D&D 4E Pre-4e adventures ripe for conversion?

[mearls]

I'm running Temple of Elemental Evil at the office. I also have notes on converting Keep on the Borderlands and the first module in the Slavers series.

Night's Dark Terror is a great choice. I love that module!

IME, the key to adapting older modules is knowing when to add stuff. There are also times when it helps to combine a few separate encounter areas into one fight. I also found that blowing up the map, like assuming each square in some of the caves in KotB are 20 feet across, helps make larger encounter areas with more breathing room.

For instance, in the kobold cave in KotB, I added in some hidden tunnels that the kobolds could use to ambush the party and statted up the chieftain and his guards as higher level kobolds. I also created a backstory to explain why the monsters settled in the caves, the link between the clerics and the monsters, and the reason why the caves were so close to a civilized area without coming under attack (and vice versa). I also made the valley of the caves a little bigger and added some outdoor encounters and sites there.

This image was my main inspiration for a lot of my ideas:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97180.jpg

 

[TerraDave]

Many of use here are fans of that picture:

But, when are you planning on publishing this stuff?

 

[Cam Banks]

I'm running Temple of Elemental Evil at the office. I also have notes on converting Keep on the Borderlands and the first module in the Slavers series.

Have you ever read Team From Hommlet? It was a guy from my online circle of friends circa 1995 running his group through ToEE using only 1st edition core rules. Hilarious. Systematic deconstruction of the Temple and everything within it. They even ripped off the doors and took them back to Nulb to sell. Anyway...

Night's Dark Terror is a great choice. I love that module!

I think it's an unabashed classic. It's also British. The guys responsible went on to do wonderful, crazy things for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. If I can inject even a little of that British awesome into my 4e campaign, it'll be worth it.

It's also my opinion that 4e owes a lot to Basic/Expert/Companion, but I can't really pin down why. It's why I think those older OD&D adventures will be a piece of cake to convert over.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Scrollreader]

I know the WotC adventure path got a bad rap ... but some of these were awesome adventurers. I think I'm going to convert Forge of Fury and Speaker in Dreams to 4th edition, since they were such a blast to run and play in (though with a different group than my current one). Other than that ... I'm going to mangle it a bit (or more than a bit) in terms of backstory, but Burnt Offerings seems like a nice start to a campaign. I've even considered adapting Hook Mountain to take place in the same place as Forge of Fury, once the PCs clean it out, and let them use that as their base of operations, if they're so inclined. Nothing like going /back/ to an old dungeon to make PCs think about keeping it clear of monsters, and wishing they'd made better maps, and kept them. ;p

 

[ferratus]

I ran through the preview characters with paizo's "Crown of the Kobold King". I was disappointed when I first bought it, because there were simply too many encounters in the Dungeon, and many of those were very dangerous encounters. It was simply unplayable for the 2nd level characters it was designed for. For example there were rooms where you faced Allips, where you faced both a trap and multiple Vargouilles, and a CR 6 chain-like creature. Quite simply, unless you were taking a quarter of the dungeon at a time and then resting, you were pretty much doomed to a TPK. This was made impossible by the plotline, which forced you to save 5 children in the midst of the dungeon and made time of the essence.

However, as a 4th edition adventure it was a blast. The party could heal up between encounters and you didn't have to worry about running out of all of your spells. Where I didn't have the creatures yet, I either dropped them or replaced them with a creature of equal power. They didn't manage to get to the end of the adventure, but they did manage to get to the end of level 1 before they lost their dailies, but they have a little bit of healing left, so they are going to try and push ahead to find the last two children next session.

 

[Storminator]

I'm planning on doing a conversion of Keep on the Borderlands as my first 4E adventure.

. . . assuming I can convert it in any way that makes sense. Have to see the 4E books first.

"Keep on the Borderlands" and "make sense" should be kept far, far apart...

PS

 

[TerraDave]

It's also my opinion that 4e owes a lot to Basic/Expert/Companion, but I can't really pin down why. It's why I think those older OD&D adventures will be a piece of cake to convert over.

Cheers,
Cam

I feel the same way, and that the thing, its a feeling. Its hard to pin down exactly what it is, but its something.

 

[essenbee]

Night's Dark Terror is a great choice. I love that module!

I was a playtester for that module and it is certainly the best adventure I have ever played in. Its got everything and would IMHO make a fantastic 4e conversion.

 

[Pbartender]

Isle of Dread and Dwellers of the Forbidden City will be among my first two.

 

[ObsidianCrane]

I'm really looking at Rahasia, and Castle Amber, two classic DnD adventures.

Castle Amber is looking so much better with the 4E rules as well.

Then there are the old Slaver's modules and the original Temple of Elemental Evil...I need more time dag nam it.