TTRPG Roll 26-35 ~ Free (or almost free) Traveller or Cepheus Engine

A quick snapshot of several Traveller or Cepheus Engine roleplaying game (RPG) items I acquired over the past few months that are free (or almost free).

Spearpoint: Cunaxa by Ekofisk (free)

Cunaxa is an adventure module for Traveller set on the planet Pynchan (C-656795-9) during the rebellion led by Enoc su-Krang against the government. It deals with a small ground-based Forward Observer team detached from the Type-C Paramilitary Cruiser Cestus, caught up in a rapidly changing political situation and forced to make their way towards a safe extraction point.

The adventure was written using the The Traveller Book, and Book 4: Mercenary and these or their equivalents will be required for play.

It was inspired by the article “Pursue and Destroy” by Frank Chadwick in JTAS 7 although the players’ group and opposition are substantially different than those outlined. The article is not required for play, although it does make useful background reading. The movement mechanics and encounter formats were modeled on DA 2: Mission on Mithril/Across the Bright Face.

While written for Classic Traveller, conversion to other systems should be possible.

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Spearpoint: The Venetian by Ekofisk (free)

The Venetian is a military adventure for Classic Traveller. Set in the Vilis subsector of the Spinward Marches, it deals with an elite mercenary special operations team hired to recover an art object that was part of the cargo of a hijacked merchant starship.

This adventure, as written, requires the Basic Traveller booklets (Books 1, 2, and 3), Book 4: Mercenary and Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium or their equivalents.

Inspiration for this adventure was the article “Planetoid P-4638”, by Loren Wiseman appearing in JTAS No. 3.

While written for Classic Traveller, conversion to other systems should be relatively simple.  

Spearpoint is a series of military adventures for Classic Traveller. Inspired primarily by Amber Zones and other Classic JTAS articles, this series hopes to provide fully detailed, ready to play adventures.

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These “combat adventures” for Traveller speak to my heart. Both are inspired by older Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society articles but are very modern.

Cunaxa (82 pages) is a classic “escape” scenario in the vein of The Wild Geese. The Venetian (62 pages) is a pirate heist, political double-cross crossover where one can only be assured that everybody is either a frienemy or enemy— there never are friends.

The entire Spearpoint series of adventures—all free on DriveThruRPG.com—are highly recommended for military campaigns regardless of the RPG system used.

HARD VACUUM – Issue 16: Emerald Harvest for Cepheus Engine from Boondock RPG Adventures ($5)

From the developer of the Scoundrels of Brixton setting comes HARD VACUUM, a new series of action-packed science-fiction adventures for use with Cepheus Engine and adaptable for different versions of popular 2D6 role-playing games. Each short scenario contains enough mayhem, intrigue and shady characters to challenge and entertain your players. Referees will appreciate the compact format, with every issue easy to digest for use in a one-shot session or even an on-going campaign with minimal preparation.

In issue 16: Emerald Harvest, the player characters find themselves trapped amidst a terrorist attack on a starport, requiring them to team up with a retiring police agent to prevent a gang of radical environmentalists from inflicting maximum carnage against innocent civilians and corporate assets.

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At 16 pages, HARD VACUUM 16: Emerald Harvest is built very much like a Classic Traveller adventure. You have a LOCATION with a PROBLEM where the player-characters must interact with “PEOPLE” (or Aliens or..who knows?). In keeping with the Scoundrels of Brixton setting vibe, the universe of HARD VACCUM leans towards a very lived-in, scum & villainy, type of setting.

The way I like it!

Hazardous Skies – Rules for Pilots, their Crews, and the Skies that can Kill them by Etges Press ($3.00)

Hazardous Skies is a planetary flight supplement for Cepheus Engine and similar 2d6 sci-fi systems, giving referees and players tools to make every descent, landing, and surface operations feel dangerous, consequential, and alive.

Whether you’re threading a corrosive thermosphere in a beat-up shuttle, nursing a malfunctioning thruster through re-entry, or watching a storm system roll in across a dead plain with nowhere to shelter, Hazardous Skies has the rules to back it up.

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A set of rules that are absolutely not necessary. In Classic Traveller or when using Cepheus Engine there certainly are rules for getting from Point A to Point B but are usually treated in a very mundane way. Heck, in the history of science-fiction space or starships are just usually just props. The Transporter in Star Trek was invented so the characters had an easy way to move between the ship and a location without the need for an extra scene of a shuttle or the like.

So yeah; absolutely not necessary…

…but oh, so much fun!

Abandoned Safari Worlds from Sequetered Systems ($3.99)

Abandoned Safari Worlds is a system-neutral science-fiction RPG supplement for creating ruined wilderness resorts, compromised conservation projects, ecological disasters, corporate crimes, and expeditions whose sponsors have not told the truth about the destination.

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This is the sort of RPG supplement I really like: take a basic, otherwise mundane aspect of the setting and dial it up to 11. In this case, think Jurassic Park: The Stars. The “fiction” helps set the stage:

The fences were expensive. The danger was curated. The animals were never asked.

Abandoned safari worlds were built for people wealthy enough to mistake access for understanding. Hunting moons, conservation resorts, predator estates, executive survival biomes, reconstructed wildernesses, and fenced alien ecologies sold proximity to teeth without the inconvenience of genuine risk.

Then the guests left.

The lodges remain. The monorails still run. Veterinary theatres wait beneath emergency lighting, abandoned collars transmit into empty control rooms, and automated systems continue to interpret movement as premium entertainment. Beyond the paths, those animals bred for visibility, obedience, spectacle, and controlled aggression have inherited a landscape designed to contain them.

The guests have gone. The fences are failing. The wilderness has revised the contract.

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The setting, of course, is more than just Jurassic Park in Space. Abandoned Safari Worlds is a set of d66 tables that tell the GM:

• Original Selling Point: What luxury, danger, or manufactured authenticity was promised?
• Why It Was Abandoned: What finally emptied the world?
• What Still Roams Free: Which animals, constructs, hybrids, parasites, herds, or intelligences remain?
• Empty Luxury Infrastructure: What lodges, railways, laboratories, panic rooms, trophy halls, and service complexes can be explored?
• What the Owners Lied About: Which suppressed crime made the entire enterprise possible?
• Current Complication: Why must the characters cross the perimeter now? (Ad copy)

NOW you have an adventure setting!

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