Converting between 1E, 2E and 3E

Grazzt

Demon Lord

• Oct 23, 2002

• #11

johnsemlak said:

I'd be really interested to hear how that goes.

Are you runnning the 2e 'Liberation of Geoff' Version, or the original? ARe you going to do the entire GDQ version?

Click to expand...

Original G series. Right now just G1-G2-G3. I might continue with the rest of the books; D series and Q...just depends on how it goes.

And I'll let you know how it goes of course.

 

Last edited: Oct 23, 2002

log in or register to remove this ad

Crothian

First Post

• Oct 23, 2002

• #12

I did the G series when d20 first came out. Besides a near TPK during the first battle of the first module, they did pretty good. They learned in one lesson that they coiuld not go toe to toe with giants. Of course in G3 I had a nother TPK, but that was becasue they were stupid.

 

E

Eristophenes

First Post

• Oct 23, 2002

• #13

I read Return to the Tomb of Horrors yesterday... This module (campaign?) was designed for party on levels 13 - 16. Reading it, I assumed that nothing "shorter" than 18 level or so and defeating demi lich on the end is almost impossible for such party... What levels would you recomend?

 

Grazzt

Demon Lord

• Oct 23, 2002

• #14

Crothian said:

I did the G series when d20 first came out. Besides a near TPK during the first battle of the first module, they did pretty good. They learned in one lesson that they coiuld not go toe to toe with giants. Of course in G3 I had a nother TPK, but that was becasue they were stupid.

Click to expand...

Did you use the 1e suggested character levels for the players or did you up the required levels since giants are stronger and more powerful in 3e?

 

Psion

Adventurer

• Oct 23, 2002

• #15

I have been doing a conversion of Ruins of Undermountain and Skullport.

I changed a lot of orcs to hobgoblins, since they made Orc chaotic (a change that still vexes me...)

I use the D&D conversion guide for NPCs. I used to think the conversion guide was pretty heavy handed when it came to slashing down the levels of multiclassed NPCs, but with some of those insane FR NPCs really need it.

One of the bigger problems I was having was converting some magic items to the 3e magic item system. I started my conversion before Magic of Faerun came out and was having a lot of problems converting Wine of Eternity and Blast Scepters. Magic of Faerun handled the coversion by making them artifacts and skipping the ugly details...

 

Thorvald Kviksverd

First Post

• Oct 23, 2002

• #16

Are there any guidelines around for converting from 3e to earlier versions?

How do you convert an NPC that is a Barbarian 5 / Ranger 1 / Sorcerer 1 to 1e or Basic?

Is there an accepted ratio for comparing character levels?

How are FEATS handled?

Skills?

I'd like to be able to use some of the new materials; but, though I haven't given it much thought, the conversion would seem to be more trouble than it is worth.

Any ideas?

 

JeffB

Legend

• Oct 23, 2002

• #17

I think one the trickier parts of converting older material is the power level. I think a lot of folks either forgot, or did not realize that the vast majority of the original AD&D and OD&D modules were designed for anywhere from 6-10 PC’s and sometimes some retainers in addition. This can make a HUGE difference, And can ruin an adventure simply because all those giant rats were not too much of a big deal for 8 1st level PC’s in basic but they are for 4 1st level PC’s in 3E.

Now with 3E we have a “standard” of 4 PC’s (which I much prefer at any rate, as I could never find 6-10 players, and having people double up on characters or myself having to run 4-6 NPC’s was a royal pain in the a$$).

 

Arnwyn

First Post

• Oct 23, 2002

• #18

IMO, converting from 1e/2e to 3e is extremely easy (so much so a monkey could do it!). It's especially good because it's so easy to determine what the "new" appropriate levels will be for 1e/2e adventures because you can determine an EL for every encounter (which is what I do in all my conversions). GDQ1-7 is what I use as a "baseline" for conversion difficulty; IMO, it's probably the most difficult older adventure to convert due to the fact that the ELs are very high in the G series, then drop lower in the D series, then get all loopy in the Q series. Therefore, a good amount of work is needed in the D series (however, I've discovered that GDQ is the most rewarding to convert, especially with some of the info in a lot of the d20 books that can be added, such as BoVD, R&R, R&R2, BoEM, BoEM2, and even the splatbooks). And, really, it isn't *that* hard. You're just advancing monsters, or simply adding some class levels. Easy.

Going from 3e back to previous editions would likely be very difficult. I was considering the consequences of doing so back when 3e was introduced (because my group actually *liked* 2e). I discovered that it would just be too difficult to retrofit 3e rules back to 2e. For me, anyways.

Anything to make the DM's life (mine) easier!

 

Crothian

First Post

• Oct 23, 2002

• #19

Grazzt said:

Did you use the 1e suggested character levels for the players or did you up the required levels since giants are stronger and more powerful in 3e?

Click to expand...

For the Hillgaints they were around levels 8 or 9. All the other ones they were a good deal higher then the module suggested, 12 or 13 for the frost giants, and 18th for the fire giants.

 

Last edited: Oct 23, 2002

diaglo

Adventurer

• Oct 23, 2002

• #20

now that the 3ed ELH is out. i think it is easier to convert from 3ed.

for me any of the old 1ed ADnD High Level Modules like the S or G series would be Epic Level in 3ed.