I am slowly acquiring the old classic 1st ed modules with an eye towards converting them to 3.5 however I'm hitting an obstacle.
The numbers, and strengths of monsters and the much higher numbers of magical treasures are different than 3.5 usually allows. Now, I want to convert them as accurately as I can while still holding to the expected limits for 3.5
Whats the best way to go about this?
While I think about it, heres an example... Keep on the Borderlands, designed for 1st-2nd level characters back then but now the numbers are out and if converted straight as is, its either a death trap for those levels or characters could come out with 2-3 levels advanced.
Hopefully that helps explain the advice that I'm after.
Depends on what you are trying to do. I leave them as be usually and just run character of a bit higher or lower level through it. Its either that or tone it up or down so the levels the module says works. Either really works, the importnat thing about the modules are the plots and the series of rooms riddles and encounters.
While I think about it, heres an example... Keep on the Borderlands, designed for 1st-2nd level characters back then but now the numbers are out and if converted straight as is, its either a death trap for those levels or characters could come out with 2-3 levels advanced
Believe it or not, the best way is to simply use your best judgement. The two systems are simply not compatible such that you can plug a 1E module into a formula, turn a crank, and get something perfectly balanced for 3.5 out the other end. You have to weigh all kinds of factors - the levels of PC the module is originally written for may not be a good range of levels for 3.5 once all is said and done. You may have to increase or decrease the number of monsters because the strength of those monsters relative to the PC's will have changed between editions.
It's better to say that rather than CONVERT these modules, what you want to do is REDESIGN them from the ground up for 3.5. You can convert a PC between editions though you may have problems doing so, but in any case the resulting PC may be substantially different after conversion. You can convert a monster with somewhat greater ease, but the result will still likely be much different under 3.5 than the original concept. If it was a good challenge for 5th level characters before it might not be a good challenge for 5th level characters in 3.5. When you're "converting" an entire adventure you're converting NPC's, monsters, spells, traps, treasure, any and all of which may have to be heavily altered to conform to 3.5 expectations. To do that you simply have to rely on personal judgement as to what to adjust in which direction and why.
I start with the baseline elements of the 1E module. Then considering the level of party I intend to put through it, I set appropriate DCs for Search, traps, etc, then adjust the number and type of monsters in each encounter to an appripriate CR (if, say, there are six goblins in a room in 1E, I might lower it to 2 or raise it to 8 depending on the level of the party and what I think the difficulty of that challenge should be). Then I tweak treasure depending on how much I want to hand out (partly based on CR, but not entirely).
There's a lot of judgment invovled, but it's not really hard. Plus, if you do some searching, you can find a lot of pre-converted classic modules, which saves some work.
Ya just gotta "eyeball" it. For some lower level monsters, the numbers are fine. But as you get to higher levels, the sheer numbers of monsters (e.g., giants when you convert G1-2-3) means TPK. Either your players have to run or you have to adjust the encounter (let diplomacy work instead of combat, or reduce the number of opponents, or give your PCs some tactical advantage, etc.).
And some encounters as written for 1st ed. just don't work in 3e. For example, [sblock]the assassin in U1-Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh doesn't work with that class in 3e, since it's a prestige class. If you want to give him an assassin level or two, the pre-requisites (8 ranks means at least 5 level of something else first) make him deadly to 1st level PCs.[/sblock]
Double party size. Have everybody run two PCs if you have to. The 1st edition modules were made with an 8 person party plus henchmen in mind and when we played them, that's aobut what we did. If we had fewer than 8 people, we'd just run more than one PC each or have more NPCs with the party.
I ran Keep on the Borderlands not too long ago and it went pretty well with an eight person party (we actually had 8 players). Some of the monsters like the Ogre are pretty deadly even for an 8 person party because one hit will kill somebody, but that was the only encounter I flubbed anything as a DM as it was their first encounter and would have killed half the party.
Monsters translate across pretty easily and I didn't even bother to write them but just use the entry out of the Monster Manual although sometimes the deadlyness of monsters has changed. Statting out NPCs with character levels can take time and effort but the big issue is with monsters that are unique to the module or not in 3.x that you'll have to create from scratch. Even then, somebody has already done so and posted them on the internet in most cases.
I havn't tried to run any higher level moduels (liek the giant series) but off hand, it seems that doubleing the level of the module seems about right. if the module says 5-8 level in 1E, then its probably 10-16 in 3.5. Advancement is quicker in 3.5 so if you plan on stringing these modules together (eg B-A-G-D-Q), it shouldn't present too many issues.
I am slowly acquiring the old classic 1st ed modules with an eye towards converting them to 3.5 however I'm hitting an obstacle.
The numbers, and strengths of monsters and the much higher numbers of magical treasures are different than 3.5 usually allows. Now, I want to convert them as accurately as I can while still holding to the expected limits for 3.5
Here are the (general) steps I go through when converting an older edition module for 3.xe (I've already converted every single Dungeon Magazine adventure, and a whole lot of 1e classics):
Step 1: Go through the module as-is and record the EL for each encounter as given in the original module. Keep an eye out for the "signature" encounters - these are the encounters that are vitally important to the module and 'make the module what it is' and generally aren't changeable (this is usually the BBEG).
Step 2: Look over all the recorded ELs, especially noting the signature encounters. With these EL numbers, determine what level of characters (eg. 4 characters of 6th level) this adventure would most likely be suitable for that results in the least amount of work. More often than not, this is determined by the EL(s) of the signature encounters.
Step 3: Go through the encounters again, and change the ELs of encounters that are inappropriate for the character level you've decided is best for the module (in Step 2). This is best (and easily) done by simply adding (or subtracting) the number of monsters in the encounter, or by tacking on class levels to the monster(s). Sometimes (though only very rarely) will you need to swap out a monster for a different one entirely. Spoiler: For example, in Against the Cult of the Reptile God,
the spirit naga in the end is way too powerful compared to everything else encountered in that module... but it's a signature encounter. I solved this dilemma by changing the spirit naga (CR 9) to a water naga (CR 7) and ensured that one of it's spells known was charm person, which was necessary for the rest of the module. Then I changed the module's level to four 4th-level characters, and added monsters to the rest of the encounters to vary from EL 2 to EL 7
. This is one of the more extreme examples of a conversion - virtually every other one I did was much simpler.
Step 4: Traps and treasure can be done on an ad-hoc basis, based on how you run your campaigns. Setting DCs to match the module's level is a snap, and the amount of treasure is best determined by your individual campaign (though keep an eye out for any "signature items" that are required by the module).
That's about it. In all the conversions I've done, it's only rarely that I actually had to swap monsters out (and, with the plethora of monsters available in 3.xe, it's still pretty easy to do). I've also found that higher level adventures of previous editions are harder to convert than low-level ones, simply due to the different dynamics of higher-level characters in the different editions - however, the higher-level modules are much more satisfying and fun to convert, because of some of the niftier options available in 3.xe (monster prestige classes onto the Kuo-Toa of D1-2, for example. Fun!).
While I think about it, heres an example... Keep on the Borderlands, designed for 1st-2nd level characters back then but now the numbers are out and if converted straight as is, its either a death trap for those levels or characters could come out with 2-3 levels advanced.
That was actually true under 1e as well -- I ran Keep on the Borderlands as part of a nostalgia campaign last summer, and the single-classed PC's were level 3-4 at the end of it. (Nobody died, but I did give the players some hints about what order to take things in.) The level guidelines for 1e modules were about starting level, and didn't really tell you anything about where the designers expected characters to be at the end of the module
