knightwriter Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm in school right now and don't have the time to create new adventures for my fantasy hero game. I have a lot of DnD 4E adventures laying around and thought I could convert them, but after looking into it, this seems a little more difficult than what I thought. Has anyone tried converting adventures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Outright conversion would be just as difficult, I think, as just building a quick outline and selecting some monsters from the Bestiary. Now if the story is so great that you just have to use it, I would substitute Hero equivalents for common monsters. Treasures, specifically magical items, might be a little trickier. Depends on which Hero sourcebooks you have to pick stuff from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Sometimes you have to write down the way the adventure runs on a flow chart. That will show you what you need to fill holes. Look at the PCs. Use them for things like enemies, hunteds, organizational ties. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero The biggest advantage to me for converting adventures is the ready made maps and names etc. As Nolgroth said, after that it is pretty quick just to pick from ready made HERO lists (and this is where those kinds of books come in handy). As for "I'm in school and do not have time....", that leaves me flabbergasted! I never had so much time for gaming as when I was in university!! Work and family have robbed me of more time than I knew I had... Youngsters today.... Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightwriter Posted September 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Actually I'm in school and a father and husband. I wish I had the time I did when I was an undergrad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Actually I'm in school and a father and husband. I wish I had the time I did when I was an undergrad. See! You are a father and husband and you blame university for being short of time???!! :) Repped for the triumverate of time theft. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero I will second (or third, or fourth) the idea of adapting adventures from other games by selecting stuff we've already written up in HERO products (typically the "Core Library" products with the blue and gold covers). You should be able to find pretty close equivalents of most D&D monsters in The HERO System Bestiary (or can easily "tweak" an HSB monster to get what you want by applying a Template from that book). The HERO System Grimoire should have a pretty close approximation of most spells. And so on. The trickiest thing, and something you'll have to learn for yourself from experience most likely, is dealing with the different ways each system "runs." In D&D characters tend to get injured easily and healed easily, and this is reflected in how the monsters are created and used. In the HERO System, characters tend to be harder to hurt/kill, and harder to heal, so a D&D encounter based on rapid injury/healing will probably need to be re-arranged to better suit the way HERO "works." Or if you prefer you can use various options and variants to "tweak" HERO to work more like D&D -- but that's always seemed a bit silly to me, and in any event you clearly don't have a whole lotta spare time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero In second Steve's comment. The way the systems run makes for different adventure structures. The Villains & Vigilantes system used hit points, so attrition was a major feature - five heroes against one villain at the same power level would win easily, but erode away some of the heroes' hp, so they were less able to win the next fight. In Champions, running half a dozen sequential encounters with approximately equal powered villains was a piece of cake for the heroes, who would recover all their STUN between battles, so the villain forces generally needed to be consolidated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayapuppies Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero This is a further recommendation for the adopt the story but not necessarily attempt a direct translation. Currently all but one of my PBP adventures on HeroCentral are utilizing adventures from 4E or 3.x and I can't afford to do a straight translation (Kamarathin is a notoriously hard to heal setting and death is permanent). I would also like to offer up 'Here Be Dragons' as a resource for critters that you won't find in the 'Hero System Bestiary', the two titles work great together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Personally, the Powers and Grimoire books are life savers. It doesn't take much to tweak what is in their and they cover most mainstream gaming approaches. It makes things much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 20, 2011 Report Share Posted September 20, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero The process I used for converting adventures goes something like this: Given an encounter with quantity X of creature Y: 1. Whenever possible use published Bestiary stats for creature Y. 2. This may require adjusting quantity X of the creatures up or down depending on relative power level. Example: hobgoblins in AD&D are a speed bump, hobgoblins in Fantasy Hero are a serious encounter. 3. If there are no published stats for creature Y, either replace it with a similar creature or work up Hero stats for the original. When working up stats, you can be lazy--what usually matters are CV, movement, attacks and defenses, physical stats, and vulnerabilities. It is very rarely worth the effort to bother with the point totals. It may be worth the effort to search this forum or the net for stats someone else has worked up. 4. Delete any magic items unless they are important to the plot. 5. Spells and other magical effects that might be used against the party will almost certainly have to be statted up, but again, don't bother with the points--look at the effect and determine the power, advantages, and limitations without doing the math. It is very rarely necessary to do the math. Do check to make sure you're not setting up the PCs for a TPK though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero I use the "come up with basic plots via daydreams at work, then pull the details out of my buttocks during the game session" method. However I now have a job where I can't really daydream, so I'm not sure how this is going to work anymore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero I use the "come up with basic plots via daydreams at work' date=' then pull the details out of my buttocks during the game session" method. However I now have a job where I can't really daydream, so I'm not sure how this is going to work anymore![/quote'] My guess? Probably not so well as it used to. Then again, maybe not. Some of my best campaigns started out without a script. But on the gripping hand, it was a setting I was superbly familiar with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethosos Posted September 30, 2011 Report Share Posted September 30, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero You're not alone, although I don't have much to work with to begin with: I'm thinking about converting the modules from the old Living Dragonstar campaign to both Pathfinder and HERO System, but the people at Fantasy Flight Games are being non-commital about their old product line. Perhaps if I had the time, I could look for my copy of the Vae Victus module that I know I tried GMing. (With bad results, although it did call for urgency within the module--I may have done that way too much.) In any case, it pays to be familiar with both systems. Take a look at Killer Shrike's website for ideas; he's done a kind of conversion from D&D 3.0 to HERO. You may be able to cut down on time by utilizing the Feats he has filed away there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraven Kor Posted September 30, 2011 Report Share Posted September 30, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero This may have been mentioned (at work, packaging Windows ImageX files, so only skimmed the subject), but I'll state it again if not: Full, 100% monster-for-monster, page-for-page conversions are time consuming and generally not necessary. I would take the module, find as much as I can that is "already done for me" whether in HERO supplements or online resources, then only "convert" the parts that I must. One of the most difficult things in adapting D20 stuff to HERO is getting "Level" or "CR" to balance out in HERO's character points. So you almost have to ignore any character level / CR stuff and just adapt the monsters, NPC's, or challenges in the module such that they are an appropriate level of challenge for your PC's. In other words, use the story and ample "RP fodder" of the module, and adapt what you need to into HERO terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightwriter Posted October 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Thanks for all the advice. I am going to take the plot points as is, and then rework the npcs/monsters to fit for my hero campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted October 1, 2011 Report Share Posted October 1, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero You also have to consider campaign specific conversions: For ex: "Always take a cleric." Standard advice for any D20 adventure. You *will* face undead at some point, and the cleric can shoo them away. If your world doesn't have undead, your required cleric has become a weak fighter with a few heal spells, lost half his power. More, what if *your* campaign has undead, but is closer to Call of Cthulhu Dark Ages, where religion is at best a morale prop? Are your elves long lived but mortal? Is magic rare? Big problem if you are trying to convert a Middle Earth module (particularly an ICE module). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bismark Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Re: Converting adventures from other systems for fantasy hero A while back I did a quick conversion of D&D 4e damage types and defences that would work against them to HERO. In many ways, the damage 'keyword' system of 4e is much easier to convert to HERO than the earlier editions' level drain, etc. mechanics. The draft document is attached; you may find it useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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