u/Wapshot1

First, let me say that I'm impressed by Across a Thousand Dead Worlds -- it's both ruthlessly economical in its basic game loop (travel to unknown sites and try to stay alive long enough to plunder them: this ain't Traveller) and bursting with options (playing on Karum Station, espionage, playing space marines).

So I'm drawn to its gritty, space-is-trying-to-kill-you vibe, but I wasn't quite prepared for how ruthless it could be. Here's my first, brutally short game:

1. Rolled up a solo character, planning to fly solo to a site visited by others.
2. Per RAW (116), a voyage to a known destination lasts D6+1 weeks. Rolled up 5 weeks, one way, or 10 weeks round trip. KSA only supplies 6 weeks' worth of oxygen tanks and food, so I bought 4 more weeks of oxygen to ensure my character could get there and back.
3. He embarked on his voyage. RAW (116) say there's a cumulative 20% chance of random travel event for each week of travel. First week, he was wounded when a loose tool sliced into his bicep. Second week (40% chance of random event), his ship suffered a misjump of D10 weeks of "positive" time dilation (time passes on ship but not elsewhere). Because I rolled an 8, he consumed 10 weeks of oxygen just getting to his destination (first two weeks of regualr travel, plus eight weeks in time dilation). As he only had 12 weeks' of oxygen with him, and he needed at least 5 weeks' worth of oxygen to get home, he was a dead man (space)walking.
4. Technically, I could've kept rolling for more random travel events, but I figured the least I could do would be to get him where he wanted to go before he died ... but nope. I rolled a 9 on the Arrival table (123): my character found nothing at the destination except debris and dust ...
5. And ain't that a metaphor for the pointlessness of human striving?