So if you're like me, you're the forever DM. You want to play, but you don't have anyone who's willing to run a campaign so you can play a PC. Or maybe you don't have a gaming group at all. Is it possible to play alone?
Yes.
Thanks for reading!
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Ok you want details. Got it.
There are a couple of different options when it comes to playing solo D&D.
Option 1: There are published modules designed specifically for the purpose. For example, Blizzard Pass.
They play like a Choose Your Own Adventure book where it gives you options and when you choose one you go to a specified paragraph to see what happens next. The problem is that there is not a huge number of these modules and you could work your way through them fairly quickly.
Option 2: Run a regular module with a party of PCs. Now, this naturally creates some conflicts of interest. Regular modules assume the people playing them aren't the ones reading it, so you'd have access to all the maps, secrets and warnings the PCs normally wouldn't. There's just no way around that, but there are some things you can do to mitigate.
1. Dice it.
Many of the decisions the party makes might be influenced by foreknowledge of what's coming up. For example, you can see the map, so you might choose the door that does NOT lead to the giant pit trap. One way you can make things more"fair" is to use dice to determine which direction the PCs go and then run it accordingly. Maybe allow a Wis check if there's something about a certain path that might discourage players from choosing it.
2. Inspiration
When do you award Inspiration to a party of DMPCs? There's no way to be completely objective in deciding whether or not you had a wonderful idea and should give Inspiration for it. Instead, give Inspiration whenever the PC rolls a Natural 20. You have no control over that, and it does represent the PC doing something exceedingly well.
3. Handling Traps, Secret Doors and Other Hiden Things
You know from the map where the secret doors are. You know from the text descriptions where the traps and hidden compartments are. The PCs don't. So how to simulate it? What I do is if time is unimportant, just decide the PCs are always searching for secret doors and the Rogues are always looking for traps. You don't need to bother to roll when there's no trap or secret door, just assume the PCs looked and didn't find anything. If time DOES matter for some reason then you might rely on a Perception or Insight check to see if the PCs think to search or check, and go from there.
4. Other Secrets
Sometimes there's no way to simulate PC decision-making with dice and you'll just have to roleplay it. Just go ahead and imagine how the PCs would react, what they'd reasonably be able to deduce, and play it out. It isn't like there are any wrong answers here. This is for you so have fun and don't worry about being perfectly objective. It isn't like someone will be standing there watching over your shoulder, grading you.
5. Persistence and World Building
This is my favorite part. By "persistence" I don't mean "keep at it!" I mean objects are persistent in the game world. They exist there and they matter. As a DM, when I play solo adventures I have the actions of my DMPCs actually affect the campaign world in a way that can be of help to the players when I'm running the game for others. Here's a little example.
Some time back my gaming group cleared out the Moathouse in the Temple of Elemental Evil adventure. After they left, it sat there, continuing to be a ruin. Now, I had decided I wanted a nice, small dungeon to try running some PCs through, and the Moathouse was just right. So, to keep continuity in my game world I didn't just want to run it again as it was, so I instead got out the module Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil where the Moathouse appears again, only now with different foes within.
So, I ran them through that version, narratively explaining it as it's a D&D world... an empty dungeon won't stay empty for long as monsters and villains take up residence. My PCs went through, cleared the dungeon, and it was pretty fun! It didn't stop there though, because now it's intertwined with the campaign world which is a living, breathing setting.
The lords of the nearby village of Hommlet then decided that this Moathouse, being only a day's ride from the town and a danger, needed to be dealt with once and for all. They had two options. Either raze the ruins to the ground and bury the dungeon, or restore the small castle and garrison it. They chose the latter, in order to have a stronger defense of the town. One of the PCs was granted lordship over the small castle and it is now fully restored in my campaign world.
This is where it helps the other players: I am generally stingy as a DM when it comes to magic items. I usually do not have "magic shops" of any kind and I don't load the PCs down with a ton of magic items in adventures. That said, my players have been telling me they'd like more magic items to appear in game. One part of my solution is to take the items my DMPCs find in these solo sessions, and the ones they don't need are stored in a vault in a place like the restored Moathouse (now known in my campaign world as Utreshimon's End.) PCs who have a couple of levels under their belt can come to a place like this and possibly barter for some of those items. There's also a secured library with captured spellbooks, so the Wizards can have a place to go research new spells.
In this way, my DMPCs and solo adventures are having a real impact on the campaign world that's fun for me and benefits the players.
