Is switching Age of Worms to 4e halfway through worth it?

[Silver Moon]

My group recently did one Module in that Adventure Path ("Into the Wormcrawl Fissure") and I had absolutely no difficulty in converting it. However, I'll add that my conversion wasn't to 4th Edition rules but to 1st Edition rules.

 

[hong]

Given my experience playing through Age of Worms you've probably done the best part already. I'd start a different campaign.

Aw mang, you ain't lived until you've done 200 points of damage with Diamond Nightmare Blade to an avolakia sorcerer.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

Aw mang, you ain't lived until you've done 200 points of damage with Diamond Nightmare Blade to an avolakia sorcerer.

And you haven't been bored until you've played a bard through Age of Worms.

 

[hong]

And you haven't been bored until you've played a bard through Age of Worms.

It could be worse. You could have been a rogue....

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

True.

But it wasn't just the class. The levels from about 15 onwards felt more like a chore than fun. The first time I'd encountered the problems of those levels combined with story that just didn't mean much to me to produce a pretty tedious experience.

Maybe it's more enjoyable for GMs than players. I just know that it put me off wanting to play 3rd edition again.

 

[cangrejoide]

I am currently GMing a AOW 4E. We started last week and so far it has gone great, granted we are still in Whispering Cairn.

If anyone does this conversion, please PM or post your notes on the board. I would love to see your ideas or suggestions.

Right now I'm tackling the EBon Aspect fropm 3 faces of evil, dunno if he would be an Elite or a Solo...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It could be worse. You could have been a rogue....

It could have been worse. You got have one player character loss each session. And usually always the same player, a player quite capable of creating powerful builds.

We called Age of Worms our "Sterbekasse"-campaign ("funeral expenses fund" would be the translation, but doesn't convey exactly our usage.).

Oh, and we had a Bugbear Fighter/Rogue (Reincarnate was also heavily used as a means for cheap and fast resurrection) and a Rogue. There were apparently still a lot of non-sneak-attack immune enemies. Discernable Anatomies proved a cruical weakness to many enemies. And the Cleric Cohort and the Cleric Radiant Servant of Pelor PC should have helped against the remaining enemy "cast"...

 

[Holy Bovine]

Nothing like a new edition to start posting again, eh? Basically, the question I want to ask your advice for: should I convert my 3.5 game or not?

Our group has just finished the 2nd adventure of the Age of Worms, and are now 5th level. I like 4th edition, from what I saw in Keep on the Shadowfell (which I've now played two sessions of to see what everything is all about). What I like most about 4e, is the monster layout, and less prep time. This might be especially helpful at high level. I am also liking the fact that I will do less botches like I always do: "ooops, the creature had this one ability which I completely forgot to use, which would have made the encounter actually exciting instead of the snoozefest you got now".

However, we've got an established group. One player is a dragon shaman, and one is a gnome illusionist. These characters might be hard to convert. Some specific Age of Worms encounters might be hard to convert too. Especially the final encounter... yikes.

My group of five players is split in two. Two are strong proponents of 3e, two are strongly in favour of 4e, and me and another player are somewhat in the middle (though I lean towards converting IF it saves me time or at least doesn't cost me MORE time).

Starting over is not an option, but a very loose conversion is fine by me. As long as the Age of Worms story remains in tact, me and my group are fine.

What would you do in my situation?

Thanks,
Rav

edit: Typo in the title

I wouldn't convert AoW to 4E. Of course given the unending slog the thing becomes after Prince of Redhand I wouldn't DM it again for anything.

 

[Holy Bovine]

True.

But it wasn't just the class. The levels from about 15 onwards felt more like a chore than fun. The first time I'd encountered the problems of those levels combined with story that just didn't mean much to me to produce a pretty tedious experience.

Maybe it's more enjoyable for GMs than players. I just know that it put me off wanting to play 3rd edition again.

Nope - it is most definately NOT enjoyable to DM into the high (14+) levels.

 

[Mokona]

Convert to 4th edition! Since you're only up to level 5 can we that you won't reach the highest levels of Age of Worms until many more D&D supplements come out? The illusionist can use the free Wizard spells posted on wizards.com...