Free starter module "Cryptic Entry"

[hawkwind]

I have converted Dan Coleman's fine Free RPG day module to Fantasy Grounds and have permission from the author and Zaccurus to circulate it via this forum.

It's my first full conversion and one monster got changed as it isn't in the 5e SRD , the module can be obtained from here

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3...W0tSmxsS00zTVE

. A link to the pay what you want PDF is in the module and to other fine modules my Dan Coleman.

Any comments or feedback on errors are gratefully received.

[LordEntrails]

Thanks for doing this.Nice contribution

[Seya]

Thank you I can't wait to try this out.

[kylania]

You should take a look at the newer modules like CoS for how Smiteworks formats adventure navigation and organization.

None of the Encounters are properly configured - They are missing tokens and the creatures aren't placed on the Fog of War map. There are copy/paste errors throughout. Many extra spaces or incorrectly OCR'd words plus a lot of the hyphenated carryovers (dis-tressed for example). A few paragraphs weren't Ctrl-J'd fully. There's not really consistency with how your story entries are presented or labeled. 001 Introduction but then Area A, vs Area B the Antichamber vs Area C: East Armory. Area H has no forward/backward links and the Ankheg encounter links to a rust monster. There are no parcels for any of the loot prepared. No quests for XP (though Dan's use of 'xp per player' admittedly makes that difficult).

The module isn't really ready to play in it's current state.

I'd suggest probably doing a top to bottom review of it all for a re-release.

Also you're not allowed to distribute the Kickstarter icons (the pseudodragon one) only the Packs 1-20 "Free" Tokens by Devin Night.

[Trenloe]

It's a very good first release. Most of the omissions are in common areas that I see all the time in first public release modules (I review/edit a lot of FG scenario modules). Don't be put off hawkwind, it's not much work to get this polished up a bit - I'm happy to help out, just contact me offline if you'd like some assistance making any changes or review/feedback.

[hawkwind]

Thanks for the feed back I will make some of the modifications suggested

[hawkwind]

new version done lead post edited with new link

[kylania]

Version 4 still had much of the same issues as Version 2.

Here's my take on the FG module <<Edited by Moderator: Link removed for IP Violation >> for this adventure if you want to compare. I also reduced the size of much of the artwork which brought the file size down to 5MB instead of 22MB.

Something is messed up in the source PDF which resulted in a TON of extra spaces like: Th e and fl ee and off ered and so on. So annoying trying to catch those all. :P I've converted 5 of Dan's other PDFs and thankfully this was the only one with that issue so far.

[hawkwind]

Kylania

i had addressed most of the issues you addressed in your original post as for the file size the only file that really matters is the fog of war map which you share and update regularly with the players, my map is almost half the size of your player's map. I am happy to admit that you conversion is much better than mine in all but one crucial point and i'm not talking about the battle map. Mine doesn't break forum rules and violate WOTC's IP. My very first version, which submitted to Zacchaeus to check first before posting to the forum, contained like yours the monster called the Crawling Claw. Much to my surprise Zacchaeus informed that i couldn't post the conversion as the Crawling Claw is not in the d20 5e SRD. This wasn't much of a problem as it Dan had effectively re-skinned the monster anyway. I changed the stat block and the name as to not violate WOTC IP and forum rules as explained to me by the forum moderator Zacchaeus. I suspect you will be asked to remove your conversion i was not allowed to post my original.
Also, much though i appreciated your original comments in terms of the detail they high lighted I feel you come across like you are criticising a FG module you have paid hard cash for rather than one i had spent hours converting , sort the permission of the author and the Forum moderator to distribute for free just because i wanted to give something back to the FG Community. I appreciate that may not have been your intention. This the first adventure i have converted in this level of detail despite running FG games for a few years. I usually don't do more than import maps and do the NPC's stat blocks I as i don't have the time to spend more time converting a adventure than it actually takes to play it.

[kylania]

I've changed my version to reflect a custom monster instead of the questioned claw. Not going to bother posting the link again since no one bothered to tell me they were deleting my post and not just the link.

Your initial version was a good attempt, but your revision was the same basic quality with the same flaws and equally confusing and unplayable. If this was just a module for yourself that would be fine, but your version ended up being tweeted out to everyone as an official example of adventure conversions. It became basically the same thing as many hosted twitch streams recently where people are using Fantasy Grounds either incompletely or completely wrong - not at all a reflection of what FG is capable of.

You might have spent hours making your version, but I spent hours making my version as well. I was trying to help you to make better modules and provide a better reflection of the software. If you and Smiteworks are OK with showing an honest attempt but a messy result as an example of what this software can do, that's fine. Sorry for trying to raise the bar.