I'm thinking of running Curse of the Crimson Throne as I've heard good things about it.
If I run it, I'm also thinking of maybe running it with Castles and Crusades instead of PF (I know, it's made for 3.5 but current choices are PF or C&C), and thinking with a small tweak it may be easier to run it that way instead of with full blown C&C.
However, as characters from 3.5 tend to be more powerful than those in C&C when you start getting higher levels, I'm debating about whether to give martials a +1/level to their damage?
As well as maybe letting them advance in attacks as per PF and 3.5 (so +1 attack at -5 BAB at +6 BAB, etc).
In addition, I'm thinking of maybe letting Rogues advance at the 3/4 BAB scale instead of how they advance in C&C.
Does this sound viable?
Overall I still think it might be easier to do it this way instead of trying to scale encounters upwards, adapt the powerlevel of each encounter up for PF characters instead of upscaling C&C characters.
thoughts?
The tweaks to #attacks and BAB for C&C sound like reasonable house rules, yes - you might give Clerics and other C&C half-progression characters the 3/4 BAB also. C&C Fighters should probably keep their high level bonus attack.
The C&C people published a very good conversion guide for 3.5 to C&C which AIR is on the TLG forums, well worth using that for the monsters if there is not a published C&C version. NPCs you can just use C&C classes, they should convert easy.
For ease of conversion & play you might consider using the 3e/PF attribute bonuses (2 pts = +1 bonus) rather than the flatter progression in C&C. You could also use the +1 attribute bonus per 4 levels rule.
Edit: I'm currently running Rise of the Runelords in OSRIC/AD&D, runs very smoothly, and using C&C would be even closer. I tend to do all NPC/monster statting pretty much from the ground up, rather than attempt a straight mechanical conversion, or use OSRIC/AD&D version if available. I just treat the listed PF stat block as inspirational. The only significant house rule is that while I use OSRIC XP/Level charts for progression, I use the PF listed XP awards (at least up to about 9th level); this gives an appropriate rate of progression. You'll want to keep an eye on progression in C&C likewise; Crimson Throne has plenty of treasure but you may not want most XP to come from looting. Just Levelling everyone at the same time by waypoint works poorly in AD&D or C&C, because the different amounts of XP needed to level are a balancing factor for stronger and weaker classes.
Here's the XP table by CR that I use for my AD&D/OSRIC RoTRL game, it ought to work for CoTCT too since Crimson Throne has the same assumed progression rate:
CR XP
1/8 50 – hd ½ animal, eg giant rat
1/5 80 - hd 1/2, eg kobold
¼ 100 – hd 1-1, eg goblin
1/3 133 – hd 1d8, eg orc
½ 200 – Lvl 1 character
1 400 Start of x2 per 2 levels
2 600
3 800
4 1200
5 1600
6 2400
7 3200
8 4800
9 6400 Start of x2 per 4 levels
10 8000
11 9600
12 11200
13 12800
14 16000
15 19200
16 22400
17 25600
18 32000
19 38400
20 44800
21 51200
22 64000
23 76800
24 89600
25 102400
Using this table the PC level in AD&D or C&C should generally stay within a couple levels of the assumed 3e/PF level. There is slightly faster progression at the very start, it slows in the mid-levels as PF/3e XP doubles every 2 levels, while AD&D/C&C XP requirements typically double every level up to around 9th. After ca 9th-10th level the C&C/AD&D PCs need a flat amount of XP to level; so using the above table their progression rate will gradually increase again.
I've been running CotCT in Blood & Treasure since about a third of the way through Edge of Anarchy.
After running Pathfinder/3.5 for years, B&T was like a breath of fresh air.
We've played 10 sessions so far, the characters have gone from 2nd level to 4th level and it is going very well. We get a lot more done each session since the combats don't take as long and we don't have to constantly check the rulebook for rules clarification. Pretty much the only time that I have to crack open the book is to read spell descriptions.
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!
Using some of the ideas you guys gave, we ran the first half of CotCT this weekend.
Thanks again.
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!
Using some of the ideas you guys gave, we ran the first half of CotCT this weekend.
Thanks again.
You're welcome. :) Did you run the first half of Book 1? Running 3 books in 1 weekend seems like a lot! :D
Yes, you are right, we just ran the first half of book 1.
Well, we'll see how this works out. I didn't have a copy of #2, and thought I might have to try this.
I just bought the PDF and will probably take it to the local printers and see if they can print it out (more comfortable running off hardcopy than having a laptop at the table).
As long as they can print and bind it from the PDF, we're off to #2.
Well, we'll see how this works out. I didn't have a copy of #2, and thought I might have to try this.
I just bought the PDF and will probably take it to the local printers and see if they can print it out (more comfortable running off hardcopy than having a laptop at the table).
As long as they can print and bind it from the PDF, we're off to #2.
A print-out should work just as fine. Just hurry, with the speed you're playing through this, you'll need it soon. Have fun!!
Just got it printed out from the printers. Cost to print it was 19.19, and it looks fabulous!
Got plastic covers over the cardstock front and back which I did in color (rest is black and white) and it looks really good.
Now to get prepping for Tomorrow and Saturday.