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My group has been wanting to do some Urban Arcana for a while now, and with our current Eberron campaign winding down, I thought I'd better start formulating our next endeavor.
Here are my thoughts:
I really do like AoW.
It might be interesting to set it modern days being gradually invaded by a stereotypical D&D world: AKA Urban Arcana, and I'd really appreciate any insight! =D
So any preliminary thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?
Whispering Cairn could be run like an Indian Jones movie, somewhere in the remote hills of some desert or tundra somewhere.
Three Face of Evil would be fantastic in a subway or sewer complex, deep under a city, where some hidden cults were up to no good. The movie "Mimic" could be used here for ideas.
Blackwall Keep would be a little difficult to manage. Maybe a remote police station in the midst of being decomissioned being attacked by trained commandos (Assault on Precinct 13 anyone?)
Hall of Harsh reflections could be an abandoned warehouse down near the docks of the same city. Can't think of any movies for ideas except maybe Big Trouble in Little China.
The Champion's Belt would have to be some kind of underground fight club. See Bloodsport or or Fight Club for ideas.
A Gathering of Winds would head back to the same cairn and would probably work best as either another Indiana Jones type adventure or maybe some kind of Cthulhu extra-dimensional romp.
That's a good start I think :)
Since Urban Arcana as written relies on the assumption that creatures from beyond Shadow just show up for no apparent reason, then why not a complex like that from The Whispering Cairn? You can place this first adventure in a backwater mining town and have the Cairn just "show up" out in the hills maybe 20 years back but no one goes out there because its in an abandoned and boarded-up mine.
This sets the stage for TFoE below your mining town. I remembered scenes from Stephen King's "The Graveyard Shift" when I originally ran this adventure. If you need inspiration for Diamond Lake, definitely check it out.
Blackwall Keep is kind of iffy, but I do like the idea of a neighboring town with the county jail being assaulted by some kind of monster.
Hall of Harsh Reflections can be put in the "big city" nearest the mining town. I always think of New York (where my Urban Arcana-esque game is set), which would be perfect for a romp in the sewers by the docks, like was mentioned before. However, you might want to make sure you consider which big city you'll use for the final fight of the campaign, which could take place in Chicago (see Prince of Redhand, below).
The Champions Belt idea mentioned previously was cool, but maybe add a big "sporting event" like Wrestlemania or something taking place in the arena above while the "underground" fighting is going on as a mirror event for denizens of Shadow. This would cause all kinds of panic if/when the Big Bad of this adventure is released.
A Gathering of Winds would be back in your mining town in the same cairn, can't think of much more right now.
You've got me on a brainstorming high right now, so I'll leave you with these little nuggets and come back when I've thought of some more stuff. Keep us posted, though. I'd love to hear what you think up since I've run the entire AoW in Eberron already.
No thoughts on the rest of the modules yet. However, I would like to point out something that you should begin to think about when trying to do a massive conversion like this, and thats converting characters from their D&D classes to d20 Modern counterparts. I'm currently trying this by converting the Savage Tide to d20 Past with Urban Arcana and d20 Modern classes (lots of fun, by the way). The UACS gives quick rules on how to bring over characters from D&D into UA, but you can follow the same rules while converting. One of the Tables presented is D&D to UA class analogs. For example Barbarian = Thrasher, Fighter = Soldier or Archaic Weaponsmaster, Cleric = Acolyte or Mystic, and so on. D20 Past gives some more choices with Shaman (roughly equal to Druid) and Sorcerer (which is much cooler than the D&D Sorcerer). One thing that you might want to consider is allowing your PCs to start with 3 levels of a base class (Strong, Fast, Tough, etc.) and one level of their chosen Advanced class. Basically you'll do the same with the listed NPCs and tack on 3 base classes to get them to the proper level. For example: lets say Allustan is a level 8 Wizard. You would create your UA Allustan with 3 levels of Smart Hero, and 8 levels of Mage. You would do the same for each bad guy with levels. You will need to adjust the monsters without levels or just add more to the mix, but you'll find that its not that difficult once you get the hang of it. Happy converting!
I began work on a conversion of AoW for Call of Cthulhu but it ended up being a d20 Modern game set in 1930. If you're interested in any of my preliminary conversion notes, you're welcome to them. I turned the Wispering Cairn into an old abandoned mill.
Of course, my conversion was geared more toward a pulpy horror type thing than a pulp adventure thing so perhaps my conversion notes wouldn't be any help.
So, I've gotten stuck on A Gathering of Winds, Kings of the Rift, and Into the Wormcrawl Fissure. The settings for each of these adventures are so unlike anywhere on Earth as we know it that I'm having trouble placing where they would take place. AGoW is supposed to be over 1,000 miles away from the site of The Whispering Cairn, according to the module. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to have such a deep dungeon in the "Underdark" somewhere in Africa or Asia. I thought perhaps somewhere in the Middle East might be fitting as the Wind Dukes seemed to be somewhat related to genies as they are air-based. You could even keep it pretty much as-is as its so far removed from civilization. That's all I got for now...discuss!
So, I've gotten stuck on A Gathering of Winds, Kings of the Rift, and Into the Wormcrawl Fissure. The settings for each of these adventures are so unlike anywhere on Earth as we know it that I'm having trouble placing where they would take place. AGoW is supposed to be over 1,000 miles away from the site of The Whispering Cairn, according to the module. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to have such a deep dungeon in the "Underdark" somewhere in Africa or Asia. I thought perhaps somewhere in the Middle East might be fitting as the Wind Dukes seemed to be somewhat related to genies as they are air-based. You could even keep it pretty much as-is as its so far removed from civilization. That's all I got for now...discuss!
Well, there's plenty of options for the party based on where your game is set. The rift could be any canyon in the American Southwest (even a hidden portion of the Grand Canyon) or Mexican desert. Certainly Kyuss' lost cities would be great Olmec or Mayan Ruins! Canada may also offer some good options, if you wanted your party to venture to the Yukon. Alaska or Siberia would qualify as unexplored wildernesses capable of hiding the rising power of Kyuss.
Think on all the X-Files episodes where they're alone in the Artic. I think such a motif would work very well for modern versions of those adventures.
For a game set in the Great Depression I didn't have much trouble with Rift Valley. My conversion was placed in a fictionalized western Maine and the entirety of Rift Valley was placed in the deep mountains. Being Lovecraftian, it was a place full of savage natives warring with the mythos creatures that also dwell in the dark places of the earth.
The locations don't need to be so far away, really. I placed the Spire of Long Shadows on an uncharted island off the coast of Maine. The party would have been able to travel there easily without incorporating teleportation magic, something I wanted to avoid given the "evil" factor magic has in Call of Cthulhu.
In Unearthed Arcana you could easily have the party teleport to Central or South America for that adventure. Perhaps Kyuss began as an Aztec blood sorcerer, it would fit with his backstory as it is written.