Welcome to Mystara: Palace of the Silver Princess 

I was just watching the original video when this one posted. Lol

For some reason I always liked that picture of the Centaur guiding the adventuror. It feels so Fantasy, I was saddened when she wasn't in the module. I was too young & new to realize I could add whatever I want to a module/adventure 😅😂.

For those who are curious, there are a couple of interviews with Jean Wells floating around the internet that include her account of Palace of the Silver Princess.

Great to play solo. It's also good for a brand new DM and brand new players. IMHO.

Mystara will always be my go to setting. I think I'll resurrect this one, and see how my new group of players fares with it after Keep on the borderline. As always, thank you kindly.

So this module was the reason I found your channel, I joined a friend running a heavily modified green version of this model ( they were about 3/4 of the way though) and I wanted to learn about Mystara lore, and "welcome to ..." Was the first thing that came up. Thanks for the hours and hours of entertainment sir.

The AD&D version of Palace of the Silver Princess (the green cover) was my first adventure as a very young player. My brother's dwarf fighter died to a poison trap before we entered the courtyard. My human cleric was useful, but there are some deadly encounters. My cousin's rogue died to rot grubs from sticking his hand into a sack without looking. The harpies, perytons, and stirges were very annoying because they could fly and didn't attack alone. We tried the module again in AD&D 2nd edition and had a bit easier of a time because we had more magic (a half-elf mage/cleric), my gnome illusionist/thief, and a paladin along with a fighter and ranger. I started trying to convert this module to 3rd edition by hand and found some of the encounters were in no way appropriate to 1-3 level range. I enjoyed it immensely both times.

The green version was a really good module, despite the initial railroading. Arik remains my go-to "outer god" in all my fantasy campaigns. And that decapus is the equivalent of a tactical nuke.

So it’s stuck within a Ravenloft-like realm needing to discover the cause and destroying or defeating the cause frees either only them or the entire realm for the PCs deciding whether to claim it for their own? Interesting.

For all its problems, I love the original version of this module. Especially the little mini campaign setting on the plateau. I had to rework it a lot but I had a lot of fun with it. I especially liked some of the NPCs.

Great stuff. I got to read along with my green cover copy. Don’t think I ever ran this module.

I ran both versions recently; I used the Green Cover as the introduction and entry with the Protectors giving out the main quest. I made the first combat in the throne room culminate in transport of everyone into an alternate universe where the Palace is near Glantri - the world of the Orange Cover. I inserted a portal puzzle that, when solved, returns the party to the world of the Green Cover where they could confront the Eye Arik with more understanding, more levels, and armed with one or more weapons provided by the scenario. The players really liked the twist of the combined modules.

I will say that I've run two parties through this module. One converted to Pathfinder and one converted to 5E. They generally enjoyed it though the most common comment from the first group was about all the doors and the most common comment from the second group was about all the stairs :)

My favorite NPC from the original version is Aleigha, the 16 year old viking werebear girl who has been tricked into aiding the cleric of Arik along with two dwarven mercenaries. She has a cursed ruby sword that only her family can wield. The module gave her like a half a page of backstory. I used the fill-it-in-yourself sections to give the players more info about Aleigha, the dwarves, and the cleric of Arik that gave the party a window to either get the mercenaries to turn on the cleric or get Aleigha to turn. The party freed Aleigha from Cleric of Arik's influence and she helped them out for a long time after that. (Also, I gave her a sort of Buffy-esque personality.)

The loot is so good, he mentioned it twice...

Hey Mr. Welch, great video always enjoy your videos. Just looked up the Decapus and as a DM I approve, lol. It explains one of the pieces of controversy artwork. "This clever monster has the innate ability to use both ventriloquism and illusions to appear as a helpless, beautiful woman, usually hanging from the ceiling and being taunted by nine ugly men." Always appreciated plant monsters Yellow Musk Creeper is a long time favorite. Well now going to look up lore on Decapus. It's the pinata the hits you back! Thanks Mr. Welch you have a wonderful day!

The Blue Hack, which is a mash up of the Black Hack and the 1977 Holmes edition of D&D, has new artwork for Duchess and Candella, as well as Morgan Ironwolf.

Who doesn't love Candella and Duchess.

I bought the green version. Played it again as a solo adventure with each of my kids about 15-18 years ago, converting on the fly to 3.5. I think I gave my kids had an NPC friend. I also used it with a twenty-something Critical Role fan couple who asked me to DM for them. I don't think it has bigger problems than a typical published adventure.

The CYOA section is good for onboarding players brand new to D&D. There are several rooms with puzzles that reward non-combat thinking. The meat grinder is brutal tho. Easy TPK for 1st level characters.

I've run Palace of the Silver Princess for a solo adventure and for groups. It needs hefty DM tailoring and can be a bit maddening, but is a good base for DM crafting.

Great video, as always. There is a mythic aura surrounding this adventure, although I believe there is more nuance to Jane Wells's story. For once, she was the editor of B2 (as Gary trusted her for the editorial work, and let's face it). Also, if I remember correctly, Jane explained in an interview that Erol Otus took liberties with the ubues, and that prompted an edition in the text. Overall, it was not her choice. Unfortunately, she never got the chance to write another adventure. Again, thank you for the video!

I was 12 or 13 when I got this in the early '80s. It was hard for me to DM.

Just ordered the Folio set after this convincing video.

A Mystara map _without_ never-ending mountain ranges? Say it ain't so!

The original version gives me some slight Gor vibes....

Loving the Yellow Beard references

You didn't post the link to the original like you said you would in the video. I think I have that version already downloaded but still for anyone who is interested. I do like the green version and I tried running it at a 24hr game night. We only made it about 8hrs and that got us to the second level of the Palace, it was fun though. I would run it again and I think it does work as a self contained one shot. I've thought of doing my own combination module like others have. In some ways you could use the orange cover as a sequel to the green if the players fail. I do have another interesting idea of how to run this adventure. You run the setting Thunder Rift and integrate Princess Argenta into that setting and be seen and experienced by the players as a good ruler. You have the players do some minor adventures to level them up to high enough where you think they can handle B3: Palace of the Silver Princess (level 3-5 ish?) and then make it and end to a mini campaign.

Mental note: for player characters of levels 2-4.

Duquesa y Candela... Candela y la Duquesa, que no lo es. That's my Silver Princess knowledge (full disclaimer, my father, God rest his soul, bought me "In Search of Adventure" for my Birthday in 1991. I'll love him forever more.

the Obos the three headed hermaphrodite humanoids sound similar to the two headed humanoids the Orlin in Gamma World 🤔

So the Dirty Pair is in this book?

Okay so I seriously have to ask. How did people actually run old modules when the way they are written is so vague? I still have issues with monster profiles not even getting explanations of what the numbers represent. I havent tried to run any D&D games in 2-3years. I'd love to get a bunch of people to play modules and dungeon crawls, but I can't really read the numbers. Considering I want lots of monsters(meaning lots of monsters) thats a big issue. The old modules are great when Mr Welch tells them, but hard to actually use.

Bath robes? WTF?

I have run the original adventure and I liked it. There is not that much to fill in. The players were DM's and liked it. The rewritten adventure is boring.

I can't tell if the setting is supposed to be a gender-swapped commentary on a fantasy sharia law inspired or an accidental kink S&M setting.

Agree on your sentiment regarding 5e art. 5e art is total trash. Why is there a space day art piece in DND???

I'm playing this module with the help of AI. It's because of Candella and Duchess, you see. I want to know what the AI makes of them. It's been an interesting journey so far.

Never had the chance to play Palace of the Silver Princess myself. Honestly, though, I think the Ubue were just a terrible idea to begin with, but then, I've never liked multi-headed humanoids, and their "heads of men and women on the same body" gimmick is just ugly to me. The other monsters were really cool... brutal and unfair, yes, but much more interesting. As for that apparent WotC "homage" to Duchess and Candella... boring "mundane" focus rather than anything action or fantastical in nature, shoe-horned lesbians, hideously drawn to the point the supposedly female subjects look like ugly, androgynous men, faux-realistic color palette that offends the eyes... yeah, that's a 5.5 "art piece" alright. And people wonder why I prefer 4e...