Converting ddo quests to tabletop

[sirdanile]

So for some of those classic quests, such as Invaders, crucible, prove your worth, caged trolls, I have a question, how would you translate those quests to tabletop 3.5 edition? I see a lot of good quest design and yet I can never seem to get the feel down on paper.

[Rolling20]

Do what every good and experienced DM does...wing it as you go.

[SquelchHU]

So for some of those classic quests, such as Invaders, crucible, prove your worth, caged trolls, I have a question, how would you translate those quests to tabletop 3.5 edition? I see a lot of good quest design and yet I can never seem to get the feel down on paper.

Well, you don't. The paradigms do not translate well at all. Especially the encounters. See that group of 10 CR 8 mobs the level 6 party took on by themselves all at once easily? It's a walking TPK to even optimized PnP parties, because enemy levels mean more there and enemies are smarter there as well.

Even separating the concepts from the mechanics doesn't work well because DDO is designed under the assumption of being a game, whereas tabletop is more concerned with things like immersion (that most DDO quests break).

It's oil and water - both have their applications, but don't mix them.

[spyyder976]

Take each room/area as you go, and adjust CR's for traps, monsters, number of monsters in the encounters, etc., to whatever you think it should be to challenge the group, but dont leave them as they are in DDO. And don't forget to add collectible nodes!:).

[sephiroth1084]

I was going to do this, using the Crucible maze as a blueprint. Then we decided to convert to Pathfinder, and my game has been on hold until I can get my hands on a digital copy of the Bestiary (can't afford to plunk down $40+ on a book right now), but I will let the community here know (either in this pots, or a new thread) how it goes.

[jomonkey527]

I was going to do this, using the Crucible maze as a blueprint. Then we decided to convert to Pathfinder, and my game has been on hold until I can get my hands on a digital copy of the Bestiary (can't afford to plunk down $40+ on a book right now), but I will let the community here know (either in this pots, or a new thread) how it goes.

^^^^ It wil be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Furluge]

You have to be really careful also because the DDO world is much more restrictive than the D&D world. I once did a dungeon based on Waterworks where they were to jump down pipes and then jump to the water below. They climbed down a rope instead and were shot by the archers I'd put in the room. They critted the Psion as he came down first, who promptly fall into the water, took even more damage, and his dead body drifted to the bottom of the pool.

[Doomcrew]

A pure translation probably won't work as others have said. Video games have
a higher hack 'n slash content to them. To use some of the quests as templates
could be easily done, changing each encounter as is needed. Scaling would be
the most prominent thing to keep in mind.

Cheers and GL