Millennium Trail, our Generation Ship Supplement for MOTHERSHIP, is now available!
So, naturally, I’ve got MOTHERSHIP on the brain. It’s quickly become one of our favourite TTRPGs. We’re one session into my own first attempt at some sci-fi horror; all of our experience to this point has been from the modules. It’s probably the first RPG I’ve really experienced that way. Usually, I’ll play a module or two and then break off to make my own stuff or, like in the case of DnD, I start with homebrew before ever seeing a module.
The quality of the MOTHERSHIP stuff is sky high. Each of these deserves a full-length review, but for this post, I just want to shout out all the great stuff we’ve played recently, so we’re going to move fast.
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER…
Dead Planet
Experience: Warden
Outcome: TPK
Three Sentence Review: This is a whole lot of solar system, complete with adventures on a ship, a moon colony, and an alien death-planet. I found the lethality to be a little high, and I wish there was more ‘carrot’ to lure players into the dangers on the ship and the colony, although honestly, a lot of that could relate to my still-nascent Warden skills. Amazing worldbuilding, fun characters, and a great mix of horrors make this one of my favourites.
Nirvana on Fire
Experience: Warden
Outcome: Success + TPK (flamethrower attack on the way back to the ship)
Three Sentence Review: This module captures MOTHERSHIP’s best characteristics; it’s got a great, suspenseful build-up followed by a chaotic late-game blood bath, all wrapped up in an easy-to-run package. The art is fantastic, easily among the best I’ve seen in an RPG product. This would be my recommendation to a first-time Warden.
((I’ve not yet run the two bonus adventures included, but they look pretty good.))
Gradient Descent
Experience: Player
Outcome: Success!
Three Sentence Review: This was my first contact with MOTHERSHIP and, although it didn’t end in the massacre I was hoping for, it did hook me on the game. Gabriel tells me it was super usable on the Warden side, although apparently we didn’t engage with the core mechanic of the adventure (an existential doubt about your own humanity called ‘the bends’) as much as a longer campaign would have allowed. As for my player experience, it was great, but I think I was expecting a lot more danger than I found.
Decagone
Experience: Player
Outcome: Success, followed shortly thereafter by my death. Everyone else lived. Yay team?
Three Sentence Review: This time-loop module is absolutely fantastic, a total must-play for MOTHERSHIP fans. I read it after playing and was super impressed by the usability of the text and the illustrations by slowquest. This module contains my favourite trap ever, one that elegantly doubles as the adventure’s main obstacle and the solution to its monster.
The Horror on Tau Sigma 7
Experience: Player
Outcome: Success!
Three Sentence Review: A great introductory adventure, this was the start of our recent attempt at a long-term campaign. A fortuitous combination of a germaphobic scientist and a psychotically supportive android helped neutralize the infectious threat at the module’s core, but our success never cut the tension. Although it’s intended to set up Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, I could see this working as a lead-in to many modules.
Dying Hard on Hardlight Station
Experience: Player
Outcome: Success?
Three Sentence Review: So, my dirty secret is that I am not actually a Die Hard fan, but I still really enjoyed this module. Because we came into it from Tau Sigma 7, we had an unusually high amount of information about the threats we were facing (especially compared to the NPC factions), which gave this adventure a tactical dimension MOTHERSHIP can sometimes lack. Our climactic escape was especially memorable, which is good because after we blew the station to cauterize the alien infection, we were adrift in cryo for about half a year, so our characters had some time to think about it.
Another Bug Hunt
Experience: Player
Outcome: TPK
Three Sentence Review: This module rocks, and I think a big part of that is that it has a great, clear goal; you can almost imagine surviving. I threw my whole character into trying to hunt these weird crabs and loved every second of dying in the attempt. IIRC it lasted us three sessions, all of which felt focused, memorable, and crazy.
What will you read next? Check out Gabriel’s review of MOTHERSHIP itself, or take a look at our YouTube for some video reviews. Or, hey, check out our games, maybe take one home. Do you like Martial Arts stuff? Try Ninjas Killed My Sensei. Leave a review of your own, and you’ll make my day.