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(WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS)

"BAYERN", OVERVIEW.

"Bayern", by William W. Connors, is a 48-page campaign sourcebook for GDW's "2300AD" (aka "Traveller 2300"), a 'hard' SF sequel to "Twilight 2000".

The campaign concerns the exploration of the Pleiades by the crew of the spaceship Bayern.

The book is divided into two parts, the first deals with the background to the campaign. It contains information on the ship, its crew, the sponsoring organization and what expedition expects to find when they reach the Pleiades.

The second part consists of two adventures, they are:

"DEATH THROES" by Timothy B. Brown.

This adventure is intended to be run during the outbound leg of the five year round trip to the Pleiades.

The Bayern enters a solar system that appears to have been the location of a devastating war. While exploring a partly intact moon base, the PCs find themselves assisting survivors of that war defeat the last of the warbots created to fight it. The PCs must then decide whether or not to help the aliens relocate from the moon base to the inhabitable (but radioactive) surface of the systems inhabitable world.

"DAUGHTERS OF ATLAS" by William H. Keith.

This scenario covers the arrival of the Bayern at the Pleiades, the exploration of the star cluster and the discovery that the cluster is being reshaped by an enigmatic, godlike intelligence.

"BAYERN", VERDICT.

"Bayern", while providing the GM with the framework for an epic campaign, suffers from a lack of space. The 48 pages provided in this book is not enough to allow the concept to be fully explored, for example apart from advice on which authors use as inspiration, there is no real information on what sort of adventures to run on the way to the Pleiades.

Similarly, while the positions of the main stars of the Pleiades are mapped, no map is provided showing the direction of the cluster from Earth or an approximate course for the Bayern, both items which would be of great use to a GM in his campaign planning. Nor are there maps showing the interior of the Bayern, although the maps provided in "Mission Arcturus" and "Nyotekundu Sourcebook" could be adapted for this purpose.

The book does have some good points, the system of "science" and "contact" points outlined in the second adventure provide the GM with a simple way of judging just how successful the players have been. Similarly the GM is given a clear outline of what the players will encounter in the Pleiades which will prove very useful in 'fleshing out' the cluster, and of course the background information can be used by the GM in scenarios of their own. Finally both of the provided adventures are playable and should prove to be quite exciting.

In conclusion "Bayern" is recommended to those GMs who are willing to put a lot of time into the development of their campaign. The material contained within the book will provide them with starting and finishing points for their campaign, but everything in between will have to be created from scratch.

Bayern
Bayern Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 04/06/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) This book gives you the beginning and ending of the story, but everything in between will have to be created from scratch. Product: Bayern Author: William W Connors Category: RPG Company/Publisher: GDW Line: 2300 Cost: Page count: 48 Year published: 1988 ISBN: 0-943580-74-9 SKU: 1035 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 04/06/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Space	(WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS) "BAYERN", OVERVIEW. "Bayern", by William W. Connors, is a 48-page campaign sourcebook for GDW's "2300AD" (aka "Traveller 2300"), a 'hard' SF sequel to "Twilight 2000". The campaign concerns the exploration of the Pleiades by the crew of the spaceship Bayern. The book is divided into two parts, the first deals with the background to the campaign. It contains information on the ship, its crew, the sponsoring organization and what expedition expects to find when they reach the Pleiades. The second part consists of two adventures, they are: "DEATH THROES" by Timothy B. Brown. This adventure is intended to be run during the outbound leg of the five year round trip to the Pleiades. The Bayern enters a solar system that appears to have been the location of a devastating war. While exploring a partly intact moon base, the PCs find themselves assisting survivors of that war defeat the last of the warbots created to fight it. The PCs must then decide whether or not to help the aliens relocate from the moon base to the inhabitable (but radioactive) surface of the systems inhabitable world. "DAUGHTERS OF ATLAS" by William H. Keith. This scenario covers the arrival of the Bayern at the Pleiades, the exploration of the star cluster and the discovery that the cluster is being reshaped by an enigmatic, godlike intelligence. "BAYERN", VERDICT. "Bayern", while providing the GM with the framework for an epic campaign, suffers from a lack of space. The 48 pages provided in this book is not enough to allow the concept to be fully explored, for example apart from advice on which authors use as inspiration, there is no real information on what sort of adventures to run on the way to the Pleiades. Similarly, while the positions of the main stars of the Pleiades are mapped, no map is provided showing the direction of the cluster from Earth or an approximate course for the Bayern, both items which would be of great use to a GM in his campaign planning. Nor are there maps showing the interior of the Bayern, although the maps provided in "Mission Arcturus" and "Nyotekundu Sourcebook" could be adapted for this purpose. The book does have some good points, the system of "science" and "contact" points outlined in the second adventure provide the GM with a simple way of judging just how successful the players have been. Similarly the GM is given a clear outline of what the players will encounter in the Pleiades which will prove very useful in 'fleshing out' the cluster, and of course the background information can be used by the GM in scenarios of their own. Finally both of the provided adventures are playable and should prove to be quite exciting. In conclusion "Bayern" is recommended to those GMs who are willing to put a lot of time into the development of their campaign. The material contained within the book will provide them with starting and finishing points for their campaign, but everything in between will have to be created from scratch.