Went off great! Turns out I don't have the problems at my table solo that I do with other players :P
The instructions for Storm King's Thunder recommend reading the whole module first before attempting to run it as a DM. I didn't want to do that because I didn't want to spoil the major arc of the story for myself, and my player(s) are guaranteed to go off and do something completely different to the published adventure anyway. So I wanted to enjoy the module on my own terms first, simultaneously as a player and as a DM.
The opening two chapters of Storm King's Thunder are a fairly confining railroad anyway, so it's not like I ran into any issues of cognitive disassociation. Thus the act of playing the game solo was very easy - I might have known a bit more 'metagame' than I would have with a real DM, but it really didn't hamper my enjoyment any. I decided my player characters' choices either by what fit their character, or by a dice roll if no choice seemed obvious. There is very little to no roleplay in the opening 2 chapters so I didn't have to deal with that issue, but the Dungeon Master Guide provides handy tables for roleplay situations so I figure I could resolve those with a bit of nondeterministic problem solving and a bit of dice rolling.
My only complaint is with the module itself, I found the first encounter in Chapter 2 to be way too hard for my characters and would have resulted in a TPK if I didn't fudge some dice rolls. Yes, I couldn't resist the temptation to cheat a little. But apart from that I really enjoyed the journey to Bryn Shander and the plot of the first Giant attack.
I realize that the reason they want you to read the module first is because a lot of backstory and setting information is sprinkled throughout the various chapters. As one review I read put it, Storm King's Thunder is 1/3 campaign setting, 2/3 adventure module. Also, as any experienced DM can tell you, it's much easier to weave a cohesive, interesting story if you know where the story will end up going. By tackling STK solo, I get to experience the module half as a player would - with no foreknowledge except what is given to me at the time, without ruining the journey for myself, and without putting myself in an awkward position as a DM where I would not be able to correctly respond to my player's actions as I would not know what consequences would occur further ahead.
In total, the experiment is a success and I can't wait to continue my solo journey through this adventure module.
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