How to Update an Old School Dungeon to 4E

The campaign I have been running the past two months took a bit of an unexpected turn when the players decided to go investigate one of the center pieces of the plot a long time and several levels before I had expected them to.

Over the past two weeks I have been largely stalling them; getting them bogged down in small side events. However, I knew at some point I needed to give them something meaningful, that would provide both some excitement, and some of the answers they are seeking.

Then it hit me, the Basic D&D adventure The Palace of the Silver Princess could very easily be adapted to meet my needs. However, updating an old school dungeon crawl to 4E isn’t something you do by making a few notes about stat changes – certain fundementals of the adventure need to change.

The Palace of the Silver Princess (I am using the In Search of Adventure reprint) has 76 encounter areas. While its not quite wall to wall monsters, a straight update would create an enormous adventure that would take months to play (if not all year).

So one needs more of a plan when updating adventures to 4e; much more so than other editions. This is the strategy I have used in updating B3 and other old school adventures to keep them playable and moving.

Step 1 – Remove

Often the writers of old school adventures were so anxious to over load their dungeon with every monster under the sun that a number of the encounters made zero sense what so ever. Others while not out of place, were completely unnecessary. Since we are looking to lessen the play time, taking these encounters out is a good place to start.

Step 2 – Combine

Another frequent occurance in old school adventures are several rooms near each other with similar or the same monsters. Treat these areas as a single encounter location. You might need to make different plans for how the monsters will react depending on the party’s point of entry, but the end result should be one combat.

This principle can also be applied in any other situation where it would be reasonable for combat in one area to attract monsters from the other.

Step 3 – Minionize

When dealing with the main denziens of a dungeons you don’t want to significantly reduce their numbers or you will risk changing the entire feel of the dungeon. Instead make very liberal use of minions, far beyond what 4e normally sees. Don’t be afraid to have some encounters be nothing but minions; whether that means a huge room with 20 minions or a lone minion waiting to be slaughtered.

Step 4 – Dramatize

Old school adventures were largely setup to be a huge endurance test for the party, where they had to survive a great many encounters; 4e is more built around a small number of important encounters.

When you are updating the adventure plan for a small number of the encounters to be the typical 4e set pieces, then make the rest of the encounters ones the party can fly through. A great way to make an encounter go uber fast it to stock it with minions and give the party surprise.

The Rest

In addition to reorganzing the way encounters work, frequently monsters and treasures have to be out right replaced with something different as relative power levels have changed over time. But that’s the easy part – once you know how to make the adventure flow properly you’re practically home free.

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