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So i have recently purchased the Re print of the Classic Dnd Set ( Players Handbook , Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual) and while i am stuck on this particular console i am not sure but maybe its just the name maybe its the cover art i am in love with The starter adventure from times past Palace of the Silver Princess something about it just rings first time adventurer but looking over the actual scenerio it is kinda all over the place at some points its fairly straight forward others just kinda loop hole. So i have a group together and re learning rules its been almost 8 years since i played any Rpgs. I would like to write my own story getting rid of the dragon and maybe making the evil cleric type in the end a sort of jealous advisor or half brother who betrayed the princess turned her to stone ( silver) statue and took over instead of some knight on a dragon that came from left field have him taking over provinces with evil men willing to due his bidding and with the aid of hobgoblins or orcs maybe Gnolls but few in number either way they continue to pillage to barley any humans or demi humans are left in the region and then no one enters the silver palace for years and it falls into decay until as of late ghostly sounds and lights can be seen and monsters are ever present on the boarders of those exiled long ago the evil cleric is back at it bum bum bum . There never seems to arise for the characters to be there or adventure there besides the ladys heart gem thing thats cool but i want a adventure for a purpose other then gold although it is nice,i would like to say after this evil cleric took over he forced those who would not follow him into exile or death the characters could be brothers or just old neighbors who have heard of trouble stirring it what was a seemingly quiet silver palace and are seeking revenge on the man who cursed there homeland.

Thats all i have so far i would like to eliminate the three headed people cant recall the name maybe replace them with just bandits beserkers or some tough sub boss types. Ditch the Ghosts of the Princess and just have her forever frozen despite the best efforts of the PCs maybe turn it into another quest. Up the Traps and Treasure . Drop the Dwarf and Were Women Bear Body Guard just plane lame to me maybe have some sort of elemental or magic guardian for the cleric it comes to mind in the actual adventure there is a cat that turns into a panther would like to have it as a constant spy and annoyance to the party.

Well i know its a rant but give me some ideas or opinions

What do you mean by "classic" D&D set? The AD&D reprints, the AD&D Second Edition Revised reprints? The 3.5 edition reprints? The OD&D reprints with the cool wooden box?

My advice is -- do whatever you want with the module! That's the beauty of table top RPGs.

But I will say that treasure is usually a sufficient story hook at the outset. It doesn't make for a worse story, necessarily. I mean, Han Solo was just in it for the money to begin with.

The reprints that fund the Gary Gygax memorial the monster manual that actually had monsters on the cover that were drawn not 3d rendered along with the players hand book that has them robbing the idle i never actually knew if it was first or second edition its pretty much all i played growing up and we just called it DND.

That would be AD&D, which means that making this module your own is even more doable without all that pesky encounter balance calculation from later editions.

Although I'm not sure which MM you are thinking of with a 3D rendered monster on the cover.

Ah i just have a dislike for the new art its way to much computer clean looking for me not that it is all 3d i just remember when Orcs had pig faces and didnt look like Ape monsters. There is a nice bit of additional treasure in the back of the module for the Dm to place some interesting some super bling so will mostly use that. Encounters i would like to replace would be like i said is the Ghost which is just kinda off and the Poltergeist in the later part of the palace . Maybe a interesting trap ? Do you prefer random encounters like the wandering monsters or set up only these monsters patrol here to there and no further unless disturbed. Any idea on some low level monsters who hang in ruins i know its broad but all i have decided is human brigands/ Cultists , Orc or Hobgoblin Troopers, some of the odd plant life like Juniper Blood Sucker and Thorn Bush , Green Slime ? Mold of some sort? Stirges ?

Something awful did a 2-part run through of the module...

Not Safe for Work.

I dont think they even made it safe for fun ...I was looking just to mostly steal the map a bit of the story and update the encounters to well no three headed men women things. Was really looking for most folks favorite traps, tricks,, and low level encounters to make it a actual fun play

 Field Marshal Wiley wrote:
i just remember when Orcs had pig faces

Dude, given this is a miniatures gaming discussion forum first and foremost, I cannot help but bring these to your esteemed attention:

http://www.architectsofwar.com/pig-facedorcs.aspx

Ridiculously expensive? Yes. Ridiculously cool? YES YES YES!

 Field Marshal Wiley wrote:
Do you prefer random encounters like the wandering monsters or set up only these monsters patrol here to there and no further unless disturbed.

Honestly, random encounter tables provide a good mechanic for generating patrolling monsters. In any case, a dungeon really needs random encounters in addition to its stock-on-hand in order to be really threatening, a.k.a., fun.

 Field Marshal Wiley wrote:
Any idea on some low level monsters who hang in ruins

You have a great list there so far. What I prefer to do with monsters is just use level-appropriate stat blocks and make up really weird descriptions to tell the players. This prevents the players from saying "ho hum just more orcs and kobolds" and losing interest. A monster they cannot identify (because you just made it up) seems more threatening even if it's really just orc stats underneath.

 Manchu wrote:
You have a great list there so far. What I prefer to do with monsters is just use level-appropriate stat blocks and make up really weird descriptions to tell the players. This prevents the players from saying "ho hum just more orcs and kobolds" and losing interest. A monster they cannot identify (because you just made it up) seems more threatening even if it's really just orc stats underneath.

I do remember that was great advice from the 2nd Edition Ravenloft box set. An Orc is a miserable pile of hit points and a simple attack. a "Slavering, hairy monster with an extended snout bristling with coarse hairs, small, yellow, cracked tusks framing a fanged maul, wielding crude weapons with a glimmer of malevolent intelligence in their eyes" is scary.

Besides being more evocative, it also means they players may not always know what they're actually fighting, For the above, it could be an Orc, but could be a range of humanoids, were-pigs, and other critters. Of course, being D&D this breaks down with Dragons, which are color-coded for your convenience.

The iconic nature of certain monsters can certainly be its own advantage. But yeah, it can also just devolve into a shorthand account that not only sucks the awe out of gaming but also indicates that the awe has in some way already gone.

A friend of mine once mentioned he thought the color-coded TSR dragons were dumb. I was kind of shocked because (a) for as long as I had ever thought about dragons I thought about chromatics v. metallics (v. gem) and (b) that seemed a lot more interesting to me than the generic knight-fodder I had encountered elsewhere. It wasn't until some time later, reading the account in the Silmarillion of the dreadful and overwhelming Glaurung mesmerizing Turin, that I realized that the TSR system was itself a literal method of genericizing dragons.

Even so, I do enjoy spooking players by messing with their out-of-character knowledge of the MM. Stuff like color-coded dragons is perfect grist for that mill.

 kronk wrote:
Something awful did a 2-part run through of the module...

Not Safe for Work.

Spoiler:

Part 1

Part 2

I was desperately trying to remember why that adventure sounded so familiar! Thanks...I guess

And now I really want to re-do some classic modules for 4th edition. I guess I've just got the 4th edition itch. It's been almost a year since my campaign wrapped up and I haven't got to run it since then. Watching some other people play it on youtube isn't helping matters!

I was thinking about Troglodytes a simple description of fin headed snarling blue scaled creatures taller than an average man a stink fills the air as they turn and lunge forward with animal like speed blahblah you get the idea. The module has a decent amount of water drowning traps so was thinking a kinda garden of death deal nasty plants growing in a part of the palace that has been flooded out for some time or maybe some sort of magic indoor water fall in a fantasy indoor garden healing powers to help the group out here and there. but also throw in some deep water areas that just sneak up on you as you tredge along careless

Yes, good cue with the stench description. Describe smells to the PCs often. It's surprisingly effective.

 Manchu wrote:
The iconic nature of certain monsters can certainly be its own advantage. But yeah, it can also just devolve into a shorthand account that not only sucks the awe out of gaming but also indicates that the awe has in some way already gone.

A friend of mine once mentioned he thought the color-coded TSR dragons were dumb. I was kind of shocked because (a) for as long as I had ever thought about dragons I thought about chromatics v. metallics (v. gem) and (b) that seemed a lot more interesting to me than the generic knight-fodder I had encountered elsewhere. It wasn't until some time later, reading the account in the Silmarillion of the dreadful and overwhelming Glaurung mesmerizing Turin, that I realized that the TSR system was itself a literal method of genericizing dragons.

Even so, I do enjoy spooking players by messing with their out-of-character knowledge of the MM. Stuff like color-coded dragons is perfect grist for that mill.

I joke, but I probably wouldn't mess with the color-coded dragons if I was running D&D. They are indeed very iconic. Playing dragons as intelligent is probably a big enough change for me... They're all pretty vicious, and even if the PCs know weaknesses and deprive the dragon of an effective breath weapon, an Adult Dragon is smart enough to fall back and fight another day. Having a multi-ton winged lizard ambush you when you're already weakened is where things get really ugly.

One of the most fun parts about early 3rd edition, for me, was that classic monsters had been re-designed to use the new mechanics 3rd offered over 2nd. For example, temporary stat loss attacks seemed very common when we first gave 3rd a spin. Stirges went from sucking Hit Points to lowering CON, which worked pretty well. And a ghost or similar that caused Wisdom damage led to a very memorable session as one player's character was reduced to a barely-sentient level of Wisdom and acted it out the rest of the night...

In play I think I have trouble keeping to descriptive terms instead of names going too long, but I think it's something I want to keep if I get around to an idea I've had of trying a single old D&D module as a retrogaming event for my friends... Going back to 1st or 2nd edition AD&D for a single game, just to see how much things have changed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So are we talking 1st edition AD&D for this?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, is Silver Princess the 'infamous' adventure that was recalled and reissued due to some weirdness including NSFW artwork?

Yes to both.