As it says on the tin.
I'd love to know which edition/OSR game, as well. Even if you play some 5E but only do the conversion on occasion for one-shots in a different edition or the like.
Posted Jul 26, 2019, 6:17 PM UTC
I can't think of a single 5e product I would use in an OSR campaign. The official adventures are bloated and usually don't fit the spirit of my campaign, most of the content (monsters, classes, races, spells, etc) already exist for older edition or in some retroclone, third party stuff in DMG is usually shovelware. On the other hand, I did the opposite a lot - I used a crapton of OD&D, AD&D, D&D3.5, even DCC RPG content in my D&D5e Wilderlands of High Fantasy campaign.
Do you have a specific OSR game or older edition of choice that you play in? Do you convert other stuff to it regularly, or only occasionally?
HackMaster 5e and DCC RPG from relatives, AD&D1e and B/X from D&D editions. I convert stuff occassionally. I usually run my own stuff.
Not sure it's 100% what you're asking for, but I am just now doing research into 5E after using Castles & Crusades by Troll Lord Games for almost a decade. I'd honestly prefer to keep using it, since I own the library already and know the rules pretty intimately. I have previously adapted the Birthright setting to C&C, which I ran for about two years. Most of my current group have been with me for almost 2 decades, and they really wanted to make the jump to 5E. So, here I am learning a new rule set.
More to the point I own all the Mystara Gazetteers and boxed sets, which was the next setting I intended to run, and I was in the process of converting them to C&C when the idea to shift systems came up at the table. So, I will be converting an old D&D setting to the new rules once I've wrapped a read on the three sisters. I doubt it will be any harder to adapt than my C&C mod for Warhammer 40K, which came out at about 140 pages and runs like a janky car on three wheels.
Are you in the process of adapting a 5E module to an older rule set?
I'm not looking for any help or anything, just curious to hear people's experiences and thoughts on the subject, exactly as you gave. There's a part of this that is motivated by the fact that I create content: am I stretching myself thin when I create multiple versions of product in order to serve 5e and OSR crowds (plus I have an in-house system)? My sales so far don't really give me a sense because I've only recently been serving multiple audiences, so it's fun to just un-scientifically poll the community ;-)
I get you. I system hopped for years, and used the intended system when I ran a setting that was based on it. Earthdawn rules for Earthdawn, Palladium rules for Rifts, AD&D2E for Dragonlance, etc. I love setting variety, but re-learning rules each time was a nightmare (especially Palladium...shudder). Since Troll Lord billed the SIEGE system as a simplified rule set, with options for fantasy, sci-fi, and pulp I was hoping I'd be able to stake my flag there for the long haul. I was fine with it, but my players wanted to play with 5E. They would have stayed with C&C if I insisted, but I didn't think it was an unreasonable request since I was already doing setting modification already.
Great insight! Thank you.
I have a random assortment of modules and supplements from all kinds of games i don't even own the core rules for that I've picked over for ideas... does that count?
Hell yeah!
Do you have a single go-to system you convert them to (when you use material from them, of course), or do you hop between a few systems? If the latter, which ones?
No quick and easy system... However I'll speak generally and broadly on how I do it. If you're looking for something specific, I'd need specifics.
Step 1: Find your "Rosetta Stone" and translate as much as you can
Base stats are generally the most universal between different systems or editions. Typically they're something like say... 3d6. Easy enough there. 1:1 copy 'em across. If it's something like 1-100, try dividing by 5 to see how close that gets you.
Now, assuming similar (or identical) base stats to the content you're working towards, the rest tends to fall into place fairly quickly and truthfully isn't generally too far off insofar as ability damage and whatnot. You might need to do some sort of conversions (e.g. THAC0 to Attack Modifier) however for most 3d6 based main stat games it's generally some function of something like
base stats + some modifier + some other modifier. Try to use your best judgement here. If something feels or looks off, it probably is.
For the most part, I've seen in 3d6 based stat games is that weapons/attacks tend to do similar damages, armor tends to protect roughly the same, etc. it's generally safe to just copy straight across. if there is any question, put it in comparison to a "common" weapon or attack in D&D like a long sword. Try to find "Common Elements" between the system, and use those as your reference points.
Spells and special abilities generally are pretty easy too, and are generally not too far off and are similar in respect how to weapons/attacks generally end up.
Step 2: Fill in the Blanks as appropriately as you can
Skills & Levels are where it can get goofy, since this is really where systems really like to mix it up. Generally speaking, skills can be placed VERY generally into categories based off of the 6 primary stats. Then I'd try to get a feel for "how skilled" things are and try to ballpark it into place, especially if I can't figure out a way to approximate it... Additionally, some systems don't use levels (I'm looking at you Call of Cthulhu) and instead run on skill improvement. In those cases, it's best to try to ascertain how "improved" over the base something is to get a very rough idea of what level / HD / CR it is...
For non 3d6 stat based games, it's a lot trickier. Some games, such as White Wolf's games use dice pools for stats... If the maximum is something that can easily divide 20, (say a game uses 1 thru 5 just multiply by 4 to get a rough 3d6 equivalent) this is really where you'll need to get creative at arriving at your stats, especially if the numbers "seem off". I generally try to avoid doing these, since it's a giant pain, and there is usually something pretty damn close to what I'm after in the material I'm already using or something that is easier to convert. You'll probably end up using "goofy math tricks" to get things into a usable format.
Step 3: Adapt and Overcome
Not everything will be anywhere near resembling something that can be easily cut and dried. Use existing material from the game you're converting to to "flesh out" missing details. use existing skills, spells, weapons, etc. whenever you can to simplify things. Sometimes, you'll just need to straight up "Homebrew" a new ability for a creature or spell or something to that effect. Try to keep the original spirit of the original game. You should understand what the numbers mean in your current game, and know that for example in 5e D&D a 10d6 is a pretty big chunk of damage while 1d4 isn't.
keep in mind the "World" of the game your converting from. What I mean by this is you need to keep in mind the general power levels and atmosphere of the game. For example: Call of Cthulhu is another popular game and has all sorts of fun nasties to dump into 5e. CoC is, to put it bluntly, deadly AF when compared to D&D and the various characters in those respective games should be treated as such in order to capture the appropriate atmosphere of the game. IF you take say... Cthulhu and dump him into D&D and you don't end up with something CR30+, you done gone messed up, and you need to re-evaluate your numbers and adjust them accordingly.
Adjust numbers if you don't think they "Feel" right. Up or Down. Finally, if you're really lucky, some games have rules for conversions to other rule sets. I know the 1e AD&D DMG has rules for converting Boot Hill in case... idk you want to do Cowboys and Knights... the 3.5 version of Call of Cthulhu has Rules for converting BRP/Elric/Call of Cthulhu into 3.5. Heck, the old Mind's Eye Theater stuff had rules for converting OWoD White Wolf Tabletop stuff into that goofy LARP Rock-Paper-Scissors system.
Great points all around. Thank you!