General Do you use Ancients sites and other ruins like D&D Dungeons?

[Spinward Scout]

I've been wondering if Ancients sites (and other ruins) could be used as Dungeons in Spaaaaace!

I mean, they really could have a similar eerie-ness. Not to mention one or more could have been a Mad Scientists' lair. Mutant creepy-crawlies. Sparks flying. Other explorers trying to keep you from getting an award-winning find. And so on.

What else could you find in one of these?

Have you ever run ruins or an Ancients site like that?

 

[McPerth]

Well, wasn't Shadows adventure (that was in TTB) something like this?

 

[Spinward Scout]

Well, wasn't Shadows adventure (that was in TTB) something like this?

Yes. Shadows was very much a high-tech dungeon crawl.

I'd love to see a video of a group playing that through.

 

[Daidoji Dave]

I've run a salvage mission on an abandoned asteroid research station that was basically a small dungeon. Actually twice for different groups; the first run was weaker without too many individual challenges but I added more stuff the second time around. Highlights were another ship boosting towards it, a still-functioning security bot, an apparently suicided body in a room outside a lab, and a hostile alien creature in a tank of goo. (That I telegraphed too well, and both groups handled before it could wake up.)

I should clean it up and make it pwyw on drivethru, but it needs a better map and production values or it's nothing any other GM can't come up with.

Death Station is broadly a dungeon, but not fully an ancient ruins kind of dungeon. Shadows is probably the exemplar for that.

Added: Research Station Gamma! I forgot at first because it's not ancient ruins, it's an active base, but once you enter the lower levels of the station the gameplay is very dungeoncrawlesque. The combination of the habitat levels and the security bots with a weakness that gives it a dungeony feel that it wouldn't have with either alone.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Annic Nova.

Yea, it's a starship. So what? It's also a "dungeon crawl" that's just slightly short on wandering monster encounter.

At least one of the Kinunir scenarios qualifies too.

 

[gchuck]

Not 'Ancients' so much as ancient ROM sites.
Just finished a mission where the survey crew kept detecting very low power 'surges' on an abandoned planet. Took them a couple of hours to localize. They found the ruins of some sort of scientific station (powered by a core tap) that was still barely functional.
After a day of exploration in the 'creepy' underground bunker, they finally found an actual ROM scientist in a low berth.
When the Scouts explained the situation, she was not happy at all.
"Those A-holes left me to die!"
Not happy at all.
"But you can keep your seniority!"
Not very helpful.

 

[mike wightman]

Annic Nova - dungeon (not Ancient but close enough)
Twilight's Peak - alien base dungeon
Shadows - already mentioned
Knightfall - Primordial City

A lot of different role playing games have what are effectively dungeons - superspy games, supers games...

 

[Commander Truestar]

As was said by @gchuck, not "Ancients", but every world will have some nooks and crannies.
So, back in the 80's and 90's, I bought modules for D&D/AD&D, The Morrow Project, Top Secret and more.
Why?
Because any of those could be repurposed for use with Traveller.

Instead of Orcs and Trolls, I could and did create a beastiary of critters for the caves, caverns and forests.
And, where I need buildings and structures - Top Secret, Morrow Project and others - Yes, including "Star Frontiers" - provide what I need or can modify.

 

[Vargr Breath]

Space Hulk could be an inspiration for some Traveller games. The tiles are useful for deck plans and the Genestealers (use the Reticulan Parasite from JTAS-4) are a nasty enough surprise. The deck plans from the old GDW game "Asteroid" make for a great dungeon crawl.