[Luvian]

I've been a DM mostly.

In my opinion, to be a good do DM has to be able to read his players and find out what it is they would like.

I'm not saying giving them everything they want. I mean do they want a dungeon crawl, a political campaign, humor, serious?

Did you read the player's handbook? Your friend should be able to start out with around 100 gold or so. With that he shouldn't have a problem buying a rapier. That is unless you have specific story reasopn to limit his stuff...

I'd say gorrow your father's book if you can, or buy some, this will really help.

There is nothing wrong with a single player campaign. I DMed one for my cousin for about 3 years, and it was really fun.

When you have only one player, he can become the special hero of prophecy, but if you have a group you have to balance out the heroic stuff between them. The only downside is that he's alone so it's harder to guess puzzles of find good decision.

I used to control an npc or two as party members to add more discusion, if you have a one player campaign it's important you create a strong cast of characters, in my opinion.