Adventure Conversions
Good morning!!
I’m in the process of converting an old 2nd Edition adventure to 5e. There is one thing that has been going over my mind. This is mostly for DMs.
When running an adventure, do you prefer to have the monster stat blocks inline with the adventure or added as an appendix? Some of the stat blocks can be very lengthy and take up to half a page (a couple taking a full page.) Where as if it was put into the appendix, it leaves more room for information for the adventure itself.
In 2nd Edition, TSR (pre-WotC) had a small informational inline stat block that had all the pertinent information set for the encounter along with additional information in the adventure itself (in case ‘special attacks’ had to be described). that looked something like this:
Spectres (2): Int high; AL LE; AC 2; MV 15, Fl 30 (B); HD 7 +3; hp 55 each; THAC0 13; #AT 1; Dmg 1d8; SA successful attacks drain two life energy levels from victim; SD + 1 or better weapon to hit; immune to sleep, charm, hold, and cold-based attacks; immune to all poisons and paralyzation attacks; SZ M; ML 15; XP 3,000.
As opposed to the current:
Thankfully, since I ran 2e back in the day, I know how to read this. But there is no equivalent for 5e and so much more information needed to effectively run the encounters. I’m having to uses full stat blocks for the time being and thus asking this question.
I’m almost done with the monster conversion for this adventure. I then have to go through the traps and set the DCs for them rather than ‘save vs spells’ and the like that 2e used. Then there is the map rebuild. My original is kinda beat up and hard to scan since it’s on a 24″ x 36″ poster, double sided.
Let me know what you DMs prefer or like.
Thanks!
~Daven