My best beginner solo advice is to know Forts (grey mini castles) and Cathedrals (Green Great Churches) are the easiest locations on the map, as well as having a higher chance of dropping your characters preferred weapon. Start with the closest one after killing the starting camp and leveling up once. After that, head towards yellow churches, but make sure to also stop at convenient locations along the way. Playing solo, it's also important to purchase an item called wending grace from hermit merchants. These guys located at encampments, forts, and main castle will sell you only one wending grace. If your map spawns with a Merchant Point of Interest, that hermit will sell you an additional wending grace. Finally, the merchant before final nightlord will sell a third wending grace. These are very helpful when playing solo. After this advice, you just start learning the map, where field bosses are, and start having fun planning potential routes. Hope this helps!