Secrets of the Ancients: Ep.1 Bodysnatchers - RPG Review

[@Scrooge.1]

"and until one of youze can prove otherwise, I refuse to accept anything but this overcomplicated theory" *GM PTSD intensifies*

[@MechaTrekAD]

I've been there buddy. I've been there. *buys us both another round*

[@tylerdurham6091]

The most unbelievable part is implying there's any evidence that will convince a player.

[@archonfett]

@@MechaTrekAD deal me in as well, I'll get the next round

[@danjohnson887]

This should have been called "Big Trouble in Little Regina"...

[@solomani-42]

Love it.

[@jesternario]

I both hate you and love you for that one.

[@TheManKnownAsAi]

Another campaign diaries? For Traveller? For a full published campaign? Seth you spoil us

[@twitchew]

^^^^^^^^ this. also the tips and ideas that are just part of being a GM like wrangling players etc.

[@Chaosmage42]

this actually makes me want to play traveler of course the biggest problem is getting the bodies together to play it

[@ArchWizEmeryVODs]

I’m glad the ancients now have more than one secret, everyone needs at least two.

[@Shenaldrac]

I think the one secret was that there's multiple secrets.

[@DarthMalnu]

Everything being set in Regina makes me think it's all taking place in space Saskatchewan, and that never stops being funny to me.

[@dutch6857]

Quit'cher chirping and pump the brakes with that blaster there, buddy, or we're gonna have a right donnybrook on our hands here

[@DarthMalnu]

@dutch6857 My galactic combine's pert near running on fumes, so we'd best pitter patter and get after it.

[@Starcraftgamer97]

​@@DarthMalnu A few Travellers and their half paid off Far Trader came up to the Highport the other day.

[@OgamiItto70]

Oh-jeez.

[@sakawi]

The gas giant is also named Assiniboia which in real life is a town southwest of Regina.

[@dutch6857]

I like the idea of all the orbital escape pods being programed to land at a remote, dusty farming village where all the residents are both well paid and scared enough to not notice any strangers. Parents pulling kids into houses. Except that one old guy who silently hands over keys and points at the barn containing an air raft before running back indoors.

[@SSkorkowsky]

That's way cooler than I came up with.

[@dutch6857]

@@SSkorkowsky Just had a flash of how Gus from Breaking Bad might handle that end of it.

[@SSkorkowsky]

I like the way you think.

[@shadowheartart3898]

I'm so going to use this idea for some sci-fi rpg at some point. This is a fantastic idea

[@neil_chazin]

Love the campaign diaries, looking forward to the rest of this series, even if I’ve never played any version of Traveller.

[@aerodynamiccerebrum]

I'm right there with you the campaign series and the RPG reviews and how-to series

[@dmeep]

I have watched the two headed serpent so many times, the campaign diaries are def favourite

[@discokossan]

Agreed, my favourite type of Seth's videos, glad we get a bunch more now.

[@--enyo--]

Seth’s videos have made me really want to play in a Traveller campaign.

[@archonfett]

@@dmeep I want to but my keeper has let us know that's the one she's going to run so I can't yet. but i run Traveller

[@dustincameron787]

"It'd be a shame if the ship we put all this time and effort to went away in the next adventure." -Jack What a strangely specific thing to be worried about. Well, I'm extremely optimistic about the ship surviving to the end of the adventure. Now if you'll excuse me I need to increase my insurance on a space ship.

[@RPGmodsFan]

Episode 1 (Bodysnatchers) is a good start to the "Secrets Of The Ancients" Campaign. As you stated, Uncle Vlen should be woven into the backstory of all the Travellers (instead of just the Inheritor).

[@m0rtez713]

The joy seeing you in these costumes is immesurable. Thank you. You made my day.

[@Shenaldrac]

wdy mean? Jack's the one wearing them, not Seth. They're different people, they have different names and everything!

[@paulbigbee]

First, you bring joy to the RPG hobby man, just honest thanks for the work you put in. Second, gonna need a pointer for that t-shirt choomba.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Thank you very much. I found the Scout Services shirt here: www.etsy.com/listing/1427403567/traveller-rpg-dead-scout-t-shirt-black?click_key=b51a2529019e10c67a6a0674dd08e627d0bd8c64%3A1427403567&click_sum=a100da90&ref=shop_home_recs_1

[@lizardwithhat4125]

I adore this campaign diaries. Seth playing several characters that come of as different people is always great fun. Also the Aslan and Vargr Masks are delightful. The shocked jaw drop of Benjamin in the last leg of the session was great. XD

[@Evil0tto]

06:19 "But if you keep going and spoil yourself, you'll be branded a traitor of the Imperium." Players: "That doesn't sound so bad." "Of the Warhammer 40K Imperium." Players: "Oh."

[@oz_jones]

"I'd rather get spaced, thanks."

[@rodneykelly8768]

At the station, I would have put demolition packs in each of the escape pods. Once the self destruct had been trigged, if a smuggler enters the pod, the package arms, then detonates a few minutes after launch. If a player character is on board, then the package deactivates. If the players are on an escape pod and they see another pod explode, their might take it as another clue that something odd is going on.

[@dutch6857]

I had envisioned that info being revealed by comms chatter. "Unauthorized user?!? What the actual ef! I work here! Try again! You're disallowed too!?! We are so boned!"

[@Scanner9631]

A minute after the PCs all leave the escape pods immediate vicinity they should hear it explode destroying evidence of their traveling in it. PC: "We flew in that BOMB?"

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Jack's new Traveller getup is a step up. Glad to see he's still living his best life!

[@andyraff4465]

Big fan of Gareth Hanrahanrahan's work, so looking forward to this.

[@julialuna1]

THIS IS THE BEST DAY!! I love your campaign diaries. I’ve rewatched them a few times. So excited!

[@SSkorkowsky]

I hope you enjoy this one as much as those

[@TheeAugustCaesar]

We were just talking about switching over to traveller when we finish our D&D campaign haha - SOLD!!!

[@mnkyj9]

Strongly recommend it. But I advise you run a 1-shot combat first. Travller will be a shock

[@Torque2100]

I love that you used Sid Haig and Robert Englund from Galaxy of Terror. 😊

[@matthewmccloud4777]

Can confirm that is INDEED a Space: 1999 Commlock Peachy is holding! NICE throwback!

[@evilscientistrecords]

Lily and Benjamin are a welcome addition to the cast 🐺🦁

[@--enyo--]

“Let me handle this… DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM??”

[@Scanner9631]

@@--enyo-- DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM??” Lauren Boebert watching Beetlejuice?

[@Subject_Keter]

"You know who I am?" "My cat after i took her to the Vet?" 😂

[@Vicerion17]

Oh man I remember when the Two Headed Serpent campaign, it's what got my group into Call of and even more so Pulp Cthulhu, we've already dipped our toes into Traveler so maybe this will become a future game I'll run once our other big DnD campaign is over. Cannot wait to see how this goes!

[@dylanramsey5817]

I love when campaigns do "known characters". Gives you cool moments like Han's existing ties to Lando, Greedo, and Jabba in Star Wars. We had fun with that when I ran Starfinder's "FLY FREE OR DIE" adventure. One PC had been the inspiration for a rival crew's pilot, another was childhood friends with their company dispatcher, the third's old crew had been wiped out while transporting a certain diplomat, while the fourth was actually siblings with the main antagonist! Made meeting those NPCs in-game so much more interesting!

[@genericpersonx333]

21:44 Galaxy of Terror is not the first thing I think of when looking for pictures of random space henchmen, but I must admit that Robert Englund and Sid Haig somehow seems a right fit for the role. I must use that movie more as inspiration! Indeed, I can see a great dynamic where Bob is the "reasonable" bad guy who explains that you should not resist them because that might make Sid, the unreasonable bad guy, mad, and then Sid would be even more cruel than he was going to be when he gets his hands on you.

[@JimmysALilGirl]

5:37 - A "SpeedSitter?" So it's really quick to sit? Another great episode, thanks again and I'll see you in the next one.

[@Noob2Ever]

Oh man oh man, I haven't watched the video yet but I've been so excited for this as a GM/Referee. Love you Seth.

[@joshuawilson8804]

I love Droynes. My first real character was a Droyne who was a starship captain who was abducted by men in black and horribly tortured and experimented on before he could escape. He was very optimistic but his psionic powers were very high and unstable, he was basically a walking psionic ticking time bomb. The campaign ended with retiring into an Ancient Stargate System as its administrator with his Vargr partner (other PC). To boldly explore new worlds and help those in need. And a lot of lemonade stands.

[@verlandes1]

I love Gareth Hanrahan, his Cthulhu City is amazing. Also pumped for Moria!

[@bobkarstenson1792]

Amazing video and looking forward to the rest of the series! Thank you for all the work

[@adambohnstengel4375]

Hooray! More Traveller content from one of my favorite creators! When are you going to do another campaign with Glass Cannon?

[@SSkorkowsky]

Once I get the call that a Season 3 has been greenlit, I'll be there. Love playing with that crew.

[@rontalkstabletop]

As Gareth has written some of my favorite adventures/campaigns I look forward to thus series.

[@MesaFalcon]

Yes! It's already been said in these comments, but these campaign diaries are the absolute best. Figured I'd add a comment for the algorithm and to show appreciation. Thanks for putting this together, Seth!

[@herretik2287]

Nice! I love those long-style videos. And don’t worry about characters dying. This just makes it more exciting since they don’t have plot armor and we don’t know if they’ll survive. Their life is up to the dice

[@LatcherWasTaken]

Love that you corrected yourself at 4:30. The dreaded “if we even are able to finish this before the game fizzles out”

[@samwhary5498]

I'm so glad we're getting another one of these! The two headed serpent videos you did is still some of my favorite videos ever, and I've awaited more like them ever since!

[@Sheltered_Child]

Seth, you always help me out by posting when I'm gonna have a long work day. Thank you!

[@MrChupacabra555]

Still fondly remember reading (and re-reading 😅) the original adventure, and a couple of years back a friend of mine ran it solo for me (lots of 'hand waving' away rules, but it was fun to finally play it 😁) Neat to see they have made it into a full campaign now, I may pick it up just out of nostalgia (hardly play anything anymore, unfortunately 😒)

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Awesome on Mongoose making the handouts free as a download! Something a group of coastal wizards seem allergic to...

[@abbbbbbb4482]

Good to see Jack got a wardrobe upgrade!

[@SSkorkowsky]

Been slowly amassing the costumes and props for this series over the past year. There's a couple more pieces I still need for later episodes.

[@Richforce1]

@@SSkorkowsky I can actually see you bring back "Pollock" to stand in for a Droyne in a sketch in this series.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Holy crap! I honestly hadn't thought of that. I'll have to use a blue screen for him because the puppet is green, but that might work. Now to figure out a good way to work in Jack talking to a puppet droyne. Thanks for the idea.

[@Lycano99]

If the green screen causes visual glitches, just say the Droyne is using it's invisibility mind trick. ;) "Knew your ancestor I did Jack. Three thousand years ago we had such fun times together. His ring I still have. Like to wear it would you?"

[@TomeAlone]

Your Traveller series has been so informative. I've watched your series a lot as I started my own Traveller experience on my channel. I randomly chose a human planet called Allaqua and it turned out my character is a private detective! I play Cthulhu too and find it cross-pollinates with Traveller very well!

[@karlheilmann9172]

One of the great things about watching your videos is that you bring up these moments about finding out what the drug actually does or using the anecdote as something the character can tell his buddies about and how you addressed the ongoing investigation. That last one is something I run into with my guys as they expect the investigation to be well underway by the time they get there and they just want the local officials to spoon feed them what the investigation results are so they can just follow the trail to the next spot. I have gone between allowing them to share some info to reserving the local investigation results because their policy is not to give out any information (it may spoil the local investigations).

[@viktornoren9504]

Big thanks for all your videos Seth. You got me into Call of Cthulhu and i just ran my first game (The Haunting) this weekend. Large part of the reason why it went well and why me and my 3 players had a great time was thanks to you. And most of the remaining part of the reason why thing went well were due to people, places and things that I got introduced to through you (such as the Alexandrian). You are a pillar to this hobby and I feel confident that I'm not the only one who greatly appreciate you, love from the Dark Young infested forests of Sweden.

[@WildVii]

Any one else notice the improvement in the framerate for this video? I'm loving the increase in production quality, Seth. I'm not a stickler for that kind of thing, but it reminds me how far your channel has come and makes watching a new campaign diary even more fun for me!

[@WoobooRidesAgain]

21:45 Thank you Seth for once again making me search up and down for the films you pull references from that were lost in the fog of my memory until now, although don't ask me how in the world somebody forgets a movie like Galaxy of Terror.

[@joel3921]

Love listening to these diaries. The closest thing to Audibles for me 🤗. Another great video, Seth!

[@AndyCandyZeroSugar]

Oh my god, even before Jack's last lines I felt increasingly excited for this adventure, and now I can't wait for the next chapter! When I saw this video in my feed I felt so happy as I've been looking forward to more campaign diaries! Loving the characters, both Travellers and the NPCs we met so far! Harlan is such a cool character, I really expected him to be around for much longer but I love the way he got his sendoff and how even in death his cold, ruthless character shined. That was awesome, and Detective Odoy reminded me of Tsuda Kenjiro, who voiced my favourite character of all time, and many others who I like, so even before I learned he was such a fun character I already liked him. Thank you for this video Seth! Your acting as the crew and Jack is always awesome to watch! Again, can't wait for the next chapter!!

[@joshuahebert7972]

Always enjoy seeing traveler content. Seriously under exposed game.

[@JJviewer11993]

I have been wanting a new campaign war diary so much lately! Thank you Seth!

[@martinbowman1993]

I love this episode and I've been waiting forever for this to come. Thanks for making secrets of the ancients playable

[@bordenfleetwood5773]

Love this. I've been debating picking up Secrets of the Ancients, and this series will help immensely. I'm just about to start my group's first Traveller campaign. Something relatively brief to teach them about Charted Space and how their characters work. Then, on to deeper secrets!

[@bigpicklerick]

Ive watched this more than five times and i can't wait till the next one. Happy independence day everyone.

[@Grel1963]

Great video! The animal masks are awesome. I had been considering using this for a Mechwarrior RPG I am running, and this video has convinced me to use it.

[@rhubbard4346]

Oh yes, here we go. I've been following the podcast and waiting for this one for a long time. Love your content, keep up the great work!

[@drwatkins68]

Another great video, I really enjoy the costumes (as usual) and look forward to the next installment.

[@wolfyblackknight8321]

alright more traveler this is gonna be good love the content man

[@LoneEagle2061]

Always check the Library Data :-) In all of the GDW adventures I have, they included a library data section with stuff relevant to that scenario, and I spent way too much time and money trying to get hold of the N-Z book (I had the A-M one for ages; but N-Z was elusive). The players having access to the library was one of the conceits I loved about this game. The fact that Mongoose are bringing that back a bit more makes me happy - and makes me hope they’ll update and expand the data books. On escape pods, it wouldn’t take much of an M-Drive to give quite a significant range on a week of CO2 scrubbing cartridges and litrejohns of water - throw a pack of lifeboat rations in if you’re generous… a week at 1G gets you nine hundred million kilometres according to the core rules… at a 50/50 burn and turn, so they don’t blast right past you still get about four hundred million; the orbital distance of Jupiter is about double that… so give it Thrust 2 and an average 1G over the course… the L4 and L5 Lagrange points are about 1 radian fore and aft of the planet, so about 750 million km for Jupiter. An old, decrepit Type-S stashed in the Lagrange point for if things go south? I like that idea.

[@MrBudNess]

I love this so much. LOL Lilly. I can't get over the costumes! Thank you for this upload, Seth. excited for what's to come.

[@beardgoblin1090]

Awww yeah, a game diary, and its Traveller! I enjoy all of your content, but there's just something about your Traveller stuff - I watch as much Traveller stuff as I can find, and you succeed at making the game feel alive, whereas so many others make it feel like a number crunching exercise (I mean, it's traveller, and 'behind the curtain' there's a whole lot of number crunching, especially for a GM). Great stuff! Nice bit of ominous foreshadowing there, Jack... Only thing missing was >Kicks in door< "Scott Brown, I got a viewing, clear out! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!"

[@Tabletop_Nonsenseverse]

Ooooooohhhhh I have been witing for this series for months!!!!!!!

[@MrKillerofallpeople]

Great video! I always love hearing about the details that go into running a campaign. That's the best part of these campaign diaries.

[@viniciusdelimaalvim2670]

Loved watching this!!!! Will surely pick up the other diaries as well!

[@DoTheDoop]

Just finished four straight days of 12-hour shifts and see this in my KZbin notifications. This is a good Monday.

[@wasabiburger3047]

I love these campaign diaries, really excited for the next one.

[@QG6588]

This is the campaign I ran after first seeing your Traveller reviews! Can't wait to see how you and your players enjoyed it!

[@groundbeef3021]

I love all Seth Skorkowsky videos!

[@michaelberry6016]

great stuff Seth. Love your campaign diaries and especially love any kind of Traveller content. I've really been on the fence whether or not to get these Ancient books and was considering starting with this one. Really wetting the appetite with this diary to jump in and buy it!

[@SSkorkowsky]

I really dig it. I read multiple campaigns from multiple systems and had ruled them all out for one reason or another before I found this one. It does have a few bumps to smooth out (like in CH1 the one assassin needing get away to be arrested, but no reason why that would happen), but they don't take much effort to fix. I'd been the most leery of Ch6 because it's... weird. Like, super-weird, following totally different rules than regular Traveller. But it ended up being our favorite one so-far.

[@michaelberry6016]

@@SSkorkowsky thanks and do appreciate the time for the reply!!! You have sold me on this one!

[@SSkorkowsky]

Definitely watch my video for Ch4. That one will cover some technical mistakes. I hadn't even noticed them until a guy on Reddit pointed it out and I'd have been caught completely off guard during the session when they popped up. It's an easy one to fix once you know about it, but real hard to spot while reading it.

[@EATherridan]

I think it is awesome you have so many Vargr characters. When I was playing it was so rare in my group, I think I was the only one who ever played a Vargr.

[@DahVoozel]

This will be important later.

[@will1myers]

First campaign diary since I started following! I'm both looking forward to more, and dreading the wait between videos!

[@TheDocAstaroth]

Oh, this is gonna be good. I loved the Pulp Cthulhu campaign videos and while I am not personally interested in Traveler, I like Mystery RPG campaigns. All that mischief... delightful. And you can learn so much from Seth's behind the scene work!

[@annnnonnymous]

Very enjoyable, cant wait to see how this all pans out. Not to mention the campaign review being mixed in with the story, great work as always!

[@andrewbusch444]

Love these series. Looking forward to more episodes!

[@AmerisunGT]

Slapping a comment here so you keep this one up! I love this format and can't wait to dig into this one with my party! :-)

[@jefferydraper4019]

5:37 "Squirt, an adorable SPeedsitter." I honestly think you said it better than the spelling.😂😂 Ahhh...the Backetts. I had dealings with them before bout 30 years ago on my old computer.

[@Malkamok]

Hyped for a new campaign diary! Cheers!

[@euansmith3699]

17:10 is Jack holding a Space 1999 Communicator in his right hand? 😎👍 I'm looking forward to learning more of the Secrets of the Ancients, and feeling funny about Lily. 🐶 That tight, black sweater leaves enough to the imagination. Jack's foreshadowing at the end of this episode leaves me even more exited for the next one.

[@naughtiusmaximus1231]

Seth your videos are a joy to watch. Lilly is amazing! Love the content.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Thank you very much

[@Genoan01]

Hey, great video, thank you for sharing this adventure with us 😀

[@jinxtheunluckypony]

Always love the campaign diaries!

[@Richforce1]

War story when I ran this chapter. One of my players having served a term as a law enforcement agent I suggested that Odoy would have been a contact, his old partner and Odoy wanting to get to the bottom of this asked if he could come with his partner to the Ujinka estate. I followed your suggestion of a third attacker in the house, not a new guy but a lady with a robot arm who ran with the other two for years. During the attack Odoy, with his gun useless, decided to try to sneak to the utility room to get the drones back online while the players held up the goons. Now another player rolled boxcars on an attack roll and almost killed Mort outright then Odoy's partner had the clever idea to hold the unconscious Mort as a hostage leaving the cyborg trying to contact Gaius while they forced her into a standoff. I thought that was so clever I rewarded them by giving Odoy a boon to getting the power back on and it worked spectacularly, the cyborg contacted Gaius to run, and she surrendered so they could put Mort into the house's autodoc.

[@Erik-ic4fw]

I've been dying for this since you referenced the path in another video, what a blast

[@RupertFoulmouth]

So excited to see another Traveller review video! Thank you for all of your amazing work.

[@DaerBR]

Ah, that was so exciting! Waiting for the next episode!

[@GrimGoblinLives]

You single-handly made me want to run Traveller.

[@davewire87]

Awesome. I’ve been really interested in this campaign. Very happy to see you making a video series for it.

[@massimocole9689]

I'm excited for this series, thanks for the great work. These videos were what got me into Traveller.

[@jamescookiii9881]

I've been debating getting this for campaign for my own players, so I'm really looking forward to your take on it. Love your game content and novels, great work. Side note, amazing work capturing the feel of my home city in Hounacier.

[@telemarkaeology]

The production value is incredible. Bravo, sir. 😎

[@rogue109]

Thanks!

[@SSkorkowsky]

Oh wow! Thank you very much.

[@RPGmodsFan]

Great video. When you first announced (back in July 2023) you were running a SotA (Secrets of the Ancients) game, I tried to produce GM Guide videos on the SotA. Unfortunately life got in the way, but now I am upto Chapter 9, The Dark Gate, in terms of script writing the videos.

[@plucas1]

NPC Mort Kinson, apparently played by famed character actor Robert Englund, aka Freddy Krueger.

[@sacxoople4289]

Just finished watching BTSHT a day ago, great to have another campaign diary to look forward to!

[@chaosmeisters6781]

Man I really want to run it now. So fun. Watched it twice now and there is so much happening in the backgrounds of the skits. This is heading into full blown Seth the Series territory.

[@Tsunkuotaku]

As a Canadian, I thank you for getting the pronunciation of Regina correct this time. Also, great vid as always!

[@sirguy6678]

Great video! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series!

[@jeffspain4484]

Love to see anything on the Traveller series, my group is just finishing this campaign that went in many different directions. Curious to see what your group does.

[@GeezerGeek0]

Bless you for letting me know that I’m not the only GM that misreads some of these adventure modules, this creating weird inconsistencies. 😅

[@SSkorkowsky]

Because I give lots of tips on various adventures, and talk about how much I prep before running a module, a lot of people assume I figured out all of those tips prior to running, thanks to my "highly-trained eye". That's not the case at all. Sure, I do catch a lot of problem spots before the game, but so many of my module tips are, "OK, I totally screwed this part up, so here's how to avoid my mistake."

[@PFiction24]

17:12 Jack does a Chip Chipperson impression.

[@onithedemonslayer3142]

Thanks seth your videos bring me such joy and entertainment.

[@cloverblossom8649]

Great start to this series!

[@PeterCongedo]

Amazing. Looking forward to the rest in the series.