D&D 5E Converting Old Adventures

[Micah Sweet]

It's only positive if you like that sort of play.

My group tried to do the GDQ modules in 5e. We absolutely loathed it. The options were kill the monsters or avoid the monsters. There was next to no room for diplomacy or even just interacting with the monsters in any way beyond combat without completely going against the module's intent.

That's what reaction rolls are for. Who cares about the "module's intent"? The story of the game is what the table makes it after the fact.

 

[Azzy]

Of course, the adventure requires you to have a magic weapon. There's a few critters that can only be fought effectively with such things. I'm definitely lowering the bonuses though. +3 is basically endgame gear for 5e, after all!

My rule of thumb is that a magic weapon/armor of +1-2 in older editions is a +1 in 5e, +3-4 is +2, and +5 or greater equals +3.

 

[Faolyn]

That's what reaction rolls are for. Who cares about the "module's intent"? The story of the game is what the table makes it after the fact.

The modules assumed a manner of play we didn't enjoy. No reaction roll was going to make it more fun for us.

 

[billd91]

My group tried to do the GDQ modules in 5e. We absolutely loathed it. The options were kill the monsters or avoid the monsters. There was next to no room for diplomacy or even just interacting with the monsters in any way beyond combat without completely going against the module's intent.

I can see that. The situation set up in the G modules is definitely pretty militant. The giants can be expected to be diplomatically intractable, which makes sense for the situation. And that's not the kind of game for everyone. But the D modules really do open things up once a few mysteries are uncovered in G3... provided you get that far.

 

[James Gasik]

All of those things sound like great fun to me. I'd kill to be in a game like that!

I just hope I can pull it off, it's going to take some work.

 

[James Gasik]

My rule of thumb is that a magic weapon/armor of +1-2 in older editions is a +1 in 5e, +3-4 is +2, and +5 or greater equals +3.

Even though I'm not a fan, 5e does allow for "+0" weapons and armor, so I've been turning most of the +1 weapons into +0's with neat abilities, the +2's become +1's, and the lone +3 became a +2. I don't expect to see a +5 weapon in the other modules I've picked for this campaign, so I'll burn that bridge if I get there.

Examples:

A +1 foil became: Silverblade, a magic silver rapier that inflicts 1d8 additional force damage to shapechangers. By attuning to this weapon, it gains a +1 bonus and grants the wielder advantage on saves made against curses or disease.

A ring of free action (waaay to good for this level of play) became: Ring of Mobility: this ring allows the wearer to ignore the effects of being underwater on their weapon attacks. They gain a swim speed equal to their land speed (or can even fly underwater!). By attuning to the ring, they can ignore difficult terrain by taking the Dash action, and gain advantage on saves made to avoid the paralyzed or restrained conditions.

A +1 shortbow became: Heartseeker (attacks made with this bow ignore soft cover; with attunement, it can crit on a 19 or 20).

 

[Lanefan]

Well at some point, yes. There's not many people who could afford such in Sturnheim (the town in the adventure), but I did put a way into the adventure, if the players do the right things. But as I posted upthread, I have a concern with what players are going to actually going to be able to do with said money.

If your players are anyhting like mine, worry not: they'll think of something.

Here's the ideas I've had and the problems with them:

Hirelings: the adventure comes with several NPC's who the party could hire or coerce into joining them. This would make the tougher battles easier, and it hits my nostalgia bone, remembering the time when I routinely adventured with a couple of NPC's around. But adding more bodies to battles will add to complexity, making those battles longer, and ultimately, force me to make them tougher.

Of course, the answer there is to have more specialized Hirelings you don't want to risk in battle, who can perform other services for the group, but there's some logistical issues to consider when traveling with camp followers, which leads into:

Base Building: another feature of older editions that I'm nostalgic for, is the idea of having a permanent base of operations. My experience, however, has been that this is something for high level play, when you can afford to build teleportation circles and whatnot. Building a base and then finding that the adventure is moving elsewhere, to the point you rarely see it, kind of makes the exercise feel a bit pointless.

That's where you-as-DM can help out: if it looks like they're considering a base, let them find a big heavy item to put in said base that provides safe reliable long-range travel.

In the game I play in, we have a big full-length mirror in our base that acts as a scrying device, and when scrying someone or somewhere you can then step through the mirror and be there. If someone "holds the mirror open" by scrying on you or your location, you can go back through it to the base; thus it provides two-way transport. The mirror allows us to have our base be in the middle of nowhere, which it otherwise is; though we also have an airship which also provides us long-range (if sometimes riskier) travel ability.

In an old campaign of mine, they found a big heavy tapestry of a pastoral country scene. If you stood in front of it and looked at it for a moment while thinking of a known location, the threads would re-weave themselves to show that location and you could then step through the tapestry and be there. That tapestry made their base (which by then they already had) much more viable as a long-term operation. The tapestry was only one-way, though; you either had to get back to base the hard way or send someone home to get the tapestry.

In both cases you had to have prior knowledge of where (or who) you were scrying; and both items only work to get to on-plane locations.

And-or, individual characters can always build their own strongholds, castles, temples, etc.

Training: some NPC's could teach players proficiencies, boons, or even feats, with the right incentive and downtime investment. This does turn money into another xp track since you now have another resource that can expand your abilities, but it might be ok if I got light on combat benefits.

I've always had it that characters either have to train to level up or advance way slower (and advancement in my game is slow at the best of times!).

Magic Item Trading: another classic "money to xp" scenario. Since 5e isn't built for players to need lots of increasingly more powerful magic items, there reaches a point where I have to charge outlandish prices for what, I'm sure, will feel like minor upgrades to the players. And honestly, I want the most epic and amazing magic items to be things found on adventures, not purchased from a store. Consumable items are a different story, of course, I always make those plentiful and easily found, but historically, my players over the decades never seem to know when the right time to use them is, or when it's worth the action economy to use them. I'm going to allow for bonus action potion use, but 5e's design is lousy with other uses for bonus actions- for some characters a bonus action is as important as a full action!

Yeah, 5e's cracks do start showing when one looks at how it deals with money, treasure, and magic. And the DM is kinda left hanging if-when she wants to fill in those cracks.

... [list of other possible ways to spend excess funds] ...

One option that your list doesn't hit, but that can provide a good and sometimes useful place for PCs to spend money (and time!), is researching and developing brand new spells, potions, and-or items. Spell research is obviously only something arcane casters will bother with, but researching and developing items is something any class can get involved with; and having your character's name forever associated with an item or spell is just plain fun.

 

[Lanefan]

It's only positive if you like that sort of play.

My group tried to do the GDQ modules in 5e. We absolutely loathed it. The options were kill the monsters or avoid the monsters.

Not surprising, given that in those G-series modules you're mostly dealing with Giants who have the collective intelligence of a shoe. Best there to just kill 'em all and let their gods sort 'em out.

There was next to no room for diplomacy or even just interacting with the monsters in any way beyond combat without completely going against the module's intent.

Once you got to the D and Q bits there'd be opportunity to non-violently interact with the Drow, wouldn't there?

 

[James Gasik]

If your players are anyhting like mine, worry not: they'll think of something.

That's where you-as-DM can help out: if it looks like they're considering a base, let them find a big heavy item to put in said base that provides safe reliable long-range travel.

In the game I play in, we have a big full-length mirror in our base that acts as a scrying device, and when scrying someone or somewhere you can then step through the mirror and be there. If someone "holds the mirror open" by scrying on you or your location, you can go back through it to the base; thus it provides two-way transport. The mirror allows us to have our base be in the middle of nowhere, which it otherwise is; though we also have an airship which also provides us long-range (if sometimes riskier) travel ability.

In an old campaign of mine, they found a big heavy tapestry of a pastoral country scene. If you stood in front of it and looked at it for a moment while thinking of a known location, the threads would re-weave themselves to show that location and you could then step through the tapestry and be there. That tapestry made their base (which by then they already had) much more viable as a long-term operation. The tapestry was only one-way, though; you either had to get back to base the hard way or send someone home to get the tapestry.

In both cases you had to have prior knowledge of where (or who) you were scrying; and both items only work to get to on-plane locations.

And-or, individual characters can always build their own strongholds, castles, temples, etc.

I've always had it that characters either have to train to level up or advance way slower (and advancement in my game is slow at the best of times!).

Yeah, 5e's cracks do start showing when one looks at how it deals with money, treasure, and magic. And the DM is kinda left hanging if-when she wants to fill in those cracks.

One option that your list doesn't hit, but that can provide a good and sometimes useful place for PCs to spend money (and time!), is researching and developing brand new spells, potions, and-or items. Spell research is obviously only something arcane casters will bother with, but researching and developing items is something any class can get involved with; and having your character's name forever associated with an item or spell is just plain fun.

Oh man, that does take me back. Spell research! I remember when that was the secret path to power for casters. Hole up with a bunch of gold for awhile, and see if the DM will approve your custom spell. I've only ever made a few, and they were intentionally underpowered, but they were mine, and that's all that mattered.

 

[Faolyn]

Not surprising, given that in those G-series modules you're mostly dealing with Giants who have the collective intelligence of a shoe. Best there to just kill 'em all and let their gods sort 'em out.

See, we don't really find that to be a fulfilling goal. We'll kill monsters, sure, but not just because they're big and dumb.

Once you got to the D and Q bits there'd be opportunity to non-violently interact with the Drow, wouldn't there?

Beats me. We gave up in annoyance after a while.