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A massive Ram Python crouches into a combat stance at my approach, bearing his vast number of carnivore's teeth with a deep growl and raising his massive taloned hands, ready to crush and rend. A Mutzachen contemplates me serenely. Orion Rogues laugh somewhat, as they are wont to do in a dangerous situation. A tall, proud Eridani stands fearlessly, thrusting his chest and chin forward in challenge. All react in commendable ways as I come for them, for they know my name is Death and they choose to stand unshaken even in the face of my Judgement.
"Do not be alarmed. This is only a test." is a very well written basic adventure module for the enjoyably over the top and unapologetically gonzo SFRPG "Battlelords of the 23rd century."
The module was written ~1990, the copyright dates extend from 1989 (Ah, the golden age of Gaming! Such sweet memories this brings back...!) to 1992. The cover is very much "cartoonish", but does a fair job of representing the feel and style of BL23C and representing various races.
Behind that colorful cover awaits a very well done SF military/combat adventure module. While BL23C has a reputation for being over the top, gonzo and in some ways almost juvenile, this adventure is fairly seriously handled. It's nothing spectacular, but it is very nice, well thought out, with a solid background that fits well into the BL universe while still being logical and consistent. There is an extensive glossary of military terminology that explains in adequate detail the meanings of such terms as "OP/LP", "revet", "crash RV" and so on.
NPCs and PC sheets are thoughtfully provided, complete with simple silhouettes to keep track of your armor's status. The only quibble is that the armor figures are all humanoid, so you'll have to improvise for a non humanoid character like a Phentari.
The adventure has a good, in depth background but comes down to a simple premise: The players are brand new mercenary recruits for Avram Corp, and are undergoing basic training and combat exercises when -You guessed it!- the base comes under an all too real attack. (Not really a spoiler for an adventure like this, is it? The players will know something is going to happen on their "training exercise".)
There are some typos and such sprinkled thruout the adventure, but really,nothing to bitch about. There are decent maps and, the real diamond of the module, a set of rules for creating and using a mine field. There's a very lovely set of simple rules to create a basic mine field that are fairly complete and could be used in damn near any game system with various degrees of work.
All in all, even though this adventure was written for what is often regarded ad a gonzo, juvenile game it could easily be converted over to a traveller adventure by any Traveller referee worthy of the title.
If you can find this piece of old gold anywhere, like at a convention huckster table as I was fortunate enough too, and are into SF or military/combat gaming, I urge you to get it. It's a well done, useful module with a lot of flexibility and is also a real piece of the Golden Age of Gaming.
Now, I must excuse myself. While I was passing my Judgement on this module, a band of Arachnids used the distraction to launch a surprise attack on the BL characters standing before me. While I usually just Judge games I simply can't resist jumping into the fray this time as I do not tolerate such disruptions in my court, and have some bugs to sentence for contempt.
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Posted Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:15 am