Solo Adventures

Solo Adventures

Simple Rules for Playing without a GM

Introduction: Right from the beginning, there have been rules for
solo playing D&D. These rules are intentionally faster and lighter
than others available in the DMs Guild.

Interior Art: JL G, Wizards of the Coast Stock Art.

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by Peter Rudin-Burgess

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other
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Introduction
These are not the first solo rules for Dungeons and depending on the question the rules will give you an
Dragons. There have been solo play rules build into answer. This is the crucial part. You take the answer
the game right from the first edition. you got and taking into account the world, your
For a genuine DM free roleplaying experience adventures so far and the sort of adventure you
though you need some additional assistance, more want to have you have to decide what that answer
than just random rooms and corridors. means for you in this situation. That will make a
These are not the only solo rules available. The more sense when we get to how we ask and answer
granddaddy of them all is the Mythic Game Master questions.
Emulator (GME). All solo role laying games owe Four components make up these rules. The scene
some small debt to Mythic’s GME. An alternative is hook, simple questions, complex questions and NPC
5E Solo Gamebooks The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox. reactions.
That gives you nearly 170 pages of rules and tables What each is, how they work and when you would
of D&D specific solo role play tools. use them is covered in their respective chapters, but
These rules are different, but if you have the each is extremely simple.
Adventurers Toolbox and you like it, then you do not
need this book. Time Hopping
The thing that makes this set of solo rules different is
There are things you could do with any group of
that I find too many tables and too many dice rolls
players that we mostly just don’t do. One of those is
break the suspension of disbelief. For me, the story
jumping back and forth in their story. This is a staple
is more important the scrolling through hundreds of
of film and TV and easy to do but we just tend not to
pages for the right table.
do it.
The solo rules at the very core of this booklet were
When was the last time you started a game session
inspired by the One Page Solo Engine by Karl
with the epic final battle and then afterwards went
Hendriks.
back to play how the characters got there? In solo
Words & Pictures play this is a real option. As a DM we handwave
away blocks of time as a matter of course. If the
You are only likely to use two-thirds of this book. characters go to sleep, unless something happens,
The first section is the core of the solo rules, and we pick up the story first thing in the morning,
everyone will use that. What follows on are two riding into town we handwave away the few hours
different approaches. The first is all based around of plodding along and pick up the action when they
words to inspire your imagination. The second tries arrive. With Solo play you can play with time as
to achieve the same goal but using pictures called much as you like as the narrative only has to satisfy
Game Icons. You can mix and match, or you may find you and only need to understand the chronology.
you prefer one approach over the other. There is no
right or wrong approach. Word vs Pictures
How Does Solo Play Work? Solo play uses inspirational prompts to drive the
story forward. If the rules tell you there are guards
The basic anatomy of any roleplaying game is this. on the street corner it falls on you to decide what
those guards are and how many of them. If you are
i. The GM describes the scene.
sneaking around a subterranean orc city then they
ii. The player describes their actions
are likely to be orcs, if you are in Waterdeep they
iii. Repeat step i. could be any race. What is important is that your
answer moves the story forward and maintains the
When you look at it like that roleplaying games are sense of a coherent fantasy world for the characters
rather simple affairs. We only really need rules at all to inhabit.
when the outcome of an action is in doubt. That is The yes/no answers do not require that much
when we start rolling dice and setting DCs. prompting. You asked a question for a reason and
In solo play, you create a character you want to play the question shapes the answer. What is slightly
and then start your adventure. You simply imagine harder is when the question is something like “what
the scenes, NPCs and the dialogue right up until you are they discussing?” or “What is the book about?”
hit a point where you would normally ask your DM a That is where the inspiration prompts really help.
question. At that point, the solo rules kick in and

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Inspirational prompts come in many forms. These
rules use two different approaches. You can try both
and decide which one suits you the best. The first
takes the form of a two-word pairing describing an
action and a subject. How you use the words is
explained later but this word-based prompts are
quick and easy to use.
The second option provide uses Game Icons. Game
icons are small pictures or icons that are very much
open to interpretation. The advantage of Game Icons
is that they can be interpreted in near infinitely
different ways.
I have found that some people like working with
words and others like the pictures. There is no
reason not to mix and match. Use these tools
however you like.

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Scenes Version ii. Pictures:
It is the middle of the night and I am looking down
Solo adventures tend to be more like what we would from the roof tops. Tonight, I am not alone. Down on
call a sandbox campaign. When you set out you will the street a cloaked figure is stealing towards the
know what sort of adventures you want to have but Citadel. The wind catches his cloak for a second and
you will not know what will befall your character. reveals the uniform of one of the Emir’s own house-
It is not recommended that you start your solo game hold guards. Why is he skulking about at night?
in a passive situation. In group games we often start
out in taverns or as caravan guards to give the You can see how the opening scene is already
players a chance to get a grip on their characters and slightly different due to the differing inspirations.
for the characters to meet and start the bonding into
a party. A Note About Record Keeping:
In solo play it is not about the party, it is about you. You are going to need to keep some records of your solo
Start you game at a crisis point. Throw yourself into adventures. How much your write is a very personal choice.
the action right from the off. Some solo players ask a few questions of the rules, roll a few
Solo games work best in scenes rather than inspiration prompts and then write the entire scene long
locations. A scene starts when you pick up the action hand as if it were a chapter in a book.
and it ends when either the director in your head I have seen pirate adventures written as Captain’s Log entries
shouts “Cut!” or when you find yourself handwaving with just the salient points recorded. I have also seen records
that looked like a theatre script complete with stage
a block of time. That is when the camera in a movie
directions.
would have faded to black and the point of view
I prefer to keep the writing to a minimum. I keep a terse
jump to the next scene. bullet point list of the scenes I have played and a list of NPCs
and where I met them. I also list the questions I asked and
Creating your first scene the answers I got. My journal probably means nothing to
Depending on your choice of method grab two anyone else but me. All the action, dialog and actual role
inspiration prompts. playing existed entirely in my own head. The journal is just
Use 1d12 plus 1d100 for the words method or 2d100 there as an aide memoire that I can skim though before I
start a new session.
for game icons.
For me the more writing I need to do the greater the
I have come up with Physical + Oppressing using the
interruption to the flow of the story. For other players they
words method and using Game Icons I got… can flow their story out right on to the page.

Every time you start a new scene give it a name and

roll a pair of inspiration prompts for it.
If you cannot think of a way to fit an inspiration
point into a scene don’t worry. You can always
ignore anything you don’t like. This is your game
after all.
We have three pieces of information. We know the
sort of game you want to have; we have your
character and we have our prompts.
I have decided that I want to play a Robin Hood style
thief but, in a city, setting, maybe somewhere half
way between Robin Hood and Aladdin.

Version i. Words:
It is the middle of the night and I am looking down
from the roof tops. I can see the Emir’s troops filing
out of the Citadel. Not the usual four or six, this time
there is a full twenty-four and they are heavily
armed. It looks like something is going on…

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Questions and
Answers Roll Answer
The core of most solo roleplaying rules is the ability
to ask questions and get answers. There are two 3-4 No and…
types of question. Simple Questions get a variation of 5-6 No
a Yes/No answer. Are doors locked, are streets clear, 7-9 No, because…
are there any exits? These are all simple questions. 10-11 Delayed/Interrupted
Complex Questions are more open ended. What are 12-14 Yes, but
they discussing? What is this book about? What is it 15-16 Yes
she really wants? Complex Questions use inspiration 17-18 Yes, and…
prompts as answers, and you have to decide what Likelihood
that means in your game. Unlikely -1 to -3
50/50 No modifier
Simple Questions Likely +1 to +3
There are two factors in a simple question. You must
phrase the question so it can be answered with a yes
or no answer, preferably with a yes being the Examples of Simple Questions
answer that most favours the character. The second Is the chest unlocked? This is very unlikely so a -3
part is the likelihood of the answer being a yes. is applied to the roll. We rolled an 8 but with the -3
The chances of finding guards in a barracks is very that is a 5 so the answer is No. We now know the
high the chances of finding crocodile in an orc hold is chest is locked.
very unlikely. Is there a horse I could steal? The situation is a
The simple question answers will be one of three busy port town with teeming docks area. I think that
possible answers and may have one of three this is likely so give a +1. We roll an 11, plus 1 equals
modifiers. 12. The answer is Yes, but… there is a horse that has
been tethered outside a tavern but it must have been
Answers a spare mount as it has no tack.
Yes The answer to the question was a Is the guard post deserted? This is unlikely as
yes. guard posts tend to have guards. The roll is at -2. We
roll a 13, minus 2 is 11. The action is delayed or
Delayed / Something happens that may interrupted. As you try and spot the guards an
interrupted change the situation. officer marches up with a squad of men. He starts
ordering the guards about and sending men off at a
No The answer is a no. jog in different directions. Something is obviously
just happened.
And… A Yes, and… answer is even better
than you had originally thought. The final example is one where although it doesn’t
A No, and… answer is even worse directly answer the question the interruption may
than you thought. change the characters plans. As I rolled high and it
was modified down, I am still thinking that the guard
But… A yes, but… result means that the post was indeed empty before the officer arrived.
answer is still a yes but is isn’t as
good as you had hoped. Some Question Advice
Do not ask too many questions. The adventure can
Because A No, because… is still a no but it is turn into a game of 20 questions if you are not
possible that the reason for the no careful. It is often necessary to ask a follow up
can be addressed. question to clarify an answer, but it is very rare that
you would need to ask three consecutive questions.
Don’t ask game breaking questions. If you ask if
you find a 1000gp under your pillow in the morning

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it is possible to get a yes but what is the point of the
question?
Yes is not always a good thing. If you ask a
NPC Reactions
How people react to your character will depend on a
question where the yes result is a bad thing lot of factors. How you behave towards them is
remember to turn the likelihood modifiers around. probably the biggest influencer. For the most part,
Simple Questions do not replace skills. Skills like you can simply role play this out and have people
Perception, and Survival should be rolled as per the 5e
react the way you would expect them to. Other times
rules. Do not ask things like Do I spot the ambush? That is
a perception check. you would like a prompt. In those cases you can roll
a d6 and consult the table below.
You should first consider the NPCs general
Complex Questions disposition. They should be considered Friendly,
Neutral or Hostile. Once you have decided that you
Complex questions do not require difficulty factors. can then roll 1d6 and consult the correct table
When you ask a complex question, you need to find
two inspiration prompts. Friendly
If you are using words you roll 1d12 and 1d100 and 1 Talkative or gossipy
look up the corresponding pairing. 2 Wants to trade
To use icons, you roll 1d100 twice. 3 Offers help or advice
Once you have your pair, whether they are words or 4 Needs a favor or has a job
pictures you have to balance a few factors. The 5 Has a lead or a clue
adventure so far, the characters current position, 6 Offers direct assistance
what sort of adventure you want to have and simple In each case you should consult a inspiration prompt
common sense. to see what they want to talk about, trade or what
advice they have.
Neutral
1 Not interested in talking
2 Wants to trade
3 Requests tribute or payment
4 Needs a favor or has a job
5 Tries to trick or deceive
6 Pursuing unrelated objective
If the roll is a 2-6 then you should use inspiration
prompts to get more information. On a roll of six the
unrelated objective means that this NPC has a task of
their own that does not involve your character. If the
NPC is a lowly type doing menial work, then this is
probably of little consequence. If on the other hand
the NPC is a knight or another adventurer, they
could be on their own quest or mission. Once you
know what it is you may add it to your list of loose
threads and side plots.
Hostile
1 Attacks without warning
2 Denies access
3 Threatens or harasses
4 Demands tribute or payment
5 Tries to trick or deceive
6 Pursuing counter objective
A roll of 1 does not mean you need to go straight to
combat. An attack could be verbal, a challenge or
even strategic trying to turn your allies against you.

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A roll of 2 simply means that the NPC will be
obstructive. In the case of guards or bureaucrats it
could literally mean they do block your access to the
people or places you need to get to. If you have
managed to get into a situation with a hostile
barkeep he may simply refuse to serve you because
you have had enough.
Rolls of 3 to 6 deserve inspiration prompts to fill
them out.
A roll of 6 means that the NPC is actively working
against the best interests of your character. This
most certainly should be on your loose threads list.
It is also useful to reintroduce if you roll this again
for a second or subsequent NPC. There could be an
entire organization out there trying to stop you.

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Inspiration Prompts
There are two methods presented here for getting
the inspiration you need for scenes, complex
questions and NPCs motives.
The first is the word lists, and the second is the icon
lists.

Word Lists
First Roll 1d12
Roll Prompt
1 physical
2 mental
3 magical
4 personal
5 strong
6 plotting
7 intuitive
8 social
9 constructed
10 technical
11 strange
12 emotional
Some examples of using the word lists.
i. You are in a tavern and you manage to get
back to back with the villain’s lieutenant.
Overhearing his conversation gives us a 10
(d12) and 21 (d100) or Technical +
Tricking. Your character overhears the
lieutenant getting a detailed report about
how the villains plans to subvert the guilds
in the town.
ii. You have broken into the vizier’s tower and
a great tome lies open on the desk. You scan
through the pages to see what it is about.
You roll 1(d12) and 50 (d100) or Physical +
Changing. This is a magical treaty on
Polymorph and its uses.
iii. Your character wants to cast Charm Person
on a maid from the Citadel in the hope that
she will allow you to sneak inside. Just
because she believes you to be her best
friend does not mean she will put her life on
the line for you. To find out what sort of
person she is we roll 9 (d12) and 00 (d100).
We get Constructed and Dominating. Within
the Citadel she is one of those people who

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Second Roll 1d100

1. Overindulging 26. Procrastinating 51. Attaining 76. Mistrusting

2. Adjourning 27. Praising 52. Starting 77. Deceiving
3. Adversity 28. Separating 53. Neglecting 78. Cruelty
4. Killing 29. Taking 54. Fighting 79. Intolerant
5. Disrupting 30. Breaking 55. Recruiting 80. Trusting
6. Usurping 31. Healing 56. Triumphant 81. Exciting
7. Creating 32. Delaying 57. Violating 82. Actively
8. Betraying 33. Stopping 58. Opposing 83. Assisting
9. Agreeing 34. Lying 59. Maliciously 84. Caring
10. Abusing 35. Returning 60. Communicating 85. Negligently
11. Oppressing 36. Imitating 61. Persecuting 86. Passionately
12. Inspecting 37. Struggling 62. Increasing 87. Hard Working
13. Ambushing 38. Informing 63. Decreasing 88. Controlling
14. Spying 39. Bestowing 64. Abandoning 89. Attracting
15. Attaching 40. Postponing 65. Gratifying 90. Failing
16. Carrying 41. Exposing 66. Inquiring 91. Pursuing
17. Opening 42. Haggling 67. Antagonising 92. Vengefully
18. Carelessness 43. Imprisoning 68. Moving 93. Proceeding
19. Ruining 44. Releasing 69. Wasting 94. Disputing
20. Extravagantly 45. Celebrating 70. Truce 95. Punishing
21. Tricking 46. Developing 71. Releasing 96. Guiding
22. Arriving 47. Travelling 72. Befriending 97. Transforming
23. Proposing 48. Blocking 73. Judging 98. Overthrowing
24. Dividing 49. Harming 74. Deserting 99. Oppressing
25. Refusing 50. Debasing 75. Dominating 100. Changing

control and dominate people, a petty empire v. A delayed/interrupted result has been
builder. She is not particularly popular or rolled when observing servants coming and
well liked. going to see if we could sneak in an
iv. Having sneaked into the Citadel we start a unattended servant entrance. For some
new scene. We are in the highest room of a inspiration we roll 8(d12) and 41(d100) for
tower having come in through the window. Social and Pursuing. A young couple, a
We roll 7 (d12) and 58 (d100), Intuitive and groom and kitchen maid are stealing a
Stopping. Crouching in the dark we listen moment to be alone right beside the kitchen
(making perception checks) and hear door. They could be some time.
someone coming. A hand rests on the Hopefully these examples show that you do not need
handle of the door but then stops. We hear to be completely literal. Some combinations are
the footsteps recede. What this has done is harder to work with than others. But they should
tell us that the tower is not deserted and cover most situations. If you really don’t like a result
that the inhabitants are moving about; at either use half of it, in example iii we could have just
this time they are probably servants. It has used the Dominating for roughly the same result or
created a possible hazard for us and a roll one of the dice again. Just avoid rerolling until
complication to deal with. you get a result you like.

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In example i. above, the lieutenant and his plans, it 4 54
could be that this is an entirely new plot line for your
adventure. Don’t be scared about creating new side
plots like this. I keep a simple list of loose ends like
this. The point of the list is that I can reuse the same
side plots if I encounter the same NPC in a different
location. If I ended up in the guild hall and there
were people talking it could be one of the evil agents
trying to seduce or corrupt a guild leader. 5 55
Side plots are one of the most frequent ways in
which your story can take completely different turns
and take you to places you had not considered.

Game Icons
In this section you will find two sets of 100 game
icons. You can pick one from each list or 6 56
intermittently swap which list you use to prevent
the same icon coming up too often. Unlike the words
list each icon can have significantly different
meanings and interpretations depending on the
context of your adventure and who or what the icon
is being related to.

Set 1 7 57
1 51

8 58
2 52

9 59
3 53

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10 60 16 66

11 61 17 67

12 62 18 68

13 63 19 69

14 64 20 70

15 65 21 71

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22 72 28 78

23 73 29 79

24 74 30 80

25 75 31 81

26 76 32 82

27 77 33 83

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34 84 40 90

35 85 41 91

36 86 42 92

37 87 43 93

38 88 44 94

39 89 45 95

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46 96 Set 2
1 51

47 97
2 52

48 98
3 53

49 99
4 54

50 100
5 55

6 56

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7 57 13 63

8 58 14 64

9 59 15 65

10 60 16 66

11 61 17 67

12 62 18 68

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19 69 25 75

20 70 26 76

21 71 27 77

22 72 28 78

23 73 29 79

24 74 30 80

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31 81 37 87

32 82 38 88

33 83 39 89

34 84 40 90

35 85 41 91

36 86 42 92

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43 93 49 99

44 94 50 100

45 95
These are the examples as used in the word lists but
this time using the Game Icons.
i. You are in a tavern and you manage to get
back to back with the villain’s lieutenant.
Overhearing his conversation gives us a 28
and 47 or

46 96 +
Your character overhears the lieutenant
Giving the orders for an assassination
attempt including the time and the place.
ii. You have broken into the vizier’s tower and
a great tome lies open on the desk. You scan
through the pages to see what it is about.
47 97 You an 80 and 70 or

+
This is a book about extracting crystals from
fissures deep in the planet’s surface.
iii. Your character wants to cast Charm Person
on a maid from the Citadel in the hope that
48 98 she will allow you to sneak inside. Just
because she believes you to be her best
friend does not mean she will put her life on
the line for you. To find out what sort of
person she is we roll 99 and 79.

+
I am seeing this as someone obsessed with
crystals and crystal balls, easily taken in by
charlatan mystics and who reads their own
future in tea leaves and the lines of their
palm. She could possibly be quite gullible
and easily duped.

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 vi. Having sneaked into the Citadel, we start a
new scene. We are in the highest room of a
tower having come in through the window.
Hints & Tips
The first time you try solo play, it is likely to be slow
We roll 49 and 91. and slightly awkward. The first time you joined a
group of role players, that was probably awkward
+ too. Try to keep it short and simple the first time.
Don’t ask too many questions, and don’t set yourself
I see a head on a plate and a dragon a mammoth task to achieve.
creature. The room we have entered has an Below are a few tips that may help you have a
altar set up with the remains of a human successful solo adventure.
sacrifice still on a silver platter. Behind the
altar is the carven image of an ancient- • Most adventures assume there is an entire party;
looking dragon god. now, there is just you. Consider starting at a
iv. A delayed/interrupted result has been higher level to counterbalance your lack of
rolled when observing servants coming and numbers.
going to see if we could sneak in an • Don’t get het up about loot. If you want to start a
unattended servant entrance. For some story with a flying carpet, then have it.
inspiration, we roll 25 and 23. • Don’t worry too much about experience points. If
you want to hop about in time, you could be 6th
+ level today and only 4th level tomorrow when you
play a flashback.
The axes I see as literal axes and the • Once you are into the flow of solo playing you will
swooshes I can see as someone practicing find the interpretations of the answers you
throwing hand axes at a tree stump. As we generate will get more natural. If you struggle then
started to watch this entrance, one of the think of other games, movies or books you have
groundsmen emerges with his axes and enjoyed in the same genre.
starts to practice throwing them at the • You do not need to roll up NPCs completely. Just
stump. This could take some time. do enough to get you through the current scene
and on an ‘as needed’ basis. This will prevent you
getting bogged down in creating endless NPCs that
may never reappear in the story.
• Do not worry about creating too many loose ends
or adventure hooks. You can always reuse them
again later.
• You do not need to play every minute of every day;
you can hand wave away whole blocks of story if it
suits you and jump from key scene to key scene.
• You have no one to please except yourself.
• When you first start role playing a single scene at
a time is a real achievement.
• Don’t try to do too much too soon.
• You don’t need to check every rule in the book
every time. There is no rules lawyer to pick you up
on a wrong decision.
• Too many loose threads can leave you feeling like
your character is forever turning in circles and
achieves nothing.
• Too few loose ends and you can feel like you are
just writing a linear story.

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 When the Caves of Chaos are introduced, there are
How To: Solo a distinct tribes that are essentially separate
adventures, as the caves cannot be explored in a
Module single sortie. These you can break down into
essential encounters and challenges.
Applying the solo rules means first and foremost, not
I will confess right from the start that my preferred asking questions that you know are going to break
style of play is an open sandbox where adventure is the module. Many questions you could ask of a
something that sweeps the character up, rather than theatre of the mind game, will not be required. You
a published module that has a defined start, middle have a map that tells you the exits or the contents of
and end. rooms.
Having said that, my regular group is doing a middle
way, where I have salted the world with plot hooks Group into Scenes
that will feed them into modules, and they can do or Having a map or diagram of key events that are
not do. It is their choice. They also don’t know what required gives you objective. If you were DMing a
modules they have done and what they haven’t group and an event was essential, then you would
Solo playing a module is different from putting a move the NPC to the right place, or move a room to
regular group through one, but some of the same put it in the character’s way. You can group your
prep needs doing. post-it notes into scenes.
Firstly, you need at least a passing knowledge of the Scenes are the essential building block of solo play.
module. I suggest reading it all, if you can skim read Some oracle questions/plot twists may say, “xxx end
and get all the salient points, that may be enough. the scene.” You can still use this, because you have
I am a huge fan of the humble post-it note/sticky organized the module into scenes.
note. If you know that the next room contains an ogre and
you roll a plot twist that says, “An organization
Organize the Adventure changes the location,” the organization could be a
What you need to do next is create what amounts to small as an orc ordering the ogre to attack. I can
a flow diagram of the key points in the module. assure you, as a low-level solo character, an
These are the things that MUST happen if the attacking ogre WILL change your location, probably
module is going to be completed. Put each one on a rapidly backward!
post-it.
Mounting each key point on a separate note means
that they are easily rearranged if your solo journey
goes slightly off course. I arrange rumors that are
likely to either impart essential information to help
the character survive or plot hooks to get your
character involved in one group. Key locations into
another and encounters into a third.
Taking B2 Keep on the Borderlands as an example of
a classic module. Some of the rumors would
instantly attract a magic-user (A powerful magic-
user will destroy all cave invaders/A magic wand
was lost in the caves’ area). In contrast, others would
attract a fighter (Piles of magic armor are hoarded in
the southern caves.) and so on. Knowing your
On the notes above, I have already sorted out the
character and the hooks that are likely to get them
numbers of encountered and in what locations, the
involved cues up some of the roleplaying scenes.
There are then a set of wilderness encounters, the numbers in brackets. Being organized means that I
don’t have to break up my solo play too much to fit
hermit and lizardmen, etc. These can all be treated
into the module.
as scenes in the solo play. You can soon map out a
likely path for each adventure. Roleplaying events in
the keep, leads to this rumor being learned, which
leads to this expedition and this encounter.

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Building Blocks
I cannot reiterate enough that the basic building
block of the solo game is the scene. You build them
before you play the module, you play through them
in the order that makes sense. Some scenes will be
preplanned, and some will evolve naturally.
Keep on the Borderlands could look like this:

Scene 1: Arrive at the Keep

Scene 2: Interview with the Castellan
Scene 3: Find the Raiders
Scene 4: Spiders!
Scene 5: Meanwhile back at the keep
Scene 6: A magic wand, you say?
Scene 7: Kobold Attack!

There are bits I have time jumped, parts that I want

to play in detail. I like my games roleplay heavy and
combat light. Keep on the borderlands encourages
characters to take alternatives to combat and to
build relationships within the keep, as it becomes
there base of operations. If I were playing this
module, the wilderness exploration would be played
down, and life in the keep would be played up, but
that is me, and the beauty of solo play.

Levels and Encounters

For an adventure marked Levels 1-3, I would look to
use a character at the top of the scale. My PC would
be 3rd level. For the encounters, I would divide the
numbers encountered by four with a minimum of
one and round any fractions up. So five goblins
would become two, five divided by four and rounded
up the next whole goblin. The logic being that most
modules were written for about six characters and
taking the middle level as an average would give a
total of 12 player levels, A third level character is
then balanced by quartering the number
encountered.

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