Archaeology & Appreciation

The world of Spume is hellhole and you definitely would not want to live there. Most of the few hundred that do live on the planet reside in the single dome settlement of Dryavis, where they conduct mining operations via remote drones and vehicles. Outside of the dome, the planet, with its thin, tainted atmosphere, is subject to near constant seismic activity, widespread volcanic activity, and a near constant rain of ash and rocks, all at extremes of temperature and intermittent radioactivity. Located within the Darrian Confederation in the Darrian Subsector of the Spinward Marches, just two parsecs away from the capital and one parsec away from the homeworld, nobody would willing want to visit Spume. Except that the planetary population has risen by a handful with the arrival of a team of scientists from the departments of geophysical sciences and engineering at Idikelin University to conduct field research. Unfortunately, the site designated for the expedition’s base was highly prone to seismic activity and a sudden landslip upended the base and made it uninhabitable, forcing the surviving members of team to flee across the highly inhospitable surface of Spume. This is the set-up for and plot of Ashfall, the first part of a trilogy of scenarios published by March Harrier Publishing for use with Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. Having reach the safety of Dryavis, the mining base that is the only settlement on the planet, the Player Characters are given a chance to recover and recuperate, perhaps go over the the scientific data they have gathered so far, and even get involved in the daily lives and culture of the people that make the base their home. This and the discovery of a corporate conspiracy to replace the current crew with cheaper, genetically modified miners played out in Ashfall II: Under the Dome, the sequel to Ashfall.

The third final part of the trilogy, Ashfall III: Into the Crust, takes place barely a day after the events of Ashfall II: Under the Dome have been investigated and settled. Although they are neither miners nor technical staff at the base, the Player Characters have become accepted as part of the community. Especially if they helped undercover the conspiracy. As the Player Characters await the arrival of a vessel to return them home to their university life, they are contacted directly by an old ex-miner, recently retired. Ldok asks them to join him on the slopes of a volcano some five-hundred-and-fifty miles from Dryavis as he wants their help in analysing the sensor readings he has taken, checking the immediate area to determine if it is safe to explore further, and then investigate what he thinks he is found. What Ldok thinks he has found is a Maghiz-related base. The Maghiz was a catastrophic event that occurred two millennia ago when scientists triggered stellar flares that devastated the Darrian Confederation and significantly reduced both its Tech Level and population base. Exact details of the event that triggered the Maghiz are subject of much conjecture and secrecy as the government wants to understand how it was done so that it cannot occur again. There are rumours of Maghiz-related sites throughout Darrian space—and beyond, and all manner of conspiracy theories and absurd ideas have grown up about the so-called ‘Star Trigger’, and for the most part, anyone obsessed with anything Maghiz-related is dismissed as being at best harmless, at worst as a crank. Ldok falls into the former category rather than the latter, but is still respected for his knowledge and experience from working on Spume for decades.

Also respected are the Player Characters. This is due to both their survival trek across the surface of Spume and their involvement in the undercovering of the conspiracy, and it means that the administration will equip the Player Characters with a Survey/Repair G-Carrier and survival gear. This time, unlike their previous isolation on their own original research basis, they are told to get in contact if they have any problems. Ldok will be pleased to see the Player Characters and together they can confirm that he has detected a dense object hundreds of meters below the surface. They will need to blast their way down, but it is relatively safe (though of course, Ldok will break a leg because that is always what happens in this kind of adventure), and after manoeuvring their way down several shafts and through often tight crevasses, the Player Characters will make a discovery. Potentially, an astounding discover—and one that is not at all related to the Maghiz.

The fact that the secret in Ashfall III: Into the Crust is not at all Maghiz-related is refreshing in a scenario set within or connected to the Darrian Confederation. However, the discovery is ultimately underwhelming because once made, there really is no more story to tell beyond a possible incursion by the genetically modified miners making a protest. The Player Characters can report the site and once done, that really is it. The scenario is over and the Player Characters are likely to become famous because of the discovery. However, to offset that, the scenario offers other ways in which to continue the story, potentially to a more satisfying conclusion. They include the possibility that an ancient A.I. or robots start stalking the Player Characters; the Darrian navy could intervene with a squad of marines; and even the discovering of pre-Maghiz scientists still alive in low berths. In the case of the marines, full stats and background for the squad are given so that they can be used as NPCs or roleplayed as Player Characters, the squad being sent down to rescue a group of scientists and take control of their discovery, whilst for the pre-Maghiz scientists, there is list of adventure ideas which the Game Master use for inspiration when it comes to portraying the pre-Maghiz scientists and what they were doing or even develop into separate adventures.

No matter which the Game Master decides to run Ashfall III: Into the Crust, there is plenty of support. Besides the stats and descriptions for the aforementioned Survey/Repair G-Carrier and Darrian Navy marines, there are details for the Tech Level 16 Darrian robot, robot technology details beyond Tech Level 15 for Book 9: Robot, and of course, library data.

Unfortunately, none of the possible endings to Ashfall III: Into the Crust are very interesting. Having an A.I. or robot go rogue and start hunting the Player Characters is a cliché, but perhaps if the Player Characters are truly concerned about getting the information out and in the process, making themselves famous, the scenario could shift to one of survival horror. Yet it does not feel like a natural shift in terms of the storytelling, either for the scenario itself or the trilogy as a whole. Perhaps the ancient Darrian scientists waking up after two thousand years asleep in Low Berths and reacting poorly to the presence of the Player Characters might have been a more interesting alternative. It does not help that the final discovery that the Player Characters is given a very poor map as it does nothing to help the Game Master visual the discovery and relate its wonder to her players and their characters, or being usable for when a very advanced robot goes on the prowl.

Physically, Ashfall III: Into the Crust is decently presented and well written. The only poor aspect about the scenario is the quality of some of the maps.

Ashfall III: Into the Crust brings the Ashfall trilogy to a close. Not so much with a classic three-act story, but with two acts, the first one of anticipation as what the discovery might be and the second one of the fantastic sense of having made an amazing discovery. As to the third act, the climax of Ashfall III: Into the Crust, there is not one given that is really going to satisfy the players and their characters. Instead, the Game Master is expected to come up with something and for the finale of a trilogy, that just seems to ask too much. There are some interesting elements to Ashfall III: Into the Crust, but for an end to the scenario and an end to the trilogy, there should have been an ending, not a toolkit.

Perfidy & Profitability

The world of Spume is hellhole and you definitely would not want to live there. Most of the few hundred that do live on the planet reside in the single dome settlement of Dryavis, where they conduct mining operations via remote drones and vehicles. Outside of the dome, the planet, with its thin, tainted atmosphere, is subject to near constant seismic activity, widespread volcanic activity, and a near constant rain of ash and rocks, all at extremes of temperature and intermittent radioactivity. Located within the Darrian Confederation in the Darrian Subsector of the Spinward Marches, just two parsecs away from the capital and one parsec away from the homeworld, nobody would willing want to visit Spume. Except that the planetary population has risen by a handful with the arrival of a team of scientists from the departments of geophysical sciences and engineering at Idikelin University to conduct field research. Unfortunately, the site designated for the expedition’s base was highly prone to seismic activity and a sudden landslip upended the base and made it uninhabitable, forcing the surviving members of team to flee across the highly inhospitable surface of Spume. This is the set-up for and plot of Ashfall, the first part of a trilogy of scenarios published by March Harrier Publishing for use with Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. As Ashfall comes to close, the Player Characters have managed to make their way to Dryavis and safety.

Ashfall II: Under the Dome is the sequel to Ashfall and the middle part of the trilogy. In addition to the core rulebook, the Game Master will need access to Alien Module 3: Darrians or Aliens of Charted Space Vol. 3, whilst the Central Supply Catalogue and Book 10: Cosmopolite may also be useful. Similarly, access to various issues of The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society may also be helpful, but are not crucial to running the scenario.

For the most part, Ashfall II: Under the Dome is a locked room, or rather ‘locked dome’ affair. The inhabitants of Dryavis, consisting of miners, technicians, and administrators readily welcome the arrival of the Player Characters and even celebrate their survival with a banquet. After that, the Player Characters are free to wait out the period between their arrival and their eventual collection and departure off world as they wish, although they are encouraged to take part in the community life of the mining base. There are mechanical issues to fix, a tournament to participate in, and other events to get involved in. As they go about their daily lives in the mining base, perhaps even spending time preparing their research notes and data (gathered in the previous scenario, Ashfall) for publication, it becomes clear to the Player Characters that all is not well in Dryavis. There is some friction between the old timers and new commers in the settlement, and some between the employees of the five companies that make up the conglomerate, the Pihrund Corporation, that controls the settlement, but most friction is between the Pihrund Corporation and the miners as they suspect that the Pihrund Corporation is operating a ‘fire and rehire’ programme to bring in a new workforce that will accept cheaper wages. The Player Characters will learn of this right at the start of the scenario when a miner approaches them and voices her concern about the state of the Pihrund Corporation’s accounts.

Ashfall II: Under the Dome is not only a radical change of pace from Ashfall, but also a difficult change of pace. The hook is simply not as strong in Ashfall II: Under the Dome as it is in Ashfall, shifting from, ‘To survive, I must march to safety across this dangerous landscape’ to ‘I have reached safety, but someone is telling me her worries about some accounts’. The players and their characters are not motivated to get involved unless they decide they want to. It is entirely possible that the scenario could play out with the Player Characters involving themselves in the community and life of the mining base and nothing more. The conspiracy, as small scale as it is and as nasty as it is, could simply pass them by and remain uncovered and unnoticed. Depending upon how the scenario is being run, this can present the Game Master with a challenge because the hook relies too on player and character curiousity. As a one-shot and on its on rather than as part of the trilogy, Ashfall II: Under the Dome needs the conspiracy hook to keep the players and their characters interested because they have not been through the crucible of Ashfall, whereas as part of the trilogy, Ashfall II: Under the Dome is such a contrast of tone to Ashfall, that the conspiracy almost seem superfluous.

Whether or not the Player Characters decide to investigate the rumours and the accounts of the Pihrund Corporation, the scenario is solidly supported. Besides the description of Dryavis and its facilities, including the mining equipment, there are full write-ups of various NPCs, a detailed explanation of the politics of the mining base, a description of the rules to Pamboyra, or Darrian chess (this is the game for the tournament), lots and lots of rumours to drive any plot or distract from it, and even Occupation tables for the Miner/ROVer (remotely operated vehicle operators) and Technicians working on Spume. The latter allows for possible replacement Player Characters as there is the possibility of their being killed in the scenario. It also allows for the scenario to be run as one-shot with the Player Characters as Miners/ROVers and Technicians rather than as scientists seeking the safety of the mining base after a disaster. In many ways, this set-up makes better use of the scenario’s plot, because as Miners/ROVers and Technicians, the Player Characters would have a greater sense of investment in the future of the mining operation.

Physically, Ashfall II: Under the Dome is a tidy affair. The plan of the mining base is serviceable, but the illustrations of the animals on the base are sort of cute.

Ashfall II: Under the Dome is a scenario with two plot strands, one an amiable slice of mining base life, the other a corporate conspiracy. Getting the players and their characters interested and involved in the first is straightforward, but getting them interested in the other is much more of a challenge. So much of rests on the curiosity of the players and their characters, and for some players that will be enough to get involved, but for others, the Game Master may need to work harder to trigger that involvement.

Secrecy & Survivability

The world of Spume is hellhole and you definitely would not want to live there. Most of the few hundred that do live on the planet reside in the single dome settlement of Dryavis, where they conduct mining operations via remote drones and vehicles. Outside of the dome, the planet, with its thin, tainted atmosphere, is subject to near constant seismic activity, widespread volcanic activity, and a near constant rain of ash and rocks, all at extremes of temperature and intermittent radioactivity. Located within the Darrian Confederation in the Darrian Subsector of the Spinward Marches, just two parsecs away from the capital and one parsec away from the homeworld, nobody would willing want to visit Spume. Except that researchers in the departments of geophysical sciences and engineering at Idikelin University have discovered new properties of certain materials when exposed to the magma of an active volcano and want them further investigated. To that end, it has mounted an expedition to Spume consisting of a planetologist, vulcanologist, seismologist, two materials specialists, and a technician to conduct in the field experiments. The fully equipped expedition will establish a base and conduct field experiments on Spume and report back with its findings within a few months.

This is the set-up for Ashfall, the first part of a trilogy of scenarios published by March Harrier Publishing for use with Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. Together, they form a mini-campaign for six players who will roleplay the six pre-generated scientist or technician characters. In addition to the core rulebook, the Game Master will need access to Alien Module 3: Darrians or Aliens of Charted Space Vol. 3, whilst the Central Supply Catalogue will also be useful. Access to various issues of The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society may be helpful, but are not crucial to running the scenario.

The plot to Ashfall sees the Player Characters arrive on Spume and set up their camp with three possible choices given as to the site. Contact with Dryavis is possible, but limited, and for the most part, the Player Characters will be alone. That is, until they receive a most unexpected knock on the door to the survival dome which has been constructed over the Advanced Base (Pressurised) they have set up. Until the scenario plot kicks in, the Player Characters spend their time conducting field research and analysing the results, having spent some time constructing and setting up the camp. This plays out over several days using the rules given to handle the results of the research. This is fairly dry, and although there are some minor rivalries between the expedition members, as the scenario notes, Darrian community ethic means that means there is much less likely to be inter-departmental or inter-faculty rivalry than there might be within an expedition from a university from the Third Imperium. This is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a trio of Special Arm agents, who want to investigate the activities of the various academics. Each of them does have a secret, which a player is free to reveal or not during his character’s interrogation, but none of them are truly terrible or shocking. In fact, they are minor at best and reflect the Darrian cultural conservatism at worst. For the most part, the Player Characters will find the presence of the Special Arm agents a distraction from their ongoing work.

The other role that the Special Arm agents can play in the scenario is as a source of replacement Placement Characters. This is because the scenario takes another, sudden swerve which sets up the last, much more challenging third act. This occurs after the expedition’s base suffers a sudden catastrophe in the form of a landslip! The Player Characters have only minutes to get into their vacuum suits and grab what equipment they can before fleeing. Unfortunately, the expedition’s ATV is also destroyed in the accident. This leaves the Player Characters with little choice, but to make their way across Spume on foot. It possible to ask the miners at Dryavis to help rescue them, but contact is limited due to the environment and the equipment at the mining base not being entirely suited to such a role. The last third of the scenario is a gruelling trek across Spume’s barren, cracked, and often venting landscape. Multiple encounters are suggested, through problematically, one of the encounters does require access to Ashfall III: Into the Crust.

In terms of support for the players, Ashfall not only includes the six pre-generated scientists and technicians, but also six sets of roleplaying notes. These have been created using Myers-Briggs type indicators and are intended to be handed out randomly, meaning any time the Game Master runs Ashfall, the Player Characters remain the same, but the personalities are random. That said, not everyone is going to want to use these personality indicators, though if they were, it is a pity that they are not presented as handouts. Otherwise, Ashfall is a technical scenario. There are maps of the planet, a list of equipment assigned to the expedition, rules for handling research, and details of the vehicles used by the miners at Dryavis. There is a list of the personnel at Dryavis, though the Game Master will need access to Ashfall II: Under the Dome for the full details.

Ashfall can be played as is, but it is written to be the first part of a trilogy. There are discoveries to be made in the scenario, after all, what is a science-themed adventure without discoveries? However, these discoveries are dry at best and it does not help that a hint at a potentially interesting discovery requires access to Ashfall III: Into the Crust.

Physically, Ashfall is a tidy affair. The plan of the expedition base is somewhat threadbare, but the illustrations are serviceable and planetary maps decent enough.

Ashfall is a classic survival scenario for Traveller, the Player Characters forced to trek across hostile territory and make the best of what they have with them. This is going to be challenging since Spume is hostile to life and the Player Characters lack the Vacc Suit skill, whilst only one of them has the Survival skill. Which sets up an interesting dynamic as this is the technician, whose role is seen as less worthy than that of the scientists. Although the Player Characters should have remained in the office, Ashfall should be a bonding experience for them and it will set them up for Ashfall II: Under the Dome. Ultimately, Ashfall is a dry, technical adventure that requires a higher degree of engagement from the players in order to get through what is the first act of a trilogy to get to the potentially more interesting second and third parts.

Secrets & Solitude

Dawnworld is an unregarded, almost forgotten world lying on the border of the Third Imperium in District 268 of the Spinward Marches. Over the centuries, its Eden-like nature has made it an attractive world for potential colonisation, but all of the numerous attempts to settle it have failed because of the sterility of any male born on the planet. However, the world is not uninhabited. It is home to some fifty or so monks at the Monastery of the New Sun, devout members of a monastic all male sect that is part of the Church of the Stellar Divinity. Its adherents believe that all stars are gods, conscious beings of transcendental power, whilst the monks also believe that the Dawnworld system once had only the single, but the ancient Saint Phranz was so beloved by the sun Sagree who longed for a companion that the Saint achieved apotheosis in this system and became the New Sun. There is a legend too that Saint Phranz entrusted the monastery with a great treasure, but since the monks live humble lives of worship, work, and austerity, there can be no truth to the legend. However, such a legend is cause enough to attract the attention of the worst that Charted Space has to offer. The modest and unassuming monks of Monastery of the New Sun are about to suffer the most wretched day of their lives as space pirates descend on Dawnworld and demand that the monks hand over the treasure—and they are not going to take no for an answer!

This is the set-up for In the Name of the Dawn, a scenario for Mongoose Publishing’s Traveller and published by March Harrier Publishing via Mongoose Publishing. It is from the same author who wrote The Zhodani Candidate and Eve of Rebellion, and though very much less political than either of those, it brings his experience of freeforms and LARP—Live Action Roleplaying—to the Third Imperium with its combination of Player Characters with strong motivations. It is designed to be played in a single session with four players and includes four pre-generated Player Characters. It thus suitable to be run as a convention scenario or as one-shot. They include a monk with a bloody past, a monk who is being blackmailed, an Aslan monk with a tragic past and a fascination for Shakespeare, and a monk who thinks that Dawnworld has an interesting past. This barely scratches the full details of each of the Player Characters’ secrets, all of which will be revealed in the course of the scenario, some of which may prove useful in the course of the scenario, and many of which will leave the Player Characters with dilemma—more or otherwise—at the end of the scenario. All four Player Characters have detailed character sheets, including an extra page of Shakespeare quotes for the Aslan!

In the Name of the Dawn is divided into three acts. In the first act, the scenario opens with the Player Characters going about their daily lives when they realise that a ship is in orbit and a shuttle is about to land. That this is not the regular supply shuttle come several months early is confirmed when its doors open and out rush a seeming horde of Vargr all shouting and shoot guns in the air. The monks, including the Player Characters, are rounded up and questioned about the treasure that is held at the monastery. In the second act, the Player Characters have an opportunity to escape and begin to search for clues as to what is really going on at the monastery because it becomes clear that the abbot was hiding something. In the last act, the Player Characters will make an amazing discovery and need to work exactly what they want to do with it and who they tell, if anyone. This discovery is the big secret behind In the Name of the Dawn, and given the stellar theming of the scenario, the dedicated Traveller fan probably has a good chance of guessing what it might be.

Bar its opening scenes, In the Name of the Dawn does not have set scenes and is entirely character driven. The scenario is entirely driven by the decisions of the players and their monks, the pirates mostly acting in surprised reaction to their actions. What is interesting about the scenario is that the players and their characters are faced with a moral dilemma from start to finish, followed by a very big one. The main moral quandary they face concerns how much violence they use in either escaping from or dealing with the pirates. Their choices will be limited since the Monastery of the New Sun is a house of peace, but as the scenario progresses, the monks will lay their hands on some weapons. However, too much violence and certainly killing, will likely lead to a crisis of faith. As will the last moral quandary and the revelation as to the big secret at the monastery

The Game Master is supported with solid advice, a full description and maps of the Monastery of the New Sun, and write-ups of the NPCs. There is also plenty of Library Data which provides even more background detail to the scenario.

Physically, In the Name of the Dawn is tidily, if plainly organised. If the scenario is missing anything, it is a map of the secret (though the Game Master could create something using Starship Geomorphs 2.0), and given the nature of that secret, a map of the Dawnworld might have been useful too.

Imagine being a monk in a ninth century monastery on the coast of Ireland and discovering that the only means of defending yourself and the monastery beyond faith is actually a battery of nuclear missiles? That revelation lies at the heart of the In the Name of the Dawn. This is a terrific scenario that presents the players and their characters with challenge and a dilemma, forces them to rely on ingenuity rather than gear, and reveals to them secrets upon secrets, including one that the Traveller fan will relish.

Holding Off the Hard Times

With The Zhodani Candidate and Eve of Rebellion, the author Stephen J. Ellis brought his experience of freeforms and LARP—Live Action Roleplaying—to the Third Imperium, the setting for the Mongoose Publishing’s Traveller and published by March Harrier Publishing via Mongoose Publishing. In traditional scenarios and campaigns for Traveller, the Player Characters own a starship, such as an A2 Far Trader or a Type S Scout, and as the eponymous travellers, move from world to world, trading, thwarting crimes, uncovering mysteries and making discoveries, and so on. Alternatively, they go to war, undertaking contracts as mercenaries in low-conflict engagements. Either way, the focus is firmly on their adventures and their narrative. In both The Zhodani Candidate and Eve of Rebellion, the play switched to high above that. In the former, a team investigate a marriage between a war hero and potential sleeper agent and an important noble, whilst in the latter, the events leading up to the assassination of Emperor Strephon are explored, with the players taking the roles of those present. These two scenarios take place on a grander scale, their events often having wider repercussions, and with their mixture of secrets and secret agendas, designed to clash and interact through play, often offer more of a roleplaying challenge then the average scenario. Mirabilis, the author’s third scenario, is likewise inspired by freeform play with its often-interlocking secrets and agendas, but shifts focus whilst retaining a grander scale of play and whilst also being radically different. Mirabilis is diceless.

Mirabilis shifts the focus in both terms of time and space, but is still set in Traveller’s Third Imperium. It takes place on the world of Mirabilis, a low gravity, resource poor, but technologically advanced and important planet in the 82 Eirdani system of the Capella subsector of the Solomani Rim, near the border with the Third Imperium. The year is 1125. Strephon Aella Alkhalikoi, Emperor of the Third Imperium, has been dead for almost a decade and the Third Imperium is beset by rebellion and civil. In response to what it saw as a weakened enemy, the Solomani Confederation made a dash for Terra in an attempt to reclaim the Solomani Autonomous Sphere. Unfortunately, the Solomani Confederation has overextended itself, leaving it vulnerable to disrupted trade, pirate raids, and internal strife. Mirabilis has not yet suffered this fate, but it is up to its ruling Tech Council to ensure that if it cannot avoid such incidents, then it can at least survive them, and potentially survive the dangers to come. The Tech Council of Mirabilis consists of five members, controlling and representing different aspects of its society—Party Chairman Boris Gupta (Technical Maintenance & Party Administration), SolSec Co-Ordinator Jamal Goren (Solomani Security), Admiral Helen Treygar (Military Forces), Commerce Secretary Mario Niemeyer (Merchant Marine & Traders), and Chief Scientist Esme Hawking (Science, Research, & Education). Each council member has his or own agenda and secret, but also knows a secret about a fellow council member and has the means to bribe another. Each also has a power. For example, Admiral Helen Treygar can launch a military coup, Party Chairman Boris Gupta can declare someone guilty of unSolomani activities and strip them of Party membership and thus eligibility to sit on the council, SolSec Co-Ordinator Jamal Goren as the head of Solomani Security can imprison and interrogate anyone as a traitor to the Solomani cause, and so on. Thus, every council member has his or her advantages and disadvantages.

Mirabilis is designed to be played by five players exactly, who will each take the role of a member of Tech Council of Mirabilis. Each is provided with a character sheet and background information on the situation on the planet and its surrounding systems in the year 1125. As the Tech Council of Mirabilis, they take control of five levers of power or planetary stats—Tech Level (Science), Population (Maintenance), Law Level (Social Order), Wealth (Foreign Relations/Trade), and Military Power (Defence)—in order to push their agenda and respond to threats and dangers. Over the course of five turns and a decade from 1125 to 1135, they will negotiate, bribe, and blackmail each other to place these in order of priority. Those given priority will improve, but those not given priority, will suffer and not be as capable of responding to future situations and threats. The planetary stats are the only numbers given in the scenario, and will go up and down over the course of the scenario depending upon what the players and their characters decide. For example, a population increase might come about because of refugees, but a decrease because on of the planet’s flying cities crashes, the military’s capability is increased because the construction of new fleets or is reduced because maintenance time is neglected. Every turn there are trade-offs between improving a planetary factor and not improving planetary stats.

Mirabilis is based on the Prisoners’ Dilemma game theory. In a Prisoners’ Dilemma, the participants have the reasons and the means to individually do better if they betray others, but better overall if they co-operate. Ultimately, the outcome of this scenario and the fate of the world of Mirabilis being in the hands of the players and their negotiating ability and how they react to events revealed from one turn to the next. If events and the actions of other council members do not go his way, a Player character has the means to conduct a single coup, although a coup has a deleterious effect upon Mirabilis’ planetary stats.

For the Game Master there is a complete guide to staging and running the scenario as well as the rules. There are also events from year to year that the Game Master will provide as briefings to the council. These are all made available to the council members, but for a more complex game they could be handled as individual briefings given to the appropriate council members who then have to brief the council—or not. As an aside, there is everything here to run this game as a play by email instead of a convention one-shot.

There are some elements of Mirabilis which some players may find unpleasant or uncomfortable playing. Most obviously, they are roleplaying Solomani and Solomani in the Traveller setting tend to be racial supremacists. There is also a race of Uplifted Apes on the world of Mirabilis which are regarded as lesser. In addition, the players will find themselves controlling the fate of millions, who may well die because of their decisions. The scenario though, is definitely about the latter rather than the former.

Physically, Mirabilis is lightly illustrated and laid out in simple fashion. It could do with a slight edit in places.

Whether run as a one-shot or a convention scenario, Mirabilis is a really taut, fractious scenario, forcing the players as members of Tech Council of Mirabilis to make difficult decisions over the course of a few hours. Together they hold the fate of a planet in their hands in the face of encroaching Hard Times and what they decide will determine if it survives the coming dark age or falls to it.

The Psionic Puppet

The Zhodani Candidate is the second scenario from the designer of the superlative freeform, Eve of Rebellion. Set in the Third Imperium of Mongoose Publishing’s Traveller and published by March Harrier Publishing via Mongoose Publishing, The Zhodani Candidate won the Zhodani Base Awards 2019 for Best Adventure. It is a one-shot scenario suitable for conventions or campaign breaks, designed to be played by five players, plus the Referee. In terms of mechanics, The Zhodani Candidate is written for the current rules for Traveller, but is so rules light, it can be run by almost every previous version of Traveller, or indeed, be adapted to almost any system of the gaming group’s choice. Indeed, the primary game content in The Zhodani Candidate in terms mechanics are the stats and skills of the five characters involved, although stats are also provided for the Cepheus Engine.

Inspired by the television series Homeland and the Cold War brainwashing thriller The Manchurian Candidate, plus the Trust and Betrayal mechanics of Contested Ground Studio’s Cold City roleplaying game, The Zhodani Candidate is a scenario about intrigue, deception, and conflicting agendas. It takes place in the year 1098 on the planet of Mora in the Spinward Marches. Lady Isolde Ling Muudashir, the heir to the Duchy of Mora, is planning to marry ex-Imperial Marine Sergeant Darius Cantu, a love match rather than the traditional marriage of securing dynasties and economic alliances. Cantu is a war hero who fought in the Fourth Frontier War against the invading forces of the Zhodani Consulate and after being captured, spent a decade in the Zhodani re-education camps before being returned to the Third Imperium as part of a prisoner exchange. Cantu would simply have remained an ex-war hero, content to do charity work for veterans of the Fourth Frontier War, were it not the fact that he met Lady Isolde and they fell in love.

Consequently, various Imperial agencies with an interest in the security and stability of the rich and technologically advanced Duchy of Mora given its role as the gateway to the Spinward Marches, have concerns about the intending nuptials. They are worried that Sergeant may have been brainwashed by the Zhodani during his decade-long captivity and may be a secret sleeper agent. As husband-consort to the Duchess of Mora, he would have access to a great deal of classified information and would represent a major security risk. Informing the current Duchess, Delphine Adorania Muudashir, of their suspicions, the agencies have come to a compromise with her. They will form an Inter-Agency Taskforce to perform a security vetting of Sergeant Darius Cantu and determine if he can be cleared to marry Lady Isolde, or whether he is the Zhodani Candidate—a sleeper agent programmed to betray the Imperium. They will then approve the wedding guest list, should the wedding go ahead.

The Inter-Agency Taskforce consists of five members. They include Undersecretary Eon Jaxon, Undersecretary to the Ministry of State, Spinward Bureau, who formed and heads the Inter-Agency Emergency Vetting Taskforce; Senior Ducal Bodyguard Sir Jans Hillier, the head of Her Grace’s Security Service; Perrin Davos Senior Security Vetting Agent, Ministry of Justice, a specialist in security vetting; Lieutenant Samanthe Rosen, Imperial Naval Intelligence, a junior member of Naval Intelligence recommended by the Admiralty as an investigator and interrogator; and Senior Scout Evelyn Tremayne, a representative of the Intelligence Branch of the Interstellar Imperial Scout Service with information to present to the Inter-Agency Emergency Vetting Taskforce. All five player characters are presented in some detail and come with full stats, skills, background, and equipment, as well as a Departmental Agenda, a Personal Agenda, and more. What this means is that there is quite a lot of information for the players to absorb in terms of their characters—and then there is the addition of Traveller’s Library Data pertinent to the scenario.

The scenario itself is divided into two parts. The first is the investigation of Sergeant Darius Cantu, the second is the vetting of the wedding guests and the wedding itself. Now although there is a central objective in the scenario, that of ensuring that Lady Isolde Ling Muudashir is married to a safe husband, achieving it is only half of the scenario’s playthrough. The other half is the interplay of the player characters and their sometimes conflicting objectives. Here, as with the earlier Eve of Rebellion, is where the author’s experience with playing and creating freeforms come to the fore. That said, the objectives in Eve of Rebellion are tightly supported by the links between the player characters, but in The Zhodani Candidate, these are not present, at least not initially. At the start of the scenario, the player characters do not know each other, so the players will need to work harder to involve their characters in the scenario. Now the investigation serves to pull them into the scenario, but after that, the players will need to work hard to work bring their objectives into play without exposing them.

The actual adventure in The Zhodani Candidate runs to less than a third of its length, but includes staging advice, the scenario’s events, and possible outcomes. Besides this, it comes with the five player characters, Library Data, timeline of events, and reference sheets for the Game Master. In comparison, The Zhodani Candidate is mechanically more complex than Eve of Rebellion, and the Game Master may want to have access to both Traveller, First Edition and Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing to the fullest out of it. The complexity comes in the fact that unlike in Eve of Rebellion, the player characters in The Zhodani Candidate are going to be doing a lot more than just talking and deceiving. Stats and guidelines are given should the Game Master want to run the scenario using the Cepheus Engine.

One new mechanic which The Zhodani Candidate does add is for handling trust between the player characters. Adapted from Cold City, it measures the degrees of trust between the scenario’s cast, which can grant a bonus between two trusting characters. Conversely woe betide anyone who breaks their trust with another character, or rather expect trust to be lost and broken as the player characters’ differing objectives clash and conflict with each other.

Physically, The Zhodani Candidate is a 1.44 Mb, thirty-six page, colour PDF (though only the cover and some maps use any colour). It is well written, the characters are solidly designed, and the advice is excellent throughout. If there is anything missing, it is that the scenario could have done with a few more handouts, perhaps to give out as part of the briefing handouts and so establish a sense of verisimilitude right from the start. No doubt a Game Master could create these herself as part of her preparations to run the scenario—and even better if she did them as folders of briefing material, one for each player and his character, ready to be opened at the inaugural meeting of the Inter-Agency Emergency Vetting Taskforce.

What The Zhodani Candidate lacks in comparison to Eve of Rebellion is a sense of grandeur and elegance. Now this is due to differences in their subject matters, Eve of Rebellion with high politics and family matters, The Zhodani Candidate with subterfuge, espionage, and deception. So there is more machination to The Zhodani Candidate, more grit and more paranoia. Eventually though, The Zhodani Candidate will probably confirm everyone’s perceptions of the nasty, underhand, and perfidious Zhodani and their sneaky use of Psionics, and drive everyone on the taskforce into a showdown from which none are going to walk away unscathed.

Imperial Destiny

Since its publication in 1977 and development as the Third Imperium setting, only one event and time and date has mattered in the Traveller roleplaying game. That time and date is 1517 hours on 132-1116. The event is the assassination of Strephon Aella Alkhalikoi, the Emperor of the Third Imperium, his wife, Iolanthe Abartii Guuibataashullibaa, and their daughter and his heir, Grand Princess Ciencia Iphigenia Alkhalikoi, and the Aslan Yerlyaruiwo ambassador, at the hands of Dulinor Astrin Ilethian of Dlan, Archduke of the Domain of Ilelish. Although Archduke Dulinor would assume the throne by Right of Assassination, the bullets he would fire from the Magnum Revolver it was his perogative to carry it loaded anywhere within the Imperium—even into the Imperial Throne room—would topple the Third Imperium. This event and its subsequent Rebellion changed the future of the Traveller timeline, the conflict between the leading claimants grinding each other into technological regression and making Humaniti’s greatest empire vulnerable to attack by external forces.

It does not have to be though… For example, between 1998 and 2015, Steve Jackson Games published and supported GURPS Traveller, a version of the Third Imperium setting in which Dulinor’s assassination attempt was foiled and the Rebellion never took place. Alternatively, a gaming group can explore what happens on the date 132-1116 and perhaps decide the future of the Third Imperium with the scenario, Eve of Rebellion. Now in most Traveller campaigns, players take the role of ship’s crews, being the eponymous travellers, moving from world to world, trading, thwarting crimes, uncovering mysteries and making discoveries, and so on. Alternatively, the player characters will go to war, undertaking contracts as mercenaries in low-conflict engagements. In Eve of Rebellion though, the players take the role of those present at the events leading up to the assassination of Emperor Strephon. Each has his motivations and reasons for being at the Imperial Court—all of which will drive them to act in the best interests of the Imperium (or so they think).

Published by March Harrier Publishing via Mongoose Publishing, Eve of Rebellion is a one-shot scenario suitable for conventions or campaign breaks, designed to be played between four and five players—though it will play best with all five players, plus the Referee. In terms of mechanics, Eve of Rebellion is written for the current rules for Traveller, but is so rules light, it can be run by almost every previous version of Traveller, or indeed, be adapted to almost any system of the gaming group’s choice. Indeed, the primary game content in Eve of Rebellion in terms mechanics are the stats and skills of the five characters involved, although stats are also provided for the Cepheus Engine.

The five characters in Eve of Rebellion are Emperor Strephon Alkhalikoi, Grand Princess Ciencia lphegenia Alkhalikoi, Prince Varian Alkhalikoi and Prince Lucan Alkhalikoi, Dulinor Astrin Ilethian, Archduke of Ilelish, and Duke Norris Aella Aledon. Of these, one player will take the roles of both of the twins, Prince Varian Alkhalikoi and Prince Lucan Alkhalikoi. It should be noted that Empress Iolanthe is not amongst these five. In the first of two non-canonical elements in Eve of Rebellion, she is not included, having died in 1112. The other is that Duke Norris is present at the court prior to when the asassination attempt took place in the official history instead of being in the Spinward Marches restoring the ravages of the Fifth Frontier War. Of the five, Emperor Strephon Alkhalikoi wants to continue his reforms and ensure that he has a successor to continue them; Grand Princess Ciencia lphegenia Alkhalikoi wants to maintain her status and power of Iridium Throne and possibly marry a suitable suitor; Prince Varian Alkhalikoi and Prince Lucan Alkhalikoi want maintain their louche lifestyle; Dulinor Astrin Ilethian, Archduke of Ilelish wants to reduce Imperial taxes which he sees as unfair and a cause of corruption; and Duke Norris Aella Aledon wants to learn why he is at the Imperial court. Now it should be clear that these are not all of their motivations, but their motivations interlock with each others, some opposing, some in alignment.

Now there is a very good reason for this, and that is the fact that the author has experience in writing LARP—Live Action Role Play—scenarios where the emphasis is on interaction, talking, negotiation, and scheming, rather than on physical actions, such as sword fights, use of magic, running and jumping, and so on, but with tightly bound and opposing characters that possess strong motivations to encourage roleplay. And this is what is, a LARP scenario, written for the Third Imperium and around the most significant event in its history. Unlike a LARP scenario, the players do not have to dress up as their characters, but rather Eve of Rebellion is played around the table with a Referee, just as a standard tabletop roleplaying scenario would be. Of course, with the scheming and intriguing going on, the players are allowed to leave the table and perhaps conive, intrigue, and confide in their fellow players, but they still need to keep the Referee informed.

To support Eve of Rebellion, the author provides everything necessary to play. This includes an explanation of the plot and its set-up and intricacies for the Referee, a guide to running the scenario, labels for each character—including two for the Varian/Lucan player, full stats and briefings for each character—these are two to three pages in length, a set of library data which can be printed out for each player, a quick briefing for the Referee and list of who has what skill for her reference. Every character is illustrated and comes with detailed background, goals, and resources. The goals and resources are very clearly marked and easy for the players to grasp.

Physically, Eve of Rebellion is a 1.29 Mb, twenty-seven page, black and white PDF (though the cover does use colour). It is well written, the characters are superbly designed, and the advice is excellent throughout. 

If there is a problem with Eve of Rebellion it is that the casual player is not going to grasp the nuances and significance of the situation in its set-up. This is very much a Traveller scenario, and for the players to really get the most out of this scenario they very likely want to be au fait with the background to the Third Imperium and its events. Now the Library Data undoubtedly helps with that, but this is still very much a scenario that a Traveller fan will get the most out of. Similarly, this is not a scenario for Traveller devotees more interested in the technical and technological aspects of the setting rather than the background and roleplaying. That said, if you are a Traveller fan, and a Traveller fan with some knowledge of the setting, then this is a scenario that you absolutely have to play. With its superbly designed set-up and support, impressively presented characters and well-explained, interlocking goals and motivations, Eve of Rebellion is an opportunity for you to explore and play out a pivotal event in Traveller canon, to redirect its history in a way that no other scenario does.