Solo Campaign...suggestions

[bryanb]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am going to run a solo Champions campaign with one of my players for a little while - the idea is that this will give this character a little more showtime.

 

For those that have done a one on one campaign what can you recommend? Are there some definite no-no's and definite campaign rules/genres I should adhere to?

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Bryan

[Blue]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

While you pretty much are always catering to your players as a GM, it's a little more important in a solo campaign. It's all about what that one guy likes. To me that makes it much easier.

 

Arch-Rival Villain. Throw a few solo villains at the player. After a while there's one that he/she will look forward to fighting. In my solo campaign, the hero became fixated on a generic horoscope "Taurus" character in powered armor who was part of Viper. Player and villain were both bricks with hth weapons. The player would both grimace and then become excited when the villain popped up.

 

Other Heroes. Good to have some interaction with other NPC heroes. Just make sure they don't outshine the main charcter. It happens, but if the NPC is always bailing the hero out, it leaves a bad taste. You might consider an NPC "sidekick" hero of lower level.

 

I honestly don't know what else. It's all feel.

[Devistar]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

All of the above. And a one on one game is perfect for working on stories for the alter ego (if he or she has one). Sure, everyone wants to fight the bad guys, but its nice to tackle other problems the PC might have. Work, family, school, etc. Peter Parker/Spiderman is perfect example. This is easy to do with one player, instead of a bunch of people sitting around waiting for you to get done with one character.

[t-bear]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

Well let me first say that I love to GM. So keep in mind that when you read what I have to say, it's much more from a GM's perspective than a player's perspective.

 

I enjoy solo campaigns. I mean, there's nothing better than a large group of players in a hero team setting solving a problem, but solo campagins let you take things in a whole other direction. The important thing is to flesh out the character. Not just his personality, but his job, his day to day activities, his NPCs. Solo campaigns aren't (or shouldn't) be about the character fighting crime, they should be about the character in both ID's just trying to survive and get through his life =) Fighting crime as a super hero is just one of his daily activities.

 

Some examples:

 

One campaign I did for a while was the "Wraith" campaign. The player character was injured as a kid, both parents died and he took brain damage which impaired (physical limitation) his ability to speak and hear. As a way of coping wtih the loss of his abilities and his parents, he spent their life insurance and savings traveling the world through his childhood studying various kinds of Martial Arts and other academic studies (very Bruce Wayne). Upon returning to the city he was born in, he decided he could use his abilities to fight crime (the story was a little more fleshed out by the player..but it's been a while since we played so I'm a little rusty). He built a suit of power armor that added to his PD/ED a bit and gave him some flgiht and clinging capabilities, and he went to work fighting crime.

 

He had a DNPC girlfriend, and a hunted, and stuff like this. I fleshed out everyone's lives. The girlfriend was a student, History, and she was a graduate student so she also taught undergrads. The villains had lives and jobs and things. I created an over all arch villian, a second major villian (the hunted) and a tragic villian who sometimes fought for one side, and sometimes the other. I drew heavily on Daredevil, SPiderman, Batman and Baman Beyond for ideas. The arch villain was a kingpin of sorts, respectable sort of businessman who has huge dealings and major plans in the background. The hunted villian was originally a good friend of the PC's until he was tragically injured in a surgery. The tragic villain was an employe of the King Pin who's wife was "killed in an accident" but he soon discovered she was kidnapped by his boss in an effort to get him to spend more time in the office working.

 

Solo campaigns can give you all kinds of fun things. In one session the PC was over at his girlfriend's appt eating chinese and watching a movie when they smelled smoke. Her appt complex was 4 buildings and one of the buildings was on fire. He and the girlfriend run around evacuting their building and then he runs across the street to start emptying the ones that are on fire. In Spider-man 2 (the movie) fashion he runs in without his Hero ID (no suit) to resuce people. Ends up finding a villain in there (tech based pyromaniac) and has to fight him with his wits and his base martial skills.

 

It was a great scene. At one point the pyro leaps from one building to the next and the PC follows making a beatufiul acrobatics roll to get from one to the other. Only by this time i had ruled the Fire and Police Departments to have arrvied....and some Press had as well. So pictures were taken of him, in his normal ID, of jumping from one building to the other.

 

This incident lead to the King Pin being able to figure out (since he was already trying to solve the myster) the PC's secret ID. He then conviences the PC to come work for him. He gives him free points for a base and stuff, and gives him leads to other super villians and criminals. Basically the King Pin uses him to take out the competition =-)

 

The campaign ended before the PC could have a chance to try to bring down the King Pin himself.

 

 

Solo campaigns, with enough of a fleshed out player character and story, can lead to some great scenes.

 

In one scene Wraith is standing in his appartment. He had a swinging window from which he could enter and leave his appartment in Hero ID. He's standing in his window, all the lights are off and it's night. He's just put on his suit and is preparing to go off to fight crime. Only he and the girlfriend have just had a big fight. He thinks about it for a minute, and realizes maybe he should call the girlfriend. He calls her and she's all "I wish you would come over" so standing there in the window he bows to the pressure, takes off his mask, looks once out at the big city he needed to patrol, and then takes off the rest of the suit to fullfill his Normal ID duties.

 

I have plenty of other examples of adventures I did if you're interested....

[bryanb]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

T-Bear...I would love to hear them!

 

PM me if you want or just post them here.

 

Thanks to everyone so far for the response!

 

Bryan

[KA.]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

bryanb,

Here are a few pointers.

 

1) Choose your villains carefully!

You do not want to pick a villain that:

a) Is more powerful than the hero.

Wants to kill the hero.

If the player has been a thorn in the side of Dr. Insane for years, you do not

want to end up in a situation where the player is ko'd, the Dr. is right there with a massive killing attack, and you have to figure out why he doesn't just pull the trigger.

That does not mean that the villains should be pushovers, just don't select ones with things like "Casual Killer", "Homicidal", or "Loves to Kill", among their Psych Lims.

A villain that just sees the Hero as a "nuisance", and leaves him laying time after time, can be a lot more "motivating" than someone who wants to kill the Hero.

 

2) Provide some Backup!

When you are playing "Justice League" and a girl falls off a building, even if the Flash stumbles, Superman is holding up a bridge, and Hawkgirl blows her roll and does a Move-through on the building, Wonder Woman or Batman will still make the catch.

In a solo adventure the stakes are a lot higher, and they can be too high. Unless you have no problem with lots of fudging, it is a good idea to have some sort of backup.

This does not have to be a GM "deus ex machina" that fixes every tiny problem and runs over the Player.

But, if you present a plot like "A new drug is sweeping Gotham City", rather than, "An alien spacecraft has crashed in Antarctica", then you can reasonably have a Cop, Narc, DEA agent, or whatever, show up to lend a hand, provide a distraction, or give the Hero a chance to make a vital Recovery, without taking over the whole story.

 

3) Provide a rival.

Better than backup in some ways. A rival hero or NPC can provide the same benefits as above, in a way that will feel less like "babying" to the player.

There were some issues of Spiderman where he had a rivalry with The Human Torch. It was great.

The Torch would end up helping Spiderman, or rescuing him from a Death Trap, or whatever, and he would razz Spiderman at the same time. Spiderman was grateful for the help, but hated the source.

 

Even some Hunteds can fill this bill.

Batman is ko'd by Firefly and left in a burning building. Batman wakes up to find Det. Bullock dragging him out.

"I don't want you to burn. I want you to go to jail where you belong!"

 

Also can make for some great interaction and character development.

 

You could even have the rival be a new "hero" in town, who is actually more neutral (Like The Punisher, but not necessarily the killing part.) He could save the hero several times, be quite obnoxious about it, and then turn bad at the end, giving the hero an opportunity to beat him up, like he no doubt wants to by now.

 

KA.

[TheEmerged]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

I'll second the backup suggestions -- they should come in less powerful/capable than your player but it will alleviate some of the pressure.

 

One suggestion that I missed (either because it's not there or I simply overlooked it) is to ask the player whether they want an achievable goal (and therefore a short campaign -- some people prefer this) or an over-arching one.

 

Seriously consider giving the player both an archenemy and an archrival. These are different concepts and having both can keep the campaign fresh.

[ren3]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

Id watch the OLD Batman cartoon by WB. That show was awsome and had alot of great ideas and mood for a single crusader fighting the good fight all alone. if you really analyze it it has a good format for a single one on one game, and some great scinario ideas alot not even involving a supervillan.

 

Personally Id talk with the player and find out what direction his character is moving in, and taylore the mini story arch you have for his solo games around moving in that direction. in the above batman has numerous story arches but 90% of them revolve around being a DETECTIVE and self reliance.

[Utech]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

A few random thoughts...

 

 

1. A HERO product of many years ago included the Serpent in our Midst (or something like that) scenario. The hero is captured and brainwashed. When a special code word is uttered, he'll turn on his teammates and suddenly display some souped up abilities. The solo adventure sets up and plays through his capture. Whoever catches our hero (a supervillain, government agency, supernatural entitity or what-have-you) tells our hero important details about his master plan since he's convinced our hero won't remember any of it after the brainwashing. Everyone will have a great time when the group comes together and the surprise is sprung. (I did this and ended up waiting four months of real time before having a villain say the code word.)
   
2. Give a stealthy hero plenty of time to infiltrate an enemy base. (VIPER nest, Demon lair, or whatever floats your campaign's boat.) Make it very clear to the player that his hero is out of his league and should not make contact with the enemy. What he learns in this extended infiltration will be invaluable when he brings in the team. He may even be able to do a little sabotage...
   
3. Send your hero on a trip far from your campaign city. A foreign country is good. (I thoroughly enjoyed a Wolverine vs. Spiderman issue in Germany.) You could also give him time to take on the environment. Maybe he needs to do some mountain climbing; trekking in Nepal; helping combat malaria or AIDS in Africa; Indiana Jones style archeology; into outer space; under the sea. Travel broadens the mind and sets up some interesting Contact, Favor, and DNPC opportunities.
   
4. Have the rest of the team leave the base. Our hero is the only one there when trouble comes a callin'.
   
5. Rent Big Trouble in Little China. Send your hero on that sort of bizarre adventure.
   

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

Some really good ideas here.

 

I think the overarching element is that a one-off should not be a missed opportunity to deepen and develop the character. You can do that on the NPC side, the relationship of the character with other powered or agency types that get overlooked in troupe play and potentially the exploration of powers or emergence of new powers.

 

The actual stories, if these things are covered, are secondary...

 

 

 

Doc

[Egyptoid]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

use Villainy Amok.

 

much of the plots there will work fine for solo.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

 

Another option for fleshing out a character in a solo campaign is if he has any limitations, particularly psychological ones, he wants to buy off with experience points (if you allow PCs in your campaign to buy off Dis). Rather than just randomly buying off or lessoning a disadvantage when he earns enough points, work the disadvantage into the scenario. Maybe his fear of heights allows a villain to escape or his enrage/berserk endangers an innocent bystander or DNPC. In a solo campaign the PC can take time to research phobias and reduce his psych lim: fear of heights, total, to fear of heights greatly impairing or minor impairing, so he has a chance of over coming it with an ego role. Maybe he can come to terms with the cause of his anger and reduce his chance of becoming enraged or increase his chance of coming back to normal after he has gone enraged. This suggestion might be worthless if he has no limits he wants to get rid of, or if you don’t allow disadvantages to be bought off in your campaigns, but if he does and you do it fills the character out more showing how he dealt with his issues rather than just randomly not being afraid of heights one day because he saved up enough points. These are very generic examples, but I hope you get what I mean.