Belbarrus
First Post
Castle Amber was the first D&D module that I converted to D&D 3.0. I have also converted Ghost Tower of Inverness and am currently working on converting All That Glitters... and Beyond the Crystal Caves. Later I will be working on Tomb of the Lizard King and Rahasia.
There are a few things that I take into account when I convert a module, so some of the "conversion" is made just for me as a DM:
1) I do the straight conversions. In other words, things like magic items, traps, NPCs and monsters get converted directly to their 3.x counterparts or whatever is closest.
2) I add in a lot of information for skills and spells. For example, I may put the DC's for Spot and Listen checks. I may put in the DC modifier for terrain for Tumble, Jumping or Climbing. I especially put in information for skills like Spellcraft, Survival, Decipher Script and Knowledge. I may put in details of what spells like Detect Magic will determine. This section I find incredibly lacking in a lot of modules. Whomever writes modules seem to ignore the information that the 3.x skill and spell system can provide to players and how commonly skills like Spellcraft, Survival and Knowledge skills can be used.
3) I also like to add detailed information regarding "weird" or "unusual" things and events. For example, if a room has a "magic statue" that, when touched, will randomly bestow a benefit or curse, I make sure I put information, such as caster level, spell school and what information the Spellcraft skill and detect magic spell will determine. For doors and rooms that are supposed to be difficult to enter I put statistics such as Hardness and Hit Points. If a door or room is supposed to be "impossible to enter if the party does not have the special key", then I detail "why" it is impossible. Things like Dimensional Lock, Anti-magic fields, Walls of Force or evn mundane things like a "cryptic lock" (Open Lock DC 40), iron door with reinforced hinges. I hate the "blah blah blah and nothing short of a wish will allow the PCs to blah" type of modules. If the PCs disintegrate a door and it doesnt work, I need a reason why.
4) I remove anything that is redundant or too weinie/mundane/stupid to bother with.
5) I add in NPC reactions and preparations. Once again, this is mostly tailored to my style of DMing and my campaign setting.
With some alterations, I can probably make these conversions usable by anyone.
B
There are a few things that I take into account when I convert a module, so some of the "conversion" is made just for me as a DM:
1) I do the straight conversions. In other words, things like magic items, traps, NPCs and monsters get converted directly to their 3.x counterparts or whatever is closest.
2) I add in a lot of information for skills and spells. For example, I may put the DC's for Spot and Listen checks. I may put in the DC modifier for terrain for Tumble, Jumping or Climbing. I especially put in information for skills like Spellcraft, Survival, Decipher Script and Knowledge. I may put in details of what spells like Detect Magic will determine. This section I find incredibly lacking in a lot of modules. Whomever writes modules seem to ignore the information that the 3.x skill and spell system can provide to players and how commonly skills like Spellcraft, Survival and Knowledge skills can be used.
3) I also like to add detailed information regarding "weird" or "unusual" things and events. For example, if a room has a "magic statue" that, when touched, will randomly bestow a benefit or curse, I make sure I put information, such as caster level, spell school and what information the Spellcraft skill and detect magic spell will determine. For doors and rooms that are supposed to be difficult to enter I put statistics such as Hardness and Hit Points. If a door or room is supposed to be "impossible to enter if the party does not have the special key", then I detail "why" it is impossible. Things like Dimensional Lock, Anti-magic fields, Walls of Force or evn mundane things like a "cryptic lock" (Open Lock DC 40), iron door with reinforced hinges. I hate the "blah blah blah and nothing short of a wish will allow the PCs to blah" type of modules. If the PCs disintegrate a door and it doesnt work, I need a reason why.
4) I remove anything that is redundant or too weinie/mundane/stupid to bother with.
5) I add in NPC reactions and preparations. Once again, this is mostly tailored to my style of DMing and my campaign setting.
With some alterations, I can probably make these conversions usable by anyone.
B
and we're working on more all the time...
