Four One-Shots for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game

Publisher: Tuesday Knight Games
Page Count: Tri-fold Brochures
Available Formats: PDF & Print

Need something quick for a single session or a short module to run at a convention for Mothership? Mothership One-Shot Pamphlet Module series has you covered. Formatted on letter-sized cardstock, double-sided, and tri-folded, these modules have everything the Gamemaster needs to run a quick single-session adventure. Each provides just enough to allow a Gamemaster to make an exciting session of playing without the need for loads of prep.

Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly

Authors: Ian Yusem & D.G. Chapman
PDF (DTRPG) – (Terminal) $1.99
Print & PDF (exaltedfuneral.com) – (Terminal) $5.00

The crew’s ship, dangerously low on fuel, makes the necessary stop at Anarene’s Folly, a remote space station. The next station is three days away, and they only have enough fuel for one, so this remote station is a blessing. When the ship arrives, the crew contacts the station’s Space Traffic Controller, which directs them to assume a holding pattern until a docking port becomes available. This begins a series of docking follies that plagues the ship and its crew. Something is amiss, and it seems like everyone is in on it but the crew.

The pamphlet module features the adventure’s setup and the opposition’s goal on the front cover. Inside reveals what the crew doesn’t know that everyone else does, details about the station, a timeline of encounters, NPC actions during meetings, and a table to gaslight the crew when pressed for information. The outer two panels feature background information about the Space Traffic Controller on duty, along with a table of small talk conversation ideas and comm slip-ups to provide hints to the crew when interacting with them. There is also information about opposing forces, their plan of attack, their ability to hide their true intent, and the adventure’s final outcome, whatever it looks like.

Without spoiling, the crew is in the dark about something that centers around them. Each delay or excuse fuels the crew’s suspicions but provides no direct answers. From the moment contact is made, a timeline of events is set into motion. It will be up to the crew to discover what is happening and deal with it before they find themselves floating in space without a spacesuit.

The Haunting of Ypsilon 14

Authors: D.G. Chapman
PDF (DTRPG) –  $1.99
Print & PDF  $5.00

On the mining asteroid Ypsilon 14, one of its workers has disappeared without a trace. No blood, body, or record of an airlock opening can be found. The crew, who recently arrived as part of a cargo run, cannot leave and faces the threat of becoming the next inhabitant to mysteriously disappear. Nine other mining workers and the base’s pet cat live on the asteroid, and one or all are suspects.

Something horrible lurks on Ypsilon 14, and the crew must solve the mystery to get off the asteroid alive. The front panel has an overview of the adventure, with Gamemaster only notes about the threat to the crew. Inside is a diagram stack exchange of the facility and mining shafts below. Each area features a brief description and event within and connecting lines to the next room.

With each passing minute of the crew’s investigation, more inhabitants disappear. The clues to solving the mystery are all around them in the facility, waiting to be discovered. Hiding out on the ship will not save them. Once all the miners are gone, the crew is next, whether or not they want to get involved.

Hideo’s World

Authors: D.G. Chapman
PDF (DTRPG) –  $1.99
Print & PDF  $5.00

A failed entrepreneur needs the crew’s help. After his idea of a game system that runs while you sleep was unable to launch, inventor Hideo K left reality and slipped into a virtual world of his own making. That world is deteriorating, and his consciousness needs to be extracted before it collapses.

The crew will enter the virtual world of HypnoDD to find Hideo and bring him back out. Inside the pamphlet are locations within HypnoDD where the crew may locate Hideo. They begin in the plaza, where they have five areas to search. They can search Settings, Game, Shop, Home, or The Communications Tower. Within each, the crew will encounter digital denizens attempting to thwart their efforts.

The digital world is very fragile and will glitch if disturbed. Each glitch accelerates the decompiling, collapsing rooms and stressing Hideo’s life force. If the crew can not extract Hideo in time, he will be lost along with the crew.

Chromatic Transference

Authors: Reece Carter
PDF (DTRPG) –  $1.99
Print & PDF  $5.00

The crew comes across an abandoned research facility that looks to have been left for years. The crew is here to salvage anything they can. As the crew searches, they will learn what became of the inhabitants and what they were researching.

The adventure is a simple salvage mission with a hidden surprise. The research team that lived at the station never abandoned it. Something catastrophic happened to the team. As the crew searches room by room, they will pick up clues to the mystery. When they discover the truth, what will they do?

The pamphlet features a simple facility map and room descriptions with clues. There are 10 locations for the crew to explore. Each site should bring them closer to solving the mystery and hopefully give them insight into what they are facing and how to survive it.

Final Thought

I was initially skeptical of the pamphlet modules. They have been hanging around my local game store’s display racks for quite some time. Though the price was reasonable, the idea that a whole module could fit on a slim brochure was unbelievable. I perused one up during a break in our face-to-face session and was surprised by its contents.

With seemingly little space, each one-shot pamphlet held just the right amount of information for a Gamemaster to run each module with little to no extra work needed. I was highly impressed and purchased one of each that was available. As I read through each one, I found each is unique.

The four I purchased each provided a different type of adventure. Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly focus on the crew’s paranoia. The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 sees the crew fighting to survive. Hideo’s world takes them to an alternative digital universe to extract their target, and Chromatic Transference is a fundamental salvage mission. Each one is ready to run with little or no prep needed as long as the Gamemaster is familiar with the game’s rules.

The quality of each physical module is fair compared to other publications. They all follow the same formatting on their covers; header followed by a main image and the module’s elevator pitch. After that, each deviates from covering the essential aspects of the module, whatever they may be. Each pamphlet utilizes a different typeface and layout from the others. Strangely, they all seem to work.

The modules are printed on excellent heavy cardstock that should hold up to multiple uses. I highly suspect the modules are not offset-printed. My game’s store sales sticker removed pieces of the printing, not the substrate, when peeled off, suggesting toner instead of ink.

These four are just a tiny sampling of Mothership’s One-Shot Modules. Mothership has many other pamphlet modules and source material that use the pamphlet format. More are being added to Mothership’s catalog as we speak. If you encounter one at your game store, pick it up, give it a quick read, and discover the brilliance of an adventure in a tiny space.

~Stephen Pennisi

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