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INTEGRATING SOLO ADVENTURES INTO GROUP CAMPAIGNS
This article deals with weaving solo adventures into group campaigns, and is an expansion of part of the Guide to Solo Campaigns thread that was begun by Illion the Red and me.  For more information about solo adventures and campaigns, including balancing mechanics and design tips, please consult that thread. 

WHAT IS A SOLO ADVENTURE?
A solo adventure is merely an adventure where there is a DM with only one player.  Solo adventures are more intense in terms of roleplaying and character development than group adventures.  They are also more challenging for both the DM and player for the greater depth involved with these adventures.  Solo adventures can be wonderful tools for enriching a group campaign.  Solo adventures can also be great rewards for players who do a great job roleplaying, but may be struggling in a group dynamic.  With this in mind, there are three types of solo adventures that can be integrated into a group campaign. 

PRE-ADVENTURES
Pre-adventures are adventures designed to introduce a PC to the campaign setting and ease the transition of the PC into a group campaign. They need to be the tightest scripted of the different types of solo adventures to ensure that the PC joins the group campaign.

Example: A new player has decided he wants to play Sir Rupi Glenwhistle, a halfling paladin with the group campaign; this player is also relatively new to D&D.  Sir Rupi, with a few fellow paladins including a NPC mentor, begins his solo adventure riding into a halfling village that is beset by a band of goblins from a nearby forest.  You introduce the new player to halfling life, his paladin order, and run a few simple combat scenarios against goblins.  After the village is saved, his NPC mentor tells him that he has been chosen for a new quest to aid a group of adventurers.  You then introduce him to the group campaign. The player now knows where his character came from and already has the personality worked out. 

SIDE ADVENTURES
Side adventures are adventures that take the PC away from the group campaign for a limited number of sessions to accomplish some goal that may be related to the group campaign, but may also be solely focused on character development for the PC.   

Example: Sir Rupi Glenwhistle is informed by his order that he must be married before being promoted.  Sir Rupi decides to leave the party for awhile to find a wife and journeys to his hometown to begin his quest for a bride.  His ancient matriarch tells him he should court Lady Wisteria Clearbrook, the most beautiful and gracious halfling maiden in the homeland and the daughter of the First Mayor.  Of course, when Sir Rupi arrives he learns that Lady Wisteria has been kidnapped by bandits and so it is up to Sir Rupi to save her and hopefully win her heart. 

RETIREMENT ADVENTURES
Retirement adventures are adventurers that occur after the end of the PC’s career with the group. Maybe the player wants to run a new character, but would like closure for his favorite PC, or maybe the player wants to run the PC in a solo campaign away from the group.  If the situation is the former then the adventure will be small in scope, while in the latter the adventure launches a new campaign. 

Example: Lord Rupi Glenwhistle leaves the party and heads home to learn that Lady Wisteria has fallen sick from a curse that resulted from when Lord Rupi finally destroyed the lich nemesis of the group campaign.  The curse will take the thing most dear to Lord Rupi, but he is told there is a cure if he goes to a distant tomb to recover the bones of the wizard who had taught the lich magic.  Lord Rupi, using his dragon mount, completes the quest and saves the life of Lady Wisteria and decides that it is time to settle down and train the next generation of halfling paladins.  He is named the Mayor of his hometown and lives happily ever after. 

CAVEATS
There are three key concerns for using solo adventures as part of a group campaign:  1) balance, 2) timing, and 3) freedom.   

Balance
In most solo adventures, advancement, wealth, and other rewards are accumulated considerably faster than in a typical group campaign, but this could be disruptive when the solo-PC returns to the party.  While the solo-PC should be rewarded for her efforts, the material rewards should not be out of balance to the other PCs in the group campaign.  Therefore the DM should be more conservative in rewarding material rewards and pay attention to the pace of the group campaign running concurrently.  There are some other rewards though that do not affect game balance, but are excellent rewards for a solo-PC: 
1)    Character Development: Solo adventures allow a player to truly find the voice and personality of her PC, which is truly a wonderful reward. 
2)    New NPC Relationships: Solo adventures allow a player to interact with NPCs to an extent not possible with a group campaign; this allows a PC to establish a relationship with a NPC.  The best way is to make a NPC who the PC hits it off with as a new contact.
3)    Special Knowledge: Solo adventures can be used by the DM to give information about the campaign to one player; in pre-adventures this can be used to provide background secrets or in a side adventure be used to give a clue to an enemy’s plans or weaknesses. 

Timing
When you pull a PC off for a solo adventure you have to pay special attention to the timing aspect, especially as solo adventures can cover far more ground that a group adventure.  Here are a few tips:
1)    Keep It Tight: Keep the solo adventure tightly designed, if it is too open-ended your solo-PC may never return to the group campaign. 
2)    Coordinate with Downtime: Try to run solo adventures when the group campaign will be doing lots of down time or traveling as opposed to intense adventuring (like dungeons), which takes more game time for less time passage and can result in a greater disconnect between the solo and group campaigns.
3)    Temporal Mechanics: Fudge travel times to correct any time discrepancies between the solo adventure and the group campaign. 

Freedom
Solo adventures are founded on player freedom, and if group adventures are fun, solo campaigns can be downright addictive as a player is fully in the spotlight and doesn’t have to deal with other players.  So when integrating a solo adventure into a group campaign there needs to be restrictions and tightness in design, otherwise the player may get too far from the group or may not even want to return to the group campaign.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This article only scratches the surface of solo adventures and campaigns, and if you want more information please consult the Guide to Solo Campaigns.   With the internet, it is a lot easier to schedule and handle solo adventures. While they often represent more work than group adventures, they can become a great tool to help improve and deepen your group campaigns.

1. In a multiple-person session, there is considerable time pressure: everybody is waiting their turn. The DM is freed from this pressure during a solo campaign. Descriptions can be personalized to suit the way that the solo adventurer would perceive them. Conversations can be more gripping, since they will not devolve into group debates (unless your player is interviewing multiple NPCs!) You can adjust the pace of your adventure (frantic, leisurely, or moving from one to the other) with great ease. Solo campaigns are also a great time for PCs to find out how their fellow PCs are perceived by the world around them... which, once you're back into the group campaign, can lead to entire PC/PC scenes in which the DM can sit back and watch.

2. There are perils to the solo adventure and they are grave. With the accelerated wealth mentioned by KJW comes an increase in risk. Even against a foe of lower CR, there can be dangers (critical hits, saving throws against paralyzation) that may derail your plans for the 'solo adventurer' to rejoin the group next session: the solo character might end up imprisoned, charmed, dead, or simply late. ("We waited three days! Where were you?") It's best to account for this possibility and set up a just-in-case storyline detailing what will happen if the PC goes missing and his regular companions go looking for him.

Yes, there are definitely perils to integrating solo adventures. In college my first big campaign never started because the pre-adventures I ran, ended up with half the party dying and the other half split up across the Realms. Regardless, it was a lesson learned. Really focus on keeping the adventure tight, coordinate it with downtime, and fudge time. I also find that if you let the solo PC run a NPC with the group that will help everyone deal with the absence positively.

Absolutely, play-by-post works great, I also think that many DMs who run online campaigns are doing solo adventures and not even realizing it. In my online campaign, I can run solo adventures with a PC while the rest of the group is doing something else, for example while the party is enjoying downtime in the city one PC is dealing with some personal problem. So in other words, pretty much the same as Orchomenos' PC experiences in his campaign. As they are in separate chats it really separates the solo PC from the group for more focused roleplaying. I try to give all of my players a chance to do something away from the group from time to time. It is a little easier to this online as I find with live sessions the PCs are usually more reserved as everyone is watching.