New 4e campaign using Pathfinder's RotRL - Am I crazy?

[kiznit]

Surely it can't be that hard to convert, can it? Anyone else thought about doing this? I don't have the core books yet so I'm wondering how easy people think it might be to switch rulesets and convert monsters and bad guys more or less on the fly.

I know Rise of the Runelords definitely likes to use some funny templates, has a whole host of new monsters and the like, so I'm nervous, but eager, and willing to invest in a modicum of prep work (if anything at least to help familiarize myself). I definitely don't imagine I'd be going for a hardcore perfect conversion, but more along the lines of using the maps, following the storyline, and trying to match the coolness of encounters.

Any resources out there or at Paizo of people thinking about doing this?

 

[James Jacobs]

I am, of course, VERY curious to know how this turns out for ya, if it's more work/trouble than it's worth, and how close the final converted adventure resembles the original. I suspect you'll be making up a LOT of monster stat blocks out of the blue, though... I mean... there's a goblin bard pretty much in the very first encounter, for example...

 

[kiznit]

Er... uh... gosh.

No pressure or anything, I guess.

All right, well, stay tuned and in about a month I'll hopefully have a write-up about how the first couple of sessions go.

Just off the top of my head I imagine it'd be pretty easy to swap out Bard effects with a few cleric powers. Hopefully.

 

[billd91]

I'd be curious to see it too. And I agree, you'll be making up lots of monsters because the 4e MM just doesn't have the breadth of monsters that even 3e MM had.
That said, converting stuff is something I've always found reasonably fun to do. Just time consuming.

 

[SWBaxter]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I have this idea for using the Rise of the Runelords to bring about a magical cataclysm and create my 4e points of light setting. Dunno if it'll happen, but I think it'd be cool.

 

[pdiddy]

I think it will depend on how close to the original you wish to make it. If you are just going for the general plot and "feel" of RotRL but are willing to recraft the encounters using the appropriate XP budgets then I don't think the conversion would be that bad. For instance, the previously mentioned 1st encounter with the goblins...the first series of encounters actually...using the goblin bard doesn't make or break the encounter. In fact I think that the first series of encounters with the goblins could be quite interesting if instead it was made a running battle with a bunch of goblin minions and a few picadors.

One thing to maybe consider (if it matters to you) is how much XP gets awarded throughout the arc and to what level that gets the PCs. The "feel" of the RotRL (in my opinion) does not get into the epic stuff. Maybe you want to keep it that way and maybe you don't care.

However, if you are trying to stay identical to the original and do a straight up conversion of all the monsters, magic, etc...yes...you are crazy

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If creating monsters in 4E is as easy as everyone, including the Necro guys, says it is, I suspect it won't be a problem. I'm guessing the biggest issue will be the you, as DM, switching your head to the 4E paradigm of tons of monsters, whereas Paizo is writing smaller groups of monsters (well, not always, but that's because they like scaring PCs).

 

[Nyarlathotep]

The thing that I would think you would have to watch would be level advancement. It seems to run a little faster in 4E (from what I've seen of the excerpts). I'm not sure if the best approach would be to run through the adventure, calculating the number of encounters to figure out what approximate levels the encounters should be so that you could try to balance encounters as you approach the end of the adventure.

I know there is a thread over on the Paizo boards where some people are doing this so it may be worth looking at. I'm already running one of my groups through RotRL with the Pathfinder RPG Alpha, but I might take a look at doing a convert of CotCT when I've had a chance to check out the 4E system.

 

[SavageRobby]

I don't think its crazy. I like the Paizo adventures, I just don't like running 3x. So I'm doing something similar with Savage Worlds, and it has similar issues with levels and approach (even starting characters can mow through mooks). It just takes a little changing of approach, for example:

[sblock]
In the opening goblin encounter, instead of just the few goblins the text lists, I had a slew of them - some 20-30 - attacking the area of town that the group was in. They had to deal with them attack villagers and kids, starting fires, etc. It sure upped the dramatic tension of the initial encounter.

For the encounter in the glass factory, I'll have fewer goblins, probably add a Wild Card goblin, and Tsuto will be a Wild Card.
[/sblock]



As far as levels go, you can slow it down if you need to, and if you find the players are getting outclassed, run them through some side adventures. I have a few of the Paizo modules on my list for this purpose, as well as some modules from other publishers.

 

[Desdichado]

Of course you're crazy, kiznit. But not because of this. If your Kobolds Ate My Baby game is any indication, you shouldn't have a problem, though, because it seems your style is to be rather fast and loose rather than mechanically minute and nitpicky. You can adapt the concepts easily enough I'd think without worrying too much about whether all the concepts are "accurately" represented by the new rules. A template can be as much description as anything else, and a goblin bard could just be an arcane controller who sings. Other monsters can have stats substituted based on a reasonably close fit.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly playable, probably just as much fun, and doesn't require much real work.

If you do have to be mechanically "accurate" I'd guess you're probably hosed, though.