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due to the fact that I live in an area where hardly anyone plays Dungeons and Dragons, I am very often forced to play D&D solo. One problem i have with this, aside from the usual problems of playing solo, is the amount of treasure and experience I recieve from a single encounter. Since I like to play D&D 3.5, the experience and treasure awards can be quite substantial for a single PC. However, I have found a few helpful solutions to this problem for those who experience the same "vast award" woes.

When it comes to dishing out experience, I found, after performing research and trying a few homemade tips, a few things that will help. Unless you want your character to get really powerful really fast, try these helpful tips to maximize your D&D experience. One thing you can do is to lower the challenge rating of encounters to 1/4 of your level. This way you will be able to handle the challenges thrown at you, yet not have to "fudge" the dice alot in order to survive an encounter at level 1 against a single goblin or kobold. Another thing is that for those with access to early editions of D&D books, such as the 2nd edition like I have, reference the experience awards there. They have excellent ways in which to base experience points on monsters (though they will be extremely low. An orc, for example, is worth only 15xp) and bonus experience earned based on class. For example, in the column about the rogue, additional experience is earned based on the following: Per successful use of a special ability (only in times of danger), per gold piece value of treasure obtained, and per hit die of creature defeated (obviously these awards will be handed out after the adventure is over).

Treasure is another matter that must be addressed for solo play. You have no idea how many times I would pass a level 1 encounter only to obtain something related to the following due to high dice rolls: 5000cp, 1 gem worth 150gp, and a masterwork dwarven waraxe. Personally I see no reason as to why, after a single encounter with 2 orcs, my character should retire to a tropical island, set for life. One thing I like to do is limit the amount of treasure significantly. Rather than get excessively rich after one encounter (because the 3.5 treasure table is based off a single encounter rather than the adventure entire), I limit the amount of treasure earned (for homebrew adventures and not published ones) by rolling on the treasure table and using that as the treasure for the entire adventure (unless I face a dragon, then I roll again). I then divide the amount of treasure by the number of intelligent living creatures in the adventure and divide accordingly. Obviously leaders get a larger share and the best equipment than their underlings.

Using the above examples, anyone engaging in solo play will enjoy the game more and avoid the "monty haul" style.

In Dungeons and Dragons, the campaign/adventure does not start off in a dark, dank dungeon or a shadowy forest. No, the start of any adventure begins with the characters. However there is, and should be, more than just rolling up a character and jotting his/her stats down on a character sheet and starting play. There are questions about that character or even a group of characters that are eventually asked. How did they come to be in the town the adventure takes place in? How do they know each other? Why exactly is Sir Paramore the Just a good guy? Why is Niles a Rogue? To answer these questions, one must not only give stats to thier character, but also to give them a background.

Character backgrounds give life to a character. They tell not only the DM, but other players as well the reasons behind things that make up a character. Backgrounds tell people everything they need to know about a character: why a character's alignment is the way it is, what they are doing in that town, even why a certain ability score is so low. In this way, D&D characters seem alive instead of numbers jotted down on paper.

Character backgrounds not only give life to a character but also provide the DM with another avenue for a side adventure. Sometimes this side adventure could be solo. Other times it could involve the entire party. Whatever the case, these adventures add more to the D&D game because it makes things personal for one or more characters. Take this example: the smuggling organization Niles belongs/belonged to wants thier cut of the profits from the last job he did/failed to do, so they send a messenger for the payment. Rather than pay him (or being unable to) the messenger is driven off/goes away. Three days later, Niles survives an assassination attempt by an unknown assailant. After defeating the assassin and interrogating him, Niles and the rest of the party learn that the smuggling organization has put a bounty on Niles's head.

Using this example, we see that the DM has many options all originating from the character background. We have a random encounter with a courier from the smuggling organization; we have another encounter through the assassination attempt; and finally we have an adventure, the quest to find the smugglers and ensure they bother Niles (or the rest of the party because they could hurt them in an attempt to get back at Niles) no more.

Going off of the provided examples, one can see that having a detailed background associated with the character they create makes a D&D gaming experience more memorable.