1 Player Play

[Sir Mathodius Black]

Hey all,

Never posted before on this particular forum so here goes...

I am soon going to begin a Riddle of Steel campaign with a longtime gaming buddy of mine, and I am going to be the GM.  He is the only player, and neither of us have ever played games with only one PC.  Because many of these RPG's are based around groups, group tactics, and group interaction, does anyone have any advice as far as compensating for a lack of other party members?  Anything from ways of keeping things lively to useful tips and hints you employ in these types of games are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

SMB

[Jasper]

One thing I've seen work in a friend's campaign is to pair the PC up with an NPC side-kick.  Then a lot of the game is still interaction between two people -- you and the player -- through characters, rather than just combat, etc.  

My personal suggestion would be to allow a lot of player input into where the game goes (almost a requirement with TRoS anyway), and to ensure that your player has a character with lots of big goals.  Wandering about may be fun if you have a group to wander with, but individuals really need a guiding direction for their actions.  This may not be appropriate for your game, but I'm talking pretty big here: like the character wants to start his own business, or mercenary league, or influence the king.  That sort of thing.  These are projects that the player can feel attached to, and get into the details of -- and you, as the GM, can as well.

[Mark Johnson]

I like the suggestion for an npc sidekick.  What else works well, in my experience, is for the non-GM player to play multiple characters.  I am not sure how this might work in TROS though, it has worked like a charm for me in D&D though (at one point my player had a party of six).  One on one RPGing can be great fun.

[Sir Mathodius Black]

Yea, i really like the idea of a GM controlled NPC acting as a supporting role for the PC so he can have interaction with it.  Ive used the method of having a player controlling more than one character in DND but in TRoS im not sure it would work as well, simply because each character requires a large amount of care and planning, as opposed to DND which is much less personal and basically managing some numbers.

[SlurpeeMoney]

I've actually found one-on-one role-playing much easier, on occasion, than troupe-style gaming. As a Game Master, it gives me much more freedom to move about, and the kinds of scenes that work in a one-on-one aren't always the kinds that work in a group.

Having an NPC side-kick is good, but it doesn't stop there. Non-player characters take on a huge role in a one-on-one game. The single character is going to need to interact with all sorts of people, and each NPC has the potential to become someone huge to the campaign in a big way. Consider the effect of the Party's Favorite NPC, that one NPC that you had no consideration for at all, you threw it together from the top of your head, but now the party has attached to it like a lifeline, and you have to figure out who that person is. Almost every non-player character has the potential for that in one-on-one play, because it's all up to the whim of a single player.

One-on-one games lend themselves well to genres that are not always prominent in role-playing as well. Espionage becomes a much easier feat when only one character is involved. Romantic endeavors become much easier to flesh out. High-brow conflicts (person vs. self; person vs. fate) are much more easilly handled. Being the Game Master for a one-on-one game gives you many of the freedoms of a writer.

The best advice I can give in keeping it interesting is this: Narrative, Description, Action, Dialogue and Emotion. Those five "voices," while used in differing amounts in differing games, become much more prominent in one-on-one gaming, particularly in the focus on Dialogue, Emotion and Description.

Narrative voice is when you simply say something happens. "The door opens."

Description is when you tell your player HOW something happens. "A creek sounds under the flooboards by the door, providing you just enough warning to leap out of the way as it swings inward, crashing against the hallway wall."

Action is doing something in order to show how it is done. Go and open the door.

Dialogue is when two or more people are talking. "So I was in this room, right, and this door opens..."

Emotion is the hardest to deal with, but the easiest to make work in a one-on-one game. It is trying to establish how a character feels about a door opening. And while most players don't want to stop the action to have their Game Master ask them "How does the door make you FEEL?" I've found that in one-on-one gaming, if the game goes on long enough, your players will begin to tell you anyway. It's a hell of a tool, and if you can garner particular emotional responses from particular situations, you can begin to establish the roller-coaster emotional experience that you get from a great movie or a good book.

That's all I can think of for the moment.

Kris
"Makes me feel like KICKIN YER ASS!!!"

[Jasper]

I just want to add that if you don't end up with an NPC side-kick, it makes it a lot easier if your player has a character who naturally dislikes people.  This is so common in role-playing that it should be obvious, but just in case... For instance, Mad Max, most super-heroes, and various other "adventuring" types in film are usually loen wanderers.  While a hindrance in a party, characters who are social outcasts, and who dislike and distrust other people can work just fine in a one-on-one setting.

[Bankuei]

Hi folks,

I've been running 1 player games for a few months here, and there's a few things that I've noticed:

-Events move along much faster than normal.  You can probably easily achieve 2 to 3 times what you'd expect to happen in a group session

-It is harder to think on your feet... you don't have anytime to switch to another player and keep the situation on backburner to think of something interesting to happen next.  You have to think a lot faster, which may be good "training" in the long run

Chris

[Sir Mathodius Black]

Well, we just finished our first gaming session and all of the adivce paid off.  I put in smoe major NPC's and we really got to work with the character up close.  One thing i noticed was that his Spiritual Attributes were brought into play (and therefore increased) at a much higher rate than I expected.  
All in all everything went well, and it looks like this could be turning into a real epic campaign shortly...

SMB

[Jasper]

Epic in terms of real-world import and length, or in terms of the character accomplishing epic goals?

[Sir Mathodius Black]

The character accomplishing epic goals deffinately.  Because there are no other characters to deal with, he is progressing much faster than normal.  He is still fairly humble though.  After all, he still is just one character and isnt immortal...yet...