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Converting 1st/2nd Edition Modules to 4th Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="Bumamgar" data-source="post: 4468099" data-attributes="member: 38648"><p>Keep in mind that even a dungeon isn't a static place. When the PC's take a short rest, the monsters aren't simply standing around idle. When the PC's leave and go to town, things change.</p><p></p><p>So, when running a dungeon crawl, these things come into play. If there are monsters who don't initially join a combat (they assume their buddies can handle it, or they are initially uninterested), and the party then leaves, or tried to take a short rest, these monsters can become interested pretty quick <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>For example, with the animals, you can lump them as a single connected encounter, even if they won't naturally help each other. Then, if the party takes a short rest in between the animals, ones nearby might smell the blood and come to investigate even though they wouldn't be inclined to help in a fight. If the party leaves and comes back a day later, maybe the animals have expanded their territory to include the now vacant rooms, or a new pest has moved in.</p><p></p><p>If it were me (and I plan on converting the Against the Giants series at some point), I would go with the theme of an area much more than precise monsters. If some caves have vermin in them, I'd find an appropriate level encounter of vermin and place it there, making it a logically linked encounter that fits the theme of the original module.</p><p></p><p>Keep in mind, many 1st/2nd edition monsters are artificially constrained to their rooms to give the PC's a chance to survive, since in 1st edition, it was generally assumed 1 monster = 1 encounter. 4E explicitly tries to do away with this other than exceptions (Solo dragons, etc), so the goal in converting an older module to 4E should be to keep in the spirit of 4E while telling the same story and fitting the theme of the older module.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bumamgar, post: 4468099, member: 38648"] Keep in mind that even a dungeon isn't a static place. When the PC's take a short rest, the monsters aren't simply standing around idle. When the PC's leave and go to town, things change. So, when running a dungeon crawl, these things come into play. If there are monsters who don't initially join a combat (they assume their buddies can handle it, or they are initially uninterested), and the party then leaves, or tried to take a short rest, these monsters can become interested pretty quick :) For example, with the animals, you can lump them as a single connected encounter, even if they won't naturally help each other. Then, if the party takes a short rest in between the animals, ones nearby might smell the blood and come to investigate even though they wouldn't be inclined to help in a fight. If the party leaves and comes back a day later, maybe the animals have expanded their territory to include the now vacant rooms, or a new pest has moved in. If it were me (and I plan on converting the Against the Giants series at some point), I would go with the theme of an area much more than precise monsters. If some caves have vermin in them, I'd find an appropriate level encounter of vermin and place it there, making it a logically linked encounter that fits the theme of the original module. Keep in mind, many 1st/2nd edition monsters are artificially constrained to their rooms to give the PC's a chance to survive, since in 1st edition, it was generally assumed 1 monster = 1 encounter. 4E explicitly tries to do away with this other than exceptions (Solo dragons, etc), so the goal in converting an older module to 4E should be to keep in the spirit of 4E while telling the same story and fitting the theme of the older module. [/QUOTE]
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