I’m really excited to play the new module Rime of the Frostmaiden, but our normal group is not all capable of getting together in the fall. I know most adventures can be adapted to smaller parties in our case (1 DM, 2PC) but do you think this would do a major disservice to Rime?
— Kyle Miller (@TheBarMagister) July 31, 2020
You can enjoy Rime of the Frostmaiden with a small group of characters. In some ways, having a small group can amplify the wintry horrors in the adventure. That said, you will want to trim away some of the threats, unless the small group has a death wish. #DnD https://t.co/Xt2mS9IJW0
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) July 31, 2020
I personally ran a decent chunk of Storm King’s Thunder for a single player, until scheduling no longer worked out.
I certainly did a bit of trimming out of certain threats (sometimes reduced enemy numbers, or reduced HP levels, or reduced damage they dealt, etc) – but I also had my single player start several levels ahead of normal, which fit with their character backstory (a reincarnated but weakened hero from another plane.)
I also made sure to give them access to local NPCs that could help out with both battle and other more peaceful activities, and my player enjoyed roleplaying with such characters so much that I suggested they think about recruiting some to join their party. It went something like:
“Wait, I can do that?!”
“Sure! Why not? There’s not really specific rules for it, but I’ll make it work.”
“Does that mean I need to make another character and play two at once?”
“No, no – I’ll make simplified NPCs, and I can run them if you like.”
*incoherent excited noises*
~~~~~~~
The very next session, my player actively recruited two NPCs from among the various individuals they met on the road (this player enjoys a hefty amount of roleplaying in between major battles and plot developments), and I took some time after the session to figure out how to stat them up in a balanced way.
I had originally toyed with the idea of statting out “likely candidates” for them to encounter, but I decided against it – instead, I just did my usual character improvisation along the way, and when my player decided they really liked one character or another and wanted to recruit them, I did a quick assessment of if I could reasonably stat them out into an adventure-capable character.
If I didn’t think it would work, I would have had them turn down the offer – “Oh no, I have family I need to look after, too busy to go adventuring!”, that sort of thing. Fortunately, that wasn’t necessary – my player gravitated naturally toward characters who could plausibly have adventuring stats, which made it easy.
It worked great! It made balancing the action economy easier, it rounded out the skills and abilities available to the player, and most importantly it was a ton of fun for my player – they loved the idea of having made friends who would actually accompany them on the adventure, rather than staying behind as the adventure went to new places, and they felt like these NPCs were living, breathing characters in a world that was likewise interesting and active.