RomanStoic
First Post
Hey everyone,
Here's an update--I sent an email to WotC's customer service to ask them directly. The following is what I sent to them:
Here is the response I received from customer service:
Well, gee . . . I suppose that what I shall do is as follows: I'll take the suggestion above and organise multiple rooms into single encounters, perhaps so that all of Dungeon Level 1 is of the same level (so, roughly ten encounters in there, of varying difficulty according to page 104 of the DM Guide). If the PCs wander off without completing all of the 'parts' of a given encounter, then they'll get experience for whatever monsters/traps/whatever they overcame, whilst not receiving the rest for the part of the encounter they basically skipped over.
Looks like in that case I shall be bringing out the minions in force to maintain the feel of T1-4's huge groups of enemies! Although the situation feels a bit 'odd'--in that PCs could stroll off without really completing a full encounter--I doubt that, in the long run, it'll really matter all that much.
Thanks for the help, everyone! Maybe I'll post my conversion notes sometime.
Here's an update--I sent an email to WotC's customer service to ask them directly. The following is what I sent to them:
Hello,
This question references the following products and books:
1. H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth, pages 8-9
2. 4th Edition DM Guide, page 104
3. T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil (TSR, 1E module), pages 45-46
My question mainly regards the C4 encounter in Thunderspire Labyrinth. C4 includes three different groups of monsters which are spread out in several rooms. If the PCs enter location 10 first, they eventually fight all of the monsters (the other two groups come to help the group in location 10) but if the PCs enter location 6 first, then they only fight two groups--the third group stays put in location 10.
Let's say that the PCs enter through location 6 and fight groups 3 and 2, but group 1 stays in location 10. The PCs then leave the general area and take a short rest to regain encounter powers. After their rest, they go back to the C4 encounter area, enter location 10, and kill group 1.
In such a scenario, isn't C4 being split into TWO encounters rather than one? If so, is this anything to really worry about? Also, do the PCs gain XP for defeating the monsters they killed (except group 1, of course), or do they not gain any XP until they complete the entire encounter (by entering the final room and killing group 1)?
The main reason I ask is because I am in the process of converting the 1st Edition module T1-4 (Temple of Elemental Evil) into 4th Edition. 1st Edition dungeons are massive and include dozens of rooms on each Dungeon Level with many different monsters, some which will come to help each other, others which will not. To ensure balanced and fun encounters which offer challenge and do not become boring, I am attempting to redesign T1-4's many encounters according to the 'Encounter Difficulty' chart on page 104 of the 4E DM Guide. Since there are so many monster groups in each dungeon level of the Temple of Elemental Evil, what I think is appropriate would be to combine most of these monster groups into singular encounters, just like encounter C4 in Thunderspire Labyrinth.
The problem I run into whilst doing so, though, is that many of the monster groups in the Temple do not come to help each other. Example: rooms 103-107 of Dungeon Level One in the Temple are filled with harpies, ghouls, and ghasts. All monsters hear the sounds of combat but only one group goes to help out the harpies; the others stay in their rooms (just like group 1 in Thunderspire's C4 encounter if the PCs enter location 6 first). But the PCs have a much easier time of wandering off without even bothering to check the other rooms containing the remaining ghouls/ghasts after fighting the harpy/ghoul duo. Doesn't that reduce the encounter's difficulty?
For example, let's say that I take the 'Encounter Difficulty' chart on page 104 of the DM Guide and design rooms 103-107 in the Temple of Elemental Evil to constitute a Level + 0 encounter. But if the PCs only fight half of the groups involved and then leave to recuperate, then clearly the 'encounter' was considerably easier than a Level + 0 one. If the PCs killed a few ghouls, then left, rested, and returned, wouldn't that be two Level - 1 encounters (or even easier?). Is this even a problem at all--does it matter if the PCs leave mid-way through fighting the groups without checking the other rooms and fighting the other groups which make up the whole encounter?
My apologies for the long and convoluted series of questions, but I am truly at my wits' end with working on encounters. I love the 'combine several groups into one encounter' idea because it would make converting these huge 1st Edition dungeon crawls so much more sensible, but I fear that if the PCs were to just leave halfway through an 'encounter', they wouldn't be being properly challenged.
Thank you in advance for your response!
Here is the response I received from customer service:
In the situation you describe the Dungeon Master will need to make the final decision on how this is resolved, the rules do not have a process for resolving this.
Well, gee . . . I suppose that what I shall do is as follows: I'll take the suggestion above and organise multiple rooms into single encounters, perhaps so that all of Dungeon Level 1 is of the same level (so, roughly ten encounters in there, of varying difficulty according to page 104 of the DM Guide). If the PCs wander off without completing all of the 'parts' of a given encounter, then they'll get experience for whatever monsters/traps/whatever they overcame, whilst not receiving the rest for the part of the encounter they basically skipped over.
Looks like in that case I shall be bringing out the minions in force to maintain the feel of T1-4's huge groups of enemies! Although the situation feels a bit 'odd'--in that PCs could stroll off without really completing a full encounter--I doubt that, in the long run, it'll really matter all that much.
Thanks for the help, everyone! Maybe I'll post my conversion notes sometime.