A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement No Job For Amateurs

No Job For Amateurs 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 25 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three pages are the front matter and three the Open Game License.

The opening paragraphs explain that the characters are hired to recover the wife of a wealthy merchant who has been taken by a notorious pirate. Though not explicitly stated, the adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space.

Complications covers various elements that can make the characters’ job more difficult. These are elements that the patron definitely doesn’t know and some that they may or may not know – it’s not stated one way or the other.

The Planet Erjana III gives a brief overview of the planet where the pirates’ base is.

Before Play has a 2d6 table for determining the locations of two key NPCs.

The Compound details the pirate base. There are suggestions as to NPCs that could be found in different locations.

Roster of Compound Defenders has a list of potential NPC defenders that can be chosen for various locations.

When the Alarm Has Sounded explains what happens when the characters are detected.

Conditions for Success is how the characters can succeed in their mission.

Finally, there is a single page taken up by a map of the compound.

No Job For Amateurs in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be mostly free of errors. Bar the covers and the compound map, which sadly doesn’t come in a player-friendly version, there are no other illustrations. Presentation is adequate.

This is going to be a difficult adventure. The pirate base is well-defended with a lot of guards and a lot of weapons, and there will usually be small craft present that could also be used in defence. Larger ships are apparently kept in orbit, though there’s no mention of how those could be used or stats for them; it seems implausible that they would stand aside in the event of an attack. An open assault is highly likely to be unsuccessful. Stealth is more than likely required and one of the complications, which the characters don’t know about or they could plan for it in advance, makes it highly probable that the characters will end up in the middle of a hostile, armed compound full of people who know they are there. No Job For Amateurs is an accurate title for this adventure and it can be found by clicking here.