Conversion H1-H4 Bloodstone for Pathfinder........ Has anyone done this?

[DeathBecomesus]

Greetings
One of my old favorites was the entire H1-H4 series Bloodstone

I think H2 had some mass combat options, with rules (forget the name of the rules, maybe it was Battlesystem?)

H4 of course, had super high powered options. Yes it was a bit crazy ,
and poorly designed. Yet I always thought this had some much untapped potential.

I think there were some mild attempts to re write this for 3.5

Has anyone attempted to write this with Pathfinder (including Mythic)

I would be MOST interested

[Eltacolibre]

Mass combat would sadly be needed for this series of module and it isn't a very popular system to say the least. I could only seriously recommend to check out the expansion of mass combat rules by Legendary games, to help it be better.

Anything else is fairly easy to convert, Ancient Blue dragon = ancient blue dragon. Trundle use any npc wizard who can cast 3rd level spell etc...

[Dragonchess Player]

The basic storyline could be used, although some of the 1st Ed AD&D monsters (dragons and giants, especially) are significantly weaker than in 3.5/Pathfinder. Also, a significant amount of work would be needed to convert the Battlesystem mass combat (much more of a miniatures/wargaming ruleset) to the Ultimate Campaign mass combat rules. The rest of the Kingdoms and War section, along with the Buildings and Organizations downtime rules, may prove useful for other parts of the modules.

The biggest difference is the level of "fiat" vs. mechanics. 1st Ed had a lot of "things just happen this way, because--reasons" (mostly to "force" a specific encounter/event/result/storyline), while 3.5/Pathfinder is more simulationist.

[DeathBecomesus]

Eltacolibra and Dragonchess player
Thanks for the response

The basic story line is what I find most appealing. This basic story line has some much room for growth and improvement.

Mass Combat rules, I realize are not so popular. Perhaps the mass combat "wars" could be optional. Yet I do like the basic story line, that mass combat wars have significant effort on the hero's adventures. Perhaps Heros are in some dungeon trying to find artifact that would greatly shift the balance of power, if used in the mass combat.

In H4 the story does to different layers of the abyss. The hero's seek support from various Demonlords to defeat Orcus. This has so much room for deep story l ine and moral choices.
I wonder would a Paladin accept help from a Demonlord, sincere real help, that could be use to defeat Orcus (or at least steal his wand) . The Demonlord could offer real help, but would "request" a favor in the future.This would be a real moral choice for Paladin (and others)

Perhaps that is topic for a different thread

[Eltacolibre]

You can make mass combat works somewhat...if you totally ignore it. Basically have the war scene being just that...a scene, setting, etc...and have them focus on objectives , like take down the general of the armies. It would be more exciting and avoid people having to read through very boring rules. You know like how in Star Wars for some reason, the rebels won after killing the Emperor (while this doesn't make a lot of sense) , for a fantasy rpg trope, it is totally fine, kil l the boss general, sabotage a machine etc...

As for help from a demonlord, there is a story like that in 3.5 (Savage tides) a great one, where you end having to recruit demonlords, a powerful evil witch etc...to take down a greater evil, Demogorgon about to destroy the world. It is fine but still demonlords are demonlords, they have their own agenda or reasons for doing thing, so always keep that in mind.

[DeathBecomesus]

Really old post