D1-3 Descent/Kuo-Toa/Drow

Garnfellow · Jul 1, 2006

Random encounters

I’m going to back up a bit and convert over the random underworld encounters for the D series. In the originals, there are three tables, for primary, secondary, and tertiary passages. If you do a straight conversion to 3e, the tables are all over the map as far as EL. The higher end of the spectrum doesn’t get much above EL 14, while the lower end goes all the way down to EL 1, which is basically just a nuisance encounter.

Curiously, the “easiest” table is the tertiary one, and the toughest is the primary passage table. For some reason I had thought that the least traveled ways would be the toughest.

D1 and D2 are interesting modules in that they are intended to be somewhat easier than G3, and many of the major encounters within these first 2 D modules are fairly easy to circumvent. I converted G1 as an 8th level adventure, G2 as a 9th level adventure, and G3 as a 10th level adventure. In following this progression, I had pegged D1 as an 11th level adventure, D2 as a 12th level adventure, and D3 as a 13th level adventure.

Accordingly, I converted over the random encounter tables to provide a reasonably wide range of ELs, but wanted the average of the averages to be around EL 11, and with holding the upper and lower limits to within +/-4 EL of this target. As we get closer to the Vault of the Drow, these random encounters get progressively tougher as more and more demons start popping up.

The original D1 was published when the original MM was the only monster book available, and the encounter tables reflect this limited selection. Lots of old school critters, including plenty of rather weak slimes, molds, and vermin that can’t be advanced very far in 3e. Also, there are several entries with large numbers of weaker monsters; in 3e, encounters with such large numbers tend to take too long to resolve.

When converting over the tables, I had this rough order of priority for guidelines:

Keep as close to the spirit of the original tables as possible
Try to keep encounters within a band of EL 7-15.
Try to first advance monsters before substituting different monster.
When substituting monsters, give precedence to oldest sources first: FF monsters over MMII, 1st edition over 2nd edition, and so on.
Try to limit conversion first to 3e core and Tome of Horrors before looking at other 3e sources
Try to cap the total number of monsters encountered to 12.

Garnfellow · Jul 1, 2006

Primary passages

Here is the "original" table for primary passages:

01–15 1d4+1 fire beetles
16–18 1 beholder
19–20 1 black pudding
21–25 1d6+12 bugbears with 1d6+18 slaves
26–30 drow merchant, small train
31–35 drow merchant, medium train
36–39 drow merchant, large train
40–44 drow patrol, male
45–49 drow patrol, female
50–59 drow patrol, mixed
60–64 1 gas spore
65–69 1d8+8 ghouls and 1d4+1 ghasts
70 1 gray ooze
71–72 1 green slime
73–77 1d2 illithids and 1d4+1 wererats (a, b)
78–80 3d6 marlgoyles
81–82 1 brown mold
83–84 1 yellow mold
85–86 1 ochre jelly
87–88 1 purple worm
89–90 1 rust monster
91–92 1d4+1 shadows
93–95 1 giant slug
96–100 1d4 trolls and 1d8+8 troglodytes

This is actually the table from the G-D-Q supermodule and not the original D1, but the two are close enough to make the differences pretty insignificant. The beholder and a couple of the drow entries are fairly tough, but most of these encounters are notable for their weakness. As noted above, lots of slimes and jellies. Is it me, or does the rust monster seem a little out of place beside all these terrors of the sunless realms?

When converting over to 3e, many of these monsters can be beefed up with some more HD or class levels, allowing us to keep them on the chart, and in some cases even reduce their number appearing to more manageable numbers.

Several monsters -- notably the oozes and molds -- just could not be advanced far enough to make them worthwhile encounters. In these circumstances, I found substitutes. Fortunately, Gygax himself made a whole slew of tougher fungi that appeared in the MMII and could make decent substitutes. The gibbering monster, also from MMII, also can sub in for the poor gray ooze.

Fire beetles, unfortunately, are a harder case. They take up 15% of the space on the table, and they are only an EL 1. I had originally set out to replace them with something else, but upon looking at the original tables it seems clear that EGG intended for fire beetles to be a very common encounter, even if they pose no real threat. Fair enough, I guess. So I have left them on for now.

Garnfellow · Jul 1, 2006

Here's my converted table:

01–15 1d4+1 fire beetles [Avg EL 1]
16–18 1 beholder [Avg EL 13]
19–20 1 elder black pudding [Avg EL 12]
21–25 1d8+4 bugbear slavers (bugbear warriors 4) [Avg EL 11]
26–30 drow merchant, small train: 1d2 merchants (male drow cleric 4/fighter 1), 2 guards (2 male drow warrior 2), 1 leader (male drow warrior 4), 4 bugbear warrior 4, 1d4+4 slave bearers, 1d2 pack lizards [Avg EL 11]
31–35 drow merchant, medium train: 1d3 merchants (male drow cleric 4/fighter 1), 3 guards (2 male drow warrior 2), 2 leaders (male drow warrior 4), 6 bugbear warrior 4, 1d8+8 slave bearers, 1d2+2 pack lizards [Avg EL 12]
36–39 drow merchant, large train: 1d4 merchants (male drow cleric 4/fighter 1), 4 guards (2 male drow warrior 2), 3 leaders (male drow warrior 4), 8 bugbear warrior 4, 1d8+16 slave bearers, 1d4+5 pack lizards [Avg EL 13]
40–44 drow patrol, male: 1d4+6 troopers (male drow warrior 2), 1 leader (male drow warrior 4), 1 commander (male drow fighter 1/wizard 5) [Avg EL 10]
45–49 drow patrol, female: 1d4+6 troopers (female drow fighter 3), 1 leader (female drow fighter 5), 1 commander (female cleric 7) [Avg EL 12]
50-54 drow patrol, mixed: 2 troopers (male drow warrior 2), 1 leader (male drow warrior 4), 1d3+3 bugbear guards (bugbear warrior 4) [Avg EL 11]
55-57 drow patrol, mixed: 2 troopers (male drow warrior 2), 1 leader (male drow warrior 4), 2 trolls, 1d3+1 trog guards (troglodyte warrior 4) [Avg EL 11]
58-59 drow patrol, mixed: 2 troopers (male drow warrior 2), 1 leader (male drow warrior 4), 1d4+2 underworld ghouls, 3 ghasts [Avg EL 10]
60–64 1 elder basidirond [Avg EL 9]
65–69 1d4+6 underworld ghouls (advanced elite ghouls) and 1d2+1 underworld ghasts (advanced elite ghasts) [Avg EL 11]
70-72 1 ancient gibbering mouther [Avg EL 9]
73–77 1d2 illithids and 1d4+1 wererats (a, b) [Avg EL 10]
78–80 3d4 deep gargoyles (advanced elite gargoyles) [Avg EL 11]
81–82 1d4+1 underdark phycomid [Avg EL 9]
83–84 1 yellow mold [Avg EL 6]
85–86 1 elder ochre jelly [Avg EL 9]
87–88 1 purple worm [Avg EL 12]
89–90 1 delver [Avg EL 9]
91–92 1d4+1 greater shadows [Avg EL 11]
93–95 1 advanced giant slug [Avg EL 10]
96–100 1d3 trolls and 1d4+6 trog guards (troglodyte warrior 4) [Avg EL 11]

The average of the average EL is "only 9," but that's because of the dang fire beetles. If you substitute an EL 11 encounter, the table average gets dang close to 11.

Garnfellow · Jul 1, 2006

Man I wish I could post tables here.

Garnfellow · Jul 5, 2006

OK, rather than fight against the limited formatting available here, I've posted the underworld encounter tables to my website:

http://home.gwi.net/~rdorman/frilond/rul/dm/underworld.htm

Rhun · Jul 16, 2006

Garnfellow said:
OK, rather than fight against the limited formatting available here, I've posted the underworld encounter tables to my website:

http://home.gwi.net/~rdorman/frilond/rul/dm/underworld.htm

Very, very nice! You are doing incredible work.

bastrak · Jul 19, 2006

Anyone interested in the official Greyhawk canon for Asberdies's background can find it in the Yeomanry gazetteer entry on page 135 of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It fits well and IMO is worth the read.

Garnfellow · Jul 20, 2006

bastrak said:
Anyone interested in the official Greyhawk canon for Asberdies's background can find it in the Yeomanry gazetteer entry on page 135 of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It fits well and IMO is worth the read.

Interesting. I didn't know about that source. Would you change anything about the conversion based on that information?

Garnfellow · Aug 25, 2006

My conversion of D1 is done, D2 is probably 90%, and D3 is 80%. If anyone who has posted in this thread is interested, kick me an email.

dragonlordofpoondari · Aug 25, 2006

interested!

you're doing great work, and i'm very interested in the finished product. please upload it to the conversion library or let us know when all is finished!