D&D 5E Ideas for campaigns with a single player?

[Lanliss]

Right now I am prepping an Assassin single player campaign, and was curious what other ideas there were for the various classes. Have you done a campaign for a single player, built around their class in a thematic way?

My ideas so far

Warlock:Easy enough, though it depends on their patron. A lot of actual interaction with their Patron, it's goals, and basically furthering their cult.

Ranger: A year in the life of a ranger. Rather than throw them from their "average" daily life, have them continue, or start, their ranger life. Start with some small natural creatures causing problems, and go bigger towards creatures that threaten nature, and the Rangers defended territory.

Fighter: Classic Bar brawler/Gladiator to King story. Major villain would be a spell caster, forcing the Fighter to face the limits of their Martial capabilities, and hopefully overcome them.

Bard: Indiana Jones style adventure, raiding ancient temples for lost knowledge. Probably the most balanced one, since Bard can reasonably handle all three pillars. A lot of Intrigue and survival in the wild mixed with the occasional combat.

What are your ideas, and do you think you would enjoy the ones I have put so far? I am sure most people don't have this problem, but only one of my players is consistently available to play, so I will be doing a lot more Solo play than I originally planned.

 

[Oofta]

I've done solo campaigns before but I guess I never really had a class specific "theme". Running a solo campaign is similar to any campaign really - I have an idea of environment, threats and opportunities. The campaign evolves based on the player choices.

I would tune some scenes (encounters) to the character's strengths. So the rogue has the opportunity to infiltrate the trap-filled lair, the wizard is sucked into a mystical realm where they must use their wits to survive and escape.

But a lot of it depends on the player and what they enjoy - similar to any other group. If they think solving puzzles is fun then it doesn't make much difference what their class is.

I'd probably pay more attention to background and characters motivations than class.

 

[tglassy]

Cleric: have the individual be contacted by their god, giving them visions of some evil that threatens something or other.

Wizard: I've done this. Have them be an apprentice that has just graduated to full wizard. Their master gives them one last quest, which you can set up to release some kind of ancient evil or something. They that ancient evil is a reoccurring bad guy.

Barbarian: Have them be part of a tribe, growing in the ranks.

There are any number of things you can do.

 

[Redthistle]

Old solo adventures are available through sites such as DriveThruRPG.com. Most of them are older edition, so if you're using them to run a game using 5e rules, you'll have to update the stats on them.

Also, a point of clarification. I believe if you're running an adventure for a single player, that would be a 1:1 game or single player game, whereas a solo adventure is where you're playing all by your self, with no DM/GM involved.

 

[Lanliss]

Old solo adventures are available through sites such as DriveThruRPG.com. Most of them are older edition, so if you're using them to run a game using 5e rules, you'll have to update the stats on them.

Also, a point of clarification. I believe if you're running an adventure for a single player, that would be a 1:1 game or single player game, whereas a solo adventure is where you're playing all by your self, with no DM/GM involved.

Edited accordingly.

 

[SunGold]

A one-on-one campaign with a warlock would be a really fun chance to use this, IMO.

The Future You
Your patron is you in a decades-distant future. Perhaps your future self found an artifact of great power connecting him to the past, which he must now lead you to discover, or perhaps he was taught the mystic arts by his future self long ago, and you will have to continue this cycle by teaching yourself someday. Your future self has forgotten the fine details of some things, and outright refuses to tell you about things you "can't know yet," but nonetheless offers compelling insight and guidance. You're not quite sure what he is planning for your future (and for his past), but one thing is certain - he needs you alive.

Figuring out how & why you ended up your own patron, and ultimately helping "future you" accomplish whatever it is they're up to, could be the campaign.

 

[aco175]

I have been replaying Keep on the Shadowfell for 5e with my son and he plays a fighter. I do run a npc thief who helps out though, so it is not a true 1:1

 

[pdzoch]

Many years ago I ran a single player Fighter campaign. It was a Samuari class, but a Paladin class would work just a well. The Samurai was responsible for the order and discipline in a small village, solving mysteries, defeating threats to the village and personages passing through in service to the higher lord. At one time, the Samurai had to recruit other fighters to defeat a bandit group (a'la Seven Samurai).

 

[Lanliss]

Many years ago I ran a single player Fighter campaign. It was a Samuari class, but a Paladin class would work just a well. The Samurai was responsible for the order and discipline in a small village, solving mysteries, defeating threats to the village and personages passing through in service to the higher lord. At one time, the Samurai had to recruit other fighters to defeat a bandit group (a'la Seven Samurai).

Or I could use the new Samurai Fighter class. Good idea either way.

 

[Herobizkit]

The best thing about a 1:1 campaign is that it's tailor-made to one character. The freedom you have with story-building is huge, but it can also be hampering as the player only has herself to come up with ideas. You (the DM) will have to have a cast of NPCs lined up as supporting/tertiary characters, or be able to riff basic NPCs on the spot.

Give the Samurai idea, the player could take the Noble/Knight background and receive a small (three?) group of supporting NPCs built-in. Fill them out, give them backstories, keep them as constant companions, perhaps. Also, if the player is up for it, you could have a selection of recurring "classed" NPCs that join the player at random intervals through the story. (Final Fantasy Mystic Quest [SNES] did this. If you're not familiar, it's a simple yet great 'one player' story).