OD&D conversion: Legends are Made, Not Born (by Chris Doyle)

27 Feb, 2026

The Source

"Legends are Made, Not Born" (by Chris Doyle)¹ is a d20 Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure for the 3.5 edition designed for a group of 0-level characters. As a part of my continuing study of OD&D and Chainmail, I've converted it to 0e to run for a group of four 1st-level characters.

The Conversion

Only the parts that need adjustment are listed here.

Contents

• General Suggestions
• Monsters
• Traps
• Afflictions

General Suggestions ↩

Combat

I recommend using the Troop Type System at 1:1 scale for traps and animals, and the Man-to-Man Combat system for most other combat encounters.

The Ogre, being a "Fantasy Figure" with 4+1 Hit Dice, will have four attacks as a man-type, one of them with a +1 bonus, using the Alternative Combat System (d20).

It is also suggested in the "Lawsuit Draft"² that any successful hit by normal men upon the Ogre will deal but 1 hp of damage. This, of course, will make the combat much more dangerous for our 1st-level party, but not inherently unwinnable.

Additional Weapons

Man-to-Man System to-hit values on 2d6:³

* If dismounted and prone, 7 or greater hits.

Breaking Objects

• wooden door, wooden gate, rusted chain (DC 15):
  • open doors check
• stone door, wooden portcullis, wooden cage (DC 20+):
  • roll 1d100 under or equal to the Strength score

Treasure

Rough estimation of the module's treasure sums up to just over 5,000 gp, so I would recommend at least doubling it so that most of the characters could level up at the end of the adventure.

Monsters ↩

Statistics

• Area — Area in the module
• Monster — Monster name
• AC — Armor Class
• MV — Movement, in inches (1 inch = 10 feet); number after slash is flying speed.
• HD — Hit Dice
• A/D — Attack/Defence in the Troop Type System
• AL — Alignment (Law, Neutrality, Chaos)
• Details under — Damage (if not 1d6), special attacks, possessions, etc.

* Wandering monster on the specified level.

Traps ↩

Afflictions ↩

Centipede Toxin

• Save vs. Poison: +4 bonus
• Success: no effect
• Failure: −1 to all rolls for 1 day

Filth Fever

• Save vs. Poison
• Success: no effect
• Failure:
  • Incubation: 1d3 days
  • Effect: Illness

Hackling Cackle

• Non-contagious
• MV reduced down to 6"
• Each round of heavy activity (combat or casting), there is a 15% chance of coughing: if casting a spell, 20% chance to lose it, otherwise act sickened for the round.

Illness

• Duration: 1d10 days
• Effect:
  • unconscious most of the time
  • no actions
  • limited movement per referee’s discretion

Quasit Toxin

• Save vs. Poison
• Success: no effect
• Failure: Slowness for 2d6 rounds

Slowness

• Effect: All actions (spells, speech, movement) are performed at half-rate or delayed a round.

Spider Venom

• Save vs. Poison: +2 bonus
• Delay: 8 rounds
• Success: 1 damage/round for 2 rounds
• Failure: 2 damage/round for 2 rounds + paralysis (1d10 rounds)

Viper Venom

• Save vs. Poison: +2 bonus
• Delay: 6 rounds
• Success: 1 damage/round for 3 rounds
• Failure: 3 damage/round for 3 rounds + Illness

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