New Castle Keeper...

[marroon69]

So I backed the kickstarter and I received the Players Handbook and I want to give it a try. I found rules for converting old D&D mods to C&C....Lol I am an old gamer and most of my group has never heard of B1 Keep On the Borderlands so I thought I would give it a try. The conversion seems simple enough. The only issue I am facing right now is I have a group of 3 and I can not figure out how to scale it accordingly. I am assuming that since I am still waiting on the Keepers guide and the Monster book (sorry forgot the name) the rules will be in there. So an help would be much appreciated

[serleran]

[moved to general rules]

There is no right way and no single answer. Much of this is an "art" one gains by practice. There are, to my knowledge, no official rules for scaling modules primarily because there are a near infinite number of variables -- magic level, for example, or player skill being a huge part of it. House-rules, too, can throw off what one might need to do.

Assuming "RaW" and only that, there are other considerations like number of fighter-types, their weapons, their armor, their HP. In general, for low level adventures, I would probably not go with more than a 2.5:1 monster ratio. So, if you have 3 PCs, don't have a single fight with more than 8 monsters. The wizard might get lucky and get them all with a sleep spell... but if they don't have that, then things get really deadly, quickly.

You should not be afraid to use encounters that make the players run; if they don't, they learn they might consider it.

Another option you have would be to get their stats and run through some mock ups. That will give an idea of how it might play out. Of course, nothing ever happens the way you pretend... that's why players are great. They can surprise you.

Oh... and about HD of the enemies. If we assume level 1 PCs, I wouldn't use a monster with 4 HD. 3 would be the most, and then fewer of them, so that ration above assumes equal HD to the PCs.

[Arduin]

C&C doesn't include hard rules on how to scale encounters. WAY too many variables based on different PC group configurations, player experience/ability, GM cleverness, etc.

Start off with small, obviously easy encounters. If it is too easy you can always have more monsters show up for the encounter. It is harder to do the reverse convincingly if the PCs are being slaughtered.

[Buttmonkey]

Start off with small, obviously easy encounters. If it is too easy you can always have more monsters show up for the encounter.

I strongly agree with this. Start easy and throw more monsters at the party in waves if the encounters aren't challenging enough. You'll quickly get a feel for appropriate encounter strength that way. As a general rule of thumb, don't throw more total hit dice at the party in an encounter than the party has total levels unless you really want to push the party. For example, if you have a party of 5 first level PCs, a tough encounter would be 5 monsters with one hit dice. This is just a general rule of thumb. One successful sleep spell could wipe out all of those 1 HD monsters without any combat at all. That's when you throw the second wave of 5 orcs at the party.

[marroon69]

Ok thanks I will start out slow and see how it goes. I do not want to kill them....right away.

[Arduin]

Ok thanks I will start out slow and see how it goes. I do not want to kill them....right away.

Yes, a good marinate takes time...

[Aramis]

So I backed the kickstarter and I received the Players Handbook and I want to give it a try. I found rules for converting old D&D mods to C&C....Lol I am an old gamer and most of my group has never heard of B1 Keep On the Borderlands so I thought I would give it a try. The conversion seems simple enough. The only issue I am facing right now is I have a group of 3 and I can not figure out how to scale it accordingly. I am assuming that since I am still waiting on the Keepers guide and the Monster book (sorry forgot the name) the rules will be in there. So an help would be much appreciated

Welcome to the game

There aren't hard and fast scaling rules. In fact, you will notice C&C is a bit loose on hard and fast rules in general.

A group of 3 is very small for old school modules, which were often set up for 6-8 PCs or more

C&C PCs are a bit more powerful than 1e PCs, with fighters having specialisation and wizards getting extra spells. Also, people often allow maximum HPs at 1st level. So power wise they are equivalent to 2nd edition AD&D PCs

As for scaling encounters, my rule is more moderate than others here. I say that encounters equal in power to the PCs should be rare occurences. With most encounters being 50-66% the PC's power/HD. I think of it this way: if Muhammad Ali fought himself, how often would he win? Probably only about 1/2 the time. So unless you want a bunch of dead PCs littering the Caves of Chaos, keep the 1:1 encounters to a minimum

Scaling is very difficult at 1st level where any hit can kill a PC, and most of the low level monsters have the same HD as PCs. It is much easier at later levels

Also, for small groups you can start every one at 2nd level, or have everyone play 2 PCs, or as is traditional, add henchmen, hirelings, link boys and torchbearers. Let them open the doors!

[seskis281]

Also, for small groups you can start every one at 2nd level, or have everyone play 2 PCs, or as is traditional, add henchmen, hirelings, link boys and torchbearers. Let them open the doors!

One of my games went through NPC clerics so fast I just started dressing them all in red shirts.

[Julian Grimm]

Just a few general tips:

* Start slow. While the rules are fairly light don't worry about using them all at once. Ease into them over a few sessions.

* Keep your PHB close especially for Combat and SIEGE check rules. Players coming from 3.X will have the hardest time with these two.

* Try to have the description of spells that players have close at hand. This helps in adjudicating effects.

* Keep encounters low key until you figure out the power of the group. A good rule of thumb is no single monster should have more HD than those of the combined party. If a party has a total of 4HD do not use anything higher than a 4HD creature. So far this has worked for me.

* Provide a few rest and healing opportunities each session to keep the players up. While this can hurt some of the Old School flavor it helps keep the players going.