D&D 5E New DM Starting 5e. . . go with adapted RotRL or HotDQ?

[Inchoroi]

First off, this community is fantastic, thanks again for all the help. If I were to go with an earlier edition module after Phandelver, how would I go about converting it? Any tips? I'm not familiar with the mechanics of earlier editions and still getting familiar with 5e. Are there conversion resources out there? Many thanks again to all!

Actually, you know, I did consider converting over GDQ to run after Lost Mines of Phandelver, since I got it for Christmas from my amazing wife; the group ended up voting for Runelords, but what I was going to do was have the drow at the end all be drow, and have them be part of the group that have rebelled (who's name escapes me at the moment...). I didn't like the random teleporting shenanigans of the hill giant fort in that adventure, so I was going to have more clues leading them on to other areas of exploration.

For converting from even earlier editions, its actually easier; generally, the monsters are single or just a few monsters to worry about, most of those being in the Monster Manual already. You will, like with Runelords, have to do loot, though, because those editions use money=XP, and so that will skew the results quite a bit.

As a note, I always use Milestones in my games, so I don't need to worry about tracking XP, and they just level up whenever appropriate. If you want to use XP and not milestones for leveling the characters, though, it can be done, but you'll have to add in side quests, most likely.

 

[Inchoroi]

Oh, that's the conversion I found with Google. You're working on a different one? Is it available anywhere?

Nah, not really. I started, got stuck in hospital, moved across the country, and then picked up the conversion again after that. I'm super behind in converting; his versions of the monsters were basically the same. Tsuto had an extra level of Monk over mine (level 4 versus level 5), and Malfeshnekor was basically the same, save his version has awesome Lair actions.

I had intended on making a PDF conversion guide, but life decided to kick me in the intestines until I bled internally instead. I will note that his conversion is a lot more involved than mine. I just redid loot, dropped the skill DCs by 5, and rolled with it. I kept most save DCs the same; they seemed, for the most part, to match up with the DMG after it came out, so I haven't seen a reason to change them since picking back up on my conversion. Traps I just assigned a damage value, attack bonus or save DC, and spot/remove skill DCs (I included Haunts as Traps, as well, so they're not that involved; I did steal his Swallowtail Festival Games, although the gambling one didn't quite work out).

I am also cutting the Catacombs of Hatred completely from Chapter One; the players will be visiting it during Chapter Five, so they don't get to meet Erylium until then. I just thought it was silly that there was a dungeon that had an unexplored level there--I know my players wouldn't have stopped until they got there if they knew there was a second level to a dungeon that they had yet to explore. The idea is that Erylium creating sinspawn down there that will eventually boil up to destroy the town, unaware that Nualia has been taken out of the picture (assuming, of course, the PCs survive Thistletop). The sinspawn will begin haunting the town at night after the sinkhole opens up in chapter five.

 

[pontinyc]

Thank you again, everyone, for all of the helpful info. truly appreciated. Ontario, sorry to hear you had such a rough go there but hoping things are much improved with you.

I guess the best thing to do is simply purchase Phandelver and HotDQ, see what I think and take it from there. Thanks again to all!

 

[KingsRule77]

I know it's not cool of me, but I vote HotDQ. I have a table with new players and I haven't run anything in a long time but it seems to be moving really well.