Hi, and sorry if this has been discussed before!

I'm thinking of running this module (and potentially its sequel) for my thirteen year-old son, who's new to tabletop rpgs. Have any of you guys adapted the module for one player? If so, how did it go, and are there any tips/conversions you can recommend? Also, should any of the pre-gen characters be favoured/avoided?

I'm not new to rpgs myself, but I'm not an EotE virtuoso like some of you folks, so any help or advice would be appreciated…

I would have two of the pre-gens be NPCs, that can help your PC along. Just let him do all the rolling for the pregen characters.

"what do you want 41-Vex to do?" or such questions are all you need. Followed by "41-Vex suggests you try to avoid the stormtroopers"

kinnison said:

Logical, to be sure, but not exactly 'fun'. Asking a thirteen year-old boy to run three pre-generated characters in a game system (and game genre!) that he has no experience with, and learn the rules at the same time, when he could be playing Skyrim sounds like a recipe for an evening of tedium. Just sayin'.

I've always felt that the appeal of an rpg was in playing a role - getting into your character, thinking on your feet, doing (and feeling) things that you can't in a video game. It's not about winning or losing, it's about having an exciting and memorable experience. That can't really be done when you're juggling several characters, so I hope to learn about anyone's successful attempts to run this module for one PC.

But if it hasn't been attempted, I guess I'll have to figure it out on my own!

For a single player using one character, it's going to be tough. Particularly the combat encounter with the stormtroopers, given how dangerous minion groups can be.

If you've got the Beta book, you might be better off letting him custom-build a PC and give him some extra XP to start with (maybe 30 at most to be spent largely on skills and talents). The pre-gens aren't the most well-built character examples, and depending on who your solitary player picks, things could get ugly.

Simply scale down the minion groups. I ran it for two players and at one point they got separated, and while one was dealing with stormtroopers, the other was dealing with gamorrean guards. It went really well.

If there's ever a point he gets stuck on, have one of the other characters do a "walk-on", long enough to steer him in the right direction.

Good luck!

Thank you for the advice, you guys. Between your tips and the beta book, I can hopefully work it out. Part of the appeal of this game seems to be not rolling dice behind a screen, but that means the good ol' fudged roll is out!

I didn't realize on the page that minion groups were so vicious, so that'll definitely be something to consider…

Thanks again!

Another thought is to treat the scenario as more of a running chase instead of a series of combats. That way, if the lone character starts to be overwhelmed, he/she/it can always run away and try to lose pursuit. This can allow survival while maintaining the sense of danger as stormtroopers search the city for the character in question.

-Nate

Hey, I.J.! I've run it solo for my son, and here's how it went.

In retrospect I should have made one of the other pregens an NPC partner. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable game.

Hey, Hish! Thanks for the rundown - that sounds like it was a good time! Was that your son's first rpg?

Nah. I've ran for him Star Wars D6 (obviously, lol), Microlite20, Call of Cthulhu and BareBones Fantasy.