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.

Salvage & Secrecy

Ernsteyn Industrial Materials (EIM) is a thriving concern operating a pair of Type J Seekers out of the orbital starport of Yres in the Regina subsector of the Spinward Marches. Or was until a week or so ago. Losing a contract with Ling Standard Products came at the wrong time when one of the company’s vessels, the Evan’s Endeavour, suffered a drive failure, and whilst insurance will cover the cost of some of the repairs, it will not cover them all. The company needs a good contract, one that will cover the bills that are due soon. Fortunately, one of the shareholders, Neal Slessinger, a senior starport administrator, got EIM a job. This is to salvage cargo from the Deutsche Post, a merchant tender lost in the wake of the Fourth Frontier War some thirty years ago, with long term plans to go back and salvage the rest of the vessel. However, the Deutsche Post’s location is at the edge of the Menorb and Yres systems. Getting to the site of the lost ship will not be easy and will require Sydni’s Search, EIM ‘s only operational ship, to be fitted with demountable tanks to fuel the necessary Jumps to get into the system and out to its edge. Unfortunately, the company’s only demountable tanks are aboard the Evan’s Endeavour, the vessel in dry dock, undergoing extensive repair… This is only the start of the problems for the crew of Sydni’s Search and the set-up for Cold Dark Grave.

Cold Dark Grave is a scenario of salvage and secrets for Traveller, the Science Fiction roleplaying game and setting published by Mongoose Publishing. The scenario itself is published by BITS UK Limited, or ‘British Isles Traveller Support’, a British organisation dedicated to supporting Traveller, especially at conventions. To that end, Cold Dark Grave began life as the BITS tournament adventure From a Cold Dark Grave for Gen Con UK 2005. It is designed to be played in a single session with six players, though can be run with less, and is both demanding technically and in terms of roleplaying. The technical nature because the players and their characters will need to think about refitting their ship, getting it out of the Yres system without looking suspicious, locating the Deutsche Post, getting on board it, and not only finding the cargo to be salvaged, but also get it off the ship and back to the Sydni’s Search. The roleplaying challenge comes in the form of roleplaying and trusting Neal Slessinger. He is designed to be a Player Character—though with fewer players, he need not be—and despite being (or because he is) a major shareholder in Ernsteyn Industrial Materials, he is hiding a lot of secrets. Secrets that the player roleplaying him has to cover for lest the other Player Characters either beat the hell out of him or simply space him… The likelihood is that one of those will occur by the end of the scenario, but until then, the player roleplaying Neal Slessinger really needs to be good for the others to maintain a degree of trust in him. That said, it both helps that the crew of the Sydni’s Search are desperate to make enough money to keep EIM a going concern and that the scenario is designed to be played in a single session and therefore at some pace, since the players and their characters are unlikely to have the time to worry too much about Slessinger’s caginess. However, if Cold Dark Grave is played in longer, multiple sessions, the danger is that it gets bogged down into the other Player Characters trying to get answers out of Slessinger. And if they do, then the scenario, depending upon what the players and their characters decide to do, will either be truncated or go in another direction and potentially fizzle out.

The plot of Cold Dark Grave kicks into gear once the Sydni’s Search has made its first Jump and arrives at the edge of the system where the crew find themselves on the edge of a huge battlefield of dead and broken ships. This is the first of the physical dangers that the crew will face, but as the physical peril grows so does the moral—and legal, peril. The story is presented as a series of nuggets that in turn give the basic situation and then explore the likely options that the Player Characters might choose. The scenario presents several possible resolutions to the situation that the Player Characters find themselves in and these should bring the scenario to a satisfying solution. That is, for everyone except Neal Slessinger…

To support the scenario’s plot and set-up, Cold Dark Grave includes six detailed pre-generated Player Characters, details and deck plans of both the Type J ‘Wobbegong’ Class Seeker operated by the Player Characters and the Maagukii Class Bulk Carrier operated by the pirates. There are details of the Deutsche Post ‘Earth Mail’ Class Tender, primarily in its current state, though no deck plans are provided. Its internal, highly damaged state is described in some detail as is getting aboard her, finding their way around, and finding the cargo are the most physical challenges that the Player Characters will face in the scenario.

To support the play of the scenario, Cold Dark Grave does include some slightly alternative rules. The ‘BITS Generic Task System’ is designed to handle Classic Traveller, Mongoose Traveller, Traveller 4, GURPS Traveller, MegaTraveller, and Traveller T20, and despite all of those games systems were available in the noughties when Cold Dark Grave was first published, its inclusion has really been superseded by Mongoose Traveller as the dominant rules for Traveller. The ‘BITS Generic NPC System’ is more useful since it simplifies the handling and presentation of NPCs in the scenario.

Physically, Cold Dark Grave is solidly presented. The illustrations are all of a technical nature as is the writing in many places.

Cold Dark Grave is a good convention scenario, played at pace and emphasising the physical peril as much as the moral peril that the Player Characters are placed in. All backed up with the technical detail that you would expect of a scenario for Traveller.

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.

Friday Faction: This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller

“This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone … Mayday, Mayday.” are the most famous lines in Science Fiction roleplaying and quite possibly some of the most famous lines in roleplaying, first appearing as the strapline on the black and white and red box that contained what would become the famous ‘Little Black Books’ for the roleplaying game, Traveller, when it went on sale on July 22, 1977, at the Origins III Game Fair. Not the hobby’s first Science Fiction roleplaying game, that would be TSR, Inc.’s Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship, or indeed the second, which would be Starfaring, from Flying Buffalo, Inc., both published the previous year. However, Traveller would be the first Science Fiction roleplaying game to have an effect upon the hobby, the first roleplaying to explore the concept of a metaplot upon a whole game line, and as we approach 2027, the oldest Science Fiction roleplaying game to be in print and to have remained in print in one edition or another for nearly all of those fifty years. It is these past four decades—and a bit—of Traveller history that are explored in This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller.

This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller is written by the author of Designers & Dragons and is a described as ‘A Designers & Dragons System History’. Published by Mongoose Publishing—the current publisher of Traveller—it takes the reader from the late fifties to the twenty-twenties in recounting the story of the many editions and designers of Traveller, from the 1977 ‘Little Black Books’ of Classic Traveller to the 2013 Traveller⁵ from Far Future Enterprises to the 2016 Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. The origins lie—as much of early roleplaying does—in the wargaming hobby, first in designs from Avalon Hill, but then in GDW’s own wargames and its Science Fiction board games such as Imperium and Dark Nebula. Elements of these Science Fiction board games would eventually be incorporated into the Charted Space setting that would eventually become the setting for Traveller.

The first five years of Traveller’s history very much involves its original creators and developers, but after that, thanks to the largesse of the its creator, Mark Miller, the roleplaying game and its setting begins to be developed by other publishers and creators—FASA, Paranoia Press, Gamelords, and others—most notably brothers, J. Andrew Keith and William H. Keith Jr. This is where the book is at its most interesting examining the influence of others upon Traveller and its development, in particular by the staff of Digest Group Publications, first through their fanzine, The Traveller Digest, followed by supplements that they would publish themselves and those they would write and develop for GDW. If it was not quite as obvious at the time, it is made clear that the relationship between GDW and Digest Group Publications was very strong, the latter effectively serving as a design house for the latter. Equally as interesting is the exploration of the response to Traveller and its development by its fandom, especially to the major changes wrought in the latter editions of Traveller published by GDW. First with MegaTraveller and the assassination of Emperor Strephon and its repercussions, and second, with its most far-reaching repercussion, Traveller: The New Era. This takes the reader deep into the development and complexities of the History of the Imperium Working Group, out of which would grow the next writers and developers of Traveller.

Part of the conceit of This is Free Trader Beowulf is that as much as it explores the history of Traveller and its setting of Charted Space, it maps that history onto the structure of the book. In the timeline of Charted Space, the period of economic collapse between the Rule of Man and the foundation of the Third Imperium is known as the Long Night, inspired by the collapse and subsequent interregnum detailed in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, but in This is Free Trader Beowulf, the Long Night is the decade between 1998 and 2007 following the collapse of Marc Miller’s Traveller or T4. Much like the collapse of the Third Imperium and Asimov’s Galactic Empire, support for Traveller in the early twenty-first century collapsed into Pocket Empires, each specialising in different treatments of the intellectual property. Thus, it collapses from one history into several—GURPS Traveller from Steve Jackson Games which kept Emperor Strephon and the Third Imperium alive, QuikLink Interactive which developed Traveler T20 based on the d20 System, Comstar Games and Avenger Enterprises which pushed the history of Charted Space even further into the future with the 1248 Sourcebook 1: Out of the Darkness, and even another ruleset with Traveller Hero. Yet like the Long Night and the Pocket Empires that hung on, their history is swept away with the coming of Mongoose Publishing, which since 2007 has been the publisher of Traveller, bringing about as This is Free Trader Beowulf alludes, a new golden era of content and support for both the roleplaying game and Charted Space. It ends the history on a hopeful tone, noting that Mark Miller is still creating his own content with Traveller⁵ in parallel with the extensive support from Mongoose Publishing.

Throughout, with every era, ‘A View From The Industry’ gives context into which each new version of Traveller is published, paying particular attention to the state of Science Fiction roleplaying, whilst ‘What Could Have Been’ details different roleplaying games, supplements, scenarios, rulesets, and board games which might have been published by GDW, had things been different. Then, as a reference, every chapter in This is Free Trader Beowulf concludes with its own list of main references—the latter consisting of URLs, original sources, maps that mark the locations of various scenarios, and more. There is a checklist too of titles released, useful, no doubt, for the collector.

However, it does feel odd that This is Free Trader Beowulf, as a history of Traveller, was published in 2024 rather in 2022, which would have been the forty-fifth anniversary of the founding of GDW, or in 2027, which would have marked the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Traveller. Further, the lack of interviews—although many interviews are referenced throughout the book—lends This is Free Trader Beowulf an impersonal air, even a feeling of austerity that dare I say it, echoes that of the original ‘Little Black Books’. That said, if This is Free Trader Beowulf lacks the personal touch, it is never less than clear on what the designers of and contributors to Traveller intended and what they achieved. Perhaps that personal touch might be celebrated for the roleplaying game’s fiftieth anniversary with a book of interviews and retrospectives that could be a welcome companion to This is Free Trader Beowulf?

Nevertheless, This is Free Trader Beowulf is a physically attractive book. The layout is clean and tidy, and it is illustrated with a wide range good art, including individual pieces that date back to the early years of Traveller and all the way to the present, as well as lots and lots of covers from the roleplaying game’s numerous editions and eras. That said, it does need an edit in places, including—amusingly—on the spine.

Of course, the author of This is Free Trader Beowulf has already presented a history of GDW in the pages of the first volume of Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry. Some of that history is repeated here, which is understandable and unavoidable, but This is Free Trader Beowulf is in part, also the history of other publishers and their specific role in keeping Traveller in print, if not always successfully. The combination of the old and the new is a fascinating read, an exploration of the hows and the whys of not just the original contributors, but also the fans and the fans who became contributors. This is Free Trader Beowulf is not book for the casual fan of roleplaying necessarily, and it is possibly too specialised for many players and Game Masters. Whereas, for anyone with an interest in roleplaying history it is a volume that they should have their shelf and for the Traveller fan, it is a volume that they will appreciate above all, exploring as it does both their past and that of the hobby. This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller is the definitive guide to the history of the roleplaying hobby’s most popular and longest running Science Fiction game and certainly lays down a template for other roleplaying games of a similar vintage and varied story.

Reviews from R’lyeh Post-Christmas Dozen 2024

Since 2001, Reviews from R’lyeh have contributed to a series of Christmas lists at Ogrecave.com—and at RPGaction.com before that, suggesting not necessarily the best board and roleplaying games of the preceding year, but the titles from the last twelve months that you might like to receive and give. Continuing the break with tradition—in that the following is just the one list and in that for reasons beyond its control, OgreCave.com is not running its own lists—Reviews from R’lyeh would once again like present its own list. Further, as is also traditional, Reviews from R’lyeh has not devolved into the need to cast about ‘Baleful Blandishments’ to all concerned or otherwise based upon the arbitrary organisation of days. So as Reviews from R’lyeh presents its annual (Post-)Christmas Dozen, I can only hope that the following list includes one of your favourites, or even better still, includes a game that you did not have and someone was happy to hide in gaudy paper and place under that dead tree for you. If not, then this is a list of what would have been good under that tree and what you should purchase yourself to read and play in the months to come.

—oOo—

The Making of the Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970 – 1977
Wizards of the Coast ($99.99/£75)
In an exceptional year for books about the history of the hobby, the first entry on the list is the most controversial, but an absolute must for the Dungeons & Dragons fan who has an interest in the early history of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. To help celebrate the fiftieth anniversary, this massive volume charts the gestation and development through letters and fanzines of the ideas that would ultimately lead to the publication of Original Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. The hefty tome draws heavily on the archives to fully reproduce Chainmail – rules for medieval miniatures and its Fantasy Supplement that were the precursors to Dungeons & Dragons, the very first draft of Dungeons & Dragons, and much, much more, all the way up to the published version and beyond. Were you so inclined, the reproductions in this book are so good that you could actually run a game based on the rules they present! Everything is faithfully reproduced and accompanied by a commentary from Jon Peterson, one of the hobby’s few historians, the result is a superb book, one that genuinely gives the fan of the roleplaying game the opportunity to look at documents and correspondences that they would otherwise never have the chance to look at or read. The Making of the Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970 – 1977 is like having a Dungeons & Dragons museum of your own, but one that you can pull from your shelf and browse any time you like. If you really have any interest in the development of the roleplaying hobby, let alone that of Dungeons & Dragons, this book is essential.

Eat The Reich
Rowan, Rook, & Decard ($30/£25)
Why bother punching a Nazi, when you can fucking eat a Nazi? Eat The Reich is the all-action roleplaying game in which the Player Characters are a team of crack vampire commandos coffin dropped on Paris in 1943. And then cutting, stabbing, biting, rending, and blood draining their way across the City of Lights and up the ranks of the German occupiers to the top and beyond. And beyond means getting hold of Adolf Hitler himself—currently lurking in his zeppelin moored to the Eiffel Tower, so atop Paris effectively—and drink all of his amphetamine-fuelled blood. If that does not sound like a great hook for a session or three of over-the-top, blood-drenched action, then what the hell are you here for? Eat The Reich is designed to be fast-playing with an emphasis on carnage, blood magic, meaningful flashbacks, and the slaughter of hundreds and hundreds of Fascists. Which is not enough Fascists. All of which is packaged in a swathe of vibrant pinks, blues, and yellows that give the combined roleplaying game and scenario a neon punk energy all of its very own. Play Eat The Reich. Kill Nazis. Drink their blood. Is there anything better?

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh
The Merry Mushmen ($28/£22.50)
The village of Hendenburgh stands in the middle of the Kryptwood, an ancient forest steeped in legend and history recently beset by murderous demon hounds, ripping apart anyone who dares enter its reaches and even snatching lone villagers from the streets of the small settlement. These are the only dangers faced by the villagers: Highwaymen lurk in the forest, ready to pounce on Hendenburgh’s misfortune; a coven of witches wants everything to be returned to normal; the old silver mine stands abandoned, infested with monsters that drove out the miners and sowed the seeds of Hendenburgh’s poverty; a Bridge Troll has gone on strike after a drunken pixie failed to pay the toll; and at its heart, the Tomb of the Tyrant, the last resting place of the Kryptwood Tyrant, a despot who ruled the region a thousand years ago. This is a great set-up for the fantastically well-produced The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, a story-packed low-Level hexcrawl with lots going on and plenty of plots for the Player Characters to get involved in. It is also a fine sequel to the equally as good Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow (and that is worth picking up too) and both are written for use with Old School Essentials, but The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a just that much more fun with its combination of Hammer Horror with shades of Monty Python.

Aces Over The Adriatic – A Solo RPG
Critical Kit Ltd. ($15/£12)
Since lockdown there has been a rise in interest in and play of the solo journaling games that rather than tell a story in the choose-your-own-adventure-path of classics like The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, provide the situations and the prompts that the player will react to in order to write the story of his character’s experiences and how he reacts to them. Many offer a chance to experience and tell a story of horror or wonder, such as a Thousand Year Old Vampire or Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, but Aces Over The Adriatic takes the reader back barely a century to explore the wonders of the age in the gleaming skies over the azure of the Adriatic. In the latter half of the Jazz Age, the cutting age technology and the future of flight lay in the seaplane! In a golden age of aeronautical development, experimentation, and speed, the great nations of the era competed to win the Schneider Cup, awarded to the fastest seaplane in the competition held twice a year. As a pilot, the reader not only gets to fly the greatest aeroplanes of the age and enter the Schneider Cup, but soar into the skies and embrace the romance of the air. However, this is a solo journalling game inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso, so the pilot has to deal with air pirates as well as his rivals and the weather! This is a chance for the reader to tell the stories of his pilot’s adventures and encounters with most famous men and women of the time in a glorious epic of another age.

Moria – Through the Doors of Durin
Free League Publishing ($46/£36)
For all the dungeons that the roleplaying hobby has given us in the last half century, there is the one dungeon from literature that inspired them all and lives in our imagination—Moria, from Tolkien’s Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings we discover the fate of Balin’s expedition and see Gandalf confronted by the great evil that is the Balrog, Durin’s Ban, but in Moria – Through the Doors of Durin for The One Ring, Second Edition, we get to explore it ourselves. Originally the city of Dwarrowdelf, the seat of a Dwarven kingdom, for centuries it has been infested with Orcs, Goblins, and, of course, much, much worse. However, it has a scope and grandeur that could never be mapped out in a single book, being too large and extensive to map every nook and cranny, so instead, Moria – Through the Doors of Durin details over twenty great Landmarks, each a potential destination involving danger and adventure, and each a major location within the mines. Getting to them is no easy task though, so every trek to and between them these Landmarks, employs the Journey mechanics of The One Ring, so that whilst getting there can be fraught with dread and danger, the focus is what the Player-heroes discover at the Landmarks. Combine this with a hoard of Patrons, foes, encounters, and treasures, and the Loremaster has all the means to take her players and their heroes into the greatest dungeon in literature, whether for a single delve or an extended campaign!

BattleTech Universe
Catalyst Game Labs ($49.99/£45)
Whilst it might be first, Dungeons & Dragons is not the only roleplaying game or game with an anniversary in 2024. BattleTech: A Game of Armoured Combat was published in 1984 and in the forty years since, through multiple publishers, the game has received numerous sets of new rules, supplements, several ranges of miniatures—both plastic and metal, over one hundred novels, a cartoon series, a collectible card game, and multiple computer games. All of which has constantly developed the setting and background and stories to the Inner Sphere—and beyond—at the beginning of the thirty-first century, so that from the beginning of the Fourth Succession War to capture of Terra by the returning the Clans, the focus is upon one-and-twenty-six years of history! It is however, a rich, detailed, and daunting history, so difficult to fully grasp and comprehend. However, BattleTech Universe is a sourcebook that presents the history to BattleTech is an easy to digest and understand fashion, highlighting the factions and individuals and their objectives, at every juncture and turn of events, all lavishly illustrated drawing upon artwork form forty years of BattleTech games, supplements, and novels.

Dreams and Machines
Modiphius Entertainment ($45/£35)
Most post-apocalyptic roleplaying games present harsh and unforgiving futures, with technology that has to be scavenged and hard fought for, but the future of Dreams and Machines is more positive and hopeful, set on a colony world where everyone can see the signs of the technology that turned on their ancestors and triggered the Builder War. These are the Wakers, the mechs built to serve the Builder, a programme to develop resource and power control, which litter the landscape and everyone fears will react and carry out the instructions of their corrupt programming. This is a world where the Player Characters work to build their community and forge links with other communities, to make lives better and protect them against dangers such as the Wakers and the Thralls, humans wrapped in loops of wire and marked with ash and paint, who up out of the ground to aggressively raid and steal food and technology from the communities. One of the interesting legacies of the technology is the way in which it can be interacted with, through GLIFs, or ‘Graphic Layer Instruction Format’ patterns that that once learned enable Archivists to use them spells to instruct technology and the Wakers, whilst the Spears, dedicated to protecting communities with their vicious Electrospears, mark themselves with Hunter-GLIFs that temporarily conceal them from the optical sensors of hostile machines. Overall, Dreams and Machines feels cleaner, more positive, and more hopeful than other roleplaying games of its genre.

Call of Cthulhu: Arkham
Chaosium, Inc. ($59.99/£48.99)
The city of Arkham crown—if not the jewel that is Miskatonic University—in the milieu of Lovecraft’s fiction, the New England town at its heart, witch-haunted and fabled, rich in secrets and conspiracies and crime. Call of Cthulhu: Arkham returns it to print for call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, to detail everything from town and its history, its inhabitants, its shops and its societies to its dread secrets and even worse, the people and things that keep them! Just as the original Arkham Unveiled was in 1990, this supplement is the keystone to the Lovecraft Country series of scenario anthologies and setting books, and it enables the classic Call of Cthulhu Investigator to remain at home and have a family and a job to investigate the strangeness all around him rather than going on some expensive round the world, never to be seen again. This sets up a very different style of campaign, one based in the community as much as it is in the surrounding region with the Investigators discovering secrets and facing threats which are much closer to home. Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is a great updating of a classic supplement and setting that successfully makes them both more accessible and useable, whilst laying the groundwork for a terrible series of encounters and threats to faced by the Investigators in the future. (And if this is not enough Arkham, then Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors to the Town of ARKHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, and Environs Including DUNWICH, INNSMOUTH, and KINGSPORT is also good.)

Outgunned Adventure
Two Little Mice ($55/£45)
Sadly, we do not have an official Indiana Jones roleplaying game, but we do have one which will do all of the action of the Pulp action and archaeology genre. This is Outgunned Adventure, a roleplaying game inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Mummy, which of course, sends the adventurers off in search of treasures and secrets in the remotest parts of the world, from deep in the jungles of Central America to the sandy deserts of Egypt, from the mountains of the Himalayas to the islands of the South Seas, more often than not, chased by rival archaeologists and treasure hunters, cultists and Nazis. The heroes and heroines of Outgunned Adventure must search and research, jump and duck, and punch and kick their way to glory and success if they are get that invaluable treasure to the right place and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands! Outgunned Adventure is a Genre book for Outgunned, the Cinematic Action RPG inspired by Die Hard, Kingsman, Ocean’s Eleven, Hot Fuzz, and much, much more. Outgunned—and thus Outgunned Adventure—is a roleplaying game in which the Adventurers cannot fail. At worst, they can succeed in an uninteresting way, so it is better to gamble in succeeding in a more exciting and thrilling fashion in keeping with the genre! Outgunned Adventure is fast playing and captures all of the pace and excitement of some our favourite action films.

XCRAWL Classics Roleplaying Game
Goodman Games ($59.99/£45.99)
Imagine a world where the number one sport is not football or cricket, but a death sport called Xtreme Dungeon Crawling! Some adventurers do delve deep into the caverns and labyrinths below the earth, but if they really want to become famous, they turn Professional and form teams which enrol in leagues which stage manufactured dungeons live-streamed via spellphones throughout the North American Empire and beyond. If they can survive the arena, with its horrific monsters, lethal traps, magical hazards, and challenging puzzles, then they had better wish their agent is good, because he has to navigate the shark-infested waters of corporate sponsorship, rival teams and their agents, the networks, and even the Action Guild, responsible for running the events. But then it is the only way to become the superstar influencers and live celebrity lifestyles few in the Empire can imagine, backed up with for endorsement deals and corporate sponsorships, and the fabulous cash prizes earned for slaying monsters. Using the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game rules, what the XCRAWL Classics Roleplaying Game does to take Dungeons & Dragons-style play and modernises it with all of the razzmatazz and energy modern wrestling! This is as witty and as entertaining to play as it sounds and creates some great over-the-top gaming.

Pendragon Core Rulebook
Chaosium, Inc.  ($49.99/£39.99)
The Pendragon Core Rulebook returns to print the classic Arthurian roleplaying game that designer Greg Stafford considered be his masterpiece with a brand new, illuminated edition. It provides all of the rules and details to create young Cyrmic knights ready to ride out in service to the liege lord and ultimately King Arthur, to go in search of adventure and quests, to attend court and participate in tournaments and more. There is so much more to Pendragon with the Pendragon Core Rulebook covering the creation of a Player-knight and the duties he will undertake, combat, and the duties of a knight, but focusing very much on how he will behave and carry himself. At the core of the game are thirteen pairs of Personality Traits—Chaste and Lustful, Honest and Deceitful, Valorous and Cowardly, and so on—that the player will roleplay as they determine how his knight will act, usually in the best interests of the knight in mind, but at other times, especially when the knight is being tested, against the interests of the knight, and possibly those of his fellow knights! The Personality Traits are flexible though, and will change over time, enabling a player to roleplay his knight becoming a better person, knowing that sometimes, the Personality Traits will tell him otherwise. The Pendragon Core Rulebook provides everything that a player needs to begin playing and the Game Master with the basic rules, thus laying the groundwork for the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Book and Great Pendragon Campaign to come.

This is Free Trader Beowulf
Mongoose Publishing ($59.99/£45)
In the year of its fiftieth anniversary, it was no surprise that Dungeons & Dragons got all the fanfare and the attention, but 2024 also saw the release of another good history of another long-lived game. Indeed, there are very few roleplaying games that have the depth and detail and storied history to have an actual book devoted them, but Traveller is one of them. With multiple editions and multiple publishers, Traveller has almost as many years to explore in This is Free Trader Beowulf from Mongoose Publishing. This charts the history and development of the world’s longest running Science Fiction roleplaying game, examining the many decisions and changes made with each new edition and supplement, not just upon the part of the creators and developers, but also the fans who would make their own contributions too. Accompanied discussions of books that would have been and comparisons with the rest of the hobby for context as well as lengthy lists of everything published for the roleplaying game in each of its iterations, This is Free Trader Beowulf is written by the authors of the Designers & Dragons series of roleplaying histories and he provides a thoroughly detailed and well researched book that every fan of Traveller will want and every roleplayer with an interest in the development and history of roleplaying games.

A Wingless Butterfly

The Mariposa Affair is a scenario for Traveller. It takes place on the balkanised world of Ruie in the Aramis Subsector of the Spinward Marches Sector and continues a storyline begun in Manticore and sees the Player Characters hired to investigate a threat the Third Imperium, one that threatens interstellar war. It ideally requires the Player Characters to have basic training in both weapons and various technical skills, and ideally, a starship. The scenario includes a set of eight pre-generated Player Characters, four of which between them have the skills necessary to operate a starship as well as one of them owning an S-Type Scout. However, one of the problems with this is that the Player Characters are expected to to own a merchant ship of some kind and certainly a vessel capable of carrying cargo. Both the mechanics and the plot of The Mariposa Affair are straightforward enough that running it using Traveller, Classic Traveller, or Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition are all easy enough to do.

The Mariposa Affair is written by Carl Terence Vandal and is a sequel of sorts to The Phoenix Initiative, which ended with the Player Characters being recruited as agents in the service of Duke Norris and his family, and a sequel to Manticore. It begins with the Player Characters on Regina in the Regina subsector in the Spinward Marches Sector, with the sudden interdiction of the planet. This is with good reason—Emperor Strephon Aella Alkhalikoi! is paying Regina a state visit. Then, the Player Characters get an invitation to the state banquet by lottery. This automatically throws them into the spotlight and then again, when a disastrous incident occurs. This is the assassination of the Emperor himself—in 1106 rather than a decade later in 1116—an event which propels the Player Characters back into the service of Duke Norris once again. He reveals that it was not the Emperor who killed, but a clone. Not though a sanctioned clone, designed to stand in for the Emperor, as revealed a few years after his ‘assassination’ at the hands of Archduke Dulinor. He wants them to travel to the neighbouring world of Ruie, which lies just on the other side of the Imperial border and there locate the laboratory and outpost where this clone was created.

The scenario proceeds apace in straightforward fashion, but the plotting is distinctly underwhelming. The Player Characters’ contact is also targeted by an assassination attempt, but no matter what the outcome of the assassination attempt, the clues point to a worked out mine on a nearby continent. Once there, they sneak into the mine, break into the secret laboratory, and destroy it. And that really is it... Effectively, The Mariposa Affair is a dungeon crawl, with seemingly innumerable checks for traps in the mine. In fact, the most interesting aspect of the scenario is the Library Data included at the back. Besides the Library Data, the scenario includes details of the world of Ruie and the Regina Subsector.

There has long been a tradition of writing scenarios based around major events in the canon of roleplaying settings. In the case of The Mariposa Affair, it is the causes behind and instigation of, the Fifth Frontier War. Unfortunately, The Mariposa Affair does not let the Player Characters discover those causes or affect their revelation. Instead, all that is handled by Duke Norris and his staff off-screen whilst the Player Characters are simply dealing with the one aspect of it. So it undermines their agency and the storytelling potential of the plot of both The Mariposa Affair and the other parts of its trilogy. Another issue is that the scenario does not really explore the consequences of what it sets up in any depth. That is, the assassination of a clone of the Emperor and a conspiracy to undermine the Third Imperium. It hints at the possibilities, but never really explores them.

Physically, The Mariposa Affair is cleanly and tidily presented. The maps are decent enough, but layout grates on the eyes where the skills are laid out in bold. These really should have been separated from the paragraphs so that they do not just look like blocks of black text. The illustrations are nicely chosen.

Although it is better organised and written than the previous scenarios in the trilogy, The Mariposa Affair brings the trilogy to a distinctly underwhelming close. It feels as if it should have been a bigger affair with more secrets to be revealed and more interesting things for the Player Characters to do, whereas all that it currently does is let them creep round the edges in a ‘dungeoncrawl’ type scenario whilst someone else makes all of the discoveries. Ultimately there are some interesting storytelling and plot possibilities to be found in The Mariposa Affair and the other scenarios in its trilogy—of which Manticore is the best—but they are simply not developed enough to be interesting.