Freelance Traveller

reviewed by Ewan Quibell

Escape was published in 1987 by Seeker, and was written for Classic Traveller by J. Andrew Keith. It has a black and red cover, and that to me just says 'Traveller'. William H. Keith, Jr. almost defined Traveller artwork, and it's his pen drawing on the front cover. The write up on the back had me intrigued. 'Alone on an untamed world' ... 'using skills and luck escape the Aslan'. Combine the two and I was sure a treat was in store ...

The folio starts with some background, basically an outline of what has happened in a previous folio adventure, and the set up for this one. The plot is a pretty simple one really. An Aslan clan annoyed with the inroads to its markets that a human firm has achieved decides to do something about it and takes over the human trading post the players are in.

The adventure starts with the PCs imprisoned in their own trading post. There is a map of the post, some description of the buildings, one set of general stats for all the Aslan, and a short description of the Aslan for those people lacking Alien Module 1. That's it. That's the adventure. The whole shebang. Go.

To add to this there are five news reports, basically hinting that the above is going to happen, a description of the subsector of space the story takes place in (Ea of Reavers' Deep), and a subsector map.

The news and the subsector description are good, but the best part of the folio is the four pictures by William H. Keith, Jr.

It might have been that my expectations were too high, based on past material from the Keith brothers (e.g., the Sky Raiders Trilogy, The Lost Supplements, and a large part of the original JTAS), but I have to say I was disappointed, especially with the adventure.

However let me put this in perspective a little. There is nothing bad about it. It's just that there is nothing outstanding about it, and I was expecting good things from a Keith supplement.

Escape is available solely on the second hand market, and as it is quite rare commands top dollar for what is essentially just a 12-page booklet. Unless you are a completeist, or perhaps if you game in Reavers' Deep, there is nothing really in the folio to make it stand out. I would suggest that people's gaming cash might be better spent on something currently in production. When compared with Escape the less expensive material from QLI or any of the BITS 101 products are to my mind far better value for money.