The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Double Adventures is a collection of all the short Traveller adventures of the same name and some additional stuff. I discuss the usability of the book first, after this I present the topics of the included adventures, I finish with some additional notes.

The book (style):

I have a book of the first print run, maybe they fixed some of the following.

The original A5 material is reproduced in black and white on landscape A4 paper, so that you look on 4 of the original pages at once while reading. The reproduction is mostly done in reasonable quality. The new stuff, that is Double Adventure (DA) 7 and Short Adventure 8, has no page numbering at all, the older stuff keeps its original page numbering, you will find page 7 or 13 quite often.

Occasional unobtrusive art is included in the book, some of it seems to be degraded by the reproduction. The paper is thin, illustrations can be seen by looking at their backside.

Some of the maps are unusable, the light walls on the map of the ANNIC NOVA are nearly indistinguishable from the map grid, place C (being in direction FA of place B) on the map of Mithril is lost in grey, the writing on the water areas of Pagliacci is unreadable, because the original blue water is reproduced in black. Inexcusable but correctable by the GM is the severely broken page order of DA 4 and a slight page swap in Stranded on Arden (part of DA7, no page numbering there) and Special Supplement 1: Merchant Prince.

The worst mistake is that DA 6 is missing, at least the last ten pages of Divine Intervention and the first 20 or so of Night of Conquest.

Since this book is mainly a photocopy of the original material you also get all the old errors and typos, some of them more than 20 years old, and still around.

I give this book a style of 1, as 0 is not allowed.

I wish that they had used OCR to get the text information, corrected the errors and most of the typos, made all maps useable, included all promised content and published all of this with a more modern layout. This would have resulted in a much better product.

The adventures (in order of occurrence, substance):

0: Imperial Fringe

Gives you mainly background data of the Spinward Marches. The players are assumed to accept a mission that will need roughly twenty years to accomplish. No real adventure is presented.

1: Annic Nova

The players find and search a ghost ship. 1: Shadows

Another search mission, this time in an old pyramid. I played this once, and the players where a bit dissatisfied that they could not solve all the miracles.

2: Mission on Mithril

Traveling across most of a planet in an ATV and solving some mysteries. Consists mainly of random events and animal encounters. 2: Across the Bright Face

The players are on the run in an ATV, right across an airless world, having trouble with lots of random events and their pursuers.

3: Death Station

Due to a sudden communication failure a laboratory ship has to be examined. This can feel a lot like the movie Alien, as long as the adventurers don't come heavily armed and armored. Deck plans of the laboratory ship (the one from the basic rules) are included. 3: Argon Gambit

A political intrigue. Players have to search for hints of the right action. The Adventure is not ready to run, the GM has to provide some Maps.

4: Marooned/Marooned Alone

The players are on the run once more, right across a world on foot. They have trouble with starvation, extremely powerful pursuers and lots of random events and animal encounters. Marooned alone is the one on one (one GM and one player) version of the above.

5: Chamax Plague

A very Aliens / Alien 2 like adventure. Lots of combat against a good explained aggressive species and some thinking awaits the players. Deck-plans of a 400-ton subsidized merchant are included and have to be copied before play. 5: Horde

Same species, different world. Our heroes are the only ones to help a backwater planet. Most of the situations in this are very sketchy. There are many opportunities for Starship Troopers like action.

6: Divine Intervention

The goal of this adventure is to fake a believable miracle, the description of the scenery is missing, the action seems to be light hearted, stun guns included. 6: Night of Conquest

Claims to be about 'a conflict on a newly discovered world'. Only the last four pages are included.

7: Stranded on Arden

Due to political reasons the ship of the group isn't allowed to lift off. The allowance has to be organized at all cost from the responsible bureaucrats. No names for the NPC's are given, and the players can run into 30 or so. A rewrite of this, called Exit Visa, is part of the T4 (Mark Miller's Traveller) rulebook. 7: A Plague of Perruques

A deadly disease strikes, the players have to find its source.

8: Memory Alpha

A very nice done adventure, it is about finding ones lost memories. Best played with one of the regular players missing. Some background data of the Corridor Sector is included.

Special Supplement 1: Merchant Prince

The detailed merchant character generation system. Known to most Traveller players from book 7 or a newer ruleset like Megatraveller.

Special Supplement 2: Exotic Atmospheres

Some scientific background concerning the types and effects of the various non-breathable atmospheres. Good information for any hard science fiction game.

Special Supplement 3: Missiles

Rules concerning the various parts of missiles. Mainly of interest for people with regular space battles.

All in all a substance of 3, mainly because of DA 1, 3, 5 and Memory Alpha. If DA 6 is as good as I hope a 4 might also be reasonable.

Note for using this book:

Most of the Adventures have only very limited player - NPC interaction, so don't be disappointed of this. The adventures are short, a half to two playing sessions will be enough to complete one. The Adventures can't be easily used with most other Sci-Fi games. People who want to try may need the following: Animal encounters: The animals are rated in terms of their ecological role, descriptions of what they are like must be made up by the referee. UWP: The world profiles can be understood with the help of the Traveller D20 rules, you can find the teaser with the explanation included at www.farfuture.net. 6-Digit Attribute summary: People are described by a 6 digit code, the digits are: strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, education and social standing. These are rolled up with 2d6, resulting in a 2-12 and more scale. Numbers use hexadecimal code, so A stands for 10, B for 11 and so on. The physical attributes are also used as hit points, this is described in DA 4. Task resolution: The content of the book predates the development of a cohesive task system for Traveller, you will have to make up your skill-checks as they occur. It is also important to note that Classic Traveller had no experience system.

Note for German players:

Slightly shortened translations of Shadows and Mission on Mithril were part of the German Regelbuch (1), the supplements were included in Regelbuch 2. The German version of Argon Gambit / Death Station (Doppelabenteuer 3) seems to be identical to the original. If you own Doppelabenteuer 1-3 you don't have to buy this, since you already have the best (and some of the missing) parts of it.

Final verdict:

Without the above-mentioned problems this book may be worth its money, especially for collectors of classic Traveller books. As it is I recommend that you buy the more interesting adventures as used books instead, or wait for a corrected version.

Double Adventures 1-6
Double Adventures 1-6 Capsule Review by Peter Rathbauer on 09/08/02 Style: 1 (Unintelligible) Substance: 3 (Average) Due to several problems I recommend that you buy the more interesting adventures as used books instead, or wait for a corrected version. Product: Double Adventures 1-6 Author: Marc Miller and other Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Far Future Enterprises Line: Traveller Cost: $28.00 Page count: 240 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-55878-203-6 SKU: FFE 004 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Peter Rathbauer on 09/08/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Far Future Space	Double Adventures is a collection of all the short Traveller adventures of the same name and some additional stuff. I discuss the usability of the book first, after this I present the topics of the included adventures, I finish with some additional notes. The book (style): I have a book of the first print run, maybe they fixed some of the following. The original A5 material is reproduced in black and white on landscape A4 paper, so that you look on 4 of the original pages at once while reading. The reproduction is mostly done in reasonable quality. The new stuff, that is Double Adventure (DA) 7 and Short Adventure 8, has no page numbering at all, the older stuff keeps its original page numbering, you will find page 7 or 13 quite often. Occasional unobtrusive art is included in the book, some of it seems to be degraded by the reproduction. The paper is thin, illustrations can be seen by looking at their backside. Some of the maps are unusable, the light walls on the map of the ANNIC NOVA are nearly indistinguishable from the map grid, place C (being in direction FA of place B) on the map of Mithril is lost in grey, the writing on the water areas of Pagliacci is unreadable, because the original blue water is reproduced in black. Inexcusable but correctable by the GM is the severely broken page order of DA 4 and a slight page swap in Stranded on Arden (part of DA7, no page numbering there) and Special Supplement 1: Merchant Prince. The worst mistake is that DA 6 is missing, at least the last ten pages of Divine Intervention and the first 20 or so of Night of Conquest. Since this book is mainly a photocopy of the original material you also get all the old errors and typos, some of them more than 20 years old, and still around. I give this book a style of 1, as 0 is not allowed. I wish that they had used OCR to get the text information, corrected the errors and most of the typos, made all maps useable, included all promised content and published all of this with a more modern layout. This would have resulted in a much better product. The adventures (in order of occurrence, substance): 0: Imperial Fringe Gives you mainly background data of the Spinward Marches. The players are assumed to accept a mission that will need roughly twenty years to accomplish. No real adventure is presented. 1: Annic Nova The players find and search a ghost ship. 1: Shadows Another search mission, this time in an old pyramid. I played this once, and the players where a bit dissatisfied that they could not solve all the miracles. 2: Mission on Mithril Traveling across most of a planet in an ATV and solving some mysteries. Consists mainly of random events and animal encounters. 2: Across the Bright Face The players are on the run in an ATV, right across an airless world, having trouble with lots of random events and their pursuers. 3: Death Station Due to a sudden communication failure a laboratory ship has to be examined. This can feel a lot like the movie Alien, as long as the adventurers don't come heavily armed and armored. Deck plans of the laboratory ship (the one from the basic rules) are included. 3: Argon Gambit A political intrigue. Players have to search for hints of the right action. The Adventure is not ready to run, the GM has to provide some Maps. 4: Marooned/Marooned Alone The players are on the run once more, right across a world on foot. They have trouble with starvation, extremely powerful pursuers and lots of random events and animal encounters. Marooned alone is the one on one (one GM and one player) version of the above. 5: Chamax Plague A very Aliens / Alien 2 like adventure. Lots of combat against a good explained aggressive species and some thinking awaits the players. Deck-plans of a 400-ton subsidized merchant are included and have to be copied before play. 5: Horde Same species, different world. Our heroes are the only ones to help a backwater planet. Most of the situations in this are very sketchy. There are many opportunities for Starship Troopers like action. 6: Divine Intervention The goal of this adventure is to fake a believable miracle, the description of the scenery is missing, the action seems to be light hearted, stun guns included. 6: Night of Conquest Claims to be about 'a conflict on a newly discovered world'. Only the last four pages are included. 7: Stranded on Arden Due to political reasons the ship of the group isn't allowed to lift off. The allowance has to be organized at all cost from the responsible bureaucrats. No names for the NPC's are given, and the players can run into 30 or so. A rewrite of this, called Exit Visa, is part of the T4 (Mark Miller's Traveller) rulebook. 7: A Plague of Perruques A deadly disease strikes, the players have to find its source. 8: Memory Alpha A very nice done adventure, it is about finding ones lost memories. Best played with one of the regular players missing. Some background data of the Corridor Sector is included. Special Supplement 1: Merchant Prince The detailed merchant character generation system. Known to most Traveller players from book 7 or a newer ruleset like Megatraveller. Special Supplement 2: Exotic Atmospheres Some scientific background concerning the types and effects of the various non-breathable atmospheres. Good information for any hard science fiction game. Special Supplement 3: Missiles Rules concerning the various parts of missiles. Mainly of interest for people with regular space battles. All in all a substance of 3, mainly because of DA 1, 3, 5 and Memory Alpha. If DA 6 is as good as I hope a 4 might also be reasonable. Note for using this book: Most of the Adventures have only very limited player - NPC interaction, so don't be disappointed of this. The adventures are short, a half to two playing sessions will be enough to complete one. The Adventures can't be easily used with most other Sci-Fi games. People who want to try may need the following: Animal encounters: The animals are rated in terms of their ecological role, descriptions of what they are like must be made up by the referee. UWP: The world profiles can be understood with the help of the Traveller D20 rules, you can find the teaser with the explanation included at www.farfuture.net. 6-Digit Attribute summary: People are described by a 6 digit code, the digits are: strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, education and social standing. These are rolled up with 2d6, resulting in a 2-12 and more scale. Numbers use hexadecimal code, so A stands for 10, B for 11 and so on. The physical attributes are also used as hit points, this is described in DA 4. Task resolution: The content of the book predates the development of a cohesive task system for Traveller, you will have to make up your skill-checks as they occur. It is also important to note that Classic Traveller had no experience system. Note for German players: Slightly shortened translations of Shadows and Mission on Mithril were part of the German Regelbuch (1), the supplements were included in Regelbuch 2. The German version of Argon Gambit / Death Station (Doppelabenteuer 3) seems to be identical to the original. If you own Doppelabenteuer 1-3 you don't have to buy this, since you already have the best (and some of the missing) parts of it. Final verdict: Without the above-mentioned problems this book may be worth its money, especially for collectors of classic Traveller books. As it is I recommend that you buy the more interesting adventures as used books instead, or wait for a corrected version.

Double Adventures 1-6