Review & Commentary On 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure Joseph Mohr's Rogue From Old School Role Playing For The Cepheus Engine or Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Campaigns

 "A rogue planet has been discovered traveling through the Sonora sector. So far it has not collided with any other worlds in it's path. Scientists and astronomers are alarmed at it's arrival and have many questions. How did it get here? Where did it come from? Is there an atmosphere? Is anyone alive on this world? Was there ever?

A scientist offers to hire the travelers to visit this world and explore it. " 

Joseph Mohr's Rogue From Old School Role Playing For The Cepheus Engine rpg is another in the line of Senora 'pay what you want' adventures. There are far more uses for this adventure then simply another Cepheus Engine rpg adventure. 

Joseph Mohr's Rogue From Old School Role Playing For The Cepheus Engine rpg is a perfectly aligned Hostile rpg adventure. I was reading through Todd B's Drivethrurpg review; "The premise is totally unrealistic, so if your game is on the hard side of sci-fi it won't really fit. And if your players understand astronomy, they'll laugh at the absurdity. The adventure isn't very deep; you could grab three random dungeon maps off the internet and make up the premise and connective material yourself in a couple hours, or even just wing it. And there's no conflict or challenge, so the storyline is sorta "we came, we saw, we left again. So, my recommendation is to grab a copy (the price is right!) and then spend some time tweaking the adventure a bit before you run it in your campaign. Add some extra danger and conflict to overcome. Add some extra plot hooks for followup sessions. For example, maybe extend the story to include evidence of an underground city that lies intact." And on some points I agree but on others not so much. Rogue is perfect for a Hostile rpg Explorers rpg adventure 

All I would do with Rogue is add a timed element in the form of a gravity anomly that makes the rogue planetoid start to pick up speed. If the players don't explore & then get then they get trapped on it. The anomaly adds in a hyperspace constant that means that the Rogue will disappear within the set amount of time. Alien ruins are enough to keep the players interested in the adventure. And I'd add in a few alien remains in space suits to give the added element that others have been trapped by the Rogue before your party. Recovering artifacts & remains is a game changer within the Hostile universe. 

So with this sort of the planet is trying to kill your PC's approach then you've got a great beginning Hostile rpg adventure for a campaign. Not everything has to be a straight up 'monster of the week' adventure. 

This adventure could be applied to the Space Western frontier stylings of Independence Games Earth Sector quite easily. The alien ruins, the gravity anomaly, the rogue planet, all of this smacks of straight up corporate exploration mission.  And it's perfectly aligned with the needs of the Earth sector who are trying to see past the icy blackness of the frontier. Earth sector would be after the Rogue because of many reasons including the fact of even the inkyling of possible alien life. 

A Pay What You Want' Adventure Joseph Mohr's Rogue From Old School Role Playing For The Cepheus Engine or Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Campaigns Is Available Here 

Review & Commentary On 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure Joseph Mohr's Chaos Rift For The Cepheus Engine or Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Campaigns

" The travelers are approached after an especially taxing mission with a job that seems to be good to be true. In fact....it sounds like a cake walk. A scientist is concerned about ships going missing near the border of the Sonora sector and unexplored space. It could be due to piracy or other such activity. Or it might be due to some unknown spatial anomaly. Either way....the patron is basically just paying good money to go sniff around for a week. What could possibly go wrong?"

Such is the tagline for Chaos Rift one of Joseph Mohr's latest or one of the latest Joseph Mohr's Cepheus Engine adventures. Many of the adventures that Joseph Mohr puts out are solid one shots for Cepheus Engine Chaos Rift  is no different. 

The set up for this adventure is classic old school 2d6 Science Fiction adventure; "The travelers are approached by Jack Yang. Jack is a scientist and professor at the Sonora University. He specializes in astro-physics and is particularly interested in spatial anomalies. He has recently read reports of ships going missing on the border between the Sonora sector and the mostly unexplored neighboring sector. Particularly there have been several ships missing near the planet Lage in the Bernescale sub-sector. Ships go missing all the time in the Sonora sector as piracy and intrigue are rampant. There have also been reliable reports from merchants that strange occurrences have been noticed in this area of space. He offers CR 100,000 for the travelers to explore this area and report back to him about any discoveries. A week of traveling by spacecraft in an empty area of space should be relaxing after so many tough jobs recently. What could possibly go wrong?" 
Everything can possibly go wrong in this fifteen page adventure from science mission,  piracy, to salvage all gone wrong to having your ship wiped out. Bad dice rolls could result in a serious crimp in the player's PC's plans. Just because Chaos Rift is for the Sanora Sector doesn't mean it can't be adapted for other Cepheus Engine rpg sectors or campaigns. And in point of fact this adventure would be perfect for adapting to Independence Games Earth or Clement Sector. There are several reasons for this: 

1. The adventure has the potential to show the underside of space piracy & salavage from an unexpected direction. 
2. This adventure if played right could be an excellent Halloween adventure. 
3. There is the potential for an alien invasion plot right in the middle of it and it could be back handly fitted into the Space Western vibe of the Clement Sector. 
4. If you want to stick an unexpected alien monster into this adventure it wouldn't be hard. 

Chaos Rift has lots of potential but the biggest that I can see is using it as a part of a Clement Sector piracy campaign to through a monkey wrench into the plans of a group of players. Players  who are not expecting something really interesting & dangerous to happen to their PC's. 

 

 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure Joseph Mohr's Chaos Rift has just enough to wet the appetites of the players & could be played over a five session run if really pushing the Cepheus Engine play. With solid bones the DM could potentially build this into a very dark & dangerous Halloween adventure. 
This isn't a Scooby Doo Halloween bait & switch there's 'real' danger to PC's here. And it shows in this adventure. Grab a copy, modify it for your own Cepheus Engine Campaign and then go! 
 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure Joseph Mohr's Chaos Rift For The Cepheus Engine or Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Campaigns Is Available Right Here