Mothership - Gradient Descent [v1.1].pdf

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HOW TO USE THIS MODULE

abandoned android factory formerly known

as the

CLOUDBANK Synthetics Production

Facility.

Now called

THE DEEP,

it has been

taken over by its industrial AI,

Monarch,

and

is cordoned off by a ruthless blockade of

corporate-backed

"Troubleshooters."

It can

easily be a deadly module, but also contains

tons of roleplaying opportunities depending on

what your group is into.

If running an ongoing campaign:

place

THE DEEP

somewhere in Rimspace

and drip-feed rumors of the

Artifacts (pg. 62)

buried within, or reveal that a powerful person

is secretly an

Infiltrator Android (pg. 10)

with

ties to CLOUDBANK.

If starting a new campaign:

place the players just outside the blockade

as desperate

Artifact (pg. 62)

hunters, or

wake them up in [33C]

THE FREEZER

with no

memory of their previous lives or arrival.

If running a one shot:

roll a

random Artifact (pg. 62)

and

location

(pg. 21),

and send a

Troubleshooter (pg. 14)

team after 30-45 minutes of real time.

If you just want content to steal:

each

Artifact (pg. 62)

can easily be found

on a derelict ship, or in the clutches of an

insidious corporate oligarch, making for a

good 2-3 session adventure.

GRADIENT DESCENT

details the massive,

GRADIENT DESCENT

deals heavily with the theme

of "what does it mean to be human?" It plays

with this by specifically making the players

doubt whether their characters are or were

ever human through the use of a mechanic

called

The Bends (pg. 9).

The Bends operates

a lot like

Stress,

but is instead a measure of

how certain a character is that they are who

they think they are, rather than a

brainscanned

(pg. 5)

Infiltrator Android (pg. 10)

with fake

implanted memories. This can culminate in

players losing control of their characters as

they come to terms with their "real" identities

as pawns of Monarch, and then ultimately

refusing to leave

THE DEEP

under any

circumstances.

During testing this proved incredibly fun,

but for a lot of players, messing with their

characters' identity and agency can ruin the

game. Talk to your players about whether this is

something they're interested in exploring, and if

they aren't, remove

The Bends

altogether.

As a final warning, there are

android

children

in this module who are, in essence,

being tortured by

Monarch.

If this makes

anyone at your table uncomfortable, we highly

recommend swapping them out for adult

androids. This will in no way hurt the "story" of

the module. Remember: the safety of everyone

at the table is your primary concern.

Content & Player Agency

[4] Content Warning // Contains: scenes of graphic violence, body horror, emotional trauma,

psychological distress, obscene language, and harm to android children.

BASIC PROCEDURES

The trick to running

THE DEEP

is to surprise yourself. Use

Random Encounters

to provide context to

the space, and

Reaction Rolls

to give meaning to the interactions. These tiny procedures combined

can help you and your players spark life in this dark, abandoned place.

Random Encounters

Roll 1d100 every 10 minutes

(or once per

Human Scale

room / three times per



room)

as well as after loud noise (like, say, gunfire).

A result of doubles means an encounter.

Roll 1d10 on the Encounter Table near the

mini map of each page or spread.

If your group likes a lot of encounters,

roll for encounters in every room, or assume

every room has an encounter

unless you roll

doubles.

This works particularly well if you

don't assume encounters must be violent.

Reaction Rolls

Roll 1d100 to determine the encounter's first

impression

of the crew.

Rolling evens

means a positive reaction,

odds means a negative reaction.

Rolling doubles

increases the strength of

the reaction (a good impression becomes

friendly or a negative one becomes hostile).

High rolls

indicate the encountered group is

in a

strong position

(well stocked, uninjured,

confident, etc.).

Low rolls

indicate the

encountered group is

weak

(injured, low on

supplies, in need of aid, frightened, etc.).

Resist the temptation

to automatically

turn encounters into combat. Everything in

THE DEEP

wants to talk to someone. You can

run this entire module without killing or fighting

anything (please tell us if you do).

Backtracking

When travelling long distances through areas

the crew has already explored, there are a few

different ways to handle Random Encounters:

Fast Travel:

Make one roll (or automatically

assign one encounter) to a random location

along the crew's path.

Deep Crawl:

Make one roll for every room like

normal. This works best for groups who like a

slower, more meticulous pace of exploration.

ZERO-G

BRAINSCANS

Monarch (pg. 8)

hoards comprehensive

backups of human brains, called

brainscans,

which it then uses to create

human-seeming

Infiltrator Androids

(pg. 10).

There are many places within

THE

DEEP

where the crew might get

brainscanned. A few notes:

Brainscans are stored at the

[47H]

BRAINSCAN DATABANK.

Monarch, if it feels it is necessary,

will create Infiltrator Androids of

brainscanned crewmembers.

Monarch

knows all the most

intimate memories of brainscan

victims, and uses this relentlessly.

Getting brainscanned increases the

Bends (pg. 9)

by 1d10.

Much of the facility lacks artificial gravity,

which can be daunting for many Wardens

to run. However, if you just keep the

following in mind, you'll be fine:

Don't sweat it unless the stakes are

high or it's interesting to your players.

Anyone with

Zero-G

gets a pass.

Anyone without

Zero-G

has [-].

Momentum doesn’t go anywhere, it

has to be cancelled. Describe this.

Replace

"WALKING/RUNNING"

vocabulary with

"FLOATING/PUSHING

OFF/LANDING."

UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT

is too relative.

Use terms like

‘TOWARDS THE FLOOR/

CEILING’

instead.

Due to the darkness and size of

THE DEEP,

it is likely the crew lose

any points of reference, as well

as handholds to haul themselves

forward. This should cause

Stress

and be horrible.

In a pinch, pressurized gas can be

used to increase/decrease Speed.

Basic Procedures

Random Encounters are all about sparking life. Ignore them if they're boring. [5]

Mothership - Gradient Descent [v1.1].pdf

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