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Elminster's Guide to Solo AdventuringClick to magnify
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Elminster's Guide to Solo Adventuring

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Elminsters Guide to Solo Adventuring. 

Well met adventurer. So you're itching to loot the nearest dungeon or visit a far-flung
city but your party totals just one, you and there's not a Dungeon Master this side of
Waterdeep willing to guide you. Fear not, The Continent of Faerun is still open for you to
explore but watch your step adventuring alone is no less perilous, you have been
warned!
What this is. This is a complete set of very familiar mechanics to allow you to adventure using
any official publication or community content made adventure for 5th edition
Dungeons and Dragons, without other party members or a Dungeon Master. Included in the bookmarked PDF are 5th edition style mechanics and advice for each Pillar of adventuring;
Exploration, Social interaction and combat. Working through the method and tools included you can resovle encounters and gain information or help from NPCs without the presance of a Dungeon Master or other players.

Also included is guidance and instruction on rebalancing you character. Giving a number of options depending on your personal preferances, all using the standard 5e character sheet. 

You do not need any additional dice or maths skills to ue this system. It's been spacifically written using the existing mechanics found in 5e for ease of use.

It can also be a valuable tool for DMs wanting to test drive a new adventure before running it for their players and for couples starting out, or people new to playing and DMing

Thanks for taking the time to have a look. Contact details for me are at the end of the product if you need any support or have a comment.

Please consider leaving a review if you enjoyed this product. It realy helps others to find it and spreads the word.  


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Reviews (6)
Discussions (10)
Customer avatar
Sarah M June 01, 2022 10:14 pm UTC
PURCHASER
How easy would it be to use/adapt this product to a nonDnD system? I haven’t seen any system neutral tools for converting adventures to solo, only free form adventuring.
Customer avatar
charles B May 20, 2020 1:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
Could I use these rules to run a basic d&d solo campaign?

If no, does anyone here in the guild know of solo rules for that?

My plan is to run a solo campaign based on adventures from here
The campaigns are tentatively titled:

" Adventurer for The Guild". ( level 0-3)

" Warrior of The Guild" ( 3-6)

" Knight of The Guild ( 6- 10)Th
Does anyone know where I can put these stories for guild members to read?
Thank you Elminster.
C
Customer avatar
Chad R February 25, 2019 10:26 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Question; Looking at the Exploration Chart on Page 4, and applying the Example from page 2, I get a DC.10. Basically a "More than 50/50," "No," "Yes." But the Example states a result of DC.15? Did I miss something?
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Customer avatar
Chad R February 25, 2019 10:35 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Also, the Example from page 6, top left, gives results of "Viewed favorably" (Likes Dwarves), "Yes," "Yes," with a DC.10 but the Social Interaction Chart shows those results would be a DC 5? Am I botching something or is the DC wrong?
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Customer avatar
Chad R March 12, 2019 1:56 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Also, Also. How do you assign EXP? All to the solo character? Divide all EXP by 4 like you would if you actually had 4 characters?
Customer avatar
Giulio F September 28, 2018 1:58 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Very nice document. Thanks.

Have you ever tought about adding a column in the table of page 8, so as to suggest level-equivalents for parties of two PCs?


It could be useful for:
-Solo playing with two PCs
-Two players without DM

Customer avatar
September 28, 2018 2:26 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hello. This looks like a fantastic product! But most of the images are just white shapes on the pages except the cover and the image on page 5. Note that you can see the effect in the preview on the vendor's site as well.
Customer avatar
Szymon S September 14, 2018 7:05 am UTC
PURCHASER
one question about rebalancing the character method #1 should I re-calculate HP every time my char levels up? Or simply add proper HD and Con bonus and move on?
Customer avatar
Karl B August 16, 2018 8:03 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Oliver, I have enjoyed using this product so far. Solo gaming using a published adventure and your guide works smoothely and has already given me hours of entertainment. In fact you can see write ups of my adventure here:

http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewforum.php?f=81

One thing I have noticed though is that while Q3 on your flow charts is fast and easy to implement it effectively turns a -1 for an ability score modifier to a -6. I’m going to try spliting the Q2’s in two to replace Q3 and see how that goes. Unless your math obsessed though this probably does not matter to most players.

Great work.
Karl/Coronoides.
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Customer avatar
Miguel S May 01, 2020 3:32 pm UTC
Hi Karl!

I've always wanted to play a published adventure alone and I've read the Elminsters Guide to Solo Adventuring and also part of the adventure that you've placed in the thepiazza.

But I still cannot figure out how to use this tool...

From what I understand, and starting by an example, I took the "Lost mine of Phandelver" and start at Part 1 - Goblin Arrows and read the boxed text, like the DM would do. The i read the Goblin Ambush boxed text and from this point I'm blocked, because how can the me as player avoid the spoilers that are descrided bellow the boxed text? Because most of the written text is for the DM.

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Tahnk you in advanced.
Reply
Customer avatar
Karl B May 03, 2020 2:55 am UTC
PURCHASER
G'day Miguel,

I'm pleased to hear someone has read my stuff!
First up, I'm not familiar with "Lost mine of Phandelver" and I'm not the creator of Elminister's Guide but happy to try to help.
There are three techniques to deal with the knowing DM stuff as a player problem.
1) Read as you play. I literally have my character respond every time something new is mentioned *before* I read further. For example say the text say "beyond the door is opulent bedroom with 5 orcs..." I try not to look at further words and decide on my characters initial reaction.
2) Write as I go. This helps keep me honest! Continuing the example I'd look away from the book and type "Rothrick draws his longsword and charges in" then I'd open the book and read the next sentence to figure out the orcs reaction. Oops the orcs are innocent, in fact they are local investigators working for the local lord. Sod.
3) Doublethink: Now despite my best efforts I'm exactly in the...See more
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Customer avatar
Miguel S May 08, 2020 11:51 pm UTC
Hi Karl! Thank you so much for reply my question it as very kind of you!

I understood everything you wrote and it seems like a good approach. Is that what the author of this guide wanted to say on page 4 "... read the adventure first ... just start at chapter one and read as you play ..."?

How did your character react to attacking the Orcs, was it decided at the time or did you pre-determine the typical behavior that this character might have? And in the case of playing for example with a group of 3 PCs, in this situation that you describe, how would you resolve the issue? This is because your warrior could have that impetus, but another PC could take a different approach ;)

Imagine another situation, in which, for example, you decide to jump over a gap, but in the part only dedicated to DM there was no such option, how do you determine the appropriate DC for that situation? Do you use the "Exploration Chart" in this guide?

I've read other...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
Karl B May 22, 2020 9:27 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Miguel,
You on The Piazza yet? We can discuss further there.
Reply
Customer avatar
Miguel S May 26, 2020 9:49 am UTC
Hi Karl! I'm still awaiting for the activation of my account.
Customer avatar
Oliver G May 29, 2018 12:30 pm UTC
CREATOR
Sorry to here that! A small number of iOS users have experienced problems with their default pdf readers, understanding the font. Despite a number of attempts by us to fix the problem and it being embedded prior to export. You will have no issues viewing it via Adobe PDF reader (free on iOS). I appreciate this is a pain, but has proved the best solution, whilst we work on alternatives. My apologies for any inconvenience caused.
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Customer avatar
Summer Z May 30, 2018 12:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for the prompt reply! I have it working now (I am able to open with Chrome or Kindle App on Macbook). Great product!
Customer avatar
Summer Z May 29, 2018 9:03 am UTC
PURCHASER
File download isn't coming out right or it is corrupt. Help!!!
Customer avatar
Maxtor M May 27, 2018 9:03 am UTC
PURCHASER
I just purchased and downloaded this pdf, but it appears to be corrupted. Very little text is showing with actual words. Here is a link to a screenshot of what I see: https://www.dropbox.com/s/da24g9pnppx9tyi/elmintoc.jpeg?dl=0
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Oliver Gibson
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File Last Updated:
August 03, 2018
This title was added to our catalog on May 17, 2018.
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Dungeon Masters Guild Dungeon Masters Guild
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