Review & Commentary On The Liberty Ship Supplement By Omer Golan-Joel and Richard Hazlewood From Stellagama Publishing For The Cepheus Engine RPG & The Classic Traveller Rpg

" Necessity is the mother of invention, and war brings about many necessities. In the 2230's, Humanity fought a war for its liberty and survival against the mighty Reticulan Empire. Faced with a numerically superior, technologically advanced foe, Terran forces required highly efficient logistics to fuel their war effort and turn back the tide. Such logistics necessitated simple, cheap, efficient freighters and troop ships to carry war materials and troops between the stars. Hence, the L’Ouverture-Class Liberty Ship was born – an economic wartime freighter. It lacks any frills or bells and whistles. It comes to work, to carry freight and troops. That's it.

Once the War ended, the Terran Merchant Marine sold many of these ships – no longer required for military logistics due to widespread demobilization – on the civilian markets. Many serve as independent or corporate merchants. However, a few star-pirate gangs acquired such ships for cheap and modified them to serve as their bases of operation.

This booklet details five variants of the Liberty Ship – a 1,000-ton freighter intended for use with the Cepheus Engine rules and other Sci-Fi 2D6 SRD-compatible rules."

There are days when fulfilling the social contract weighs heavy on my mind, the idea of the unspoken agreement between a publisher & a reviewer. Well there are times when putting a game down such as Celpheus Engine allows me push it to the back of the lizard brain. And this is where the Celpheus Engine rpg's These Stars Are Ours campaign setting is for me. The setting is at the back of my lizard brain, why?! Because its something that I've played in a million times especially back in the days of the 90's original Traveller rpg & the star ships like the  TSAO Liberty Ship were our home in the deep darkest cold of space. 
Back when television shows like Space Above & Beyond were on we were playing game campaigns set in some very edge of space backwater where our PC's were party of the military of some small speck in the vastness of the Traveller universe. And products like the  TSAO Liberty Ship were what kept us coming back to the table again & again. But there in lays the problem there were no products like the  TSAO Liberty Ship. 
There weren't any products like this one, this book goes out on a limb to provide an in universe cut of the pirates, scum, and the militaries that hunt them. 
This is a universe that has recently within its history escaped the grasp of the Reticulans. The wounds of that history are still fresh under the scabs of those who serve aboard the Liberty & ships like her. 

If you want a really nice primer for your games of the TSAO universe with a nice slice of its history then I suggest the TSAO: A Primer to These Stars Are Ours!. Its free & it contains everything needed to started down the deep rabbit hole that is the TSAO setting. 

The  TSAO Liberty Ship contains everything that you need to run a complete fleet action style campaign using the infamous Celpheus Engine rpg & the stellar ship. I say infamous because it has it all of the death of PC's that the original Traveller rpg had. We get not one but three variations of the TSAO Liberty Ship. And what is it about the Liberty that I love?! The damn ship looks like a  ‘U.S.S. Saratoga’, from the TV show Space Above & Beyond as well as something that might have dropped outta of the clasic Aliens film. Remember when Traveller seemed totally aligned with the movie Aliens?! This is a retired warship & as such you'll have to buy one from the second hand governmental local bodies, or perhaps even find one floating in space. You get not one but three variants of the class plus access to high definition plans for the TSAO Liberty Ship. 

 I'm in love with these ship class & there are several reasons for this! One these ships are perfect overlaps for the SPACE PATROL from the TSAO universe & as perfect pirate bases capable of moving along the edges of the universe to pray on unsuspecting caravans or fleets of trade ships. 
There's something utterly satisfying about contemplating the kinds of mayhem & weirdness that one can put the TSAO Liberty Ship supplement. And this dear readers is one of the hallmarks of a great supplement. 

Could the TSAO Liberty Ship supplement be used with Cepheus Light rpg system?! In heart beat answer? Yes! That makes the ulility of the the TSAO Liberty Ship supplement worth the four dollar price tag! 

The TSAO Liberty Ship book & materials have all of the hallmarks of a classic! Easily readable, solid production values, nice cartography, good writing, & the damn supplement is incredibly useful! Five outta of five stars!