D&D 5E Updating Older Modules to D&D 5E

[Azaar]

Last night, I got to thinking about what I'd be interested in running as a DM, if I were to actually try and run a game; all while looking through some of my older stuff -- specifically, Sword & Sorcery's 3E Scarred Lands book Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers. The idea of an adventuring party coming together in a place that defies expectations (in Hollowfaust, the necromancers who rule the city are collectively somewhere in the lawful neutral range, rather than your typical run-of-the-mill evil necromancer) sounds like a lot of fun to me, and I think my friends would also be interested.

But (we all knew there was a "but" coming somewhere), I have no clue how best to update a 3E adventure setting/module (or any older adventure setting/module, for that matter) to 5E. I imagine that most of it would be common-sense type of stuff, but any advice people might have for updating older content to 5E would be tremendously appreciated.

 

[Lyxen]

The simplest thing is to replace monsters and NPCs by the 5e versions. Just check that it's not absurd in terms of encounter, but it usually runs out of the box, possibly need to remove a few monsters when there are many.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Can't say much about 3rd edition conversions, but I've updated 1st edition adventures to 5e, you just work through it replacing monsters and checking the encounter is still balanced (if it isn't either change numbers or find a similar creature that is stronger/weaker), look at the trap damage, decide on a few difficulty classes etc.

The thing to watch for in 1st edition stuff are when there are huge numbers of enemies, on the whole solve this by not converting those adventures!

Another note: It's a good idea to have target level in mind before you start - this might be quite different from the original level.

 

[S'mon]

The simplest thing is to replace monsters and NPCs by the 5e versions. Just check that it's not absurd in terms of encounter, but it usually runs out of the box, possibly need to remove a few monsters when there are many.

Yes, that's all you do. Do not do a straight conversion.

If you absolutely have to convert: multiply NPC/monster hit points & damage by 1.5, divide AC by 2 & add 5, divide stats by 2 & add 9, and recalculate attack bonus & spell save DC based on the CR-derived Proficiency Bonus & the attack stat/attribute. Ignore all Feats.

 

[S'mon]

The thing to watch for in 1st edition stuff are when there are huge numbers of enemies, on the whole solve this by not converting those adventures!

Another note: It's a good idea to have target level in mind before you start - this might be quite different from the original level.

You can keep the listed number of enemies & just raise the adventure level. OTOH some "300 orcs" 1e encounters just work better as "30 orcs" 5e encounters anyway.

 

[toucanbuzz]

But (we all knew there was a "but" coming somewhere), I have no clue how best to update a 3E adventure setting/module (or any older adventure setting/module, for that matter) to 5E. I imagine that most of it would be common-sense type of stuff, but any advice people might have for updating older content to 5E would be tremendously appreciated.

Converting 3E adventures.

• Skill checks, convert to 1/2 + 5. (e.g. DC 25 becomes DC 17). Easy peasy.
• Wealth, reduce to 10%. Wealth by level in 3E handed out a specific amount of coin to meet advancement needs. No longer necessary.
• Magic items. Remove. The "Christmas Tree" effect of 3E presumed magic items that boosted numbers were an essential part of the character, so they were everywhere.
• Monsters. As noted replace with 5E equivalents. The CR ratings are pretty close. A lot of 3E monsters were created from templates or had unique abilities, and you can simply make a note to keep that power for a cooler encounter.

For AD&D, same idea on magic items and wealth. You can make up skill checks in your head using the "easy/hard" ranges. Monsters are the toughest because you'll have to be aware of what's a fair encounter, and a straight swap won't work. You'll be starting from scratch.

 

[Lyxen]

The thing to watch for in 1st edition stuff are when there are huge numbers of enemies, on the whole solve this by not converting those adventures!

Yes, this is probably the most important point, I alluded to it but was not precise enough. Due to bounded accuracy, action economy is really important in 5e especially against many lower CR monsters.

 

[Lyxen]

Converting 3E adventures.

• Skill checks, convert to 1/2 + 5. (e.g. DC 25 becomes DC 17). Easy peasy.

Or just use the 5e guidelines for whatever seems easy/medium/hard.

• Wealth, reduce to 10%. Wealth by level in 3E handed out a specific amount of coin to meet advancement needs. No longer necessary.
• Magic items. Remove. The "Christmas Tree" effect of 3E presumed magic items that boosted numbers were an essential part of the character, so they were everywhere.

Very true as well, good advice.

• Monsters. As noted replace with 5E equivalents. The CR ratings are pretty close. A lot of 3E monsters were created from templates or had unique abilities, and you can simply make a note to keep that power for a cooler encounter.

For AD&D, same idea on magic items and wealth. You can make up skill checks in your head using the "easy/hard" ranges. Monsters are the toughest because you'll have to be aware of what's a fair encounter, and a straight swap won't work. You'll be starting from scratch.

In the end, I indeed find AD&D and BECMI adventures the easiest to convert, as lots of the additional rules in particular about skills were not present and you can use the 5e guidelines out of the box. The toughest to convert is 4e, because the format and the levels mean something else entirely.

 

[Hriston]

Here's a link to the conversion document. Converting adventures starts on page 3.

 

[el-remmen]

I don't think converting adventures to 5E from previous editions is all that hard and it is basically all I do for my campaigns. The biggest thing is swapping out monsters/antagonists for some thing more appropriate in terms of type or number and/or pumping up the levels a little bit.

For example, when I remixed N1 - Against the Cult of the Reptile God, I made it a 3rd to 5th level 5E adventure - but I left most of the combatants the same troglodytes in the same basic numbers. The ones I had to change the most were some of the human NPCs.