Two player adventures?

[elf23]

Hey everyone,

My gaming group's been having trouble recently gathering more than 3 or at most 4 people together at any one time, so I've been thinking of making or finding some adventures suitable for 2 players, to cover these eventualities. The usual dungeon crawl isn't really suitable (without a gaggle of henchmen, which has its own problems), so I wondered if anyone could recommend any adventures specifically designed for only two players (plus DM)? Any (A)D&D or retro-clone adventures for low level characters would do the job... It'd be great to have a few such adventures in store as a backup if too few people arrive at the session to run the planned game! Ideally material that's freely available online, though if it came highly recommended I would pay money...

Thanks for any ideas!
Gavin

[bighara]

He's a 1st level Magic-User fresh from the academy.

He's a streetwise halfling who cut a deal to stay out of lockup.

THEY FIGHT CRIME!

Seriously, urban adventures in the cop-buddy movie vein are a good way to go. You can have some danger, but not hordes of orcs descending on them. You've got a greater emphasis on RP and problem solving than combat, and –if they actually do work for the city or some powerful patron– they can have a support network to help bail them out of trouble (or at least help them cover some of their expenses).

A few things to consider:

• XP. You'll probably want to award XP for things other than kills and GP. Solving a mystery, accomplishing a mission, etc. should yield "story awards" or similar. You'll probably want to keep the PCs a little cash poor, but still let them get some nice stuff now & them. (Maybe "Q" can let them use nicer gear for future mission as they prove their worth.)
• Keep fights minimal or at least keep them (mostly) nonlethal. The PCs should have some sort of access to healing, but not insta-cures on demand. It might not always make sense for Fighter types to be carrying their greatsword and wearing full armor, so you shouldn't see that as a call to screw them over. Unless they deliberately ignored clear danger signs and chose not to suit up.
• Have some action planned though. A rooftop chase, a barroom brawl, escaping a burning building; all of these can be as satisfying to players as smacking an orc in the face with an axe.
• Focus on the players' creativity when they attempt to accomplish their goals. You'll be making judgment calls more than rolls on tables to determine their success. Charisma and Intelligence will make a big difference. Sneaking around, bracing informants, bribing folks, etc.
• Recurring NPCs. Rivals, informants, superiors, friends. These will matter a lot more when the PCs spend most of their time in town as opposed to flitting off to the wilderness.
• Stay out of the dungeon. You can have a short delve, like to retrieve something from a mausoleum, or searching for a fugitive in the sewers is fine, but extended crawls are not a great idea for just two PCs.
  

[Crusty One]

Alternatively each player runs multiple characters. I run Stonehell with just two players running three characters each.

[Black Wyvern]

What level are you working with? If you are around 4th any introductory module would work pretty well. If you are talking 1st level then simple Modules like B1 or B2 or J.D. Neal's Chaotic Caves could work well. Those modules lend well to short excursions. One night to clean out an area and then the next time you are short take out another area. Also, the encounters are all stand alone so you can reduce the numbers of monsters in the rooms to reflect what characters show up.

You could even roll a second group of characters with that in mind. Anytime you are short you just break out the Chaotic Caves characters and adjust numbers on encounters to match what characters you have. If those characters were multi-classed AEC characters having only two players show up should at least guarantee you have three classes covered for needed skills.

Heck Elf, Barring that lets build some here, the first dungeon was pretty fun!

[YHWH]

WotC still has some modules up for download. The low level one is Palace of the Silver Princess which I haven't played, read or really know anything about other than it's for levels 1 to 3.

[Irda Ranger]

D&D really isn't well suited to two-PC groups. You can't split up a watch easily at night, if either character is hurt the other is now alone, etc. Allowing them to run more than one PC is really the best option you don't like henchmen. Bumping them up a level or three from where the adventure is "supposed to be" is another, but not as good, solution.

[Brad]

Henchmen, hirelings, multiple characters...I've run games with a lone PC before. My buddy and I got drunk one night and were bored, he rolled up a half-orc fighter and I used Keep on the Borderlands. It was very Conan-eqsue. In the 1st edition DMG, it alludes to characters going on lone adventures, two characters raiding a dungeon, etc. It's my guess that Gygax envisioned Greyhawk as an actual world, with stuff going on whether or not the PCs were doing anything. You could do the same. If someone doesn't show up, their character was blowing money on whores in town. That's definitely S&S storytelling: heroes never have any money. This gives the added benefit of encouraging attendance as no one wants to be level 2 when everyone else is level 4.

Elves are pretty hardcore by themselves, and two of them would be able to do serious damage in any lower-level adventure. A couple 5th level elves could handle B3, I think. Get a cleric henchman, maybe a couple 1st level fighter hirelings and go at it.

[greyarea]

There are a number of 1 on 1 Adventures available here:
http://e23.sjgames.com/search.html?gsys=1%20on%201%20Adventures

Those are easily convertible to LL or AEC in my experience.

And weren't Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser just a duo? Their adventures can provide much inspiration.

[Lord Kilgore]

D&D really isn't well suited to two-PC groups.

I'll agree with this if it's amended to

D&D as most people play it really isn't well suited to two-PC groups.

Over 90% of the D&D I've ever played has been one (majority of the time) or two PCs. A good percentage of those had zero NPCs, henchmen, and hirelings.

The game works just fine with one or two PCs. Low level (low hit points, low power) PCs in small groups are vulnerable, but so are large groups of low-level PCs on major expeditions. You just can't expect to play the sort of adventures that assume large parties of characters. So you eliminate about 75% of the infinite number of possibilities.

A quarter of infinity should be enough for a couple sessions, at least.

[Irda Ranger]

The game works just fine with one or two PCs... Over 90% of the D&D I've ever played has been one (majority of the time) or two PCs.

Okay ... so what sort of adventures are best suited to two-player games? That's what the OP was asking for.

I think I was clear that the reason two-PC D&D is sub-optimal was because you're just one bad roll away from being solo deep in a dungeon, with no one to guard your back while exploring, help you climb out of a pit, or keep a watch while you sleep. Running two higher-level PCs into a B2-like adventure is possible, but it requires even more luck than regular "large group" D&D to survive because of the reasons I mentioned.

But if 90% of the D&D you've played is in small groups, please share what works and what doesn't.