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<blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 1582214" data-attributes="member: 16077">Well - since I started the whole &quot;direct port&quot; comment, I'll clarify it.&nbsp; What I meant by it was to take the existing mechanics of a given setting and convert it to 3.x - nothing more, nothing less.&nbsp; So - for Dark Sun, even though 3.x has Sorcerers and Paladins, they don't exist in that setting.&nbsp; Just like good clerics don't exist in a Midnight setting, and Wizards have to take &quot;The Test&quot; to get past 3rd level in Dragonlance.The most important aspects of a &quot;direct port&quot; would be to read the front matter of the setting, which details how the existing AD&amp;D classes fit into the setting as well as new classes for the setting.&nbsp; Almost every campaign setting did this.&nbsp; For example, download the Maztica setting from WoTC (its a free PDF) and look at the text starting on page 44 - the section titled &quot;Maztican Characters.&quot;&nbsp; Much of the work is already done, as can be seen.&nbsp; Heck, even 3.x FR regions are already spelled out in the drawing on page 46 of this boxed set.My point is that, in almost every case of an old 1st/2nd edition campaign setting the *hard* work has already been done and the only thing needed is to do the conversion to 3.x .&nbsp; The Maztica one is a perfect example - it *already* gives all of the +/- modifiers to the standard D&amp;D races as they exist in Maztica along with the reasoning for it.&nbsp; They already detail what classes and kits (i.e. Prestige Classes in 3.x) are available...&nbsp; New spells and magic items are also listed - once again - only thing they need is to be converted.Hence - my use of the term &quot;direct port&quot; since most of the stuff doesn't have to be created from scratch.&nbsp; To put it in software terms - all they need is some glue code...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="3catcircus, post: 1582214, member: 16077"] Well - since I started the whole "direct port" comment, I'll clarify it. What I meant by it was to take the existing mechanics of a given setting and convert it to 3.x - nothing more, nothing less. So - for Dark Sun, even though 3.x has Sorcerers and Paladins, they don't exist in that setting. Just like good clerics don't exist in a Midnight setting, and Wizards have to take "The Test" to get past 3rd level in Dragonlance. The most important aspects of a "direct port" would be to read the front matter of the setting, which details how the existing AD&D classes fit into the setting as well as new classes for the setting. Almost every campaign setting did this. For example, download the Maztica setting from WoTC (its a free PDF) and look at the text starting on page 44 - the section titled "Maztican Characters." Much of the work is already done, as can be seen. Heck, even 3.x FR regions are already spelled out in the drawing on page 46 of this boxed set. My point is that, in almost every case of an old 1st/2nd edition campaign setting the *hard* work has already been done and the only thing needed is to do the conversion to 3.x . The Maztica one is a perfect example - it *already* gives all of the +/- modifiers to the standard D&D races as they exist in Maztica along with the reasoning for it. They already detail what classes and kits (i.e. Prestige Classes in 3.x) are available... New spells and magic items are also listed - once again - only thing they need is to be converted. Hence - my use of the term "direct port" since most of the stuff doesn't have to be created from scratch. To put it in software terms - all they need is some glue code... [/QUOTE]

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