Friday Fantasy: Return of the Green Death

Doom comes once again to the village of Riverside! Sixty years ago, Terrapocalypse the Great Green Wyrm—‘The Green Death’—descended upon the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards that had traditionally protected the trading port that stands at the confluence of the Cranen and Iron Wash Rivers. It ravaged the tower with green flame and spread its poison across the surrounding the land with its toxic breath and then fell on the village. It took prisoners and turned the region into a wasteland. Then it disappeared and the people returned and re-established the village, building it once again into a rough, but profitable town. Were it not for the prophetic words of an old crone who begs in Riverside, ‘The Green Death’ would have been passed into legend, but now green flames have been seen erupting from atop of the old tower of Coterie of the Way Wizards. The villagers fear that the dragon has returned and worry what it will do next. The village guild masters have paid a tribute to Terrapocalypse’s emissary, though some whisper that if this continues, it will bankrupt Riverside. Worse, the Festival of the Harvest Moon, Riverside’s autumn trade moot occurs in six days and the guild masters fear that word of the return of the ‘The Green Death’ will dissuade people from attending, damaging the village’s reputation and portending a poor winter. Thus, with less than a week to go, the guild masters resort to desperate measures—they will hire adventurers to investigate the old tower of Coterie of the Way Wizards, find out if Terrapocalypse the Great Green Wyrm has truly returned, and drive away his emissary.

This is the set-up for Return of the Green Death, a scenario for ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library. The scenario is written and published by John White and designed to be played by four First Level Player Characters. And as a set-up, it is a scam. The players are likely to realise this fairly quickly, if not their characters. Terrapocalypse’s emissary, Renlo Lullsen the Enchanter—much like the titular Wizard of Oz—has charmed the inhabitants of Riverside with a lot of green-coloured special effects and is now exhorting them. He also has other agents in the village and they will do their best to persuade the Player Characters not to get involved if they learn that the Guild Masters have hired them to investigate the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards. The NPC whom the Game Master will have the most fun roleplaying is the Old Crone, the beggar who is the last remaining worshipper of the Green Death and can impart some useful information in between her mad utterances and pleas for a copper or two. However, bar rumours about there being a vampire in the village, the Player Characters will not linger long in Riverside.

The Player Characters can find multiple ways into the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards, including via an underground lake and lift into the tower, where they will encounter some Mist Dwarfs. They are noted as being notorious slavers, but quickly disappear from the scenario, their appearance left unexplored and undeveloped. The tower itself is infested with Kobolds, who for the most part are either working or playing. Player Characters who employ stealth and even a little charm can make relatively easy progress through the tower. There are some fun encounters such as playing a gambling game with the Kobolds using animal bones, saving a Halfling from a deathmatch with giant lizards being prodded to attack by Kobolds, and coming across a Half-Ogre harem! There are secrets to be uncovered too, some left over from when the tower was occupied by wizards and some to do with Renlo Lullsen’s activities.

However, there are elements in Return of the Green Death which are left are unexplained. For example, why exactly the Kobolds are excavating parts of the tower? How are the Mist Dwarves involved? What is nature of the dragon atop the tower that the Player Characters need to get past? Lastly, Renlo Lullsen remains an opaque figure. The author never fully explains who he is and what he wants and the Player Characters never have an opportunity to interact with him beyond the physical fight in the final confrontation atop the tower. There are no suggestions as to what he might say, so that he remains a flat, two-dimensional villain to fight, and nothing more.

Rounding out Return of the Green Death are some suggestions as to what might happen next, previewing the sequel, Fates of Doom. Appendices detail several new spells, a handful of new magic items, and the monster stats as well as all of the maps for the scenario. These maps are intended to be used with the Player Characters.

Physically, Return of the Green Death is tidily presented and the artwork is decent throughout. The maps are all good and those for the Game Master are marked with the monster locations. However, the scenario could have done with more maps and illustrations. These include maps of the wider region showing the relationship between Riverside and the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards. There are also no illustrations of the tower, so that it is only depicted on the inside by the maps, and the overall effect is a lack of context and feel for the region as a whole.

Return of the Green Death is a decent enough adventure, but at points, whether it is more maps or illustrations, or unfortunately, more NPC character development, it is lacking. Meaning that the Game Master is going to have flesh out parts of the scenario for it to be a fully realised affair.