Dusting off some Classics - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Dusting off some Classics

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
psyguard
Jun 06, 2008 17:15:11 So here I am on the edge of 4E. and I am looking around boxes of old stuff and decide to clean up a little. It's mostly Old White Wolf games that I haven't touched since their new edition came out (It was just so much better I never looked back at the old versions. 100% better game to my mind. Main reason I have high hopes for 4E is because WW proved it could be done) but as I am tossing things in boxes I find a few old D&D things covered in dust.

Temple of Elemental Evil
Scourge of the Slave Lords
Queen of Spiders
Dragon Mountain

Paper is a little crisp but it's all there, maps and everything

Up till now I had been tossing around all kinds of ideas for a 4E campaign but hadn't settled on anything yet. Now I find myself looking at these three booklets and thinking "these were fun" then looking over at the Dragon Mountain Box and realizing, I never actually got a chance to run it.

my copy of the core books won't show up till mid month (stupid Amazon canada). To those of you who do have their copies. How hard would coverting these old classics be
#2
senorcoo
Jun 07, 2008 10:13:14 I've got at least one of those four already in heavy progress of converting to 4E. You are going to want to take a close look at the maps and probably double them as far as size goes, because with all of these baddies and pc's running around, those old 10' corridors and 10x20' rooms are going to get congested REALLY fast, especially if you throw in some difficult terrain and obstacles.
#3
the_ubbergeek
Jun 07, 2008 11:17:41 On a related note, someone posted a thread here as he converted and play the Silver Princess adventure.
#4
eaterofthedead
Jun 08, 2008 14:27:07 I remeber when 3E came out I dusted off Dragon Mountain and gave it a run through. The campaign isn't very good however....

Anyway, the Greyhawk campaign would be a great 4E game. You could adjust the xp some and replace the monsters with appropriate levels of 4E monsters and encounters. Temple of Elemental Evil could be your heroic tier, Scourge of the Slave Lords would be your paragon tier, and Queen of the Spiders could cap off the whole thing as your epic tier. That sounds like an awesome game to me. I considered running the whole thing in 3.5 but set the idea aside when I discovered Shackled City. In 4E it would be easier to convert and as long as you didn't award XP for encounters and had set times to level up you wouldn't have to worry about the math of it all and just focus on doing an enjoyable conversion.

Hell, I'm inspired to do just that now...
#5
the_ubbergeek
Jun 08, 2008 14:44:44 I'm pretty sure Enworlders will revive that classic adventures adaptations project... there is already some threads to adapt things like monsters there already.
#6
jsepeta
Jun 09, 2008 23:37:23 I just started my daughters in a curious crossbreed of 1.0 & 3.5 having learned that 4e was just around the corner. They braved B1 - In Search of the Unknown and it took them 4 sessions to get in, get out, get home. The first 2 sessions the characters were 1.0 AD&D but then we redid the characters as 3.5 and that made them more fleshed-out / interesting / exciting. I'm sure they'll welcome some of the changes with 4e.

I had originally thought that the conversion of classic modules to 4e would be easy (AC, HP, attacks, treasure, BAM!), but after reading the reviews of H1 - Keep on the Shadowfell I'm thinking that I'll need to have a month or so to review the new core books before attempting a major conversion (where monsters have different tactics and players have more powers). Plus, one of my daughters is a Druid and I'm not sure how to convert her to 4e yet. Since Druid is so much of her REAL personality (love of animals and nature, very spiritual) I'm at a loss. Maybe she'll become the group's ranger, and the ranger will leave the party so another character can join the group.
#7
insaneengineer
Jun 10, 2008 7:09:42
Plus, one of my daughters is a Druid and I'm not sure how to convert her to 4e yet. Since Druid is so much of her REAL personality (love of animals and nature, very spiritual) I'm at a loss. Maybe she'll become the group's ranger, and the ranger will leave the party so another character can join the group.

it's far from perfect, but 4E cleric of a nature diety, multiclass with ranger or ranger with cleric multiclass. it doesn't have much of a feel for a druid, until wotc releases one, or someone does a custom, it might be the best you can do.

should make for a good roleplay opportunity
#8
eaterofthedead
Jun 14, 2008 12:09:55
I had originally thought that the conversion of classic modules to 4e would be easy (AC, HP, attacks, treasure, BAM!), but after reading the reviews of H1 - Keep on the Shadowfell I'm thinking that I'll need to have a month or so to review the new core books before attempting a major conversion (where monsters have different tactics and players have more powers).

The conversion doesn't need to be that in depth. You might want to just take some time with the core books and get a feel for how the encounters work now, maybe play a couple of little adventures, such as the free content from Dungeon Magazine, before you tackle a conversion. In reality, a conversion fro 1E to 4E isn't any different than a conversion from 1E to 3.x, you just need to keep an eye on balance so you don't accidentally wipe out the party with an encounter that's too tough for them because that was what was in the old module. In my opinion, as long as an encounter still matches the feel of the old one or serves the same purpose, even if the monsters are different, it's a good conversion.

Back in 3E I did this with a conversion of Master of the Desert Nomads where the party is attacked by a black dragon in the beginning. I had to do some quick thinking and made it a baby, that still romped all over them. Ever since I have kept a close eye on the ECL when converting old material, and I have converted a lot. 4E still has something like the ECL so you should be fine once you get the hang of the new rules.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 psyguard Jun 06, 2008 17:15:11	So here I am on the edge of 4E. and I am looking around boxes of old stuff and decide to clean up a little. It's mostly Old White Wolf games that I haven't touched since their new edition came out (It was just so much better I never looked back at the old versions. 100% better game to my mind. Main reason I have high hopes for 4E is because WW proved it could be done) but as I am tossing things in boxes I find a few old D&D things covered in dust. Temple of Elemental Evil Scourge of the Slave Lords Queen of Spiders Dragon Mountain Paper is a little crisp but it's all there, maps and everything Up till now I had been tossing around all kinds of ideas for a 4E campaign but hadn't settled on anything yet. Now I find myself looking at these three booklets and thinking "these were fun" then looking over at the Dragon Mountain Box and realizing, I never actually got a chance to run it. my copy of the core books won't show up till mid month (stupid Amazon canada). To those of you who do have their copies. How hard would coverting these old classics be
#2 senorcoo Jun 07, 2008 10:13:14	I've got at least one of those four already in heavy progress of converting to 4E. You are going to want to take a close look at the maps and probably double them as far as size goes, because with all of these baddies and pc's running around, those old 10' corridors and 10x20' rooms are going to get congested REALLY fast, especially if you throw in some difficult terrain and obstacles.
#3 the_ubbergeek Jun 07, 2008 11:17:41	On a related note, someone posted a thread here as he converted and play the Silver Princess adventure.
#4 eaterofthedead Jun 08, 2008 14:27:07	I remeber when 3E came out I dusted off Dragon Mountain and gave it a run through. The campaign isn't very good however.... Anyway, the Greyhawk campaign would be a great 4E game. You could adjust the xp some and replace the monsters with appropriate levels of 4E monsters and encounters. Temple of Elemental Evil could be your heroic tier, Scourge of the Slave Lords would be your paragon tier, and Queen of the Spiders could cap off the whole thing as your epic tier. That sounds like an awesome game to me. I considered running the whole thing in 3.5 but set the idea aside when I discovered Shackled City. In 4E it would be easier to convert and as long as you didn't award XP for encounters and had set times to level up you wouldn't have to worry about the math of it all and just focus on doing an enjoyable conversion. Hell, I'm inspired to do just that now...
#5 the_ubbergeek Jun 08, 2008 14:44:44	I'm pretty sure Enworlders will revive that classic adventures adaptations project... there is already some threads to adapt things like monsters there already.
#6 jsepeta Jun 09, 2008 23:37:23	I just started my daughters in a curious crossbreed of 1.0 & 3.5 having learned that 4e was just around the corner. They braved B1 - In Search of the Unknown and it took them 4 sessions to get in, get out, get home. The first 2 sessions the characters were 1.0 AD&D but then we redid the characters as 3.5 and that made them more fleshed-out / interesting / exciting. I'm sure they'll welcome some of the changes with 4e. I had originally thought that the conversion of classic modules to 4e would be easy (AC, HP, attacks, treasure, BAM!), but after reading the reviews of H1 - Keep on the Shadowfell I'm thinking that I'll need to have a month or so to review the new core books before attempting a major conversion (where monsters have different tactics and players have more powers). Plus, one of my daughters is a Druid and I'm not sure how to convert her to 4e yet. Since Druid is so much of her REAL personality (love of animals and nature, very spiritual) I'm at a loss. Maybe she'll become the group's ranger, and the ranger will leave the party so another character can join the group.
#7 insaneengineer Jun 10, 2008 7:09:42	Plus, one of my daughters is a Druid and I'm not sure how to convert her to 4e yet. Since Druid is so much of her REAL personality (love of animals and nature, very spiritual) I'm at a loss. Maybe she'll become the group's ranger, and the ranger will leave the party so another character can join the group. it's far from perfect, but 4E cleric of a nature diety, multiclass with ranger or ranger with cleric multiclass. it doesn't have much of a feel for a druid, until wotc releases one, or someone does a custom, it might be the best you can do. should make for a good roleplay opportunity
#8 eaterofthedead Jun 14, 2008 12:09:55	I had originally thought that the conversion of classic modules to 4e would be easy (AC, HP, attacks, treasure, BAM!), but after reading the reviews of H1 - Keep on the Shadowfell I'm thinking that I'll need to have a month or so to review the new core books before attempting a major conversion (where monsters have different tactics and players have more powers). The conversion doesn't need to be that in depth. You might want to just take some time with the core books and get a feel for how the encounters work now, maybe play a couple of little adventures, such as the free content from Dungeon Magazine, before you tackle a conversion. In reality, a conversion fro 1E to 4E isn't any different than a conversion from 1E to 3.x, you just need to keep an eye on balance so you don't accidentally wipe out the party with an encounter that's too tough for them because that was what was in the old module. In my opinion, as long as an encounter still matches the feel of the old one or serves the same purpose, even if the monsters are different, it's a good conversion. Back in 3E I did this with a conversion of Master of the Desert Nomads where the party is attacked by a black dragon in the beginning. I had to do some quick thinking and made it a baby, that still romped all over them. Ever since I have kept a close eye on the ECL when converting old material, and I have converted a lot. 4E still has something like the ECL so you should be fine once you get the hang of the new rules.