Ruins of Adventure

[D'karr]

Monument of the Ancients

The James Brothers (Brian R. and [MENTION=82885]Matt James[/MENTION], not Frank and Jesse) wrote Monument of the Ancients, a D&D 4th Edition adventure located in the area around Phlan. With a DDI subscription you can get it from Dungeon 170. Though not a conversion of Ruins of Adventure, this might give you more inspiration. It is for Paragon Level Characters (13th Level) but some of the ideas could be usable at any level.

Good Luck.

 

[Lokiare]

The James Brothers (Brian R. and @Matt James , not Frank and Jesse) wrote Monument of the Ancients, a D&D 4th Edition adventure located in the area around Phlan. With a DDI subscription you can get it from Dungeon 170. Though not a conversion of Ruins of Adventure, this might give you more inspiration. It is for Paragon Level Characters (13th Level) but some of the ideas could be usable at any level.

Good Luck.

I've already looked at that one. It has a nice map of Phlan that has things in the wrong place. The monsters aren't the same and I'd have to scale them.

I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and redo the monsters and traps in every map. I'll probably double the size of each map so that there is more space to move around in.

 

[D'karr]

It has a nice map of Phlan that has things in the wrong place.

Well I guess the map would be how the city looks like post-spellplague. It's been a very long time since I've looked at it.

 

[Lokiare]

Well I guess the map would be how the city looks like post-spellplague. It's been a very long time since I've looked at it.

Yeah, its got the inn that's supposed to be in the good part of town, right next to kuto's well and it doesn't match the maps given in the module for the rest of the town.

I'm just going to create a map for the civilized area of Phlan (I'm almost done with the map itself) put pins where things are (I'm using Fantasy Grounds) to list what they are and let the players explore the area. I'll just have to use monsters from 4E that are similar to the ones in the game. I'll probably keep the number of monsters the same, but use many minions for the kobolds and goblins and only use the normal non-minions for the leaders. Like I said I'm going to double the size of the maps so that there is more space to move around in.

Since 4E doesn't really endorse random encounters I'm going to pin encounters on the map at various places generating them randomly beforehand from the charts...

 

[Matt James]

Yeah, its got the inn that's supposed to be in the good part of town, right next to kuto's well and it doesn't match the maps given in the module for the rest of the town. I'm just going to create a map for the civilized area of Phlan (I'm almost done with the map itself) put pins where things are (I'm using Fantasy Grounds) to list what they are and let the players explore the area. I'll just have to use monsters from 4E that are similar to the ones in the game. I'll probably keep the number of monsters the same, but use many minions for the kobolds and goblins and only use the normal non-minions for the leaders. Like I said I'm going to double the size of the maps so that there is more space to move around in. Since 4E doesn't really endorse random encounters I'm going to pin encounters on the map at various places generating them randomly beforehand from the charts...

Weird, we pulled the maps from all known sources (to include the SSI video game). Feel free to send me a PM with the inconsistencies you found. I can't change anything now, but I'd be interested in knowing what you think you see.

 

[Quickleaf]

Since 4E doesn't really endorse random encounters I'm going to pin encounters on the map at various places generating them randomly beforehand from the charts...

It sounds like you want to include random encounters to evoke the Pool of Radiance / Ruins of Adventure feel? But you feel 4e isn't accommodating you somehow in doing that?

I've run lots of random encounters in 4e now, so I have a pretty good feel for how to minimally prep in a way that's conducive to short skirmishes, if you are interested in discussing it.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

It sounds like you want to include random encounters to evoke the Pool of Radiance / Ruins of Adventure feel? But you feel 4e isn't accommodating you somehow in doing that?

I've run lots of random encounters in 4e now, so I have a pretty good feel for how to minimally prep in a way that's conducive to short skirmishes, if you are interested in discussing it.

I'm interesting in hearing this. IMO, random encounters have no place in 4e, but pacing encounters do. Those might occur at "random" times but are pre-planned and hopefully interesting.

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm interesting in hearing this. IMO, random encounters have no place in 4e, but pacing encounters do. Those might occur at "random" times but are pre-planned and hopefully interesting.

Have you seen my Dragon Mountain 4E conversion? That's a good example of how it can be done. To distill my approach down to 4 principles:

• Create a table which is "living", not just a list of monsters. It should include what the situation is (e.g making up a story about what to tell chief after bungled mission) and hint at resolution besides "kill all monsters." Random encounters in 4E generally are better at threatening the quest, rather than the PCs. So, what's at stake?
• Use minions. If not minions, then lower level monsters. Avoid soldiers and higher level monsters. Also, don't limit yourself to just monsters, include traps and hazards.
• Put random encounters in context of overall dungeon/environment as a pacing tool to dictate when/where resting is possible (or how much rest).
• Let the players interact with random encounter rules by, for example: casting divinations, choosing their pace thru the dungeon, blockading doors/passages, doing advance research/scouting, cutting deals with monsters, etc.

Tha'ts the gist of it, but the devil is in the details.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

Well if you want my notes you could just ask : )

My powers have weakened - somehow I missed this thread until now.

I'll warn you, they are notes, not a complete written-as-prose modern adventure, but I do have lists for the encounters as I saw them. It's not a note-for-not transcription of the original either, but more an attempt to keep the flavor of the computer game, aided by the written adventure.

Also, the end is just a skeleton - my group never made it to the graveyard and the castle and that's where I was planning to put the higher level stuff. I had an outline but not detailed encounters.

So, with all of those disclaimers, if anyone is still interested, I'll clean it up a bit and scan in the maps and put up links in a post later this week. I think Phlan is a great setting for D&D in general and a heroic tier 4E game in particular. If I can help someone else get a game going there then I'm all for it.

If you're looking for other ideas, I spent February catching up posts on my conversion from Red Hand of Doom. I suppose I might have to put those notes up too once it's finished.