E-ticket adventuring1
For the past few years I tend to purchase short adventures—plot seeds if you will—for my tabletop roleplaying game (RPG) library. Last year I changed my purchasing habits a bit when I picked up the excellent Spearpoint series of mercenary adventures for Classic Traveller. I awarded one title in particular, Spearpoint Solo: Yellow Ribbon (Ekofisk, 2025), my 2025 RockyMountainNavy Roleplaying Adventute of the Year accolades. It was in that same vein of adventuring that I purchased another extended Classic Traveller adventure, Invasion: En Garde by Carl Vandal (2025).
Set in the Spinward Marches in the year 1107, the ad for the adventure sets an exciting stage:
When a jump bubble collapse forces the adventurers to put into Lanth for repairs, they are instructed by their contacts at both the Naval and Scout Bases that if they take a passenger to Victoria, their ship will be prioritized. Unfortunately, before they can leave, the adventurers find themselves in the middle of an invasion by the Sword Worlds Confederation.
Will they survive against the invading Sword Worlders? Who is the passenger their contacts want taken to Victoria? And will this passenger be able to help the adventurers escape from Lanth?
Fight your way across several levels of Lanth Highport, and then try to escape from the occupied system before you find yourselves the target of the Sword Worlds Confederation fleet.
40-page adventure composed of five chapters. The introduction to the adventure includes 8 pre-generated characters for Classic Traveller. Includes details on the planet Lanth, including a world map. Library Data and Referee’s Notes are also included.
Publisher’s blurb
[WARNING – I will try to avoid spoilers in what follows as best I can but beware!]
Vacuuming up adventure
Given this adventure takes place on a Highport (i.e. a space station) the note that the Vacc Suit skill is desirable should not be a surprise. Back in my early days of Traveller adventuring we tended to treat Vacc Suit as a low-tech skill. Personally, my attitude towards the Vacc Suit skill started to change after the movie Outland (1981) but it was not really until The Expanse television series (2015-2022) that I started looking at Vacc Suit as something of a “required” skill as my adventuring moved from the higher Tech Levels to more mid-Tech situations.
[Interlude – Vacc Suit skill in Traveller]
[The Vacc Suit skill in Traveller is one of those skills that showcases a more hard sci-fi version of Traveller than the more common (stereotyped?) Space Opera assumptions. Using my preferred set of rules, the “White Facsimile” edition which is a 2001 reprint of tho original Little Black Books from 1977-1979 with updated errata, the Vacc Suit skill is described on Book 1, page 22 as follows:
“Vacc Suit: The individual has been trained and has experience in the use of the standard vacuum suit (space suit), including armored battle dress and suits for use on various planetary surfaces in the presence of exotic, corrosive, or insidious atmospheres.”
What has always scared me about Vacc Suits is how easy it is for something to go wrong with them. The Vacc Suit rule in Book 1, page 22 goes on to explain:
“A basic throw of 10+ to avoid a dangerous situation applies whenever any non-ordinary maneuver is attempted while wearing a vacc suit (to include running, jumping, hiding, jumping untethered from one ship to another, or other such activity. When such an incident occurs, it may be remedied by any character with vacc suit skill (including the character in danger) on a throw of 7+; DMs: per level of expertise, +2; if no expertise, -4.”]
Wide-gauge railroad with clocks
Invasion: En-Garde is a moderately-railroading adventure. What I mean is that the broad strokes of the adventure arc are given—and the player are assumed to broadly follow them—yet there is sufficient material to allow some player agency at each step. The adventure moves along briskly with the use of clocks (literally) that help pressure players to keep things moving.
As much as I enjoy the broad situation in Invasion: En-Garde I am of mixed feelings as to the MacGuffin presented. Indeed, I am not sure if the MacGuffin is really a MacGuffin or if it should be extraordinary. As presented it is certainly a MacGuffin and the final disposition is left up to the players but in a manner I find less than satisfactory. Yes, I am being oblique and opaque in my comments here as it is a major plot component but it is also the reason I hesitate from endorsing Invasion: En Garde like I did the Spearpoint series.
Regardless of my hesitation on the MacGuffin, Invasion: En-Garde is an excellent adventure for players with moderate combat skills. The player-characters do not need to be mercenaries but possession of some combat skills is needed…
…and a vacc suit.
- E-Ticket Ride – Slang term used to describe an experience that is thrilling and exhilarating. It refers to a ride at Disneyland, where the most popular and exciting attractions required an E ticket, which was more expensive than the other tickets. The term has since been adopted to describe any activity that is exciting and intense. (via fastslang.com) ↩︎
Feature image courtesy pintrest.com
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