Freelance Traveller

Minor Loot (or, What’s In This Guy’s Pockets?)

reviewed by Ewan Quibell

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2022 issue.

Minor Loot (or, What’s In This Guy’s Pockets?). Michael Brown.
Self-published https://dtrpg.com/browse.php?author=Michael%20Brown
2p., PDF
US$1.00/UK£0.77

Looking at more stuff that’s currently available, and running across Michael Brown on DriveThruRPG I thought I’d look at what he’s putting out these days.

Michael Brown has a reputation for being good. I think he is, but don’t take my word for it—check out his scenarios on Freelance Traveller¹ or his patron encounters and Amber Zones on Zhodani Base².

I’ve used more than one of these as an adventure in my Traveller Universe.

Minor Loot is one page (two columns of text) and a cover page. The intro text on the DTRPG page is ²⁄₃ of the 1st column.

We then don’t get a bunch of stuff that might be in pockets, we get a way of working out what might be in someone’s pockets.

We get a table you throw dice against that tell you what type of thing it is, how common it is and what it’s worth. Michael gives us an example of how to use the table (which is always good) expanded and extrapolated so you can see how you would go about this, and then he adds others to spark the imagination.

Is it any good? Depends.

If you want to use this as a play aid at the table to find out what’s in some random sophont’s pockets; it’s not good enough. It’s too cumbersome it would take too long, and you have to have your thinking hat on as well as rolling the dice. What would be better would be just a list of stuff that you could pick from.

If you want to use it to prepare for your game night and you just don’t want to have to think too hard about what might be in some random sophont’s pockets; then it’s good. It doesn’t give you a list of stuff, but it gives you a spark to jump off, and that spark might take you to places you may not have thought of before. I tried a few after following Michael’s and that’s what happened for me.

So use it to roll up 10 or 12 sophont’s pockets and have these in your “at the table go-to folder”, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to use it in the game itself.

Minor Loot (or, What’s In This Guy’s Pockets?) by Michael Brown is $1 on DTRPG. The preview is just a quick preview, if it was a full preview you would see the complete product. Is it value for your hard earned gaming cash? I’m going to say no, and I have to say I had to think about that, I mean … it’s a dollar! This is the type of thing that should be ‘pay what you want’, so you can go back and put some money Michael’s way if you use it, or free as an intro to Michael’s other stuff. You could do this yourself if you just put some thought into it. It probably took just as long for Michael to write as it did for me to write this review. I have to say I’m slightly disappointed.