Reviews
Book | Diaspora Phoenix (2004) [****]
Publisher: QuikLink Interactive
Author: Martin Dougherty
Format: 5" x 8" POD, 209 pages.
ISBN: 1-55878-306-7
Price: $7
Perhaps the finest campaign retellings I've ever read (not that there are all that many in print). The book is set in the Traveller: The New Era RPG universe, specifically Kushga and Shadigi subsectors, Diaspora sector, about 100 years after the fall of the Third Imperium.
The story follows five people (a typical adventuring group).
Alexander Douvoski, army sniper
Jon Isaacs, merchant crewman
Amanda Reissman, fighter pilot
Rachel Stanton, civil engineer
Iaian Vaaskaavi, power engineer
They're caught behind the lines when the world they're stationed in (Darryl) is overrun. A few months later they manage to acquire a Scout ship and become free traders.
As they explore space they run into friends and enemies and everywhere planets are barely in contact with each other because space ships have become quite rare.
Joining a band of free trader captains they eventually form the driving force in creating an alliance of worlds. Mostly for defense but also to start promoting trade and bringing civilization to other worlds.
As the book ends they've lost a couple of people and have a long way to go. But it's a fine start...
Chapters are quite short, often only two or three pages. Narration tends to jump ahead, skipping boring parts. Each chapter has the location and date so you can follow using any Traveller map such as the one at
Descriptions of tech and travel seemed quite accurate to the Traveller universe. Even combats seemed like what would happen in an RPG session (with a bit more description than the out-of-the-box rules provide). I believe the campaign is based on published adventures that Dougherty also created.
As a straight up novel I'd say Diaspora Phoenix would be below average. But for any Traveller player it's a great read of a campaign without being too detailed and boring as many campaign writeups are. Well done!
Sunday, June 05, 2011
