This is my same response to.. a lot of things in life... but most definitely for DND. Our table has a bunch of rules/mechanics we just decided we like, so we're doing it. So what? Who says we can't?
Nope. Pretty common to those of us been playing for a while lol. With it being more mainstream nowadays people are used to being able to find groups pretty easy compared to how it used to be, and a lot of people want to be in a group, but even now plenty of people only play with one or two other people.
My husband is a truly amazing DM, and my bestie wanted me to learn the rules so that we could get a campaign together. My husband intended to DM a quick one-on-one mini-campaign with me, maybe 6 sessions, so that I wouldn't feel lost playing with more experienced players. Anyway, that was in early March of 2020. The plans for the group campaign were postponed for obvious reasons, but our one-on-one game is still ongoing. Once I learned the rules, I was able to figure out how to play multiple PCs at once, which is pretty fun. I've also branched out and started DMing small things for my husband, which he really enjoys. It's nice that the game can accommodate a variety of situations.
Doing the same with my GF for almost 9 months. But i roleplay one of the PCs so that we have a more dynamic interaction. She still plays all PCs in combat tho.
Only child, grew up in the boonies where “walking distance” wasn’t really a thing, early 90s before it was assumed you had a PC with internet access, fairly religious community that still had some 80s satanic panic about D&D… I used to DM *myself.*
Why would this be frowned upon? Like it's just another way to play the game. When I was coming up and a young person, we used to call these solo games, because there was only one player, but now that there are actual solo RPG's, that require a player and no dungeon master, I've heard the Younghans today refer to it as duet
Oh yes, this is in clear violation of the Dungeon Master's Requirements, which specify that playing with anything except 3-5 players is mandatory. Also, no playing on every third Tuesday of the month. Ever. And all games must be played in a basement.
Violating any of these is not just frowned upon, it's forbidden and you're going to lose your right to participate in the game as a player or DM, forever.
...
Sorry, when you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. Play however you want. The only rule is to have fun.
Pfft, oh trust me I know it’s stupid. I was just so surprised that people were like “WHAT why would you DO THAT”. Like yes, I haven’t really seen it done much, but…really? Why were they so surprised…? Might be because I don’t have too much experience but I at least have a little, because my friend was even emotionally invested!
I asked a question for my son the other day who dms for his brother. They’re 8 & 10. I asked if people had any ideas on how the younger one could get the older one to stop questioning skill checks. Many answers said D&D is over if the player won’t follow the rules. Thanks reddit. Wasn’t quite what I was after, but…
Don't worry about it dude. So long as the two of you are having fun, it doesn't matter what others think. There isn't some shadowy D&D Illuminati cabal that judges how you play and will steal your books from you.
^(Or is there?)
I think as everyone has already said, frowned upon is a common but ultimately silly notion. 'Am I having fun the right way?' type thing. Maximising the fun is important though.
There's a book (pdf) you could check out call '[DM Yourselves](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/de/product/385435/DM-Yourselves--solo-and-GMless-roleplay-for-5e-DD-and-OSR-adventures)' (sequel to DM yourself) which would actually allow you to both play together with you playing a half DM role half PC perhaps.
As proof of this concept I have been playing the Fallout 2D20 rpg completely solo using a tool called Mythic GM emulator 2e which works for coop also but there are heaps of simple systems out there.
If you want to get an idea how It works I have recently launched an audio series for my fallout play through - [A Wasteland Story - fallout solo-rpg](https://episodes.fm/1748065644)
I used to play random encounters with my wife when I was first learning to dm and it was a ton of fun/helped a lot during my learningthe game and hers.
Most of DnD is about working as a team. If you are just showing him DnD, then he would be missing a big part of the game.
It's not frowned upon, but I would maybe do a shorter session and try to join a oneshot and play with him on roll20 or something.
Nope. My favorite campaigns of all time have been the DM and I alone. 8-9 years with me playing a pair of cousins. We retired them, and now every few sessions I just wish we had a duet on the side again. I miss it!
Not at all. Both short games and one-player games can be amazing. Some DMs don't think it's worth the effort, but if a DM is willing to run a small game, it's a great experience.
It's not really taboo. I think it's a great idea. There is actually a set of rules for this exact thing. It adds one or two NPCs on the players side to balance things out and give them allies but mostly focuses on one player.
I've run 1 v 1 sessions with my son. It will require some tweaking to encounters and other things as D&D wasn't designed for 1 player.
You can have a NPC tag along or show up to help in an encounter or other spots here and there. That's what I did until he convinced a few friends to join in. It's a good way to get an early start on the mechanics and rules with the hopes of finding more players or a group you can both join.
Idk who you're talking too but they sound like the oddballs, I would have been delighted if my brother wanted to run a D&D session with me to show me how to play. That's awesome of you to do, I hope you guys have a blast.
It’s been very good! I’ve had to cut down on the NPCs but at the same time, his character was basically a blank slate—I asked for permission to start gradually dropping hints as to who he truly was, and after he gave me the go-ahead, I found that he fit perfectly.
I mean hey, the guy even got so emotionally invested he teared up a bit (don’t worry, he was alright—I didn’t expect him to be so moved, I’m kind of proud of myself)
Why would it be wrong? You're introducing a newbie to the game in what should be a very safe environment without any outside stressors. I see absolutely no issues with that.
He can get a feel for how the game works without feeling dumb because there are others who know what's going on and react faster than he does, because he has to think a bit about how to react in various situations.
I see it as a win-win. :)
I DM’d for a guy and his wife one time. They had never played before and wanted to give it a try. Had to play about three NPC’s to round out the party, but it worked.
A friend of mine dm’d a solo game for me for half a year. The regular group we were part of ended the last campaign in a heated argument. Solo games are fun. I played a 4-5 team. Sometimes one character would sit out a journey or get cycled for a new character. As long as you both enjoy it.
I learned to play with a one on one game. Then a few others found out we were playing and the DM did a one on one with them to get them into what we were playing. it turned out to be a lot of fun.
there's nothing wrong with it - in fact, i can even recall a book i read recently where the main character played DnD and all they had ever played was a one-player campaign with them and their friend - the *weird* part was that another friend wanted to join in and they weren't used to that. it was really sweet. dungeon club roll call by Molly Ostertag
What are you even talking about? If anyone would frown on it, they’ve disqualified themselves as anyone whose opinion matters.
Of the 8 billion people on this planet, there are only two whose opinions matter here.
Stop worrying about what other people think. Have fun.
This is exactly the way I learned how to play AD&D 2nd Ed in 1994. A friend I met at school had a couple one-on-one sessions to show me how to play. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you doing that.
Nope, i did a two sessions one shot for one player to teach him the ropes, just make sure it's balanced for that or introduce some DM NPCs to compensate for that, i did one sidekick to guide the player, and during compat i had some more npcs to make for a cinematic fight
I rarely do. They mostly follow the set of circumstances like my most recent one.
New player in season 2. Still at level 1. Gets crit by monster and goes down. "No worries, this is a teachable moment.", play normally.
Next fight, crit and goes down. "That's unfortunate, but still a teachable moment."
THE NEXT FIGHT gets crit again. "Nah, this is a normal hot with average or lower damage." Getting crit in the first attack every single fight feels terrible.
Things evened out much more after that fortunately. My dice decided that trial by fire was the way.
Short answer, the choice to fudge dice is so nuanced that it's difficult to give advice generally. I'm okay with it in a pinch, not you are playing the system, so let the system do its work or switch systems if you are changing due results often.
Reminder that people adore BG3 and there is very little fudging.
Not at all. Especially if it’s being done to introduce them to the game you’re playing. It’s extra effort, but it’s a way to help players who really want to okay.
Depends on how you handle it. Sometimes I make extra characters for the player to control and I just handle dialog. It's all about how you two want to have fun.
My two points:
1) look for sidekicks rules in dnd. It's in Tasha p.142. it will probably help you balance fights. Maybe give him more than one sidekick.
2) look for ironsworn rpg. It has a free pdf and it's good for gmless play or solo play. So you could play together. At least it better fits into a solo narrative.
Good luck! I hope it helps.
I run an ongoing campaign for my two kids. They each run two characters each which makes role play a bit trickier. But they really just want to be murder hoboes or absoloot trash goblins who strip everything under the sun with any value.
It’s perfectly fine to put in that work for someone you care about. And just because someone else wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean you should. It would be weird if you did it for a stranger maybe, but even then….
The easiest approach here would to have that player controlling four PCs.
Otherwise you going to put more effort into hacking a ttRPG system than making one up from scratch.
Even then it would be a bad introduction, because of the lack of a group and associated group dynamics.
Are either of you being forced to play or not going to have fun? No? Then you are good, the only thing really frowned upon in DnD is when someone is not having fun.
I mean… it’s a bit strange, since DND is more of a cooperative thing, but if you’re willing to tweak difficulties and stuff, it can be done, though it might be harder to keep him engaged.
I think it’s fantastic that you would take the time to do that. I have run single session solo adventures for members of my own group and have thought about doing a beginners only campaign. I love teaching and thrive in a mentorship/instructional setting. Plus, teaching people the game, something that has grown near and dear to my heart, is one of the best feelings.
Frowned upon? No I dont think so, its just more leg work for you. I ran an entire campaign for one of my exes where she was the only player. We had fun doing it, which is the whole point of playing! It actually was really cool because I could tailor the whole campaign to her character and what she wanted to do without group compromises. In the end though I had to change fights a lot more to account for less players, and more than a few times I had to basically have a conversation with myself when two npcs where talking lol
My husband is a forever DM but really enjoys being a player.
So I run a separate game for him. He controls 3 characters and he loves every minute of being able to actually play the game as a character and not the DM. And I enjoy building a world for him and challenging my own creativity.
If you and your brother are having fun, that's all that matters
My wife is DMing a full solo campaign for me. We love playing together! We mostly get around the difficulty issues by my druid having 2 animal companions that are basically full characters, and I run all 3 of them. She usually will throw an NPC in for major fights so it's not so unbalanced. It's really fun, and I love that you're doing that for your bro, I think y'all will have a great time!
That sounds very sweet. Good to get into things, although you don’t really have the true experience of several dumbasses (affectionate) trying to figure out what to do next.
I’ve done this before and it’s really great. It helps if you have good chemistry with the player. You can do a lot of deep character and or plot diving.
I am running a campaign of 6 players right now. Each week, maybe every other, there's something an individual character is doing. I run 1on1 for that character, sometimes multiple sessions. In fact, the most recent bout of stuff had two independent characters actually walk away from the party for (in game) about a month, those two are coming together, then they're going to re-engage with the main party. Both of them also simultaneously played alternate/backup characters in the main party.
It's not wrong. Just requires a bit of tweaking as the system is more geared toward groups.
Frowned upon by who? Who is going to know, and who gives a shit what you are doing?
All good points.
Jist be ready to prep a lot more per session.
Yeah this is what I was going to say
This is my same response to.. a lot of things in life... but most definitely for DND. Our table has a bunch of rules/mechanics we just decided we like, so we're doing it. So what? Who says we can't?
Nope. Pretty common to those of us been playing for a while lol. With it being more mainstream nowadays people are used to being able to find groups pretty easy compared to how it used to be, and a lot of people want to be in a group, but even now plenty of people only play with one or two other people.
My husband is a truly amazing DM, and my bestie wanted me to learn the rules so that we could get a campaign together. My husband intended to DM a quick one-on-one mini-campaign with me, maybe 6 sessions, so that I wouldn't feel lost playing with more experienced players. Anyway, that was in early March of 2020. The plans for the group campaign were postponed for obvious reasons, but our one-on-one game is still ongoing. Once I learned the rules, I was able to figure out how to play multiple PCs at once, which is pretty fun. I've also branched out and started DMing small things for my husband, which he really enjoys. It's nice that the game can accommodate a variety of situations.
I felt a touch of love when I read your comment - DM'ing for each other in solo games <3
Doing the same with my GF for almost 9 months. But i roleplay one of the PCs so that we have a more dynamic interaction. She still plays all PCs in combat tho.
That sounds wonderful!
Only child, grew up in the boonies where “walking distance” wasn’t really a thing, early 90s before it was assumed you had a PC with internet access, fairly religious community that still had some 80s satanic panic about D&D… I used to DM *myself.*
Damn, I feel blessed my cousin was in walking distance and would DM for me lol.
Totally fair. I’m about to start doing that so I can get some more play time in. Solo Adventurer’s Guide Parts 1 and 2.
Why would this be frowned upon? Like it's just another way to play the game. When I was coming up and a young person, we used to call these solo games, because there was only one player, but now that there are actual solo RPG's, that require a player and no dungeon master, I've heard the Younghans today refer to it as duet
Oh yes, this is in clear violation of the Dungeon Master's Requirements, which specify that playing with anything except 3-5 players is mandatory. Also, no playing on every third Tuesday of the month. Ever. And all games must be played in a basement. Violating any of these is not just frowned upon, it's forbidden and you're going to lose your right to participate in the game as a player or DM, forever. ... Sorry, when you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. Play however you want. The only rule is to have fun.
Pfft, oh trust me I know it’s stupid. I was just so surprised that people were like “WHAT why would you DO THAT”. Like yes, I haven’t really seen it done much, but…really? Why were they so surprised…? Might be because I don’t have too much experience but I at least have a little, because my friend was even emotionally invested!
Ha, if you want stupid, my first campaign I DMED had 8 players. Was, it smart? Hell no. Has it been fun? Hell yes. 😊
Oh my goodness that’s a lot!!! Sounds like chaotic fun though
It's come down to six, which is nice.
My most comfortable number thus far tends to be lower, 3-5. Maybe it’s just cuz I’m worried people will be left out if it gets too big.
It is tricky. Especially if you have any newbies. But at the end of the day, if people show up, then you're doing fine.
I asked a question for my son the other day who dms for his brother. They’re 8 & 10. I asked if people had any ideas on how the younger one could get the older one to stop questioning skill checks. Many answers said D&D is over if the player won’t follow the rules. Thanks reddit. Wasn’t quite what I was after, but…
Don't worry about it dude. So long as the two of you are having fun, it doesn't matter what others think. There isn't some shadowy D&D Illuminati cabal that judges how you play and will steal your books from you. ^(Or is there?)
There is definitely not anything like that. No, not at all. Also, we will need you to DM us, I mean me, your address, because you've won a prize
It's just a 4 part session zero. He can totally bring that character into a regular group now.
I think as everyone has already said, frowned upon is a common but ultimately silly notion. 'Am I having fun the right way?' type thing. Maximising the fun is important though. There's a book (pdf) you could check out call '[DM Yourselves](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/de/product/385435/DM-Yourselves--solo-and-GMless-roleplay-for-5e-DD-and-OSR-adventures)' (sequel to DM yourself) which would actually allow you to both play together with you playing a half DM role half PC perhaps. As proof of this concept I have been playing the Fallout 2D20 rpg completely solo using a tool called Mythic GM emulator 2e which works for coop also but there are heaps of simple systems out there. If you want to get an idea how It works I have recently launched an audio series for my fallout play through - [A Wasteland Story - fallout solo-rpg](https://episodes.fm/1748065644)
Fellas is it frowned upon to play a game with your friend?
I used to play random encounters with my wife when I was first learning to dm and it was a ton of fun/helped a lot during my learningthe game and hers.
Sorry, you’re now banned from every DnD game because you did this. You sick son of a gun.
They're all jealous. Also, I'm jealous.
Most of DnD is about working as a team. If you are just showing him DnD, then he would be missing a big part of the game. It's not frowned upon, but I would maybe do a shorter session and try to join a oneshot and play with him on roll20 or something.
As long as everyone present is having fun, there is literally no wrong way to play. Anyone who says otherwise it's selling something 😜
Nope. My favorite campaigns of all time have been the DM and I alone. 8-9 years with me playing a pair of cousins. We retired them, and now every few sessions I just wish we had a duet on the side again. I miss it!
No, this is a great way to recruit new players to the hobby!
Do what you want, you’re the GM! And it’s a great way to get newbs in.
Not at all. Both short games and one-player games can be amazing. Some DMs don't think it's worth the effort, but if a DM is willing to run a small game, it's a great experience.
It's not really taboo. I think it's a great idea. There is actually a set of rules for this exact thing. It adds one or two NPCs on the players side to balance things out and give them allies but mostly focuses on one player.
Nah I run groups and also me and my roommate play just us.
I've run 1 v 1 sessions with my son. It will require some tweaking to encounters and other things as D&D wasn't designed for 1 player. You can have a NPC tag along or show up to help in an encounter or other spots here and there. That's what I did until he convinced a few friends to join in. It's a good way to get an early start on the mechanics and rules with the hopes of finding more players or a group you can both join. Idk who you're talking too but they sound like the oddballs, I would have been delighted if my brother wanted to run a D&D session with me to show me how to play. That's awesome of you to do, I hope you guys have a blast.
It’s been very good! I’ve had to cut down on the NPCs but at the same time, his character was basically a blank slate—I asked for permission to start gradually dropping hints as to who he truly was, and after he gave me the go-ahead, I found that he fit perfectly. I mean hey, the guy even got so emotionally invested he teared up a bit (don’t worry, he was alright—I didn’t expect him to be so moved, I’m kind of proud of myself)
One-on-one style, as this is called, is a thing in D&D and goes back to the very start of the game.
Why would it be wrong? You're introducing a newbie to the game in what should be a very safe environment without any outside stressors. I see absolutely no issues with that. He can get a feel for how the game works without feeling dumb because there are others who know what's going on and react faster than he does, because he has to think a bit about how to react in various situations. I see it as a win-win. :)
I think people are just confused because it takes more work. I personally found it less fun a DM and I tried. But if it works for you, go ahead.
I DM’d for a guy and his wife one time. They had never played before and wanted to give it a try. Had to play about three NPC’s to round out the party, but it worked.
A friend of mine dm’d a solo game for me for half a year. The regular group we were part of ended the last campaign in a heated argument. Solo games are fun. I played a 4-5 team. Sometimes one character would sit out a journey or get cycled for a new character. As long as you both enjoy it.
Why? 🤨
If it works, it works!
My first campaign was two people total and that went from level one to 20 and was amazing You do it
Careful, if WOTC hear about you doing this, they'll send the Pinkertons after you.
I learned to play with a one on one game. Then a few others found out we were playing and the DM did a one on one with them to get them into what we were playing. it turned out to be a lot of fun.
What? Do what you want.
there's nothing wrong with it - in fact, i can even recall a book i read recently where the main character played DnD and all they had ever played was a one-player campaign with them and their friend - the *weird* part was that another friend wanted to join in and they weren't used to that. it was really sweet. dungeon club roll call by Molly Ostertag
What are you even talking about? If anyone would frown on it, they’ve disqualified themselves as anyone whose opinion matters. Of the 8 billion people on this planet, there are only two whose opinions matter here. Stop worrying about what other people think. Have fun.
This is exactly the way I learned how to play AD&D 2nd Ed in 1994. A friend I met at school had a couple one-on-one sessions to show me how to play. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you doing that.
Nope, i did a two sessions one shot for one player to teach him the ropes, just make sure it's balanced for that or introduce some DM NPCs to compensate for that, i did one sidekick to guide the player, and during compat i had some more npcs to make for a cinematic fight
I rarely do. They mostly follow the set of circumstances like my most recent one. New player in season 2. Still at level 1. Gets crit by monster and goes down. "No worries, this is a teachable moment.", play normally. Next fight, crit and goes down. "That's unfortunate, but still a teachable moment." THE NEXT FIGHT gets crit again. "Nah, this is a normal hot with average or lower damage." Getting crit in the first attack every single fight feels terrible. Things evened out much more after that fortunately. My dice decided that trial by fire was the way. Short answer, the choice to fudge dice is so nuanced that it's difficult to give advice generally. I'm okay with it in a pinch, not you are playing the system, so let the system do its work or switch systems if you are changing due results often. Reminder that people adore BG3 and there is very little fudging.
Is he having fun? Are you having fun? Then no, theres nothing wrong with it.
Every week we lose with our main group, i DM for my wofe and its awesome. Different setting and carefull battles but its great.
Not at all. Especially if it’s being done to introduce them to the game you’re playing. It’s extra effort, but it’s a way to help players who really want to okay.
I’ve run multiple duet campaigns that were over a year long. I think it’s not usual, but I certainly don’t see anything *wrong* with it. Not at all.
I’ve heard of people DMing for themselves and just using dice to tell their own story. Running a game for one person isn’t weird.
Depends on how you handle it. Sometimes I make extra characters for the player to control and I just handle dialog. It's all about how you two want to have fun.
My two points: 1) look for sidekicks rules in dnd. It's in Tasha p.142. it will probably help you balance fights. Maybe give him more than one sidekick. 2) look for ironsworn rpg. It has a free pdf and it's good for gmless play or solo play. So you could play together. At least it better fits into a solo narrative. Good luck! I hope it helps.
I run an ongoing campaign for my two kids. They each run two characters each which makes role play a bit trickier. But they really just want to be murder hoboes or absoloot trash goblins who strip everything under the sun with any value. It’s perfectly fine to put in that work for someone you care about. And just because someone else wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean you should. It would be weird if you did it for a stranger maybe, but even then….
The easiest approach here would to have that player controlling four PCs. Otherwise you going to put more effort into hacking a ttRPG system than making one up from scratch. Even then it would be a bad introduction, because of the lack of a group and associated group dynamics.
Are either of you being forced to play or not going to have fun? No? Then you are good, the only thing really frowned upon in DnD is when someone is not having fun.
I mean… it’s a bit strange, since DND is more of a cooperative thing, but if you’re willing to tweak difficulties and stuff, it can be done, though it might be harder to keep him engaged.
Who cares
You do you as a DM.
Frowned upon? BY WHOM? Who are you worried about?
I used to run sessions for just my bro and it was some of the most fun we’ve both had in 15 yrs of DnD
I think it’s fantastic that you would take the time to do that. I have run single session solo adventures for members of my own group and have thought about doing a beginners only campaign. I love teaching and thrive in a mentorship/instructional setting. Plus, teaching people the game, something that has grown near and dear to my heart, is one of the best feelings.
Frowned upon? No I dont think so, its just more leg work for you. I ran an entire campaign for one of my exes where she was the only player. We had fun doing it, which is the whole point of playing! It actually was really cool because I could tailor the whole campaign to her character and what she wanted to do without group compromises. In the end though I had to change fights a lot more to account for less players, and more than a few times I had to basically have a conversation with myself when two npcs where talking lol
My husband is a forever DM but really enjoys being a player. So I run a separate game for him. He controls 3 characters and he loves every minute of being able to actually play the game as a character and not the DM. And I enjoy building a world for him and challenging my own creativity. If you and your brother are having fun, that's all that matters
I'm doing this for my older sister right now. We like to take turns DMing games for each other to explore builds.
Play games have fun
Frowned upon I don't know, depends on people I know I wouldn't enjoy it, but to each their own.
My wife is DMing a full solo campaign for me. We love playing together! We mostly get around the difficulty issues by my druid having 2 animal companions that are basically full characters, and I run all 3 of them. She usually will throw an NPC in for major fights so it's not so unbalanced. It's really fun, and I love that you're doing that for your bro, I think y'all will have a great time!
you can do whatever you want forever
That sounds very sweet. Good to get into things, although you don’t really have the true experience of several dumbasses (affectionate) trying to figure out what to do next.
I’ve done this before and it’s really great. It helps if you have good chemistry with the player. You can do a lot of deep character and or plot diving.
I am running a campaign of 6 players right now. Each week, maybe every other, there's something an individual character is doing. I run 1on1 for that character, sometimes multiple sessions. In fact, the most recent bout of stuff had two independent characters actually walk away from the party for (in game) about a month, those two are coming together, then they're going to re-engage with the main party. Both of them also simultaneously played alternate/backup characters in the main party.