Engine Trouble 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 32 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 opening paragraphs explain that the characters’ ship has misjumped and ended up in an unknown part of the galaxy, and now they need to find their way back.
Complications explains all the problems that the characters could encounter. There is no patron for this adventure and there are no humans in the subsector.
The Mis-Jump details what happens when the characters’ ship jumps, and that they do recognise one ship from aliens present in the Sonora sector.
Following this are details on the different worlds. The first is given the most detail and each has a map. Five worlds are described, followed by Other Worlds in this Sub-sector, which details and maps another five. Only the first world, the one the characters arrive it, has really has any great detail.
Next is a subsector map, with a list of the worlds, and finally Completion Objectives, which are “get home.”
Engine Trouble in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and given the length and the number of sections these would have been appreciated. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are maps for all ten worlds, though two are tiny, and the subsector map. Presentation is okay.
The misjump is not how such work in Cepheus Engine; at most, they send a ship 36 parsecs (36 hexes) away, not to unrecognised parts of the galaxy. This could be modified by making the subsector a neighbouring one, depending on where the misjump occurs, or by using a wormhole or similar, which is how the characters are supposed to get back. The supplement doesn’t have as much content as the page count might suggest; each world takes up two pages, even though most only have a paragraph or so describing them. Each world might be covered, but sparsely; the GM will probably need to do some fleshing out. Engine Trouble is an adventure that really needs tweaking and expanding to use and it can be found by clicking here.
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