4E Conversion of "Forgotten Forge" - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

4E Conversion of "Forgotten Forge"

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
hobson1975
Mar 28, 2009 13:24:04 Here's a write-up of my conversion notes of the initial Eberron adventure "Forgotten Forge". Feel free to yank for your own groups. Even in 4E it makes a great intro to the campaign setting.

--------------

Eberron Campaign Setting
The Forgotten Forge

Note: I adjusted the individual skill checks accordingly using the table from the DMG on page 42. They are not included here as I did them on the fly.

Part Zero: Race of Eight Winds

This is not in the adventure but just some opening flavor. I set the stage as the party of adventurers coming back from having spent the day cheering for their team in the Race of Eight Winds and the night drinking in celebration or drowning their sorrows in the copper they’d lost. I let each PC decide whether they would have gambled, on whom, and how much. I rolled randomly to see who won and how much they walked away with. The adventure kicks off with them stumbling home through the upper city.

Part One: Death in the Upper City

Encounter 1 – The Bloody Bridge
Cutter - Warforged Prowler (at full hit points) – XP 250
Slicer - Warforged Prowler (at ½ hit points) – XP 250

Notes:
• The Warforged prowler is actually the Halfling prowler (MM, pg 153). I described them as looking very much like the old MM 3.5 Warforged Scout only their armor plating was a deep black.
• I wanted to make this initial encounter particularly difficult to impress upon the PC’s how gritty and dangerous Sharn could be.

Encounter 2 – The City Watch
Skill challenge – XP 400
Success: O O O O
Gain the confidence of the Sharn Watch
Failure: O O O
Couple hours in the hold.
Key Skills: bluff, diplomacy, insight, history

Encounter 3 – The Broken Anvil
As written.

Part Two: Into the Depths

Encounter 1 – Rat’s Market
Skill challenge – XP 200
Success: O O O O
Failure: O O O
Key Skills: Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate

Encounter 2 – Sharn Sewer – XP 350
4 x Goblin Cutter (MM, pg 136) – I made two goblins, one human and the other a shifter
1 x Warforged Prowler (MM, pg 153)
Hazard: The valves (+10 vs. Reflex, if hit knocked prone—random valve roll D12)

Encounter 3 – The Door to Yesterday – XP 300
Glyph of Warding – random damage type (DMG, pg 90)

Part Three: The Ruins of Dorasharn

Encounter 1 – Beetle Swarm - 450 XP
Fire Beetle Swarm (MM, pg 30 – using the rot scarab swarm only fire instead of necrotic damage)
2 x Fire Beetle (MM, pg 30)

Encounter 2 – Ruined Temple
As written.

Encounter 3 –Saber’s Ambush
As written.

Encounter 4 – Horrid Rats – 350 XP
6 x Giant Rats
2 x Dire Rats

Encounter 5 – House Cannith Foundry – 600 XP
3 x iron defenders (MM, pg 156) – a rod pops out of each in the shape of a triangle, square and pentagram

Glyph of warding (electrical) guards treasure if the rods aren’t used correctly.

Part Four: Endgame

Encounter 1 – Saber’s Ambush – 750 XP
Saber (Warforged Captain, MM, pg 261)
2 x Warforged Prowlers (MM, 153)

Part Five: Conclusion

As written.
#2
skrapsan
Mar 28, 2009 18:08:05 Looks good. Shame I have run all of my players through that adventure chain. Especially since it's a great introduction into the world of Eberron.
#3
RedRider
Mar 28, 2009 19:52:37 Looks great, thanks for the work.

Encounter 2 – The City Watch
Skill challenge – XP 400
Success: O O O O
Gain the confidence of the Sharn Watch
Failure: O O O
Couple hours in the hold.
Key Skills: bluff, diplomacy, insight, history

Encounter 1 – Rat’s Market
Skill challenge – XP 200
Success: O O O O
Failure: O O O
Key Skills: Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate

In both of these you could probably justify Streetwise as a key skill. The latter more than the former, certainly.

Also, the Rat's Market one needs sucess and failure results. Perhaps more assassins wait in the sewers if they fail, or the existing ones are played as if they have been watching the sewer valvues and have learned to avoid the gouts of water and turn it to the observed pattern to their advantage. (IE: Roll up your own list of which valves will open on each turn and play it to your advantage.)
#4
RedRider
Mar 28, 2009 20:02:31 As an aside, here's an idea for another valves selection you could use.

Roll a d20.
1-12: Opens the corresponding valve, make attack against all targets in a line.
13-17: Valves closed. Nothing happens.
18: Valves open on previous turns remain open. Make attacks and such again.
19: Roll 2d12, both corresponding valves open. (If you roll the same valve twice, just open one.)
20: All valves gurgle to a stop and close, and an ominous rumbling noise fills the chamber.
On the valve's initiative next round, all valves open at once, flooding the chamber with foul water. Everyone in the chamber and "Downstream" from the area is subject to a hard attack against fortitude. If it hits it deals major damage, knocks the target prone and pushes them 6 squares "Downstream."
#5
skrapsan
Mar 29, 2009 2:29:27 Hmm now that I think about it, it would be possible to use the valve encounter for my campaing once more. Just a slight reflavouring and some different descriptions. Should be great, and I don't have to think that much.
#6
hobson1975
Mar 30, 2009 9:13:22 I really played up the valves when they encountered it. It just knocks them prone so isn't a huge hinderance, but more the look on the PC's face when they are awash in refuse was priceless.
#7
superdeadsmurf
Mar 30, 2009 20:37:18 I actually just ran a party through the forgotten forge too, I went with a different approach.

I barely used any monsters directly from the book...
Bloodied Bridge - Cutter was an Elite Barbarian-like Warforged, I had two level 2 Iron Defenders with him.
I basically ran the Watch encounter as a Skill Challenge, and had the stats of Dwarf Bolter and I think some human guards ready in case of party stupidity.

I added an extra encounter inspired by a scene in CITY OF TOWERS and used two human guards, a doppelganger sneak and human mage (with lowered levels across the board I think) and saving/helped by a goblin blackblade.

Rats market was run the same, with the goblin on the lift taking them right to Sakan to make the story flow a little better, and it not seem slightly jarring.

The fight in valve cluster was a lot of fun, I used Human Berserkers reskinned to be shifters (have them 'drop' their weapons when they use their bloodied power) and some sort of rogue/lurker as a template for the warforged rogue. I made the valves blast more, because I remember when ran the adventure in 3.5 it hit nobody. It got two initiatives, and on each one it would roll 2d12 (reroll a duplicate number) and both would blast. it was like a +5ish bonus, on hit did 1d8 and push 2 and knock prone, miss push 1 and knock prone. It worked very well.

The door to yesterday trap I set up as a semi-reskin of the arrow turret with a lowered level and made elite, removed turrets and shoot acid clumps. The skill challenge let you open the door or disable the trap depending on what you did.

I combined the rat and beetle encounter into one, and made it a little too hard and had to flub it around a little. It was two dire rats, and two beetle swarms (used the level 8 ones, leveled them down to 2, changed the blinded to dazed) and one original monster, a Rat King (a swarm of rats that have their tails stuck together) that could spawn giant rats (the minion)
I ended up taking down the wizard early, and he kept not using his area effects on the swarm anyway. It probably would have been ok if the party had more area effects.

in the Foundry the party fought 3 Iron Defenders (I added an extra key shape so they still needed to grab the one from the dead body) and also 'hammerer', a level 2 brute. the Defenders were lowered to level 2.
The party figured out the key system really easily so the trap never really had a chance.

The last encounter I really went to town changing the encounter from a solo warforged to a strike team that set up a bit of a trap.
Saber was a level 3 Elite Soldier (leader), on his team he had a warforged scout (reskinned goblin skirmisher), Warforged Mage (human mage to level 1), Warforged Archer (level 1 artillery), and Warforged Berserker (human berserker at level 1) And there was a circle of flame (5 fire damage, with 5 ongoing fire if you go through) with the beserker, scout and Saber inside with the party, the artillery outside.

All in all, it went really well, and translated very well to 4E.
Next week we're probably starting Shadows of the Last War.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 hobson1975 Mar 28, 2009 13:24:04	Here's a write-up of my conversion notes of the initial Eberron adventure "Forgotten Forge". Feel free to yank for your own groups. Even in 4E it makes a great intro to the campaign setting. -------------- Eberron Campaign Setting The Forgotten Forge Note: I adjusted the individual skill checks accordingly using the table from the DMG on page 42. They are not included here as I did them on the fly. Part Zero: Race of Eight Winds This is not in the adventure but just some opening flavor. I set the stage as the party of adventurers coming back from having spent the day cheering for their team in the Race of Eight Winds and the night drinking in celebration or drowning their sorrows in the copper they’d lost. I let each PC decide whether they would have gambled, on whom, and how much. I rolled randomly to see who won and how much they walked away with. The adventure kicks off with them stumbling home through the upper city. Part One: Death in the Upper City Encounter 1 – The Bloody Bridge Cutter - Warforged Prowler (at full hit points) – XP 250 Slicer - Warforged Prowler (at ½ hit points) – XP 250 Notes: • The Warforged prowler is actually the Halfling prowler (MM, pg 153). I described them as looking very much like the old MM 3.5 Warforged Scout only their armor plating was a deep black. • I wanted to make this initial encounter particularly difficult to impress upon the PC’s how gritty and dangerous Sharn could be. Encounter 2 – The City Watch Skill challenge – XP 400 Success: O O O O Gain the confidence of the Sharn Watch Failure: O O O Couple hours in the hold. Key Skills: bluff, diplomacy, insight, history Encounter 3 – The Broken Anvil As written. Part Two: Into the Depths Encounter 1 – Rat’s Market Skill challenge – XP 200 Success: O O O O Failure: O O O Key Skills: Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate Encounter 2 – Sharn Sewer – XP 350 4 x Goblin Cutter (MM, pg 136) – I made two goblins, one human and the other a shifter 1 x Warforged Prowler (MM, pg 153) Hazard: The valves (+10 vs. Reflex, if hit knocked prone—random valve roll D12) Encounter 3 – The Door to Yesterday – XP 300 Glyph of Warding – random damage type (DMG, pg 90) Part Three: The Ruins of Dorasharn Encounter 1 – Beetle Swarm - 450 XP Fire Beetle Swarm (MM, pg 30 – using the rot scarab swarm only fire instead of necrotic damage) 2 x Fire Beetle (MM, pg 30) Encounter 2 – Ruined Temple As written. Encounter 3 –Saber’s Ambush As written. Encounter 4 – Horrid Rats – 350 XP 6 x Giant Rats 2 x Dire Rats Encounter 5 – House Cannith Foundry – 600 XP 3 x iron defenders (MM, pg 156) – a rod pops out of each in the shape of a triangle, square and pentagram Glyph of warding (electrical) guards treasure if the rods aren’t used correctly. Part Four: Endgame Encounter 1 – Saber’s Ambush – 750 XP Saber (Warforged Captain, MM, pg 261) 2 x Warforged Prowlers (MM, 153) Part Five: Conclusion As written.
#2 skrapsan Mar 28, 2009 18:08:05	Looks good. Shame I have run all of my players through that adventure chain. Especially since it's a great introduction into the world of Eberron.
#3 RedRider Mar 28, 2009 19:52:37	Looks great, thanks for the work. Encounter 2 – The City Watch Skill challenge – XP 400 Success: O O O O Gain the confidence of the Sharn Watch Failure: O O O Couple hours in the hold. Key Skills: bluff, diplomacy, insight, history Encounter 1 – Rat’s Market Skill challenge – XP 200 Success: O O O O Failure: O O O Key Skills: Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate In both of these you could probably justify Streetwise as a key skill. The latter more than the former, certainly. Also, the Rat's Market one needs sucess and failure results. Perhaps more assassins wait in the sewers if they fail, or the existing ones are played as if they have been watching the sewer valvues and have learned to avoid the gouts of water and turn it to the observed pattern to their advantage. (IE: Roll up your own list of which valves will open on each turn and play it to your advantage.)
#4 RedRider Mar 28, 2009 20:02:31	As an aside, here's an idea for another valves selection you could use. Roll a d20. 1-12: Opens the corresponding valve, make attack against all targets in a line. 13-17: Valves closed. Nothing happens. 18: Valves open on previous turns remain open. Make attacks and such again. 19: Roll 2d12, both corresponding valves open. (If you roll the same valve twice, just open one.) 20: All valves gurgle to a stop and close, and an ominous rumbling noise fills the chamber. On the valve's initiative next round, all valves open at once, flooding the chamber with foul water. Everyone in the chamber and "Downstream" from the area is subject to a hard attack against fortitude. If it hits it deals major damage, knocks the target prone and pushes them 6 squares "Downstream."
#5 skrapsan Mar 29, 2009 2:29:27	Hmm now that I think about it, it would be possible to use the valve encounter for my campaing once more. Just a slight reflavouring and some different descriptions. Should be great, and I don't have to think that much.
#6 hobson1975 Mar 30, 2009 9:13:22	I really played up the valves when they encountered it. It just knocks them prone so isn't a huge hinderance, but more the look on the PC's face when they are awash in refuse was priceless.
#7 superdeadsmurf Mar 30, 2009 20:37:18	I actually just ran a party through the forgotten forge too, I went with a different approach. I barely used any monsters directly from the book... Bloodied Bridge - Cutter was an Elite Barbarian-like Warforged, I had two level 2 Iron Defenders with him. I basically ran the Watch encounter as a Skill Challenge, and had the stats of Dwarf Bolter and I think some human guards ready in case of party stupidity. I added an extra encounter inspired by a scene in CITY OF TOWERS and used two human guards, a doppelganger sneak and human mage (with lowered levels across the board I think) and saving/helped by a goblin blackblade. Rats market was run the same, with the goblin on the lift taking them right to Sakan to make the story flow a little better, and it not seem slightly jarring. The fight in valve cluster was a lot of fun, I used Human Berserkers reskinned to be shifters (have them 'drop' their weapons when they use their bloodied power) and some sort of rogue/lurker as a template for the warforged rogue. I made the valves blast more, because I remember when ran the adventure in 3.5 it hit nobody. It got two initiatives, and on each one it would roll 2d12 (reroll a duplicate number) and both would blast. it was like a +5ish bonus, on hit did 1d8 and push 2 and knock prone, miss push 1 and knock prone. It worked very well. The door to yesterday trap I set up as a semi-reskin of the arrow turret with a lowered level and made elite, removed turrets and shoot acid clumps. The skill challenge let you open the door or disable the trap depending on what you did. I combined the rat and beetle encounter into one, and made it a little too hard and had to flub it around a little. It was two dire rats, and two beetle swarms (used the level 8 ones, leveled them down to 2, changed the blinded to dazed) and one original monster, a Rat King (a swarm of rats that have their tails stuck together) that could spawn giant rats (the minion) I ended up taking down the wizard early, and he kept not using his area effects on the swarm anyway. It probably would have been ok if the party had more area effects. in the Foundry the party fought 3 Iron Defenders (I added an extra key shape so they still needed to grab the one from the dead body) and also 'hammerer', a level 2 brute. the Defenders were lowered to level 2. The party figured out the key system really easily so the trap never really had a chance. The last encounter I really went to town changing the encounter from a solo warforged to a strike team that set up a bit of a trap. Saber was a level 3 Elite Soldier (leader), on his team he had a warforged scout (reskinned goblin skirmisher), Warforged Mage (human mage to level 1), Warforged Archer (level 1 artillery), and Warforged Berserker (human berserker at level 1) And there was a circle of flame (5 fire damage, with 5 ongoing fire if you go through) with the beserker, scout and Saber inside with the party, the artillery outside. All in all, it went really well, and translated very well to 4E. Next week we're probably starting Shadows of the Last War.