The Mines of Skavhal 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 24 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 they are approached by a woman whose brother has been arrested and sent to the penal colony on the moon of Skavhal to be used as slave labour in the mines. The patron says her brother is a political prisoner, having fallen afoul of the Jorum family – the adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space – and she wants him rescuing.
Complications are potential problems. For once, the patron isn’t lying about matters. Though that is not the same as everything being true.
The Patron gives stats for her.
The Target for Rescue gives details on her brother.
The Third Moon of Skavhal gives some details on the moon.
Key to the Mobile Detention Unit details the various locations and people, both guards and prisoners, that can be found.
Security Cards covers the means of accessing secure locations.
Random Guards has stats for 4d6.
Random Prisoners has stats for 6d6.
The Escape Plan is one that some prisoners have in progress.
Random Encounters covers these.
Moon Quakes and Landslides are potentially dangerous seismic events.
Conditions for Success is what’s needed to complete the mission.
The final page of content has a map of the facility.
The Mines of Skavhal in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would be useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the map and the covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation could be better.
The prison may be extremely unpleasant, but that doesn’t mean the prisoners are unjustly imprisoned. A lot of them are guilty of some nasty crimes; there’s a reference to the Zero Gravity Olympics attack. The characters are going to be outnumbered by both prisoners and guards, so will need a fairly cautious approach. As usual, many of the NPCs have more detail than is really required; it would be simpler to just have a handful of stats for the guards without detailing their ages and career path. The Mines of Skavhal looks like it could be a potentially dangerous mission with fallout in the Frontiers of Space and it can be found by clicking here.
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