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The Space Patrol $11.99
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The Space Patrol
Publisher: Stellagama Publishing
by Jeffrey Z. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/11/2021 16:54:36

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2017 issue of Freelance Traveller.

Reviewer’s note: The publisher provided a complimentary copy of the product for review.

Canonically, the Imperial Navy is responsible for anti-piracy operations in the Third Imperium, and this, presumably, is de facto the main source of operational experience for ships and crews.

Mr Hazlewood and Stellagama Publishing propose another alternative: As piracy and certain other activities represent criminal problems rather than military ones, they should be handled by an organization that is more of a “police department” than a military force. Enter the Space Patrol.

The introductory material in this volume sets out the nature of the Space Patrol, and outlines its organization, mission, and jurisdiction. The limitations of the Space Patrol’s mission (and the definitions of the various classes of crimes that the Space Patrol has jurisdiction over) are carefully set out to avoid turning them into a general-purpose police force and bogging them down in local crimes. As a result, the Space Patrol is cast as an agency quite different from the Navy or Starport Authority.

Because of these differences, and the effect that they can have on play, a discussion of planetary legal systems is included. A definition of the characteristics of a world’s legal system and a method of rolling it up are both provided; this profile focuses less on “what’s allowed and what’s not, and how likely are you to get hassled” and more on “how (and how well) the legal system works for a law enforcer doing law enforcement”. The characteristics thus selected are “Bureaucracy”, “Corruption”, “Repression”, and “Cruelty”. Each is broadly classified as “minimal”, “low”, “average”, “high”, and “extreme”, with a general description of how the level can be interpreted. There is an explicit invitation to adjust the definitions to fit the referee’s image of the world, and with some of the characteristics, it’s not impossible to conceive of expanding the rating into a “profile” of its own.

Much of the discussion of legal systems appears to start from a basis of what is often called “Western liberal democracy”, which decision is not difficult to understand, as it will be the likely background for most players, regardless of the world that the characters may find themselves on. Concepts such as separation of powers, rule of law, burden of proof, the necessity for warrants in appropriate contexts, and so on are treated as defaults. However, variation from the “Western liberal democracy” defaults are mentioned as possibilities, and enough information is provided that one can design a legal system that matches any present or historical system, or one that is completely novel. It should be noted that some variations are missed; for example, there is no discussion of the distinction between an adversarial system (such as is used in the United States) and an inquisitorial system (such as is used for some types of prosecution in France).

Basic rules for handling the entire investigation, charging, trial, appeal, and sentencing process are provided; most modifiers are based on relevant ratings from the legal system profile rather than the raw Law Level from the UWP.

The book to this point is quite well-written, and can serve as an introduction to (or clarification of concepts related to) legal systems for the layman.

As an interstellar organization in a presumed setting where the speed of travel is the speed of communication, the Space Patrol faces the same issues that other agencies of the canonical Third Imperium – or, in fact, any multiworld polity of any significant size – face. As written, the organization of the Space Patrol more-or-less parallels that of the interstellar polity as a whole, with the rank of the head of the Space Patrol organization normally being two ranks below the political head of the polity’s corresponding subdivision. The size of a Space Patrol organization on the world is generally determined by the importance of the world and the amount of interstellar traffic it receives; there are four types of Space Patrol “Bureaus” defined, from a small office with only a handful of Patrollers up to the largest with hundreds or thousands of Patrollers, training facilities, nearby courts and ship, vehicle, and equipment construction and repair facilities, and so on. Where internal borders are an issue, the Space Patrol establishes liaison offices to deal with cross-border matters; the criminals do not, after all, honor those internal borders. As with the overall interstellar polity, the Space Patrol’s ability to act is limited within a system’s own jurisdiction, though when actively pursuing an investigation or attempt at apprehension, there are exceptions to those limitations. Normally, agents of the Space Patrol will work with local law enforcement, and (as much as possible) within the local rules, to accomplish their missions.

Within the Space Patrol, there are four operational divisions, covering administration and politics (Secretariat), Investigation (including undercover work), logistical support (Operations), and active enforcement (Marshals). Agents working for the Investigation Division are what most people think of as “the Space Patrol”. To draw parallels between the Space Patrol and real-world police organizations, the Secretariat is clerical and administration personnel (and political liaison); Investigation is “beat cops” and detectives, Marshals are special enforcement units (e.g., SWAT teams, Counterterrorism, Vice Squads, political bodyguard details, and so on), and Operations is everything else.

All of this is useful background to give the player or referee a “feel” for what the Space Patrol is, and how it works. But by now, the reader is going to want more – and more there is.

This volume frankly admits that the standard Cepheus Engine careers of Agent and Navy could serve adequately for Space Patrol characters, but why settle for ‘adequate’? Mr Hazlewood has worked up four careers for the Space Patrol, one for each division. These careers actually extend the basic career rules from Cepheus Engine with concepts borrowed from various other compatible game systems (separate advancement tracks for enlisted and commissioned officers, decorations, mishaps and events, and allies and enemies), but otherwise conform to the basic career structure. Any one of the four careers can generate a character that will be useful in many ways, but each of the four career options has its own distinct flavor.

The Space Patrol, like any police department, needs vehicles – and in this case, spacecraft and starships – that are designed to meet their special needs. Several vessels are described, and three include deck plans (in the traditional monochrome plan view, not the more recent color isometric view). Most of the designs described are modifications of such familiar ships as the Modular Cutter, the Free Trader, or the Subsidized Merchant, and the latter two are deliberate mimics (“Q-ships”), with the intended mission of luring pirates into attacking an apparently unarmed or lightly-armed merchant, only to find the ‘victim’ to be more heavily armed than believed, and to have the tables turned.

The Space Patrol has standard equipment customized for its particular needs, and there are descriptions of a selection of Patrol equipment. Obviously, if the referee feels that additional equipment should be available, it can be added.

While the creative referee can certainly take what’s been presented to this point, and develop Space Patrol adventures without further reference to this volume, the author discusses several campaign settings and campaign types that mesh well with the described Space Patrol, and which are easily adapted to the referee’s preferences. A broad selection of generalized NPCs is also provided, capable of filling virtually any needed role in a Space Patrol campaign. Most can also be converted into player-characters if desired. There are even complete crew workups for a corvette and a Customs cutter, and a selection of Most Wanted criminals.

In addition to the generalized discussion of campaign types, a set of adventure seeds, in the traditional format, are provided. Two of the provided seeds can be linked together into a mini-campaign. These seeds do suffer from the “minor variations on a theme” problem with traditional denouements, but are still well-designed for the Space Patrol.

Overall, this volume is worth the price, even if you decide that the Space Patrol functions are folded into the Navy in your universe. The perspective that it provides on interstellar crime and law enforcement can enrich any setting.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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The Space Patrol
Publisher: Stellagama Publishing
by Eric F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/20/2020 11:05:24

"The SPACE PATROL Needs YOU!

The Space Patrol! Help protect innocent lives from the scourge of space piracy! Fight interstellar crime! Let the Navy play its wargames, the real action is in the merchant lanes with the Space Patrol. Join the galaxy’s elite crime fighting organization now!"

The Space Patrol is a supplement for the Cepheus Engine rules and 2D6 SciFi OGL games. This book contains complete rules for creating Space Patrol characters with four detailed careers - complete with expanded event and mishap tables - expanded world descriptions discussing legal codes and interstellar law, a complete description of the Space Patrol’s organization, as well as its standard equipment. Busy GMs will find dozens of NPCs from all Divisions of the Space Patrol, as well as some of the Sub-Sector’s most notorious criminals. But beware: if these villains were easy to catch, they would already be behind bars."

Its been 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood By Stellagama Publishing this is a perfect addition to the alternative Traveller rpg navy book for the Cepheus Engine rpg retroclone. 'The Space Patrol' is solid book because it presents an alternative to the full on Navy military organization that's been a part of The Traveller rpg since forever. We get everything in a handy & easy to use package especially if the PC's need to be integrated into a mini ' Space Patrol'

We get everything from 'Space Patrol' for a campaign from random events, campaign affairs, even wanted NPC criminals, and all of the rewards that go with them. Into the deep dive of this we get equipment, vehicles, weapons, even complete star ships. The corvettes here in 'Space Patrol' are worked up with NPC crews, add ons, & events.

There are even 'Space Patrol' mimic star ships that cruise space lanes as 'easy targets' & are anything but.They sit & wait on the edge of space for pirates. These things are nasty & deadly for their like mirage ships waiting for the criminal elements then the rest of 'Space Patrol' moves in! 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood is built to handle any type of campaign from cinematic to full on Traveller rpg war game conventions. Richard Hazlewood knows his subject & the author is familiar name around the Traveller rpg forums & gaming groups going back quite a way. I mostly lurked & I'm actually relatively new to the Cepheus Engine scene. That being said I know quality writing & design when I see it.

Could 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood be linked into the These Stars Are Ours universe setting?! Possibly without issue with the stats, vehicles, etc. but thematically might actually be another story entirely. 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood feels like it should be its own complete mini campaign entirely. This isn't a bad thing at all because it means that there's a lot of supplement here to use. Is 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood worth getting?! In a word hell yes! I can see running a complete bounty hunting campaign from the ground up using 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood as part of the basis with the PC's butting heads with them again & again.

Richard Hazlewood knows his subject, knows it well, & has a really good grasp of the Traveller & Cepheus Engine rpg material. The Space Patrol is going to be used in several up coming campaigns & I really look forward to digging in deeper into more of Stellagama Publishing books soon! Grab 'The Space Patrol' by Richard Hazlewood today if you wanna bust some heads & arrest those pesky space pirates unless their the PC's!?

Eric Fabiaschi Sword & Stitchery blog Want more OSR & original content Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/ Thanks for reading this review!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the wonderful review!
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The Space Patrol
Publisher: Stellagama Publishing
by Jeffrey N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/20/2017 20:30:38

Getting into the product, and it has some nice additions to my possible campaigns



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the wonderful review!
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The Space Patrol
Publisher: Stellagama Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/10/2017 00:32:55

A four page introduction is followed by sections on the History and Mission of the Space Patrol. It's generic enough to fit into any campaign. Then there are several sections on codes of law, prize money, jurisdiction, interstelalr law enforcement, legal and court systems. I haven't looked at these sections in depth yet, but they seem like they would be quite useful, particularly if your player characters tend to skirt the law a bit. Next comes sections on organisation, rank and careers (creating a Space Patrol Officer). A must for any module describing a new organisation. Next up is ships and equipment. also a must when presenting a new organisation. The section on Space Patrol campaigns describes what sort of setting works best, and how to integrate the space patrol into existing campaign universes. Helpful advice is always appreaciated. The final sections provide some typical (or atypical npcs), adventure seeds and some scenarios. Again very useful and a must in this type of book.

The layout is pretty good and sections are fairly easy to find, and I didn't notice too many typos. All in all, a pretty good book, that adds useful material to the referees gaming arsenal. Buy it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for your great review!
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The Space Patrol
Publisher: Stellagama Publishing
by Brian I. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/06/2016 21:19:48

Solid book! It wasn't quite as Terran Trade Authority as my tired brain was wanting in the moment (Space Patrol!), but a well done look at a "missing" branch. Especially well suited to plug and play into an emergent 2d6 classic science fiction "Empire" setting.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for your excellent review!
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The Space Patrol
Publisher: Stellagama Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/31/2016 00:07:10

A decent treatment of an interstellar law enforcement agency for the Cepheus Engine Core Rules (or even gasp Mongoose Traveller). The Space Patrol is presented very much in the tradition of Classic SF forebearers such as E.E. Doc Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, Harry Harrison, and Jack Vance's Gaean Reach stories. It would have been nice to have some information on the role of psionics in the Space Patrol - does the patrol maintain units of trained psionicists, does it investigate psionic crimes, is evidence gathered via telepathy or clairvoyance admissable in court, etc. It also would be nice to have a bit more detail on the kinds of criminal activities that the Space patrol targets. What does organized crime look like in universes where there is FTL travel but no FTL communication? Other than these two minor caveats, this is a solid book covering a law enforcement campaign style rarely tackled by SF RPGs. I note with interest that the book is listed as being both Cepheus Engine compatible and compatible with the 2D6 OGL SciFi system (with a nice logo!) Does this imply that Stellagama Publishing are working on their own derivative of the old Mongoose Traveller SRD? Curiously the copy of the Open Game Licence on the final page is missing making it difficult to say for certain - they probably want to fix this for legal reasons.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for the wonderful review! As for your question, we are not working right now on any ruleset - the Cepheus Engine is perfect for our needs. However, there are other rulesets using the 2D6 OGL Sci-Fi rules, and our products are compatible with them as well. Regarding the OGL license - good catch! This somehow fell out of editing and will be corrected ASAP.
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