Duet Adventures for 5e
Levels 1-3
Escape from a castle, rescue an ancient warrior, solve small town mysteries, and uncover the cure for the Crystalline Curse!
Available now on DMsGuild!
We’ve bundled our first three adventures: First Blush, Second Glance, and Third Time’s the Charm, so you can download all three together on DMsGuild!
Please note: These titles are still available as pay what you want if you download them separately! We’ve discounted the requested price at half off for the bundle, but we also want the titles to remain easily accessible for everyone.
Start Your One-on-One Campaign
An introductory adventure for a first-level character and their DM, First Blush* teleports you beyond the confines of a castle to an ancient mountainside ruin with a secret buried deep inside that your unique destiny invites you to uncover…
This adventure is perfect for new and veteran players alike and is especially ideal for starting your own duet game!
If you just want to try out First Blush to see how you like two-person gaming, here’s a link to download it on DMsGuild,* or you can read more about it on our site.
What Customers Are Saying:
I picked this up because my girlfriend wanted to try out D&D, but was iffy about starting with a large group. I also wanted to see the game from the other side of the DM screen…As a relatively new player and DM, it took us some time to settle into our characters. But after a short while, we had a blast playing through this across 2 2-hour sessions! The end of this first part left us both wanting more! The next two chapters are in my cart now. We can’t wait to dive into them!
– Daniel
We will say this was a great introduction for anyone new to D&D!
Level up and embark on a quest
In Second Glance,* you and your new companion find yourselves in a druid colony in desperate need of your help! This second-level adventure invites the PC to investigate the grove and its mysterious residents before traveling to a too-perfect town containing twisted secrets.
You’ll take on a calculating magistrate, an addled cleric, and dark forest creatures but find that other, more ancient mysteries lie in wait just beneath the surface.
This adventure also comes with several side-quests for additional challenges, loot, and fun!
Customer Review:
This adventure combines all the elements I look for in D&D – mystery, fascinating creatures, NPCs who could be allies or enemies, conflict, and most importantly lots of opportunities for roleplay. That last is the best part of this adventure. A lot of premade adventures are all combat. There is nothing wrong with a straightforward dungeon crawl, but if you are looking for something that has a little more depth and lots of options for your PCs, this is perfect. And they include all the details that take the most time like maps and monster stats, so I can focus my energy on fitting the adventure into my campaign. Definitely worth it!
– Rachel
Cure the Crystalline Curse
In Third Time’s the Charm,* you’ll negotiate power clashes in a forest as you track down a few magical items that will restore your companion and end the curse.
This adventure brings the story arc to a close as the PC decides who they will trust and what they’re willing to do to help their friend.
Moving Forward
We have two new adventures available now on DMsGuild, The Proving Glade and In the Heart of the Forest!
Either one would transition well from the end of the Crystalline Curse Trilogy, though we recommend you check out The Proving Glade first as it’s scaled for levels 4 or 5.
We’d encourage you to try out Cupid’s Sparrow and Granny’s House also as a way of rounding out level 4 before tackling In the Heart of the Forest.
You can also join us on Patreon where we release mini-adventures each month and discuss one-on-one play in greater depth with our patrons!
Video Example
We’ve gotten a few requests for a video example of what one-on-one play looks like, and we’d love for you to see for yourself below!
We play through the first part of our First Blush adventure as a demo of what one-on-one play looks like, and we hope it’s a helpful resource for you!
If you’d like custom magical items, a new creature, hand-drawn map, unique NPC, and new mini-adventure each month, please consider sponsoring us on Patreon! Our next funding goal is an active video channel and resources!
Crystalline Curse Trilogy cover photo by Todd Gardner on Unsplash
This post may contain affiliate links which means that—at no cost to you—we receive a commission when you follow the link and make a purchase.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider supporting the blog by purchasing our adventures and supplements in our shop or sponsoring us on Patreon. We appreciate you so much! Thank you for joining us on this adventure! – Beth and Jonathan
Matthew says
Hi there, I have read through the three adventures, and feel that this fits my needs for a duet with my wife. That said, I want as much as possible to include images of NPCs and items as we go. I’ve not had any luck finding someone who looks like Garren (Spoilers avoided). Do you have a suggested image for him?
Beth says
Hi Matthew,
Sure! I’d be happy to help! Are you wanting a mini for Garren, or are you looking more for a picture of someone who would look like him, like on Pinterest?
If the former, I found a couple different files on Printable Heroes that I think could be helpful for you! Their resources are amazing!
I think that one of the following would work if you’re looking to print a mini for him:
Human Warrior and Knight https://printableheroes.com/minis/9
Human Knight and Paladin https://printableheroes.com/minis/8
I’m so glad to hear that you’re happy with the adventures and that they’ll work well for you! Please let me know if this wasn’t exactly what you were looking for, and we’ll keep searching!
– Beth
Matthew says
Thanks for the mini links! This will help too, but I was actually looking for a face/body image, due to his unique nature. I don’t want to spoil things for those who might be a player, so feel free to email me directly.
Beth says
Hi Matthew,
I’m glad we got partway there at least! I’m so sorry, I don’t have an image picked out for him specifically, though there may be something on Pinterest? I’ve found that I have to dig a lot more for pictures of male characters than female, but that could be based on the algorithms for me too.
Tim says
Heyho!
Im preparing this duet trilogy for my Girlfriend and was wondering how you handle leveling up in this?
i found at the beginning of the second adventure (second glance) that thats a good time to level up, but are the characters also supposed to level up during / after adventure 2 and 3?
if so where do you think appropriate points would be?
off note:
personally im thinking of swapping out garren for a different beefy dude with healing(mercy monk?cleric?) for my DMPC as my girlfriend wants to play a sorcerer (so her charisma can shine)
and replace the remmy companion with a Racoon (from her backstory) he would be an attacker warrior companion with thiefstools (his nails), which remmy made a leather armor for as a parting gift. using a goblin playerrace as an appropriate base for the abilities (shouldnt be just a run of the mill cr 0 cat reskin IMO)
Beth says
Hi Tim,
Great questions! We’ve found it’s simplest to level up at the beginning of the second adventure, as you said, and then again after the second adventure and before the third. However, this does depend a bit on class and the player’s level of experience. If your girlfriend has been playing D&D for a while and is bored of being at level 2 partway through Second Glance, then I would go ahead and have her character level up. But if she needs more time at level two and/or enjoys the challenge of being lower-level, then I’d stay there. If you need more specifics, let me know!
I think your plan to swap out Garren so her sorcerer’s charisma can shine is an amazing idea! And I’m obsessed with the thought of Remmy as a raccoon! I think the goblin player race would work great, especially with the nails!
A couple other ideas just in case:
If you want something a little simpler than the goblin PC, we have a post on tweaks to animal companions in duet games: https://dndduet.com/animal-companions/
We also have more robust rules with leveling tables for animal companions in our adventuring companions supplement: https://dndduet.com/product/adventuring-companions/
And I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Humblewood campaign setting by Hit Point Press. It’s a bunch of animal races in the forest (so cute, and the art is amazing!). One of the races is the Mapach, who are more robust raccoons. I don’t know if they have a resource on just the Mapach or not.
Thanks so much for reaching out! I hope your campaign goes really well; we would love to hear more about it, especially Remmy the Raccoon 😉
– Beth