Jumping from 2E to 5E

[BBQ Pork]

We have a group jumping from 2E to 5E. We are all new to 5E, but have been playing 2E since the 90's. I have a solid co-DM that swaps out with me, and some okay players. (1 50yo who has been playing various incarnations of tanks, 1 40s co-DM, and 2-3 30-somethings.)

I'm DMing and have:
The PHB, DMG, Monster Manual, DM screen (That thing needs customizing, at the very least)
Tales from the Yawning Portal.

What else do I need?
I'm thinking one of the following to run:
A) Storm King's Thunder
B) Out Of The Abyss
C) Tomb Of Annihilation

[Malifice]

We have a group jumping from 2E to 5E. We are all new to 5E, but have been playing 2E since the 90's. I have a solid co-DM that swaps out with me, and some okay players. (1 50yo who has been playing various incarnations of tanks, and 2-3 30-somethings.)

I'm DMing and have:
The PHB, DMG, Monster Manual, DM screen (That thing needs customizing, at the very least)
Tales from the Yawning Portal.

What else do I need?
I'm thinking one of the following to run:
A) Storm King's Thunder
B) Out Of The Abyss
C) Tomb Of Annihilation

Xanathars Guide and Sword Coast Manual are both awesome resources (plenty of new character options in each). You can skip both, but they do add a lot of new archetypes to play around with.

Of your choices I like Tomb of Annhilation. Its a good hexcrawl sandbox, with a lot of dungeon areas to discover. Plus you can easily drop in more dungeons anywhere.

Its not your typical DnD adventure. Your old school guy might like it (it plays like a smash together of Island of Dread meets Tomb of Horrors meets Hidden shrine of Tamochan) but with a very distinct Indiana Jones feel.

It also has zombie T-Rex's. That spit out zombies. Depnding on your table, thats either totally awesome, or a bit too much.

[Unoriginal]

We have a group jumping from 2E to 5E. We are all new to 5E, but have been playing 2E since the 90's. I have a solid co-DM that swaps out with me, and some okay players. (1 50yo who has been playing various incarnations of tanks, and 2-3 30-somethings.)

I'm DMing and have:
The PHB, DMG, Monster Manual, DM screen (That thing needs customizing, at the very least)
Tales from the Yawning Portal.

What else do I need?
I'm thinking one of the following to run:
A) Storm King's Thunder
B) Out Of The Abyss
C) Tomb Of Annihilation

You don't need anything more, but the Volo's Guide to Monsters and Xanathar's Guide to Everything are both pretty nice books who have a lot of great stuff, for both players and DMs.

Tales of the Yawning Portal is already a good bunch of adventures, but if you want to run something else, the question is: what kind of adventures would you like the most?

[2D8HP]

Lost Mines of Phandelver from the Starter Set is a great adventure, maybe check it out, and there's enough free rules on-line that you don't actually need the books (but it is more fun to have them to hold).

I've never played 2e AD&D, but I did play some 0e D&D and 1e AD&D, and a tiny bit of B/X, so based on my dim memories of T(SR) D&D first level in 5e W(OtC)D&D feels like starting at 3rd level in 1e AD&D to me, but the adventures usually still feel like first level ones, but with occasional second and third level "boss monsters" (the bugbear in LMoP for example).

Besides some extra abilities (especially among caster classes), one simply starts with more HP in 5e, and the healing rate is quite a bit higher (in 1e you'd heal at a rate of one HP per day + or - CON mod fo ar full week of rest), employing the "Gritty Realism" option from page 267 of the 5e DMG may be worthwhile if you want to make it feel more like TD&D. Also healing potions are now something that can be purchased at village shops.

"Backgrounds" and Skills for non-Thieves are probably some of the biggest changes.

I generally find it easier to make 5e WD&D get closer to what I like about TD&D then the reverse.

Good luck and best wishes!

[Armored Walrus]

If you have any Ranger fans (the class, not the team) in your group, you may want to offer the Revised Ranger from Unearthed Arcana. Probably not necessary if they choose the Hunter archetype, but if they choose Beastmaster that can be a little disappointing to play.

Anyone who makes a spellcaster will need to keep in mind one huge change from 2e - there are cantrips that do damage. These become the basic attack for spell casters, and they can save using their slots for big stuff. It removes the old level 1 wizard, "Ok, I cast my one spell. See you guys back in town."

Turns/rounds don't work quite like they did in 2e. Everyone, every round, gets an opportunity for an action, which they can use to attack, Hide, Disengage, Dash, Dodge, or what have you. But then they also have an opportunity for a bonus action, and a reaction. If players aren't looking for ways to use their bonus action and their reaction as often as possible, then the encounter math in the DMG will likely make encounters a little harder than you expected. If the group is good at using all of their available actions, then fights will likely be easier than you expected.

Same goes for your side of the screen. If you don't pay attention to the various bonus action and reaction abilities of monsters, you'll make fights way easier. The simplest example is the lowly goblin. Every turn it can use a bonus action to Hide (if it can break line of sight) or Disengage.

I know this isn't exactly what you asked in the OP, but these are the things I stumbled over when I started 5e, so figured I'd give you a heads up ;)

I have no input on the modules you asked about. Tales of the Yawning Portal is solid enough, although the two low level dungeons can get a bit grindy if you play them out completely. That may just have been my group, though, who are mostly younger than your guys, and didn't grow up dungeon crawling like we did.

[BBQ Pork]

That's a very solid contender then. (Zombie T-Rexes) I have a character concept I've had in my back pocket that I can throw in there as a DMPC / adventure hook.

*listens for next posts*

[Unoriginal]

That's a very solid contender then. I have a character concept I've had in my back pocket that I can throw in there as a DMPC / adventure hook.

*listens for next posts*

Which character concept, if I may ask?

Personally I would avoid DMPCs, but if your players are ok with it...

[BBQ Pork]

You don't need anything more, but the Volo's Guide to Monsters and Xanathar's Guide to Everything are both pretty nice books who have a lot of great stuff, for both players and DMs.

Tales of the Yawning Portal is already a good bunch of adventures, but if you want to run something else, the question is: what kind of adventures would you like the most?

I like dungeon crawls, but the giant theme appeals if it builds up to Big Bads. My PCs will be disappointed at first that size Large critters don't take extra damage, but they can get over it.

[BBQ Pork]

Which character concept, if I may ask?

Personally I would avoid DMPCs, but if your players are ok with it...

We've done it before. They've been okay with it. I can hand it off to my "co-DM" buddy.

Concept:
"Gravedigger Jimmy" Dumont
LG 1/2 Orc. Was adopted by the elderly human (Level 0 or 1 Cleric of LG church) who was the cemetary caretaker.
"Dad" was killed by an undead attack. While the Church might not accept 1/2 orcs paladins (Wasn't a race/class combo allowed in 2E), he bears a holy symbol wired to his breastplate and another tattooed on his chest and will be either a Paladin in 5E or an Undead Slayer kit Fighter in 2E.
Hates Undead and probably Necromancers.
Weapons: As per class. Also a shovel. Light crossbow with scripture crudely hand-carved all over it, if allowed a crossbow.

I'll have to read the adventure to see if the "Wanna go Undead-hunting?" hook that this character whose core belief is "The dead stay dead. Period." would use, would fit the the adventure's intended hook.

Or I can toss him in midway if they need more muscle.

[Unoriginal]

Well, Half-Orcs can be Paladins without any issue, in 5e. Churches of good gods wouldn't be against it either, but Paladins aren't directly linked to gods this edition.

As in, they can serve a Church if they want, but they're not powered by a deity in principle.


I recommand the Acolyte background, if you want to make religion a big part of his backstory.


I didn't get which adventure you wanted to run, sorry.

[BBQ Pork]

I'm torn between the three adventures for now.

[Unoriginal]

I'm torn between the three adventures for now.

Have you considered running a shifter adventure first, to "taste the water" so to speak?

[BBQ Pork]

A "shifter" adventure? Please elaborate.

[Unoriginal]

A "shifter" adventure? Please elaborate.

I meant a shorter adventure, but my phone auto-corrected.

Does any of the scenarios in Tales of the Yawning Portal interest you?

[Willie the Duck]

A "shifter" adventure? Please elaborate.

Think that might have been an autocorrect error. I think he meant 'starter adventure.'
There are plenty of 3rd party ones, but "The Lost Mines of Phandelver," WotC's starter adventure, is actually one of their better products.

[BBQ Pork]

I could run The Sunless Citadel as a warm-up adventure for the 5-6 L1s.

[Willie the Duck]

"Gravedigger Jimmy" Dumont
LG 1/2 Orc. Was adopted by the elderly human (Level 0 or 1 Cleric of LG church) who was the cemetary caretaker.
"Dad" was killed by an undead attack. While the Church might not accept 1/2 orcs paladins (Wasn't a race/class combo allowed in 2E), he bears a holy symbol wired to his breastplate and another tattooed on his chest and will be either a Paladin in 5E or an Undead Slayer kit Fighter in 2E.
Hates Undead and probably Necromancers.
Weapons: As per class. Also a shovel. Light crossbow with scripture crudely hand-carved all over it, if allowed a crossbow.

I'll have to read the adventure to see if the "Wanna go Undead-hunting?" hook that this character whose core belief is "The dead stay dead. Period." would use, would fit the the adventure's intended hook.


This would not be hard to do in 5e. Paladin with Urchin background would make an 'orphan adopted and raised to be a holy warrior' type. Fighter with Acolyte background would make a good 'wanted to be a paladin, but it didn't happen' type. Half-orcs don't get a starter feat, otherwise brawler would give you a benefit with improvised weaponry (which I think shovel would fall under), so I would consider it a backup weapon, and use normal weapons (probably longsword, battle axe, warhammer or Morningstar if sword and shield, rapier if dexterity-over-strength warrior, greataxe or polearm if two-handed weapon). Crossbow has no negatives until 5th level (when you probably want to use a bow), although plenty of str-over-dex warriors use javelins instead, despite the shorter range.

[dreast]

Converting 2e to 5e is almost trivially easy; the hardest part is the massive reduction in magic item awards (and even then you can just wave your hands and say “high magic.”). Any 2e campaign is easily runnable, and generally easy to find online. I’d recommend Volo’s for the increased monster selection to save you from more conversions, though.

[Tanarii]

Lost Mines of Phandelver from the Starter Set is a great adventure, maybe check it out, and there's enough free rules on-line that you don't actually need the books (but it is more fun to have them to hold).


Think that might have been an autocorrect error. I think he meant 'starter adventure.'
There are plenty of 3rd party ones, but "The Lost Mines of Phandelver," WotC's starter adventure, is actually one of their better products.I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone praise Lost Mines in any way. I've not played it so I can't comment personally, but I usually see (and hear from players and DMs) nothing but criticism of it.

[2D8HP]

I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone praise Lost Mines in any way. I've not played it so I can't comment personally, but I usually see (and hear from players and DMs) nothing but criticism of it.


Seems good to me, my biggest beef with Phandelver is "the Factions" (Harpers, etc) but that's true of most 5e Adventures.

[Armored Walrus]

I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone praise Lost Mines in any way. I've not played it so I can't comment personally, but I usually see (and hear from players and DMs) nothing but criticism of it.

I've seen both. Most of the critique I see of it, though, has to do with the difficulty of the first encounter, closely followed by the difficulty of the first "lair." Any negative criticism I've seen outside of those two issues are comments that generally give me the idea that the commenter just doesn't like modules, period.

But this is off topic ;)

[Willie the Duck]

I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone praise Lost Mines in any way. I've not played it so I can't comment personally, but I usually see (and hear from players and DMs) nothing but criticism of it.

As an adventure, maybe. As an introductory adventure, I consider it top notch. It's an inch deep and a fathom wide, but that's what you want when you are learning the ropes.

[opaopajr]

You'll mostly need practice at this point. :smallsmile:

All you really need, coming from 2e, is the Basic 5e PHB .pdf, some conversion tips (which WotC provides tips as .pdfs, as well), pencils, paper, and an imagination.

The free content provided by WotC is more than enough for most older edition players' needs. Pro-tip: check out the Plane Shift: [Magic the Gathering Planar Setting] .pdfs. They give ideas on how to run a spin-off setting from all those block set MtG cards. I sorta wanna make my own conversions about older MtG sets I remember... :smallcool: