OSR Review & Commentary On 'Signs of Life' By Joseph Mohr 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure For Cepheus Engine

"The Talamor Consortium has placed scientists in a domed research facility on a vacuum world in their control. It is a recently acquired planet and competitors have wondered why for some time. The world has no known mineral or research value Suddenly this station has gone silent. The consortium is offering a significant amount of money for a mission to find out what has happened and to rescue any living scientists still on the base. "

So Joseph Mohr has a new nineteen page module suitable for your favorite Cepheus Engine rpg  called 'Signs of Life' & it's a pretty awesome little twist on the usual dungeon crawl across the asteroid because is & it's not;"The Talamor Consortium owns many worlds in the Yuam sub-sector of the Sonora sector. Most of these worlds have obvious value for trade and manufacturing. One world owned by the consortium, however, has always been a mystery to those outside of their influence. 360-530 is a world with a thick exotic atmosphere. It has no mineral deposits that anyone is aware of."

" There are no known indigenous inhabitants. There is no word of any heavy manufacturing going on there. It is just a barren rock with air that is thick and deadly to breath. Recently the consortium placed a domed research facility on the world to study who knows what. Spies from rival political factions in the sector have been unable to discern the goals of the scientists. Even the largest mega-corporations in the sector have been unable to determine the value of such a facility. Now, apparently, something has gone very wrong. There has been no contact with the station for weeks. There is no answer from any of the attempts to communicate with the facility. The travelers are summoned for a meeting with Scientist Esperanza Varga. She tells the travelers about the station and offers CR 100,000 to visit the station and find out what has gone wrong. "
Yeah so 'Signs of Life' isn't your average Cepheus Engine or 2d6 old school Science Fiction rpg adventure bug hunt. Instead this is both could be a horror and survival adventure in one but there's a huge element of corporate politic & espionage in 'Signs of Life'. 
Alright 'Signs of Life' is incredibly well done and could fit into the Hostile universe with some (very little shoe horning). That being said the fact is that its gonna be a better fit with another Cepheus Engine rpg campaign say, 'These Stars Are Ours' or 'the Earth Sector' rpg. The reason for this is while Hostile definitely has the corporate infrastracture within its pages players are going to be expecting this style of adventure. 
And that's fine because 'Signs of Life' is a great unexpected back burner adventure that reminds me of the Dark Horse Alien comicbooks expansion stories back in the 90's. 
The real reason for  'These Stars Are Ours' or 'the Earth Sector' rpg should be used is for two reasons. The Earth sector's unspoke corporate take all on the black frontier of space ideally suits 'Signs of Life'. 
Why do I say,'These Stars Are Ours' you've got some really interesting ways to connnect this adventure back to the Human vs Reticulan wars of the ancient past in Signs of Life.  But not in the ways that the players expect. Using the corporate ties to this adventure makes this have the stakes even higher to the players. 

You can grab  'Signs of Life' By Joseph Mohr 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure Right Here.