The first official adventure anthology built for D&D 2024 is here, and it has ways to run two-person adventures

The new Dragon Delves anthology of adventures from Dungeons & Dragons has help for running two-person games: one player, one Dungeon Master. While Dragon Delves has one-shot adventures for levels 1 through 12, only a few of them are specifically crafted for running a two-person game.

Most D&D adventures are made for four to six players plus a Dungeon Master. That's the sweet spot for crafting challenging—but not overwhelming—combat encounters around D&D's embattled Challenge Rating. Additionally, four to six players bring a decent mix of classes and personalities to the table. It's also not a bad number for keeping the game session flowing at a decent clip; not too big, not too small.

But sometimes it's just you and your ride-or-die. Whether that's your spouse, your kid, your buddy from work, or your old high school pal.

In these two-person situations, Dragon Delves makes it so you can run a DM-plus-one-player game with just a couple tweaks. One tweak is the recommendation for the character to have proficiency in at least two of the handful of skills they recommend. The other is to give the player something called the Blessing of the Lone Champion.

The adventures are:

• Baker's Doesn't. An adventure for level 3 characters. Proficiency in at least two of the following skills:
  • Athletics
  • Deception
  • History
  • Insight
  • Perception
  • Persuasion
  • Sleight of Hand
  • Stealth 

• The Dragon of Najkir. An adventure for level 7 characters. Ideally, that character should have proficiency in at least two of the following skills:
  • Acrobatics
  • Athletics
  • Investigation
  • Medicine
  • Perception
  • Religion

• A Copper for a Song. An adventure for level 12 characters. Ideally, that character should have proficiency in at least two of the following skills:
  • Deception
  • Intimidation
  • Perception
  • Performance
  • Persuasion
  • Stealth

Were you to somehow hop, skip, and jump your way with a single character across all three of those level 3, 7, and 12 adventures, it looks like Perception is your #1 recommended skill choice. The next three are a tie between Deception, Persuasion, and Stealth.

But it's still dangerous to go alone! Take this:

• Blessing of the Lone Champion. Supernatural Gift (Blessing). You gain the following benefits:
  • Heroic Inspiration. You gain Heroic Inspiration when you finish a Short or Long Rest and whenever the DM has you roll initiative.
  • Temporary Hit Points. You gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to 10 times your level when you gain this blessing and when you gain a level.

If being a lone character is anything like being a DM with a lone monster, then that huge burst of temporary hit points will be necessary. Take the level 12 adventure, for instance. The lone player would get 120 temporary hit points. That's an incredible amount of hit points. But the action economy is so hellbent against this one player that I wouldn't be surprised if those 120 temporary hit points disappear faster than anyone's expecting.

How would a two-person game play out in practice? I'd love to find out. Our table, however, is blessed with that four-to-six-players sweet spot. Someday that table could flip, however, and it'll be down to me and my ride or die. Then we might take on one of these two-person one-shots.

Local game stores have hardcopies  starting June 24. Master Tier subscribers on D&D Beyond that pre-ordered Dragon Delves have two-weeks early access also starting on June 24. Hero Tier subscribers have one-week early access starting July 1. Wide release for everybody else is on July 8.