Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Mothership 1e Part Two

You can purchase the Mothership 1e Core Set here.

You can purchase Dead Planet here.

You can read the rules for solo and wardenless play in Mothership 1e here.

In our first part, I went over the basics of the system and chose Android as my class while also fleshing out the world’s backstory.

Each class in Mothership has different modifications in the character creation process. As an Android, I got to add an additional 20 to my Intellect, making it a total of 52. My Strength, Speed, and Combat scores are all in the low to mid-30s, so it may sound like Intellect will dominate. Remember, this is a d100 system, so while 52 is much larger, it doesn’t astronomically improve my chances of success. I also had to subtract 10 from another Stat of my choice, which I chose Combat for. Mothership is a game where Combat is typically deadly anyway, especially against the entities you’ll face, and I don’t see Jerome as someone programmed with combat in mind, more compliance to corporate policy.

As an Android, I get to add 60 to my Fear save, making it a total of 80. Narratively, that makes a lot of sense as a “living computer” isn’t going to become as frightened as a human. Androids can have their consciousnesses backed up remotely and rebuilt. With death being the primary motivator for most people’s fear, an Android just wouldn’t experience it that way. 

The last class change to scores is that Androids get one additional Wound added to their maximum. The default is 2, so this means I get 3. In Mothership, the specifics of how you are injured are tracked pretty closely, as each type of injury comes with mechanical penalties. There’s a nifty table in the Player’s Guide where you determine the severity & cause, then roll a d10 and see what specific Wound you take on. A Concussion means you roll with a Disadvantage on any mental tasks, a Broken Back leads to a Disadvantage on all rolls, and many injuries cause Bleeding across a range of +1 to +7, causing a massive loss of Health in one go. 

Class rules come into play with how your character will respond to Trauma. If an Android is traumatized, any rolls made by other players in their vicinity are made at a Disadvantage. From a narrative perspective, we can imagine how human crew members would be severely disturbed if their typically calm, stoic android suddenly showed signs they were psychologically affected by a horrific encounter. Your stalwart on the ship is now a victim. What hope is there?

Loadout is rolled based on your class. I rolled standard crew attire, stun baton, small pet, pills: areca nut, “Princess” patch. There’s a table to roll for a patch on your uniform, with its meaning being entirely up to the player. I connected the Princess patch with my small pet and decided Jerome adopted a mini pig after coming across them for sale in a market. He named her Princess and, like Data on Star Trek, sees his connection with this animal as a crucial part of his development as a sentient being. Having a pet comes with problems in Mothership, too. I take 1 Stress every time she takes Damage. When I roll a Rest save in her presence to reduce my Stress, I roll with Advantage. If she dies, I must roll a Panic save. 

The final part of character creation, where character class has an effect, is in Skills. By default, Androids are Trained in Linguistics, Computers, and Mathematics. As a bonus, you can choose two more Trained Skills or one Expert Skill. I went with the former and chose Zoology and Botany. I reasoned that Jerome has developed an interest in biology with the pet, so he’s become well-versed in identifying and studying plants and animals. 

With my main character chosen, I used the solo rules linked above to create two more characters in my crew. There’s Lowry, the Pilot, and Kent, the Engineer. I used the Contractor rules in the Player’s Guide to stat them up, but I also rolled them out for motivation. I see that less as a mechanical aspect and more as something to help me understand what is going on in the NPC’s head. Lowry is dealing with a kidnapped family member and needs ransom money. Which family member and why have they been kidnapped? I’m not sure. Perhaps that will emerge in playing. Kent needs to pay off a court fine after jumping bail. I also decided that Kent is non-binary and came from a deeply religious family. They ran away from home at a young age, which is why they ended up doing some criminal things to stay alive. Both crew members have good reasons why they wouldn’t be participating in the winter solstice celebrations happening in many colonies. They need to make money right now. 

Our ship is a standard patrol ship as outlined in the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit and doesn’t have anything that needs to be modified when you write it up on the Ship Manifest sheet.

I went through the Starting Scenarios in the Warden’s Operations Manual to create our scenario. As there are ten options, I rolled a d10 and got an 8. This meant we would be responding to a distress signal, which is our job to attend to on patrol. The signal comes from a derelict mining freighter operated by another corporation outside our employer, Woong-Yarbury. They collaborate with others occasionally, allowing them to mine in regions outside their interests. I decided the freighter would be on the edges of a nebula, which means our uplink to the corporate computers would take longer, so any queries would require additional hours of waiting. 

The TOMBS (Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, and Slumber) Cycle of scenario planning is one of Mothership’s best features. It provides solo play with a very basic structure, but the details can be revealed during the play. Here’s what I rolled up:

Transgression – Studying arcane text

Omens – Gruesomely displayed corpses

Manifestation – tainted technology

Banishment – vaccine

Slumber – slumbers until the next jump

As for the three Ss, here’s what I came up with:

Survive: omens, destruction of equipment, negotiation

Solve: mundane obstacle, escalating danger/time

Save: traitor

Based on this, I had some initial ideas but kept them in my back pocket to see how play transpired. Sometimes the rolls take us in unexpected directions and I wanted to be open to that possibility. That’s one of my favorite things about solo play – I will think I know where the story is going only to have a series of rolls send me off in a totally unexpected but awesome direction. I’ve also decided not to choose anything from the Unconfirmed Contact Report (Monster Manual) and instead let the story unfold. Only when signs of the entity become known will I consult that book to determine what I’m up against.

I also didn’t want to jump a little ahead in the narrative instead of starting with the patrol ship crew boarding the freighter, designated The Banquo. I did a few rolls on various oracles and wrote some notes. Where I start is a few hours later. The crew only explored the living quarters of the freighter. They were shocked to find no one living or dead except for one cryopod. According to the data readout on the screen, the person inside was Dr. Constance Navarro, an archaeologist. When Jerome checked the ship manifest for the freighter, he found it had been erased. Everything about where this mining ship had gone and who was onboard was blank. 

Jerome’s biggest question was why a Valecore mining freighter would need an archaeologist on board. Woong-Yarbury did not allow any other corporate vessels into regions of the Ridge Colonies where supposed ruins had been discovered. There were 28 containers of ore onboard the freighter, so the ship did perform a lot of mining. There were signs of a fire that got out of control in the cargo deck, but no bodies. Traces of extinguishing foam were apparent, so the ship’s security protocols took care of that.

I’m using Mythic GM Emulator 2nd Edition for a few pieces, mainly the Keyed Scenes. This tool allows solo players to determine a trigger to activate specific moments in the narrative. I’ve opted for a straightforward method where I specify three or four scenes, and then one of the elements from TOMBS is introduced into the story. This way, I create space to explore without letting the narrative stagnate. The goal here is to pace the story as similarly as I can to how a film might play out – of course, thinking of the first Alien film and how it builds its horror.

Scene 1 – Questioning Navarro – Chaos Factor: 5

Moods: Navarro (Scared), Lowry (Helpful), Kent (Wildcard – Distrustful)

Setting: Medbay

Fate Question: Is Navarro willing to detail what happened onboard the mining freighter?

Answer: No

Navarro is kept in the medbay, where her vitals are monitored. Her cryopod was functioning okay, but Jerome wanted to know if she had been quarantined and if the rest of the crew were taken by some sort of virus on the planet they were mining. He attempts to reason with Navarro using his Intellect – how can we help you if we don’t know the details of the situation? We want to help find your missing crew members. Lowry backs the android up, providing a friendly face. Kent sits in the back, closely eyeing Navarro and not speaking.

(Stat Check – 52 vs. 78 – Failure)

Navarro insists that she cannot speak about what happened. She just wants to go home. She’s tired. Jerome can tell she’s not lying about her fatigue and excuses himself and the crew. 

Scene 2 – Consulting with Lowry – Chaos Factor: 5

Mood: Lowry (Talkative)

Setting: Command Deck

Fate Question: Does Lowry want to talk about the Navarro situation? Odds: Very likely.

Answer: Yes

Oracle: Delay Exterior

Jerome checks on Princess, who squeals with delight when she sees him from her little pen in the barracks. He picks her up and carries her to the command deck, feeding her from a nutrient bar in small pieces. He sits across from Lowry to see what he thinks of the situation.

Lowry can’t make sense of any of the scans of the Banquo or the empty system logs. The damage on the outside of the freighter doesn’t make sense either. There are scorch marks that indicate the freighter was under fire. Yet the weapons systems onboard the freighter haven’t been used in over a year based on their condition. There’s not a single bioscan trace of any of the crew, yet the ship still has its single escape pod. 

At first, Lowry says he wondered if people were hiding in the ventilation system for some unknown reason. But there’s absolutely zero trace. Not even waste particles coming up in scans. The nebula creates communications interference, but the pilot wants to know where this freighter was initially dispatched to work.

Jerome attempts to see if he can use his Intellect and Computers skills to find a workaround for the interference. He sits before the comms console and gets to work.

(Stat Check – Intellect + Computers – 52+10 = 62 vs. 60 – Success)

By repositioning the comms array dish and adjusting for cosmic radiation, Jerome can get a successful, though slightly unstable, uplink with HQ. Nine hours until the request to transfer the freighter’s mission docs is fulfilled.

Scene 3 – Encounter with Navarro – Chaos Factor: 5

Mood: Navarro (Charismatic)

Setting: Medbay

Thread: Lowry Needs Ransom Money

Oracle: Bravely Healthy

Jerome approaches Navarro, who is sitting at a desk in the medbay, letting a mug of tea cool. He asks if she feels well or needs him to perform more medical scans. She shakes her head. 

“How well do you know your crewmates?” she asks.

Jerome ponders this. “I believe I know them well. I downloaded their company dossiers and have worked with them for several months.”

“I thought I knew my crew, too,” she responds. “Your pilot, Lowry, he’s a desperate man. Can you see that?”

Jerome is confused about the direction of this conversation. “I think Lowry is stressed because of our 

current situation and your seeming inability to provide details about what happened on your ship.”

She looks up at Jerome and grins in a way that unsettles him. “Your man Lowry needs money so desperately. I wonder what he’d be willing to do to get it?” 

She turns back to staring out the window into the nebula. Jerome exits.

Scene 4 – Keyed Scene: Boarding Skiff Alarm – Chaos Factor: 6

Mood: Kent (Distrustful), Navarro (Scared)

Setting: Barracks → Airlock

Thread: The Navarro Mystery

Oracle: Drop Tension

Jerome is helping Kent perform routine maintenance on the oxygen filters in the barracks when a shipwide alarm sounds. Someone is attempting to take the boarding skiff. Jerome rushes to a console, and inputs override commands to lock the vessel down.

(Stat Check – Intellect + Computers – 51+10 = 61 vs. 2 – Success)

Jerome and Kent come to the airlock and find Navarro there, trying to override the lockdown. Jerome calmly informs her that she is not allowed to leave the ship. If she could explain why she needs to go, they might be able to help her. Kent strikes their palm with a socket wrench; they haven’t liked Navarro since the talk in the medbay. 

All Navarro tells them is that she needs to get back onto the freighter to retrieve something she left behind, but she won’t provide further detail. Jerome exchanges a glance with Kent and reaches for a hypospray in his pocket. Just a quick hit of sedative and Navarro will be placed in a cryopod until the patrol ship can get word from HQ about what to do next. 

(Kent to restrain – Stat Check – Combat – 35 vs. 28 – Success)

(Jerome to inject the sedative – Stat Check – Speed – 35 vs. 72 – Failure)

Jerome doesn’t move fast enough, which surprises both Kent and him. Navarro fights against the restraint and headbutts Kent with the back of her head. Blood gushes from Kent’s forehead, and Jerome immediately goes to them, allowing Navarro to run off into the patrol ship. 

Jerome strikes a panel on the wall, setting off the shipwide alarm system. Lowry crackles over the comms, asking what the hell is going on? Jerome explains, saying he is taking Kent to the Medbay. Once there, Jerome administers a healing treatment in the scanner to receive treatment. He goes to check the shipwide scans to see where Navarro is.

(Panic Save – failed – Gain Deflated Condition: Take 1 Stress when Close Crewmember fails a Save)

Fate Question: Can the ship detect Navarro’s presence? Odds: Very Unlikely. Answer: No

This doesn’t make any sense. How can the ship not detect a human lifeform? Jerome tells Lowry to keep scanning the ship, and Kent says they will grab their flamethrower and search. 

The android gives the engineer a knowing look, and responds, “Let’s just use a stun baton, please.” 

After a moment, Jerome tells Kent (and Lowry over the ships’ comms) that he will take the boarding skiff back to the freighter. He feels that they missed something, which could be used to leverage Navarro. Lowry doesn’t like it but says he’ll hold down the fort.

To be continued…