Stains Upon The Green by Stephen Chenault is a role playing game supplement published by Troll Lord Games for use with Castles & Crusades. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. The adventure is aimed at 4-8 mid-range characters and is also available in a version for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.
The supplement is available as a 22-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $7. It can also be bought in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers and one is the Open Game License and front matter.
The opening paragraphs explain that the adventure is specifically designed to use the Rings of Brass – a means of travelling great distances in the Aihrde setting – to transport characters from the Lands of Ursal to the Haunted Highlands and it is set in the Tar Kiln. However, the adventure can be placed in other locations and even the planar travel aspect can be ignored, as it isn’t important to the adventure itself.
The Introduction gives some background on the construction of ring forts by the dwarves, their fall into disuse and their reuse by men. Next are five hooks for involving the characters.
They will approach the ring fort known as Ringshead and discover orcs trying to gain access. One of these has a coin used to activate the Rings of Brass. The characters will themselves need to gain access to the ring fort, which is mostly empty except for some undead and a monster. There is another coin inside that they can find.
Following this are some new magic items. The final two pages have maps, of the fort and the keep.
Stains Upon The Green in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. As well as the maps, there are a number of black and white illustrations. Presentation is decent.
As stated, this adventure can be easily dropped into other locations of the Aihrde setting. Though it could be played without the Ring of Brass being used, as that item doesn’t play a role in the adventure itself, doing so does diminish the adventure substantially. The Ring of Brass is the main item to be found in the ring fort and, without it, the location seems rather barren and empty, without much reason to visit. It would perhaps be advisable, if using the adventure in a setting without the Rings of Brass, to have some other kind of portal in place, and still use the adventure as a way of travelling to a new campaign region. Otherwise, it feels like a fairly pointless exercise. Stains Upon The Green can be found by clicking here.
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