Converting AD&D to 3.5???

[DM_Running_Farland_3.5]

Does anyone have any tips for converting AD&D modules to 3.5. I cannot post what module it is. If I do, my players may read it and it will give a LOT away.

Thanks for any help.

[Utgardloki]

I've done it many times.

I just take the map, and flesh out the details one area at a time. Often I will change things to suit my purposes. The treasure especially I am likely to change to 3.5 standards.

Some examples:

One module for 1st level characters had assassins everywhere. In 1st Edition, Assassins were a base class like the Thief. Since it would obviously be inappropriate to make the 3rd edition Assassins, I made them Rangers.

One adventure was really terribly written. I threw out half the monsters, moved the evil druid to the back of the dungeon as the BBEG, and made all the monsters work for him. I also replaced all the teleportation portals with secret doors, and added new monsters to fill out the roster.

Most of my changes have to do with updating to modern standards. Gone are the "damsels in distress" who just look pretty while waiting for the heroes to rescue them. Everybody has stats and everybody has a motive. A couple of the "generic females" in the lair might be a priestess who can harass the PCs. One DM I had liked to salt the monsters ranks with rogues. The human druid or magic user might not need to be human.

So far I've converted "Against the Cult of the Reptile Gods", "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh", "the Pool of the Standing Stones", and a few levels of "Castle Greyhawk". I've been looking at converting "the Halls of Tizun Thane", but I've been wondering what to do about the harem girl.

[bloodtide]

1.The Big One. Don't do a straight conversion. If a orc is listed as a 5th level fighter in AD&D, don't just make him a 3.5E orc fighter. A lot of things have changed names and descriptions. You have to look over what the original does and convert it to the right thing.

2.Older adventures have a lot of 'save or die' stuff, but mostly the 3.5 rules handle that. You should still watch out for 'unfairness' though.

3.Old D&D is full of weird stuff...you can just leave it, or try to covert it. Mostly it's just best to leave the 'teleporting water' alone, and just say it works.

4.You might need to spice it up. Old D&D is full of the classic monsters. You might want to change some of them to more exotic ones.

5.Treasure can be a bit crazy. You could just leave it....or you could adjust it.

6.Balance. To a 3.5E mindset, an AD&D adventure is an Unbalanced Nightmare. You can easily do a TPK. You might want to 'check' each encounter's EL. some of this old stuff will have like five vampires in a room, for 3rd level adventures.

[tesral]

I've done it many times.
So far I've converted "Against the Cult of the Reptile Gods", "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh", "the Pool of the Standing Stones", and a few levels of "Castle Greyhawk". I've been looking at converting "the Halls of Tizun Thane", but I've been wondering what to do about the harem girl.

You have that old beast.? (In White Dwarf, I do remember.) I don't spefically remember the harem girl, it might be best to keep her that.


In general what is described is how I handle any packaged product, not just conversions.