Easier Duet Play

Easier Duet Play

One Game Master and one player is simultaneously the most challenging and rewarding style of play for a tabletop role-playing game.

With a single character always in the spotlight, plots and story arcs can be crafted around the character’s backstory.

But there are challenges.

As the GM, it can feel relentless, where you may sit back and enjoy watching a table full of players mull over your latest plot twist or conundrum. With just the one player, there is no moment when you are not on duty, so to speak. You can burn through game material in record time once you remove player deliberation, discussion, and planning from the session.

As the player, this story exists for you; the parts you enjoy the most are the parts that will play the biggest role. The action will unfold where you choose to go. You may never have to compromise when you decide to deep dive into one aspect, as there is no one else who will get bored waiting for you to finish your investigations., But, there is also no one, except maybe a kindly NPC, to pull your fat from the fire when things go wrong.

Duet play can be intense, detailed, and intimate in a way that group play is unlikely to ever rival.