Cartel Business by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with Cepheus Engine. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 20 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The introductory paragraphs explain that various criminal groups operate in the Sonora sector – the adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space – and the most powerful is the Yamaguchi Cartel. The Sonoran Interstellar Police recently grabbed records and an accountant that may end the cartel’s dominance, and the characters are contacted by the cartel who want the accountant rescuing, or confirmed dead.
Patron has details on the employer.
Complications are things that aren’t known or which could go wrong.
Evon III gives some brief details on the planet where the accountant is being held.
Encounters in the Evon III system is the chance of encountering the police frigate.
Encounters Near the Manor House has the chances of encountering a patrol drone.
Encounters Within the Manor House has possible random encounters inside.
The Manor House details the various locations.
Security Force Roster is a 4d6 table of NPCs.
Security Robots and Drones has stats for these.
Other Manor House Personnel has a 1d6 table of other NPCs.
The Prisoners has stats for three prisoners.
Option B has stats for NPCs the cartel may send after the characters to eliminate loose ends.
Mission Completion explains this is to rescue or kill the accountant, and survive.
The final page of content has a map of the manor.
Cartel Business in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the map and covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is adequate.
The security NPCs are, as is common, covered in more than needed detail; two or three stat blocks would have sufficed. The adventure itself is a dangerous one, working for a cartel with a tendency to kill external employees and success will mean that the characters are in trouble with the police, even if their identities are not known. On the whole, this is the sort of job characters would be best to pass on. Especially as there’s a chance they may already have done jobs for the police against the cartel. Cartel Business can be found by clicking here.
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