Trouble Ahead by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playingfor 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 26 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 after a mission failure, the characters expected to be dead, but they wake up on a slave ship in stasis tubes that have stopped working with warnings blaring.
No Patron explains there isn’t one.
A No Win Scenario explains that this isn’t a no-win scenario; it’s a second chance one. An adventure that can be played should something have happened where everyone should have died, in order for them to be given a, difficult, chance of keeping going.
Complications are the things that the characters don’t know.
Trouble Ahead… Trouble Behind… explains the ship is damaged and what did it.
The Ship maps out the locations on the freighter, along with encounters and warnings.
The Other Inhabitants Still Aboard Ship is a 2d6 table of NPCs looking to escape.
The Cargo explains some dangerous animals have got free.
Stasis Tubes Still Occupied is a d6 table of people who haven’t awakened.
The Means of Escaping this Doomed Ship lists some possible ways.
One Escape Pod Remaining explains there is one left, and it was left because it’s malfunctioning.
The Floating Pod Nearby explains there is one near the ship.
May Day Call has the chance another ship will respond to the mayday.
Negotiations with the Pirates looks at the chance the pirates will stop firing and board.
Debris Field explains that the pirates have caused a dangerous field of debris to surround the ship.
Time Element to Escaping the Sea Dragon has the time frames for the various dangers.
The Ship Nearby has details on the pirate ship.
Pirate Boarding Crew has stats for these.
Pirate Crew that Stays Aboard has these stats.
Evading the Lasers of the Pirates looks at doing this in an escape pod.
The Planet Nearby has some details on the world, on the border of the Sonora sector – the adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space.
Map Key briefly explains what the markings mean.
Hazards of the Planet explains that this is mostly food, water and the other residents.
Special Hexes has several points of interest.
Encounters on the Planet Surface is a 2s6 table of encounters.
Slaves from the Ship that have Made it to the Planet is a 1d6 table of these.
Crew Members that have Made it to the Planet is a 1d6 table of these.
Means of Getting Off this Rock looks at possible ways of leaving the planet.
Mission Completion explains the objective is to escape.
The final three pages of content have maps of the freighter and the planet.
Trouble Ahead 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 maps and covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is okay.
This might initially seem like one of those adventures where the characters are railroaded into being captives, but as it says, it’s not. It’s meant to be dropped in when the characters have suffered a TPK in order to give them a second chance, making it a useful backup scenario should things go badly wrong. Though technically set in the Frontiers of Space there should be no problems placing it elsewhere. Trouble Ahead can be found by clicking here.
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