Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

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cbarchuk
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Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by cbarchuk »

What's the easiest way to do this? There are some AD&D and BX modules I would like to run using FMAG. Is changing the HD and damage dice to a D6 the only thing I need to do? And I assume any multiple attacks are removed as well. Anything else?

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merias
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by merias »

HD/damage dice to d6-based for sure (not always flat d6, think of the WB Ogre which does d6+2 damage on a hit). On multiple attacks - keep them if they make sense, like a two-headed creature would still get two bite attacks, but a ghoul would just get one attack instead of three. So I guess that is getting rid of the so-called attack routine.

I sometimes tone down the special attacks too, just because white box is such a low-powered game compared to subsequent editions. And of course AC may need to be tweaked depending on if you are using AAC or "normal" descending (e.g. unarmored at 9 in WB, but AD&D unarmored is 10). I think everything else would be the same, for the most part.

cbarchuk
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by cbarchuk »

Ah that's right. I forgot that unarmored AC in AD&D is 10 for descending AC. So I assume I would need to lower the AC listed by 1 if using DAC? Now if I'm converting to AAC, do I simply subtract the AC shown by 19?

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merias
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by merias »

cbarchuk wrote:
Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:03 pm
Ah that's right. I forgot that unarmored AC in AD&D is 10 for descending AC. So I assume I would need to lower the AC listed by 1 if using DAC? Now if I'm converting to AAC, do I simply subtract the AC shown by 19?
Yes, although for AD&D you would subtract from 20.

cbarchuk
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by cbarchuk »

So I'm currently running a group through White Plume Mountain using FMAG. The party is getting to meet the giant crab. It's Ad&d stats are:

AC: 0, HD: 15, HP: 60; #AT: 2; D: 3d6

We're using AAC so for FMAG I was thinking:

AC: 19, HD 15, HP: 45 or 50, Either one attack for 3d6 or 2 attacks for 1d6 each. It gets a +15 to hit so I doubt it will miss much if at all. What do you think?

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merias
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by merias »

Funny I was just looking at the White Box AAC tables the other day and thinking that max +15 for monsters seemed a bit high. So I compared the original to AD&D, here is what I found, after converting the numbers in the charts to AAC:
  • In OD&D, Fighters get a max bonus of +12 at level 16+, while monsters get a max bonus of +10 at 11 or more HD.
  • In AD&D, Fighters or Fighter subclasses get a max bonus of +16 at level 17+, while monsters get a max bonus of +12 at 16 or more HD.
So you can keep the FMAG method for monsters, which I agree seems excessive, or pick one of the others. Personally I'd pick the OD&D hit tables and cap monsters at a +10 hit bonus, I think it fits better with FMAG as a lower-powered game overall.

cbarchuk
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by cbarchuk »

Interesting. Yea I thought the +15 was ridiculous compared how low the parties bonuses are. Interestingly enough this 15HD Crab in a BX game would only have a +10 to hit or a THACO of 9. Can you shoot me that OD&D link? I'm looking in my S&W book and monster attack bonuses go up to +15 as well.

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merias
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by merias »

I don't have a link to the OD&D books, but you can buy the OD&D PDFs from DTRPG (or search for PDFs online, they are not hard to find). Here is an image from my copies:

Image

cbarchuk
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by cbarchuk »

Thanks for that. I wonder why FMAG doesn't use those tables. Seems to me it should correct? These tables are closer to BX.

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merias
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Re: Converting monsters from AD&D and BX

Post by merias »

Well FMAG was never meant to be an exact OD&D clone. Also the OD&D attack tables do suffer from being discontinuous, by that I mean the jumps in attack ability don't happen at each level, but every 3, 4 or 5 levels. Not everyone likes this, and most clones try to fix this by offering a smoother progression. S&W (and by extension, FMAG) was no exception. I actually like the S&W attack progression, although until recently did not even think about the +15 for monsters (I have never played in or ran a game with a monster of 15HD). I think I'd just cap it at +10 and leave the rest the same.

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