Traveller: Death Station - RPG Review

The heroes are sent to investigate an orbital station that has gone silent. Inside they uncover a nefarious plot. And that’s when the space cannibals attacked.
Written by Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, and John Harshmann, the adventure was first published in 1981. In 2010, it was updated and re-published for Mongoose 1e Traveller.
UPDATE: Mongoose asked me to update Death Station to the current edition as well as make any changes I wanted. It's now available and TOTALLY FREE: www.drivethrur...
Link to the FFE website for PDF of original 1981 module on CD: www.farfuture....
Link to the newer 2010 Mongoose 1e PDF on DriveThru RPG: www.drivethrur...
Link for the fan-made Death Station Map: / map_for_lab_ship_death...
Link to Meal Vouchers I made for this video: drive.google.c...
Lab Ship image behind Jack on approach by NICELabs: www.deviantart...
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Guest starring Jack the NPC.

[@SSkorkowsky]

UPDATE: After this review, Mongoose asked if I'd like to update the adventure for the current edition, as well as make any changes to it I wanted. My updated and reimagined version of Death Station is now available and totally free on DriveThru RPG. It come in 50% longer than the original, includes new obstacles, more horror, and is filled with great art. Enjoy. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/380659/Death-Station?affiliate_id=1017650

[@jesternario]

You are very quickly becoming their favorite adventure converter.

[@TheParagade]

Congrats on the new release!

[@krispalermo8133]

With little effort any sci-fy game can be drop into Star Trek or Star Wars rpgs. I just would like to see NPC Jack deal with Kirk, Han Solo, or complaining how stuck up of a classy dame Prince Leia can be to deal with. Edit, .. Picard on the holo deck running his Dixen Hill program, somehow the program turns into Call of Cthulhu and he meets Jack the NPC. The twist, .. mind flayer ilithids are doing a cross dimensional reality bending experiment of god knows what. So right of the bat Picard blames .. Q.

[@ImaginerImagines]

Well done. A worthy effort here. It now has more atmosphere than ever before and the space horror theme comes across well. This will be high on my list of adventures to run when we start our own Traveller Mongoose sessions in a few months.

[@briansmaller7443]

When I ran this back in the early 80s I had gravity fritzing and was alternating between 3 and 0 G. Had a roll table set up. I also had one crew member that was not affected by the drug cocktail. She was a steward who was hiding out.

[@drewgladden2551]

"Take this pizza party in lieu of payment." "I'm taking office supplies and they can't stop me." This video is the answer to the question: Has Seth worked an office job for a corporation before?

[@brianpembrook9164]

My favorite party of the pizza party was when the director said "it is the least we could do for your hard work". First time i couldn't catch him at a lie...

[@ancapftw9113]

I'm guessing his day job at least used to be tech support.

[@LittlyLary]

He used to have some sort of office job, it's mentioned in his Killer Bonzi cyberpunk war story

[@nickhoc8853]

"I'm here to eat, I got a food voucher" is the only way I will proceed into horror situations

[@stefansneden1957]

Thank you for this

[@jesternario]

I love the company store angle to the original version. “Okay, so you have just earned 420 credits. Would you like to put some or all of that towards the 17860 credit debt you currently owe? Medical, clothing, food, equipment, and utilities are always so expensive, I know. Oh, by the way, one of the higher ups has asked me to talk to any disgruntled mining staff about performing a job to gain a little extra pay and potentially lesson the debt you owe us slightly. Don’t worry, I am sure it will be a cake walk. Most jobs from the higher ups are.”

[@NefariousKoel]

Plot Twist: The "bad guy" Engineer who set the bomb actually did it after he discovered the scientists were experimenting on unwilling human subjects and decided to sabotage the operation, not knowing what would happen regarding the resulting gas. The guy initially thought to be the baddie .. isn't the actual baddie in the end. Do the PCs still kill this guy due to his occasionally murderous affliction or try to capture and save him? Leave a recording on his datapad, to be found later, with him describing what he discovered, how horrified he was, and how he had just set a bomb in the lab to stop them. Moral quandaries for players is fun.

[@gmradio2436]

Is the data pad locked behind the engineer encounter or can it be found before encountering him?

[@NefariousKoel]

@@gmradio2436 - I'd place it beforehand, dropping it in front of players wherever possible. However, I'd probably make the now Super-Doped-Psycho exceptionally lucid during his "fatigued" period when they meet him later on. Having him flip between helpful and well-meaning, but tired and sad guy pining about getting back to his family or something, to raging kill machine at random times after players talk to the sympathetic "nice guy" version.

[@hellocentral5551]

Okay, I love this.

[@Maggerama]

@@hellocentral5551 Probably because you've seen this before.

[@robertnett9793]

Already playing on a little campaign I stitched together from several traveller adventures presented here, I think... it would work if the one missing crew member from the 'Islands in the Rift' adventure was behind the sabbotage. Just juggling thoughts here. She - knowing this is a base of operations for the enemy - sabbotaged the installation, leading to this. Thinking about it: It wouldn't fit the timeline. As the events leading to the players arriving on scene are at least half a year back. No way it would take half a way for someone to get worried about the cold laboratory ship hanging out in orbit...

[@Kevlar-78]

“I uhhh, I don’t wanna eat here no more…” 😆

[@spacedinosaur8733]

Check please!

[@TalonBrush]

Here, garçon, I ordered the Dismembered Doctor but I'm pretty sure this is an Eviscerated Engineer.

[@jacobvirtz5919]

The food voucher hits home for me. I saved my company up to 15% on nightly waste and all I got was a large Papa John's Pizza and a t-shirt.

[@WadWizard]

Thats what the shirt should say

[@kurdist_baleer]

Contracted to a corporation that pays enough to keep you dependent and then they dangle some food over your head? I can confirm that this is a real motivating factor... I did 20 years in the Army as a military police soldier. One of the biggest selling points of an odd mission or detail was getting a meal voucher. Never underestimate the power of a meal voucher. Also, stealing office supplies for sure. (Edit: spelling)

[@DasKame]

"CANNIBAL RAGE ON DEATH STATION" i would buy this Album 😏

[@thor30013]

That was an _awesome_ concert. Shame about what happened after, though.

[@richmcgee434]

@@thor30013 You really had to see it coming, though.

[@ADiceySituation]

Best song on the album was Corporate Pizza Party.

[@hellocentral5551]

21:43 SPOILER WARNING!!! SERIOUSLY LAST WARNING So, you know how there are 2 missing bodies, what you could do is, when the adventure ends, have the PC's leave the station, and pan out to a view of the space lab. Remember how there was that closed door and space raft, well when you pan out, note how the door is ajar, and the raft is gone! Let that be a nice cliffhanger for them, and a potential encounter sometime in the future.

[@gmradio2436]

That reminds me, use the Club on the air car next time.

[@dutch6857]

Nice! Who are they and what are they on? What do you mean those personnel records are unavailable at my clearance?

[@euansmith3699]

@@dutch6857 And why was there Zhodani paraphernalia in one of those cabins, when none of the dead crew were Zhodani? 🤔😮😲

[@Illion1971]

I am running flatlined at the moment and was thinking how this was a great sequel all along!

[@archonfett]

@@euansmith3699 I bet it had something to do with Omicrons

[@danhelsting6308]

When my crew played this, the company was totally looking to screw them over. The players figured this out halfway through and where out for blood. So when the slimy company representative arrived in his private starship to give them their measly reward. The big angry guy in the party. The big angry guy in the party calmly put his hand on the representatives shoulder. smiled. and said "you can do better then that." When the representative put on his best car salesman smile and calmly started explaining that he really couldn't, company policy and all that ... The big guy blew his guts out with the gun he was concealing in this other hand. Then they stole his starship and blasted off into space. - They blew up the laboratory ship as they passed it by. So began their campaign long goal of destroying an evil space corporation. The next session they got to learn about space combat, as the company sent a repo crew to try and hunt them down. (there was a tracker abort the stolen ship that they later got rid of.)

[@DahVoozel]

"Back in the early 80's..." Don't worry, once Jack gets to Research Station Gamma and starts trying to figure out what was going on, I am sure he will have a rip-roaring time going through the microfiche and the enormous, room sized library computer. ;) I always justify anachronistic technology by saying that Imperial facilities will sometimes use technology native to the planet to make it easier to source spare parts. Your fancy ass quantum computer is all fun and games until it's cooling unit breaks and you're on a tech level 6 planet and the best you can get on short notice is an ammonia refrigeration system.

[@Groundlord]

There's also the possibility that older tech is less prone to breaking since it's a simpler system. It might not be as fast or efficient as the brand new stuff, but it's definitely reliable.

[@SimonWolfie]

@@Groundlord not necessarily less prone to breaking, but a hell of a lot easier to fix. Oh, you don't have the necessary part to fix the TL 15 computer? Well, we're kinda screwed there... Hopefully we can get it working enough to get to the right planet. Awwww, the TL 8 freezer broke again? Lemme get the duct tape.

[@skasandy448]

Bureaucratic inertia (eg, we still use COBOL and FORTRAN programmed computers in business and government)

[@DahVoozel]

@@SimonWolfie "Excuse me friendly nation-state on Tech Level 5 planet, I require some q-bits to reengage the quantum learning algorithm of this here fancy adding machine." "What's a cubit?"

[@keithparker1346]

​@@skasandy448COBOL is meant to be a very solid programming language

[@danielhammersley2869]

I LUV the segue idea between Flatline & Death Station. As a former Traveller author, I approve 100%!

[@gmradio2436]

What did you write?

[@danielhammersley2869]

@@gmradio2436 , TNE-Freedom Leagues, and several modules for it. I have also written with Martin Dougherty, & Mongoose Traveller as part of the team before 2nd Edition came out.

[@BlueLoneWolf54]

Better (really, more like more fitting) middle-management corporate password shenanigan scenario: 1. Call up corporate middle management goon for password. Receive notice said goon is in a meeting, or is on his half-day. 2. Have to call up IT for password reset. 3. Insert typical bored uninterested IT password bypass. Include various coaxing/persuasion rolls as necessary. 4. Password resets 5. 6. In middle of Adventure, receive notice that corporate goon received your mail and has reset the password for them. Or, have him yell at them for getting them in trouble with upper management for dropping his name with IT. Or both.

[@Ektalon]

“The ring is ring shaped . . .” Slow down there cowboy, let’s not leap to conclusions . . .

[@TheManyVoicesVA]

It's definitely a square! Round labbers are crazy!

[@samwhary5498]

I have a new appreciation for Jack's comments on the corporate life. I live that life now, and yes its is EXACTLY as he described

[@cunningwarrior1827]

I Loved Tim Robbins floating by the window....

[@gmradio2436]

I am sorry, but who?

[@gmscott9319]

@@gmradio2436 21:52 Tim Robbins from a horrible scene in the horrible movie Mission to Mars. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHvVnXaGe7iCqbc

[@gmradio2436]

@@gmscott9319 I had forgot about that movie.

[@TalonBrush]

The Flatlined connection was incredible. If I ever run this adventure, I'll be sure to use Flatlined as a prelude adventure!

[@Scanner9631]

You can take it even further. The lab ship can have records of their failed research on the PCs and the loss of the ship that was to dump their bodies. Even more they might find that THEIR ship is in the hands of those who sold them to the lab and even find out something about the schedule they are running as they bring more "subjects" regularly. If they get their ship back they may have trouble as the "bad guys" were using the PCs identities while using the ship on different planets. There can be a lot of wanted notices out their with the PCs names on them. The dead in the low berths can be found to have had different drugs tried on them which is why they died and the PCs didn't. Some of the dead on the lab ship can be crew from a ship they know at least in passing so they have a 2nd ship to be looking for to find the bad guys. The crash can be because one or more of the other victims woke super crazed, killed the crew and trashed the controls. They (or one of them) might while injured fight the PCs giving them some understanding once they reach the "Death Station". Naturally this changes it from skill jacking to more body snatching for scientific experiments combined with identity theft and piracy (stealing he PC ship). But it does link the two directly together and leads them to further adventures for revenge and recovery of their property (and clearing their names).

[@mrbroeders]

Anyone else wave at Seth when he starts the vid? Just me then!

[@Christopheromoan]

I want to wave too don’t worry lol

[@_Nyx_]

Seth's long winded ramblings are always something to look forward to!

[@Toyall1]

Yes ive been waiting for more traveller

[@Kalarandir]

Thanks for all this Seth. I decided to make Death Station the prequel to Flatlined that explained how the PCs ended up in low berths without their memories. The Death Station adventure being a flash back to what had happened. I made Murder on Arcturus Station the sequel to Flatlined as Death Station was the job they are waiting to be paid for, but of course, it was their employer from Death Station who is found dead. So a nice little out of sequence trilogy Flatlined - Death Station - Murder on Arcturus Station.

[@CountLuciferLeviatha]

Ooo I like this! Gonna steal this idea 😊

[@Just-another-stone]

Coming back and watching a lot of Seth's reviews again since I'll be starting a new game here soon, and I just wanted to say that his version of Death Station ROCKED. I ran it as a One-Shot shortly after this video came out as my very first adventure, with a short introduction I wrote myself, and had a blast. Amazing review, channel, and authorship by Seth, which sold me on this game system, and has provided hours of fun.

[@reuvengritters2983]

On rewatching the video, I just caught the lettering on the science ship in the Jack segments. "DTH STN-1" and "LYSANI 666." Very clever; well played sir.

[@SSkorkowsky]

I enjoy my dumb Easter eggs. I'm glad you like them too

[@reuvengritters2983]

@@SSkorkowsky By all means, please keep them coming. I'm a big fan of your videos, Easter Eggs and all.

[@davewilson13]

Wow thanks for pointing that out! I listen more than watch and I missed it.

[@JeffHay]

Ran this as my first Traveller adventure last night (first for all my party too). Everyone had a great time - and wants to play more. I did the twist where the patron is in on the scheme, and the psion in the party picked up on it, very fun. And the party about died when I handed out printed meal vouchers. 😆 Thank you, Seth, for making both this adventure, and Traveller in general, so approachable.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Awesome to hear!

[@noisepuppet]

17:00 or so: microfiche or film still makes sense as a truly archival, system-independent, eye-compatible medium that's compact and pretty much future-proof, disaster-tolerant, and survivable under apocalyptic conditions. Hard to think of anything that can beat it on those terms. It's still in my far future stories.

[@ElionMars]

"Oh, wow, you saved the company millions of dollars, here's a pizza party." I mean...They could *really* save some money on rewards by just calling them heroes and using that to justify underpaying them even more.

[@tokyobear]

So happy you are back reviewing Traveller! This review has given me some great ideas for my own scenario. But I will also probably buy this.Like you said this sounds a superb start-up adventure with so many possibilities. I love the extra ideas you suggested. Cheers!

[@jajsem1109]

I love the last part from Jack the NPC. He is right, it should be played together!

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I really like the idea of this being the follow-on for Flatlined! It just flows like it was intended.

[@wasgreg]

I have this bought through the VTT Fantasy Grounds Unity. I enjoyed reading it, but couldn't readily think how to bring it into the Pirates of Drinax campaign. After watching this walk thru of Ref insights, it has inspired some ideas to put this into the Trojan Reach as an "interesting" encounter. Thanks so much for doing this series. Sorry I am such a late comer. Traveller RPG was my first RPG back in 79-80 I had no idea what to do with it other than make characters I did not know what to do with. LOL A few years later, in 7th grade I had some friends take me to Ball State University's student center and play D&D with college kids. On the bike ride home it hit me this is what one does with Traveller. Forty some years later, I am finally getting to Ref my first campaign. So very very happy about it.

[@ErikWarhammer]

I love the idea that jack suggested at the end. The moment the Cryo-pods came into the picture, I started thinking about Flatlined video.

[@davidbrennan660]

There is no such thing as a free lunch in Traveller.

[@Ralndrath]

I love your module reviews, Seth! Please keep them up!

[@thebolas000]

Bill and Ted: "STATION!"

[@PFiction24]

So Joss Whedon played this game and Firefly was born.

[@dicewrites]

Don't forget him "totally never hearing of outlaw star" its got too many similarities for me to overlook

[@PFiction24]

Dustin Deckert ...I never watched Outlaw Star but I'll take your word for it.

[@dicewrites]

@@PFiction24 Its a space show about a rag tag group of weirdos on a ship and one of the main characters is a girl in a box that was being smuggled away from a lab in almost exactly the same way as in firefly

[@gmofkings]

Yes literally

[@PFiction24]

@@dicewrites Is it any good?

[@Bryon1187]

LOVE the adventure connection idea at the end - WOW!

[@BlacksmithTim]

Good review. I remember playing this adventure back in the day. To your comments on stealing the Lab Ship, a lot of that is determined by the situation of the characters at the beginning of the adventure. If they're truly caught in the Company Town corporate slavery -- which was a trope for several modules back then -- and don't have their own ship, the Lab Ship becomes their ticket out of the scam they were trapped in. The whole adventure (similar to Expedition to Zhodane) can get very minimized. When we played this back in the '80s, that was the setup: trapped by debt to the company store and no ship of our own. As it's a backwater we figured that we had a bit of time before the next ship showed up. Figuring out the mystery got backburnered in favor of opening the airlocks and taking care of the cannibals at a shot. Repairs were challenging, yes, but with the right skills not impossible. If memory serves we blackmailed the planetside operation with the threat of dropping asteroids from orbit until they sent up tools, some parts and materials, and a mining laser we rigged on the pinnace. That the adventure was outside the Imperium let us escape to a "non-aligned world" where we eventually ditched the hot lab ship for a far trader with questionable paperwork. In the between session discussion the ref admitted all was not as planned and we pointed out that we did what we did because, trapped on the planet as mine slaves, we thought the point of the adventure was to get us into that ship ....

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Listening to this after your 2nd Edition recreation is a neat treat. You basically added all your additional suggestion quirks, and even the tie-in to Flatline. I'm currently pondering setting up a Traveller group IRL at the LGS, and I'm probably starting them off with Search and Rescue with your suggestions in that video for the additional action, and while I wanna have this learner campaign eventually lead to High and Dry and get the Type S High 'n Dry for them, there's this evil idea on the back of my mind where if they screw up the events of Search and Rescue hard enough they'll find themselves stuck in Flatline and make their way to the High 'n Dry scenario via Death Station's travel reward.

[@RazorFox]

Those food vouchers are the most real thing ever. I'm having flashbacks to all the McDonalds gift cards I've received over the years.

[@S0nyb1ack]

Another amazing review, thank you for all the GREAT content. After a couple of months I finally found a few people willing to try traveller so I hope I'll be able to experience it soon :D If the opening adventure goes over well I think I would like to add this one somewhere :)

[@SSkorkowsky]

Good luck with the game. Hope you and your players have a blast with it.

[@lovindablues]

Jack the NPC has a really good idea at the end....wow! Going to squirrel that idea away for some future date. Cheers!

[@Darkwintre]

I wonder what if the 16 who died were revived as canniballistic monsters who are hunting the 4 survivors who aren't in a much better place mentally. The person responsible will of course want to delete any evidence and the other survivors in case they reveal something that leads any investigation towards them? The four hid as the monsters eventually turned on each other before entering a slumbering state until the PCs arrive as the survivors remain hidden until the PCs announce themselves near enough for them to contact them. Ultimately the villain decides to don a vacc suit and flush out the oxygen to kill off the others using the monsters as an excuse. The fact the PCs might be caught unprepared being an "unfortunate accident".

[@scotiej]

"Oh you save this company millions of dollars, good job! Here's a pizza party instead of money." If I may alter that quote with something I personally experienced at my job; "Oh you saved the district more than $80k, thanks! Here's some pizza from the cheapest place in town and some bottles of water." So yeah, that's pretty spot on.

[@originaluddite]

A thing to do would be make a spare copy of the map, take some scissors and sticky tape to it, and make a 3D version to help visualize the space station layout.

[@FabioBittar]

I've been watching your content for the last 3 days, and I really like it. You're very good at describing and explaining things. Subscribed.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Thank you very much

[@cyfreusz]

Great timing. I was thinking about Traveller campaign yesterday.

[@Slothxp1]

More Traveller, excellent!

[@MichaelG485]

I'm running this scenario and one other thing I changed from your version was to have the woman in the cryoberth survive. She's obviously severely malnourished by the time the group arrives and have to figure out how to protect her while they clear the ship.

[@Acmegamer]

Mongoose QC needs to really work on their QC on checking for the errors you listed. Thanks for the video review, as usual an outstanding video.

[@davewilson13]

The final product editing is certainly not up to other production values. My understanding though is the source material might have been heavily edited and reached this state. Thus an improvement but far from great.

[@sidewithwerewolves]

started a traveler game at the start of july. It's the first rpg i've ever played and it's been great so far. i wanted to play this game based of your review and module walk-throughs. Thanks for getting me into a game that's not DnD!

[@manfredconnor3194]

Check out Mêlée if you are looking for a fantasy game that is not like D&D.

[@alanmcclenaghan7548]

You can't beat those old Traveller booklets for classic design. Loved the smell too.

[@davidburton9690]

I love Jack's stingers at the end of your videos. I watch every one to the end!

[@Deveyus]

I thought you were done with Traveler content, as someone who is just spooling up in multiple traveler games, this is great!

[@SSkorkowsky]

I finished up my How To Traveller series, but I still have a good deal of Traveller content to do. I like to spread topics out over time, as to have a bit of diversity video-to-video, and not just solid system-specific content.

[@robertnett9793]

There is a point to be made about archaic tech aboard modern spacecraft. It's about durability and ease of maintenance. I can see microfiche readers aboard startships, or even telephone lines. Because - unlike fancy hologram buttons they don't give out if bombarded with radiation. A 60' platine with bulky resistors and chips can be easier repaired with on board equipment than a printes nano-tech platine.. For our (inspired by Traveller and started creation in the time where it wasn't available) sci fi rpg we intentionally made the design decission, that ships don't look that dissimmilar from the inside of the Mir-Station or early Space Shuttle. Sure - fancy cruse ships for the rich and beautifuly and the main bridge of some flagship may be all fancy, with holograms and replicas of Age-of-Sail steering wheels - but somewhere nearby, is the real combat bridge, with bulky buttons and switches and cable telephones...

[@janwitts2688]

A good way is just to print out the plan and tape it together into a single strip... however do remember that you can only see a short distance and if you kneel down you can see peoples legs.. before they can see you

[@rogue109]

Thank you for the rewrite and free adventure Death Station! I am fixing to run it as my second adventure for my very first Traveller campaign. I first ran Flatlined and while the characters head to the down-port on Neon to get off-world, I'm going to get them hooked up to do Death Station, with the lab ship in orbit above Neon as you suggest...what a great mini-camping, it fits so well! I did take one other person's suggestion (below) and made the Astrogator a good guy. He finds out about the human experimentation and plants the bomb to cause the company to investigate. That way the players have to decide what to do with him, if they find out before encountering him...Moral dilemma and all. We all play remotely so I've converted the pdf into Fantasy Grounds. Can't wait to run it! Thanks again!

[@fajile5109]

Hey this sounds like the origins for reavers from firefly. Except they are always in berserk cannibal mode

[@spacedinosaur8733]

You remember the "victim" from one of the early episodes that went reaver crazy? Sounds like a fatigued mode person.

[@taylorcampbell4204]

Look out Jack, he's behind you!

[@jesternario]

Have just started this adventure. After noting the comms array being okay, and the finding the body. A -7 effect flyer check killed their Air/Raft, so they are currently stranded (until they find the other air/raft). Thank you for the "under the floor" advice. That has creeped out the players to no end, and after a wolf attack, they are currently expecting 38-days later type space zombies. We'll see what happens next session.

[@Calveers]

I had a suggestion for a couple of “how to” videos. “How to end a campaign/a good and satisfying epilogue” and “How to create the perfect villain.” I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite channel on the internet.

[@bossman4799]

With a name like Death Station, how could it not be interesting?

[@Erdnase23]

Wondering if this could be adapted to Alien or Coriolis.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Not familiar enough with Coriolis to say, but it could easily be adapted to Alien.

[@Xingmey]

I'm gonna use this for my star wars campaign ^^ The Drug makes this awesome for a rebel outpost, and the spy - well is an imperial spy of course! love me a good horrorpart in Star Wars ^^

[@requited2568]

Did not do this one but we did adapt a few traveller campaigns to the Colonial Marines adventure game when younger. They were great for ships and NPCs, remember the DM also used the dark horse comics as sources too.

[@hurpldurp]

I think it would fit in Coriolis. It could definitely be a Foundation experiment in a far off system or something

[@AzraelThanatos]

@@Xingmey A friend of mine converted it to Saga Edition a long while back as a Clone Wars era adventure for a group that was more out to staying alive and out of the war and moved it into the borders of the Corporate Sector, but had the lab working with CIS funding, the abductees were replaced with clones and had the corps trying to profiteer off both sides (Selling Clone bio-data to the Separatists, and specialized combat drugs to the Republic). One member of our group rigged the station to deorbit into the local star, and we executed the corporate patron in the end for that since two members of the party were clones we'd picked up out of a confederate detention facility. I've since considered moving it to the Zsinj crisis, the entire research thing kind of fits that particular warlords research, and having the spy/saboteur be from another part of the remnant.

[@johanneskaiser8188]

Thought I'd reserve this one for the next day I need a bit of rest. Here it is. :) Thanks for helping me relax after a lengthy - and pretty mixed - workday.

[@inakiiribarrenlineros8594]

Great video! I'd love to see a new epic campaign diary, they're so fun.

[@docartemis2878]

Welp, Jack and I are on the same wavelength. As soon as the human testing was mentioned the Flatlined idea struck me too.

[@leongolgo9950]

"The Ring is ring shaped,"...I nearly spit my coffee!

[@Rajaat99]

Love the reviews Seth.

[@starslayer8390]

"The ring is ring shaped." Truly incredible insight.

[@SSkorkowsky]

I am rather eloquent.

[@kentjensen4504]

This channel is just fantastic.

[@calibur12001]

This was the first Traveller adventure I played in its original. It was also my favorite. Scifi + Horror; I was hooked.

[@nokomarie1963]

I set loose a bundle of floating rats, clinging on to each other but screaming and reaching out to latch on to players' faces. It was hysterical.

[@andrewdiaz3529]

5:05 Why yes, the ring IS ring-shaped

[@richmcgee434]

That opening history bit has me conflicted. I'm simultaneously saddened by GDW folding all those years ago and enraged by the reminder of how Mongoose pimped the hell out of Noble Armada initially and then dropped it without warning literally days after their last set of promises that the game was going to be seeing further support with more minis, another supplement book, the long awaited League and Symbiot fleets, etc.

[@CELLSOCKS]

To combine with Flatline: The lab explosion was larger, blowing a hole in the science ship and damaging the Flatlined ship that was trying to dock and drop off the PCs as patients, causing it to crash land. Blown up lab was sealed off by blast doors and is now available only by spacewalk. Ship damaged in Flatlined tried to land near the mining camp, but damaged the comms tower and crashed.

[@cashcurtis]

I love the album covers inspired by adventures with cool names!

[@peterbyykkonen8901]

5:03 Thanks for explaining what a ring ship is shaped like.

[@TheManyVoicesVA]

Space Yelp got me. I LOL'd. Stealing stuff on the way out is also fantastic haha.

[@patrickfitzpatrick2945]

Thanks for sharing Seth. Awesome as always! Cheers from Sweden.

[@O4C209]

Love the suggestion at the end of combining the two adventures. Great campaign start.

[@Scanner9631]

Then when they steal the ship after a "unusual" jump the find the missing body was hidden inside the casing of the Jump drive throwing the Jump off. It'll be an adventure finding where you are and how to get back.

[@davidsrushton1]

I love Jack’s suggestion to use “Flatlined” to lead into this. I’m kind of surprised that Seth didn’t think of it?

[@AubriGryphon]

I wouldn't say it has no spares -- it has three or four, plenty to handle even a significant fuel leak. It does NOT have enough to patch dozens of broken seals across the entire fuel system.

[@SMooreArtDesign]

Amazing, I love it! I'm definitely "borrowing" huge chunks of this module.

[@euansmith3699]

I love the cheap-skate theme in this adventure; especially sending the PCs in to orbit in an air raft and space suits 😂 This would make a great sci-fi film. 7:32 "... I've got a voucher..." Jack regularly cracks me up. 9:02 "Cannibal Rage" could be Death Station's support act; or the title of their difficult second album.

[@greetingcardboy]

I bought it back in '81 and it was the first Traveller adventure I ever ran because it was the first Traveller adventure I'd bought that seemed to have a plot. (I'd previously purchased The Kinunir and Leviathan, and compared to those, Death Station actually had a single thing to accomplish and also seemed to care if anything happened.) That said, looking back on it now, it seems a little too simple; I'd want to have a backup complication just in case the players figured out the whole situation before they even got to the ship. ("Lab ship gone dark? It's either aliens or cannibal zombies.") Cf. Dark Matter S1E5, the game series Dead Space, or any number of crappy B movies. Your idea of having an untrustworthy contact (and traps) is spot-on. Thanks!

[@Kevlar-78]

“Super Cannibal Rage Monster” is a great metal band name. 🤘🏼🤘🏽🤘🏿

[@bendorlinhg6180]

I prefer their earlier stuff, once they changed the name to Back Street Boys, I fell off.

[@janwitts2688]

Let them take the ship then.. when in jump space.. just wait.. minutes slip by... eventually someone looks for food.. only to find that all there is to eat... is the corpses.... all of which have varying levels of contamination...

[@Whitby_Abbeys_Ghost]

I'm not normally one for petty vengeance, but making your victims pay for their own drinks is too far! Not only should Jack steal the office supplies, he should urinate on the company's logo first chance he gets!

[@misterevil1967]

Remember the Player Character mantra: 1, Anything that's not nailed down is mine. 2, If I can pry it loose, it's not nailed down!

[@penzancepirate]

I immediately thought of linking this to Flatlined. And then you did the same haha

[@romulusnuma116]

Jack the NPC seems like a great DM

[@derekburge5294]

*Nobody makes Jack pay for his own drinks.*

[@capnahayes]

Holy, cow! I have ran this adventure before twice!

[@richmcgee434]

It is something of a classic, and pretty easy to run. Makes a good go-to for something to insert into a campaign if you just tweak the hook to fit your game.

[@capnahayes]

@@richmcgee434 Absolutely 💯. That's exactly what I did. It's so fun to run too.

[@NotoriusBEN1]

I continue to love Traveller actively pushing the official universe as well as *your* universe. Dnd by and large wants you to stay in faerun.

[@azcoder]

Thanks for the review. I have an original print of Death Station / Argon Gambit book, but I think it's one I found in later years and never got to play it.

[@GenericJake]

Actually just got this as part of the Traveller bundle of holding. Need to run Traveller if my group will ever play anything but 5e

[@bendorlinhg6180]

I object to the story that the gas and alcohol made the pilot a rage filled monster, no gas is needed.

[@jfridy]

I kept expecting the body floating outside to show up in later parts with Jack.

[@seamusp5991]

Best channel on KZbin, bar none!

[@gmscott9319]

28:39 I really want to get a copy of this adventure on microfiche.