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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 8210526" data-attributes="member: 6702445">I'm thinking of running the original orange-cover version of this adventure ("Palace of the Silver Princess") for my players soon as a one-shot.  Some of them have played since the 1E era, and I can almost guarantee this is an adventure they didn't play back in the day (though they may have gone through the widely available green-cover version).  I'm looking forward to filling the empty rooms with interesting encounters!  But I've never run a module that was this loose before, and I'm not really sure how to structure it.  I'd be interested in other people's thoughts and experiences here.The only part of the adventure that's actually fleshed out is the castle itself, but I would love to do more with the extended setting.  For example, I would love for my players to meet the evil baroness or venture into the Misty Swamp.  Does anyone have stories or ideas on how to use those elements?  Or thoughts/tales of interesting ways to use the NPCs?  I'm kind of flailing here...Edit:  I guess the specifics don't really matter here--the main thing I'm asking for is help on how to structure an unstructured oldschool module.  As written, it consists of the following elements:1.  A very detailed location (the ruined castle) where some mysterious disaster happened but the module doesn't reveal exactly what it was. 2.  Descriptions of the surrounding countryside:  its political situation (ruled by evil man-hating baroness), several towns with flavor text, a swamp where magic behaves strangely, some mountains where perpetual storms are said to be caused by an evil mage who lives in a hollow tree.3.  A few NPCs, all interesting but all missing what I would normally consider key information:A.  A tinker and his daughter.  The two of them, their shop, and their traveling wagon are described in great detail, taking up an entire page of the module--but no hints are given on how to use them in the story except as sources of information if the PCs have questions. B. An evil cleric and his party, who are camping out in the castle; the module refers to the cleric's "evil plans" but gives no hint as to what those plans are (unlike the green cover version, where stopping his ritual is the main storyline). C. A female werebear fighter with a legendary sword who has joined forces with the cleric and is worshiped by some berserkers, and all of this is only in the background information!  No encounters with her are suggested. And that's not even getting to the question of what exactly happened to the princess, the knight, and the dragon!I'm sure this vagueness is not unusual for a module of this era, but how do you go about putting all this together into a story that will satisfy players who are more used to being able to find answers to the mysteries?And I guess the only way to show the players more of the setting is to write extra side quests for them to do, but I'm not sure where to start with those either.  I guess maybe I should figure out why they'd want to go to the castle in the first place, and start from there?</blockquote>

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