Дворец Серебряной Принцессы: История Модуля D&D

Dungeons & Dragons adventure module
DnDmodule| module title = Palace of the Silver Princess ("green version")
|module image = B3 Palace of the Silver Princess. jpg
|image caption = The published cover of Palace of the Silver Princess, with art by Erol Otus. The artwork depicts an adventurer confronting a decapus. |module code = B3
|tsr product code = 9044
|module rules = D&D Basic Set When the orange version was recalled (and most copies destroyed), the module was rewritten by Tom Moldvay and released with a green cover. Writing credit on the second version was given to both Moldvay and Wells, although there was very little of Wells' original content in Moldvay's version. Palace of the Silver Princess contains a single D&D adventure laid out in a format suitable for a single gaming session. The module includes game maps on the unattached outside cover.

The module has been described as a low level scenario, which involves the legends regarding a ruined palace, a white dragon, and a giant ruby. The player characters encounter evil creatures that have taken over the palace. She consulted her editor, Ed Sollers, about every detail, and the result was B3 Palace of the Silver Princess. In keeping with the design of the first D&D module of the "B" series, B1 In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr, Wells left several rooms and areas of the module incomplete so that players could customize those areas themselves. As she related, "I was trying to show the players that there was more to a 'dungeon' than just the building. I didn't complete the palace, trying to show them this map could be a mini base map for their game. The players could discover the part of the dungeon that had been caved in wasn't any longer and the DM could expand it. I was assuming that they were trying to learn to set up their own world and I was trying to help." During the editorial process, Wells wanted to replace artwork by Erol Otus that had transformed her new three headed monsters called "ubues" into hermaphrodites with the heads of TSR staffers and management. However, she was told that it was too late, since replacing the artwork would cause unreasonable printing delays. On the eve of publication, when the cartons of printed modules arrived at TSR headquarters ready for shipping, someone in TSR's upper management objected strongly to the module. Some sources state that the objectionable content was four pieces of artwork by Erol Otus and Laura Roslof that were too overtly sexual. These included "The Illusion of the Decapus" by Laura Roslof, wife of Jim Roslof, in which a woman tied up by her own hair was being tortured by demonic looking figures. Author Jim McLauchlin points out that at the time, some people were claiming that D&D promoted devil worship, and during this 'Satanic Panic', "the image posed a very real threat to the company's bottom line." However, Frank Mentzer later claimed that the objectionable art was rather tame compared to that released in some other products of the time, and that the real reason was the Erol Otus caricatures of TSR executives in the illustration of the ubues. Other people employed at TSR at the time agree that management found this particular illustration objectionable, but disagree as to who was being caricatured. Lawrence Schick, then the head of the creative department, believes that Otus was portraying fellow creative staff members.

Only a few copies of the orange cover version survived, Four years after the orange version was destroyed, a copy sold for $300 at the 1984 Gen Con game fair auction. In retrospect, Lawrence Schick believes that "the actual content of it is only mildly eccentric by current standards" and that the entire imbroglio was caused by an over reaction on the part of TSR's management team. "It’s more a matter of what a light it shines on the management reaction at the time, and the 'Satanic Panic.'" After Wizards of the Coast took over TSR, they posted an article on their official website that recounted the history of Palace of the Silver Princess, and included a downloadable PDF copy of the original module.