Lightning 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 from DriveThruRPG as a 21 page Pay What You Want PDF. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three are the front matter and three are the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that the planet of Horanos in the Sonora sector (though not explicitly stated, this is in the Frontiers of Space setting) has a rare radioactive element that the Olonsean Empire believes can make planet buster bombs. The Ilsunsi Directorate wants to hire the characters to steal a shipment of the element from a monorail and blow up the monorail itself.
Complications explains that the patron isn’t telling the whole truth; in fact, they’ve left enough out, as they really want the characters to take the mission, that they have imperilled the mission’s success as the characters will start unprepared. Rather foolish. As well as the guards, there are others who want to steal the element and a volcano that is likely to coincidentally blow at the same time.
Skyrail World Map refers to a map of the Skyrail’s route. Sadly, this map has been omitted. There is a d6 table of random encounters then a key to the, missing, map itself.
Events has a random chance for the volcano blowing.
Skyrail considers the problems into getting onto the monorail.
The Skytrain has details on the locations in the skytrain itself. These also appear to refer to a missing map.
Competitors has another group who also wish to steal the element.
Other Interested Parties has a couple of people with an interest in the element.
Completion Objectives has conditions for success.
Other Considerations has the potential fallout from using the, rather larger than stated, bombs provided to destroy the Skyrail.
GM Notes explains that there are so many ways the characters might choose to complete the mission that they haven’t been delved into.
Lightning in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be largely free of errors. The sole illustrations are the covers; however, it appears that there are supposed to be one or two maps in the supplement. Presentation appears to be poorer than intended.
The patron giving out the mission is holding too much back. This isn’t unusual in this series of adventures, but this actively impairs the mission’s chances of success and seems too foolish. The chance of the volcano erupting during the mission is a bit improbable, though not uncommon for a certain type of media (Lost World stories for example). The mission itself to rob a moving suspended monorail with another group attempting to do the same has some definite similarities to part of Solo: A Star Wars Story. This isn’t a bad adventure, but it’s one that will require a fair bit of GM input to make it work and the apparently missing maps don’t help. Lightning can be found by clicking here.
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