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.
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