[filkfarf]

The second edition solo play modules (by solo play I mean one on one. The kind with no DM were really just glorified gamebooks) were balanced for a specific class, they usually had names like "Fighter's Challenge" or "Thief's Challenge" just to make it more obvious. If a DM were to make his own adventures for a single player, they would be tailored around that player's needs.

There really weren't any character classes that could hack it for very long on their own, if you just dropped them in a module not specifically designed for them. D&D has its roots in squad level wargames, the classes are designed to fill a necessary combat role (optional classes like ranger, paladin or bard may fill multiple roles with varying degrees of proficiency):

Fighter - frontline combat
Cleric - frontline support
Mage - archery/artillery/backline support
Thief - engineer/scout

If you break up the squad ("split the party") you do so at great cost to individual survivability.

Dungeon Hack isn't supposed to play like D&D though, it's an intro level roguelike which uses the AD&D license, and the resemblance to the paper game is almost superficial. The nuts and bolts of this game only have the same names as those in the Player's Handbook, it's a way different game. This game is meant for one person and one person alone, and it was designed that way. Again, it's not using the AD&D game, it's using the license. It doesn't matter if AD&D is suited for this style of play or not, since it's not really AD&D.

If you want to give a caster a shot, the best way to enjoy this game is to look at it as sort of a gentler little brother of Linley's Dungeon Crawl, and learn to not get too attached to your character for a few levels. After a few tries, you'll eventually get a pc that will get over the hump and get better spells, and the more confident you get as a player, the funner the game gets.

Personally, I love Dungeon Hack. I've been playing it every so often since it came out back when I was in middle school. It's one of my chicken soup games.