This adventure is a classic tale of a ship that has gone silent and off course, with the party sent to discover what's amiss, sort it out and recover a valuable cargo hauler and its load. The text begins with a detailed explanation of what has gone wrong and how it all came about, masses of beautiful detail that's enlightening for the GM but does raise the question of how easy it will be to enable the party to discover it all for themselves.

The adventure is well-resourced, with plenty of handouts and five pre-generated characters for groups who want to start straight away and have no characters of their own. Using your own characters is, however, a viable option. There are also some interesting comments about pacing the adventure, which can be done in a session or two if the group is time-strapped, or played out in a more leisurely manner for groups who like to explore every aspect of a given situation. Like any adventure, a thorough understanding and preparation on the part of the GM repays dividends. The situation is quite dangerous and should a player-character die, suggestions are made as to how best to replace them.

In classic style, the party is on Coriolis when they are approached and invited to a meeting at a cantina... and arrive to find another bunch impersonating them! Once this is sorted out - and several options are provided for you to use depending on how the party reacts - their contact will explain the delicate nature of the mission to be undertaken and enlist their help. He's in quite a rush to get their answer and be on the way... even going so far as to say he'll answer all the questions that they likely have once en route.

The trip to the oddly-behaving ship is relatively straightforward, although a few events are provided should you want to make a bit more of it. They may find out a bit more about the fellow who hired them as well. Once they arrive, the first trick is to get aboard. The hauler is already dangerously close to an asteroid swarm, which would probably destroy it if its course cannot be changed. The ship is dark, appears mostly powered-down, and the party's hails go unanswered. Once aboard, it is a creepy search to find the answers that they seek and regain control of the ship before it is all too late.

The exploration of the ship is handled in an elegant manner: it's completely up to the party what they do. The ship is described clearly, and certain things will occur in certain places... but only when the party reaches those places. Other events can be triggered as you feel appropriate. There's lots of atmospheric descriptions and ancillary notes making it all very easy to build up the air of suspense necessary... and of course that asteroid field is getting closer by the minute!

Overall it's an outstanding adventure, mixing traditional 'dead ship' tropes with some of the unique background and mythology of the Coriolis RPG (although if you are minded to get a bit mystical you could retool it for other spacefaring games). This has the potential to make a memorable story indeed.

Return to The Dying Ship page.

Reviewed: 15 April 2018