Converting the Age of Worms

[CAFargo]

Thanks. I was considering doing a call-out for a 4E age of worms conversion, so the fact that I just so happened to stumble upon this was really rather convenient. My party and I just started the campaign arc starting at Keep on the Shadowfell, but I was hoping to find a 4E conversion of Age of Worms to run through next.

Could your please email me whenever you complete an adventure, as I tend to be very busy and can't check ENWorld that often. My email is cafargo@gmail.com.

Thnx!

 

[sc8rpi8n]

Hi all,

- The mad slasher was converted in one of the greenbrier campaign articles. Just search the dugeon magazines. The section is called "campaign workshop", I think.
I remember it is a lvl1 brute.

- For the crimson death, use the coflizu (search the compendium). It is a demon but you can easily reskin it.

- For the first encounter inside the whispering cairn(the wolves), you can find some new wolves types in HS1-The Slaying stone.

Also you may want to up the damage on those avolakias. See monster manual 3 if you need guidelines. 1d10+7 at mid paragon is not enough damage.

Hope this helps

 

[tyrlaan]

How serendipitous! I'm doing some similar work, since I'm cherry picking assorted beasties from Kyuss lore.

I've taken a stab at wormspawn and a wormcaller so far, I'll try to remember to put them up later when I have them at hand.

I agree with you - the challenge I find is figuring out what level to run with for the conversion. For example, wormspawn are CR 10. I ended up with a level 10 converted beastie. Is that right? Easy enough to tweak to tastes I suppose.

 

[doktor avalanche]

Is this still live?

I hope this thread is still live because I also wanted to do a conversion of AoW.

I went through the same thought process as you did, trying to work out what experience each encounter should have. So I decided to bite the bullet and run through every module and pull out all the encounters and lay them out on a spreadsheet (hey I'm an accountant - what of it ! ).

This enabled me to do two things: firstly to pro-rata the original modules' levels from 20 3.5 levels to 30 4E levels (columns D, E & F); and secondly to estimate, based on 9 encounters for heroic tier levels, 7 for paragon and 5 for epic, how many levels each module represents (columns GH). This was a punt to enable me to fit all the encounters into 30 levels and assumed that epic adventures lasted twice as long as early ones. As we find the encounters and skill challenges that I missed then the number of encounters per level will increase (five does seem a bit low for epic levels).

Taking the first approach I estimated the required XP per module and therefore the average XP per encounter (but of course the actual XP will need to increase through each module - at the start the party will be 2 or 3 levels below the level at the end).

Using the second approach enables us to create encounters based on party level: for the first nine encounters the party will be first level, for the next nine they will be second level etc.

If we pick one approach and get a team together then this approach will enable us to convert the adventure in parallel with someone working on mid level adventures as others work above and below them.

How about it? Does anyone want to sign up to the project and use this as a project plan? Take this as a proof of concept that we can use as a starter for ten.

And I am sure I have missed encounters, but this is a good start I believe. I know I have missed several skill challenges for sure.


This should open in excel or openoffice and has no macros:
aofw.xls - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

I am now away for four days, but hopefully this kicks off the discussion.

Oops, I just noticed column G is the level per module not as titled in the heading the starting level. Rather than me deleting and re-uploading the file just insert this errata (if WOTC can do it so can I)

 

[DA Press]

My efforts

Age of worms.

 

[doktor avalanche]

First part of conversion

So it looks like this thread is not live and those people who said they were going to monitor it aren't or are just monitoring it as freeloaders.

Regardless, here is my effort at the first four modules. Some caveats, I am a starter, not a completer finisher. These are complete in an 80:20 sense. There is stuff still to do but hopefully it is in the encounter optimisation, treasure allocation, trap & skill challenge, and key NPC building departments which people find more interesting. I was trying to break the back of the conversion not get it 100% playable.

AofW1.htm - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download
AofW2.htm - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download
AofW3.htm - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download
AofW4.htm - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

Any thoughts are most welcome.

 

[Southern Oracle]

Family and work have kept me away from this project; also, my online campaign has been getting a lot of play recently, so my resources have been spent prepping for those sessions instead of working on this conversion. However, I've been on vacation this week and have revisited the topic with a fresh eye towards the adventure path in general and "The Whispering Cairn" in particular.

First off, kudoes to doktor avalanche for working on the adventure path framework. That inspired me to allocate a level spread to each of the adventures, in the hopes of better balancing conversions. See the next post for my breakdown.

 

[Southern Oracle]

(This framework is subject to editing as the conversion progresses.)

Heroic Tier
"The Whispering Cairn" levels 1-3
"The Three Faces of Evil" levels 4-5
"Encounter at Blackwall Keep" levels 6-7
"The Hall of Harsh Reflections" levels 8-10

Paragon Tier
"The Champion's Belt" levels 11-13
"A Gathering of Winds" levels 14-15
"The Spire of Long Shadows" levels 16-18
"The Prince of Redhand" levels 19-20

Epic Tier
"The Library of Last Resort" levels 21-22
"Kings of the Rift" levels 23-25
"Into the Wormcrawl Fissure" levels 26-27
"Dawn of a New Age" levels 28-30

 

[Southern Oracle]

With the framework from the previous post in place and the inspiration doktor avalanche provided with his breakdown of the adventures, I feel much more comfortable starting at the beginning instead of hopping around. So here's a breakdown of encounters for levels 1-3 of the adventurers' careers. (As always, this may change as things progress.)

The Whispering Cairn (Level 1)
Hall of Honor, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
False Tomb, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
The Tunnels, level 1 encounter, 500 XP
Passage of the Face, level 4 encounter, 875 XP
Architect's Foyer, level 1 encounter, 500 XP
Passage of Honor, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
Gallery, level 1 encounter, 500 XP
?, level 1 encounter, 500 XP

The Whispering Cairn (Level 2)
Workshop, level 1 encounter, 500 XP
Food Room/The Hive, level 3 encounter, 750 XP
Sleeping Quarters, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
Submerged Showers, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
Other Locker Room with Bench, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
Alastor's Haunt, level 5 encounter, 1,000 XP
?, level 3 encounter, 750 XP
?, level 3 encounter, 750 XP

The Whispering Cairn (Level 3)
The Chamber of Sighs, level 4 encounter, 875 XP
The Land Farmstead, level 3 encounter, 750 XP
Balabar Smenk's Gang, level 4 encounter, 875 XP
The Landing, level 3 encounter, 750 XP
Watchers in the Dark, level 2 encounter, 625 XP
Operating Theater, level 6 encounter, 1,250 XP
?, level 3 encounter, 750 XP
?, level 4 encounter, 875 XP

 

[Southern Oracle]

The Whispering Cairn

Listening to the Power Source podcast episode #40 yesterday spurred me to check out the Demonomicon, and I stumbled across the 4E version of the back story for the Age of Worms.

The Queen of Chaos is now a primordial; she seduced the demon Miska to become her lieutenant, slew the ruler of the Abyss, and then launched the war against the immortals. The Wind Dukes of Aaqa are now seven angels who served Bahamut, instead of a now-vanished race of air elementals.

This revamped version of history is only necessary in relation to the glyphs and the Vaati (Auran) language coming into play while exploring the Whispering Cairn.

Coward's Rest: This is a fluff.

Transport Alcove: This is also fluff, but here is where the PCs find the first Vaati glyph. They also have a chance of attracting the attention of the wolves from the Hall of Honor. The shards of black material are a treasure parcel.

Collapsed Passage: This is fluff.

Hall of Honor: This is a level 2 tactical encounter (625 XP).

• Hungry Dire Wolf, 175 XP
• 4 Ravenous Wolves, 100 XP each
• 2 Wolf Packmates, 25 XP each

Wolf Den: This is fluff, but the lantern and armband comprise a treasure parcel.

Gallery of Seven Lanterns: This is fluff.

False Tomb: This room can be complicated because you cannot predict what the characters will do first. Not wanting to railroad the players, I still want to try and get the characters to deal with one issue at a time. To that end, I redesigned the sarcophagus trap.

• Fireburst Sarcophagus Trap, 250 XP
• Burning Fire Hazard, 100 XP each

Fireburst Sarcophagus Level 2 Elite Blaster
Trap XP 250
Flame bursts from the sides of the sarcophagus, threatening to burn all who approach.
Trap: Flame fills the 2 squares all around the sarcophagus.
Perception

• DC 10: The character thinks it might be possible to avoid the flames with a successful Acrobatics check.
• DC 15: The character sees a way to disable the sarcophagus.

Triggered Actions
C Flame Burst (fire) * At-Will
Trigger: A creature enters a square within 2 squares of the sarcophagus.
Attack (Immediate Reaction): Close burst 2 (creatures in burst); +5 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d10 fire damage, and ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).
Miss: 1d10 fire damage.
Effect: Each time the fireburst sarcophagus attacks, it leaves a burning fire in its target's space whether it hits or misses.
Countermeasures

• DC 20 Acrobatics:Move action; the character can move into a triggering square without taking damage from the trap.
• DC 20 Arcana: Standard action; an adjacent character can disable the sarcophagus by altering the arcane energy generated by the trap.
• DC 20 Athletics: Standard action; an adjacent character can disable the sarcophagus by cracking the seal between the sarcophagus lid and base.
• DC 20 Thievery:Standard action; an adjacent character can disable the sarcophagus by defacing the near-invisible fire runes.

Burning Fire Level 1 Blaster
Hazard XP 100
Triggering the flameburst sarcophagus leaves lingering areas of magical flame that continue to burn.
Hazard: 1 square has a fire.
Perception

• No check is necessary to notice the fire.
• DC 10: The character notices the fire is spreading.

Triggered Actions
M Flare (fire) * At-Will
Trigger: A creature enters a space adjacent to the burning fire or starts its turn in a space adjacent to or inside the burning fire.
Attack (Immediate Reaction): Melee 1 (triggering creature); +4 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 fire damage, and ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).
Miss: Half damage, and no ongoing fire damage.
Effect: The fire provides concealment to all creatures inside it and within 2 squares of it.
Special: Each time the burning fire attacks, it spreads into its target's space whether it hits or misses.
Countermeasures

• DC 20 Acrobatics: Move action; the character can move into a triggering square without taking damage from the trap.
• Two gallons of water destroys 1 square of burning fire.
• Targeting 1 or more squares with a water attack automatically destroys the fire in those squares.