So what is the best way to start a duet campaign? There is no one correct answer but there are few approaches that produce better results than others. After putting all that work into developing a campaign you really don’t want to leave things to chance.

An Idea Everyone Loves

Most of the duet campaigns I’ve started that failed began with an inequality of commitment to the idea between the GM and the player. One of them was really excited about the idea and the other tepid. An enthusiasm gap for a campaign pretty much spells its doom. It may seem like kindness to pretend to have more enthusiasm for an idea then you do, but this can end up causing more harm that good. If a GM or player is really excited about an idea they start thinking about it, imagining things, and getting hyped. That’s awesome unless the other party has no interest in the idea, because then it’s going to falter in execution. That will cause disappointment. Honesty and communication are always the best approach.

Sustainable Idea

My test as a GM for a campaign or setting is to sit down and quickly come up with ten different ideas for adventures for the campaign or setting. If the ideas come quickly then you have something to work with but if the ideas are slow to form or are all very similar then your idea might not be sustainable. Variety is the secret to a good campaign and if the idea and setting inspire variety then all the better. If it doesn’t then you need to give some serious thought to how to change things to make it work better.

Start Small

Sure it sounds cool for the PC to be the ruler of a planet...but will it really be cool, or more importantly, manageable in execution? In this situation you should begin with the PC as the son or major aide of the ruler and explore the campaign and setting from that perspective before diving into a massively complex situation. There’s also something to be said for earning your goal, so maybe instead of the son or aid the PC is farther down the chain and has to climb up through the campaign. The journey is where the action is, though you can keep reinventing the journey as you go to tell new stories. This doesn’t mean you start with the PC in the gutters and has to climb from there, well, unless you have an exceptional player who’s eager for the challenge.

Provide Training Wheels

Neither the GM nor the player have any idea how the PC will really turn out so it’s best to have some training wheels in place, whether it’s a mentor, comrade, superior, whatever is appropriate to give the PC some help if needed. If it’s not needed then these characters can fade to the background, but if they are needed then they shouldn’t be that far away. There really is a lot of pressure on the PC at the start of a duet campaign and you don’t want the pressure to be overwhelming.

Determine Boundaries

The GM and player should communicate any limits or challenges they wouldn’t mind facing during a campaign. Perhaps the player is interested in building up his political base but admits that a massive reversal could be exciting. Maybe the GM is really excited about exploring alternate realities caused by the PCs use of a time machine. What matters is the GM and player talk about some vague possibilities as well as state things that would make them uncomfortable. It is alright for a player to tell the GM that a NPC or two should be off limits from terrible harm. That’s fine and good. Every campaign has limits, usually they are unspoken but it’s better to articulate the key ones so everyone knows the boundaries.

Punt to Player

The GM should if possible punt work to the player, especially if the PC is being particularly ambitious. If the PC wants to dominate the milk market of a the city, well, then you tell the player to do some research and come up with numbers and a plan. Make the player do most of the work when the PC goes off on a tangent. From my experience, players are honest and will always put in a good-faith effort on these projects. It also frees you up to focus on story and drama elements.

Make Adjustments

My rule for duets and group campaigns is that players can redraw their PCs after the first 2-3 adventures. I have found that one’s plan for a character before you start to roleplay can change significantly as you start roleplaying. You’ll also see how the GM is shaping up the campaign and setting. Letting the player revamp a PC after a few adventures is a great way to finetune a campaign before you get into gear. This is also a good point for the GM to make changes as necessary to better reflect the direction the player is heading with the PC.

The Big Correction

I have found that every duet campaign hits a point, it might be early on or quite a bit in, when the campaign falters. Something is out of alignment, the player or GM is either frustrated or bored with the current situation. You have four choices. First, you can continue on as you have been and hope things work out. This doesn’t often work. Second, the GM and player can make slight corrections to see if that helps, which depending upon the issues might be all you need to get back on course. Third, you make significant changes, honestly, you turn things into a new campaign. The GM and player should brainstorm this and throw out any and all ideas until you find something that works for both of you. Fourth, you end the campaign. Sometimes this is best and it’s time to move on. I will say that salvaging a campaign requires less work but more courage than starting a new one.

Find the Fun

The final point I want to make is that the goal is to find the fun in a campaign. The GM should be looking for interesting problems to toss at the PC and the player should be looking for ways to interact dramatically with the setting. Neither should be passive and yet it needs to be a give and take for it to work. As I am found of mentioning fun is a nebulous term, difficulty can be fun for a lot of people when it comes to roleplaying. Find what is fun for the both of you and that is how’ll you’ll find success.