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I´m halfway done doing a quick´n´dirty conversion of this gem.
Does anyone have a source for stats on 1hd giant spiders, PF rules? Or for a 7hd giant crocodile?
The same goes for the special treatment of the giant mosquito swarms in there. They partly conform to the PF swarm rules, but then, these giant buggers are so big that they have 1/2 hd in the original adventure (AD&D2). I´m not settled yet how to treat them - as a swarm (it would be a huge one) or as individual creatures having some swarm characteristics.
I found a conversion of the campestri on enworld, for 3.0 rules. I just gonna use those, they are probably not enemies anyway - who would attack singing mushrooms?
IIRC, if I were to put converted stats here, I would have to remain as close to the original source as possible. For example, Old Man Katan is a 10th level ranger, but has an Thac0 of only 17 instead of 11 due to his age. I give him a penalty to his BAB because of this to reflect the original idea, but he is still a lot tougher than originally, especially if I keep his stats. With all those feats he gets(I would see him as having the crossbow fighting style from APR), he is not quite the old coot the module paints him as being.
Loved this adventure.
I wouldn't penalize Katan's base atk; that's not in keeping with the rules. You should probably give him the heroic stats for an NPC, add the 2 extra points for human and another 2 for his level, and then apply the penalties and bonuses for old age.
Given their size, you could go for a swarm of tiny creatures. They're large enough to take weapon damage and too large to be shooed away by a gust of wind. Seems like the easiest way to facilitate them with PF rules. As tiny creatures, you'd have a swarm of about 1,000 individual mosquitoes, by the rules in the Bestiary, occupying a 10 foot cube.
*Edit: For the spiders, you could use the giant crab spider from the Bestiary 3. If you really want it to reflect the 1HD of the older version, just apply the young creature template to it.
The crocodile is a bit trickier. The dire crocodile is too powerful to substitute. You might be able to get away with taking a normal crocodile and adding the giant creature and advanced templates to it. Should put it somewhere close to the level you're looking for.
Loved this adventure.
I wouldn't penalize Katan's base atk; that's not in keeping with the rules. You should probably give him the heroic stats for an NPC, add the 2 extra points for human and another 2 for his level, and then apply the penalties and bonuses for old age.
Well, his stats were given in the adventure. I would keep them exactly as they are, as I´d assume that they were adjusted fo age already. Still, they are not bad for an old man :-)
Yeah, the thing with penalizing his BAB (or whatever, perhaps only his melee attack) would be troublesome in an official conversion. But then, this is the way it was handled in the original adventure.
Given their size, you could go for a swarm of tiny creatures. They're large enough to take weapon damage and too large to be shooed away by a gust of wind. Seems like the easiest way to facilitate them with PF rules. As tiny creatures, you'd have a swarm of about 1,000 individual mosquitoes, by the rules in the Bestiary, occupying a 10 foot cube.
I guess that would be the easiest thing to do. Another pitfall with official conversions would be that they have a wingspan of 6-8 inches in the adventure, which would make them diminuitive in conversion. (As an aside: I could not seem to find a definition of the size categories in the PF rules, just the space/reach table in the combat chapter. Am I missing something?).
Of course, these details do not matter for a home game, but if I were to post a stat conversion here, it might be troublesome.
*Edit: For the spiders, you could use the giant crab spider from the Bestiary 3. If you really want it to reflect the 1HD of the older version, just apply the young creature template to it.The crocodile is a bit trickier. The dire crocodile is too powerful to substitute. You might be able to get away with taking a normal crocodile and adding the giant creature and advanced templates to it. Should put it somewhere close to the level you're looking for.
Thanks, young giant crab spiders it will be then.
The giant and advanced template will have to do, I guess. Perhaps I will create a giant crocodile from scratch if I have the time. The dire crocodile would be TPK, even if slowed.
Well, I changed the size of the mosquito swarm, applying the giant template for now. Do swarms get bonus hp from high con?
As for the spiders, I took juvenile giant crab spiders and changed them to web-using spiders. The web-throwing ability is useless against medium creatures, but might make for a good "eeww"-effect. Is the poison DC constitution based? I guess so, and did adjust it accordingly.
Nothing useful to add, beyond that it was a bloody marvelous adventure I remember with great fondness.
Yeah, I remember running a 2E campaign back in the 1990s, which included well over a dozen adventures. Almost a decade later, one player mentioned that he didn't remember anything from that campaign, except for one element from "Old Man Katan".
(Sorry. I have nothing useful to add either.)
I was running a group with a jester in it. He "adopted" a bunch of the campestri and took them back to civilization to use in his act. He would play the straight man trying to get his "choir" to sing the songs he'd taught them. However, given their penchant for taking their favorite pieces of songs and stringing them together, it allowed for some great comedy.
"e-i-ee-i-oooo...fleas as wide asno..."
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Just to throw this out there:
Old Man Katan
Old Male Human Expert 2/Ranger (Warden) 5
NG Medium Humanoid
Init +1 Senses Perception +10
AC 11 Touch 11, Flat-Footed 10 (Dex +1)
HP 26 (2d8+2, 5d10+5)
Fort +5 Ref +5 Will +8
Speed 30 ft
Melee Shortsword +6/+1 (1d6/19-20)
Ranged Mwk Light Crossbow +6/+1 (1d8+2/19-20)
Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 2nd, Concentration +1)
1st - Charm Animal, Pass without Trace
Str 11, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +6 CMB +6 CMD 18
Feats Deadly Aim, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload
Skills Appraise +6, Climb +6, Craft (woodworking) +7, Handle Animal +7, Heal +9, Knowledge (Local) +7, Knowledge (Nature) +8, Perform(Oratory) +4, Perform (Wind Instrument) +7, Profession (Fishing) +13, Stealth +7, Survival +10, Swim +7
Languages Common
SQ- Able Explorer, Favored Terrain (Swamp +4, Water +2), Live in Comfort, Master of Terrain, Terrain Bond, Track +2, Empathy +5, Skilled
Combat Gear Short Sword, Mwk Light Crossbow, Bolts (20)
Other Gear Cigars (10), Club, Dagger, Harmonica, Fishing Tackle box, Fishing Pole, waterskin.
Notes Katan is hard of hearing and does not hear high pitched noises well, unfortunately there really isnt a good mechanic in game for this. Though the GM might give him a -2 Perception penalty when its called for (or just role-play it) when needed. Also he smokes a very pungent form of tabacoo, and while this may cause problems for others (as listed in the adventure) He himself is immune to the effects of the Drug.
Anyway this is a quick write up of the Old man... Ill see about trying other things in the adventure (its just fun to read through it, and i like adapting the adventure). Tell me what you think, and hopefully this Helps the OP (Oh the warden is in the Ultimate Combat Pg. 68.
Happy Gaming! :)
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Because well, its fun :)
Giant Crocodile (With the Giant Template and Adv 2 HD) CR 4
N Huge Animal
Init +4 Senses Low-Light Vision, Perception +9
AC 15, Touch 8, Flat-Footed 15 (+7 Natural, -2 Size)
HP 50 (5d8+30)
Fort +10 Ref +4 Will 3
Speed 20 ft, Swim 30 ft.; Sprint
Melee bite +8 (2d6+7 plus grab) and Tail Slap +3 (2d8+3)
Space 10 ft; Reach 5 ft
Special Attacks death roll (2d6+10 plus trip), swallow whole (2d6+7, AC 13, 13 hp)
Str 24 Dex 10 Con 23 Int 1 Wis 12 Cha 2
Base Atk +3; CMB +12 (+16 grapple); CMD 19 (23 vs. Trip)
Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Emphasis (Perception, Stealth)
Skills Perception +9, Stealth -4 (+4 in water), Swim 12; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in water
SQ hold breath
Notes
So about the crocodile (the pg number for the croc is 51 in the Bestiary ;) ): for the adventure i would apply the sickened condition to it to simulate the fact that it is starving and effects it adversely. Beyond that this should work for the adventure in question :)
Well, I guess I will have to write it in a coherent form.
I DMed it in the meantime (with a lot of improvisation), and we had some fun with it. The bard in my group wanted to adopt one of these campestris. One player did not seem to enjoy it, however - I guess these kind of silly adventures are not for everyone. It could also be that I´m not that great a DM for funny and silly adentures.
If I get that right, converting is only allowed for stats, not story parts, right? So, the story will only be available for those with access to the mag itself. I do remember some holes in the story that made me improvise a lot to get the story told.
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Stebehil, I don't even really have the Dungeon Magazine #41. I just thought your forum post sounded interesting. If you are not interested in writing something up, I would understand. I was just curious after what I read. Sounds like some of your players had fun at least. Its hard to always please everyone at the gaming table.
I guess I could do a write-up of my experience in DMing it. I had to do it in a short session (about 5 hours), so it was abbreviated much. (It is not that I don´t want to put it here, I think conversions can be stat-only due to legal reasons - the story is copyrighted material)
I did not like the introduction (the players being at Old Man Katans hut already), so I let them start on a non-descript coastal road along the swamp, and they heard Katan "singing" from afar. At first, they wanted to ignore the hook completely, but then, they decided (meta-gaming) to investigate. Since some time had passed, he was already chasing the campestris around who were stealing his clothes while he bathed. The two players investigating made themselves known, and Katan ran into his hut and threatened them with his crossbow (Note: I gave him the crossbow weapon style from the APG, stats will follow).
Well, they gave up and continued on the road then. They came upon an inn, and the innkeeper told them that the swamp dwellers did not bring in any fresh fish to sell in the recent months. They decided to investigate the swamp then, and returned to the hut the next day.
.. to be continued...
I actually ran this adventure in Golarion using Beginner Box rules awhile back, but I don't recall if I still have my notes on it. I do recall that I placed it on the border of Belkzen and Lastwall, in the southern portion of the Ghostlight Marshes - this supported the appearance of the will o' wisp in the northern section of the map as well as the background story of a war between humans and orcs taking place in Glitchegumee Swamp long ago.
If you want to cut back on some of the workload, stirges are a pretty suitable replacement/supplement for the giant mosquitoes.
The McGuffin for the session was that a scholar-artificer in Lastwall believed that a powerful orcbane weapon was lost in the Battle of Glitchegumee, and wanted to use it as a template for creating more of the weapons to sell to the army of Lastwall. He hired the PCs to head into the swamps and search the site of the battle (which is, of course, right where the Bog Monster and the mosquito swarms live) to find the sword. Of course, they ran into Katan on the way.
After quelling the mosquitoes, the PCs and the Bog Monster were attacked by a group of orcs leading some goblin slaves. The funniest part of the session was the tail end of that battle - they'd not figured out that Katan's fishing boat was a mimic, until the last surviving goblin dropped from a tree into the boat shrieking a war cry and brandishing a dogslicer - and the boat promptly ate him, burped, and then went right back to being a well-behaved boat again.
One of the PCs from that game carried over into my Carrion Crown campaign, and she STILL plays up her fear of boats to this day. =]
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Aha! Here's an easy fix: Take the mosquito swarm from the Bestiary 2 and make them tiny instead of diminutive creatures. That way they lose their immunity to weapon damage, giving a lower level party a bit more of an edge while still keeping the swarm fearsome.