TOPIC: Attempted Solo Sealed N3 Tale

I had a single ticket on Friday to a N3 Vault of the All-Father. I was hoping someone would pick up the remainders randomly or 1 to 2 of my friends would join me or I would get combined into another run. I knew that it was very possible that none of those would happen and I would need to come with something different to play since solo nightmares are very possible (especially since I knew how to solve all the puzzles). So I decided I would try a seal solo on non-lethal.

No one bought extra tickets, my friends were not available and the groups before and after me were pretty full. So I was ready to give the solo sealed a try. I cracked open my pack the rare was gold. The uncommons were Masterwork Thieves’ Tools and Charm of Blissward. So best options looked to be Cleric or Rogue. The only weapon was a common Charm of Blissward (so no weapon for the cleric). There was a common armor (it was one of the +3 but I don't remember which). There wasn't much else, 2 HP boosters and a gold. So I went in about as naked as a rogue could be.

I also choose rogue because it would get me 3 chances to get something else I could use from the boxes. Also because I knew how to solve the puzzles working on the rogue box would give me something to do in the rooms. Also I usually don't do the boxes I just crowbar them open so it would be new for me.

Word got out what I was attempting, the coaches forwarded word to the trainer who in turn forwarded word to my Flaxon. He came into the training room a little early and asked me if I wanted him to skip the dialogue so I would have full time to solve the puzzle. I informed him could do what he wanted since I knew how to solve the puzzles.

In room 1 I started working on the rogue box and he and I talked about True Dungeon. How long each of us had been playing and the like. I think I spent 6 minutes on the box because I kept stopping to talk to him. In the end I pulled out a wand and then solved the puzzle before the horn went off. We talked more and he said he was going to see if he could not die in room 2 right away just so he could continue with me.

He spoke with someone before room 2 and it was determined he had a few more HP than usual so he could possibly live through the room a little longer. We took turns sliding against the corrupt priest. The DM was rolling terrible against us so we had the NPC come forward and choose which of us he (or she) would attack and roll the die against us. The poor rolling continued. But still I did very little damage and most of the damage came from Flaxon. I was down to 3 HP and he had very few (not certain the exact number) but we both were able to slide hits before attacks that would surely have killed one if not both of us. Flaxon died from a death throw of the priest so he become a ghost per usual.

I walked into room 3 knowing the next combat would be the end of me, but I was having fun. I solved room 3 similar to room 1. I talked to the DM while working on the rogue box. It was something else the rogue could not use. I then solved the puzzle.

I walked into room 4 and was greeted by the AC and the DM. The AC either heard what I was doing or found out quickly upon my entering the room. He decided that Odin would resurrect Flaxon to continue with me (they had a bubble or break or extra Flaxon so my Flaxon would proceed to the end with me). So we sung and clinked mugs of ale together to solve room 4.

Room 5 the sword room I knew how to solve so Flaxon and I worked on it together and had it solved in no time.

We walked into room 6 and quickly explained how Flaxon had been resurrected by Odin and how I was playing non-lethal and was only at 3 HP. So I needed to win initiative to even get 1 slide before I dided. I rolled a 6. The DM's decided Flaxon should get a roll as well so we used his much higher roll to go first. And get a couple shots on the Helkyrie. The Helkyrie didn't attack but let out the second Helkyrie so we got one more set of slides. Next round I took 2 points of damage. So was at 1. One more set of slides and then I was dead. Flaxon slide a few more rounds before they killed him as well. We let the NPC go have a break while we talked with the DM's awaiting the next room where we would both be at 1HP upon resurrection of Non-Lethal.

Since I did not know but the activation words for anything but Thor's hammer and the Tempest wand we planned on grabbing all the artifacts and saying lots of words before we died. Flaxon grabbed the hammer and I grabbed everything from the other side of the room. I happened to get lucky and say the word for the gold orb (I don't want to reveal what it is or what it does). I slide and landed to the left of of the Devil Drake's face. Flaxon slide and missed bumping my puck. The Devil Drake killed us. Since this all took maybe 2 minutes the DM let Flaxon continue slide in an attempt to bump my token.

I had a blast. The Solo Sealed was a complete failure as far as a successful run goes because as soon as you die anything can kill you so 1 combat pretty much breaks all future combats. I don't recommend anyone else try it, unless they open a god pack. However the DM's, Flaxon, and AC were great. Whether just chit-chatting with me for the 12 minutes or letting me do something different since we all knew solo combat wasn't going to work.

I would have said it was the most fun run I did all con, but I was on the last run N3 on Saturday night with the dirty bard.......but that is a story for another time. I will only say she was so good she had NPC's and DM's breaking character. Also for anyone I talked to about my future with playing TD, that late run convinced I will be back for at least next season at my usual token and ticket levels, that is how good it was.

I need to plan ahead better for origins and get on a few runs with you.

Great story and glad to see you will be back for another year!

Ed

MasterED wrote: Great story and glad to see you will be back for another year!

Ed

You can really thank a spunky redhead who enjoyed playing bard so much on her first ever run that it made it infectious for me. Now if I can figure out a way to get her to Gen Con.....

I think I may have run with her on her 2nd run. She was definitely happy.

Wade Schwendemann wrote: I think I may have run with her on her 2nd run. She was definitely happy.

My bard? Nope she only did one run and her first ever. It was the last N3 on Saturday night.

Definitely not then.

I did meet another redhead who played and loved bard though....

A solo sealed run is almost always going to end in failure. Skill will only take you so far. I actually did a solo run but I used my normal build and destroyed Hardcore and wished I did Nightmare afterwards, although I believe the last fight would have killed me, at least it would have been a challenge. My Flaxon also tagged along during my run and I let him borrow weapons during the fights. I had a blast and considered soloing the other side, but decided to play D&D instead.

One thing I thought about and have been considering opening a thread to discuss, was the number of small groups of new players the convention was seeing. People were buying random tickets and new players got stuck trying to go solo or in groups of 2 or 3 people. I think True Dungeon could have a small group modifier of some kind if the group is on normal or non-lethal. Either give the group better base stats or lower the monsters health. Its not going to help on puzzles, but at least give them a fighting chance. At the same time I was thinking the goal should be groups of 5 in the small group situation and adjust around that, a solo sealed run should still end in death.

Another option might be to recruit a small number of veteran players to act as NPC's who join the party, and just help out on runs which are very short on players. They could be explained away as mercenaries or as a wondering adventurer. Obviously only certain conventions would even need them, but just trying to throw out ideas on how to improve the experience for players at cons which do not seem to sell enough tickets.

So just curious what do you think would have improved your experience?

Kenban wrote: So just curious what do you think would have improved your experience?

I had a blast. So I don't know. I also don't know that anything should be done for anyone that chooses (as I did) to attempt to solo the dungeon (whether sealed or geared). I knew that as soon as I died I would not be able to do any combats from then on without a source to give myself more HP. Since this was something I choose if I were to try something similar again, I would not make it a sealed run but maybe a sealed run with X number of potions for healing.

Kenban wrote: A solo sealed run is almost always going to end in failure. Skill will only take you so far. I actually did a solo run but I used my normal build and destroyed Hardcore and wished I did Nightmare afterwards, although I believe the last fight would have killed me, at least it would have been a challenge. My Flaxon also tagged along during my run and I let him borrow weapons during the fights. I had a blast and considered soloing the other side, but decided to play D&D instead.

One thing I thought about and have been considering opening a thread to discuss, was the number of small groups of new players the convention was seeing. People were buying random tickets and new players got stuck trying to go solo or in groups of 2 or 3 people. I think True Dungeon could have a small group modifier of some kind if the group is on normal or non-lethal. Either give the group better base stats or lower the monsters health. Its not going to help on puzzles, but at least give them a fighting chance. At the same time I was thinking the goal should be groups of 5 in the small group situation and adjust around that, a solo sealed run should still end in death.

Another option might be to recruit a small number of veteran players to act as NPC's who join the party, and just help out on runs which are very short on players. They could be explained away as mercenaries or as a wondering adventurer. Obviously only certain conventions would even need them, but just trying to throw out ideas on how to improve the experience for players at cons which do not seem to sell enough tickets.

So just curious what do you think would have improved your experience?

We combined as many small groups as possible in Coaching.

In my opinion it takes at least 5 players to make a viable run.