Coolness Averted posted:

In general the whole "I'll have an NPC or artifact to heal you or do stuff you cant" is a good idea when running solo games. I'd actually say if playing with someone playing a non-caster your best bet is to frankly fudge stuff a lot. Like have encounters end after it seems story appropriate, or just say "Yeah your backstab totally kills that unsuspecting guard"

I'd say the biggest thing to remember when trying to DM is to say "Yes but," rather than "No" and more importantly a failure on a roll should be a complication, not the end of things.
So like if he fails to pick the lock it's not "the chest doesn't open" it's "There's an alarm you didn't notice, so it's open, but now they know you're here" or "you'll have to choose, you could open this door, but if you do so, you'll break your lockpicks"
also that complication doesn't have to be directly related to the skill roll. Like what happens should narratively make sense, but it doesn't have to be "You messed up your climb roll, so you fall" it can be "Yes, you climbed up, but someone is there waiting for you."