Although there had been previous adventures available as part of tournament games at conventions, like previous year’s Tomb of Horrors, and a small incomplete dungeon as a part of the Blackmoor supplement, Palace of the Vampire Queen was the first stand-alone adventure published and sold commercially. Although not produced by TSR it was distributed officially by them.

It’s a pretty simple adventure, after a page-long description of the background to the story, we get five levels of dungeon with maps consisting of numbered rooms. This is complemented by a table with each room, monsters in that room and events/treasure in the same room. 

As was typical of this time much of the adventure is open to improvisation by the DM. There are plenty of possible story hooks that the DM can make from the people and monsters in the rooms, from a Dwarven princess that needs to be saved, to a Stone Lammasu or a Lawful Conjurer, there is material enough to spin a yarn out of what is essentially a sandbox dungeon. Not the greatest dungeon design and possibly a bit too loose in terms of plot for its own good, it’s still a fun curiosity.