One-on-One Roleplaying

There were many reasons that we were excited when Tales of the Old Margreve came out. Firstly, the vast majority of Beth’s PCs have been druids, so we were immediately interested in something with a heavy emphasis on a mysterious and ancient forest. Secondly, this book features a series of adventures that can stand alone […]

Adaptation Principles As we said earlier in this series, one of the best things about one-on-one play is the focus on the player and the PC. They’re the main character around whom the entire storyline revolves. This is a double-edged sword when it comes to adapting a published campaign though. Both the narrative arc and

Our last post extolled the many benefits of playing with one player and one GM (also known as a “duet”) that make this option hyper-attractive and contribute to the growing numbers of dungeon-delvers. Some of these boons include the ease of finding time to play, the freedom to pursue your gameplay preferences, and the great

Player Benefits First, let’s focus on the player benefits. Focused Attention There’s something really special about practicing being the hero of your own story. I love that 5E gives us the chance to be brave and daring, to set risk aside and go after what we truly want, answering destiny’s call. A chief benefit for

This post covers several of the conceptual adjustments that GMs can make in order to adapt 5E rules and table dynamics to parties of two. We discuss the foundation for these shifts first—cooperation at the table between the player and the GM. Then we dive into some of the most difficult situations to navigate—PC death

We’ve written previously in this series about the importance of approaching a one-on-one 5E game as a co-creative storytelling process. At the table, this looks like the player taking on some roles of the GM and vice-versa.

There are a few reasons why you might choose to run a one-on-one session (one player, one GM) as part of your group game, some of which we’ll cover in depth in this post. Maybe the other members of your group were unable to meet, but you still want to play? Or perhaps one of

One of the biggest shifts you’ll need to make for your one-on-one game is from campaign arcs built to include many PCs to arcs crafted for a single PC. This is actually one of the changes that many people wind up preferring to group games, but it can feel strange or intimidating at first.

Effectively running combat for one-on-one 5E is a major area of concern for many GMs. After all, the monster challenge ratings, player options, and adventure and encounter design guidelines all assume parties of at least four adventurers. When you play one-on-one, those assumptions don’t necessarily work. So how can GMs build encounters that are challenging

In our last post, we talked about how one-on-one play works best when the PC is flexible in both melee and ranged combat. Today we are going to round out the party by talking about how you can provide the PC with a worthy and supportive adventuring companion. In this post, you’ll find three primary

After you’ve covered the basics of running 5e one-on-one, you’re ready to move on to step number two, adapting your game’s PC for this smaller-party play style! In terms of mechanics, one-on-one works best when you make sure the PC is flexible in both melee and ranged combat. This post covers a few different options

To play 5th Edition one-on-one, all you need is another person and a free block of time. And it’s an amazing way to introduce a partner, friend, or family member to the game!