>> So…after going through the 3rd edition conversion in detail,
>> I have found that it does not convert Birhtright to third
>> edition but rather 3rd edition to Birthright.
>
> This seems a little off. Birthright is a setting, for which
> all the official products were produced using the 2e system.
> The coversion of Birthright to 3e requires the changing of 2e
> semantics to 3e semantics. The actual setting of Birthright
> is not changing, merely its system. The setting did require
> the introduction of a few new rules to the 2e system, which
> is what it will do to the 3e system.
>
> It appears that you want to add this additonal rules set
> to the implied setting of 3e (greyhawk). Do so, and I wish
> you luck. However, I`m not really sure what your concerns
are about the conversion.
If all youre interested in is the setting, tone, and story, then you could use Birthrights flavor with any rule sets, which is basically what the
original Birthright 2e did with AD&D. Most people fall into this category
and are seeking a ruleset that they like to combine with a setting that they
like, and for these people, a conversion to Birthright 3e would be apt. In
most cases this involves changing as little of the core rules as necessary,
but also usually means being kind of liberal in your definition of
“necessary”.
For many people, including myself, the rules themselves carry a lot of
weight and importance to the flavor of the setting, implications toward
character creations, and types of games to be run. In addition, the BR
flavor, tone, and game types have changed dramatically over years of reading
the books, playing in game sessions, brainstorming, and communicating with
the BR community. For such people, BR is not simply a setting to be
transported into any ruleset, but is a good basis alone on which to
establish a ruleset that can most appropriately catch the flavor and
gametype, as well as portray the (customized) Birthright setting. The
problem here, of course, is that this is a much more subjective and creative
approach, meaning everyone who falls into this category is probably looking
for something just a bit different than what anyone else is looking for.
I myself fall into the second category, and have been for some time trying
to identify exactly what “the Birthright flavor” means to me and how best to
portray them in a new scratch-built set of rules. Since I still intent for
it to use the 3e combat system and certain elements of character generation
are going to be similiar, it will still be “d20” in a sense, but definitely
not D&D.
Hence, the terms Birthright d20 and Birthright 3e get tossed around a lot,
sometimes interchangeably, sometimes not. The original poster was looking
for Birthright 3e rather than a Birthright d20 philosophy that I would
advocate. Most conversions, of course, fall somewhere in the middle of
these two.
It seems to me that the original poster was simply seeking a conversion
manual less inventive, and more following with the original materials in 3e.
I think a more proper way to way to express this kind of project would be as
a FAQ rather than as a conversion manual, as FAQs tend to be lighter, to the
point, less inventive, and by their very nature are easier to change once
the core rulebooks get revised. Hence, instead of creating a monster stat
for an orog, a Birthright 3e FAQ might simply read: “Q. What are the stats
for 3e orogs. A. Orogs are orcs, advanced with two hit dice.” Now, I dont know how orogs should be represented -- thats not my point. My point is
that for some people I believe this kind of quick-n-dirty conversion might
be what some people are looking for to start their games rather than a long,
inventive, conversion manual that I would prefer.
Incidently, if someone more loyal to the 3e system than me wants to create
such a FAQ I would be glad to help.
-Lord Rahvin
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