February is one of my favorite times of the year as a duet tabletop game designer. We see a boost in interest and interaction around Valentine’s Day, and it’s my birthday month too!
Holidays, birthdays, and other celebrations can make for the perfect opportunity to incorporate a one-shot adventure or side story into your duet campaign. They also provide a great entry opportunity for those not currently engaging in a one-on-one game.
To celebrate my birthday last week, Jonathan ran a one-shot adventure for me from DMsGuild which we started Thursday night and finished over the weekend.
I enjoyed the social aspects of the adventure, and we ran the combat theater-of-the-mind style, but after we’d concluded the adventure, we couldn’t help but notice how different it felt from our normal duet game.
The difference came down to the depth of PC involvement in the origins of the adventure. (You can read more about that difference in duet gaming here and about PC’s internal motivations in worldbuilding more broadly here.)
Most of the adventures and campaigns we write emerge from our home duet game. And as we’ve said before on the blog, one of the key differences between duet gaming and group gaming is that the player needs to be actively involved in driving the story. It should come from the PC, from their ideas, desires, and motivations.
Internal Motivations in External Circumstances
I’ve also written previously about the power of internal drivers in storytelling, that what our brains love about stories is the lessons we can learn from them. That relatability often comes from the internal pressures and choices our characters face. (I can’t even remember the last time I ran into an ettin out and about on Earth, but I do know what it’s like to engage with someone who is deeply divided within themselves or to feel that same divide internally.)
So as we near Valentine’s Day and friends and partners look for ways to do something special for their GMs, significant others, and kids, I wanted to share some tips for making your one-shot adventures more immersive and fun!
Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas
Before we get too carried away, I wanted to take just a moment to share some fun Valentine’s Day gift ideas for the tabletop gaming fan in your life. We have a bundle of one-shot adventures in both print and digital formats and our Land of Vampires campaign available in the D&D Duet Shop!
Tip #1 – Tap into what you know
Another way of wording this tip might be to lean into what makes your player’s PC (and your player) tick.
When you’re looking for a one-shot to pull into your duet game for a special occasion, you’ll want to gear your search to the type of session your player likes to have. If they prefer social encounters to combats, that helps you narrow in what you’re looking for.
But we can go deeper than that as well.
Let’s assume, for the moment, that you’ve already found a one-shot adventure or something thematic that you want to try. How do you adapt it to suit your player with minimal prep and adjustment?
This is where the emphasis on internal motivations comes into play. (And yes, Jonathan and I are both English teachers, so we can’t help but bring up internal and external conflict from time to time, but the distinction is really helpful in planning for D&D sessions and in streamlining the adaptation process for one-shot adventures!)
As much as possible, gear the social encounters, combat situations, and exploration to the PC’s internal passions and interests.
Identifying Internal Motivations
When trying to determine what these are, it can be easier to start with what the PC despises, though desire is just as powerful.
- Does seeing a leader abuse their power send the PC into a blind rage?
- Is there a magical item or ability they’ve been hankering after but haven’t quite managed to unlock/locate? (more on this momentarily)
- Is there a place they’ve always longed to explore? Or a personal hero they would love to meet, maybe a character for lore?
- Does one of their traveling companions have a dark secret from their past or an old enemy that might come to light and thwart the party’s current plans?
Learn more about PC’s internal motivations here.
Tip #2 – Personalize the Rewards
Staying as low-prep as possible for a one-shot or one-off adventure certainly has its advantages. One easy way to suit the one-shot to your duet game or connect it as part of a larger campaign arc is to personalize the rewards.
This can be as small as a bonus effect for a magical weapon to something as large as a bonus proficiency for the character. I would aim, wherever possible, for something that would benefit the PC and/or would round out their character or your duet mechanics. Is there a pain point you can address with a special magical effect or item?
Example from our game – magical tattoos
During Covid lockdown, Jonathan and I pivoted from our Steymhorod game to something more lighthearted. (We’re hoping to share more from that campaign later this year, but you can find a special stream we did from it here!)
Over and over across 2020 and 2021, our characters found their way to festivals and special events. While we weren’t getting out and about, our PC and GMPC absolutely were!
During one of these festivals, our duet party met a magical tattooist who gave them each a tattoo that could cast revivify (which we ended up needing at the apex of that next campaign arc!). My PC was a druid (per usual ☺️), but Jonathan’s GMPC didn’t have any spellcasting ability.
It was also one of the first times we had gone for just a party of two, so our characters having the ability to revive one another was extremely important. (This is one of those empower not overpower instances for one-on-one D&D.) Knowing that they had these tattoos gave us both peace of mind as we moved forward in our campaign arc and it served as a memory for both us and our characters of the special session where they received the tattoos in the first place.
Non-Item Boons
We’ll add a more robust post about this in the future, but many of my favorite and most memorable in-session rewards have come in the form of non-magical item boons.
Jonathan usually works these in partway through a major arc. The first one that I most vividly remember was him granting my PC a +1 to her Wisdom, which bumped up all my spellcasting abilities. That meant just as much to me in that moment as when I had first started playing and my PC got her special longbow, Seeker.
The one caveat I would add to this recommendation is that this practice doesn’t work as well with PCs from group campaigns. I am all for duet one-offs from larger group games (especially for those of us who share a home with our GM ?), but the full-party dynamics and balance are much more important in a group game than in a duet.
What I would recommend instead is that the PC receives the special boon or boost at the beginning of the session so they have something new to try out or play with, but that whatever this special bonus is, it’s a one-use item or ability that will aid them only in this session. (And then of course you need to make sure they have a chance to use it.)
Closing thoughts
My two top tips for incorporating and adapting one-shot adventures into your duet games are:
- Tap into the PC’s motivations, internal conflict, and backstory when planning for your special session. How can you tweak the initial situation to immediately pique the PC’s interest? (Remember this can be small. One of my favorite sessions involved rescuing a firefox from a menagerie and returning her to the Brightlands. My PC was all over our rescue mission!)
- Personalize the rewards, treasure, magic items, or challenge to best suit the PC and your duet game. What would be most fun for the two of you?! This is the perfect, low-stakes place to bring that in!
We’d love to hear about your experiences with incorporating one-shots into your duet campaigns as well as any questions you have about the process! There’s a lot more we could say about it, but I hope this has given you a helpful foundation for getting started!
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
We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions!