As we're reaching the end of the "Last Flight of the Amuar" scenario, it is time to reflect my thoughts on it. I've read plenty of the published Traveller adventures (both GDW and Mongoose) but I do like just a fraction of them. And to my liking, although (as the other review fairly states) it requires some extra work, "Amuar" is a great starter.

^ a FLUX.1 depiction of the Leviathan class ship Amuar's last landing site

First good thing is that the Travellers will be mostly doing what they are supposed to do in a game so called: travelling. The shortest search route includes a series of worlds: some generic, some quite unique. Some welcoming, others - not so much. Enterprising minds will find plenty of opportunities for trading, risky ones will certainly discover a distinct Traveller scent of acting rogue on some worlds while being true heroes on another.

^ the look of our PlanarAlly gaming board, close towards the adventure's end

The Voidskipper is a decent starting ship: a heavily-tuned Far Trader, it is capable of two consecutive 2-parsec jumps. It still has some space for cargo - not too much (2/3 of the cargo hold is occupied by extra fuel tanks), but enough for the first taste of the Traveller's speculative trading. Two double-turrets (one with a torpedo rack) will help to shake off occasional pirates - if the players are unlucky enough to roll out some.

However, It's not strictly necessary to have the space combat along the players' route here, because even a relaxed voyage into the Frontier is already impressive for its weirdness. I made the space combat a random encounter - the one that my players did not roll out - and was happy enough to ignore it this time. To spice things up a little bit the adventure text provides a set of specific quirks that give Voidskipper its grumpy character. Those I did use with pleasure :).

^ a reworked deckplan of the Voidskipper. She's a good ship, almost reliable. Almost...

The playable retainers - the original crew of the ship together with the party's patron - also show some character while filling the gaps in skill packages of the PCs. For example, in our sessions the participation of the crew's patron Erec Raedelli was economically crucial! Not only did he cover all maintenance expenses (for a certain cut of the trade profits, of course), saving the players from extra bookkeeping (1). His aid in social encounters and trade was substantial too. Likewise, Marianne can give an upper hand in a fight, while the Vargr Ueinsadz can somewhat help with operating the spacecraft.

^ the search route of my players' Voidskipper. Plenty of gritty heroism and rogue moves happened along this star path.

For all that said, the key feature of this adventure is the route itself. Slowly dragging the characters from the Imperial space deep into the Frontier with its client states, pocket empires, and strange independent worlds, it builds up the suspense and revealing of the Unknown. And for one trope that I value a lot: a monster lurking in the shadows is a necessary mystery - but not the deepest mystery of the game.

^ a MagicaCSG render and model of the Amuar's alien. The 3D-model is interactive! - use your mouse or touch to spin or zoom.

I have to admit that I've been juggling the rules a bit, shifting towards Cepheus Universal in some aspects, like generation of the Alien form. Therefore, in my game it turned from a human-sized creature into a 1.6 ton monster, capable of injuring the well-equipped characters with a single hit.

^ a statblock for 1.6 ton alien menace. The fact everyone survived the encounter is a pure miracle sign of great teamwork quality of the Vacc Suits manufacturer!

The number of options and clear layout of the CU rulebook make me use it w/r to Mongoose rules (spanning 2-3 necessary tomes, at best).

For the future games in the Third Imperium setting we are likely to use MgT2 for fluff and economics only, relying on the Cepheus for the game mechanics engine.

(1) Yet I was lucky enough to run the game in a group of Excel-lovers, where trading soon received its dedicated online spreadsheet and took roughly 1/3 of the time.