Conversion to 1st

[Oliaran]

My established group is playing first edition and I bought this AP not considering that it was solely 2nd edition. With a few of my players being new to 1st edition and not wanting to have them learn a new system, how difficult would it be to convert this AP 1st edition?

Thanks

[GayBirdGM]

Ehhhhhh....

Personally I'd say learning PF2 is highly more worth it in the long run, and might even be LESS work than converting some of this.

However, there are plenty of the enemies that have good equivalent stats in PF1 already, or are PF1 bestiary entries already. The main part will be converting the unique enemies and stuff into PF1.

Spoiler:

Personally I think converting Tyrroicese in book 2 will be an interesting challenge, but there might be some people that are converting things on another forum.

Also there's the Heist in book 3, I'm sure that will be an easy switch over.

[Oliaran]

GayBirdGM wrote:

Ehhhhhh....

Personally I'd say learning PF2 is highly more worth it in the long run, and might even be LESS work than converting some of this.

However, there are plenty of the enemies that have good equivalent stats in PF1 already, or are PF1 bestiary entries already. The main part will be converting the unique enemies and stuff into PF1.

** spoiler omitted **

Three of my players are real new with a dozen sessions and I'd hate to ask them to learn something new plus buying hero lab and books if they wanted it. Seeing that paizo has stopped making APs for 1st it will probably be something we'll move to in the future maybe this will be the catalist for the change.

[GayBirdGM]

Oliaran wrote:

Three of my players are real new with a dozen sessions and I'd hate to ask them to learn something new plus buying hero lab and books if they wanted it. Seeing that paizo has stopped making APs for 1st it will probably be something we'll move to in the future maybe this will be the catalist for the change.

You could try Pathbuilder for Android[or BlueStacks Android emulator on the PC] for easy character creation. It's what I use, and even then I only use it half the time because making a character in PF2 is significantly more easy than PF1, and using the Archives of Nethys alongside the support we have in FoundryVTT for drag and drop it's a super quick process.

[Kasoh]

When doing conversions, you have to consider if the changes of mechanics alter the story in any way. What level certain abilities become readily available and whatnot, how potent alignment detection is in PF1 vs PF2. The availability of magic and how potent magic is will be of concern and worth a look.

A big caveat there is to consider how PCs regain HP. Its really easy in PF2, even without a divine caster if someone loads up on Medicine skills. In PF1 you'll have to be more liberal with potions or wands of CLW, especially in the zoo encounter when PCs are still low level.

Setting DCs for skill checks shouldn't be too difficult.

PF1's monster library is complete and there aren't many monsters that exist in PF2 that don't exist in PF1. Find and replace. Easy enough. Check monster CRs and apply the advanced or weak templates as necessary or just use a CR appropriate monster of the same theme.

NPCs require you to rebuild stat blocks, but there are also plenty of generic NPC stat blocks to use for generic thugs/enemies. You really only have to concern yourself with significant NPCs. How easy that is a matter of experience and your own thresholds for making NPCs.

Money and treasure are real hurdles to conquer here, especially since there's some contention over what is an ethical way to reward PCs who are officers of the watch. But you still have to replace gear and litter the foes with big six items.

Rules for chases, heists, and et al are consolidated in Ultimate Intrigue, I think so that'll be a valuable resource.

As an example one of the earliest encounters is with a group of soused adventurers. the Iconic Pregens can be dropped right in there as foes. But, 4 level 1 PC classes is a bit more stiff competition than the 4 level -1 creatures in the original AP. But, with the sickened condition from being drunk, which is -2 to all relevant rolls, it'll probably be fine. Pick a Diplomacy or Intimidate DC for peaceful resolution and you're done.

Now repeat that process for every encounter in the book. It can be time consuming, but you learn a lot about the systems in question when doing conversions. You might find that you prefer 2E and be in a position to make a stronger case for its adoption amongst the group as you become familiar with its mechanics. Or you might find the PF1 playstyle suits your needs better.

[Artofregicide]

I'd love to see how the PF1e conversion goes!

Personally, I love to convert stuff but PF1e and PF2e do not convert well (well, without a lot of work) in either direction.

None of the PF2e APs have really struck me as worth converting to 1e, but I'm converting Hell's Rebels to 2e...

[Defiler82]

The real tough issue here is the treasure. I converted book 1-4, using some villains from the villain codex, mixing and matching some monsters and using templates where needed be, but I couldn't pass around the treasure part without completely throwing it off the windows.

Things is - some treasures are hard to configure, especially those one-use items that don't require an action to use (like talismans and such). Some of them are granting a one-time-use with a feat or an ability - so I tried to use the 'gloves or arrow snaring' as a base item but got stuck in the middle. Also a concern is the allotment of magic items in PF1 compare to PF2. If an item is really useful for one time use and it's cheap - PF1 PCs will likely try to craft as many of them as possible, and reuse it when able.

But some of the NPCs and monsters were a lot of fun converting, thanks to Green Ronin Advance Bestiary (for a certain weird creature in book2) and thanks to the easy rules in Bestiary 1 for adding and reducing HD in order to set monsters to a more fitting CR.

I even got to use a mythic path for one of the villains in order to make him more fitting for the story, which was a great experience :)