Legend of the Sky Raiders review

Legends of the Sky Raiders is an adventure for Traveller written by J Andrew Keith and William H Keith Jr and published by FASA, way back in 1981. It is the first part of a trilogy, and is followed by Trail of the Sky Raiders and then Fate of the Sky Raiders.

Physically, Legend of the Sky Raiders is a LBB-sized 48-page book with extra maps. Maps and illustrations are by William H Keith Jr.

I am working off a pdf now, but my memory of the book is that it felt very satisfying to hold and read.

My plan is to run the Sky Raiders trilogy for my gaming group. I’ll run it pretty much as written. As I write this, I think we’re two or three weeks away from starting. Anyway, back to the review.

The plot

The Travellers (although they are called “players” here, this is before “Traveller” became a term for PCs) are stuck on Mirayn, a dead-end world in the Jungleblut subsector (in the Far Frontiers sector). There, they are hired by Lorain Messandi, who has a small university grant to lead an expedition into the jungle to search for ruins that might link Mirayn to the legendary Sky Raiders.

Oh – and also possibly find out what happened to her father, who wrote a book on the Sky Raiders and disappeared into these very same jungles some time before.

The Sky Raiders themselves are a semi-legendary culture that flourished around 5,000 years ago. But nobody really knows who or what they are.

So there’s the mystery – learn more about the Sky Raiders. (The pull, as it used to be called. Does anyone still think in terms of the basics, pull, push and gimmick? I’m not sure I ever did.) And I like mysteries in my SF.

Preparations

The adventure is broadly in two parts. In the first, in the city of Val Prezar, the Travellers must help Messandi prepare her expedition by buying equipment and provisions and gathering intelligence. 

Fortunately, as far as equipment and provisions are concerned, Messandi also hires an experienced guide, Jen Kelso, who can equip the expedition. So unless the Travellers want to equip an expedition, they don’t have to if they don’t want to.

As for intelligence gathering, it appears that Messandi doesn’t really know where to start searching. Despite this being her field of study, and despite her following in her father’s footsteps (who, as I said, wrote the book on the Sky Raiders). So instead, it’s up to the Travellers. (I know this is all about player agency, but it makes less sense to me that the PCs would have more success than Messandi, but anyway.)

Into the outback

Once the expedition is equipped, it’s into the swampy outback, a hex crawl with encounters and friendly and hostile natives – and a dangerous rival. Eventually, the expedition makes its way to a mysterious temple where the nature of the Sky Raiders is revealed further. There is more to learn, but that’s in a following adventure.

This section of the adventure is likely to involve combat, and is more action-oriented than the first part.

Sandbox or railroad?

At first glance, Legend of the Sky Raiders is a classic sandbox adventure, with a hex map to explore, resources to manage and encounter tables and a list of rumours. This is all stuff I’ve never really done as a GM. Usually, I handwave all the boring accountancy, but I think we may lean into it this time. (But things may change when the players get involved.)

But despite this sandbox, it’s also surprisingly railroady – several key encounters which result in the Travellers or NPCs being captured (and then escaping).

So a sandbox with railroady bits. Or a railroad with sandbox bits. Take your pick.

What I liked

Epic yet concise: There’s loads to Legend of the Sky Raiders, and yet it’s all wrapped up in a fairly concise 48 pages. Thinking about the speed of our sessions, I can easily imagine this taking three or four sessions – possibly longer if the players get sidetracked. (They usually get sidetracked.)

A mystery: This is the first part of the Sky Raider’s trilogy, and as with all mysteries, the anticipation is the best part. Who are they? What are they? These questions will be answered in due course – but not yet. I love it.

Things that irritated me

Hard to parse: The adventure is presented narratively, but I found that meant the structure was hard to see. I had to read Legend carefully (and take notes) to work out how the Travellers would get from A to B to C to D. There are various key incidents and clues the players need to follow, but I found they were sometimes buried in the text.

And I often had questions. For example, what happens if the Travellers don’t buy the important clue from the dodgy bloke? How do they then get to where they need to go? (The answer in the book does not convince me, but we’ll see what happens in play.)

Similarly, the rules for managing the hexcrawl are scattered around the book in different places.

The map: A hex map of the swamp is provided, but unfortunately, it’s GM-facing with numbered locations. I have created a player-facing version, but it’s a bit annoying that I had to do that.

Pregens: Given that Legend of the Sky Raiders is set in a remote part of Chartered Space, and given that it’s most likely to be run as a one-shot rather than dropped into a campaign, why aren’t we given pregenerated characters with backgrounds that are woven into the game?

Instead, we have a short story explaining how hard up the Travellers are and how desperate they are for work. I’d much rather have pregens interested in uncovering the mystery of the Sky Raiders for its own sake than a bunch of random mercenaries.

I might keep Lorraine Messandi as the patron NPC, but the players could easily play the key NPCs.

Too many rumours: Legends provides two pages of rumours to give to the Travellers why they equip their expedition. There are 16 individual rumours, many of which are trivial. Some are useful. This is fine, but it’s not clear which are critical (if any) and which can be missed. If they were presented as a random table, that would help – but they’re not. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but it seems harder than it needs to be.

Is it dated?

Of course it is! But that’s not Legend's fault – it’s nearly 45 years old! But this entry made me chuckle:

The PORTABLE COMPUTER listed is a self-contained computer designed for use in the field. The unit in question, the Halliers Mark "I Field Computer, features excellent data storage and retrieval capabilities. A standard library program is central to the unit. It is carried as a backpack, and is rather bulky due to the need for an internal power source. Service life: 500 hours of continuous use. Weight: 25 kg. Base Price (includes library program): Cr 500,000.

Welcome to 1981!

Overall

Overall, my impressions of Legend of the Sky Raiders is pretty good. It will take some study to run properly, as I found that key details are buried in the text, but it’s hardly onerous work.

Continuum 2025

At the end of July, Megan and I went to Continuum 2025. It was Megan’s second time at Continuum – and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been. (I’ve not been to every Continuum – there was a long gap when it didn’t fit with holidays and life.)

Megan and I at Cranfield Management Development Centre

It’s a great con in a great venue with a good mix of board games, ttrpgs and freeform larps.

Anyway, we both went to Continuum and we both loved it. Here’s how it went.

Friday

We arrived at around 4 pm on Friday. We checked in, unpacked our bags and went to the atrium where we picked up our convention bags and lanyards. We then found some friends and played board games and a couple of Martin Jones’ BTL larps. These are intense and short (15-20 minutes) science fiction larps that are really good and pack a lot into those few minutes.

I played a Bene Gesserit in one, and Simon from Firefly, in another. Martin had six different BTL larps and was running them for much of the weekend. I don’t know how many times he ran them all. I think I’ve played most of them now.

I hope he makes them freely available one day.

The meal at the hotel was a BBQ, which was fine if you like that sort of thing. Megan is a vegetarian, and I was happy to go to the bar and buy a sandwich.

Instead of a freeform track on Friday night, there was a costume party in the bar. I don’t like costuming, and I don’t really like parties, so we gave that a miss. (It didn’t appeal to Megan either; it might have appealed more to her had she known more people.)

I would rather be gaming, so we went back to the atrium and played more board games and socialised.

Saturday

Saturday started with a full English breakfast – with fried bread. I don’t get a full English too often (and fried bread is even rarer), so this was a treat.

I played three games on Saturday: Lumberjills, Campfire and Queen, and I ran Hillfolk.

Lumberjills

In the highlands of Scotland in WW2, British women come together in brutal physical labour: felling trees and processing timber in service of the war effort. In the woods, they find newfound confidence and physical capacity – and in dance socials with neighbouring lumberjack and training camps discover romance, and new options for their lives.

Megan and I were both a little nervous going into Lumberjills. It’s a four-player larp and rather more intense than the usual kind of thing I like. (The game we’d originally signed up to play didn’t have enough players, and was replaced with Lumberjills.)

Each of the four players takes the role of a lumberjill – felling trees as part of the WW2 Women’s Timber Corps (part of the Women’s Land Army). Each character is presented on a card, with brief details suggesting why they decided to leave their previous life and join the WTC.

Through the game, each of the players is courted by three men (each played by other players) who are here as professional lumberjacks.

The game is played through scenes. There’s an opening scene where we explore the reasons the lumberjills sign up, then scenes where they saw trees and share their hopes and fears, and then dance scenes where they meet the menfolk. Do they find love? Do they realise their dreams? That’s what we play to find out. The game ends with each player narrating their lumberjill’s future. (When Megan and I were telling Mrs H about the game, she noted that I was the only person who chose a traditionally patriarchal “settling-down-with-a-man-and-having-kids” ending for my lumberjill. Busted!)

Lumberjills was fine and I’m glad I played it, but it’s not really my thing. Megan felt a little like me, and I’m sure it was awkward when either of us was playing our characters’ suitors.

According to the side of the box, Lumberjills was supposed to take four hours. Even with a few technical glitches, we had it finished in less than three – and that felt right for me. I guess players who embrace the emotional journey more than I did might want the extra time.

Lumberjills was run by Sue Lee – Charlie and Alison were the other players. Lumberjills was written by Moyra Turkingtonan and published by Unruly Designs. You can buy it from here.

After Lumberjills, Megan and I walked to the nearby Co Op for lunch. I discovered ginger and turmeric shots, which are just awesome.

Campfire and Queen

All of you have a reason for running away from court and the Queen. Some of you are on the run from an arranged marriage, some of you hate your old life and wanted to start a fresh, some of you just have a wanderlust. You are gathered around a campfire to tell stories to help pass the evening away but what will those stories reveal about you and the question that everyone will eventually face… would you protect the Queen?

Around the campfire at the start of the game (photo by Tsijon)

Campfire and Queen is a storytelling freeform inspired by the card game For the Queen.

Ray Hodson wrote and ran Campfire and Queen, and it was my favourite game of the weekend. I played a member of the Queen’s court, travelling in disguise – as was everyone else! 

We started the game sitting around the campfire, telling stories which revealed as much as they hid. (We created the stories ourselves – they weren’t provided for us. Mine wasn’t very good, and I wish I had thought about it more before the game. Ah well, I’ve never been good at homework.)

Once the stories were over, we started talking to each other in small groups, and slowly revealed our secrets… 

I’m not going to say too much to avoid spoiling it, but I enjoyed Campfire and Queen. My character ended in a very ambiguous position, and unlike almost everyone else, I couldn’t decide what I should do.

After that, Megan and I ate in the hotel, which was good and plenty of it. I had lasagne and parmigiana with veg, chips, and cheesy garlic bread.

Me: (photo by Tsijon)

Hillfolk

Finally, on Saturday, I ran a game of Hillfolk, or more accurately, DramaSystem. I had three playsets with me and let the players choose, and they chose Success2Soon, the playset about a band at the end of their first successful album.

I had four players, and we created a game of ageing rockers with musical differences. (Megan didn’t play – she went to bed instead.)

As usual, nobody else had played before (and as is often the case, one player had backed the Kickstarter and failed to get the game to the table).

After about 45 minutes creating our characters, we started playing and, apart from one or two misfires, we were off and running. We ended with the band just about staying together and finally signing a contract with their record company. (The contract had been torn up and had been taped back together.)

I never start Hillfolk knowing where the game is going, but I’m always impressed at how a satisfying narrative emerges over a couple of hours. I’ve only played DramaSystem as one-shots at conventions – I have no idea how it would play as an ongoing game. I guess we would explore what happens as they start to prepare for the second album.

I’ve now run Hillfolk seven or eight times at conventions over the past couple of years, and with the right players, it really sings. It really does – it’s fabulous. So far, that’s been only twice for me – once at Continuum (two years ago), and last November at Consequences. 

Unfortunately, this time, it didn’t quite sing. It certainly wasn’t bad, and I'd probably say it was good, but it didn’t sing.

I often come away thinking that there must be something I can change to make it work better. Perhaps I should change the playsets – do I need to define the characters more before we start? Should I just ignore the dramatic poles – they do so little during play?

But ultimately, I think it simply suits some players and not others. Hillfolk is so different to how we normally play ttrpgs that it’s a huge culture shock. I suspect that it’s no coincidence that my most successful games have been when freeformers have been playing.

Anyway, I’m going to give Hillfolk a rest and run other things at conventions. I’m sure it will be back. I also spotted a couple of typos, so I’ve amended the files and uploaded them to the game page on itch.io.

For an alternative view, here’s Simon Burley’s write-up of Continuum, including his perspective as a player of the game.

Sunday

After another hearty breakfast, it was time for me to run Venice.

Venice

Venice is ruled by five powerful families, alike in dignity: the Capones, the Capulets, the Corleones, the Montagues and the Sopranos. Lady Theresa Capulet, the Doge, the ultimate authority in Venice, has been murdered and the five ruling families of Venice are meeting to decide who is to replace her…

The Corleones (photo by Tsijon)

I co-wrote Venice with Kate Dicey, Debbie Hollingworth and Tym Norris at Peaky 2013. After Peaky I did a bit of tidying up (not a lot) and put it on itch.io. I have no idea if others have run it, but this was its second outing for me.

Venice is what I call a factions game. It has lots of groups (families and societies) all vying for power. There is a multi-stage election and a sprinkling of Romeo & Juliet-style star-crossed romances (in places).

The characters are thin, but I was hoping that with the weddings, the pirates, the election, family rivalry and the secret societies, there would be enough to keep people entertained. Certainly, from what I could see, there was plenty of energy in the room as the players negotiated and schemed.

I also saw a few quieter players on the sidelines, so I don’t think it was all perfect.

I’m delighted to say that Venice was Megan’s favourite game of the weekend. I did worry slightly because her character was a little thin (well, they all were), but she made a couple of good connections early in the game and ended up married to the Doge and also made the Religious Adviser. So her first freeform marriage!

(I am pleased she got married for another reason. Often, freeform weddings are all about love, and I wanted a game where weddings were also about family alliances. Megan’s wedding was entirely political – she married for power. And that’s how I wanted it!)

The game went well enough that I’d be happy to run it again, but I spotted a few (well, many) typos, so I've fixed those. I’ve made other changes to improve the game for everyone, but it’s never going to have extremely detailed characters, though. It’s not that kind of game.

Click here to download Venice for free from Itch.io.

After Venice, it was lunch. Neither of us fancied the hotel option of a burger, and the hotel’s range of vegetarian sandwiches wasn’t great, so we returned to the Co Op for a meal deal (and another ginger and turmeric shot for me).

The GM doing GM things (photo by Tsijon)

Fight for Survival

Zombies have taken over the world, and you feel like the last survivors. You all come from different walks of life and one of those people that you collected has started sneezing. Is that a symptom? And then there’s the radio, is it giving you information or is the broadcast more sinister? Who can help you and will they even try? Are you trapped or safe?

Written and run by Ray Hodson, helped by Jo Gould.

Sometimes, through no fault of your own or the game’s writers, you have a quiet game. This was my quiet game.

In Fight for Survival, players create their own characters. They get a secret from Ray, and then answer a few simple questions (what is your name, what do you do, what are you hording, who have you lost, and so on). I decided I was a maths teacher.

The game starts with news reports getting gloomier and gloomier. As a group, we decided to head for Twycross Zoo (don’t ask why), and so as civilisation fell, we held up there.

Now, my secret was that I had been bitten… Which meant I was falling ill and turning into a zombie. There were other people displaying symptoms (who weren’t infected with the zombie virus) – they were distractions. I was the real problem.

But very quickly, the group decided to isolate me (in the giraffe enclosure) along with another infected character. My character was feeling pretty rubbish (flu-like symptoms, easy to roleplay!), so for a large chunk of the game, I was on my own (or with just this one player).  I mean, I could have escaped, but I figured my character was ill and just wanted to be left alone.

(What was interesting was how wide a berth the other characters gave us. We often had about half the room to ourselves!)

Anyway, unlike other runs (which presumably end in disaster), the other characters got their act together and identified a potential cure and the game ended with us driving down to Bodium Castle, which is where the government boffins were hiding out.

The game was fine. It’s perhaps a little too light for my liking, but it’s a pleasant change of pace. I didn’t mind being isolated – it was actually quite relaxing. Sometimes you need a quiet game.

After Fight for Survival, Megan and I decided we weren’t interested in the hotel’s roast dinner, so we headed to the Co Op for a meal deal and a pile of chips from the kebab van. Then Megan turned in for an early night while I went to watch Death Wears White.

Death Wears White

You are among the staff and visitors at the Brighton Hospital, Detroit in 1999. A brilliant doctor has been murdered and there’s a hostage situation in progress. Is the killer still among you? This is a classic vintage murder mystery from 2001, which allegedly inspired the Chinese Jubensha industry.

I didn’t sign up to Death Wears White because I knew I’d be tired and I knew Megan would be having an early night. She’s not good at staying up late, and I didn’t want to disturb her by stumbling in at silly o’clock in the morning. (The same is true for Saturday night as well, but I really wanted to run Hillfolk and I knew we’d be done by 10:30 pm.)

So instead, I asked Jenny Dunn, who was running it, if I could watch. And she kindly said yes.

I stayed for about 90 minutes, but my impression of Death Wears White is that it was showing its age. It felt very overwritten (lots of words in a teeny font), and solving the murder is much more involved than our murder mystery games, with an action point system for investigating clues (presumably to stop them from coming out too quickly) that resulted in a queue for the GM. 

I didn’t see all the characters, but the ones I was aware of seemed somewhat contrived, including a gunman (who takes everyone hostage), twins, and a heavily pregnant woman (who I believe gives birth during the game – I’d left before that happened). 

I was tempted to stay until the end, but it wasn’t a fast-paced game, and I was very tired. I have no idea if the players solved the murder or not, as I didn’t see them before we left.

Monday

And after another hearty breakfast (how much weight have I put on?), it was time to say goodbye and head back to Yorkshire.

Megan and I are already looking forward to next year.

Ludonarrative Dissidents

I’ve just stumbled upon the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast which I’m enjoying (I’ve only listened to two episodes so far.

Ludonarrative Dissidents is a podcast about rpgs, how they’re made and how they’re played. In each episode, Ross Payton, Greg Stolze and James Wallis take a critical look at a particular ttrpg.

I think there are about 40 episodes so far, and I’m not going to listen to them all (largely because they often talk about games I have no interest in), but I will dip into them as and when.

So far, I’ve listened to the very first episode (Apocalypse World), ALIEN: Chariot of the Gods, and I’ve just started the Fiasco episode.

(There are occasional episodes that cover things like using cards in rpgs, initiative systems, metacurrencies and so on. And even an actual play or two. I’ve not listened to those yet.)

The good

The discussions are interesting, with all three hosts having a good knowledge of the games industry. The discussions are friendly, although I sometimes get Greg Stolze and Ross Payton confused because their voices sound a little similar to me.

So far, they’ve been pretty much in agreement with the games. It will be interesting to hear an episode where they disagree.

And the show notes for Season 3 (written by James) are excellent, and cross-reference everything they talk about.

The pillars

According to the website, every episode of Ludonarrative Dissidents is built around four pillars:

• What does this game do?
• How does it do that?
• How do people play it?
• Why do they play it that way?
• (and how well does it succeed?)

Do they answer the questions? Maybe, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you their answers.

I wish the team were a little more strict in sticking to this approach. While I was expecting the first episode to be a bit scrappy and unfocused, I had imagined that 40 episodes later, things (ALIEN: Chariot of the Gods is one of the recent episodes) would be a little slicker, but no.

For example, I was expecting that after 40 episodes, each episode would have a slick intro, where they would introduce themselves and the game they are talking about and the four pillars (and then structure the podcast around those four pillars). But no. At least, not in the episodes I’ve heard so far.

Not everyone has played the game…

My biggest criticism, however, is that in the two podcasts I’ve listened to so far, only one of the three (Ross Payton) has actually played or run the game. (Not even Apocalypse World.) 

That seems to be a bit of a failing if you’re going to discuss the game in depth. You can’t even run a one-shot? You can’t even play a one-shot?

I know lots of other ttrpg reviewers don’t run the games either (I don’t always, although I try to), but I suspect that some of the commentary on ALIEN: Chariot of the Gods would be different had they all run the game. (For example, most reviews I’ve seen of Chariot of the Gods love the agendas that the pregens come with. Greg Stolze was dead against them – but he hasn’t played or run the game.)

They wouldn’t even have to run a game – I’m sure they could find someone to run a game for them.

Overall

Anyway, with that caveat aside, it’s definitely worth listening to – especially for games you are interested in. I’ve added it to my podcast feed.

A couple of days later: I've just listened to the Traveller episode, and they still don't introduce the podcast properly. They don't introduce who they are, and they don't say what their experience of the game is. That's not hard to do and makes it seem really amateurish. (Compare with Fear of a Black Dragon, which is excellent in this regard.)

The scope of their comments also ought to be explained. For example, in the Traveller episode, they are only looking at Mongoose's 2022 rulebook, not the rest of the Traveller line (or its history - although they mention it). That's the sort of thing that ought to be made clear in an introduction. 

They also don't clearly address their four pillars – instead it’s just a rambling discussion. That’s fine, but if so don’t pretend to have these four pillars.