Talon Sector NPC - Trader Ka Zee & Her Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader")

 Cepheus Engine rpg has allowed us to take quite a bit of liberty with some of our adventure  plotting when it comes to this Eighties inspired campaign that I'm currently running. And its been interesting running across one of our favorite original Traveller rpg ships-  Traveller RPG Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader"). 

Traveller RPG Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader").
Artwork by Tom Peters (2012). If you haven't checked out Tom's work on Deviant artwork then you don't know what old school Traveller artwork  your missing.. 
But we've backed off this week for gaming for a bit because of work schedules but  Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader") has me thinking about a particular NPC of mine. I'm speaking of Ka Zee of  the Lazuli she was based in part on the artwork of Nightwing 1975's Battle Beyond the Stars fan art.. 

And the idea of a trader operating her own crew of alien merchants & adventurers  out of Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader"). The  Lazuli are a displaced peoples without a planet to call home. They've been wandering the stars making their way as best they can. And they have a tendency to gather a nest clutch of others to themselves to create their own small trading companies.. 

Ka Zee as I picture her is a competent trader & merchant chasing down the latest 'big score'. 

In my campaign she's strayed into the Talon sector & she sees opportunity. The problem is that Reticulan pirates & slavers  have her ship in their sights.. Star law is stretched to the limit & so this leaves only the marines of the United Planets. 
The United Planets wants this ship for three reasons: 

1. The Traveller RPG Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader") has the secret of a new drive system aboard. 
2. First contact with an alien species or two 
3. Possible information on more of the Malmori pirates 

The Reticulan pirates vessels comes straight out of UFO's by  Stellagama Publishing & these are part of the Grey's fleet out near the greater Ort cloud. 

The United Planet marines are just starting to secure the old Earth Empire's borders & there's lots of unknowns out there. They may have help from TSAO Liberty style marine ships but these ships have been retrofitted for my hostile rpg universe. 

For the  Traveller RPG Type R Subsidized Merchant starship ("Fat Trader") resources we've been looking into the following: 

Traveller The Game blog here. 

Imperial Encyclopedia Traveller  Wiki entry here 

And this amazing Journal here.. 

Details yet to be worked out are Ka Zee's crew roster, her ship's name, the TSAO sector's relations with the Earth Empire, details about the Reticulan pirates & slavers, how does all of this fit in with the Malmori empire, etc. all coming up soon on the blog. 

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!