Combat in Single-Player Campaigns

[Kromm]

Anecdotally, while I've mostly GM'd multi-player campaigns – where "multi" was in the 6-13 range – I've run a lot of side-quests where one PC went off and did stuff on their own. Those were usually during times when the other players were unavailable to play. To prevent social awkwardness of the "Why didn't my character know/see/follow/join in/come to the rescue?" variety, I set things up so that the active PC was someplace the other players couldn't easily argue their characters could observe or go. Thus, the active PC was essentially playing in a temporary single-player campaign.

Because these were spinoffs from multi-player campaigns, there were two elephants in the room, both related to numbers:

1. The player of the active PC was accustomed to using tactics that assumed the existence of allies. Not just in combat, either! They were used to having or being some sort of wingman or right hand even in stealth and social situations.
   
   
2. The active PC had skills that filled a particular niche for the party, and wasn't a generalist. Thus, there were things in and out of combat they simply couldn't do.

I quickly learned that these particular pachyderms weren't things my players found fun to experience or to work around. They wanted to be able to "do their thing" – use their favorite tactics and focus on their chosen niche – even on side-quests. I could've been unyielding and said, "Too bad! You can't!", but that's not my style. Also, it isn't a good way to retain players. So instead, I made sure the PCs quickly accumulated temporary companions.

The trick here is to suit the companions to the PC. Here are a few examples I used in actual play:

• When the necromancer went off alone, it was relatively easy: a bunch of zombies. In combat, these were an adequate screening force, keeping enemies at a distance while the mage cast spells. Out of combat, the PC didn't really need help; a huge IQ let them default or quickly learn most necessary noncombat skills at respectable levels. The wizard sometimes needed extra hands for noncombat physical tasks, but the zombies were able to carry gear and loot, and do manual labor (e.g., cut wood).
  
  
• When the general went off alone, it was also easy: I let him command a squad of soldiers (which I later insisted he buy as Allies . . . fair's fair). These let him fight much as he always did, and actually improved the player's fun, because he got to command, which the other PCs rarely let him do. Out of combat, these soldiers had had lives before taking up arms, and had adequate levels of skills like Carousing, First Aid, Streetwise, and Survival to be useful.
  
  
• When another wizard went off on her own, it was harder because she wasn't a necromancer who would logically have a force of undead. However, she was good with animals. She had a familiar – a huge falcon that could scout and hunt – and a trained horse with above-average IQ. Since the adventure was largely an extended research mission in the wilderness, that was all she needed. Between always spotting ambushers (falcon) and being able to ride away at high speed (horse), she simply avoided fights.
  
  
• And when the nobleman went off on his own, he had retainers. Some were guards, others were servants with practical skills. I let this slide without charging for Allies, as the PC had tons of points in Status and Wealth that hadn't mattered one bit up to that point. People who thought to waylay him for his wealth didn't live to regret it, because he just ordered archers to shoot them full of arrows (the irony here being that he was a master swordsman and probably could have beaten them . . .). He was a social god and thus had no difficulty at all out of combat.

In all cases, the important challenge afterward – not relevant to a true single-player campaign! – was to avoid obviating the importance of the other PCs when everyone was reunited again. This was easy: I just increased the challenge level of the adventures, so that animals, conscript soldiers, ordinary servants, or zombies wouldn't last two seconds. I justified this simply by saying that the group quests weren't narrow-focus missions undertaken by someone strong at those kinds of missions in the pursuit of their specialized interests, but broad-focus, epic adventures that demanded a crack team of diverse experts.

Take or leave those ideas as you wish!