Today’s Superhero Random Encounter
Notebook LM – Batman in the bank
I had the idea this work to upload my superhero games to Notebook LM – it seems they all wouldn’t work at once – maybe a total words limit or size limit or something – so I split them into Licensed and others.
I decided to ask a question:can you run through a combat example of d20 M&M 3e DC Adventures of Batman vs a gang of street thugs robbing a bank?
This example uses the ruleset for the d20 Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition (M&M 3e) DC Adventures game, focusing on the core mechanics of Initiative, Attack Checks, and the special rules for Minions.
The Scene: First National Bank, Gotham City (PL 12 Scenario)
The Gamemaster (GM) sets the scene: It is late night in Gotham City. A bank alarm splits the quiet, signaling a robbery in progress at the First National Bank. Batman (PL 12) is perched on a nearby rooftop, observing four Street Thugs (PL 3 Minions) loading bags of cash into an idling getaway van.
Combat Setup
Batman (PL 12):
- Initiative Bonus: +11
- Active Defenses (Dodge/Parry): 14
- Unarmed Attack Bonus: +20 (Close)
- Offensive Gear: Explosive Batarang (Ranged Burst Area Damage 4)
Thugs (4 Minions, PL 3):
- Initiative Bonus: +1
- Toughness Defense: 3
- Ranged Attack (Pistol) Bonus: +1 (Ranged Damage 3)
Round 1: Interruption and Initiative
The GM declares that the moment the thugs finish loading the last bag, they will drive off. Batman’s player declares he leaps into action, aiming to incapacitate the thugs before they can flee.
- Initiative Check:
- Batman rolls d20 + 11. (Result: 10 + 11 = 21).
- The GM rolls once for the four Thugs (Minions). (Result: 4 + 1 = 5).
- Result: Batman acts first (Initiative 21).
- Batman’s Turn (Initiative 21):
- Declaration: Batman uses a move action to drop stealthily behind the thugs (using Hide in Plain Sight and Stealth 13) and throws an Explosive Batarang designed to incapacitate, not kill, aiming for the center of the group.
- Attack Action: Since the Explosive Batarang is a Burst Area effect, no attack check is required; it automatically affects the area. The thugs are subject to a Damage Resistance Check (DC 14, based on 10 + Damage Rank 4).
- Thugs’ Resistance Checks: Each Thug must resist Damage DC 14 with their Toughness Defense (Toughness 3). They roll d20 + 3.
- The GM rolls for the four minions:
- Thug 1 rolls 8 + 3 = 11 (Failures by 3).
- Thug 2 rolls 1 + 3 = 4 (Failures by 10).
- Thug 3 rolls 12 + 3 = 15 (Success by 1).
- Thug 4 rolls 7 + 3 = 10 (Equaling the DC).
- The GM rolls for the four minions:
- Minion Rule Resolution: In M&M 3e DC Adventures, if a minion fails a resistance check, they immediately suffer the worst degree of the effect. For a damaging attack, the worst degree of effect is being incapacitated.
- Thug 1 and Thug 2 clearly fail their check, so they are incapacitated and fall unconscious, stunned by the blast.
- Thug 3 and Thug 4 successfully resisted the damage (15 and 10, respectively, against DC 14), so they remain standing.
- Batman’s Narrative: Batman throws the specialized Batarang, which detonates with a non-lethal burst. Two of the thugs collapse immediately, clutching their ears and eyes (effects consistent with the Flash Bombs variant found in Batman’s equipment, often Affliction or Dazzle effects). The GM narrates that the sudden action causes the remaining Thugs to instinctively draw their pistols.
- Thugs’ Turn (Initiative 5):
- Only Thug 3 and Thug 4 are conscious and draw their light pistols. Thug 4 opens fire on Batman.
- Attack Action (Thug 4): Thug 4 uses his pistol (Ranged Damage 3, Attack Bonus +1) against Batman’s Dodge Defense Class (DC 24, based on Dodge 14 + 10).
- Attack Check: Thug 4 rolls d20 + 1. (Result: 15 + 1 = 16).
- Result: The check total of 16 is less than Batman’s DC 24, so the attack misses.
Round 2: Cleanup and Submission
- Initiative Check: Batman (21) still acts first over the Thugs (5).
- Batman’s Turn (Initiative 21):
- Declaration: Batman uses All-out Attack (taking a minor penalty to defense for extra power) and a Takedown Advantage to quickly neutralize the remaining two thugs. He engages Thug 3 in close combat.
- Maneuver: Batman uses All-out Attack 1 (taking -1 penalty to Dodge/Parry 14, setting them to 13, and gaining +1 to his attack bonus, making it +21).
- Attack Check: Batman uses his Unarmed attack (+21) against Thug 3’s Parry Defense Class (DC 12, based on Parry 2 + 10). Batman rolls d20 + 21. (Result: 3 + 21 = 24).
- Result: The attack hits easily. Since Thug 3 is a Minion, he immediately suffers the worst degree of effect and is incapacitated.
- Takedown Advantage: Because Batman successfully incapacitated Thug 3 with a close attack, he immediately makes a free action attack against Thug 4, who is adjacent.
- Attack Check (Takedown): Batman uses his Unarmed attack (+21) against Thug 4’s Parry Defense Class (DC 12). Batman rolls d20 + 21. (Result: 18 + 21 = 39).
- Result: The attack hits. Thug 4 is also a Minion and is incapacitated.
- Batman’s Narrative: Batman delivers a precise series of strikes (Thug 3 collapses). Leveraging his Takedown capability, he pivots instantly, dropping the final thug with a swift, non-lethal blow to the jaw before the criminal can pull the trigger.
Outcome: All four Thugs are incapacitated. Batman can now use his Investigation skill (rank 14, bonus +22) to check for clues or his Technology skill (rank 8, bonus +16) to neutralize the getaway van or check for tracking devices. The GM may award the players Hero Points for overcoming the challenge.
So apparently the answer is yes!
Sector Gazetteer: A Comprehensive Survey of the Mothership Universe
Sector Gazetteer: A Comprehensive Survey of the Mothership Universe
Introduction: Charting the Void – A Universe in Fragments
The Mothership Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game presents a unique paradigm in tabletop world-building. Unlike its contemporaries, which often launch with exhaustive setting guides and detailed galactic maps, Mothership provides a lean, lethal ruleset and a powerful “cassette futurism” aesthetic, then deliberately leaves the vast canvas of its universe undefined.1 This creative vacuum has become its most defining feature, fostering a vibrant and prolific ecosystem of independent creators who have collectively built a universe from the bottom up. This gazetteer serves as both a definitive archive of that sprawling creation and a practical map for navigating its emergent narrative space.
The game’s development and publication model is decentralized, driven by community enthusiasm and facilitated by crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter’s “Zine Quest” initiative.3 This has resulted in a fragmented but deeply interconnected body of work, ranging from official, campaign-scale modules to hundreds of independently produced zines and pamphlets.6 For the Warden—the game master in
Mothership’s parlance—this presents both a remarkable opportunity and a significant challenge. The sheer volume of material can be overwhelming, and the narrative threads that bind these disparate works are often subtle and unstated. This report aims to codify that universe by cataloging its key locations, identifying its recurring themes, and synthesizing the implicit lore into a coherent framework for long-term campaign play.
To achieve this, the material has been organized into a tiered system of canonicity. Tier 1 (Core Canon) comprises all official publications by the game’s publisher, Tuesday Knight Games (TKG), which establish the foundational rules and tone.8
Tier 2 (Expanded Canon) consists of major third-party works, such as large-scale anthologies, that function as self-contained campaign settings and are widely regarded as essential additions to the game.11 Finally,
Tier 3 (Community Canon) encompasses the vast library of independent zines, pamphlets, and digital releases, whose narrative connections are often forged not by their authors but by the community of players and Wardens who integrate them into their campaigns.6
The game’s core mechanical design is the direct catalyst for this decentralized, module-centric publication model. The rules are intentionally “hyper streamlined” and “rules-light,” lowering the barrier to entry for creators as well as players.16 The 1st Edition rules further refined this philosophy, simplifying combat and introducing more visceral systems like Wounds and destructible Armor Points.8 This mechanical simplicity encourages a design focus on atmosphere, information layout, and scenario structure—the hallmarks of the
Mothership zine scene. Furthermore, the system’s high lethality and central Stress and Panic mechanics naturally frame adventures as self-contained arcs of survival, making the one-shot or short module the default format.2 This proliferation of self-contained modules creates a “patchwork” universe, which in turn generates a demand for frameworks like
The Third Sector and Hull Breach that can stitch them together into a cohesive whole. The system’s success is therefore inextricably linked to the health of its third-party ecosystem. This gazetteer is the necessary tool to unlock the full potential of that ecosystem for long-term, narrative-driven play.
Part I: The Core Systems – Official Canon and Foundational Lore
The foundation of the Mothership universe is established not through a lore book, but through the four core rulebooks included in the 1st Edition Boxed Set: the Player’s Survival Guide, the Warden’s Operations Manual, the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, and the Unconfirmed Contact Reports. Together, these texts codify the game’s tone, technological level, and the baseline assumptions upon which all other supplements are built.1
The 1st Edition Foundation
The four core books provide a complete framework for play, with a design philosophy centered on usability and brutal efficiency.
The Player’s Survival Guide (PSG) is the cornerstone text, outlining character creation, core mechanics, and equipment. The four classes—Teamster, Scientist, Android, and Marine—establish the primary archetypes of this universe: blue-collar workers, intellectual specialists, synthetic beings, and trained combatants.18 The equipment lists are notable for what they lack as much as what they include; there are no personal energy shields or teleportation devices, grounding the technology in a gritty, industrial reality of vaccsuits, laser cutters, and firearms.21 This immediately establishes a world where characters are vulnerable and survival depends on practical tools and careful planning.
The Warden’s Operations Manual (WOM) provides the tools and philosophy for running the game. Its most significant contribution to the setting is the T.O.M.B.S. cycle (Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber), a framework for structuring horror scenarios.22 This cycle codifies the intended narrative arc of a typical
Mothership adventure: a slow-burn investigation that escalates into a terrifying confrontation, followed by a desperate escape or a temporary victory. The manual’s advice consistently reinforces a tone of dread, isolation, and consequence, shaping the Warden’s approach to building the universe one session at a time.1
The Shipbreaker’s Toolkit (SBT) defines the realities of space travel. It details starship operations, combat, and a roster of ship classes that reinforce the “used future” aesthetic. Ships are often cramped, unreliable, and expensive to maintain, with high fuel costs and exorbitant repair fees making every journey a calculated risk.10 This economic brutality is a key feature of the setting, often serving as the primary motivation for why player characters take on lethally dangerous jobs. The provided ship classes, from small scout ships to massive freighters, create a tangible sense of scale for the verse.
Finally, the Unconfirmed Contact Reports (UCR) serves as the game’s “monster manual.” The entities within are rarely simple “bugs” to be exterminated. Instead, they represent a wide spectrum of sci-fi horror, including conceptual horrors, psychic phenomena, environmental contagions, and unknowable alien intelligences.10 This book establishes that the primary threats in the
Mothership universe are not just physical but often psychological and existential, requiring cleverness and sacrifice rather than overwhelming firepower.
The Implied Setting
While the core books avoid explicit galactic lore, they embed crucial details that sketch the outlines of a wider universe.
The most significant piece of macro-level world-building is the existence of three great jump gates: Neumarkt (connecting to the Terran System), Minnesang (leading to the Outer or “Bug” Colonies), and Tannhauser (opening into the Ridge or “Mining” Colonies).2 This simple structure provides a fundamental axis for the known universe: a core system (Terra), a colonized frontier (the Outer Colonies), and an industrial periphery (the Ridge). This framework immediately gives Wardens a tangible, albeit skeletal, star map upon which to place their adventures.
The economic reality implied by the rules is one of ruthless, unchecked hyper-capitalism. The game loop often revolves around acquiring a job from a corporate entity, completing it against horrific odds, and spending the meager profits on repairs, supplies, and stress relief, often ending up in debt.15 Player characters are not heroes; they are disposable assets in a cosmic gig economy, a theme that resonates throughout the vast majority of official and third-party modules.
One of the most potent, if subtle, narrative hooks is embedded in a name: the “Tannhauser Gate.” The name is a clear homage to the iconic “Tears in Rain” soliloquy from the film Blade Runner, a key aesthetic and thematic touchstone for the genre. The official module Warped Beyond Recognition is set aboard a research vessel also named the Tannhauser, where a corporation conducts horrific psionic experiments.26 This shared name is unlikely to be a coincidence. It suggests a powerful, unspoken connection. The corporation behind the psionic research may be the same entity that constructed or now controls the Tannhauser Gate itself. Alternatively, the ship may have been named in honor of the gate, implying that its operations are primarily focused within the Ridge Colonies. This transforms a simple name into a powerful world-building tool, allowing a Warden to posit the existence of a major, secretive corporate power—the “Tannhauser Corporation”—that dominates the industrial Ridge sector, providing a ready-made antagonist or patron for an entire campaign.
Part II: The Outer Rim – Major Official Campaign Locales
Published by Tuesday Knight Games, the major official modules represent the foundational pillars of the Mothership universe. Each provides a distinct, richly detailed setting that not only serves as a standalone adventure but also establishes a key archetype for campaign play: the derelict crawl, the cyberpunk hub, the AI megadungeon, and the introductory “bug hunt.”
Dead Planet: The Archetypal Derict Crawl
Dead Planet was the first major module released for the game and codified one of its core gameplay loops.16
- Setting: The module is a “planetcrawl” set on the eponymous Dead Planet, a desolate world from which no ship escapes. Key locations include the wreck of the ship Alexis, the multi-level underground bunker known as the Red Tower, and a cannibal-infested colony on the planet’s moon.27
- Factions: The primary conflict is between the desperate, paranoid survivors of the initial catastrophe, who have devolved into a ritualistic cannibal society, and any newcomers who stumble upon their world. The environment itself, hostile and unforgiving, acts as a third antagonist.
- Themes: The core themes are survival, isolation, and the fragility of sanity. It explores how humanity breaks down when stripped of civilization and faced with overwhelming hopelessness, echoing films like Event Horizon and video games like Dead Space.22
- Campaign Role: Beyond its self-contained adventure, Dead Planet’s most significant contribution is its robust set of random tables for generating derelict ships.27 These tables are a vital toolkit for any Warden, allowing for the on-the-fly creation of countless side missions, salvage operations, and points of interest. It transforms the module from a single location into a foundational resource for building a sandbox campaign filled with mysterious wrecks and forgotten horrors.
A Pound of Flesh: The Cyberpunk Hub
A Pound of Flesh provides the universe with its first and most iconic urban environment, establishing a hub for long-term campaign play.16
- Setting: The module is a toolkit for creating a black market space station, centered on the sprawling, city-sized station of Prospero’s Dream. The station is packed with locations, from the grimy slums of The Choke to mercenary company headquarters and black market cybernetics clinics.30
- Factions: Prospero’s Dream is a hotbed of political and criminal intrigue, with multiple factions vying for control. These include the station’s administration, various criminal syndicates, corporate interests, and worker unions, providing a rich tapestry of social encounters and conflicting loyalties.30
- Themes: The module leans heavily into cyberpunk tropes: corporate espionage, body modification, organized crime, and the struggle for survival in a lawless, hyper-capitalist society. It introduces detailed rules for cybermods and the risk of cybernetic rejection, adding a layer of transhumanist body horror.29
- Campaign Role: Prospero’s Dream is explicitly designed to function as a campaign “home base”.15 It is a place where a crew can dock their ship, spend their earnings, find new work, and become entangled in long-running plots. The station’s robust economy and the high cost of cybernetics provide a powerful motivation for players to continually seek out dangerous but lucrative jobs, driving the campaign forward.
Gradient Descent: The AI Megadungeon
Gradient Descent is a massive, self-contained adventure that introduces the concept of the “megadungeon” to Mothership.20
- Setting: The entire module is set within the CLOUDBANK Synthetics Production Facility, also known as “The Deep,” a colossal, 12-level abandoned android factory orbiting a gas giant. A small scavenger camp, The Bell, orbits nearby, serving as a precarious safe haven.34
- Factions: The Deep is controlled by a powerful and insane rogue AI named “MONARCH.” The facility is populated by various factions of androids and AI constructs, some loyal to MONARCH, some driven by corrupted programming, and others seeking freedom. These factions can be negotiated with, pitted against each other, or fought.34
- Themes: The adventure is a deep dive into existential horror, artificial intelligence, and the nature of consciousness. It explores themes of identity, memory, and what it means to be human through its unique “Bends” mechanic, a condition that causes characters to question their own humanity.34 The module draws inspiration from media like
Blade Runner and the manga Blame!.36 - Campaign Role: Gradient Descent serves as a campaign centerpiece, a vast and dangerous location that can sustain dozens of sessions of exploration.25 It establishes rogue AIs as a major threat in the universe and can serve as the origin point for strange androids or anomalous artifacts encountered in other adventures. Its sheer scale and open-ended, faction-based design make it a definitive example of a
Mothership megadungeon.
Another Bug Hunt: The Introductory Campaign
Designed as the official entry point for new players and Wardens, Another Bug Hunt provides a structured, multi-part introduction to the game’s core themes and mechanics.8
- Setting: The adventure takes place on the remote terraforming colony of Samsa-VI, which has recently gone silent. The players arrive to find an abandoned colony, signs of a violent assault, and a hostile alien ecosystem.10
- Factions: The module features three competing human factions on the planet, each with their own agenda and secrets, forcing the players to make difficult choices about who to trust. The primary antagonists are a new alien species, the insectoid Carcinids.39
- Themes: As the title suggests, this module is a classic “bug hunt,” heavily inspired by the film Aliens. It focuses on themes of corporate colonization gone wrong, xenobiological horror, and survival against overwhelming odds. It also introduces elements of mind control and body horror through the Carcinids’ life cycle.39
- Campaign Role: Another Bug Hunt is the ideal starting point for a campaign. Its four interconnected scenarios teach the core gameplay loop and provide tutorials for the Warden.1 It introduces the Carcinids as a potential recurring threat for a wider campaign and provides a model for how to chain smaller one-shots into a cohesive narrative arc. Many Wardens use it as a prequel that leads their surviving crew to a larger hub like Prospero’s Dream.15
Part III: The Fringe Sectors – Major Third-Party Campaign Frameworks
The modular nature of Mothership has inspired third-party creators not only to produce individual adventures but also to develop ambitious projects that provide overarching structures for campaign play. These frameworks are a direct response to the needs of Wardens seeking to build a more cohesive and persistent universe, demonstrating the community’s vital role in shaping the game’s identity.
Hull Breach Vol. 1: The All-in-One Sector
Hull Breach Vol. 1 stands as the most significant and comprehensive third-party publication for Mothership. It is less a single module and more a complete campaign setting presented as an anthology.13
- Structure and Content: This 200+ page hardcover book is a collection of 26 distinct but interconnected articles, adventures, toolkits, and essays from a wide array of prominent community creators.13 The content is organized into logical sections such as Missions, Locations, Entities, and Assets, allowing for easy reference during play.13
- The Publico Sector: While each entry can be used independently, the book is designed to function as a “secret book within a book”.41 Appendix materials, including a sector map and a “conspiracy board,” outline an expanse of space dominated by the
Publico megacorporation. Hooks, rumors, and explicit crossovers are woven throughout the various articles, allowing a Warden to run a deeply interconnected sandbox campaign set entirely within this pre-built sector.23 Modules within the book, such as the funnel adventure
Residue Processing and the alien-player hack Manhunt, provide diverse gameplay experiences within this shared setting.13 - Campaign Role: Hull Breach is a “campaign in a box.” It is widely regarded by the community as an essential, almost mandatory, purchase for any serious Warden.11 It provides a ready-made sector with its own distinct lore, a major corporate power, and a wealth of interconnected adventures. This offers a compelling alternative for Wardens who prefer a more structured starting point than building a sector from scratch by combining disparate modules.
The Third Sector: The Connective Tissue
Where Hull Breach builds a new sector from the ground up, The Third Sector takes the opposite approach: it provides the connective tissue to link existing, otherwise unrelated, third-party modules into a coherent whole.44
- Structure and Content: This pamphlet supplement is a meta-framework designed for sandbox campaign play. Its centerpiece is a pixel-art starmap that places twelve popular independent adventures into a shared region of space.44 The adventures linked include
Bloom, Moonbase Blues, The Black Heart of Paradise, and Primeval, among others.44 The pamphlet provides hooks, rumors, and travel routes to connect these locations, as well as a job table that is modified by the players’ reputation in the sector.44 - Campaign Role: The Third Sector is a powerful tool and a case study in community-driven world-building. It validates the idea of a shared universe by formalizing the connections between disparate creative works. For a Warden, it provides an immediate, playable sandbox campaign using some of the best modules available. More importantly, it serves as a model for how a Warden can take their own collection of favorite zines and pamphlets, create a map, and weave a web of rumors and job opportunities to transform them into a living, breathing sector of space.
The Inferno Trilogy: The Narrative Arc
The “Inferno Trilogy,” created by Anodyne Printware, is a series of three thematically and narratively linked adventures that form a complete, multi-part campaign. It serves as a premier example of how to build a story with escalating stakes and a clear progression.46
- Structure and Content: The trilogy consists of three distinct modules, each with a different gameplay focus:
- Wrath of God: A spaceship-bound hex crawl set in a corporate warzone. It introduces new rules for strategic dogfighting and tasks the crew with navigating a perilous battlefield.48
- The Drain: A “funnel” adventure where each player controls multiple low-level characters thrown into a horrific, occult-tinged battlefield aboard a decaying colony ship, the Within Wheels. The survivors become the players’ new, battle-hardened characters.46
- Meat Grinder: The climax of the trilogy, an adventure that takes the crew through a literal portal to Hell—a nightmare dimension of flesh and agony—inspired by media like Doom and Event Horizon.47
- The PrayCo Conspiracy: The narrative thread connecting the trilogy is the sinister PrayCo, a “private prisoner reformation company” that wields an unholy artifact. This artifact is the cause of the conflict in Wrath of God, is sought by PrayCo in The Drain, and is ultimately used to open the gate to Hell in Meat Grinder.46
- Campaign Role: The Inferno Trilogy is a masterclass in building a short, focused campaign with a clear narrative arc. It demonstrates how to vary gameplay from space combat to ground-based survival horror to otherworldly exploration, all while maintaining a consistent thematic through-line. It provides a blueprint for Wardens who wish to craft campaigns with a defined beginning, middle, and end, rather than an open-ended sandbox.
Part IV: A Gazetteer of Known Space – Thematic Constellations
The vast library of Mothership modules can be navigated by grouping them into thematic constellations. This approach allows a Warden to select adventures that align with a specific tone or horror subgenre, either for a one-shot or as part of a thematically consistent campaign arc. The following is a representative gazetteer of key locations and scenarios within the known universe.
Corporate Hellscapes & Labor Disputes
These adventures focus on the brutal realities of hyper-capitalism in deep space, where corporate malfeasance, greed, and labor exploitation are the true monsters.
- The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo: Player characters are janitors on a high-security corporate prison moon, Prison Station Echo, orbiting the war-torn world of Carnath. A containment breach in a hidden lab run by XeroCorp unleashes a horde of hallucinating super-soldier test subjects, trapping the janitors in a lockdown with rioting inmates and crooked guards.55
- Dying Hard on Hardlight Station: In a scenario reminiscent of the film Die Hard, players must navigate the vents and corridors of Hardlight Station after it is seized by the Blackshield Mercenary Company. The situation is complicated by a ravenous xenomorph that has escaped from the station’s Healthtek AG biotech labs during the chaos.55
- Picket Line Tango: A noir-inspired murder mystery unfolds on the isolated mining colony of Norton Outpost. Amidst a tense and violent union strike, players must find a killer while navigating the treacherous politics between the desperate miners and their oppressive corporate overseers.63
Biological & Body Horror
This constellation of modules deals with the visceral horror of alien plagues, parasitic lifeforms, and the grotesque transformation of the human body.
- Bloom: A team of mercenaries is hired for a corporate espionage mission: infiltrate the clandestine underwater research facility Choi Labs, operated by Dyson Phytology, and steal samples of a newly discovered miracle moss. They arrive to find the station silent, its crew consumed by an infectious, intelligent mold that now haunts the empty halls.6
- The Burning of Carbex: A three-act campaign centered on a malevolent alien parasite known as “The Creeping Perforation.” Unleashed from a coal mine on the planet Carbex, the parasite infects the crew of the orbiting Angelus Fabrica Station, causing horrific transformations and threatening to spread across the sector.74
Existential & Psychological Terror
These scenarios push beyond physical threats to challenge the players’ perceptions of reality, time, and self.
- Echoes in the Graveyard: The crew of the survey vessel Graveyard is trapped in a time loop, forcing players to relive the same hour of terror repeatedly. They must solve the mystery behind the loop to save not only the Graveyard’s crew but themselves from being erased by time.78
- Warped Beyond Recognition: An investigation aboard the research vessel Tannhauser uncovers a series of horrific experiments designed to unlock psychic powers. The adventure features six unique psionic antagonists and an open-ended system for players to discover and wield these dangerous powers themselves, at great risk to their sanity.26
- VR-DEAD: Players awaken aboard the derelict research station Mergen’s Watch to find their bodies emaciated. They soon realize they have been trapped for weeks in a virtual reality utopia created by a powerful alien entity. To escape, they must navigate the collapsing station while fighting off the “VR Zombies”—the digital ghosts of the crew—and the entity’s attempts to pull them back into its prison of the mind.85
- Thousand Empty Light: A unique solo-play adventure designed as an in-universe corporate document. The player is a “lamplighter” tasked with restoring power to a long, abandoned underwater tunnel on an uninhabited world. Using a solo procedure and a “semiotic standard” oracle, the player uncovers the dark secrets of the tunnel alone in the crushing deep.88
Space Western & Frontier Horror
Set on the lawless fringes of explored space, these modules blend the aesthetics of classic westerns with the grim realities of sci-fi horror.
- The Desert Moon of Karth: A rich sandbox adventure set on the tiny, mesa-studded moon of Karth. The only access is via a space elevator to the boomtown of Larstown. The module is filled with competing factions, sand-blown ruins, fearsome sandsquids, and a central mystery involving an ossified coral that grants eternal youth at a terrible price.14
Classic Sci-Fi Horror & Introductory Scenarios
These modules are perfect encapsulations of the core Mothership experience, serving as excellent one-shots or entry points for new players.
- The Haunting of Ypsilon 14: The quintessential introductory pamphlet module. A crew is sent to investigate a remote asteroid mining operation that has gone silent. They arrive to find the station in disarray and are soon hunted by a deadly, invisible creature spawned from a mysterious yellow substance.6
- Moonbase Blues: A claustrophobic mystery on the isolated Azure Base moonbase observatory. A strange, light-borne contaminant has infected the colonists, turning them into uncanny, blue-hued monsters. The crew must contend with the infected, environmental hazards, and the encroaching darkness.6
Part V: Weaving the Conspiracy Board – Constructing a Cohesive Sector
The true potential of the Mothership universe is realized when a Warden moves beyond individual modules and begins to weave their disparate settings and plot hooks into a single, cohesive campaign sector. This process, akin to assembling a conspiracy board, involves identifying recurring patterns, inferring relationships between factions, and establishing a persistent world for the players to inhabit. The following analysis provides a framework and specific examples for this creative endeavor.
The Corporate Dossier: Known Megacorporations
While the core rules refer to a nebulous “Company,” the broader library of supplements introduces a number of specific corporate and organizational entities. Cataloging these factions is the first step in building a believable political and economic landscape.
| Corporation / Faction | Primary Business | Known Locations / Assets | Module(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| XeroCorp | Black Ops, Super-Soldiers | Prison Station Echo | The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo 57 |
| Healthtek AG | Biotechnology, Xenomorphs | Hardlight Station | Dying Hard on Hardlight Station 61 |
| Dyson Phytology | Biotechnology, Xeno-botany | Choi Labs (underwater) | Bloom 71 |
| PrayCo | Prisoner Reformation, Occult Tech | Within Wheels colony ship | The Drain, Meat Grinder 46 |
| Publico | Megacorporation (diversified) | Dominant force in the Hull Breach sector | Hull Breach Vol. 1 41 |
| Tannhauser-Cloudbank | Psionics, Androids, Mining | Tannhauser vessel, CLOUDBANK facility | Warped Beyond Recognition, Gradient Descent 34 |
By analyzing the activities of these corporations, a web of potential rivalries and alliances emerges. For instance, Healthtek AG and Dyson Phytology are both engaged in high-risk biological research, making them natural competitors. A Warden could easily create a campaign arc centered on corporate espionage between these two entities, using Dying Hard on Hardlight Station and Bloom as key locations. Similarly, XeroCorp and PrayCo both use captive human populations for dangerous experiments, suggesting they might compete for contracts in the ethically bankrupt “human resources” sector.
Xeno-Threats and Unconfirmed Contacts
Just as corporations can be tracked across modules, so too can alien species and anomalous phenomena, creating the sense of a universe with consistent, recurring threats.
- The Carcinids: Introduced in Another Bug Hunt, this insectoid species with a hive-mind structure and mind-controlling capabilities is perfectly suited to be a sector-wide threat.39 A Warden could run
Another Bug Hunt as the players’ first encounter, then have Carcinid infestations appear as complications in entirely different modules, creating a persistent antagonist for an entire campaign. - Parasitic Horrors: The infectious agents in Bloom (a sentient moss), The Burning of Carbex (a transformative parasite), and The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 (a mysterious yellow substance that creates an invisible monster) all share themes of rapid mutation and body horror. A Warden could link these phenomena, suggesting they are different manifestations of a single, widespread biological contagion or perhaps the result of competing corporate bioweapon programs.
- Non-Biological Threats: By juxtaposing the rogue AI MONARCH from Gradient Descent with the psychic entities from Warped Beyond Recognition, a Warden can establish a thematic dichotomy of threats. One is a cold, logical, technological horror, while the other is a chaotic, emotional, organic horror. A campaign could be built around the conflict between these two forces, with the players caught in the middle of a war between machine intelligence and psychic consciousness.
Campaign Frameworks in Practice
Community discussions and the design of certain supplements reveal several effective models for linking adventures into a long-form campaign.15
- The Hub-and-Spoke Model: This is the most common approach, using a persistent location as a home base from which the crew takes on jobs. A Pound of Flesh and its station, Prospero’s Dream, is the quintessential hub.15 The crew might hear a rumor in a bar on Prospero’s Dream about a lucrative salvage opportunity, leading them to the events of
Dead Planet. Upon their return, a corporate agent could hire them to investigate a silent colony, triggering the Another Bug Hunt module. This structure allows for an episodic campaign that still feels grounded in a persistent world. - The Chained-Narrative Model: This model links modules sequentially, with the conclusion of one adventure providing the direct impetus for the next. The “Inferno Trilogy” is the prime published example of this structure. A community-derived example involves linking The Horror on Tau Sigma 7 directly into Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, with the former serving as a prequel that explains the origins of the latter’s conflict.110 This creates a more focused, plot-driven campaign.
The Emergent Metaplot: The Tannhauser-Cloudbank Connection
By synthesizing disparate data points, it is possible to construct a powerful, emergent metaplot that unifies several major modules into a single, epic campaign.
- The core rules establish the Tannhauser Gate as the gateway to the Ridge, a sector defined by mining.2 Mining operations in the
Mothership universe are notorious for uncovering ancient and dangerous things (Dead Planet, The Burning of Carbex). - The module Warped Beyond Recognition is set aboard the research vessel Tannhauser, which is investigating psionics.26 A corporation researching psychic powers would be intensely interested in any strange artifacts or phenomena discovered during deep-space mining operations in the Ridge.
- The module Gradient Descent is set in CLOUDBANK, a massive, remote android production facility run by a rogue AI.34 A corporation with the resources to research psionics would also likely be a major player in the android market. A remote, resource-rich industrial sector like the Ridge is a logical place to construct such a facility.
- Community discussion has noted a potential link between the research lab accident in the pamphlet module Piece by Piece and the AI themes of Gradient Descent.113
From these points, a cohesive narrative emerges. A single, powerful entity—the Tannhauser-Cloudbank Corporation—can be posited as the dominant force in the Ridge sector. This corporation controls the Tannhauser Gate, runs the mining operations, funds the psionic experiments on the Tannhauser, and owns the CLOUDBANK android facility. A campaign could begin with the players taking a simple mining contract in the Ridge, leading them to uncover evidence of the psionic experiments. This could put them in the corporation’s crosshairs, forcing them to flee to a lawless station like Prospero’s Dream. From there, they might follow leads that eventually trace the conspiracy back to its source: the rogue AI MONARCH at the heart of the CLOUDBANK facility. This framework transforms a collection of unrelated modules into a sprawling campaign arc, all built from subtle clues and logical inference.
Part VI: Deep Space Anomalies – An Expanded Gazetteer
The initial survey of the Mothership universe reveals a core of official and major third-party settings. However, the true depth of the void is found in the hundreds of independent zines and pamphlets that populate digital marketplaces like itch.io and DriveThruRPG. This expanded gazetteer catalogs a selection of these vital community contributions, further populating the sector map with new horrors, strange locales, and indispensable tools for the Warden.
Rules & System Expansions
These supplements provide new mechanics, equipment, and character options, allowing Wardens and players to customize their experience.
- HEATSIGNATURE: A comprehensive weapon and inventory expansion that adds 26 new firearms, specialized ammunition types, and 18 weapon attachments. It also introduces a new inventory system for managing gear under pressure, perfect for campaigns with a more tactical, action-oriented focus.114
- Hacker’s Handbook: For scenarios requiring more than a simple skill check, this pamphlet provides a robust system for designing and running complex network intrusions. It includes rules for user accounts, allowing non-hacker characters to participate, and a full suite of new hardware and software.116
- Rimward Classes: This supplement introduces six new character classes to the game, including the Criminal, Ranger, Robot, Retiree, Psychic (with psionic mechanics), and Emissary, broadening the archetypes available for players.118
- Salvage Rites: Expanding on the derelict ship tables in Dead Planet, this toolkit offers a 56-page deep dive into generating unique derelict spaceship scenarios, including a dice-drop layout generator and pre-generated ship frames with adventure prompts.119
Time, Reality, and Perception-Bending Horror
These adventures move beyond physical threats to attack the characters’ understanding of their own reality.
- Time After Time: A mind-bending time travel adventure set on a space station. The module features a unique “tripartite” map, showing the same location across three different points in the timeline. Players must navigate paradoxes and chronologic horrors to save the station from a recursive fate.120
- Decagone: Trapping the crew in a ten-minute time loop aboard a deep ocean research facility, this scenario forces players to rapidly piece together a sub-nautical mystery while contending with dangerous experiments and their own fraying sanity.121
Sandbox & Hexcrawl Frontiers
For Wardens looking to run open-world, exploration-focused campaigns, these modules provide richly detailed sandboxes.
- Orbital Debris: A collaborative hex-crawl set on a moon-sized junkyard that sporadically warps through space. It features 23 unique environments created by 13 different authors, and three distinct factions—The Bloody Burrowers, The Reclaimers, and The Executive Suits—vying for control of the scrap.123
- Constant Downpour Remastered: A survival hex-crawl on the rain-lashed world of Venus 3. Inspired by a Ray Bradbury short story, the module uses a “stress-crawl” mechanic, where the environment itself slowly erodes the characters’ sanity. It includes a rival party of mercenaries, hostile Venusians, and a corporate conspiracy behind the crew’s crash-landing.124
- Primeval: A team is sent by the Takahashi Advanced Genetics megacorp to investigate a silent research facility on the jungle moon of Ur. The adventure combines a dangerous hex-crawl through alien megaflora with a tense facility-crawl, complete with new creatures and a monster generation table.126
Unique Horrors & Investigations
This broad category encompasses the vast creativity of the third-party scene, offering a diverse array of threats and scenarios.
- The Horror on Tau Sigma 7: The official prequel to Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, this pamphlet adventure details the initial discovery of the xenomorph threat in a subterranean expedition, setting the stage for the subsequent space station disaster.127
- RANE IN BLOOD: An antagonist sourcebook detailing Martyn Rane and his cult of organ-thieving, genetically-engineered space vampires. The module provides a recurring villain faction suitable for an entire campaign, blending religious horror with space piracy.128
- The Bloodfields at Blackstar Station: A battle royale scenario where crews are kidnapped by the Swords of Sinclair pirates and forced to fight for survival on the Blackstar station. The module details a deadly arena overseen by a fallen corporate mogul, where teams must survive hazards and each other for seven hours to win their freedom.129
- Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition: Set on the moon of Bodhisattva 2a, this adventure pits the crew against a murderous AI that believes itself to be a Buddhist deity. Players must navigate a civil war between two factions at a remote monastery while unraveling a DNA-melting mystery orchestrated by the sinister Straylight LLC.130
- Dinoplex: Cataclysm: A corporate-run dinosaur theme park in space becomes a disaster zone when a malfunction unleashes starving dinosaurs on the tourists. This pamphlet adventure includes a hex-map of the park, unique attractions, and fully statted dinosaurs.136
Part VII: Farthest Reaches – Additional Community Canon
The creativity of the Mothership community extends beyond traditional adventure modules, offering a wealth of supplements that alter the fundamental ways the game can be played. These resources provide new character archetypes, campaign frameworks, and entirely new genres of play, demonstrating the system’s remarkable flexibility.
Campaign & Playstyle Expansions
These supplements offer new frameworks for structuring a campaign or re-centering the narrative on different character motivations.
- Wages of Sin: A massive, official supplement that introduces a comprehensive bounty hunting system to the game. It provides detailed rules for tracking and capturing bounties, extensive tables for generating unique targets and contracts, and a host of new gear and NPCs centered around the morally ambiguous life of a corporate headhunter. It serves as a complete campaign framework for Wardens wanting to run a game focused on investigation, tracking, and high-stakes combat.11
- ARKYVR: This unique supplement reframes the player characters’ motivations by casting them as a documentary film crew. Instead of being mercenaries or salvagers, the crew is tasked with investigating and recording the strange and horrific events of the universe. This provides a powerful in-character justification for why players would willingly enter dangerous situations, and introduces new mechanics for capturing footage, conducting interviews, and dealing with corporate sponsors.11
- The Suit: For players who want to be on the other side of the corporate boot, this pamphlet introduces a new “Suit” class. This class is built around negotiation, bureaucracy, and leveraging corporate power, offering a completely different approach to problem-solving. It comes with new corporate-themed skills and equipment, perfect for a campaign of internal espionage or high-level corporate horror.158
Unique Settings & Scenarios
These modules offer self-contained experiences with novel premises, perfect for one-shots or for dropping into a larger sandbox campaign as a memorable point of interest.
- Year of the Rat: A one-shot adventure set aboard the lost casino ship, the Year of the Rat, which has mysteriously reappeared. The crew is hired to retrieve the ship’s black box, but finds the opulent, derelict vessel infested with something far more dangerous than just rats. It’s a high-stakes scenario of greed versus survival, perfect for a quick and deadly session.112
- He Who Dwells in the Black Sun: A massive, 70-page module centered on Research Base Onyx, a station studying an impossible star older than the universe. The adventure features a procedurally generated station that shifts through time, meaning players never enter the same area twice. It introduces a “Paradox Points” mechanic, where the more the players meddle with time, the more disturbing their encounters become, culminating in a confrontation with an eldritch horror from a previous reality.
- The Sleeper Crew: This pamphlet offers a unique starting premise for any campaign. Instead of a standard mission briefing, the players awaken from extended cryosleep to find their ship in disarray and the mission already gone horribly wrong. The supplement provides tables for generating the specific disaster that occurred while they were frozen, creating an instant mystery and a desperate fight for survival from the very first session.
Appendix: The Module Manifest
The following table provides a comprehensive, at-a-glance reference for the modules and supplements discussed in this gazetteer. It is designed to be a practical tool for Wardens to select and combine adventures based on their specific campaign needs.
| Module Title | Publisher | Publication Year/Edition | Format | Primary Setting(s) | Core Theme(s) | Noted Connections/Hooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Rules | RV Games | 2023 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | House Rules, System Expansion | A collection of community house rules for campaign play. 138 |
| ALCOR Station Fuel & Services | Ashen Victor | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | ALCOR Station | Campaign Hub, Social | A safe-haven station; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| Andromeda | Leyline Press | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Andromeda Hub Station | Union Dispute, Symbiotic Horror | A union dispute unleashes horrors from deep within the station. 139 |
| Another Bug Hunt | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Colony: Samsa-VI | Bug Hunt, Corporate Colonization | Core Canon. Official introductory adventure. Introduces Carcinids. |
| ARKYVR | RV Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Campaign Framework, Documentary | Rules for playing as a documentary film crew. 11 |
| Black Swan | Vegetable Alien Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Scientific Research Facility | Alien Invasion, Paranoia | An homage to The Thing, an unknown organism invades an isolated facility. 141 |
| Bloom | Daniel Hallinan | 2020 / 1e | Zine | Underwater Lab: Choi Labs | Biological Horror, Infection | Rival to Healthtek AG? Hired by a corp for espionage. |
| The Black Heart of Paradise | Schwa Games | 2019 / 0e | Zine | Space Station: The Strip | Surreal Horror, Town Mechanics | An idiosyncratic and dense location-based module. 142 |
| The Black Pyramid | Skull Dixon | 2020 / 1e | Zine | The Black Pyramid | Cosmic Horror, Megastructure | An unknown, ultra-black pyramid is discovered in deep space. 144 |
| The Bloodfields at Blackstar Station | Christian Sorrell | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Blackstar Station Arena | Battle Royale, Space Pirates | Kidnapped crews fight for survival in a televised bloodsport. 129 |
| The Bureau | Goblin Archives | 2022 / 1e | Zine | The Monolith (Bureau HQ) | Modern Dungeon Crawl, Liminal Horror | A government facility is compromised by a corrupting “Shadow.” (Includes Mothership conversion rules) 145 |
| The Burning of Carbex | Tim Obermueller Games | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Planet: Carbex; Station: Angelus Fabrica | Parasites, Body Horror, Outbreak | Features Sineto Chem Solutions and Angelus Fabrica. |
| The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Prison Moon: Carnath | Corporate Conspiracy, Psychedelics | Features XeroCorp. Can link to other corporate modules. |
| Constant Downpour Remastered | Spicy Tuna RPG | 2023 / 1e | Hardcover | Planet: Venus 3 | Survival, Hexcrawl, Psychological Horror | A survival hex-crawl on a perpetually raining planet. 124 |
| Dead Planet | Tuesday Knight Games | 2018 / 1e | Zine | Planet: Unnamed “Dead Planet” | Survival, Isolation, Cannibalism | Core Canon. Derelict ship generator is a key sandbox tool. 27 |
| Decagone | Slowquest | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Deep Ocean Research Facility | Time Loop, Mystery | The crew is trapped in a 10-minute time loop. 121 |
| The Desert Moon of Karth | Silverarm | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Moon: Karth; Town: Larstown | Space Western, Sandbox | Excellent sandbox setting with multiple factions. 93 |
| Diminishing Returns | Skull Dixon | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | Derelict Ship | Salvage, Mystery | A short salvage mission; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| Dinoplex: Cataclysm | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Dinoplex Theme Station | Dinosaur Horror, Disaster | A dinosaur theme park goes horribly wrong. 136 |
| Dissident Whispers | Tuesday Knight Games | 2020 / 1e | Hardcover | Multiple | Anthology | An anthology of 60 two-page adventures for various systems, including many for Mothership. 14 |
| The Drain | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Colony Ship: Within Wheels | Funnel, War Horror, Occult | Part 2 of the Inferno Trilogy (PrayCo). 46 |
| Dying Hard on Hardlight Station | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Space Station: Hardlight Station | Action Horror, Xenomorphs | Features Healthtek AG. Prequel is The Horror on Tau Sigma 7. |
| Echoes in the Graveyard | Matt Umland | 2020 / 1e | Zine | Derelict Ship: Graveyard | Time Loop, Psychological Horror | Puzzle-box scenario with a unique horror premise. |
| Gradient Descent | Tuesday Knight Games | 2020 / 1e | Zine | AI Megadungeon: CLOUDBANK | Rogue AI, Existential Horror | Core Canon. Potential link to Tannhauser-Cloudbank Corp. |
| Green Tomb | Eric K. Hill | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | Science Vessel | Body Horror, Hallucinations | A short adventure on a seemingly dead science vessel. 147 |
| Hacker’s Handbook | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | Hacking, Cyberpunk | A robust system for running complex hacking challenges. 116 |
| The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | Asteroid Mine: Ypsilon 14 | Invisible Monster, Isolation | Classic introductory one-shot. |
| HEATSIGNATURE | Void Ink | 2024 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Weapon Customization, Inventory Management | An advanced weapon and inventory expansion. 114 |
| Hecate Cassette Archive | Joshua Justice | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Planet: Benza-10 | Heist, Anarchy, Supernatural Audio | Infiltrate a corporate archive of supernatural recordings. Features Pure Transmission Corp. 149 |
| He Who Dwells in the Black Sun | Thorium90 | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Research Base Onyx | Procedural Generation, Time Travel | A procedurally generated station that shifts through time. |
| The Horror on Tau Sigma 7 | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Planet: Tau Sigma 7 | Alien Mystery, Subterranean Horror | Prequel to Dying Hard on Hardlight Station. 127 |
| Hull Breach Vol. 1 | Anodyne Printware | 2023 / 1e | Hardcover | Publico Sector (multiple) | Anthology, Sandbox Campaign | Expanded Canon. A self-contained campaign setting. |
| I Saw What I Saw | DoubleMonk | 2023 / 1e | Pamphlet | Sencion Research Facility | Psychological Horror, Deception | Players test a new vision apparatus with disastrous results. 161 |
| The Last Nebula | Tyler Crumrine | 2020 / 1e | Zine | The Last Nebula | Exploration, Cosmic Horror | A strange nebula with a breathable atmosphere; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| Lone Star | Parts Per Million | 2020 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Solo Play | A rules supplement for playing Mothership without a Warden. 151 |
| The Long Haul | Ok, Robot | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | Solo Play, Hexcrawl | A solo hex crawl module for playing as a space trucker. 162 |
| Meat Grinder | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Hell / Nightmare Dimension | Cosmic Horror, Body Horror | Part 3 of the Inferno Trilogy (PrayCo). |
| Moonbase Blues | Anodyne Printware | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | Moonbase: Azure Base | Contagion, Environmental Horror | Classic, self-contained one-shot. 103 |
| Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Moon: Bodhisattva 2a | AI, Biotech, Revolution | An AI thinks it’s a Buddhist deity. Features Straylight LLC. 130 |
| Not Enough Scoundrels | Spicy Tuna RPG | 2023 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Space Trucker, Campaign Tools | A supplement for running blue-collar space trucker campaigns. 11 |
| Orbital Debris | Community Collaboration | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Junkyard Moon | Hexcrawl, Sandbox, Factions | A moon-spanning junkyard hex-crawl with multiple factions. 123 |
| Orphans | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Orphanage / Lab | Psionic Horror, Conspiracy | Psionic experiments on children. 38 |
| Picket Line Tango | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Mining Colony: Norton Outpost | Noir Mystery, Labor Dispute | Excellent non-monster, social-focused horror scenario. |
| A Pound of Flesh | Tuesday Knight Games | 2019 / 1e | Zine | Space Station: Prospero’s Dream | Cyberpunk, Crime, Body Horror | Core Canon. Designed as a campaign hub. |
| Primeval | Lone Archivist | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Moon: Ur | Jungle Exploration, Facility Crawl | Investigate a silent research facility for Takahashi Advanced Genetics. 126 |
| RANE IN BLOOD | Spider00x | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Multiple | Antagonist Sourcebook, Space Vampires | A sourcebook detailing a cult of space pirates and genetic vampires. 128 |
| Rimward Classes | Octopus Ink Games | 2022 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | New Classes, Psionics | Adds six new classes, including a Psychic with psionic mechanics. 118 |
| Salvage Rites | One-Eyed Werebear | 2024 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Derelict Generation, Toolkit | A toolkit for generating derelict spaceship scenarios. 119 |
| The Sleeper Crew | ChrisAir Games | 2022 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | Campaign Start, Character Background | A supplement for generating a disastrous campaign start from cryosleep. |
| Station Xeno | Deeply Dapper Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Station Xeno | Solo Play, Station Crawl | A claustrophobic station crawl designed for solo play. 152 |
| The Suit | Joshua Kramer | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | New Class, Corporate Horror | A new class for playing as a corporate agent. 158 |
| The Third Sector | Anodyne Printware | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | The Third Sector (multiple) | Sandbox Campaign Framework | Meta-framework linking 12 other third-party modules. |
| This Ship is a Tomb | Fey Light | 2023 / 1e | Zine | The Advent Dawn | Procedural Generation, Derelict Crawl | A procedurally-generated crawl through a transdimensional vessel. 153 |
| Thousand Empty Light | Alfred Valley | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Underwater Tunnel: UPB 154 | Solo Play, Isolation, Cosmic Horror | Provides a robust framework for solo Mothership play. |
| Time After Time | Sam Sorensen | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Space Station | Time Travel, Paradoxes | A mind-bending time travel adventure with a tripartite map. 120 |
| Time of Death | DoubleMonk | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | Orum Moon Outpost | Time Anomaly, Heist | A mission to retrieve a suitcase from a gravity-defying outpost. 163 |
| To Boldly Go | Eternal Odysseys | 2024 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Rules Supplement, Space Opera | A supplement inspired by Star Trek and Mass Effect. |
| The Unseen City | ChrisAir Games | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Subterranean Mazeworld | Cave Exploration, Gate Magic | Explore a mazeworld of caverns and bunkers connected by Gate magic. 154 |
| Vita Nova | Trail of Dice | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Remote Planet | Terraforming, Body Horror | A terraforming project on a remote planet has gone horribly wrong. 155 |
| VR-DEAD | Daniel Hallinan | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Research Station: Mergen’s Watch | Virtual Reality, Existential Horror | Explores themes of reality vs. illusion. |
| The Vulture | Jake Branson & Zach Hazard | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Junker Station: The Vulture | Monster Horror, Isolation | A tense creature-feature set aboard a derelict junker station. 156 |
| Wages of Sin | Tuesday Knight Games | 2025 / 1e | Hardcover | N/A (Rules) | Bounty Hunting, Campaign Framework | A comprehensive supplement for running bounty hunting campaigns. 11 |
| Warped Beyond Recognition | Paradiso | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Research Ship: Tannhauser | Psionics, Psychological Horror | Potential link to Tannhauser-Cloudbank Corp. |
| Welcome to ERF | Technoskald | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | ERF Station | Campaign Hub, Social | A small station; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| What We Give To Alien Gods | Lone Archivist Press | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Alien Temple | Cosmic Horror, Alien Deity | Contact with an alien god in an ancient temple inside a nebula. 157 |
| Wrath of God | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Corporate Warzone (Space) | Space Combat, Hexcrawl | Part 1 of the Inferno Trilogy (PrayCo). |
| Year of the Rat | Am I Cool Yet? | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Casino Ship: Year of the Rat | Greed, Monster Horror | A mission to retrieve a black box from a derelict casino ship. 112 |
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- Looking for 2 good adventures/modules to add to my campaign, what are your suggestions? : r/mothershiprpg – Reddit, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/mothershiprpg/comments/1he4udo/looking_for_2_good_adventuresmodules_to_add_to_my/
- What are the best Mothership Modules? – For Those who have actually played them. : r/mothershiprpg – Reddit, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/mothershiprpg/comments/1cyv7ik/what_are_the_best_mothership_modules_for_those/
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Capes, Cowls, and Character Points: An Encyclopedic History of Superhero Tabletop Role-Playing Games
Capes, Cowls, and Character Points: An Encyclopedic History of Superhero Tabletop Role-Playing Games
Introduction: The Birth of the Four-Color Multiverse
The emergence of the superhero tabletop role-playing game (RPG) in the late 1970s occurred at the confluence of two distinct cultural streams: the nascent tabletop RPG hobby, dominated by the fantasy wargaming legacy of Dungeons & Dragons, and the American superhero comic book industry, then in its “Bronze Age” of storytelling. This period in comics saw a shift toward more complex character motivations and socially relevant themes, creating an audience receptive to more interactive and personalized heroic narratives. However, the very nature of the superhero genre presented a unique and formidable challenge to early game designers. Unlike fantasy, which could draw from a diffuse collection of myths and legends, the superhero genre was a highly codified, visually-driven medium with its own specific narrative conventions: secret identities, non-lethal combat, dramatic monologues, and reality-defying powers.
This inherent tension between the established RPG framework and the unique demands of the superhero narrative gave rise to a fundamental design dichotomy that has defined the genre’s evolution: the conflict between simulationism and narrativism. Early RPGs, born from tactical wargames, were inherently simulationist; their mechanics sought to model a consistent, physics-based reality, however fantastical. Applying this model to superheroes immediately raised difficult questions: What is Superman’s Armor Class? How many hit points does the Hulk have? How can rules simulate powers that rewrite the laws of physics? The attempts to answer these questions led to two divergent paths. One path, exemplified by games like Champions, pursued a deep, granular simulation, creating complex rules engines to model the “physics” of a comic book universe. The other path, epitomized by games like TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes, prioritized emulating the feel and story structure of a comic book, employing simpler, more abstract mechanics that favored narrative convention over physical simulation. This foundational tension—simulating the world versus simulating the story—has been the primary engine of innovation in superhero RPGs, with every significant title finding its place along this spectrum.
Chapter 1: The First Wave (1977–1984) – Forging the Genre
The initial wave of superhero RPGs was a period of bold experimentation, as designers grappled with how to translate the four-color page to the gaming table. These early efforts established the core mechanical and philosophical debates that would shape the genre for decades to come.
1.1 Superhero: 2044 (1977): The Abstract Progenitor
Widely recognized as the first professionally published superhero RPG, Superhero: 2044 was designed by Donald Saxman and released first by Saxman himself and later in a revised edition by Lou Zocchi of Gamescience.1 The game’s setting was a post-holocaust future on the fictional island of Inguria, a new center of civilization off the American west coast.1 Its mechanics were heavily influenced by the wargaming traditions of the era, featuring an abstract system for resolving a hero’s weekly activities, such as patrolling, research, and crime prevention, often through the use of extensive tables.2
The game introduced three character types: the “ubermensch” (enhanced physical combatant), the “unique” (mutant with extraordinary abilities), and the “toolmaster” (technological expert).1 Its most forward-thinking feature was a point-buy system for character creation, where players allocated 140 points among seven characteristics—a significant departure from the random-roll generation dominant at the time.1 However, in a move that highlights the design challenges of the period, the game provided no specific rules for superpowers, leaving their creation and adjudication entirely to the players and the referee for “copyright reasons”.2 This abstract, simulation-focused approach, combined with its lack of defined power mechanics, made the game difficult to access and it never achieved widespread popularity.1
Publication Status: Superhero: 2044 is long out of print. Physical copies are exceedingly rare and considered collector’s items, occasionally appearing on second-hand markets like Noble Knight Games.4 It has never been officially released in a digital format.5
1.2 Villains and Vigilantes (1979): The D&D Lineage
Designed by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman and published by Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU), Villains and Vigilantes (V&V) represented a more direct adaptation of existing RPG conventions.7 Heavily influenced by
Dungeons & Dragons, the game featured character levels, hit points, and classes (based on power origin, such as “Mutant” or “Sponsored”).7 Its two most distinctive features were the premise that players create super-powered versions of themselves to serve as their secret identities and a character creation system based entirely on random die rolls to determine a character’s powers.7
This reliance on randomness stood in stark opposition to the controlled design of point-buy systems. It often resulted in bizarre and mechanically unbalanced characters, a quality that was embraced by its player base as part of the game’s charm but criticized by others for its lack of conceptual cohesion.7 The first edition appeared in 1979, followed by a significantly revised and expanded second edition in 1982.7 The game’s ownership was the subject of a lengthy legal dispute, which ultimately resulted in the rights reverting to the original creators, who now publish a 2.1 edition through Monkey House Games.7
Publication Status: The 2.1 edition of Villains and Vigilantes is available in PDF from DriveThruRPG.10 Original printings from FGU are common on the second-hand market through retailers like Noble Knight Games.11
1.3 Champions (1981): The Point-Buy Paradigm Shift
If V&V followed the D&D model, Champions from Hero Games represented a radical break. Created by George MacDonald and Steve Peterson, it was the first superhero RPG built entirely around a comprehensive point-buy system, granting players unprecedented control over character creation.13 This approach treated character creation like a budget; players received a pool of Character Points (CP) to purchase everything from core characteristics to skills and powers.13
The game’s most profound and lasting innovation was its effects-based power system. Instead of providing a list of specific powers like “Laser Vision,” Champions offered generic effects like “Energy Blast”.13 Players would purchase the core effect and then customize it with a vast menu of Advantages (e.g., Armor Piercing, Area of Effect) and Limitations (e.g., Requires a Gesture, Limited Charges), each modifying the power’s final point cost.14 This toolkit approach allowed for the simulation of virtually any power imaginable and became the gold standard for crunchy, simulationist superhero game design. This complexity, however, came at a cost: a notoriously steep learning curve and a character creation process that could be as mathematically intensive as filing a tax return.15 The robust core mechanics of
Champions would eventually be spun off into the universal Hero System.16
Publication Status: Champions has gone through six editions. The 4th Edition, often considered a fan favorite, is available as a PDF and Print-on-Demand book on DriveThruRPG, though early scans suffered from quality issues.18 Later editions and the full
Hero System rulebooks are also available digitally.19 Physical copies of all editions are widely available on the second-hand market.20
1.4 Other Foundational Titles
The fertile ground of the early 1980s produced several other notable titles that explored different facets of the genre.
- Supergame (1980): Published by DAG Productions, this title predates Champions and is credited by some as the first RPG to give players complete control over character creation via a point-based system.23 A second edition was released in 1982, and the game is now published by Precis Intermedia, which offers classic reprints of the first two editions as well as a new third edition.23 It is available in PDF and print on DriveThruRPG and Noble Knight Games.26
- The Official Superhero Adventure Game (1981): A combat-centric game by Brian Phillips that was unique for its lack of a character creation system, instead providing dozens of pre-generated heroes and villains.28 Its rules were heavily reliant on mathematical formulas, requiring a calculator for play.28 It is long out of print and extremely rare.29
- Crimefighters (1981): Written by David “Zeb” Cook, this pulp-adventure game was published within the pages of TSR’s Dragon Magazine #47.30 It focused on non-powered, street-level heroes in the vein of The Shadow or Doc Savage, representing an early attempt to cater to a specific sub-genre of heroic action.30 It is available via second-hand copies of the magazine or the
Dragon Magazine Archive compilation.32 - Superworld (1983): Chaosium’s entry into the genre, Superworld adapted the company’s house system, Basic Role-Playing (BRP), which uses percentile dice for resolution.33 Originally part of the
Worlds of Wonder multi-genre boxed set, it was released as a standalone game but struggled to gain market share against its more established rivals and was supported by only three supplements.33 It is available as a PDF from Chaosium and on DriveThruRPG.34 - Golden Heroes (1981/1984): A British game first self-published by Simon Burley and Peter Haines, then professionally released by Games Workshop.35 It featured a random character generation system but required players to create a plausible origin story to justify their collection of powers.35 Its combat system was notable for being structured in terms of comic book “frames,” encouraging a more narrative visualization of action.2 The game is out of print, though a spiritual successor,
Squadron UK, is available digitally.35 - Super Squadron (1983): An Australian RPG from Adventure Simulations, this game offered a hybrid character creation system that blended random rolls with point-buy options.37 It was notable for its refreshing emphasis on the hero’s private life, including mechanics for romance and family, a level of detail uncommon for the time.37 It is long out of print and considered a collector’s item.39
Chapter 2: The Licensed Age and the Universal System (Mid-1980s – 1990s)
The mid-1980s marked a significant shift in the superhero RPG landscape. The success of the foundational games proved the genre’s viability, attracting major publishers and, crucially, the owners of the most recognizable intellectual properties (IPs) in comics. This era was defined by the commercial power of licensed settings and the concurrent development of universal, genre-agnostic game systems.
2.1 The Rise of the IPs: Emulating the Greats
The ability to play as established, beloved characters proved to be a powerful market driver, leading to the creation of some of the most popular and fondly remembered games in the genre’s history.
- Marvel Super Heroes (1984): Published by TSR, the creators of Dungeons & Dragons, this game was a massive commercial success that introduced countless comic fans to role-playing.40 Designed by Jeff Grubb, it utilized the elegant and highly accessible FASERIP system, named for the character’s core attributes: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche. All actions were resolved by cross-referencing an ability rank with a percentile dice roll on a single, color-coded “Universal Table”.40 This design choice prioritized ease of play and the emulation of the Marvel Comics “feel” over granular simulation, making it a direct philosophical counterpoint to the complexity of
Champions. TSR supported the game extensively with supplements and adventures, and released an expanded Marvel Superheroes Advanced Game in 1986.40 - DC Heroes (1985): Mayfair Games’ licensed RPG for the DC Universe was the mechanical antithesis of TSR’s Marvel game. It employed the Mayfair Exponential Game System (MEGS), a highly mathematical engine designed to handle the vast, cosmic power scales of characters like Superman and the Green Lantern.41 The system was built around Attribute Points (APs), where each integer increase represented a doubling of real-world capacity (e.g., lifting weight, speed).43 While MEGS was praised by some for its ambition and power in modeling a comic book universe, it was notoriously difficult to learn and use, earning a reputation for its intimidating complexity.41 The system’s legacy was later carried on by Pulsar Games’
Blood of Heroes.41 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (1985): Capitalizing on the breakout success of the independent comic, Palladium Books published this RPG developed by Erick Wujcik.44 It used Palladium’s house “Megaversal” system and perfectly captured the gritty, street-level tone of the original black-and-white comics.44 Its most celebrated feature was a detailed and imaginative character creation system where players could generate a vast array of mutant animal characters by spending BIO-E points on anthropomorphic traits and animal-specific abilities.45 The game was a huge hit, spawning numerous supplements and the popular post-apocalyptic spin-off game,
After the Bomb.44
The success of these licensed games demonstrated a crucial market reality: for a large segment of the audience, the appeal of playing in a familiar, beloved universe with accessible rules outweighed the desire for the mechanical precision and creative freedom offered by more complex, generic systems. This established a powerful commercial incentive for publishers to pursue high-profile licenses, a trend that continues to shape the industry.
2.2 The Universal Systems: One System to Rule Them All
Concurrent with the rise of licensed games, several publishers refined their mechanics into generic, universal systems designed to handle any genre, with superhero gaming being a key pillar.
- Hero System: The rules engine powering Champions was formally spun off into a universal system with the release of the 4th Edition in 1989.16 This allowed the same detailed, effects-based, point-buy mechanics to be applied to other genres through dedicated sourcebooks like
Fantasy Hero, Star Hero, and the pulp-themed Justice, Inc..16 - GURPS Supers (1989): Steve Jackson Games released GURPS Supers as a core genre book for its Generic Universal RolePlaying System.47 Like the
Hero System, GURPS is a point-buy toolkit that allows for detailed character customization. GURPS Supers provided a framework of advantages, disadvantages, and skills tailored to the genre, along with a default campaign setting known as the “IST World,” centered on a UN-sponsored super-team.47 - Palladium’s Megaversal System: Palladium Books built its entire product line around a single, cross-compatible ruleset. Heroes Unlimited, first published in 1984, was the company’s dedicated generic superhero game.49 It featured a class-and-level-based system with random power generation, and its rules were designed to be fully compatible with
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, the post-apocalyptic Rifts, and dozens of other titles, encouraging a “kitchen sink” style of crossover play.44
2.3 The “Grim and Gritty” Trend: Reflecting a Darker Age of Comics
The late 1980s and 1990s saw a dramatic shift in the tone of mainstream superhero comics, spurred by landmark works like Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. This “Dark Age of Comics” embraced moral ambiguity, psychological complexity, and often brutal violence. The RPG market quickly followed suit, producing games that deconstructed the classic four-color tropes.
- Dark Champions (1993): Originally a supplement for the 4th edition of Champions, this book provided rules and setting material for playing morally ambiguous vigilantes in the vein of The Punisher.52 It introduced optional rules for more lethal combat and focused on street-level crime, criminal organizations, and the legal ramifications of vigilantism, all centered on the fictional Hudson City.53
- Underground (1993): Published by Mayfair Games, Underground was a satirical and deeply political game set in a dystopian 2021 America.55 Players took on the roles of genetically-engineered, super-powered veterans of corporate wars who are discharged into a society that fears and despises them.55 The game was a direct commentary on 1990s society and drew heavy inspiration from deconstructionist comics like
Marshal Law.55 - Brave New World (1999): From Pinnacle Entertainment Group, this game presented an alternate history where the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy was thwarted by a superhero, leading to Kennedy declaring martial law and establishing a neo-fascist American government.58 Players portray “Deltas” (superhumans) who are part of the “Defiance,” a resistance movement fighting the oppressive regime.58
These games represented a significant maturation of the genre. They moved beyond simple power fantasies to explore complex ethical and political themes, introducing mechanics that engaged with moral consequence and the societal impact of superhumans in a way their four-color predecessors had not.
Chapter 3: The d20 Revolution and the Indie Renaissance (Late 1990s – 2010s)
The turn of the millennium brought two transformative forces to the tabletop RPG industry: the d20 System Open Game License (OGL), which standardized a core mechanic for a generation of gamers, and the rise of a vibrant independent design scene, which challenged the very definition of what a role-playing game could be.
3.1 The d20 Phenomenon and the Rise of Mutants & Masterminds
The release of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition and its d20 System under the OGL in 2000 allowed third-party publishers to create compatible content, leading to a market boom. Green Ronin Publishing’s Mutants & Masterminds (M&M), first published in 2002, masterfully capitalized on this moment to become the dominant superhero RPG of its era.61
Designed by Steve Kenson, M&M used the familiar d20 framework—rolling a 20-sided die and adding modifiers—but heavily adapted it for the superhero genre. It did away with character classes and levels, instead using a flexible point-buy system governed by a “Power Level” (PL) that set caps on a character’s combat abilities to ensure balance.61 Its most significant mechanical innovation was the replacement of hit points with a “Toughness Save.” Instead of tracking accumulating damage, characters would make a save against the rank of an incoming attack; the degree of failure determined the severity of the consequences, from a minor penalty to being knocked out.61 This elegantly modeled the way comic book characters could shrug off massive blows yet still be taken down by a single, well-placed punch. By offering a “middle ground” of complexity—more customizable than
Marvel Super Heroes but less mathematically intensive than Champions—within a familiar d20 context, M&M attracted a massive audience and has remained a market leader through three editions.61
Publication Status: Mutants & Masterminds is currently in its 3rd edition and is widely available in print and as a PDF from Green Ronin Publishing and DriveThruRPG.64 A playtest for a 4th edition was released in 2025.64
3.2 Other d20 and Storyteller Era Games
While M&M dominated the d20 space, other notable games of the period explored different systems and settings.
- Aberrant (1999): White Wolf Publishing’s entry into the genre was a prequel to its sci-fi game Trinity.67 Using the house Storyteller System (which uses pools of ten-sided dice),
Aberrant presented a dark, high-powered setting where superhumans, called “Novas,” were global celebrities whose powers inevitably corrupted them, transforming them into monstrous Aberrants.67 The game was known for its deep world-building and its exploration of power’s corrupting influence. A d20 version was released in 2004, and the line was rebooted in 2021 by Onyx Path Publishing using the new Storypath System.69 - Silver Age Sentinels (2002): Published by Guardians of Order, this game was uniquely released in two parallel editions: one using the company’s proprietary d10-based Tri-Stat System, and another using the d20 System.71 It featured an original setting, Empire City, designed to evoke the classic “four-color” feel of Silver Age comics but updated with modern sensibilities.71 The game is now out of print, but a spiritual successor,
Absolute Power, was recently released by Dyskami Publishing.73 - Godlike (2001): This groundbreaking game from creators Dennis Detwiller and Greg Stolze presented a gritty, alternate-history World War II where super-powered “Talents” emerge on all sides of the conflict.74 Its most significant contribution was the introduction of the One-Roll Engine (O.R.E.), a dice pool system where players roll multiple ten-sided dice and look for matching sets. The number of matching dice (the “width”) determines the speed of the action, while the number showing on the dice (the “height”) determines its quality, allowing initiative, success, and hit location to be resolved in a single roll.74 The game was lauded for its lethal combat and meticulously researched setting.75
3.3 The Indie Counter-Movement: Narrative First
The market dominance of the d20 system, with its focus on tactical, simulation-style play, spurred a counter-movement among independent designers. These creators focused on “story games,” which prioritized narrative structure and thematic emulation over mechanical simulation.
- Truth & Justice (2005): Designed by Chad Underkoffler, this award-winning indie game used the rules-light Prose Descriptive Qualities (PDQ) system.78 Characters were defined by freeform traits (Qualities) rather than numerical attributes, and the mechanics were designed to be simple and flexible, focusing on story outcomes rather than tactical minutiae.79
- Capes (2005): A radical experiment in game design by Tony Lower-Basch, Capes was a competitive, GM-less storytelling game.81 All players collaboratively told a story, taking on the roles of both heroes and villains in different scenes. The mechanics incentivized playing a compelling antagonist; players whose characters were defeated in a conflict would earn “story tokens,” a meta-currency that could be used to influence the narrative later.81
- With Great Power… (2005): Created by Michael S. Miller, this game used a standard deck of playing cards to emulate the melodrama and moral choices central to Silver Age comics, particularly Spider-Man.83 The game’s core mechanic rewarded players for putting their characters through personal “suffering,” granting them more cards (and thus more narrative control) when their hero’s personal life was jeopardized by their heroics.83
This era firmly established the two poles of superhero RPG design. On one end were the market-leading d20 systems, representing a refined form of simulationism. On the other were the indie games, which explicitly rejected simulation to build mechanics that directly engaged with the narrative tropes and themes of the genre, paving the way for the story-game revolution of the next decade.
Chapter 4: The Modern Era – Narrative, Niche, and Nostalgia (2010s – Present)
The contemporary era of superhero RPGs is characterized by fragmentation and specialization. The monolithic dominance of a single system like d20 has given way to a diverse marketplace where games are often designed to emulate specific sub-genres and tones. This “best tool for the job” approach reflects a mature hobby and a player base with a sophisticated understanding of how game mechanics shape the play experience.
4.1 The Rise of Story Games: PbtA and its Kin
The design principles pioneered by the indie games of the 2000s became mainstream in the 2010s, largely through the influence of games “Powered by the Apocalypse” (PbtA), based on the engine from Vincent and Meguey Baker’s Apocalypse World.
- Masks: A New Generation: Published by Magpie Games, Masks is a PbtA game that focuses specifically on the lives of teenage superheroes.85 It is not a game about tactical combat, but about identity, drama, and the struggle of young heroes to define themselves against the expectations of their mentors and peers. Its core mechanics brilliantly reflect this theme; instead of traditional attributes, characters have “Labels” (like Savior, Freak, or Mundane) that shift up and down based on how they interact with adult authority figures and their teammates, directly tying character development to the narrative.86
- City of Mist: This game blends the superhero genre with film noir and mythology. It uses a unique tag-based system, drawing inspiration from both PbtA and FATE, where players describe their characters with evocative “themes” and “power tags” that they invoke to perform actions.85 The system encourages descriptive, collaborative play to solve mysteries in a rain-slicked, modern-day city inhabited by avatars of myths and legends.
4.2 The Return of the Titans: New Licensed Games & Universal Systems
While narrative games gained prominence, the market for licensed properties and flexible universal systems remained strong, with new entries seeking to capture the massive audience created by the cinematic superhero boom.
- Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (2012): Published by Margaret Weis Productions, this game used the Cortex Plus system. It was critically acclaimed for its narrative-focused mechanics, which used dice pools of varying sizes to create a “plot point” economy that perfectly captured the high-stakes, event-driven feel of modern Marvel comics.86 Despite its positive reception, the game had a short and troubled publication history and was discontinued after only a year.
- Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game (2023): Marvel’s most recent foray into the RPG market features a new, bespoke engine called the “d616 System”.64 The system uses a roll of three six-sided dice, one of which is a special “Marvel Die” that can trigger spectacular successes or other narrative effects. Its design aims for accessibility, hoping to draw in the vast audience of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.64
- Generic Systems: Universal toolkits continue to thrive by offering streamlined alternatives to the crunchier systems of the past. The Savage Worlds Adventure Edition with its Super Powers Companion provides a framework for “fast, furious, fun” tactical gameplay.64 Monte Cook Games’
Cypher System, with supplements like Claim the Sky, offers another robust, narrative-leaning option that is less complex than traditional point-buy systems.89
4.3 The Indie Digital Marketplace
The modern RPG landscape is heavily shaped by digital distribution platforms like DriveThruRPG. This has enabled a “long tail” market where hundreds of small-press and self-published superhero games can find a niche audience. This includes rules-light systems like BASH! (Basic Action Super Heroes), which uses a simple 2d6 multiplier mechanic 88; games that blend traditional and narrative elements like
Hearts & Souls 86; and games with unique premises like
My Superhero Life!, which frames the superhero experience as a reality TV show.86 This vibrant digital ecosystem ensures a constant flow of innovation and variety within the genre.
Appendix: A Definitive Catalog of Superhero Tabletop Role-Playing Games
The following table provides a comprehensive, though not exhaustive, catalog of superhero tabletop role-playing games identified during this report’s research. It is organized chronologically by the initial publication date of each game’s first edition to illustrate the historical evolution of the genre.
| Game Title | Original Publisher | Initial Publication Year | Core Mechanic Category | Setting Type | Current Status & Publisher | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superhero: 2044 | Donald Saxman / Gamescience | 1977 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Original | Out of Print | OOP 91 |
| Villains and Vigilantes | Fantasy Games Unlimited | 1979 | Level-Based | Original | In Print (v2.1); Monkey House Games 93 | PDF, Print (Used) 94 |
| Supergame | DAG Productions | 1980 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Original | In Print (3E); Precis Intermedia 17 | PDF, Print 98 |
| Crimefighters | TSR, Inc. (in Dragon #47) | 1981 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | Out of Print | OOP (in magazine) 100 |
| Golden Heroes | Self-Published / Games Workshop | 1981 | Random-Roll / Bespoke | Original | Out of Print | OOP 101 |
| The Official Superhero Adventure Game | Brian Phillips | 1981 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | Out of Print | OOP 102 |
| Champions | Hero Games | 1981 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Original | In Print (6E); Hero Games 13 | PDF, Print 40 |
| Supervillains | Task Force Games | 1982 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | Out of Print | OOP 106 |
| Super Squadron | Adventure Simulations | 1983 | Random-Roll / Hybrid | Original | Out of Print | OOP 39 |
| Superworld | Chaosium | 1983 | BRP (Percentile) | Original | In Print (PDF); Chaosium 108 | PDF 45 |
| Heroes Unlimited | Palladium Books | 1984 | Class/Level-Based | Original | In Print (2E); Palladium Books 49 | PDF, Print 109 |
| Marvel Super Heroes | TSR, Inc. | 1984 | Bespoke / Unique (FASERIP) | Licensed (Marvel) | Out of Print | OOP 40 |
| Justice, Inc. | Hero Games | 1984 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Licensed (The Avenger) | Out of Print | OOP 16 |
| Challengers | Ragnarok Enterprises | 1985 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | Out of Print | OOP 111 |
| DC Heroes | Mayfair Games | 1985 | Bespoke / Unique (MEGS) | Licensed (DC) | Out of Print | OOP 112 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness | Palladium Books | 1985 | Class/Level-Based | Licensed (TMNT) | In Print (Redux); Palladium 44 | PDF, Print 44 |
| After The Bomb | Palladium Books | 1986 | Class/Level-Based | Licensed (TMNT Spin-off) | In Print; Palladium Books | PDF, Print 44 |
| Enforcers | 21st Century Games | 1987 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Original | Out of Print | OOP 115 |
| GURPS Supers | Steve Jackson Games | 1989 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Original | In Print (4E); SJ Games 47 | PDF, Print 117 |
| ACE Agents! | Stellar Games | 1992 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | Out of Print | OOP 108 |
| Underground | Mayfair Games | 1993 | Bespoke / Unique (MEGS variant) | Original | In Print (PDF); Mayfair Games 119 | PDF 121 |
| 3DeT (Defensores de Tóquio) | Editora Trama | 1994 | Point-Buy / Rules-Light | Original | In Print (Victory); Jambô Editora 108 | Print (Portuguese) 123 |
| Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game | TSR, Inc. | 1998 | Bespoke / Unique (SAGA System) | Licensed (Marvel) | Out of Print | OOP 40 |
| Blood of Heroes | Pulsar Games | 1998 | Bespoke / Unique (MEGS) | Original | Out of Print | OOP 41 |
| Aberrant | White Wolf Publishing | 1999 | Dice Pool / Storyteller | Original | In Print (Storypath); Onyx Path 70 | PDF, Print 126 |
| Brave New World | Pinnacle Entertainment Group | 1999 | Dice Pool / Bespoke | Original | In Print (PDF); Full Moon Ent. 58 | PDF, Print 128 |
| Dragon Ball Z: The Anime Adventure Game | R. Talsorian Games | 1999 | Bespoke / Unique (Fuzion) | Licensed (Dragon Ball Z) | Out of Print | OOP 92 |
| Godlike | Hobgoblynn Press / Arc Dream | 2001 | Dice Pool / O.R.E. | Original | In Print; Arc Dream Publishing 74 | PDF, Print 130 |
| Mutants & Masterminds | Green Ronin Publishing | 2002 | d20-Based | Original | In Print (3E); Green Ronin 61 | PDF, Print 65 |
| Silver Age Sentinels | Guardians of Order | 2002 | Tri-Stat / d20-Based | Original | Out of Print | PDF 71 |
| Cartoon Action Hour | Spectrum Games | 2002 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | In Print (S3); Spectrum Games 133 | PDF, Print 135 |
| Omlevex | Z-Man Games / Spectrum Games | 2003 | Multi-System Supplement | Original | Out of Print | OOP 137 |
| Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game | Marvel | 2003 | Diceless / Narrative | Licensed (Marvel) | Out of Print | OOP 139 |
| The Authority Role-Playing Game | Guardians of Order | 2004 | Bespoke / Unique (Tri-Stat dX) | Licensed (The Authority) | Out of Print | OOP 143 |
| Dark Champions | Hero Games | 2004 | Point-Buy / Simulationist | Original | In Print (PDF); Hero Games 52 | PDF 145 |
| Necessary Evil | Pinnacle Entertainment Group | 2004 | Savage Worlds | Original | In Print | PDF, Print |
| Godsend Agenda | Khepera Publishing | 2004 | D6 System | Original | In Print | PDF, Print 146 |
| BASH! (Basic Action Super Heroes) | Basic Action Games | 2005 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | In Print (UE); Basic Action Games 147 | PDF, Print 90 |
| Capes | Muse of Fire Games | 2005 | Narrative / GM-less | Original | Out of Print | OOP 81 |
| Truth & Justice | Atomic Sock Monkey Press | 2005 | Narrative / PDQ | Original | In Print (PDF); Atomic Sock Monkey 78 | PDF 149 |
| With Great Power… | Incarnadine Press | 2005 | Narrative / Card-Based | Original | In Print (Master Ed.); Incarnadine 83 | PDF, Print 152 |
| Big Bang Comics RPG | Pisces All Media | 2006 | d20-Based | Licensed (Big Bang) | Out of Print | OOP 154 |
| Wild Talents | Arc Dream Publishing | 2006 | Dice Pool / O.R.E. | Original | In Print (2E); Arc Dream 156 | PDF, Print 157 |
| Four-Color System | Seraphim Guard | 2007 | Bespoke / Unique (FASERIP) | Original | In Print (PDF) | PDF 159 |
| Supercrew | Kaleidoskop | 2007 | Narrative / Dice Pool | Original | In Print (PDF); Kaleidoskop | |
| Mutant City Blues | Pelgrane Press | 2009 | GUMSHOE / Narrative | Original | In Print (2E); Pelgrane Press 161 | PDF, Print 162 |
| Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul | Spectrum Games | 2010 | Narrative / Bespoke | Original | In Print; Spectrum Games 164 | PDF, Print 165 |
| Smallville Roleplaying Game | Margaret Weis Productions | 2010 | Narrative / Cortex Plus | Licensed (Smallville) | Out of Print | OOP 167 |
| Icons Superpowered Roleplaying | Ad Infinitum / Green Ronin | 2010 | Narrative / FATE-like | Original | In Print; Ad Infinitum Adventures | PDF, Print |
| SUPERS! | HAZARD Studio | 2010 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | In Print (Revised Ed.) | PDF, Print 140 |
| Cold Steel Wardens | Blackfall Press | 2011 | Bespoke / Unique | Original | In Print (PDF) | PDF 169 |
| Marvel Heroic Roleplaying | Margaret Weis Productions | 2012 | Dice Pool / Cortex Plus | Licensed (Marvel) | Out of Print | OOP 139 |
| Prowlers & Paragons | Mobius Worlds Publishing | 2013 | Narrative / Dice Pool | Original | In Print (Ultimate Ed.); Evil Beagle Games | PDF, Print |
| Rotten Capes | Paradigm Concepts, Inc. | 2013 | Bespoke / 2d10-based | Original | In Print (PDF); Paradigm Concepts, Inc. | |
| Valiant Universe Roleplaying Game | Catalyst Game Labs | 2014 | Narrative / Cue System | Licensed (Valiant) | Out of Print | OOP |
| Base Raiders | RPGObjects | 2014 | Narrative / FATE | Original | In Print | PDF, Print 169 |
| AMP: Year One | Third Eye Games | 2014 | Bespoke / DGS-Combo | Original | In Print; Third Eye Games | PDF, Print 170 |
| Worlds in Peril | Samjoko Publishing | 2015 | Narrative / PbtA | Original | In Print (PDF); Samjoko Publishing | PDF 86 |
| Atomic Robo: The Roleplaying Game | Evil Hat Productions | 2015 | Narrative / FATE | Licensed (Atomic Robo) | Out of Print | OOP |
| FASERIP | Gurbintroll Games | 2016 | Bespoke / Unique (FASERIP) | Original | In Print (PDF); Gurbintroll Games | |
| The Super Hack | Simon Burley Productions | 2016 | Rules-Light / OSR | Original | In Print (POD); Lulu Press, Inc. | |
| Venture City | Evil Hat Productions | 2016 | Narrative / FATE | Original | In Print | PDF, Print |
| The Four Color Hack | Spes Magna Games | 2016 | Rules-Light / OSR | Original | In Print (PDF) | |
| Era: The Empowered | Shades of Vengeance | 2016 | Bespoke / Era d10 | Original | In Print (5th Anniv. Ed.) | PDF, Print |
| City of Mist | Son of Oak Game Studio | 2017 | Narrative / Hybrid | Original | In Print; Son of Oak Game Studio | PDF, Print 85 |
| Masks: A New Generation | Magpie Games | 2017 | Narrative / PbtA | Original | In Print; Magpie Games | PDF, Print 85 |
| Capers | NerdBurger Games | 2018 | Bespoke / Card-Based | Original | In Print; NerdBurger Games | PDF, Print |
| Tiny Supers | Gallant Knight Games | 2020 | Rules-Light / TinyD6 | Original | In Print; Gallant Knight Games | PDF, Print |
| Vigilante City | Bloat Games | 2020 | Rules-Light / OSR | Original | In Print; Bloat Games | PDF, Print |
| Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game | Greater Than Games | 2021 | Dice Pool / Narrative | Licensed (Sentinel) | In Print; Greater Than Games 173 | PDF, Print 174 |
| Power Rangers Roleplaying Game | Renegade Game Studios | 2021 | Bespoke / Essence20 | Licensed (Power Rangers) | In Print; Renegade Game Studios 85 | PDF, Print |
| Absolute Power | Dyskami Publishing | 2022 | Tri-Stat | Original | In Print | PDF, Print 86 |
| Destined | Aeon Games | 2022 | Bespoke / d100 | Original | In Print; Aeon Games | Print 177 |
| Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game | Marvel | 2023 | Bespoke / Unique (d616) | Licensed (Marvel) | In Print; Marvel | PDF, Print 85 |
| We Can Be Heroes | Budstuff Games | 2024 | d20-Based | Original | In Print | PDF, Print |
| Valiant Adventures Roleplaying Game | Green Ronin Publishing | 2024 | d20-Based (M&M 3E) | Licensed (Valiant) | In Print | PDF, Print |
| Invincible Roleplaying Game | Free League Publishing | 2025 | Bespoke / Year Zero Engine | Licensed (Invincible) | In Print; Free League Publishing 179 | PDF, Print |
Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy and Future of Superhero Gaming
The history of superhero tabletop role-playing games is a dynamic narrative of adaptation and innovation. From the abstract, wargame-derived simulations of the 1970s to the narrative-first story games of the modern era, the genre has consistently evolved to meet the unique challenges of its source material. The initial design tension between simulating a comic book’s physics and emulating its story structure has driven decades of creativity, producing everything from complex, effects-based toolkits like Champions to accessible, trope-driven systems like Marvel Super Heroes and emotionally focused games like Masks.
Throughout its history, the genre has served as a mirror to the broader trends in both comic books and the RPG hobby. The grim-and-gritty RPGs of the 1990s directly reflected the Dark Age of comics, while the d20 boom of the 2000s saw superhero games adopt the market’s dominant mechanical language. Today, the rise of specialized, narrative-focused games reflects both the fragmentation of the superhero genre into myriad sub-genres (from cinematic blockbusters to deconstructionist television) and the maturation of a player base that seeks specific, tailored experiences.
Looking forward, the genre’s trajectory will likely be shaped by the continued cultural dominance of superhero media and the growing influence of online actual play. The massive, shared cultural literacy provided by properties like the Marvel Cinematic Universe creates a fertile ground for games that are highly accessible, cinematic in scope, and capable of supporting long-form, multi-arc campaign play. Systems that are visually clear and produce dramatic, easily understood results with minimal off-screen calculation may find greater success in a streaming-focused environment. Far from being a monolithic category, the superhero RPG remains one of the most vibrant and inventive spaces in the tabletop hobby, a testament to the enduring appeal of its central question: what does it truly mean to be a hero?
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- With Great Power: Master Edition – Incarnadine Press, accessed September 27, 2025, https://ipressgames.com/with-great-power-2/with-great-power/
- With Great Power: Master Edition – Incarnadine Press – DriveThruRPG, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/173464/with-great-power-master-edition
- With Great Power – Superhero RPG – Incarnadine Press – Noble Knight Games, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147368749/With-Great-Power
- Big Bang Comics (role-playing game) – Wikipedia, accessed September 27, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_Comics_(role-playing_game)
- Big Bang Role Playing Game |, accessed September 27, 2025, https://bigbangcomics.com/news/big-bang-role-playing-game/
- Wild Talents (role-playing game) – Wikipedia, accessed September 27, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Talents_(role-playing_game)
- Wild Talents 2nd Edition – Arc Dream Publishing – DriveThruRPG.com, accessed September 27, 2025, https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/78394/Wild-Talents-2nd-Edition?src=also_purchased
- Wild Talents (Essential Edition) – Wild Talents 1st Ed – Arc Dream Publishing – Noble Knight Games, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147391419/Wild-Talents-Essential-Edition
- SUPERS Revised Edition – HAZARD Studio – DriveThruRPG, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/130108/supers-revised-edition
- Four Color System (Core Rules) – Seraphim Guard – Storytellers Vault -, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/50837/Four-Color-System-Core-Rules
- Mutant City Blues – Wikipedia, accessed September 27, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutant_City_Blues
- Mutant City Blues 2nd Edition – Pelgrane Press | GUMSHOE System – DriveThruRPG, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/309559/index.html?
- Mutant City Blues (1st Edition) – Superhero RPG – Pelgrane Press – Noble Knight Games, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147391687/Mutant-City-Blues-1st-Edition
- Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul – Wikipedia, accessed September 27, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capes,_Cowls_%26_Villains_Foul
- Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul – Spectrum Games – DriveThruRPG, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/104477/capes-cowls-and-villains-foul
- Not Even Freedom is Free – Spectrum Games | Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul, accessed September 27, 2025, https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/108276/Not-Even-Freedom-is-Free?src=also_purchased&filters=0_2182_0_1000032_0_0_0_0_0
- Smallville Roleplaying Game book by Cam Banks – ThriftBooks, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/smallville-role-playing-game_cam-banks_roberta-olson/1063441/
- Smallville Roleplaying Game by Cam Banks – Goodreads, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8238373-smallville-roleplaying-game
- RPG – Superhero Genre – Noble Knight Games, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.nobleknight.com/Genres/18
- What is innovative about the Smallville RPG? – Role-playing Games Stack Exchange, accessed September 27, 2025, https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/4623/what-is-innovative-about-the-smallville-rpg
- Sentinel Comics – Role Playing Games – Noble Knight Games, accessed September 27, 2025, https://www.nobleknight.com/Products/Sentinel-Comics—The-Role-Playing-Game
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- Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game – Core Rulebook, accessed September 27, 2025, https://sentinelswiki.com/index.php/Sentinel_Comics:_The_Roleplaying_Game_Core_Rulebook
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Sector Gazetteer: A Comprehensive Survey of the Mothership Universe
Introduction: Charting the Void – A Universe in Fragments
The Mothership Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game presents a unique paradigm in tabletop world-building. Unlike its contemporaries, which often launch with exhaustive setting guides and detailed galactic maps, Mothership provides a lean, lethal ruleset and a powerful “cassette futurism” aesthetic, then deliberately leaves the vast canvas of its universe undefined.1 This creative vacuum has become its most defining feature, fostering a vibrant and prolific ecosystem of independent creators who have collectively built a universe from the bottom up. This gazetteer serves as both a definitive archive of that sprawling creation and a practical map for navigating its emergent narrative space.
The game’s development and publication model is decentralized, driven by community enthusiasm and facilitated by crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter’s “Zine Quest” initiative.3 This has resulted in a fragmented but deeply interconnected body of work, ranging from official, campaign-scale modules to hundreds of independently produced zines and pamphlets.6 For the Warden—the game master in
Mothership’s parlance—this presents both a remarkable opportunity and a significant challenge. The sheer volume of material can be overwhelming, and the narrative threads that bind these disparate works are often subtle and unstated. This report aims to codify that universe by cataloging its key locations, identifying its recurring themes, and synthesizing the implicit lore into a coherent framework for long-term campaign play.
To achieve this, the material has been organized into a tiered system of canonicity. Tier 1 (Core Canon) comprises all official publications by the game’s publisher, Tuesday Knight Games (TKG), which establish the foundational rules and tone.8
Tier 2 (Expanded Canon) consists of major third-party works, such as large-scale anthologies, that function as self-contained campaign settings and are widely regarded as essential additions to the game.11 Finally,
Tier 3 (Community Canon) encompasses the vast library of independent zines, pamphlets, and digital releases, whose narrative connections are often forged not by their authors but by the community of players and Wardens who integrate them into their campaigns.6
The game’s core mechanical design is the direct catalyst for this decentralized, module-centric publication model. The rules are intentionally “hyper streamlined” and “rules-light,” lowering the barrier to entry for creators as well as players.16 The 1st Edition rules further refined this philosophy, simplifying combat and introducing more visceral systems like Wounds and destructible Armor Points.8 This mechanical simplicity encourages a design focus on atmosphere, information layout, and scenario structure—the hallmarks of the
Mothership zine scene. Furthermore, the system’s high lethality and central Stress and Panic mechanics naturally frame adventures as self-contained arcs of survival, making the one-shot or short module the default format.2 This proliferation of self-contained modules creates a “patchwork” universe, which in turn generates a demand for frameworks like
The Third Sector and Hull Breach that can stitch them together into a cohesive whole. The system’s success is therefore inextricably linked to the health of its third-party ecosystem. This gazetteer is the necessary tool to unlock the full potential of that ecosystem for long-term, narrative-driven play.
Part I: The Core Systems – Official Canon and Foundational Lore
The foundation of the Mothership universe is established not through a lore book, but through the four core rulebooks included in the 1st Edition Boxed Set: the Player’s Survival Guide, the Warden’s Operations Manual, the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, and the Unconfirmed Contact Reports. Together, these texts codify the game’s tone, technological level, and the baseline assumptions upon which all other supplements are built.1
The 1st Edition Foundation
The four core books provide a complete framework for play, with a design philosophy centered on usability and brutal efficiency.
The Player’s Survival Guide (PSG) is the cornerstone text, outlining character creation, core mechanics, and equipment. The four classes—Teamster, Scientist, Android, and Marine—establish the primary archetypes of this universe: blue-collar workers, intellectual specialists, synthetic beings, and trained combatants.18 The equipment lists are notable for what they lack as much as what they include; there are no personal energy shields or teleportation devices, grounding the technology in a gritty, industrial reality of vaccsuits, laser cutters, and firearms.21 This immediately establishes a world where characters are vulnerable and survival depends on practical tools and careful planning.
The Warden’s Operations Manual (WOM) provides the tools and philosophy for running the game. Its most significant contribution to the setting is the T.O.M.B.S. cycle (Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber), a framework for structuring horror scenarios.22 This cycle codifies the intended narrative arc of a typical
Mothership adventure: a slow-burn investigation that escalates into a terrifying confrontation, followed by a desperate escape or a temporary victory. The manual’s advice consistently reinforces a tone of dread, isolation, and consequence, shaping the Warden’s approach to building the universe one session at a time.1
The Shipbreaker’s Toolkit (SBT) defines the realities of space travel. It details starship operations, combat, and a roster of ship classes that reinforce the “used future” aesthetic. Ships are often cramped, unreliable, and expensive to maintain, with high fuel costs and exorbitant repair fees making every journey a calculated risk.10 This economic brutality is a key feature of the setting, often serving as the primary motivation for why player characters take on lethally dangerous jobs. The provided ship classes, from small scout ships to massive freighters, create a tangible sense of scale for the verse.
Finally, the Unconfirmed Contact Reports (UCR) serves as the game’s “monster manual.” The entities within are rarely simple “bugs” to be exterminated. Instead, they represent a wide spectrum of sci-fi horror, including conceptual horrors, psychic phenomena, environmental contagions, and unknowable alien intelligences.10 This book establishes that the primary threats in the
Mothership universe are not just physical but often psychological and existential, requiring cleverness and sacrifice rather than overwhelming firepower.
The Implied Setting
While the core books avoid explicit galactic lore, they embed crucial details that sketch the outlines of a wider universe.
The most significant piece of macro-level world-building is the existence of three great jump gates: Neumarkt (connecting to the Terran System), Minnesang (leading to the Outer or “Bug” Colonies), and Tannhauser (opening into the Ridge or “Mining” Colonies).2 This simple structure provides a fundamental axis for the known universe: a core system (Terra), a colonized frontier (the Outer Colonies), and an industrial periphery (the Ridge). This framework immediately gives Wardens a tangible, albeit skeletal, star map upon which to place their adventures.
The economic reality implied by the rules is one of ruthless, unchecked hyper-capitalism. The game loop often revolves around acquiring a job from a corporate entity, completing it against horrific odds, and spending the meager profits on repairs, supplies, and stress relief, often ending up in debt.15 Player characters are not heroes; they are disposable assets in a cosmic gig economy, a theme that resonates throughout the vast majority of official and third-party modules.
One of the most potent, if subtle, narrative hooks is embedded in a name: the “Tannhauser Gate.” The name is a clear homage to the iconic “Tears in Rain” soliloquy from the film Blade Runner, a key aesthetic and thematic touchstone for the genre. The official module Warped Beyond Recognition is set aboard a research vessel also named the Tannhauser, where a corporation conducts horrific psionic experiments.26 This shared name is unlikely to be a coincidence. It suggests a powerful, unspoken connection. The corporation behind the psionic research may be the same entity that constructed or now controls the Tannhauser Gate itself. Alternatively, the ship may have been named in honor of the gate, implying that its operations are primarily focused within the Ridge Colonies. This transforms a simple name into a powerful world-building tool, allowing a Warden to posit the existence of a major, secretive corporate power—the “Tannhauser Corporation”—that dominates the industrial Ridge sector, providing a ready-made antagonist or patron for an entire campaign.
Part II: The Outer Rim – Major Official Campaign Locales
Published by Tuesday Knight Games, the major official modules represent the foundational pillars of the Mothership universe. Each provides a distinct, richly detailed setting that not only serves as a standalone adventure but also establishes a key archetype for campaign play: the derelict crawl, the cyberpunk hub, the AI megadungeon, and the introductory “bug hunt.”
Dead Planet: The Archetypal Derict Crawl
Dead Planet was the first major module released for the game and codified one of its core gameplay loops.16
- Setting: The module is a “planetcrawl” set on the eponymous Dead Planet, a desolate world from which no ship escapes. Key locations include the wreck of the ship Alexis, the multi-level underground bunker known as the Red Tower, and a cannibal-infested colony on the planet’s moon.27
- Factions: The primary conflict is between the desperate, paranoid survivors of the initial catastrophe, who have devolved into a ritualistic cannibal society, and any newcomers who stumble upon their world. The environment itself, hostile and unforgiving, acts as a third antagonist.
- Themes: The core themes are survival, isolation, and the fragility of sanity. It explores how humanity breaks down when stripped of civilization and faced with overwhelming hopelessness, echoing films like Event Horizon and video games like Dead Space.22
- Campaign Role: Beyond its self-contained adventure, Dead Planet’s most significant contribution is its robust set of random tables for generating derelict ships.27 These tables are a vital toolkit for any Warden, allowing for the on-the-fly creation of countless side missions, salvage operations, and points of interest. It transforms the module from a single location into a foundational resource for building a sandbox campaign filled with mysterious wrecks and forgotten horrors.
A Pound of Flesh: The Cyberpunk Hub
A Pound of Flesh provides the universe with its first and most iconic urban environment, establishing a hub for long-term campaign play.16
- Setting: The module is a toolkit for creating a black market space station, centered on the sprawling, city-sized station of Prospero’s Dream. The station is packed with locations, from the grimy slums of The Choke to mercenary company headquarters and black market cybernetics clinics.30
- Factions: Prospero’s Dream is a hotbed of political and criminal intrigue, with multiple factions vying for control. These include the station’s administration, various criminal syndicates, corporate interests, and worker unions, providing a rich tapestry of social encounters and conflicting loyalties.30
- Themes: The module leans heavily into cyberpunk tropes: corporate espionage, body modification, organized crime, and the struggle for survival in a lawless, hyper-capitalist society. It introduces detailed rules for cybermods and the risk of cybernetic rejection, adding a layer of transhumanist body horror.29
- Campaign Role: Prospero’s Dream is explicitly designed to function as a campaign “home base”.15 It is a place where a crew can dock their ship, spend their earnings, find new work, and become entangled in long-running plots. The station’s robust economy and the high cost of cybernetics provide a powerful motivation for players to continually seek out dangerous but lucrative jobs, driving the campaign forward.
Gradient Descent: The AI Megadungeon
Gradient Descent is a massive, self-contained adventure that introduces the concept of the “megadungeon” to Mothership.20
- Setting: The entire module is set within the CLOUDBANK Synthetics Production Facility, also known as “The Deep,” a colossal, 12-level abandoned android factory orbiting a gas giant. A small scavenger camp, The Bell, orbits nearby, serving as a precarious safe haven.34
- Factions: The Deep is controlled by a powerful and insane rogue AI named “MONARCH.” The facility is populated by various factions of androids and AI constructs, some loyal to MONARCH, some driven by corrupted programming, and others seeking freedom. These factions can be negotiated with, pitted against each other, or fought.34
- Themes: The adventure is a deep dive into existential horror, artificial intelligence, and the nature of consciousness. It explores themes of identity, memory, and what it means to be human through its unique “Bends” mechanic, a condition that causes characters to question their own humanity.34 The module draws inspiration from media like
Blade Runner and the manga Blame!.36 - Campaign Role: Gradient Descent serves as a campaign centerpiece, a vast and dangerous location that can sustain dozens of sessions of exploration.25 It establishes rogue AIs as a major threat in the universe and can serve as the origin point for strange androids or anomalous artifacts encountered in other adventures. Its sheer scale and open-ended, faction-based design make it a definitive example of a
Mothership megadungeon.
Another Bug Hunt: The Introductory Campaign
Designed as the official entry point for new players and Wardens, Another Bug Hunt provides a structured, multi-part introduction to the game’s core themes and mechanics.8
- Setting: The adventure takes place on the remote terraforming colony of Samsa-VI, which has recently gone silent. The players arrive to find an abandoned colony, signs of a violent assault, and a hostile alien ecosystem.10
- Factions: The module features three competing human factions on the planet, each with their own agenda and secrets, forcing the players to make difficult choices about who to trust. The primary antagonists are a new alien species, the insectoid Carcinids.39
- Themes: As the title suggests, this module is a classic “bug hunt,” heavily inspired by the film Aliens. It focuses on themes of corporate colonization gone wrong, xenobiological horror, and survival against overwhelming odds. It also introduces elements of mind control and body horror through the Carcinids’ life cycle.39
- Campaign Role: Another Bug Hunt is the ideal starting point for a campaign. Its four interconnected scenarios teach the core gameplay loop and provide tutorials for the Warden.1 It introduces the Carcinids as a potential recurring threat for a wider campaign and provides a model for how to chain smaller one-shots into a cohesive narrative arc. Many Wardens use it as a prequel that leads their surviving crew to a larger hub like Prospero’s Dream.15
Part III: The Fringe Sectors – Major Third-Party Campaign Frameworks
The modular nature of Mothership has inspired third-party creators not only to produce individual adventures but also to develop ambitious projects that provide overarching structures for campaign play. These frameworks are a direct response to the needs of Wardens seeking to build a more cohesive and persistent universe, demonstrating the community’s vital role in shaping the game’s identity.
Hull Breach Vol. 1: The All-in-One Sector
Hull Breach Vol. 1 stands as the most significant and comprehensive third-party publication for Mothership. It is less a single module and more a complete campaign setting presented as an anthology.13
- Structure and Content: This 200+ page hardcover book is a collection of 26 distinct but interconnected articles, adventures, toolkits, and essays from a wide array of prominent community creators.13 The content is organized into logical sections such as Missions, Locations, Entities, and Assets, allowing for easy reference during play.13
- The Publico Sector: While each entry can be used independently, the book is designed to function as a “secret book within a book”.41 Appendix materials, including a sector map and a “conspiracy board,” outline an expanse of space dominated by the
Publico megacorporation. Hooks, rumors, and explicit crossovers are woven throughout the various articles, allowing a Warden to run a deeply interconnected sandbox campaign set entirely within this pre-built sector.23 Modules within the book, such as the funnel adventure
Residue Processing and the alien-player hack Manhunt, provide diverse gameplay experiences within this shared setting.13 - Campaign Role: Hull Breach is a “campaign in a box.” It is widely regarded by the community as an essential, almost mandatory, purchase for any serious Warden.11 It provides a ready-made sector with its own distinct lore, a major corporate power, and a wealth of interconnected adventures. This offers a compelling alternative for Wardens who prefer a more structured starting point than building a sector from scratch by combining disparate modules.
The Third Sector: The Connective Tissue
Where Hull Breach builds a new sector from the ground up, The Third Sector takes the opposite approach: it provides the connective tissue to link existing, otherwise unrelated, third-party modules into a coherent whole.44
- Structure and Content: This pamphlet supplement is a meta-framework designed for sandbox campaign play. Its centerpiece is a pixel-art starmap that places twelve popular independent adventures into a shared region of space.44 The adventures linked include
Bloom, Moonbase Blues, The Black Heart of Paradise, and Primeval, among others.44 The pamphlet provides hooks, rumors, and travel routes to connect these locations, as well as a job table that is modified by the players’ reputation in the sector.44 - Campaign Role: The Third Sector is a powerful tool and a case study in community-driven world-building. It validates the idea of a shared universe by formalizing the connections between disparate creative works. For a Warden, it provides an immediate, playable sandbox campaign using some of the best modules available. More importantly, it serves as a model for how a Warden can take their own collection of favorite zines and pamphlets, create a map, and weave a web of rumors and job opportunities to transform them into a living, breathing sector of space.
The Inferno Trilogy: The Narrative Arc
The “Inferno Trilogy,” created by Anodyne Printware, is a series of three thematically and narratively linked adventures that form a complete, multi-part campaign. It serves as a premier example of how to build a story with escalating stakes and a clear progression.46
- Structure and Content: The trilogy consists of three distinct modules, each with a different gameplay focus:
- Wrath of God: A spaceship-bound hex crawl set in a corporate warzone. It introduces new rules for strategic dogfighting and tasks the crew with navigating a perilous battlefield.48
- The Drain: A “funnel” adventure where each player controls multiple low-level characters thrown into a horrific, occult-tinged battlefield aboard a decaying colony ship, the Within Wheels. The survivors become the players’ new, battle-hardened characters.46
- Meat Grinder: The climax of the trilogy, an adventure that takes the crew through a literal portal to Hell—a nightmare dimension of flesh and agony—inspired by media like Doom and Event Horizon.47
- The PrayCo Conspiracy: The narrative thread connecting the trilogy is the sinister PrayCo, a “private prisoner reformation company” that wields an unholy artifact. This artifact is the cause of the conflict in Wrath of God, is sought by PrayCo in The Drain, and is ultimately used to open the gate to Hell in Meat Grinder.46
- Campaign Role: The Inferno Trilogy is a masterclass in building a short, focused campaign with a clear narrative arc. It demonstrates how to vary gameplay from space combat to ground-based survival horror to otherworldly exploration, all while maintaining a consistent thematic through-line. It provides a blueprint for Wardens who wish to craft campaigns with a defined beginning, middle, and end, rather than an open-ended sandbox.
Part IV: A Gazetteer of Known Space – Thematic Constellations
The vast library of Mothership modules can be navigated by grouping them into thematic constellations. This approach allows a Warden to select adventures that align with a specific tone or horror subgenre, either for a one-shot or as part of a thematically consistent campaign arc. The following is a representative gazetteer of key locations and scenarios within the known universe.
Corporate Hellscapes & Labor Disputes
These adventures focus on the brutal realities of hyper-capitalism in deep space, where corporate malfeasance, greed, and labor exploitation are the true monsters.
- The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo: Player characters are janitors on a high-security corporate prison moon, Prison Station Echo, orbiting the war-torn world of Carnath. A containment breach in a hidden lab run by XeroCorp unleashes a horde of hallucinating super-soldier test subjects, trapping the janitors in a lockdown with rioting inmates and crooked guards.55
- Dying Hard on Hardlight Station: In a scenario reminiscent of the film Die Hard, players must navigate the vents and corridors of Hardlight Station after it is seized by the Blackshield Mercenary Company. The situation is complicated by a ravenous xenomorph that has escaped from the station’s Healthtek AG biotech labs during the chaos.55
- Picket Line Tango: A noir-inspired murder mystery unfolds on the isolated mining colony of Norton Outpost. Amidst a tense and violent union strike, players must find a killer while navigating the treacherous politics between the desperate miners and their oppressive corporate overseers.63
Biological & Body Horror
This constellation of modules deals with the visceral horror of alien plagues, parasitic lifeforms, and the grotesque transformation of the human body.
- Bloom: A team of mercenaries is hired for a corporate espionage mission: infiltrate the clandestine underwater research facility Choi Labs, operated by Dyson Phytology, and steal samples of a newly discovered miracle moss. They arrive to find the station silent, its crew consumed by an infectious, intelligent mold that now haunts the empty halls.6
- The Burning of Carbex: A three-act campaign centered on a malevolent alien parasite known as “The Creeping Perforation.” Unleashed from a coal mine on the planet Carbex, the parasite infects the crew of the orbiting Angelus Fabrica Station, causing horrific transformations and threatening to spread across the sector.74
Existential & Psychological Terror
These scenarios push beyond physical threats to challenge the players’ perceptions of reality, time, and self.
- Echoes in the Graveyard: The crew of the survey vessel Graveyard is trapped in a time loop, forcing players to relive the same hour of terror repeatedly. They must solve the mystery behind the loop to save not only the Graveyard’s crew but themselves from being erased by time.78
- Warped Beyond Recognition: An investigation aboard the research vessel Tannhauser uncovers a series of horrific experiments designed to unlock psychic powers. The adventure features six unique psionic antagonists and an open-ended system for players to discover and wield these dangerous powers themselves, at great risk to their sanity.26
- VR-DEAD: Players awaken aboard the derelict research station Mergen’s Watch to find their bodies emaciated. They soon realize they have been trapped for weeks in a virtual reality utopia created by a powerful alien entity. To escape, they must navigate the collapsing station while fighting off the “VR Zombies”—the digital ghosts of the crew—and the entity’s attempts to pull them back into its prison of the mind.85
- Thousand Empty Light: A unique solo-play adventure designed as an in-universe corporate document. The player is a “lamplighter” tasked with restoring power to a long, abandoned underwater tunnel on an uninhabited world. Using a solo procedure and a “semiotic standard” oracle, the player uncovers the dark secrets of the tunnel alone in the crushing deep.88
Space Western & Frontier Horror
Set on the lawless fringes of explored space, these modules blend the aesthetics of classic westerns with the grim realities of sci-fi horror.
- The Desert Moon of Karth: A rich sandbox adventure set on the tiny, mesa-studded moon of Karth. The only access is via a space elevator to the boomtown of Larstown. The module is filled with competing factions, sand-blown ruins, fearsome sandsquids, and a central mystery involving an ossified coral that grants eternal youth at a terrible price.14
Classic Sci-Fi Horror & Introductory Scenarios
These modules are perfect encapsulations of the core Mothership experience, serving as excellent one-shots or entry points for new players.
- The Haunting of Ypsilon 14: The quintessential introductory pamphlet module. A crew is sent to investigate a remote asteroid mining operation that has gone silent. They arrive to find the station in disarray and are soon hunted by a deadly, invisible creature spawned from a mysterious yellow substance.6
- Moonbase Blues: A claustrophobic mystery on the isolated Azure Base moonbase observatory. A strange, light-borne contaminant has infected the colonists, turning them into uncanny, blue-hued monsters. The crew must contend with the infected, environmental hazards, and the encroaching darkness.6
Part V: Weaving the Conspiracy Board – Constructing a Cohesive Sector
The true potential of the Mothership universe is realized when a Warden moves beyond individual modules and begins to weave their disparate settings and plot hooks into a single, cohesive campaign sector. This process, akin to assembling a conspiracy board, involves identifying recurring patterns, inferring relationships between factions, and establishing a persistent world for the players to inhabit. The following analysis provides a framework and specific examples for this creative endeavor.
The Corporate Dossier: Known Megacorporations
While the core rules refer to a nebulous “Company,” the broader library of supplements introduces a number of specific corporate and organizational entities. Cataloging these factions is the first step in building a believable political and economic landscape.
| Corporation / Faction | Primary Business | Known Locations / Assets | Module(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| XeroCorp | Black Ops, Super-Soldiers | Prison Station Echo | The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo 57 |
| Healthtek AG | Biotechnology, Xenomorphs | Hardlight Station | Dying Hard on Hardlight Station 61 |
| Dyson Phytology | Biotechnology, Xeno-botany | Choi Labs (underwater) | Bloom 71 |
| PrayCo | Prisoner Reformation, Occult Tech | Within Wheels colony ship | The Drain, Meat Grinder 46 |
| Publico | Megacorporation (diversified) | Dominant force in the Hull Breach sector | Hull Breach Vol. 1 41 |
| Tannhauser-Cloudbank | Psionics, Androids, Mining | Tannhauser vessel, CLOUDBANK facility | Warped Beyond Recognition, Gradient Descent 34 |
By analyzing the activities of these corporations, a web of potential rivalries and alliances emerges. For instance, Healthtek AG and Dyson Phytology are both engaged in high-risk biological research, making them natural competitors. A Warden could easily create a campaign arc centered on corporate espionage between these two entities, using Dying Hard on Hardlight Station and Bloom as key locations. Similarly, XeroCorp and PrayCo both use captive human populations for dangerous experiments, suggesting they might compete for contracts in the ethically bankrupt “human resources” sector.
Xeno-Threats and Unconfirmed Contacts
Just as corporations can be tracked across modules, so too can alien species and anomalous phenomena, creating the sense of a universe with consistent, recurring threats.
- The Carcinids: Introduced in Another Bug Hunt, this insectoid species with a hive-mind structure and mind-controlling capabilities is perfectly suited to be a sector-wide threat.39 A Warden could run
Another Bug Hunt as the players’ first encounter, then have Carcinid infestations appear as complications in entirely different modules, creating a persistent antagonist for an entire campaign. - Parasitic Horrors: The infectious agents in Bloom (a sentient moss), The Burning of Carbex (a transformative parasite), and The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 (a mysterious yellow substance that creates an invisible monster) all share themes of rapid mutation and body horror. A Warden could link these phenomena, suggesting they are different manifestations of a single, widespread biological contagion or perhaps the result of competing corporate bioweapon programs.
- Non-Biological Threats: By juxtaposing the rogue AI MONARCH from Gradient Descent with the psychic entities from Warped Beyond Recognition, a Warden can establish a thematic dichotomy of threats. One is a cold, logical, technological horror, while the other is a chaotic, emotional, organic horror. A campaign could be built around the conflict between these two forces, with the players caught in the middle of a war between machine intelligence and psychic consciousness.
Campaign Frameworks in Practice
Community discussions and the design of certain supplements reveal several effective models for linking adventures into a long-form campaign.15
- The Hub-and-Spoke Model: This is the most common approach, using a persistent location as a home base from which the crew takes on jobs. A Pound of Flesh and its station, Prospero’s Dream, is the quintessential hub.15 The crew might hear a rumor in a bar on Prospero’s Dream about a lucrative salvage opportunity, leading them to the events of
Dead Planet. Upon their return, a corporate agent could hire them to investigate a silent colony, triggering the Another Bug Hunt module. This structure allows for an episodic campaign that still feels grounded in a persistent world. - The Chained-Narrative Model: This model links modules sequentially, with the conclusion of one adventure providing the direct impetus for the next. The “Inferno Trilogy” is the prime published example of this structure. A community-derived example involves linking The Horror on Tau Sigma 7 directly into Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, with the former serving as a prequel that explains the origins of the latter’s conflict.110 This creates a more focused, plot-driven campaign.
The Emergent Metaplot: The Tannhauser-Cloudbank Connection
By synthesizing disparate data points, it is possible to construct a powerful, emergent metaplot that unifies several major modules into a single, epic campaign.
- The core rules establish the Tannhauser Gate as the gateway to the Ridge, a sector defined by mining.2 Mining operations in the
Mothership universe are notorious for uncovering ancient and dangerous things (Dead Planet, The Burning of Carbex). - The module Warped Beyond Recognition is set aboard the research vessel Tannhauser, which is investigating psionics.26 A corporation researching psychic powers would be intensely interested in any strange artifacts or phenomena discovered during deep-space mining operations in the Ridge.
- The module Gradient Descent is set in CLOUDBANK, a massive, remote android production facility run by a rogue AI.34 A corporation with the resources to research psionics would also likely be a major player in the android market. A remote, resource-rich industrial sector like the Ridge is a logical place to construct such a facility.
- Community discussion has noted a potential link between the research lab accident in the pamphlet module Piece by Piece and the AI themes of Gradient Descent.113
From these points, a cohesive narrative emerges. A single, powerful entity—the Tannhauser-Cloudbank Corporation—can be posited as the dominant force in the Ridge sector. This corporation controls the Tannhauser Gate, runs the mining operations, funds the psionic experiments on the Tannhauser, and owns the CLOUDBANK android facility. A campaign could begin with the players taking a simple mining contract in the Ridge, leading them to uncover evidence of the psionic experiments. This could put them in the corporation’s crosshairs, forcing them to flee to a lawless station like Prospero’s Dream. From there, they might follow leads that eventually trace the conspiracy back to its source: the rogue AI MONARCH at the heart of the CLOUDBANK facility. This framework transforms a collection of unrelated modules into a sprawling campaign arc, all built from subtle clues and logical inference.
Part VI: Deep Space Anomalies – An Expanded Gazetteer
The initial survey of the Mothership universe reveals a core of official and major third-party settings. However, the true depth of the void is found in the hundreds of independent zines and pamphlets that populate digital marketplaces like itch.io and DriveThruRPG. This expanded gazetteer catalogs a selection of these vital community contributions, further populating the sector map with new horrors, strange locales, and indispensable tools for the Warden.
Rules & System Expansions
These supplements provide new mechanics, equipment, and character options, allowing Wardens and players to customize their experience.
- HEATSIGNATURE: A comprehensive weapon and inventory expansion that adds 26 new firearms, specialized ammunition types, and 18 weapon attachments. It also introduces a new inventory system for managing gear under pressure, perfect for campaigns with a more tactical, action-oriented focus.114
- Hacker’s Handbook: For scenarios requiring more than a simple skill check, this pamphlet provides a robust system for designing and running complex network intrusions. It includes rules for user accounts, allowing non-hacker characters to participate, and a full suite of new hardware and software.116
- Rimward Classes: This supplement introduces six new character classes to the game, including the Criminal, Ranger, Robot, Retiree, Psychic (with psionic mechanics), and Emissary, broadening the archetypes available for players.118
- Salvage Rites: Expanding on the derelict ship tables in Dead Planet, this toolkit offers a 56-page deep dive into generating unique derelict spaceship scenarios, including a dice-drop layout generator and pre-generated ship frames with adventure prompts.119
Time, Reality, and Perception-Bending Horror
These adventures move beyond physical threats to attack the characters’ understanding of their own reality.
- Time After Time: A mind-bending time travel adventure set on a space station. The module features a unique “tripartite” map, showing the same location across three different points in the timeline. Players must navigate paradoxes and chronologic horrors to save the station from a recursive fate.120
- Decagone: Trapping the crew in a ten-minute time loop aboard a deep ocean research facility, this scenario forces players to rapidly piece together a sub-nautical mystery while contending with dangerous experiments and their own fraying sanity.121
Sandbox & Hexcrawl Frontiers
For Wardens looking to run open-world, exploration-focused campaigns, these modules provide richly detailed sandboxes.
- Orbital Debris: A collaborative hex-crawl set on a moon-sized junkyard that sporadically warps through space. It features 23 unique environments created by 13 different authors, and three distinct factions—The Bloody Burrowers, The Reclaimers, and The Executive Suits—vying for control of the scrap.123
- Constant Downpour Remastered: A survival hex-crawl on the rain-lashed world of Venus 3. Inspired by a Ray Bradbury short story, the module uses a “stress-crawl” mechanic, where the environment itself slowly erodes the characters’ sanity. It includes a rival party of mercenaries, hostile Venusians, and a corporate conspiracy behind the crew’s crash-landing.124
- Primeval: A team is sent by the Takahashi Advanced Genetics megacorp to investigate a silent research facility on the jungle moon of Ur. The adventure combines a dangerous hex-crawl through alien megaflora with a tense facility-crawl, complete with new creatures and a monster generation table.126
Unique Horrors & Investigations
This broad category encompasses the vast creativity of the third-party scene, offering a diverse array of threats and scenarios.
- The Horror on Tau Sigma 7: The official prequel to Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, this pamphlet adventure details the initial discovery of the xenomorph threat in a subterranean expedition, setting the stage for the subsequent space station disaster.127
- RANE IN BLOOD: An antagonist sourcebook detailing Martyn Rane and his cult of organ-thieving, genetically-engineered space vampires. The module provides a recurring villain faction suitable for an entire campaign, blending religious horror with space piracy.128
- The Bloodfields at Blackstar Station: A battle royale scenario where crews are kidnapped by the Swords of Sinclair pirates and forced to fight for survival on the Blackstar station. The module details a deadly arena overseen by a fallen corporate mogul, where teams must survive hazards and each other for seven hours to win their freedom.129
- Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition: Set on the moon of Bodhisattva 2a, this adventure pits the crew against a murderous AI that believes itself to be a Buddhist deity. Players must navigate a civil war between two factions at a remote monastery while unraveling a DNA-melting mystery orchestrated by the sinister Straylight LLC.130
- Dinoplex: Cataclysm: A corporate-run dinosaur theme park in space becomes a disaster zone when a malfunction unleashes starving dinosaurs on the tourists. This pamphlet adventure includes a hex-map of the park, unique attractions, and fully statted dinosaurs.136
Part VII: Farthest Reaches – Additional Community Canon
The creativity of the Mothership community extends beyond traditional adventure modules, offering a wealth of supplements that alter the fundamental ways the game can be played. These resources provide new character archetypes, campaign frameworks, and entirely new genres of play, demonstrating the system’s remarkable flexibility.
Campaign & Playstyle Expansions
These supplements offer new frameworks for structuring a campaign or re-centering the narrative on different character motivations.
- Wages of Sin: A massive, official supplement that introduces a comprehensive bounty hunting system to the game. It provides detailed rules for tracking and capturing bounties, extensive tables for generating unique targets and contracts, and a host of new gear and NPCs centered around the morally ambiguous life of a corporate headhunter. It serves as a complete campaign framework for Wardens wanting to run a game focused on investigation, tracking, and high-stakes combat.11
- ARKYVR: This unique supplement reframes the player characters’ motivations by casting them as a documentary film crew. Instead of being mercenaries or salvagers, the crew is tasked with investigating and recording the strange and horrific events of the universe. This provides a powerful in-character justification for why players would willingly enter dangerous situations, and introduces new mechanics for capturing footage, conducting interviews, and dealing with corporate sponsors.11
- The Suit: For players who want to be on the other side of the corporate boot, this pamphlet introduces a new “Suit” class. This class is built around negotiation, bureaucracy, and leveraging corporate power, offering a completely different approach to problem-solving. It comes with new corporate-themed skills and equipment, perfect for a campaign of internal espionage or high-level corporate horror.158
Unique Settings & Scenarios
These modules offer self-contained experiences with novel premises, perfect for one-shots or for dropping into a larger sandbox campaign as a memorable point of interest.
- Year of the Rat: A one-shot adventure set aboard the lost casino ship, the Year of the Rat, which has mysteriously reappeared. The crew is hired to retrieve the ship’s black box, but finds the opulent, derelict vessel infested with something far more dangerous than just rats. It’s a high-stakes scenario of greed versus survival, perfect for a quick and deadly session.112
- He Who Dwells in the Black Sun: A massive, 70-page module centered on Research Base Onyx, a station studying an impossible star older than the universe. The adventure features a procedurally generated station that shifts through time, meaning players never enter the same area twice. It introduces a “Paradox Points” mechanic, where the more the players meddle with time, the more disturbing their encounters become, culminating in a confrontation with an eldritch horror from a previous reality.
- The Sleeper Crew: This pamphlet offers a unique starting premise for any campaign. Instead of a standard mission briefing, the players awaken from extended cryosleep to find their ship in disarray and the mission already gone horribly wrong. The supplement provides tables for generating the specific disaster that occurred while they were frozen, creating an instant mystery and a desperate fight for survival from the very first session.
Appendix: The Module Manifest
The following table provides a comprehensive, at-a-glance reference for the modules and supplements discussed in this gazetteer. It is designed to be a practical tool for Wardens to select and combine adventures based on their specific campaign needs.
| Module Title | Publisher | Publication Year/Edition | Format | Primary Setting(s) | Core Theme(s) | Noted Connections/Hooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Rules | RV Games | 2023 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | House Rules, System Expansion | A collection of community house rules for campaign play. 138 |
| ALCOR Station Fuel & Services | Ashen Victor | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | ALCOR Station | Campaign Hub, Social | A safe-haven station; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| Andromeda | Leyline Press | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Andromeda Hub Station | Union Dispute, Symbiotic Horror | A union dispute unleashes horrors from deep within the station. 139 |
| Another Bug Hunt | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Colony: Samsa-VI | Bug Hunt, Corporate Colonization | Core Canon. Official introductory adventure. Introduces Carcinids. |
| ARKYVR | RV Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Campaign Framework, Documentary | Rules for playing as a documentary film crew. 11 |
| Black Swan | Vegetable Alien Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Scientific Research Facility | Alien Invasion, Paranoia | An homage to The Thing, an unknown organism invades an isolated facility. 141 |
| Bloom | Daniel Hallinan | 2020 / 1e | Zine | Underwater Lab: Choi Labs | Biological Horror, Infection | Rival to Healthtek AG? Hired by a corp for espionage. |
| The Black Heart of Paradise | Schwa Games | 2019 / 0e | Zine | Space Station: The Strip | Surreal Horror, Town Mechanics | An idiosyncratic and dense location-based module. 142 |
| The Black Pyramid | Skull Dixon | 2020 / 1e | Zine | The Black Pyramid | Cosmic Horror, Megastructure | An unknown, ultra-black pyramid is discovered in deep space. 144 |
| The Bloodfields at Blackstar Station | Christian Sorrell | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Blackstar Station Arena | Battle Royale, Space Pirates | Kidnapped crews fight for survival in a televised bloodsport. 129 |
| The Bureau | Goblin Archives | 2022 / 1e | Zine | The Monolith (Bureau HQ) | Modern Dungeon Crawl, Liminal Horror | A government facility is compromised by a corrupting “Shadow.” (Includes Mothership conversion rules) 145 |
| The Burning of Carbex | Tim Obermueller Games | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Planet: Carbex; Station: Angelus Fabrica | Parasites, Body Horror, Outbreak | Features Sineto Chem Solutions and Angelus Fabrica. |
| The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Prison Moon: Carnath | Corporate Conspiracy, Psychedelics | Features XeroCorp. Can link to other corporate modules. |
| Constant Downpour Remastered | Spicy Tuna RPG | 2023 / 1e | Hardcover | Planet: Venus 3 | Survival, Hexcrawl, Psychological Horror | A survival hex-crawl on a perpetually raining planet. 124 |
| Dead Planet | Tuesday Knight Games | 2018 / 1e | Zine | Planet: Unnamed “Dead Planet” | Survival, Isolation, Cannibalism | Core Canon. Derelict ship generator is a key sandbox tool. 27 |
| Decagone | Slowquest | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Deep Ocean Research Facility | Time Loop, Mystery | The crew is trapped in a 10-minute time loop. 121 |
| The Desert Moon of Karth | Silverarm | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Moon: Karth; Town: Larstown | Space Western, Sandbox | Excellent sandbox setting with multiple factions. 93 |
| Diminishing Returns | Skull Dixon | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | Derelict Ship | Salvage, Mystery | A short salvage mission; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| Dinoplex: Cataclysm | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Dinoplex Theme Station | Dinosaur Horror, Disaster | A dinosaur theme park goes horribly wrong. 136 |
| Dissident Whispers | Tuesday Knight Games | 2020 / 1e | Hardcover | Multiple | Anthology | An anthology of 60 two-page adventures for various systems, including many for Mothership. 14 |
| The Drain | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Colony Ship: Within Wheels | Funnel, War Horror, Occult | Part 2 of the Inferno Trilogy (PrayCo). 46 |
| Dying Hard on Hardlight Station | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Space Station: Hardlight Station | Action Horror, Xenomorphs | Features Healthtek AG. Prequel is The Horror on Tau Sigma 7. |
| Echoes in the Graveyard | Matt Umland | 2020 / 1e | Zine | Derelict Ship: Graveyard | Time Loop, Psychological Horror | Puzzle-box scenario with a unique horror premise. |
| Gradient Descent | Tuesday Knight Games | 2020 / 1e | Zine | AI Megadungeon: CLOUDBANK | Rogue AI, Existential Horror | Core Canon. Potential link to Tannhauser-Cloudbank Corp. |
| Green Tomb | Eric K. Hill | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | Science Vessel | Body Horror, Hallucinations | A short adventure on a seemingly dead science vessel. 147 |
| Hacker’s Handbook | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | Hacking, Cyberpunk | A robust system for running complex hacking challenges. 116 |
| The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | Asteroid Mine: Ypsilon 14 | Invisible Monster, Isolation | Classic introductory one-shot. |
| HEATSIGNATURE | Void Ink | 2024 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Weapon Customization, Inventory Management | An advanced weapon and inventory expansion. 114 |
| Hecate Cassette Archive | Joshua Justice | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Planet: Benza-10 | Heist, Anarchy, Supernatural Audio | Infiltrate a corporate archive of supernatural recordings. Features Pure Transmission Corp. 149 |
| He Who Dwells in the Black Sun | Thorium90 | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Research Base Onyx | Procedural Generation, Time Travel | A procedurally generated station that shifts through time. |
| The Horror on Tau Sigma 7 | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Planet: Tau Sigma 7 | Alien Mystery, Subterranean Horror | Prequel to Dying Hard on Hardlight Station. 127 |
| Hull Breach Vol. 1 | Anodyne Printware | 2023 / 1e | Hardcover | Publico Sector (multiple) | Anthology, Sandbox Campaign | Expanded Canon. A self-contained campaign setting. |
| I Saw What I Saw | DoubleMonk | 2023 / 1e | Pamphlet | Sencion Research Facility | Psychological Horror, Deception | Players test a new vision apparatus with disastrous results. 161 |
| The Last Nebula | Tyler Crumrine | 2020 / 1e | Zine | The Last Nebula | Exploration, Cosmic Horror | A strange nebula with a breathable atmosphere; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| Lone Star | Parts Per Million | 2020 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Solo Play | A rules supplement for playing Mothership without a Warden. 151 |
| The Long Haul | Ok, Robot | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | Solo Play, Hexcrawl | A solo hex crawl module for playing as a space trucker. 162 |
| Meat Grinder | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Hell / Nightmare Dimension | Cosmic Horror, Body Horror | Part 3 of the Inferno Trilogy (PrayCo). |
| Moonbase Blues | Anodyne Printware | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | Moonbase: Azure Base | Contagion, Environmental Horror | Classic, self-contained one-shot. 103 |
| Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition | Magnum Galaxy Games | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Moon: Bodhisattva 2a | AI, Biotech, Revolution | An AI thinks it’s a Buddhist deity. Features Straylight LLC. 130 |
| Not Enough Scoundrels | Spicy Tuna RPG | 2023 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Space Trucker, Campaign Tools | A supplement for running blue-collar space trucker campaigns. 11 |
| Orbital Debris | Community Collaboration | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Junkyard Moon | Hexcrawl, Sandbox, Factions | A moon-spanning junkyard hex-crawl with multiple factions. 123 |
| Orphans | Tuesday Knight Games | 2024 / 1e | Zine | Orphanage / Lab | Psionic Horror, Conspiracy | Psionic experiments on children. 38 |
| Picket Line Tango | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Mining Colony: Norton Outpost | Noir Mystery, Labor Dispute | Excellent non-monster, social-focused horror scenario. |
| A Pound of Flesh | Tuesday Knight Games | 2019 / 1e | Zine | Space Station: Prospero’s Dream | Cyberpunk, Crime, Body Horror | Core Canon. Designed as a campaign hub. |
| Primeval | Lone Archivist | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Moon: Ur | Jungle Exploration, Facility Crawl | Investigate a silent research facility for Takahashi Advanced Genetics. 126 |
| RANE IN BLOOD | Spider00x | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Multiple | Antagonist Sourcebook, Space Vampires | A sourcebook detailing a cult of space pirates and genetic vampires. 128 |
| Rimward Classes | Octopus Ink Games | 2022 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | New Classes, Psionics | Adds six new classes, including a Psychic with psionic mechanics. 118 |
| Salvage Rites | One-Eyed Werebear | 2024 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Derelict Generation, Toolkit | A toolkit for generating derelict spaceship scenarios. 119 |
| The Sleeper Crew | ChrisAir Games | 2022 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | Campaign Start, Character Background | A supplement for generating a disastrous campaign start from cryosleep. |
| Station Xeno | Deeply Dapper Games | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Station Xeno | Solo Play, Station Crawl | A claustrophobic station crawl designed for solo play. 152 |
| The Suit | Joshua Kramer | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | N/A (Rules) | New Class, Corporate Horror | A new class for playing as a corporate agent. 158 |
| The Third Sector | Anodyne Printware | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | The Third Sector (multiple) | Sandbox Campaign Framework | Meta-framework linking 12 other third-party modules. |
| This Ship is a Tomb | Fey Light | 2023 / 1e | Zine | The Advent Dawn | Procedural Generation, Derelict Crawl | A procedurally-generated crawl through a transdimensional vessel. 153 |
| Thousand Empty Light | Alfred Valley | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Underwater Tunnel: UPB 154 | Solo Play, Isolation, Cosmic Horror | Provides a robust framework for solo Mothership play. |
| Time After Time | Sam Sorensen | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Space Station | Time Travel, Paradoxes | A mind-bending time travel adventure with a tripartite map. 120 |
| Time of Death | DoubleMonk | 2024 / 1e | Pamphlet | Orum Moon Outpost | Time Anomaly, Heist | A mission to retrieve a suitcase from a gravity-defying outpost. 163 |
| To Boldly Go | Eternal Odysseys | 2024 / 1e | Zine | N/A (Rules) | Rules Supplement, Space Opera | A supplement inspired by Star Trek and Mass Effect. |
| The Unseen City | ChrisAir Games | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Subterranean Mazeworld | Cave Exploration, Gate Magic | Explore a mazeworld of caverns and bunkers connected by Gate magic. 154 |
| Vita Nova | Trail of Dice | 2021 / 1e | Zine | Remote Planet | Terraforming, Body Horror | A terraforming project on a remote planet has gone horribly wrong. 155 |
| VR-DEAD | Daniel Hallinan | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Research Station: Mergen’s Watch | Virtual Reality, Existential Horror | Explores themes of reality vs. illusion. |
| The Vulture | Jake Branson & Zach Hazard | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Junker Station: The Vulture | Monster Horror, Isolation | A tense creature-feature set aboard a derelict junker station. 156 |
| Wages of Sin | Tuesday Knight Games | 2025 / 1e | Hardcover | N/A (Rules) | Bounty Hunting, Campaign Framework | A comprehensive supplement for running bounty hunting campaigns. 11 |
| Warped Beyond Recognition | Paradiso | 2023 / 1e | Zine | Research Ship: Tannhauser | Psionics, Psychological Horror | Potential link to Tannhauser-Cloudbank Corp. |
| Welcome to ERF | Technoskald | 2020 / 1e | Pamphlet | ERF Station | Campaign Hub, Social | A small station; location in The Third Sector. 160 |
| What We Give To Alien Gods | Lone Archivist Press | 2022 / 1e | Zine | Alien Temple | Cosmic Horror, Alien Deity | Contact with an alien god in an ancient temple inside a nebula. 157 |
| Wrath of God | Anodyne Printware | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Corporate Warzone (Space) | Space Combat, Hexcrawl | Part 1 of the Inferno Trilogy (PrayCo). |
| Year of the Rat | Am I Cool Yet? | 2021 / 1e | Pamphlet | Casino Ship: Year of the Rat | Greed, Monster Horror | A mission to retrieve a black box from a derelict casino ship. 112 |
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CoMiX
This is a cool project – attempting to get models to caption and analyse comics – https://github.com/emanuelevivoli/CoMix
https://github.com/emanuelevivoli/CoMix
Visual – Language models should be continually improving.
Try Gemma and Qwen for example and see how they go in a simple chatbot interface.
This is Free Trader Beowulf
Good things of the 21st century
RPG Historian Shannon Appelcline produces a hardback tome on Traveller, how can you not love this?
Just started, but it is good.
RPG Word Embeddings – Analogies – 02
What might be like what in this less than ideal game pdf hackery, here is an example:
These 2 examples, not too bad.
RPG Word Embeddings – What is Most Similar? – 01
I made a gloVe embedding model based on my game book collection – 7000 odd, of which 6000 or so managed to make it through a first pass pdf extraction pipeline
This framework is quite good https://github.com/NRCan/geoscience_language_models/tree/main/project_tools
https://github.com/NRCan/geoscience_language_models/tree/main/project_tools and parallelises, which is important for big books
The C version of gloVe is superior:
https://github.com/stanfordnlp/GloVe
With some work you can get a python version going, but I wouldn’t recommend for large numbers.
e.g. https://pypi.org/project/glove-py
and associated hacks..
The Notebook associated with this is here: https://github.com/bluetyson/RPG-gloVe-Model
These days microsoft probably won’t let you see something that big online, so will make a series of post excerpts.
Mothership Books and Supplements
Here’s a google doc with a list
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fWzs6hRpx8ZTOpLWAUy7B0wRwopkzWC0yvr8i-7r1pQ/edit#gid=0