Converting Rise of the Runelords to Eberron [3.P, spoilers]

[Turion]

I'm planning on running RotRL for my gaming group this semester. However, none of us have any familiarity with Golarion, and I frankly don't have the time or inclination to become familiar with it. A few of my players are familiar with Eberron, though, so I thought I'd try my hand at converting it. I have a bare-bones list of adjustments, but I thought I'd check on here to see if anyone had any suggestions, or to see if I'm committing any grave setting-errors.

What I have so far:


Sandpoint is a Brellish colony/frontier town on the tip of the Skyfall Peninsula, across from Stormreach. It has a Ghalladra outpost, and possibly a Cannith store. Players could have grown up in Sandpoint, or have been sent there by the Brellish government to help deal with the goblin problem

Magnimar becomes Stormreach. Direct substitution.

The Skinsaw cult is a Dragon Below cult, led by Xanesha, a Marai Rakshasa (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/rakshasa/rakshasa-marai). She is trying to sell the ghast poison to the Emerald Claw.

Lucrecia is a Common Rakshasa.

Karzoug is a Maharaja Rakshasa, and a Lord of Dust. He was forced into hiding following a failed coup attempt, when he tried to steal the power of Sakinnirot, the Scar that Abides, forcing Argonessen to move against him and the Giants. He made his home in Xin-Shalast as the power behind the throne, and is presumed dead by the other LoDs.

Sin magic was a Giant experiment from before the fall, brought about by the manipulation of the Lords of Dust.

Nualia is a cultist of the Dragon Below.

Mokmurian is a stone giant with the Primordial template.

Hook Mountain is in Xen'drik, not too far from Sandpoint.

All dragon enemies are ferals, not associated with Argonessen. (the Talons of Tiamat don't typically associate with the Rakshasas, from what I understand, otherwise they'd fit perfectly.)

All lamias are converted into different types of Rakshasa, depending on CR.


That's what I've got so far. Comments? Questions? Insults? Rotten tomatoes?

[Novawurmson]

I'm actually GMing in a Golarion+Eberron combined world (i.e. a Golarion manifest zone opened in Eberron).

Spoiler alert for any of my players who may happen to be snooping.

In Eberron, there were "sorcerer-kings" in Sarlona at almost the exact same time as the Runelords in Golarion. In my cross, the Starfall is what shattered the previous connection between the two worlds, and the reawakening of the Runelords coincides with the two becoming coterminous again.

I'd say what you've got will work fine, too. Make sure to include Eberron-specific races when possible. Maybe one of the mercenaries from the first book a warforged, maybe on of the Order of the Black Arrows could be a changeling, etc.

[Turion]

I'm actually GMing in a Golarion+Eberron combined world (i.e. a Golarion manifest zone opened in Eberron).

Spoiler alert for any of my players who may happen to be snooping.

In Eberron, there were "sorcerer-kings" in Sarlona at almost the exact same time as the Runelords in Golarion. In my cross, the Starfall is what shattered the previous connection between the two worlds, and the reawakening of the Runelords coincides with the two becoming coterminous again.

I'd say what you've got will work fine, too. Make sure to include Eberron-specific races when possible. Maybe one of the mercenaries from the first book a warforged, maybe on of the Order of the Black Arrows could be a changeling, etc.

Yeah, messing around with the races is something I planned on doing; I was actually thinking Valenari and Warforged for the Order, and making the Kaijutsu family Kalashtars. I'd thought about using Sarlona instead of Xen'drik, but I didn't really want to deal with psychic Big Brother, and I thought all the stuff with the giants fit better in Xen'drik.

Thanks for the sanity check; I'm mostly trying to make sure I don't forget anything too important (from either the setting or the AP).

[Novawurmson]

Oooooh. I really like making them Kalashtar.

Something else you might want to mull over: Goblins are quite a bit different in Eberron than Golarion. You might want to include a few traditional Eberron goblins who can't believe what "these wild, savage Xen'drik goblins are doing." A bugbear and a hobgoblin or two who live in Sandpoint with decent jobs and favorable PC interactions would probably do the trick.

Ooooh, you might make the priest who raised Nualia a worshiper of the Silver Flame. Gives his death (burning to death) a touch of dramatic irony. You could make it so she believes she's hearing the Flame telling her to "purify" Sandpoint by burning "the wicked city" to ashes.

[Turion]

There are actually a couple of options for the goblins. What I'll probably go with is just that they're feral; they're cut off from Darguun completely; if they even had a well structured society to begin with, it's devolved for whatever reason. I'm planning to have other goblin NPCs around, so that ties together pretty nicely

The other options are converting them to Drow, which is a kettle of feesh I do not want to get into, or change the characterization to Darguuni mercenaries that Nualia brought in.

I was originally planning to change Nualia to a Dragon Below cultist, but that ties in disturbingly well. Considering the Flame actually contains a Rajah, that's not even too unbelievable. The whispers could actually be from The Scar that Abides masquerading the Flame; that seems like the sort of thing a Rajah would do. I may actually make her an evil Silver Flame cleric. Would make it kinda hard to explain the claw, though; I'll have to think about that one. The dead priest will almost certainly be a Flamer; the characterization seems to fit pretty well.

[T.G. Oskar]

Regarding the Silver Flame priest and the adventure (I don't know much about the AP, but I do know quite a bit about Eberron); the Five Nations and Faiths of Eberron sourcebooks explain a bit about the "dark side" of the Silver Flame, specifically those who worship the darkness in the Flame. There are two ways to handle it, but that depends on the characterization of the Scar that Abides:

The first is that the Scar that Abides IS the Shadow in the Flame, and the whole ordeal is to find a way to set him free. However, I don't think that's a good idea, because you'd have to end the AP in Flamekeep, if the idea is to liberate the Lord of Dust. That way, the connection is clearer.

The second is that the Scar that Abides and the Shadow in the Flame are consorting with each other. That way, you can have the priest serve the Shadow in the Flame, but act directly on the AP without much hassle. This could allow the use of the unique spell allowed to them, the one similar to Whispering Wind, as a form of communication. Just remember that not all evil clerics of the Flame worship the Shadow; some (specifically one) are just consumed with lust for power, and reject the notion of the darkness pervading the Flame. Exactly how the two Lords of Dust consort with each other is left to you, but there could be a reason why that happens.

A minor nitpick to finish: when referring to the region, it's Valenar; when refering to the people, it's the Valenar, not the Valenari. If you seek how they refer to themselves, it's the Valaes Tairn.

[Bigbeefie]

However, none of us have any familiarity with Golarion, and I frankly don't have the time or inclination to become familiar with it.

Isn't it putting in more time and inclination to convert everything over then it is to familiarize yourself with something new? Seems like your doing the oppisite.

For 1 your players don't need to be familiar with Golarion as you never leave the main continent. They just have to play the game and see hey that is a goblin, hey that is a bug bear, hey that is a dragon. Sure some of the Deities are different. But you only come across the mention of a few and I believe the Adventure path describes those Gods.

It just makes me cry that you might butcher one of the best written adventure paths in Pathfinder history because of the so called "comfort Level".

Big concern is are you using pathfinder for building the PCs or are you letting them use the Eberron stuff to build their characters? If your using the Older stuff I recommend using the old Rise of the Runelords and not the Newer anniversary addition with pathfinder specific conversions. The original was closer to the 3.5 materials power level.

My suggestion is Using the Older version stuff with the 3.5 material OR just sucking up the fact that this is a different place and learning about a new and exciting place. As a player I tend to like the Unknown as it adds a sense of wonderment...its easier to get me to listen to something New verses something I've read and heard before. Also not to mention Pazio gives a 15 page Player's Guide to Rise of the Runelords and describes some of the main differences to the players.