Leaving the Starport might be harder than you think

Please have your TAS documentation ready. All bags will be searched.

From the US State Department's Travel Advisory website:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/China.html

Exercise increased caution in China due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws as well as special restrictions on dual U.S.-Chinese nationals.Chinese authorities have asserted broad authority to prohibit U.S. citizens from leaving China by using ‘exit bans,’ sometimes keeping U.S. citizens in China for years. China uses exit bans coercively:

• to compel U.S. citizens to participate in Chinese government investigations,
• to lure individuals back to China from abroad, and
• to aid Chinese authorities in resolving civil disputes in favor of Chinese parties.

In most cases, U.S. citizens only become aware of the exit ban when they attempt to depart China, and there is no method to find out how long the ban may continue. U.S. citizens under exit bans have been harassed and threatened.
U.S. citizens may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens may be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention for reasons related to “state security.” Security personnel may detain and/or deport U.S. citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the Chinese government.
Extra security measures, such as security checks and increased levels of police presence, are common in the Xinjiang Uighur and Tibet Autonomous Regions. Authorities may impose curfews and travel restrictions on short notice.
China does not recognize dual nationality. U.S.-Chinese citizens and U.S. citizens of Chinese heritage may be subject to additional scrutiny and harassment, and China may prevent the U.S. Embassy from providing consular services.

Hmm. If the Chinese on Earth would do this to foreign nationals in their country, why would not sovereign planetary governments do this to Travellers?

Here are some simple rules for adjudicating the PC's entry or exit into a world.

In the OTU, this may be handled differently. I wrote these rules for my ATU, in particular for Holtzmann's Corridor, where there is no Imperial government sitting atop the locals telling them what to do.

Product Review Piracy and Privateering

Review of Piracy and Privateering

by Josh Peters

Publisher: Stellagama Publishing

Length: 83 pages

You might have thought that the pirates were supposed to be the NPCs, but surprise! The book begins with a persuasive essay aimed to encourage players to play as pirates!

When you're a Professional Pirate . . .

The book contains five sections:

1. Setting up the campaign
2. Space Encounters
3. How to Make money
4. Adventure Seeds
5. Sample NPCs

The book is system-neutral throughout. It leans toward the 2D6 dice rolling mechanic, but it would not be difficult to transition any of the tables into any 'variable degrees of success' dice rolling system. For OGL legal reasons they can't say it works with Classic Traveller, but I can. It does. That makes me happy.

Setting up

Is the campaign going to be in a Star Spanning Empire, or among competing star nations, or the fringes where it's every planet for themselves? This is an important consideration, and the author lays out the good and the bad of each type. My TU is competing star nations, and a lot of Independents. Pirates will use different tactics depending on where they are.

Wherever your piratical PCs set up, there has to be enough potential for profit to make it all worthwhile. The referee/GM has to consider this or it will be a short and unhappy campaign.

For the sake of players and GMs who aren't familiar with the practicalities of piracy, the book lays out a method of doing the deed, labeled “Piracy 101”. This section goes into a helpful amount of detail on things like:

• Finding a target
• persuading them to surrender
• deciding what to take, including whether or not to steal the ship directly
• escaping pursuit
• turning the loot into cash (but more on that later)

Joe & Jay's greatest mission ever!

Tuesday has become Game Night with my boys. We're going back and forth between Traveller and Lord of the Rings. For Traveller, my two boys have picked up two old characters, Joe Blasterson and Jay Maverick again. Read about their earlier adventures here. 

Most recently they have been on Kemasiik, in Holtzmann's Corridor. After finishing a job, they were contacted by an Imperial Embassy staffer, Sir Tolbert, with an offer of two High Passage vouchers off-world in return for a 'job'. The Empire would like to see Kemasiik shake off the influence of VanGoff's World (VGW), which has economic control of the planet. A famine decades ago had forced Kemasiik to mortgage a lot of territory to VGW to stay afloat.

Sir Tolbert explained that their job was to prevent a VanGoff businessman, Mr. VanHoffen, from making it to a meeting. VanHoffen was a big-wig who owned a lot of the local real estate. They could not kill him or directly attack him (as this would call for a legal inquiry and reschedule the meeting), he had to miss the meeting by 'accident'. Simple, right?

This man is hosed six ways from Sunday. He just doesn't know it yet.

The boys set to work concocting a list of ways to mess up VanHoffen's morning schedule. It included:

1. Disable his contra-grav car
2. Change his clocks to read the wrong time
3. Kill power to his house
4. slip him a Mickey to make him over-sleep

Red Tattoo Description Technique

I recently read The Man with the Red Tattoo, a James Bond novel by Raymond Benson. This is not a book review; the story was good but not outstanding. I want to talk about something else, something useful to both writing and gaming.

On pages 12-13 of the novel, the author introduces the villain (the titular Man) in the form of a mental run-down of “What does Bond know about this person?” Benson describes the villain in eight sentences, and in one paragraph, we know everything the reader needs to know about him.

One Way to Deal with Pirates

A pirate ship, yo ho!

An encounter with pirates in Traveller

Referee: Dad

Josiah Greene, captain of SS Lioness: Zach

Zeke Mason, XO and head of security: Joel

Referee: The navigator tells you that the pirates that are in pursuit have reached overtake velocity. It is no longer possible to outrun them.

Josiah: What do we know about the pirate’s ship? How big is it?

Referee: Your sensors indicate it’s a 400-ton vessel, probably a modified Type-P corsair.

Josiah: I’d like to make an Education throw to determine the size of the crew.

Referee: Ok, that should be an average difficulty, so roll EDU or less, no DMs.

Josiah: (rolls) Made it!

Referee: The Type P usually has only 10 crewmen, possibly as many as 12.

Zeke: Are we going to fight them?

Josiah: Maybe, but I think we can outsmart them first. (writing) I want to rig this up in the airlock. (hands referee a list)

Homesteader's Stand - Amber Zone Reviews #35

Amber Zone: Homesteader's Stand, by William H. Keith

A beautiful girl, a besieged ranch and a gang of armed thugs. Welcome home Traveller!

Check out the series introduction here.

 

Location: the planet Lorelei (Foreven Sector, Fessor 0108) C-668742-7 in the Greensummer valley and town of Firstfound.

The parish church in Greensummer valley.

Patron: Dawn Sinclair, a childhood friend of one of the PCs, who also calls Lorelei home. This fact is written into the adventure; the referee will have to set it up with one of the players before the adventure begins.

Mission: The Yedos, a group of supposedly persecuted religious zealots from nearby Blukjere; have shown their true colors as ruthlessly aggressive supremacists. They have run nearly everyone out of bucolic Greensummer Valley, with the exception of Dawn's father. He refuses to abandon his land or submit to the Yedo's intimidation. As such, it's only a matter of time before the Yedos try to force him out, ahem, permanently. Dawn wants the PCs to 'help' her father, but it's up to the players how they will help.

Complications: Lorelei is a peaceful farming world of ranches and small towns. The constabulary is outgunned or cowed by the Yedos or both; the planetary government is not able to assemble a militia. The PCs are on their own and as such they are very outnumbered. The Yedos travel in packs and have automatic weapons; plus their supremacist philosophy means they are very unlikely to be persuaded by negotiation – they believe they can just take what they want as the natural superiors. They also have a number of Loreleians in their camp; supposed converts that are likely used as slave labor. The group leader, Lord Jerfed is reputed to be invulnerable.

Payoff: Dawn doesn't have much money, and the local town of Firstfound isn't rich either. The adventure suggest they may provide more social rewards for ridding them of the Yedos; medals, awards and reputation. Dawn might reveal a romantic interest in the PC she knows, and want to join the PC's group. Plus, defeating these jerks is just the right thing to do. They are arrogant selfish takers, with no regard for anyone they consider 'inferior'; that is, anyone who isn't one of them.

Strong Points: Another strong entry by the Keiths. I want to run this adventure. This is a good solid story archetype; it is a form of Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven. Referees can/should watch one of these films to get cues on how to portray the Yedos, Mr. Sinclair and the other Loreleians. The problem that the PCs face is simple while the solution to it is not. There are many ways the PCs can approach this besides full frontal assault with guns blazing. The biggest limitation is the amount of equipment they have to hand with which to counter the Yedo's advantage of numbers. Being arrogant rather than paranoid, it is likely the Yedo's camp is not well secured so the PCs can spy on them and perhaps sneak into the camp. Even if the Lord Whatshisface gets taken out, the rest of the Yedos will not disappear in a puff of smoke, it could be a long battle to bring them all to heel.

Weak Points: The absence of effective constabulary or national militia is not entirely plausible; but it is also a conceit of the game that allows the PCs to take center stage. As such I'm willing to mention it and move on. Depending on the players, the potential romance might be a role-playing opportunity or an unwanted distraction. There is little about this adventure that is strongly science fiction; unless the PCs have g-carriers and fusion guns, this could be set in the 19^th century in the Wild West.

What I'd change: Going with the idea from the weak points, how would this adventure play differently if one or both sides had contra-grav and energy weapons? Maybe not that much, as it is a battle of wills and wits. It should be possible to disconnect the adventure from the 'old home week' hook and replace it with another motivation to aid the people of Greensummer valley. If the PCs have a strong tech advantage, I would give the Yedos more men or a small number of anti-vehicle weapons. If (or when) this becomes a gun fight it should be a nail-biter.

In My Traveller Universe: I don't have any worlds that match Lorelei's climate, population and tech level, but it seems like the kind of thing that would happen on an Independent world rather than a member of a star nation. I'll pick Lasham (Dormar-Ostrander 0609) because of its remote location.

Map: The map details Greensummer valley, with marks indicating Mr. Sinclair's farm and the Yedo's compound. The Amber Zone gives no description of the valley, so this map is just my version. Referees can make their own. The Sinclair ranch, Yedo camp and town of Firstfound are all marked. The black lines are roads, the blue rivers and the red is the boundary of the Yedo's control. 

How Greensummer was my valley . . .

I made this map, using Hexographer. It may be reproduced or modified without permission. Photo taken from http://littlevisuals.co/ Assumed to be in the public domain. 

Equipping the Effective Villain

Bad Guys!  Every hero seems to need a bad guy to fight. There’s a great scene from the Justice League cartoon series where Superman’s arch-villain Lex Luthor rubs his nose in the fact that Supes just couldn’t put Luthor away for good – he couldn’t be the hero without a villain to oppose.

But what is a villain?  In a roleplaying game, a villain is an NPC whose goals or plans are contrary to the PC’s interests, or to the society as a whole. A villain is an OPFOR, an obstacle to overcome and moreover, a villain is a recurring, ongoing problem. Villains frame an adventure, and that can then develop into a campaign. Villains are a challenge and a reason to go adventuring. GDW published a lot of adventures, but very few of them had a specific villain. So, adventure is possible without them, but it can be a whole lot of fun with them.

What makes an effective villain? (I can’t bring myself to say a ‘good villain’). Villains need a motivation, of course, and usually it is an ignoble motive behind the goals they pursue, but that does not always have to be the case. The classic archetype of the Noble Enemy can make a terrific challenge for players. The PCs don’t want him to succeed, but they can completely understand and maybe even sympathize with why the villain is acting that way. Or maybe the villain is an immoral scumbag who eats puppies and steals candy from children, and the PCs can’t wait to deliver the well-deserved beatdown.

Uh, guys?  I think I know who this game's villain is . . .

But before you get to that point, remember motivation alone is not enough. They need two other things as well. They need Power or Influence or both. What do I mean by this?

Defining our terms

Power is ‘hard’; is the capability to get things done, without the consent of those you do it to. My fleet invades, you surrender or I smash your cities until you do surrender. Direct. Alternatively, I buy up all the available stock of Unobtainium which your business depends upon. Your business collapses. 

In fantasy RPGs, Power is easy and readily available. A character can have large attack bonuses, carry about piles of magical weapons or equipment, and cast mighty spells. In some ways, it seems that the whole goal of a fantasy RPG is the accumulation of Power.  Past a certain point, high level fantasy characters are effectively immune to the myriad dangers that threaten mere mortals. In addition to having lots of personal power, high level characters may even establish strongholds, and start raising armies. Eventually they could rule countries. 

In a sci-fi setting like Traveller, where PCs do not evolve into demi-gods, it is a lot harder to acquire Power that sets one apart. The FGMP-15 is a terrifyingly dangerous weapon, and the battlefield Meson Accelerator (see Book 4, Mercenary) will ruin your day in a 100 meter radius, but they are technological devices. That means that if your PC has one, so do the Imperial Marines sent to take yours away from you! Armed starships are common, and millionaires and Barons seem to be everywhere. 

Money and hierarchical position are also Power. When the CEO or the reigning noble speaks, people listen. Hierarchs who are part of the government have the Power of the state to bring to bear. That’s what makes dictators such fun villains – they have all the machinery of the state at their disposal to harass the PCs and foil their plans.

Influence is ‘soft’ and therefore less visible or tangible than ‘hard’ Power. Influence makes things happen indirectly, and more often with your consent.  I show up in your capital with my diplomats and the run-down on my fleet capability. Through display of force and persuasion, you surrender to me. I haven’t fired a shot, nothing has been destroyed, but I still win. Perhaps I persuade you to financially support my expedition. The decision is yours, but you would not have made it without my Influence to bring you to the point of deciding. An elected executive may not be able to simply decree “execute these PCs” but he can certainly use Influence to get their starship impounded, their assets seized and their every move scrutinized by the police until they decide to leave. 

Influence is often harder to counteract, because you don’t always see it at work. If I want you do to something for me, I might use my Power in the form of my own weaponry, or by arms bearers loyal to me. But, then you can easily counter by calling out your arms bearers to meet mine.  If I prefer to avoid that, I might use my Influence to get one of your subordinates to do the thing in your name.  That way, I get what I want, and you may never know that it happened. If you do, your subordinate may present it as being something in your best interest, and never mention that I wanted it to happen. 

Influence can be very open, as well. The street-corner preacher or politician is trying to Influence the public. In some societies, open public debate is the main way of moving public opinion. Contests of Influence, public or private, will be less violent, and involve a lot more role-playing as the opposing parties try to find the points at which their Influence can counter their opponents’ most effectively. 

PC’ Influence comes from their social skills. See my post on the Reaction table for a list of those skills. Contacts and reputation are all forms of Influence. I plan to discuss those two concepts in a later post. 

What has all this to do with my original point? Without Power & Influence, an NPC won’t be much of a villain. Sure, the nebbish clerk (UPP 555555, Admin-0) can interfere with the PC’s lives by denying a permit, but he won’t be much of a long-term problem, no matter how evil his intentions are in denying the permit. 

If you create a villain for your PCs to oppose, take the time to establish how much Power or Influence the NPC has, and of what sort it is. As I have tried to demonstrate, Power and Influence come in many forms; make sure that your PCs can at least attempt to counter the Villains P&I. A PC with Liaison-5 will not have much chance against armed goons with orders to shoot on sight.

So who has Power & Influence?

The obvious answer in the Official Traveller Universe is that the Imperium has the power. The Imperium’s power is vested in the Aristocracy, particularly the Archdukes and Dukes. It is stated in the Library Data that the Imperium maintains stability by insuring the balance of power on the local level. Any side that gets too powerful, or if an extra-planetary force tries to exert destabilizing influence, the Imperium sends in the Marines to keep things balanced. The Imperium tolerates Nobles having their own private ‘security’ forces, both armed guardsmen and armored ships, but only so far. A subsector Duke who has too much Power will be watched carefully by the other Dukes and the Archduke, to keep the Duke in check. 

In my TU, where there is no Imperium, things are looser. Each of the Big Four has its own sphere, and the points at which those spheres overlap are where a lot of the conflicts in my setting will take place. Holtzmann’s Corridor is mostly in the Sphere of the Talaverans, but The Trade Protectorate is trying to move in and claim a share of the markets. 

Standing over against what I said earlier about fantasy characters, is the Psionics rules for Traveller. Telepathy, Clairvoyance and the rest can all be used as Influence that's particularly hard to counter, even if you know it's happening. A few Psi talents can be considered Power as well - the telepathic Assault, and many applications of Telekinesis.

 

One of these people is using Telepathy to steal valuable trade secrets.

At the PC's level, because Power & Influence are easily accessible, just about anyone could become a villain to thwart the PC's plans. Here are just four possibilities, which I have rolled at random from Patron List One in the Encounters section (a villain is likely to be someone's patron, after all).

• Noble - a landed but credit-less Noble (Influence but no Power) embarks on a plan of crooked business deals, including sabotage of the PC's ship to benefit businesses in which he has holdings.
• Assassin - This killer (Power but no Influence) wants to make a reputation for himself, and has targeted people close to the PCs.
• Governor - The local potentate is trying to discourage explorers, like the PCs, from visiting the border region he controls. Perhaps he has black market projects or a secret pirate base that he does not want to be discovered. The PCs face progressively more and more bureaucratic obstruction (Influence, then Power) aimed at convincing them to leave the region.
• Tourist - A dilettante with Psi powers and few scruples (Influence) decides to start following the PCs around, using his ability to cause them trouble by using his Telempathy to antagonize all the people the PCs meet for his own amusement. He hires the PCs as companions/bodyguards to mask his self-serving motive.  

A villain does not need to be a world-conquering megalomaniac, just someone who uses his Power & Influence to further goals that the PCs will wish to stop. So get out there and stop them!

Photo credits:
Villain - photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel_gies/4898461733/">~dgies</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a> 
Board meeting - photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9110880@N04/13756154804/">le temple du chemisier</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a> 

Small Cargoes - Amber Zone Reviews # 31

Everybody knows "small packages" is a Trader euphemism for smuggled goods.

Amber Zone: Small Cargoes, by J. Andrew Keith

Location: the planet Karin (SM/Five Sisters 0504)

Patron: Kyle Veristan, a businessman from Penelope, a planet one hex from Karin

Mission: Quietly deliver a package to his sister on Karin, avoiding import duties – in other words, smuggling.  The smuggled goods are pharmaceuticals which the sister needs.

 

Short Shelf Life, deliver at once!

Complications: The package is on the restricted items list on Karin, so discovery will carry significant penalties – fines rather than imprisonment/execution. There are multiple layers of customs inspection to get past in order to make the delivery.

Payoff: Cr 500,000 to the group, payable upon confirmation of delivery of the goods.

Strong Points: This could be a good solo mission: it has a stronger motivation behind it than Chariots of Fire - the goods are medicine which the patron's sister needs to live. So it's a mercy mission, forced to be a criminal job by bureaucracy. The alternative endings given introduce further complications and can serve to lead into other adventures.

Weak Points: Overall I have enjoyed Mr. Keith's work, but not this time. As I have observed about several other Amber Zones, I don't like that the patron is specifically asking the PCs to commit a crime. At least the reason this time is more legitimate, it's a humanitarian type mission. The Amber Zone as written requires the PCs to engage in  smuggling & bribery, so PCs without those essential social skills are likely to feel left out; as well as the combat-oriented PCs. One other thought. If the patron has that much cash to hand out to the PCs, why isn't he doing any of this himself?

In particular, please do not confiscate and incarcerate.

What I'd change: This does not have to be a criminal enterprise at all, and I would encourage players to try non-criminal methods. The whole challenge of this adventure as written can be gotten around by persuading the sister to cross the extrality line, and giving her the pharma where it's legit. The patron could set up a regular round trip for her to get her dosage, he's got the cash for lots of high passages. The sister's medical condition is real, and one assumes documented, so that it would be easy to explain frequent trips. 

 

 PCs could also go to the Navy, be completely upfront about what they want to do, and use Admin/Liaison or any other reaction modifiers they can think of to persuade the Navy patrols to grant an exception. They're getting paid half a million, I think they could afford a few fees/penalties for the extra paperwork. A sympathetic diplomat or priest (somebody with both pull and immunity) could be brought in to lend their persuasiveness to granting an exception, and no illegality would have to be employed.

In My Traveller Universe: I would set this adventure in the Union of Socialist Worlds, which has the most reason to want to restrict imports to their worlds.

Chariots of Fire Amber Zone Revies # 29

Amber Zone Review #29 
   
Amber Zone: Chariots of Fire, by  Anders Blixt

To the Rescue!

Location: Gatina (C-765876-7) in the nations of Castica & Handor.

Patron:  An officer of Castica's Military Intelligence brach

Mission: Castica wants to stage a propaganda coup on their neighbor Handor by stealing two specialty fire engines. These vehicles were purchased jointly by the two nations (under a previous government in Handor) and housed in the Handorian capital. The rigs are the core of a specialty fire fighting unit for combating urban & industrial fires. The rigs are to be driven from one capital to the other, a distance of only 10 km, with the border halfway there. There are a few roads which the rigs could take to cross the border.

Payoff: Cr 50,000 to the group.

Complications: Tensions have been on the rise between the two nations, so the border is patrolled by armed forces on both sides. The rigs are easily recognizable to both sides. The PCs will have to explain their possession of the rigs. The patron has not been able to forewarn his side about the hijacking. Either side may decide to arrest or shoot the PCs if they think the rigs are being stolen. The rigs cannot be damaged in the transfer. The patron will cut the pay if the rigs are damaged.

Strong Points:  The more I think about this adventure, the more complicated it becomes. At first you might think, 'steal a truck and drive it 10 km? Easy.' But it won't be. Fire engines are big and hard to mistake for anything but what they are. No one (offical, anyway) is going to let the PCs take these two rigs without asking a lot of questions, and possibly arresting or shooting them if they don't like the answers.

          The real challenge, then, is to steal two large vehicles without anyone suspecting that they're stealing them. This is a mission for Danny Ocean or Neal Caffrey, or maybe even Mission Impossible, not gun-toting heavies. Social skills like Forgery, Bribery and Carousing will be of more use here than fighting. Even more important than that, it will require planning and role playing by the players. It may not be as epic as The Great Train Robbery, but if the PCs pull this off, they will have definite bragging rights for a long while.

Weak Points: As a matter of preference; if a PC I'm playing is going to do something that might result in jail time, I'd rather it be something more significant and heroic than stealing from the Fire Department. This adventure also lacks any sci-fi feel to it, this could just as easily be happening between Germany & Poland. I'm also not happy with the implication that the PCs actions could help provoke a war between these two nations.

What I'd change: Nothing. This is not my favorite kind of adventure; I don't prefer ones where the PCs are committing crimes. Nevertheless, as written, the adventure is solid, just not my taste.

In My Traveller Universe: This scenario requires a balkanized world, and there are not many of them IMTU. Latoria (Weitzlar subsector) seems the closest match in size, population and tech level. 

Firefighters and other emergency services workers, both professional and volunteer are real heroes, whether in the Far Future or right here, right now. Support your local Fire Department, and consider making a donation to the Firefighters Support Foundation.

photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/leecannon/5806534643/">Lee Cannon</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

Lockbox - Amber Zone Reviews # 21

Amber Zone: Lockbox, by J. Andrew Keith from JTAS #13

Check out the series introduction here.

Location: no specific location is given, but the description give the impression that it is not a backwater. The planet Otrai (Foreven 2613) is named as being nearby.

Patron: A ship crewman, who does not give his name.

Mission: He asks the PCs to hold onto a key, and deliver a package, currently in a lockbox at the starport, to the owner who is arriving on-planet in a day or so. Cash and a key are given, as the patron suddenly rushes off, as if being pursued.

Complications: This adventure is nothing but complications. The PCs discover the patron dying in an alley almost immediately after hiring them. He leaves them a cryptic message (“don't look!”). Soon after, mysterious persons will approach the party and demand they be given the key to the lockbox, saying that the contents are theirs, and was stolen from them. If the PCs do not comply, they will be followed and attacked at random points. No matter how many of the mystery men they defeat, there seem to be more of them coming.

Payoff: Cr 250, plus another Cr 250 upon delivery

Strong Points: Kudos to Mr. Keith for making research, not gunplay, the central component of this adventure. It's a mystery, and you solve a mystery by learning more about the situation. Who killed the patron, and why? Who are these mystery men? The mystery men can be serious foes if it does come to actual fighting, despite their reliance on low-tech weapons. They employ sneak attacks and assassin tactics. The JTAS article on martial arts (JTAS # 19) can be used to make them really effective fighters. 

The PCs may have to engage in a quest to get the mystery men & their organization to leave them alone. The adventure also notes that the referee can make use of the mystery men as devices to influence the PCs in subsequent adventures, nudging them in the direction the referee wants them to go.

Weak Points: The plot seems to hinge, at one point, on the PCs being curious and indifferent to danger; they have an easy out when the mystery men ask for the key. Why should the PCs risk getting knifed for 250 credits and a doohickey that isn't theirs? The mystery men as recurring antagonists can, if not handled deftly, be seen as heavy handed railroading by the players – the article states there is really no way to change the mystery men's determination to pursue them. 

Further, there's been a murder and (possibly) attempted murders, yet the adventure states that the local authorities will do little to help. Why? Even on planets with little formal law, murder is still serious business, and off-worlders committing them could be a political scandal as well.

What I'd change: A structural change to the plot: I would have the PC's interviewed by the local police after the patron is killed. I would not have them arrested, just brought in for questioning as they are identified as the last ones the patron spoke with. The police can give them the cryptic message and other details about the murder. The police will likely want the key, and advise the PCs to stay out of it. They may get called in again by police if the investigating officer is found murdered in the same fashion as the patron. 

This should motivate the PCs to investigate and discover the facts about the lockbox and its contents, if only to clear their own names. If the PCs do discover the patron in the alley, I would allow a medic to attempt to save his life. He might still end up dead later, but that would also draw the PCs into investigating.

In My Traveller Universe: I would locate this adventure in the Weitzlar subsector. Among the Independent planets, there are plenty of places that could substitute for the adventure location, and as a home world for the mystery men.

There are no locations described in this adventure, so I do not include a map.