Rashn’s Tower: Converting Module B1

Today I’ve begun the lengthy but very enjoyable task of converting Dungeon Module B1 “In Search of the Unknown” to D&D5e.

Not only is the adventure an opportunity to bring some OSR love over to the new edition of D&D, it’s also an exercise in conversion to my new homebrew setting: Mykovnia‘s Ice-Rivan Realm.

This post is about the process so far.

Starting With a Classic

Dungeon Module B1 is a timeless classic.

The real joy of working with this old adventure is that it was designed with the freedom to adapt it built right in. The beginning DM was expected to “key” the monsters and treasures to the dungeon, a simple enough task for even a newbie. The idea was that no two presentations of the adventure would be the same: every DM comes up with their own rationale for each creature’s and item’s placement.

In many ways, this makes working with it now just as easy as ever it was: you simply take the dungeon and personalise things. For me, however, I wanted to tie it more closely to my setting. With this in mind, I began with the background.

Re-writing the Backstory

The newly edited player’s background for the adventures begins as follows:

Rashn the Fearless and Tahmuras the Unknown are legendary names. Even you, a young fledgling in a realm far from the great cities of Mykovnia, know of their reputation—even though their tale begins long before you were born. The elders and the sages speak both names with respect, even awe, in a distant admiration for the memories of the two legendary figures…

You have heard parts of the story before, but never enough to know all of it, or even what is true and what is only legend or speculation. But it is a great and fascinating beginning in your own quest to learn more.

Even before Josephe Vandel and I started working on the map of The Ice-Rivan Realm, I knew that the location from Module B1 was going to be called “Rashn’s Tower“. It was among the first three places I added to the draft map. That aside, it wasn’t until this morning that I sat down to work out exactly who Rashn was… and, more importantly, why he built a tower.

Backstory is a crucial piece of any OSR-style adventure. In a sandbox setting like this one, the story of how each location became important to the setting is (IMHO) a vital element that makes or breaks adventuring experiences. Thus, the tale of Rashn and Tahmuras was fun to include.

In truth, the story that comes with the module is just fine. I’ve not done too much with it. Most importantly, however, I’ve given it a place within this world:

Many years passed, until one day a great barbarian invasion came from the lands to the north, threatening to engulf the entire land with the savage excesses of the unchecked alien horde.

Just when things seemed the darkest, Rashn the Fearless and Tahmuras the Unknown made their unexpected yet most welcome reappearance. Joining their powerful forces, they and their band of loyal henchmen met the barbarian army in a great battle at the lakeside pass in the mountains, not far from the legendary Draxhold of Dweomerdeep, and decisively turned back the invasion.

Rashn slew a horde of barbarians single-handedly and Tahmuras’ powerful magick put their army to fight. It was a great victory, and a grateful populace rewarded the pair and their consorts with considerable treasure.

After that, the two heroes returned to their mystical hideaway, and rumour has it that the spoils of victory were spent to further its construction, although some of it may yet be hidden somewhere.

Finding the Monsters

The next step has been to connect the Random Monster Table from the original module to the current D&D statistics.

Referencing the Monster Manual, I’ve been able to build some useful stat blocks right into the text of my re-edited adventure – outboxing the stats to the side of the main text has long been a way for me to reference what I need without needing the core book during a session.

As this is a sandbox setting, I don’t need to overly concern myself with the concept of Challenge Levels for the heroes: the party will encounter the location as it is, and learn to make decisions in response to the potential lethality of the denizens within. Thus, I’ve just been looking through the stats with an eye to roughly matching creatures to the original intent of the module.

One change in the Random Monster Table was to shift the “berserkers” to being “bandits”, a change that retains the flavour of the Ice-Rivan Realm with the intent to keep wandering monsters to low-level challenges.

Editing the Dungeon

Taking a highlighter to the original module.

Finally, I’ve begun the progress of editing the text of the original module to my own printable and much more readable layout.

Making sure the text is printing onto A4 pages (as I’m a Brit) and in a manner that makes for quick reference of key information in-game is vital.

There really is nothing worse than not really being able to find notes when you need them – a problem I noted in recent games within the Caves of Chaos, which I just printed off and annotated by hand.

Although it takes time, the effort means that I’ll have a clear and easy-to-run version of the module… plus I also get to alter rules details to fit the new D&D game system.

Keying It Up

The final step, once I’ve finished working through all 56 locations in the dungeon, is to “key” where the suggested monsters and treasures are to be found.

This is the part that I’ll do at the end because it allows me to “read” the module as I edit it: the idea is that I’ll have a much more holistic feel for the place… and that’ll let me “key” things with a more complete rationale. It also allows me space to change creatures or items that don’t quite fit the setting.

Once keyed, the last task will be to place stat blocks for the creatures and out-boxes for the treasures throughout the text. Ideally placed next to the location in which they are found, I’ll be able to quickly find what I need as I run the dungeon with players.

Right, that’s enough blathering for now – let’s get back to the editing.

Game on!