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Released at the same time as Ashen Stars, Dead Rock Seven gives Gamemasters a diverse set of adventures. These sci-fi stories move from noir to political intrigue to civilization threatening. Each story has plenty of meat to it and Gamemasters could move through them quickly or take the time to develop and play out the stories over several sessions. While independent, the collection offers some threads connecting each one. It wouldn’t be hard to construct a series arc from them. Ashen Stars Gamemasters will find much to love here, as will Gamemasters of other sci-fi rpgs who could adapt these stories to their own campaigns.
Ashen Stars puts forward a nice-looking yet distinctive setting - one with many alien races and lots of high-tech augmentation. These adventures could be adapted over to other sci-fi games which share similar premises. Serenity or strict Traveller referees may find these less useful. But in general these cases are clever and twisty enough that adapting them over would be worth the effort. As indicated Mongoose is catching up but Pelgrane has gotten this out first. So, 30 to Love {tennis terms} – the match is not over yet…maybe Mongoose ought to rehire Gareth Hanrahan …
If my earlier review found Ashen Stars too much akin to Star Trek: The New Generation, this group of adventures dispels that notion. It certainly tells us, that we are not in Rodenberry land; we are in a mature Space Opera with mature themes and content. That said it could conceivably be played as a Star Trek campaign, as there is enough Star Tricky things in here. I liked the maturity but found the sense of Space Opera, which was a bit camp and comical, is not my cup of tea. As I have the same problems with some of Traveller, the game is not simply hard enough for me. Maybe, I am eagerly awaiting 2300AD or just remember some of the Classic Traveller, where the hand waves got you where you needed to go and old fashioned human (or Aslan, Vargr, Hiver, K’kree, etc. – you get the idea) ingenuity got you the rest of the way. But, these cases do have good plot lines and things to steal, just need to harden some of the surface. Now, onto details of the adventures… Scenarios
Some spoilers will ensue, though I try never to reveal too much. By the game’s investigative nature, adventures and the loosely connected campaign they form take multiple twists and turns - a far cry from linear adventures or even sandbox-style game material from other companies. Dead Rock Seven does earn its dues for attentiveness and thoroughness by providing Gamemasters with the tools they need in the places they expect them (with time lines, relationship maps, etc). This is essential because some of these adventures have quite the host of red herrings, change ups, conspiracies and connections designed foil adventures. Two main ideas tie the four cases together, more or less into a campaign. The first are the Restreamers, a nufaith which believes that history (not the Hegelian History but yeah that’s right the big history of life, the universe and everything) has been broken down and somehow this universe must be rewritten or rebooted (shades of Spaceship Zero here). The second is the manifestation of a Class K entity (those nastiness that just lurking to wipe out the Ashen Stars milieu, as you know it) waiting to be incarceration from its Pocket Universe. Gamemasters may choose to use one of the Class K species from the core book or one of the three new ones presented here. Take notice of that the connections between adventures are very loose- a reference here, an NPC there. GMs can tighten or release those knots as they see fit.
Every one of the adventure (the proverbial call from Starfleet, whoops, wrong game but this is where it is still like TNG) thus beginning with a first-rate set of connections for the Gamemaster presented in a number of parts. “The Contract” creates the stated mission for the PCs. “The Twist” particulars the main change-ups which will make that case more challenging. These twists are not a straightforward obstruction, but, in each case, a set of interesting and interrelated problems to be disentangled. “The Back-story” lays out the key NPCs, their roles and relations. “The Investigation” outlines the conventional order of events in the case. “Complications” presents a menu of false leads, suspects, and misdirects which Gamemasters can choose from to tune the adventure to their group’s taste. Finally, “The Choice” presents the key decision the Lasers will have to make in dealing with the situation. With this established, the rest of the adventure is presented as a series of scenes. The most important of those are Core scenes which form the spine of the case. The adventures supplement those with Intro, Hazard, Antagonist Action or Reaction, Subplot and Alternate Scenes. Eventually players will reach Conclusion scenes and some form of Epilogue. Gamemasters and players have a lot of freedom in running or pursuing the case, and I imagine any particular play of these stories will look radically different. These are complicated and detailed stories- so GMs will have to read through and do some serious note-taking before running. This format is familiar with those running Trail of Cthulhu – save this way of outlining adventures is much clearer and I for one wish that Trail would follow this rather than their somewhat obtuse way of writing adventures.
It is worth noting that the book does make available a set of six sample PCs (grr – no character portraits – something between Pelgrane and myself). Each receives an excellent background write-up, complete with personal arc and questions for the player to help them get immediately into character. They also get full stats on two page character sheets. That means that a sufficiently prepared Gamemaster(very hard to run these on the fly) could skip character creation and move right to play. Alternately, the segment also offers some advice and options for customization, so the GM could allow some time for that.
THE PLEASURE BRINGERS
The collection begins on a noir note, and one that also presents some pretty dark and adult themes. The Lasers are sent by shady corporation (which was featured in the core book adventure) to look into the vanishing of an executive on the pleasure planet of Andarta. The Lasers dive into a seedy and unpleasant den of iniquity, charting a course between pimps and prostitutes. This can bring the group into conflict with an array of factions and criminals. The story starts in the city to better emphasize that griminess. The Lasers have to look into the sex trade and trace the various partners of several of the key characters. Some groups may not care for this, but the book offers a few suggestions for dialing back on those details.
The case eventually leads to a hospital and the discovery of a weaponized virus. That virus transforms victims into members of a lost race. To find answers and bring the infection to a stop, the Lasers must head out into the planet’s jungles, a deliberate parallel to the earlier urban jungle. This brings them back into conflict with some of the factions they already fought as well as new ones tied to a nuFaith. The adventure can end in several ways- with a compromise or a shoot out. Either one is valid, or the book offers an additional scene if the players choose the diplomatic option. This gives them the chance to deal with one of the other groups involved so that the story ends with dramatic action before the epilogue.
I like this adventure- but it does have some pretty visceral bits to it. It moves around from place to place and yet requires the players to really make sense of the motivations and people involved. The actual problem of the virus gets a decent mid-point reveal and doesn’t come completely out of left field. I like that the switch suddenly shifts a more conventional mob and murder story into something more fantastic and dangerous.
DEAD ROCK SEVEN
The Lasers voyage to a mining asteroid to supervise the decommissioning of the mine and investigate a suspicious death. This case necessitates the players to navigate the physical and dangerous maze of the mine (something makes me wish for maps but maybe I am just thinking too old fashioned here), as well as the even more precarious labyrinth of relationships among the mine workers. I like that we flip from an open and urban planetside adventure to this one which offers an intense and claustrophobic experience very reminiscent of Aliens movies. The tie to the Class K theme comes from a situation of mistaken identity, with suspects covering up for fear of calling in a strike force for clean up.
Despite that wrinkle, the story here is rather uncomplicated. It uses and playfully utilizes many well-used tropes and themes. We have a monster on board and the players have to deal with it. The guidelines propose give emphasis to that aspect, to keep players from deducing the true solution too early.
PERIOD OF TYRANNY
This adventure introduces some of the larger potential political overtones of the Bleed (name of Frontier Space in Ashen Stars). It also presents a synthculture, one of the more interesting Ashen Stars concepts that other games should adopt. The adventure has the Lasers go after the distress call of a passenger liner, the Beatrix. However, they arrive too not on time, and thus take up the mission of investigating the incident which took place on the vessel and stalking the culprits. This shows the way to them to follow the trail of Bleedist terrorists who attacked the liner to get at the senior Combine personnel aboard. That trail leads to the planet Pioneer, a synthculture based on a fascist regime from the early days of space colonization. Investigating that planet offers special dangers- the local government fears the return of Combine authority which could undermine their own. The Lasers represent also that threat the Pioneer Planetary government. The PCs have to follow several lines of inquiry while evading fascist government agents. They must infiltrate Pioneer, duel with the secret police and somehow figure out a way to use the local politics to bring the correct criminal to justice.
This is an excellent but challenging adventure to run. The players have to struggle with the environment while continuing with their investigations. The GM will have to maintain a careful balance flanked by the menace of the police state and thus not making the PCs feel completely trapped and freedom to act and implicate the bad guy/girl/hybrid/it (sorry I am not telling).
THE ANAITIS GAMBIT
The very last assignment has the Lasers providing the job of security for an interstellar cooking contest… The Anaitis Station which is hosting the event lies at the intersection of numerous significant translight corridors (main mode of travel in Ashen Stars). Almost immediately as soon as the PC’s turn up, the station comes under attack by a junkyard projectile. After dealing with that menace, the Lasers are called upon to figure out the who and why of the strike. This leads to a complicated combination of Restreamer saboteurs and the mystery ingredient for the contest. The Restreamers wish to destroy the station in hopes of causing a universal reboot. They believe that the energies from the collapse of the nearby corridors will cause this. However, it may instead release a Class K entity from its subspace prison. The players must hunt down the Restreamers and their insane prophet.
Dead Rock Seven again demonstrates Pelgrane’s superior skills aptitude with design by creating a truly beautiful product. It brings over some the same similar layout, font and formatting used in the Ashen Stars core book- with but with a small number of modifications. Those slight adjustments are critical as they instantly position the GM to the sequence they need for running each scenario/adventure. The 144 page perfect-bound softcover has a good full-color cover and beautifully rendered grayscale interiors. The book feels great, printed on solid glossy stock. Jerome Huguenot and Chris Hutch delivers the cover and interior art – thus giving almost a noir Blade Runner mood to these pieces. Even if I don’t like how the Aliens are portrayed in Ashen Stars, these illustrations are hypnotic. He swings between incisive sharp lines, gritty and coarse darkness and organic creepiness. Dead Rock 7‘s another product which absolutely clicks in design and presentation that is increasingly becoming Pelgrane’s hallmark. Just only wish there was more of this excellent art – but then again this is my common grumble with Pelgrane, as it is too damn good. If this is going to be the mark of future Ashen Stars products, then I have to say, I am going to continue to support it despite some of my reservations about the Space Operatic overtones…maybe they might do a Hard SF supplement for me…and other Traveller grognards.
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