Mothership - Titan

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Séadna

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Game is set clearly enough on Titan, Saturn's moon. Year is 2185 and the colony is nearly fifty years old and the most distant colony from Earth. Titan itself remains mostly unterraformed, still raining methane etc. The colony is built into the bed rock of a lake whose lower levels contain volcanically heated water.

The set up is that on the eve before the anniversary of the colony's founding one of the heads of an FTL project, a diplomat from Jupiter and the leader of a religion founded on Titan are all found murdered. One in her lab, the second in his quarters and the third in his church.

PCs are members of investigative team brought in.

System is the Mothership SciFi horror RPG. No need to know the rules as I'll be rolling, I'll just provide basic details to enable reading the character sheet. Char Gen is pretty simple as well.

EDIT: For those who know Mothership it's standard char gen just without the android class
 
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I'm in if you'll have me. Standard character generation rules?
 
I'm interested, what's the next step?
So Char Gen basically.

To understand the character sheet a summary of the system:
  1. Basically percentile, roll under.
  2. Rolling a double is a critical success if under and a critical failure if over.
  3. There are four stats: Strength, Speed, Intellect, Combat. These are the values you roll under during checks
  4. Skills add to your stat rolls in relevant situations, giving either a +10, +15 or +20 depending on how trained they are
  5. There are saves, but they're fixed by class
They've a pdf summarising the rules:

Char Gen is summed up nicely in the official character sheet:

In summary:
  1. Roll 6d10 for each stat
  2. Pick class
  3. Pick skills. Most are determined by your class, but you get to pick 3-4 additional ones.
  4. Pick equipment set
Classes and equipment sets given on the char sheet.

The only thing is if you don't have the book you won't know your trinket (minor random object you start with mentioned in step) and your patch (little symbol on your clothes). These are mentioned in step 4. You can roll for it and I'll tell you the results.

Only house rule is no androids.
 
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I'm intrigued! (Not to mention refreshing the Game Ads page since Stay Frosty ended).

Name: Lassiter

Class: Scientist - Colonial Investigator

Strength: 43
Speed: 22
Intellect: 41*
Combat: 19


Initial Stats roll +10 to Int for Scientist

Skills:
Trained:

- Biology
- Chemistry
- Rimwise
Expert:
- Psychology

Loadout: Unknown - Looking at them I feel like I need a mix between exploration and examination? Not sure, would take GM advice. I guess Exploration might be the best fit?

Rolls for Trinket & Patch

Trinket: Pamphlet: Interpreting Sheep Dreams - Lassie has been having troublesome dreams for the past year or so since his divorce. In lieu of seeing the department shrink he has tried to self-heal with wishy-washy corporate feel good propaganda.

Patch:DRINK / FIGHT / FUCK” - a faded battle patch from his old unit, the 43rd Colonial Combat Team, of which he was an NCO before his discharge.

Description: will be added

Background: Lassiter is a walking cliche - military man through and through, he was an NCO in the Colonial Marines. Extended combat stim usage shot his nerves and reaction times and he was forced out of active duty into a desk job. This lack of action got to Lassie, who thrived in high-stakes work, and by extension it took a toll on his marriage. In an effort to escape Earth and the memories of his failed union, he dove into becoming a Colonial Marshall and found he had a knack for detective work.
 
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I was able to create a character in about five minutes. My rolls were all above average but only slightly.

2nd Lieutenant Finn Shah (marine)
Stats

  • Strength: 38
  • Speed: 35
  • Intelligence: 38
  • Combat: 41 (+5 when friendly marine nearby)
Condition
  • Health: 76
  • Stress: 2
  • Resolve: 0
Saves
  • Sanity: 25
  • Fear: 30
  • Body: 35
  • Armor: 40
Skills
  • Military training
  • First aid
  • Scavenging
  • Piloting
Equipment
  • SMG
  • Frag grenade x 6
  • Battle dress (HUD, body cam, short range comms)
  • Stim pack x 6
  • Electronic tools
  • Crowbar
  • Credits x 8
  • Pair of shot glasses and shotgun shells (commemorated commission with grandfather)
  • Patch that says "Volunteer"
Finn comes from a military family with a long history of participation in special forces. He didn't make the cut, however, so he advanced along the officer track. Finn was assigned command of a team that performed boarding and salvage after naval conflicts, and was deeply disappointed in himself. He eventually mustered out of the marines after becoming disgusted by the corruption among the salvage crews and upsetting the wrong people in the process of trying to remedy the situation. Finn tries to be the "perfect soldier" despite his return to civilian life, and he's looking for opportunities to prove his heroism.

I hope we have at least one more marine so we can get our +5 combat bonuses :gunslinger:
 
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So Char Gen basically.
I just got the book. I am not confused on how to create a character but I have never played an RPG by post so explain it like I'm 5. Is there an app where I roll dice or do I just use Rolz.org?


I hope we have at least one more marine so we can get our +5 combat bonuses :gunslinger:
Funny you say that. I was thinking of playing a former enlisted Marine who is now a civilian private eye hired by the insurance division of a zaibatsu that was impacted by the murders. I am not sure if that works in the setting, what do you think Séadna Séadna
 
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I just got the book. I am not confused on how to create a character but I have played an RPG by post so explain it like I'm 5. Is there an app where I roll dice or do I just use Rolz.org?
I tend to do the rolls just for expediency. Basically in a play by post I've found the four step exchange of
player action->I ask for roll->player rolls->GM narration
slows things down. However I use orokos.com for the rolls and leave links to each roll I use in resolving actions. An example of our log from the Stay Frosty game is here:

Funny you say that. I was thinking of playing a former enlisted Marine who is now a civilian private eye hired by the insurance division of a zaibatsu that was impacted by the murders. I am not sure if that works in the setting, what do you think @Séadna
Sounds great to me Brock Savage Brock Savage
 
Dale Bradshaw Cooper "Cooper" (Marine)

Stats
• Strength: 33
• Speed: 31
• Intelligence: 35
• Combat: 42

Skills
• Military training
• Rimwise
• Computers
• Archaeology

Equipment
• Scalpel
• Tranq Pistol
• Stun Baton
• Hazard Suit
• Medscanner
• Automed x6
• Pain Pills x6
• Stimpak x6
• Cybernetic Diagnostic Scanner
Bent Wrench (memento of fiance)
Patch “Welcome to the DANGER ZONE”

Cooper's been out of the Corps for a good 6 years now. Did the college thing, majored in Archaeology/Information Systems while doing repo and collections to make ends meet. Almost got married but that fell apart. Got his degree but there's not much demand for archaeologists these days without academic connections. He finds himself missing the camaraderie and sense of purpose in the Corps; he stays busy with work and drink to keep those thoughts at bay. Somehow he ended up here, drifting along the outer colonies as a PI, investigating insurance fraud for the zaibatsu.
 
As a parenthetical note, I imagine Cooper deals with the space ship equivalent of marine insurance and there are a lot of "coffin ship" cases because it's still the Wild West in the outer colonies.
 
Just to say I'll wait a day or two to see if we get more then put up the In-Game thread.
 
Thread up:

I have spoilers if you don't want to know info other characters know.
 
Hi lads,
Sick there the last few days and daughter sick as well which led to some lapses. My most egregious was forgetting spoilers at one point, but I think I made the edit quick enough.

It got me thinking though, is there anything you'd like me to do differently? I don't like info dumping too much, preferring to mention setting detail as it arises, but I never checked if you prefer that. Also I've mentioned the Stress count at points since it defaults to player knowledge in Mothership and knowing about it (arguably) affects decision making in a way that models a Stressed character.

Those are two things I thought of, let me know of others.

I've really enjoyed running it so far, but I'll save more detail for why until after it ends or peters out.
 
Sick there the last few days and daughter sick as well which led to some lapses.
I'm sorry to hear that, especially about your daughter, and I truly didn't notice anything.
My most egregious was forgetting spoilers at one point, but I think I made the edit quick enough.
I didn't catch it.
It got me thinking though, is there anything you'd like me to do differently?
Honestly, nothing comes to mind for me.
I don't like info dumping too much, preferring to mention setting detail as it arises, but I never checked if you prefer that.
I totally agree with this approach.
Also I've mentioned the Stress count at points since it defaults to player knowledge in Mothership and knowing about it (arguably) affects decision making in a way that models a Stressed character.
I'm truly OK either way when it comes to game mechanics and bookkeeping. In this format, from the GM perspective, I can see it going either way. On one hand, doing it all yourself means keeping track of everything. On the other hand, it frees you up to focus on narrative, and you don't have to wait for everyone to roll and report.

As a player, I'm fine with either approach. I'm totally happy with the balance that you strike.
 
I agree with Edgewise. You can prod me and let me know that I'm feeling stressed without specifically calling out a stress value, to aid in roleplaying out the current mindset the characters are in.
 
I kid! But things are getting very interesting. Thanks for running this adventure, and happy holidays!
 
I'm going to be out of the country come wednesday til jan 10th, so my replies will be slow-to-none. Feel free to progress my character as you see fit!
 
I'm going to be out of the country come wednesday til jan 10th, so my replies will be slow-to-none. Feel free to progress my character as you see fit!
I think you need to sit down with your wife and cancel that trip.

"Darling, I know you were set on heading to the UK for Christmas, but in good conscience I can't. This is Lassiter's future we're talking about here"
 
Christmas has quietened down as of today so back to usual pace.
 
And so it was written. There would come days when the Wise one of the Edge and the Séadna were without guidance and wandered the forums reading threads with empty hearts. Often would they lament "Where is Smith that he may take the form of Lassiter and converse with us?"

And lo then he came in glory and many were his likes.
 
going to be out of the country for the next few days, family emergency
 
Sorry to hear as well. Take care Smith.
 
I was thinking of writing a post with bullet points of things you've learned thus far so that you would have a convenient reference for things in one place. Considering the length (both by post count and length of time) of the game I thought this might be helpful.

However I know some people prefer to confine themselves to their own notes in Investigative games for immersion so I just thought I'd double check.
 
Fine with me, I have been awful at note-taking so I am very sure I am missing information.
 
OOC: Here you go. I hope this is helpful. I kept it brief and to the point, so it can be a bit "sentence fragment" in style. In Contos's entry I have anything said by the voice that communicated with you via the metal as "Contos". This is to reflect your ambiguity about whether she is or not. I'll review over the next day or two and let you know if I've edited in more.

Koga - Administrator involved in aiding the trio in their investigation officially
Blix - Pathologist
Coombs - FTL project scientist
Fuchs - Runs weather research station out on Titan's plains. Only met by Finn
AI - Ran teleporting simulations for Contos at cult base. Only met by Lassiter
Luca - Jovian marine. Now contracting by Titan and subcontracted to Cooper, Finn and Lassiter

And the murder victims:
Contos - FTL project head
Renner - Jovian diplomat
Papadakis - Cult Leader

Historical:
Bulut - Cult founder

In essence a small, mining colony consisting mainly of one city built into a canyon next to a lake. Major industry is exporting metals from the lake bed. Two presidents: one from Scientific research and one from Mining. However rule is really by the council you met.

There is a nature reserve for native life. Which are simply microbes.

An earlier abandoned colony lies further South along the tunnels.

"Jupiter" is an alliance between the four major moons and a few space stations around the gas giant itself. Each controlled by a megacorp.
In short it is sort of a union of Zaibatsus. They have a very poor reputation with various rights and ethics groups for supposed genetic, viral and chemical research.

Saturn is really only Titan. Some other very minor outposts on the smaller moons. All are UN territories shared between the nations of the Earth. Titan itself is essentially independent in practice.

Bulk of the human population lives on Earth, the Moon and Mars.

Earth is full of nation states like today.

Mars is not terraformed and is a single nation independent of Earth. Life is indoors in sealed environments, though very spacious ones. It's main university is well regarded and is the alma matter of many in game. Home to some megacorps itself, but without the shady reputation.

There is currently a trade deal being finalised between Mars and Jupiter. In parallel Jupiter is arranging a similar deal with Titan.

Locals on Titan have been unhappy with the increasing influence Jupiter has on them

Founder was a Dincer Bulut from Earth. A mining vessel he was in crashed on the lake floor where he claimed contact with a divine or alien being. Again he claimed he experienced this as several months, but officially he was only down there for a few minutes.
Religion is Gnostic. This world is an illusion, cultic practices bring one closer to the truth etc.
The "Being" commanded that as much of Titan's lake bed rock be shipped to Earth as possible. The rock is potent in the "Truth"
They had a schism about opening the Visitation site to all cult members. Even involved politicians to force it being opened up. Koga was one who supported the site being open to all. Papadakis as leader opposed this.

Had a secret base down near the nature reserve that Contos ran. Complete with teleporter and AI quantum computer.
Had a member, Edwards, in the FTL project.
Brain washed some members at this base for attacking at least Finn, Cooper and Lassiter.
Crashed ship over the Visitation site was equipped with Jovian tech and a Jovian atmosphere marine.
Inner circle had been reduced to charred skeletons in the chamber beneath the ship's bridge.
Actual "Visitation Site" was an underground lake on which a strange being appeared.

Papadakis was born on Titan
Mining worker in youth
Worked with cult founder Bulut
Claims to have had a similar visit from a "being"
Became leader after Bulut died
Campaigned for preservation of visitation site which was threatened by mining operations
Publicly condemned splinter group in cult
Visited the FTL facility once to the fury of Coombs

Cause of death was suffocation
Soil found in throat.
Living worms in soil.
Soil was fresh from Earth.
There were no signs of him being held or restrained or any struggle
Evidence of his being somewhat "crushed" under a heavy weight before death
Had a statue of a Japanese Ta-no-kami agricultural god on his person

The cult member that attacked Cooper in the trio's hotel rooms claimed that it "didn't work out" for Papadakis trying to restrict access to the Visitation site.

Renner was from Callisto and was a trade ambassador for the Jovian government
His given reason for visiting Titan was for the trade negotiations.
Was a Jovian history buff
He had been looking into the cult specifically the location where the founder had his vision
Renner had cranial cyber implants capable of recording things
These are normally encrypted upon user death, but there is an expensive enough black market service in cracking them

His room was untidy but there was no sign of a struggle
He was cut in half at the torso and the head itself was cut from the torso.
Same instrument was used to separate the head from torso as to separate the torso from the lower body.
These were not the cause of death. Rather his heart was stopped by annihilating the biological pacemaker system precisely.
There were burns on his ceiling and floor
Drag marks on floor, as if from heavy machinery
Security footage was requested from Koga, but she has not yet sent it on

An officer called Marstrander was assigned to the case and visited the day after the murder, a week later and a month later before finally closing the site.

Contos is a native of Titan, but educated on Mars.
Was convinced teleportation could work
Joined the cult, but according to Coombs had no belief in the religion itself
Was working her way into the inner circle
Met with Papadakis once a week. Very interested in Bulut and his visits.
Seemed to also be trying to find the site of Bulut's "visions"
Eventually had access to cult base near the Nature reserve
Conducted teleportation experiments on unwilling subjects seeking to extend the gap between jumps.
Coombs mentioned she made leaps and bounds in improving the technology after joining the cult

Teleporter was discovered one morning having undergone an unschedule run. Analysis later confirmed that the pattern was Koga's. Something else was teleported with her. Organic around 6-7kg with traces of electronics.
Contos's prints were found on the glass inside
Also fractures on the inside of the teleportation sphere indicating something heavy being thrown into it
Guards saw nothing that night, CCTV has a gap and destination could not be traced
Enough data though to attempt reintegration.

"Contos" claims her body is intact, but she is not in the usual physical universe. Claims the diary has the details needed to reintegrate her. The Cult was used to get access to manpower and facilities. Doesn't know where Renner's head is.

Teleportation is generally considered impossible.
Theory first worked out on Mars
Project here mostly funded by Jupiter with some private individuals
Cult was involved in project via having a member (Edwards) in the lab and Contos working at their nature reserve base with a smaller teleporter. Jupiter had also loaned them heavy security tech.

Energy required varies little with the distance. However heavier objects take much more energy
Clear that the workings of the machine are unclear to the constructors themselves. There is an uncertain risk of a massive blast if an object fails to reintegrate correctly or if previously lost objects return

Koga has yet to get footage from CCTV at Renner's apartment.
Blix has yet to give a full list of her findings from the murder sites.
 
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I just want to give props for keeping this going since last august (holy shit time flies, I still feel like a newbie around here) and keeping it mind boggingly interesting!
 
With Edgewise gone for a while now, I'll call a close to this. But I have to say it was great to run and from almost the get go didn't go the way I expected :thumbsup:
So really interesting for me, as the NPCs really had to dynamically react to everything and I had to think things out carefully.

A really cool part was that one NPC was directly talked into something I didn't think would happen over the whole course of the game by a meticulous analysis of his motivations and statements.
 
What's the epilogue for it all? :grin: I had a lot of fun playing this, it was quite interesting and honestly I got lost at some points and had to read up on the intrigue to catch myself up.
 
What's the epilogue for it all? :grin: I had a lot of fun playing this, it was quite interesting and honestly I got lost at some points and had to read up on the intrigue to catch myself up.
Yeah I learned plenty about running a more complex investigation game. It's really easy to get lost during them, especially during a PbP where it's stretched out over time.
 
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