We’re closing in on $1500 in the Legends & Labyrinths funding project. That’s the level at which all current sponsors will be receiving early access to the Black Book Beta rulebook. If you’re still on the fence, think about testing the waters with a $5 pledge. It’ll push us a little closer to that $1500 mark, which will leave you with plenty of time to take a peek through the Black Book Beta and see if you want to bump your sponsorship level up before the funding project comes to an end.
Earlier today Auroch wrote a reply to “Opening Your Game Table” asking for advice on how to get started. This led me to touch briefly on the fact that L&L’s monster creation system makes it super-easy to convert pre-3E material to L&L. (3E material, of course, can be used straight out of the box thanks to that 100% compatibility thing.)
How easy? Well, since I was talking about Caverns of Thracia, let’s give it a whirl. I grabbed my copy of the module, flipped open my beta copy of Legends & Labyrinths to page 123, and set an egg timer for fifteen minutes. Starting from the top of the module, how many encounters could I convert?
THE 15 MINUTE CONVERSION TEST
AREA 4 – GIANT CENTIPEDES (CR ½): 5 hp (HD 1d8+1), AC 13, bite +1 (1d4 and poison), Save +3, Ability DC 11, Size Small, Climb 30 ft.
Str 8, Dex 15, Con 10,
Int 1, Wis 10, Cha 2
Skills: Climb +10, Hide +6, Spot +4
DR 5/piercing
Poison (Ex): Small Centipede Poison (1d2 Dex/1d2 Dex)
AREA 5 – LIZARDMEN (CR 2): hp 15 (HD 3d8+2), AC 17, club +4 (1d6+1), Save +5, Ability DC 13, Spd 40 ft.
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 9
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +9
Amphibious (Ex): Can breath both air and water.
Darkvision 60 ft.
AREA 6 – GNOLL (CR 2): hp 21 (HD 4d8+1), AC 15, morningstar +4 (1d6+1), Save +5, Ability DC 13.
Str 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +7, Spot +7
Scent
Darkvision 60 ft.
AREA 7 – GNOLLS (CR 2): hp 21 (HD 4d8+1), AC 15, longbow +4 or battle axe +4 (1d6+1), Save +5, Ability DC 13.
Str 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +7, Spot +7
Scent
Darkvision 60 ft.
AREA 9A – INCARNATION OF DEATH (CR 4): hp 30 (6d8+3), AC 17, touch +8 (energy drain), Save +7, Ability DC 15.
Str 11, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 17
Skills: Hide +12, Intimidate +12, Listen +11, Search +11, Sense Motive +11, Spot +11
Energy Drain 1 negative level and incarnation of death gains 5 temporary hp.
Invisibility Can be seen by any characters within 3 hp of death.
Despair Creatures who can see the incarnation of death suffer a -2 penalty on Will saving throws.
THOUGHTS
Five encounters in fifteen minutes. A little over three minutes per monster, including the time to type out full stat blocks. That should give you some indication of how easy it would be to whip up monsters on-the-fly during the game session, allowing you to easily keep up with rambunctious PCs and enabling spontaneous bursts of improvised creativity like the one which resulted in the creation of ash wraiths and lycanthropic ghouls.
It also speeds up prep time in general. Even in my full-blown 3E Ptolus campaign, I’ve been transitioning to a mixture of advanced NPC stat blocks and L&L stat blocks. And over time I’ve been leaning more and more heavily on L&L stat blocks because they’re so much quicker and easier to generate.
Once you get your hands on the Black Book Beta, I’d be interested in seeing what happens when you take this out for a spin.
CLIMB INTO YOUR LABYRINTH AND FORGE YOUR LEGEND TODAY!
