Compatability of C&C material

[DarthSunshine]

Hello!

I've long been a fan of C&C, but my group wishes to start playing a long term campaign using 5th edition dungeons and dragons. Honestly, I think it could be fun but I also do not want to leave all my cool C&C material unused.

My plan is to run them through as much of the A series as possible as none of them have any experience with it. Now I've been running games for a long time, so I know a conversion is certainly possible. However, any pointers would be greatly appreciated to save me some time.

Things I am concerned about:

D&D seems to have a much faster experience progression than C&C. I'm unsure of how I should handle this. Should I cut experience rewards in half? By a quarter?

D&D also doesn't allow for magic item shopping by default (not a big change for me as it's mh prefered style of play.) However, it seems that the A series hands out treasure at a fairly rapid rate. I also like money to be an issue with my groups so that a big payout is a true reward. Would cutting treasure rewards in half be a reasonable approach?

In fifth edition crowds of small monsters are more dangerous than before, I imagine that in some combats the number of opponents will have to be reduced.

Any other input or advice?

[Treebore]

I haven't played 5E enough to give my suggestions, but I am willing to bet if you go with your gut you will get good results.

[GameOgre]

D&D is designed around playing one adventure path in under 20 or so sessions to hit max level. That seems to be it's lose and general rule of thumb.

Most older RPG's are designed to have many adventures and can take years of playing to reach max level.

Both of those design choices have a good and bad side but both are fairly easy to change to fit your group. I have played both ways and while I did enjoy the fast paced rise to power of 5E, I disliked how fast my characters life(adventuring career) was over.

[serleran]

It sounds like none of your questions are about the technical bits but advice on how to handle XP and treasure. That's always preference. Want them to be poor, convert the GP awards to SP, and then divide it by 10. Remove any magic items you don't want them to get. That is how it's always been, regardless of edition and regardless of its being converted (for example, if I don't want the party to get Blackrazor, there is no Blackrazor.)

[DarthSunshine]

Fair enough, I was just curious if anyone had done something similar. So far, I believe that I will be cutting 5th edition's XP rewards in half to try and keep them on level as they hit each module. I can always give them a boost if they lag behind. I will also reduce their treasure by a good deal too.

[serleran]

One thing I would suggest, if you want to slow level advancement, is to not use gold for XP, nor magic item XP values as actual XP.

[Litzen Tallister]

Also, the XP curve in fifth edition rapidly scales upward, so you may as your group progresses find the need to reduce XP less of an issue.

[Warunsun]

Any other input or advice?

I have played and DMed both 5E and C&C. Believe it or not 5E has a lot in common with C&C. Saving throws is one example. Sure, everything works a bit differently mechanically but I think you could use C&C adventures with little problems. I would suggest using the stats in the 5E Monster Manual for creatures but you could come up with a reasonable on-the-fly system. Because of "bounded accuracy" you can actually fight more crowds of small monsters in 5E than C&C. 5E characters tend to me much stronger right out of the book as well.

Definitely don't award XP for gold, treasure, role-playing or the like. The XP granted from simply killing monsters adds up pretty nicely on the 5E charts. It does slow down after 4th level and strangely enough speeds back up a bit after 10th level. The charts are designed to stretch the "sweet spot" of 5th to 9th.

It is much easier to convert 5E to C&C!

As far as treasure goes I don't think it will ruin your game if you give out more treasure. Enforce the "attunement" rules and you will be OK. Each PC is only allowed to use three awesome items at once. Stuff like a Cloak of Protection or Ring of Protection or Scimitar of Speed require bonding. D&D has always had buckets of treasure and I don't get the attitude that less is more in D&D. D&D has certain unalienable tropes like hit points and buckets of magic. Go nuts and have fun. Then, start a C&C campaign for variety right after you finished your D&D campaign. Change it up.

[Daniel]

One other option, if you want a particular pace for advancement, just don't do XP at all. Run the adventures and when you want them to advance then just tell them they leveled. They level when you expected them to, not before or after. Let the treasure be just that. Thus the pace is based on the fun of the people playing.

[Treebore]

One other option, if you want a particular pace for advancement, just don't do XP at all. Run the adventures and when you want them to advance then just tell them they leveled. They level when you expected them to, not before or after. Let the treasure be just that. Thus the pace is based on the fun of the people playing.

Yep. Thats how I have been running my current online game. I like it, a lot, but some of the players don't, because they like to see their character is progressing, rather than have it happen out of the blue. However, they don't do all the book keeping, I do.

[Daniel]

Yep. Thats how I have been running my current online game. I like it, a lot, but some of the players don't, because they like to see their character is progressing, rather than have it happen out of the blue. However, they don't do all the book keeping, I do.

The first game I played in where the GM did it, I was a little caught off guard. But once I got over the "change" in my head it was kind of liberating. I just played and had fun and when he told me I leveled, it was like finding a cool magic item or treasure. In the end, it added to the fun.