uncertainty.

This was very helpful! I recently started coming up with a mechanic to include down the road for a Call of Cthulhu modern day paranormal investigator campaign (inspired in the first place by your "Haunting" review) where they have their own network of contacts and maybe even spin-off shows that I could use solo adventures for.

This was great, Seth! Thanks so much.

Another well written, informative and funny video. You are by the far the best maker of videos on gaming on the internet. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the next video!

It's always a good day when there's a new Seth Skorkowsky video about general TTRPG topics.

Excellent timing! I was thinking of doing a 1 on 1 campaign.

I tried a solo session with my partner. The biggest issue was the lack of people, especially with homebrew lacking any potential pointers to push in a direction. Usually even with a duo I can just set a scenario and they'll basically run the game for me. She however would get to points and if she didnt know what to do, that was it, I had to find constant ways to push her in a direction. Entirely my fault really as there were issues I didnt think about with a solo game. Our usual group has fell apart with lockdown so I've said we'll try the solo thing for the time being since she was pretty down about it. This time I'm going to: - Run a premade campaign to take some pressure off myself. - Give her 2 mostly mute characters for her to control that I'll be able to control myself if need be. The logic of 2 more characters is: - Make up for her losing the combat benefits of other classes in a party. I've already made it so she can change the class of the characters to get what she thinks is best. All the magic and agile classes being for a cat named legion, the more physical classes for a robot named Bastion (both of which will be got through quests so she can get to grips with having control of more characters). - I can take control of them both, having them hinting towards doing a certain thing. - Options. I dont know what class she will be yet, but if she needs a stealthy character the cat could be a rogue, if she needs brute force theres the robot. This will stop her feeling like her character isn't right for things and that's why she's "failing". I've avoided a sidekick that can talk (for the time being at least, I will if necessary) so that it doesn't turn into me basically playing the game, constantly telling her what to do. Hopefully it goes well since I do like playing with her, just that solo sessions (for me at least) are proving harder to deal with than a table full of people shouting 12 different things at me.