When Good Gaming Groups Go Bad: 3 Wise DMs Tips On How To Continue Your TTRPG Campaign With Only One Player

3 Wise DMs

Game groups fall apart. It’s as inevitable as the rain. What do you do when your current group goes south, but you still have a player who wants to continue? Do you continue with the current campaign? Do you now run the entire rest of the party, the monsters, and all the NPCs? The 3 Wise DMs answer long-time listener Jared’s question about his Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign and delve deeper into utilizing Sidekicks, DMPCs, and other tips with one-on-one gaming.

0:51 Co-host introduction… whom could it be?

1:48 Long-time listener Jared asks for our wisdom

3:23 How do you approach running a game for one person?

5:10 In a duet experience, how do you run all of the

monsters, sidekicks, and NPCs?

6:05 Introduction of DM Chris, DM Tony, and DM Dave’s shared

homebrewed world of The Further.

8:05 A proactive player is key when running a solo player.

9:45 Adjusting encounter difficulty when you have fewer than

4 players.

11:45 Where the Sidekick mechanic from TCoE comes in handy.

14:14 When using Sidekicks or DMPCs, make sure they don’t

steal the spotlight from your players.

16:50 How far are you willing to go to not steal the

spotlight from your players?

19:20 The DM Tax…

22:20 Using the Sidekick or DMPC as a classic “Gandalf”

mechanic.

24:00 What if your “Gandalf” ally doesn’t seem to know

anything?

27:00 What if Gandalf reveals the secret, but Frodo wasn’t

freaking listening?

31:10 Riddles… DM Dave is kind of over them.

33:50 When campaigns fall apart… what to do?

37:30 Final Thoughts