- I've never run or played in
a one-on-one D&D game before. [Ginny, offscreen] Look
into my face while you talk. Not into the camera. - Okay. - [Ginny] Alright. Who are you? - I'm Josh. - [Ginny] No, look at my
face, not into the camera. My biggest concern is definitely that I will accidentally kill him. His D&D character. I meant accidentally
kill his D&D character. Did you know that you can
play D&D with just two people? One player, one Dungeon Master? Well, last weekend I tried it. How does it work? How is it different from group D&D? And most importantly, is it any fun? Let's find out. (bright upbeat music) When I started researching duet-style D&D, one of the first things I
figured out is... it's just D&D. The rules of the game don't change when you only have one player. Think about it: Combat is already balanced around the number of
players in your party, and social encounters,
puzzles, and exploration work pretty much the same for one player as they do for a group. So, I prepped for it
pretty much the same way I'd prep for any one shot. I'm gonna be running a game that was written to be a duet D&D game. It's called "In the Heart of the Forest", written by Beth Ball. Plus, I love a spooky forest game. So, I have recently just accepted the fact that I am a paper person for DMing. I've tried a bunch of digital tools and I just don't love them. I feel most comfortable when I have paper and a
pencil in front of me. That's pretty much it for my prep. So, we're all ready to go tomorrow. - I will be playing Scandium
Granitehead, the dwarf bard. - [Ginny] You know, I texted my dad to see if he would be okay with you
playing his character's son and I have to show you what he sent me. - [Dad] I'm Goshenite
Granitehead and no son of mine is just gonna spend his time singing! (laughs) - Alright, Scandium, you
recently had a... [Fades Out] After running my first duet session, there are three main things
that I think people should know before they try it themselves. First, even though your
player is doing it alone... they can't do it alone. The entire system of classes in D&D is a system of specialization. Every adventurer has specific things that they're good at and
stuff they're bad at. The game is literally built that way. Usually your party balances this out. When somebody needs to
be persuaded or deceived, the bard or the warlock steps up. When a door needs to be kicked down, it's the barbarian's time to shine. But in a duet game, there is no party. Your player character
will have weak areas. They'll need to kick down their own doors and do their own persuading, and chances are they won't
be good at both of them. Plus, even if your player is able to build the ultimate jack of all trades, a character that can handle any situation, there's still the matter
of action economy. - Okay, so he takes a
whole three f**king damage. I found it difficult to use my actions, like as efficiently as I hoped. - Action economy refers
to the number of actions that a creature can
take in a single round. The more you can do, the
higher your action economy. So in an encounter where there
are six player characters and three monsters, the players have the benefit
of the action economy. That means that in a duet D&D game, anytime there's more than one monster, your player is at a disadvantage, which can really limit your
ability to vary your encounters. Enter the sidekick. This adventure actually
includes two different sidekicks that can like... join up with
you during the adventure. You are awakened by Cyrus, shaking your shoulder as you sleep. - Wood-wood, what
happened? Where'd she go? - He points to the northeast. Sidekicks were officially introduced in the D&D Essentials Kit, and they've been expanded on in "Tasha's Cauldron of Everything." They're basically just
an NPC that gains levels. They can be used in
group D&D too, of course, but they're especially
valuable in a one player game because they can fill in the gaps in the player character's abilities and help balance out the action economy to allow the DM to bring in
more or deadlier monsters. Not to mention, adventuring
can be lonely sometimes. Including a sidekick gives your player somebody to bounce ideas
off of, roleplay against, and form a relationship with. The social aspect of
bonding with your party is something that a lot of
D&D players really enjoy, and a sidekick allows you
to create a similar dynamic. - What the heck is that? - It's a map, obviously. A hand drawn fantasy map from
today's sponsor, Czepeku. They run a Patreon where
they release new map packs every single week. And for just $5 a month,
you can get access to their full archive of over 4,000 maps. - Yeah, that's why it was so easy to find the perfect maps for this game. Every map comes with a ton of variations for things like seasons, time of day, weather effects and more. Their website, czepeku.com,
makes it super easy to search for maps by theme
or with specific filters. It's also a great way to
preview maps before you pledge. I don't think I've ever run an encounter that I couldn't find a Czepeku map for. - But if there is something missing, you can always just
request it and Cze and Peku will add it into their weekly poll to decide which map they create next. - Since we play in person, I
like that they're print ready, but they're also really easy to use on your favorite virtual tabletop. They're even available with walls and lighting presets for Foundry VTT. - Yeah, I was more concerned about the tiny person standing on the map. - What do you mean? I'm your wife. - Geez, can't even
recognize your own wife? Second, things are going to
move much faster than you think. In a typical group D&D session, there's a lot of time spent on discussion. Players talk through
information they've learned, plans they're working on,
decisions they're trying to make. Sometimes one player will
take 10 or 15 minutes to roleplay a private
conversation, an errand, a ritual. Conversations with NPCs
can take a long time with several participants. And don't even get me started on combat. Depending on the party's classes, levels, and how much experience the players have, a single round of combat can sometimes take 20 or 30 minutes. When this is what you're
used to as a Dungeon Master, duet D&D is going to
feel like a whirlwind. - I am often annoyed by
how long it can take people to make decisions in group play. - In this game, he'll be the
only one making decisions so he can make 'em as fast as he wants. Social encounters move faster,
exploration moves faster. And even with a sidekick or two, you can complete a full
round of combat in minutes. And I'm not saying that
that's a bad thing, but as a DM you do need
to take this into account when you're preparing your material. The classic 'one shot that turns
into a five shot' experience might have trained you to
pair down your adventures and lower your expectations
for how much the party will progress in a single session. Well, it's time to unlearn that lesson. You will go through material way faster in a duet game than in a group game. Prepare enough to occupy a party of six for two or three sessions
if you wanna be able to occupy a party of one
for two or three hours. Which is actually the perfect segue to the third thing DMs should know before running a duet game: It's a lot of pressure. (whimsical music) When there are no other
players in your game, there is no one for your player
to interact with but you. That means no downtime. Those moments when the party is roleplaying amongst themselves and you get a chance to sit
back and take a breather? You're not getting any of those. Every single roleplay moment is with you. Every question needs
to be answered by you. You have to be 'on' the entire time. That was definitely a much
more demanding DM experience than group D&D. There was really just no time to like, pause and look at my notes or like, reevaluate something, or think about how I was
gonna handle something. I didn't realize until this
game just how much I rely on those short moments of
downtime to review my notes, collect my thoughts, and work out how I'm gonna respond to my players. I found it much, much harder to improvise when I didn't have those
handful of minutes to think. I suspect that if I run more duet games, I'm gonna need to incorporate
more frequent short breaks. Like, taking a quick five
for every half hour of play. There were several
moments when I just came to a complete standstill
in the middle of the game because I had to wait
for my brain to catch up. Hang on. (playful music) Oh, that's right. What does the lore say about this again? Or like, what is this
character supposed to know? And I basically just had to
be like, "Hang on a second," and then check my notes,
'cause I just didn't, I wasn't able to like fold
that into moments of quiet. Time for the million dollar question. Is it fun? I mean... yeah! Honestly, to me it felt
remarkably similar to group D&D. I've actually played D&D solo too, and while it does have its own appeal, it still doesn't really feel like D&D, but this totally did. Close friends, couples, even like people who play
in a group D&D game together and maybe wanna do some like
spinoff stuff, you know? - I think I could see a
world in which we play D&D, duet D&D together on like,
date night or something. All the things that's fun about D&D, but you know, it's more intimate as well. - I think if you have
fun playing group D&D, you would probably have
fun playing duet D&D as long as you're playing
with the right person. But I also think
one-on-one games like this can have utility, too. For example, it would be a great way to test out an adventure concept or try a new character
just to see how it plays. And of course, I don't
know how realistic this is, but I can't help but
dream big with this stuff. How cool would it be when
you're starting a new campaign to run a duet with each individual player before the first session? Maybe you play through a significant moment from their backstory or you play an adventure that leads up to them meeting the party. That way everyone gets
a chance to practice with their character before
you all get together. And you as a DM get insight into everyone's play styles and interests. Personally, I will be playing more duets. What about you? And yes, the mermaid hair is back! Along with the matching brows. To celebrate, I am putting
my eyebrow hats on sale in my shop this week only. Check it out at the link below. - And next time, I wanna be the DM. - [Ginny] Oh yeah?
- Yeah.
