Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 apocalypse_incognito Nov 24, 2008 13:41:20	In another thread, I mentioned that I was trying to convert Cormyr: Tearing of the Weave to 4th edition. A fellow DM mentioned his group was on the second book when 4th edition came out and wasn't very happy about ditching the Cormyr trilogy because of the rules-changes. My group has already put a cumulative total of eight hours into the first adventure. Not a whole lot, but I'd rather keep with it instead of starting a new adventure. So, I'm wondering: are there any other DMs out there who are interested in a cooperative effort to convert the book? It feels like a massive undertaking for just one DM. If we can get enough folks, I'll gladly volunteer to PhotoShop up the creature listings the way they're done in Monster Manual! Just putting a feeler out there. Otherwise, it's likely I'll have to scrap the module. It's simply too much of a headache!
#2 star_gazer_02 Nov 24, 2008 15:07:01	Actually, it's not as much of a headache as you think it is. There are how many encounters in the books? That's the vast majority of the work right there. Each encounter is going to take you 15 minutes, at most to reconfigure. Assuming you have the MM, Compendium access and a printer, you're all set. Things are a tiny, tiny bit slower without compendium access, but not much. Here's my workflow: Go through each encounter (13/level or thereabouts - that was 3e standard) Designate 3 as easy (Level-1), 7 as standard (Level+0;Level+1), 3 as Hard (Level+2->Level+4). Ignore XP, just dictate that x number of encounters == one level. Take your list and give yourself an XP budget for each one. Now comes the 'hard' part. The hard part is to go through each encounter and determine what the intent of the encounter is. You're going to have many, many more monsters in each encounter than in 3e, so you need to be flexible in designing each one. Now, start creating monsters. Use Asmor's Monster Creator 3.2, it does all your nice formatting for you, will auto-calculate your HP, Stats and all sorts of things. Look up similar monsters using your 4e MM and the Compendium. Give all monsters of a particular type a Theme Power and then powers appropriate to their status. Steal powers from the MM with abandon, just remember to adjust the damage dealt by each power according to DMG42. The first couple will be difficult, because you're working through an unfamiliar system, but soon you'll be flying through stuff like you wouldn't believe.
#3 apocalypse_incognito Nov 24, 2008 16:18:58	Assuming you have the MM, Compendium access and a printer, you're all set. Things are a tiny, tiny bit slower without compendium access, but not much. When you mention Compendium, do you mean this book? Take your list and give yourself an XP budget for each one. Currently, I have five 4th level PCs. Given the formula I've seen, does that mean every budget will be 875 until the characters begin hitting 5th level? Now comes the 'hard' part. The hard part is to go through each encounter and determine what the intent of the encounter is. You're going to have many, many more monsters in each encounter than in 3e, so you need to be flexible in designing each one. I'm going to start doing this as soon as I'm done with my reply. We'll see how it goes! As always, thanks for your help, SG.
#4 star_gazer_02 Nov 24, 2008 16:31:14	No, the DDI Compendium. Truly, it is worth its weight in gold. Use Asmor's monster database lookup tool to find fun monsters in your party's level range, access them on the Compendium, copy what you find into Monster Maker (cut & paste ftw!) and you're done. Oh, and the dirty little secret of monster design: The powers that each monster has are infinitely scalable. If you see a power on a level 25 monster that would go really, really well on a monster for your 4th level party, yoink it! Just adjust the damage as per DMG42. Status effects have no level. I think I'm going to write up a "Star Gazer's Guide to Quick'n'Easy Monster Creation." Really, it's quite awesome how easy it is.
#5 pheonixiv Nov 24, 2008 17:45:59	Oh, and the dirty little secret of monster design: The powers that each monster has are infinitely scalable. If you see a power on a level 25 monster that would go really, really well on a monster for your 4th level party, yoink it! Just adjust the damage as per DMG42. Status effects have no level. I wouldn't be so sure, there's a number of Epic level monsters (i think there's a handful of higher level Paragon ones too?) that Stun characters until the end of their next turn with their basic attack. I havn't seen that on any Heroic monsters, and i personally would not give a Stunned effect on a basic attack to a Heroic monster. But as a general rule of thumb, yes, status effects have no level.