Freelance Traveller

DoubleAdventure 4: Marooned/Marooned Alone

reviewed by Paul Anuni

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2024 issue.

Double Adventure 4: Marooned/Marooned Alone. Loren K. Wiseman et al.
Game Designers’ Workshop (defunct; most Traveller material preserved under Far Future Enterprises https://farfuture.net
26/27pp. PDF, originally single back-to-back digest-sized softbound
Currently available from FarFuture Enterprises on the Classic Traveller CD-ROM.

The January/February 2024 issue had Jeff Zeitlin’s review of Stranded (from Mongoose), and mentioned that the Mongoose module was inspired by the original Classic Traveller Double Adventure 4, Marooned/Marooned Alone. I decided that it would be appropriate to review the latter, to go along with Jeff’s review of Stranded.

A note on referencing the adventures: “Marooned” or “M” references the adventure Marooned; “Alone” or “A” references the adventure Marooned Alone, and “Marooned/Alone” or “M/A” references both together.

The two adventures form a ‘paired’ set; the events leading to each are the same, but the characters in the two adventures start out quite far apart, and are unlikely to be able to “link up” en-route. For both, the mission is the same; Alone provides a few basic guidelines for solitaire play – but it’s best if the player is not also the referee.

Unlike Stranded, Marooned/Alone sets out the events that lead to the characters being where they are. In Stranded, the characters’ sole goal is to ‘walk out’ of the wilderness to civilization and safety; in M/A, there is a political goal as well, and ‘walking out’ of the wilderness isn’t necessarily going to be arriving at safety – nor will it necessarily be just a question of facing and vanquishing typical wilderness challenges; the characters are being hunted/pursued for alleged terrorism (which acts are what got them into this situation in the first place), because it’s believed that they have information that, if presented in the right place (the political goal), will be detrimental to the pursuers’ (or their principal’s) interests.

Additionally, distances in M/A are measured in thousands of kilometers, with a week’s travel representing a fraction of one hex (how much of a fraction depends on the terrain type, and whether the characters are on foot or have assistance). The entire adventure can easily take months, possibly years of in-game time, although a week’s worth of travel can be disposed of in a couple of minutes of playing time, under the process described.

Characters will need to find food and water, pace themselves to deal with group members that may be wounded, evade capture by their pursuers, and finally achieve the political goal.

There is a wide variety of terrain types, each with their own encounter tables; encounters are rolled twice per week of travel, plus one special potential encounter upon entering a hex. The tables are not duplicated between Marooned and Alone; the referee will need to refer to both to generate encounters in either adventure.

There is an error in the map supplied in M/A: hexes that should be marked as ‘plains’ are textured as though they are ‘settled’, and the legend reflects this – but there is an area in the northeast of the map that is specifically outlined to represent the settled area of the world. Referees need to be aware of this error, and compensate for it.

It’s a bit unfortunate, but because of the sheer distances and slow travel speeds of M/A, it is very conceivable for the players to lose interest and complain of tedium. Unlike Stranded, however, there are no ‘easy outs’ written into the adventure to be used if needed; the referee would have to fiat one out of whole cloth.

Over all, I can’t give this as high a recommendation as I have given other products on the Far Future Classic Traveller CD-ROM – but neither can I say it’s a waste of space; the setup for these adventures can in part be used to start a completely different adventure.