The original orange-covered version of the Palace of the Silver Princess was recalled almost immediately after its release because the art was deemed objectionable. The module is also notable for being the first TSR adventure written by a female author.

Despite numerous previous products featuring nudity (including Eldritch Wizardry, which featured a nude sacrificial victim on its cover), the relatively tame "Illusion of the Decapus" on page 10 apparently offended a senior executive. The illustration features a woman, bound with her hands above her head by her own hair. While fully clothed she is being menaced by a group of men ripping pieces from her dress. Not only were the store copies recalled, but most of the personal copies handed out to employees were also taken back. As a result, the original with the orange cover has become one of the rarer roleplaying game collectibles, and is worth several hundred dollars a copy.

After the recall, the module was significantly revised by Tom Moldvay and reissued with a green cover. The green cover version lists Tom Moldvay as a co-author, and is not particularly valuable. The original orange-covered module became generally available again in 2002 when Wizards of the Coast began offering it as a free PDF download, to accompany an article by John D. Rateliff.