What Do You Want In A Converted Adventure?

[Dannager]

Who said anything about scanning the original? I just want the conversion document in PDF form so I can easily read/print it from different platforms (say, my home PC, or my Xoom, or my phone...)

Right, that's what I'm going for.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I want all the conversion to make a 1e adventure playable in 4e without ruining the 1e feel/story/charm.

For example I would love to have I6: Ravenloft and all its greatness in a 4e version. I have never tried to do this type of conversion myself so I am not sure if it's possible to get to a sweet spot that does this well.

I also want it in print with all the tactical maps or PDF with printable maps

 

[eamon]

Personally, I care most about good DM advice. If there's something there that might foreshadow a later encounter, I want to know. If something may not make much sense in 4e (or whatever), and could use campaign-dependant help, I want to know. Recurring themes, particular NPC motivations, anything to help me tie it into the ongoing campaign or my set of PC's. If there's a reasonable (predictable) alternative the PC's might pick, tell me.

Maps I can get from the original or make up (assuming the topography doesn't have some critical features.) Encounters - well, those are nice, but frankly most published encounters aren't well balanced so I'm used to checking those anyhow; and it's not that hard to fix.

When I read the adventure, I want the feel of the module oozing out of my skin, I want to understand it as if I wrote it myself: DM advice is the most critical and irreplaceable. The rest needs some attention but isn't as important.

 

[S'mon]

I would caveat Aegeri a little bit. Keep the orcs, but maybe combine with another encounter nearby, or add a dire boar. Or make the orcs tougher or elite (very easy in 4E). Try to keep the style and details of that adventure. But otherwise, yes, make spaces bigger as needed or combine encounters so they cover more area, throw in some twists (though the classic adventures often already have many), etc.

Appropriate monster statting is the most important thing. If you're converting from say 3e to a 4e 1st level level adventure: 3 Orcs is an EL 1.5 in 3e, a rather tough encounter. For 4e that'd be a high EL 1. So for 4E I want it to be around 550 XP. I can look at my monster manual Orcs and see Berserker level 4 175 XP, Raider level 3 150 XP. I could use 2 Berserkers and a Raider for an EL 1, 500 XP encounter - although this is BTB bang-on EL 1 I can see by their stats that a 1st level party will find them plenty tough enough; about the same as 4 1st level 3e PCs facing 3 3e Orcs.

 

[S'mon]

Apart from the vital monster stats; it's also very good to have appropriately statted traps, and treasure should be converted over - if converting to 4e don't leave every magic weapon as a bare +X, use stuff at least from the PHB, preferably PHB2 too and maybe other sources like AV. It'd be ok to list mundane treasure + "magic weapon of level X" but DON'T be a lazy WoTC designer and just write "level X treasure parcel here"!

 

[S'mon]

BTW I've run a couple 3e adventures in 4e - Vault of Larin Karr and Forge of Fury - and had very few problems. I certainly didn't miss the Delve Format in these more exploratory adventures. AIR I could use 3e DCs for skill checks more or less as-is. The two major problems I faced:

1. A Cloaker very early on when I had no cloaker stats and no monster builder software. My effort was weak.

2. Occasionally I got the statting wrong, looked good in paper but not in play. Eg higher level Elite Soldier ettins make painfully long dull fights. Conversely, I took a couple levels off from troglodyte brutes and their defenses were so low they were helpless against the Wizard and never even got into melee! A good designer would avoid my errors.

 

[eamon]

Apart from the vital monster stats; it's also very good to have appropriately statted traps, and treasure should be converted over - if converting to 4e don't leave every magic weapon as a bare +X, use stuff at least from the PHB, preferably PHB2 too and maybe other sources like AV. It'd be ok to list mundane treasure + "magic weapon of level X" but DON'T be a lazy WoTC designer and just write "level X treasure parcel here"!

Hmm, I think this is an actively bad idea - if the adventure specifies a particular item that doesn't mean the party can use it; and the presumption in 4e is that the only magic items worth mentioning are useful to the party. So an adventure should preferably use "level X treasure parcel here" - perhaps with a note as to what the origin of the parcel is to hint at a flavorful choice.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Personally the most important thing and something some conversions forget is that 4E is a different system. It seems obvious, but the worst mistake when converting is trying to be too literal instead of maintaining the spirit of the encounter. A simple example is when you have 3 orcs in an encounter for 3.x. Now this works fine in that system because 3 orcs can actually do a lot of damage, but the same 3 orcs in 4E might not even be an encounter. Replacing with appropriate monsters and an appropriate mix of monsters is essential.

Agood advice, but don´t deviate too much... many encounters consist of 4 or more enemies. You can easily mix elite, standard and minion monsters.

A good rule of thumb is making classed and named monsters elite (applying a class template per DMG rules)
In this way, 3 orcs may pose a challenge.

 

[S'mon]

Hmm, I think this is an actively bad idea - if the adventure specifies a particular item that doesn't mean the party can use it; and the presumption in 4e is that the only magic items worth mentioning are useful to the party. So an adventure should preferably use "level X treasure parcel here" - perhaps with a note as to what the origin of the parcel is to hint at a flavorful choice.

And I think your idea is actively bad. It may be ok to leave weapons & armour undetailed, or even just say "level X item here" - although personally I much prefer to see something suggested - but there is no reason at all on God's green Earth why the designer should not list *mundane* treasure!!

 

[Zinovia]

Hmm, I think this is an actively bad idea - if the adventure specifies a particular item that doesn't mean the party can use it; and the presumption in 4e is that the only magic items worth mentioning are useful to the party. So an adventure should preferably use "level X treasure parcel here" - perhaps with a note as to what the origin of the parcel is to hint at a flavorful choice.

You can leave magic item treasure more open, although I would prefer some general suggestions, but for the love of little green d6s, tell us how many copper pieces the ogre had in its burlap sack, how many coins and gems were in the treasure chest, and how hefty was the dragon hoard. The amount of coin a group should receive at a given level is more or less fixed. Just tell us please!

I end up making it all up on the spot and am really bad about writing it down, so I don't have a good feel for how rich my group actually is. I'm working out of a PDF so I can't write it in the margin, although I could go to the trouble of finding every instance of money being found in the adventure and making up some amount, then adding a note to my PDF, but why should I have to?. I am running a premade adventure to save prep time, and I'm already converting all the monsters to the New Math. It's tedious having to add in treasure as well.

The group reasonably expects practically every single humanoid opponent to have some coins or jewelry of value, and expects at least some other creatures to yield valuable fur, or ritual components, or poison. Tell me the orc chieftan has a rough amber necklace worth 20gp, that the bandit has a sapphire earring worth 120gp and 75 gp in his pouch. Tell me that the carapace of the giant water beetle is used by local villagers to make boats and they are worth 2gp each. Please!

For magic items, I'd prefer some suggestions like "a level 12-13 item suitable for a spellcaster", but that is far less important. Those are something I need to customize anyway. The simple monetary treasure should not be.