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.

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DID YOU KNOW I'M A NOVELIST?

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DID YOU KNOW I'VE WRITTEN A TRAVELLER ADVENTURE?
My debut Traveller adventure 'The Hunt For Sabre IV' is part of the new 'Mysteries on Arcturus Station' double-adventure, along with my revised edition of the classic scenario 'Murder on Arcturus Station.'
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I mostly ramble about movies and random other things as they occur to me:

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I HAVE A PODCAST NOW

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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.

[drewgladden]

"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?

[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.

[nickhoc]

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

[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.”

[Kevlar-]

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

[DasKame]

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

[jacobvirtz]

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.

[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)

[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.

[hellocentral]

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.

[danielhammersley]

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

[BlueLoneWolf]

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. <Insert part of Adventure>
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.

[danhelsting]

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.)

[TalonBrush]

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

[samwhary]

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

[_Nyx_]

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

[cunningwarrior]

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

[Ektalon]

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

[reuvengritters]

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.