I don't personally know of any conversion. I'm wondering if LFR did anything with Undermountain?
It'd be time-intensive in that you'd have to go through each encounter, but that's not much different then building an adventure from scratch. At least this way you have a map layout and encounter ideas (especially with regard to traps) already in place.
The only real concern I'd have for 4E is character movement because many rooms are small (10' x 10') and lots of hallways are only 5'.
However, if your part aren't a bunch of wimps, they should enjoy the challenge of (sometimes) dealing with hampered movement.
Thanks for the play offer, but I'm booked. ;)
All his work is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, but his descriptions are concise, flavorful and quite easily converted to 3E and, I should think, 4E. (I've converted his stuff to 3E and am here to tell you Steve knows how to write great dungeon encounters.)
Here's a link to some of his older stuff at Candlekeep.com: www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/roum...
Here's another link to the FRDMing Yahoo group. Some compiled files of his work are available there: games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FRDMing/
Hope this helps and best of luck!
, of that helped someone over at Candlekeep get access to his personal design notes to those Encounters.As far as the room sizes I believe they were based on 10' squares so the conversion to 5' squares makes a small room more roomy 2x2@10' would convert to 4x4@5' so some of the rooms are huge filling our game table.
When working at some of the well known areas I tried to keep it close if my adventurers happen to stumbled upon them, but I decided after a week of rereading those wonderful old encounters that I would use something like those fluffy details in my encounters but I would try to keep my players on a mission into the Undermountain. I tried to give the same feel of the old Undermountain when they explored finding old traps suffering a few tricks. I became selective determining wandering monsters so these 4E players had a sense of a dangerous vast ecology that has changed without Halaster's upkeep. I had a few of his old wards and portals still functioning dumping creatures into the dungeon. I made some areas of wild magic using the Sorcerer odd and even charts to determine damage types. I also made some areas of Plague Fire, these were barriers to other sections of the dungeon which make fine skill challenges.
I did decide they needed a goal before they got to Waterdeep and created specific encounter areas that went along with their adventure dropping clues and NPC's that may later show up in their later excursions. They had a tendency to wander searching for key sights their employer informed them about with old maps. The Undermountain had some damage from Halaster's Crystal experiments, so I had areas that were split open by chasms and collapsed sections that sometimes opened up into other rooms where they did not before. I had a few keyed gates as well.
I tried to keep the Lichs, Golems, Dopplegangers, Agents from the city above. One of the most fun things was when they opened a Jar releasing an Imp who was imprisoned by Halaster. He joined up with one of the darker PC's and lashed out at the Paladin in the group during one of their key Encounters. The Imp escaped harm but now he is a potiental threat to the party.
Another interesting turn of events was when they found some statues after they slew a medusa and her minions. They used the blood to release this group of Human Rogues and their Assassin leader who were more than willing to help the party. These rogues turned out to be Dopplegangers which aided the group determining the parties magic items and mission. Once the PC's were engaged in a major battle with a Rakshasa and her animated figurines a cyclopse, a formorian, and a carrion crawler, the dopplegangers ran away hiding in the surrounding woods of the grove within Wyllow Wood. Once the battle was over the Assassin and Rogue Dopplegangers took the shapes of the PC's and attacked.
I used the Encounter Level Tables in the DMG to rebuild some key sights based on what level the party was when they stumbled upon these. The Undermountain remains deadly because the party opened a trunk with a mirror of entrapment attacking the openers Fortitude if they looked under the folds of red cloth in the bottom. The next player saw the box lid drop and his ally gone and did the same thing. Both were entrapped. The rogue waited and worked trying to figure out whether it was a gate or a trap. He took a chance dropping a granite stone, he took from a statues breast plate that was a gem before the golem animated, he dropped it into the trunk hoping to determine if it was a gate shattering the mirror releasing his trapped friends, a Hill Giant, and an Umber Hulk. For a few moments I thought the game was over in a most fitting way within the Undermountain, because these three players were the only ones in the game session that night.
I figured if they were entrapped then I would make a note that they were also in the mirror in case the other gaming group stumbled into this area and released them.
I would say a party should have some goal if going into the Undermountain. Wandering Monsters should hint at that goal or section of the Undermountain. Hungry Monsters sometimes are attracted to loud parties and combat. I decided to use treasure values from parcel listing and replaced some of the gold with magic items of lower levels. This party was Paragon so I threw in some Heroic items like hand, neck, waist, feet, a few weapons, and wonderous. They also located Magic Items of their Parcel Level. I mixed in old minted coins in the treasure parcels as well to add flavor. This made them feel like they were in a really old giant Undermountain.
I think I will do more work on the Traps as they were listed on the card in the Box Sets to convert some of those but I haven't done many of them yet. I would have loved to have had a few more of those nasty but goodies in there. I basically used as many of the current 4E traps as fit the flavor of those old ones.
There is a lot of research to do when determining power groups working out of the Undermountain or Level 3's Downshadow. There is alot of room down there for most anything you want in your game: ghost, specters, drow, deurgar, demons, devils, illithids, lichs, cults, guilds, mad wizards, slavers, warlocks, elemental chaos pockets, spellplague, humanoid settlers/explorer/hunting parties, and even dragons. Have fun and make it yours!
I still hint to my players that fragments of Halaster may still haunt this place. He was there so long his essence clings to the walls in certain areas for good or ill.
7b. A good night’s rest again. EL6 1200xp
Approaching this room, the faint glow of a campfire is seen and quite voices speaking a strange dwarven tongue (Old Dialect of Dwarven) can be heard. Entering the room reveals it to be occupied by 12 heavily armed dwarves from The Kingdom of the Axe and Arrow, Ironford from the army of King Torghatar. These dwarves believe they were gated here by wild magic and are attempting to get out of the halls and make their way back to the halls of their clan. Actually they are from the past…
Ironford Dwarf Hammerers
Medium natural humanoid
Level 5 SoldierXP 200
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +4; low-light vision
HP 64; Bloodied 32
AC 23; Fortitude 18, Reflex 15, Will 17
Saving Throws +5 against poison effects
Speed 5
Warhammer (standard, at-will) Weapon
+11 vs AC; 1d10+3 damage.
Shield Bash (minor, recharge )
+9 vs Fortitude; 2d6+3 damage, and the target is knocked prone or pushed 1 square (dwarf hammerer’s choice).
Throwing Hammer (standard, at-will) Weapon
Range 5/10; +10 vs AC; 1d6+3 damage.
Stubborn (immediate interrupt, when an enemy tries to push it or knock it prone)
The dwarf hammerer makes a melee basic attack against the enemy.
Stand Your Ground
When an effect forces a dwarf to move—through a push, a pull, or a slide—the dwarf moves 1 square less than the effect specifies. When an attack would knock the dwarf prone, the dwarf gains an immediate saving throw to avoid falling prone.
Alignment Any Languages Common, Dwarven
Skills Dungeoneering +11, Endurance +5
Str 17 (+5) Dex 10 (+2) Wis 14 (+4)
Con 16 (+5) Int 11 (+2) Cha 12 (+3)
Equipment: heavy shield , plate armor , throwing hammer x3, warhammer .
If the characters approach peacefully, the dwarves are happy to impart what little knowledge they posses of the area and may even share a rough drawn (and not necessarily correct) map. If the characters question the dwarves about there origin they grow hostile. The characters are welcome to spend the night within the dwarves camp and will pass the night without incident but will awake in the morning with the dwarves gone, leaving only a smoking fire ring on the floor.
I'm saving this one for the Party with the Dwarf PC in it.
That was this groups introduction encounter in the Undermountain, I wanted it big but they made it much bigger than I had planned. Two had been in the Undermountain in my games in years past 3E but the newbies were blown away when the lich's throne grew legs and began to move around with him casting necrotic blasts on them. You should have seen there faces when the Bone Golem came in. They thought it was a Dracolich. They were intimidated but I knew they had the strength to win, if they were smart. After this they were much more careful in their exploration.
I think there was an Encounters session written early on and saw where the writer, Eric , of that helped someone over at Candlekeep get access to his personal design notes to those Encounters.
The first season of D&D Encounters, "Undemountain: Halasters Lost Apprentice", by Erik Scott de Bie.
Also, anyone interested joining in on the campaign?
She made purchase of an old warehouse which once was a theater. Within the greenroom behind the shambled stage there is a dust covered cloth that covers a mirror that was believed to be cursed. She did not gaze into it but studied the strong bindings of magic which emanate from the object beneath the dusty cloth covering. She offers to pay them again if they can bring her the next Orb. She explains that they must gaze into the mirror for sometime to awaken the magic that will teleport them to a place once known as Murial's Gauntlet... She also explains that the one known as Murial was transformed and driven mad by his form. He was one of Halaster's Lost Apprentices. He is believed to have changed his shape and left the Undermountain but no one really knows for sure. She does know that some horror still controls the area but what it is or what it is doing there she doesn't know. Secretly she fear this being may have discovered the Phantom Orb she seeks. She informs them that her ritual has told her the Orb she needs is within an arena there and it is said that the walls of the arena may hold a portal to a place they know. If they can retrieve this orb or bring it to her she will pay them. She explains to the Drow Paladin of Amaunator within the adventure group that it has been said the gauntlet was once some Drow Stronghold or School of training. It's age would be ancient even to the Drow. His knowledge of the Drow language and customs may aid them in their exploration of this dangerous maze.
It has been interesting with a maze of mirrors, banshees and many other customized creatures. I am following much of what was there before, to a point. This is all I can say for now as their prying eyes may read this.
The second gaming group was coming in after this mess and got picked up for questioning because they were to meet with this same employer. Thus after hearing some rumors they ended up going into Downshadow. These adventurers have planned a meeting with the employer in the Undermountain. The adventure continues with a different gaming group and some totally different sections with some minor overlapping areas. I have run these Undermountain adventures at Paragon Tier to allow for the many horrid and dangerous encounters awaiting within.