Canonfire!

Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:49 am Old Adventure Conversions

So who of those of us here would be willing to help convert some of the older adventures to 4E rules? I mean, wouldn't Secret of Saltmarsh be awesome as a 4E adventure? And fairly easy to do. How about Cult of the Reptile God? the Slaver's Adventures?

Some of these have been done, but I am talking faithful translations, not taking off in non-greyhawk avenues. Would anyone else be interested in helping?

Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:23 pm Re: Old Adventure Conversions

Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:53 am

I'm going to do this as we play them, although the levels will be adjusted for my group which is currently level 11.

Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:24 pm

My hope is we can do some adventure conversions and post them here on CanonFire. My other hope is that we can keep them as close to the original adventure as possible - although level is mutable.

Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:54 am

I might help. I'm trying to convert some old modules myself, the first being Patriots of Ulek. Feel free to see my thread regarding that topic.

I'm not particularly expert at this, but ... I could use the practice.
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The Golem<br />

Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:50 pm

I was having a conversation with some gamers regarding this sort of thing and heard that with the new 4th edition monster builder (that you get with a WotC D&D insider subscription) converting dungeons is fairly easy.

I haven't DMed much in 4th edition yet so I haven't tried it but from the conversation you pretty much look at each encounter, log into the monster builder and have it churn out something simular in 4th edition rules, print it and just keep it with the adventure. Use all the flavor, maps, and other non-rule system based goodness of the original edition and use the printouts to replace the statistics for traps and monsters.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has tried this and if it works as well as I've heard or not.

Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:17 pm

It depends on the module I suppose. The 3E modules were written with a party of 4 in mind, so conversion should be pretty straight forward.

Older 2E or even 1E modules were written for different party sizes. For example, the module I'm converting is written for 6-8 people, so I have to trim down some monsters.

But essentially yes, that's how it works. You can also use the Monster Builder to modify existing templates.

For example (which I pulled outta my but), you want a Goblin Archer, but the given Sharpshooter uses javalins or crossbows. No problem, *tweak* done!
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The Golem<br />

Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:14 am

A big chunk of a module is the story. If you pick a module with a strong story, the alteration to 4e makes a less noticable difference.

To take account of the 4e mechanic you need to locate the 4e equivalent monster and consider what kind of threat you want an encounter to be. The DDI encounter builder helps here - you call up group level, group numbers, and the monsters and it assesses the threat level in the Builder. Reduce or increase level/numbers appropriately.

The recommendation is that no monster should be more than 4 levels below or 7 levels above your group level so you may need adjust the 4e version of a 3e monster using the Monster builder tool.

It isn't advisable to have too many standard monsters in one encounter. If monsters were intended to be low level cannon fodder in the original module, statting them as level appropriate minions in 4e edition works well (level +1 works even better). Making a boss monster a 'leader' with some ability to augment the minions works well too.

It takes a bit of practice - and a monster's effectiveness varies drastically depending on group composition so start off cautiously until you see how the group synergy works. Try a couple of sample fights to playtest the 4e characters and go from there. So far my group seem to be enjoying themselves. I'll see how we get on with a weekend marathon this week.

Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:29 am

Working on Red Hand of Doom at the moment though going slowly. Not technically a Greyhawk adventure but was shoe-horned into Living Greyhawk and placed in Sterich (where I have placed it).

This proved more tricky than I thought it would due to the use of dragons from early in the adventure and my decision to start it from 1st level. The 4E Draconomicon has helped though, providing various dragons that are not solos and it seems to be working for the most part so far.

Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:59 pm

I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but I have finished a re-make of U1 Sinister Secret. It's for 1st level, by the end of the boat they'll be 3rd.

Like many folks, I started with an xp budget, and where I wanted them to level. It's not a one-to-one ratio. (I mean, really, 5 giant centipedes as an encounter? Or one spider?) I haven't tried it out on some players yet, but hope too, soon.

Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:11 am

Cool! I'm finding that the best way to convert the old edition encounters is to have at least 2 variations on the standard monster i.e. give them slightly different powers that are capable of working synergistically. So you could give the largest centerpedes a grab attack and give the others bonus damage to attack grabbed characters.

One standard monster and a bunch of minions can be fun for a quick kill encounter. Just try to remember not to bunch up all your minions ready for the group controller.