Only 1 player help please

Xplo · 09-06-2009, 04:27 PM

The trickiest thing when there's only one PC is not killing him.

Consider: with a standard adventuring party, if someone injures their leg, and there's no magical healing available, they can perhaps be carried, or the party could set up camp and stay alive by hunting until the injured guy can march again. With a single PC, if he's out in the wilderness, injured, and has no horse or anything to carry him to civilization, he's probably going to die.

Or, in combat: with a standard adventuring party, if one character falls, the rest of the party can fight on, possibly providing cover for the fallen PC. The party can't be defeated except by beating each member, or forcing a surrender. A single PC is easily surrounded by multiple foes, and one hit (killing him, knocking him out, or even crippling him) can spell the end to the campaign.

The player should strongly consider taking an Ally of some kind.. perhaps a faithful, plucky servant, or a combat buddy from a previous war, or something. If he doesn't, you could have a recurring NPC that tends to help out the PC when he appears; perhaps they serve the same cause, but don't always cross paths, or maybe they're friendly rivals!

The PC should probably face intelligent enemies who prefer to rob or capture him rather than kill him; if he's fighting beasts or mindless undead or something, try to set it up so that he's helping a team of NPC monster hunters or something, so that they can help him if he gets in over his head. Avoid making him fight too many enemies alone, unless you give him the chance to ambush them or use some other tactic that makes the fight more fair (to him).

And, of course, there's no reason why everything has to be a straight-up fight, even if he is a fighter. There are lots of problems that can't be solved with a sword, and if he's going to be adventuring alone, he'll need to become a jack of all trades. Make him talk his way out of trouble, or use stealth to avoid large groups of enemies. Involve him in courtly intrigue, or give him murder mysteries to solve. Put him in charge of raising a peasant army, equipping them, training them, leading them into combat, and rebuilding a ruined fortress. Remember, there's a pretty robust skill system, some of the advantages are only useful outside of combat, and character advancement doesn't depend on giving him piles of gold and tons of monsters to kill for XP.

Dalillama · 09-06-2009, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xplo

The player should strongly consider taking an Ally of some kind.. perhaps a faithful, plucky servant, or a combat buddy from a previous war, or something. If he doesn't, you could have a recurring NPC that tends to help out the PC when he appears; perhaps they serve the same cause, but don't always cross paths, or maybe they're friendly rivals!

Even a plucky animal companion (ie relatively cheap Ally) can help in thses cases. A dog might run for help, and lead someone to the injured traveller, a horse could do the same, or drag/carry him. A horse has the added advantage of allowing him to bring along more supplies when he travels.

Xplo · 09-06-2009, 08:49 PM

As far as monsters go, you can't judge combat ability by point value, but you can compare combat ability. How likely are they to hit each other, and how likely are they to successfully defend? How much damage do they do when they hit? You should be able to get a rough idea how much of a challenge the PC can handle. Try to give him fights that are fairly easy at first; it'll give both of you a chance to get the hang of GURPS combat, and if you make things too easy, you can always create tougher fights later on.

09-06-2009, 04:27 PM	#1
Xplo Join Date: Apr 2006	Re: Only 1 player help please The trickiest thing when there's only one PC is not killing him. Consider: with a standard adventuring party, if someone injures their leg, and there's no magical healing available, they can perhaps be carried, or the party could set up camp and stay alive by hunting until the injured guy can march again. With a single PC, if he's out in the wilderness, injured, and has no horse or anything to carry him to civilization, he's probably going to die. Or, in combat: with a standard adventuring party, if one character falls, the rest of the party can fight on, possibly providing cover for the fallen PC. The party can't be defeated except by beating each member, or forcing a surrender. A single PC is easily surrounded by multiple foes, and one hit (killing him, knocking him out, or even crippling him) can spell the end to the campaign. The player should strongly consider taking an Ally of some kind.. perhaps a faithful, plucky servant, or a combat buddy from a previous war, or something. If he doesn't, you could have a recurring NPC that tends to help out the PC when he appears; perhaps they serve the same cause, but don't always cross paths, or maybe they're friendly rivals! The PC should probably face intelligent enemies who prefer to rob or capture him rather than kill him; if he's fighting beasts or mindless undead or something, try to set it up so that he's helping a team of NPC monster hunters or something, so that they can help him if he gets in over his head. Avoid making him fight too many enemies alone, unless you give him the chance to ambush them or use some other tactic that makes the fight more fair (to him). And, of course, there's no reason why everything has to be a straight-up fight, even if he is a fighter. There are lots of problems that can't be solved with a sword, and if he's going to be adventuring alone, he'll need to become a jack of all trades. Make him talk his way out of trouble, or use stealth to avoid large groups of enemies. Involve him in courtly intrigue, or give him murder mysteries to solve. Put him in charge of raising a peasant army, equipping them, training them, leading them into combat, and rebuilding a ruined fortress. Remember, there's a pretty robust skill system, some of the advantages are only useful outside of combat, and character advancement doesn't depend on giving him piles of gold and tons of monsters to kill for XP. Last edited by Xplo; 09-06-2009 at 04:33 PM.

09-06-2009, 08:49 PM	#3
Xplo Join Date: Apr 2006	Re: Only 1 player help please As far as monsters go, you can't judge combat ability by point value, but you can compare combat ability. How likely are they to hit each other, and how likely are they to successfully defend? How much damage do they do when they hit? You should be able to get a rough idea how much of a challenge the PC can handle. Try to give him fights that are fairly easy at first; it'll give both of you a chance to get the hang of GURPS combat, and if you make things too easy, you can always create tougher fights later on.