Beyond Jonesy: Cats In Mothership Scenarios

Wardens! Are xenomice troubling your PCs in Mothership RPG, is there a lack of sufficient cuteness, or do you need to add the horror of cat-allergies to your game? Fear not! In my continuing series of posts on niche topics in Mothership, which have included vents and vampires so far, I present a compendium of CATS. Also because I am a cat-crazy guy, with four moggies of my own that dominate my life when they can. A cat-cafe is not enough for my Mothership. And it’s nearly Halloween, a celebration of void-cats!

My sweet void, Paco.

Cats and sci-fi have a special history that, for Mothership, originate from the feline touchstone in the Alien films: the much-beloved Jonesy (or Jones, if you must...). #15 in best movie cats of all time? I’d rank him higher than Goose or Orion!

Should we blame Jonesy for letting Blake die in Alien? No! As if Jonesy could have done anything. He’s a friggin’ cat! Although we may blame the poor ginger kitty for luring Blake to his demise in the vents, Blake didn’t listen to always-right-Ripley so he deserved it.

Jonesy gets his respect.

But Jonesy is a badass. He survives two adventures along with Ripley until he gets brutally, dismissively edited out of Alien 3 – replaced by damned dogs! Yet the dogs lack novels told from their perspective, as per here and here. So there.

Admittedly, the abandoned dog-alien design here is hilarious. Just think what we could have had!

Jonesy is our ar-cat-type for pets in Mothership. But how so?

Our heroine and hero.

First, I give brief summaries of how cats have appeared in published Mothership scenarios. I only deal with named cats noted as NPCs or as otherwise at least slightly significant characters/features; not random encounters or side notes or NPC ‘equipment’. I certainly include cases of cats as monsters if they are domestic cat-like; not lions or such (of which I don’t see any, anyway). Second, I answer: how can those cat-cameos cause creative, cromulent cases for concatenating cats into our cat-paigns?

SPOILERS AHEAD!

“A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.” ― Hazel Nicholson, British globe-trotting author

1.   Immediately your mind should jump to the classic Mothership cat appearance: the rite-of-passage scenario The Horror on Ypsilon-14 – Prince the cat! He is ideally positioned to play the role of Jonesy, and importantly is able to see the invisible monster.

2.   In the big, monsterific alien planet hex-crawl Primeval – In one building there is an old orange tabby, Compton Pauncefoot.

3.   In the epic time-travel mindfuck, Time After Time – Brief note of Ananke the cat, “experimental encounter” and cat-bowl-user.

4.   Claws Out  –  The ship’s cat, Kat, is dear to the ship’s android Kara. The monster (a parasite) can shape-shift to look like Kat and implicate the innocent puss.

5.   The indispensable Hull Breach Volume 1 anthology has two notable cats: First, in WNDRLND, “The Cat” – An alien Cheshire-cat-like illusory thing that is a threat; it "fosters cataclysm". Our first cat-monster! Second, in Road Work  –  Schrödinger, the trucker and ship captain ‘Tex’’s Siamese cat companion.

6.   And Blanche Will Be Burning – The monster Zohar potentially (d5 table determination, which is fun) is Cat, infected by Xenospores. The way this weaves into the scenario is cool.

7.   The Dose Makes the Poison – Loads of cats, both almost-normal glowing Serum Kittens and Serum Cats, pregnant Ms. Jingles, and monstrous Blue Abomination. It’s basically a feline-horror module, with a darkly comedic angle, and cats spanning the function of “aww cute glowy-eyed kittens!” to  “aww sweet mama cat” to “holy shit, ruuuuuun!!!”.

8.   Out of Darkness – The ship’s genetically-uplifted cat Jinx, obviously intended as a Jonesy, to join the other archetypes in the module, and provide another NPC to talk to (via a teamster).

9.   Feast– Hidden synthetic cat Ginger – My players and their PCs love their new pet.

10.   Electric Razor- Razor The Cat – Another monster cat and the focus of the module, when it becomes host to an electric spider. It's a rather deadly foe and uses the hair-stands-on-end feature of cats as its electrical attack. That's cool!

11.    Visitations on the Vainglory – Bucky is the ship's cute, naughty cat, who uses a cat's trope of being able to appear seemingly out of nowhere to add tension to the Gothic plot. And, Jonesy-style, the monster mold's infection does not harm it.

Cats are not in Wages of Sin’s 100 bounties or its prison. They are too smart to get busted!

In summary, I’ve found five modules where cats are (possibly) the monsters; or at least mimic them; and seven in which they could be Jonesys; of these, The Dose Makes the Poison has both. I'm a bit surprised. Out of >500 modules, seemingly so few cats? There almost are more vampires!

I don't see a need to critique the modules in detail. The cats' roles are fairly cut and dry. While I love The Feast for its lean simplicity and meanness and cute cat, for best kitty-related horror value The Dose Makes the Poison is the clear winner; with the other cats-as-monsters modules And Blanche Will Be Burning, Electric Razor, WNDRLND, and Claws Out in ranked order below that -- but I like them all; it's a very close call. Prince in The Horror on Ypsilon-14 plays the best cat-NPC role because he is so useful in the plot.

What then is it about cats that we can use in our Mothership adventures as motifs that are catnip to our players? I'll try to avoid things that just make the cats play a stronger Jonesy role. That's just a cat. We need to cat-apult ourselves into sci-fi horror. The point here isn't necessarily to literally use cats in a Mothership game, but you could do worse! The main point is to aid storytelling (horror, in particular) using cat-ness. Cats are:

• Cherished companions: How can we go beyond Jonesy? Connections needed for friendship come from having a common ground. Go with more sentient cat-things! I've not seen a synth-cat used in detail. A cat that can talk, or at least interface with computers/androids/other tech to communicate, or speak to aliens, could be a great NPC. Or a traitorous one that ramps up the horror when the betrayal is revealed. Have a smart cat-thing be the "Burke" ar-cat-type from Aliens?
• Furry, snuggly: Part and parcel to the companion aspect. A monster that uses this furry, snuggly guise (or an illusion of it) to get closer and spring its trap is already there in Claws Out and Electric Razor. How can we nudge this theme toward different horror? It's cuddliness is death. Literally smothering fur, insatiable craving for proximity -- wants to share its love but the love is ruinous. Maybe it craves human warmth and drains it with their lives.
• Deadly predators: On smaller prey, and thus as enemies of “vermin” like rats and bats (anti-vampires?). They are small-scale versions of their felid relatives, such as lions and cats, and can evoke fearful thoughts of those threats. Such tropes are commonly used with cat-like monsters. So how can we do something different? We are the mice to monster-cats. Have titanic, or otherwise seemingly invulnerable and deadly, cat-things play with the crew as if they are toys. Not going for the killing blow. A relentless game of cat-and-mouse until the right moment comes to go for the throat. Terrifying potential. Use the slow, low-headed stalk of a cat as a dire threat.
• Sensitive whiskers, twitching tail: These feline traits say something about the sensory environment of the cat; what it's experiencing or is able to experience. The whiskers help it to feel its way around, in ways we can't easily empathize with. The tail manifests the mood: lashing for angry or playful/alert; erect or gently waving for pleased; low for frightened. I'm not sure of an ideal way to feature this in the horror of a monster or something, but at least it's a familiar trait that can be used, maybe to make a non-dangerous 'monster' more sympathetic, or add weirdness to a threatening monster. Give the hulking brute monster metres-long whiskers that it uses to feel its way through dark corridors; maybe it is blind. Have the monster happily swoosh its tail as it kills people.
• Independent; solitary: The NPC or monster just wants to be alone and this causes trouble. Simply that it is forced to kill/drive out everyone, which isn't so novel, or that it is indifferent. That's the seed of cosmic horror. Riff on the existentialism of cats. Its existence, and maybe the crew's too, is lonely, but it does not care. It watches, Jonesy-and-Blake style, as terror unfolds. It shrugs at the devastation. It eschews company; nonchalantly causing destruction like tearing open a bulkhead just to get rid of petty annoyances so it can go take a nap. Maybe that is the Banishment/Slumber of the monster: you need to help it to be alone. 
• Curious: "Curiosity killed the cat", yes. Curiosity is the oh-so-common cause of Transgression that kicks off the TOMBS cycle. The cat has gone too far; has sought that which is forbidden. It has opened the can of monster-tuna and horror has escaped, heralded by a stench. Have the equivalent of a ship's cat go poking around the map, maybe on a timer, releasing horrors or ratcheting up the horror's powers as it goes. Will PCs figure out it's the cause? Is it stoppable or is there more to the ship's cat than meets the eye?
• Mysterious; mystical; unlucky: Black cats and 'witchcraft' -- xenotechnology/esotericism. This is pervasive in fiction with cats and horror. It's easy to use this as a launchpad but harder to do something novel. Cats black as the void -- cats that open gates to the void, or wormholes? (I remember an article from The Onion about this, long ago...) Can the cat, like Prince in Ypsilon-14, sense the monster; or understand it, or mystically connect with it? Have the ship's/station's androids formed a Cult of the Cat and this has unleashed an unanticipated horror? Cats are ineffable. Lovecraft saw this well. “We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight.” ― H. P. Lovecraft, famed cat-lover author; most notably for weird fiction story (and useful Mothership inspiration), The Cats of Ulthar
• Having nine lives: lucky; clever; exist in multitudes or even a connection to the infinite. Suddenly appearing in unexpected places. Just when you think they're beaten, they return; or there just seem to be endless numbers of them; a para-dimensionality. Trouble with Tribbles but with cats and cat-wormholes, for a comedy module? Cats could have connections to timey-wimey-spacey things like the Cheshire Cat seemed to. As celestial psychopomps? They unlock a key to a puzzle that gives a route to Banishment of the horror. Or they open the gates to boundless horror and this must be undone.“One cat leads to another.” ― Ernest Hemingway, cat-crazed curmudgeon
• Stealthy; invisible; nocturnal: All aspects of cats that have given them an ill repute in folklore and culture; and are common in Mothership monsters, too. How can we do something creative with this? The 'cat' (whatever) is the opposite of those things? Noisy, in-your-face and diurnal? High-tech, possibly faulty synth-cat keeps people awake because it shines with the brightness of a sun and broadcasts awful voidpunk music?  Or it's an incredibly big monster that has the stealth of a cat and is hard to see and nocturnal... although this is well-trodden Ypsilon-14 ground; and ground of The Dunwich Horror. Maybe I'm surrendering with "go-fish" on this one.
• Agile: "Always land on their feet". Cats have an elegant design enabling great acro-catics. The monster has agility that defies Earthly bounds. It can dodge bullets, defy gravity, outmanouvre or outrun anything. Never falls despite the violent encounter with it happening in a treacherous, three-dimensionally complex setting that adds to the challenge for the crew. Except perhaps with a weakness. The first encounter with the monster reveals how skilled of a foe it is, revealing newfound horror. “The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” ― Leonardo da Vinci, important guy
• Proud; snarky; aloof: “See themselves as gods." Call of Cthulhu plays on this well with Bast the Cat God of Egypt. Maybe our Mothership monster has a big freakin' ego. It expects to be revered, and has a sharp tongue. It likes to talk crap. It knows the crew is no threat to it, so it lounges and taunts them. Plenty of modules have alien god-like beings, but this one expects offerings. Perhaps it is not the Big Bad but an obstacle that must be overcome to reach the real horror and stop it. Go find the xeno-artifact that the god-alien wants, bring it back to satisfy Xenocat God, and find out that it's just a trivial thing like a cat-treat, but at least the Omnipotent Alien will let you pass now that it has been placated.
• Pleasure-seeking; indulgent; lazy; hedonistic; playful: Cats are experts at leisure. A non-cat NPC could be catlike, maybe even a cat-sleeved one or with cat-cyberware and trying to become catlike. While things go to hell on the ship/station/etc., it provides source of stability and calm amidst the maelstrom. This could add pleasantry, humor, or give a false sense of security until the trap is sprung. Conversely, the monster might have traits that make it Weird. It loves substance X just like a cat loves fish/catnip. This could be a way to distract it, or a pivotal weakness, or a source of horror if substance X is warp cores or bullets or such.
• Cat piss and litterboxes: I've got four cats so I have enough of this horror in my life. But you may not.
• What else? 

They've Come to Drink Your Pseudomilk

Wardens! Not enough vampires in your Mothership game? Need more bloodsucking parasite monsters? Not enough Gothic in your Noir? Want more Dracula in your derelict?  Fear not! I've long thought about how vampires fit into Mothership -- spurred on by reading the fantastic Blindsight novel and founded on my love of horror media. Vampires are no strangers to science fiction, either.

So herein, first I'll review what's out there in third party-produced material. Only material that overtly involves humanoid vampires -- not any sort of haemophagic monsters like space-leeches, of which there are plenty. 

Second I'll consider the nature of vampires and how that fits Mothership and yet hasn't yet been capitalised upon in published work, from what I've seen. What makes a vampire Mothership-scary is that it is us, but against us; a species-traitor; and in some way superior to us. And in space, a big point is that vampires thrive in the dark, and space is dark as fuck. We might not forget that they are sexy, but we might not want that in our Mothership RPG. How can we use those and other vampiric themes?

Fun-sucking spoilers ahead!

I've not played any of these yet, but have read and now re-read them for this post.

First, there are rules to play straight-up space vampires, which can include Gothic supernatural vampires or just more alien ones, as a Mothership PC (or NPC/monster) class. Plenty of rules to bring them to (un)life in your game.

Rane in Blood-- An epic, atmospheric early Mothership module that has brutal space-pirates who feast on blood as cultists. They draw on "red gnostic gas"; sourced from a nebula; for powers. Wicked! So they are not classic Gothic vampires. PCs might get that wrong impression, which could be fun. It is a deadly module with (confessed early on in the text!) big potential for TPKs. I like the vibe a lot. It is nasty, action-packed sci-fi horror. A rare module example where a space-battle might happen. Against a vampire ship! And the art is vibrant with a glaring crimson style, excellent isometric maps and detail. Very cool. Interesting new vampire rules, too; including for PCs. I rank it as a close #2 out of the seven vampiric modules I have.

Rane in Blood page

The Vampire's Melody-- It's a sketch of a module featuring a classic Gothic vampire that lives close to a planetary settlement and lures residents to it. A mystery to solve. Beautiful graphic design. Some novel ideas like a bewitching vampire with a bone-and-sinew harp, aided by a lunar eclipse. But I think it leaves far too much for a Warden to flesh out and the framework given doesn't excite me to do that. It feels like a D&D module to me; more like Gothic (Ravenloft) fantasy than sci-fi. I'm not fond of literal Earthly rats and bats and such as dangerous monsters or just regular inhabitants of planets in Mothership and the same extends to draculas. Year of the Rat is more my vibe for rats as enemies, and even with that I alien-up the "rats" when running it. I like to keep my Mothership un-Earthly. Just my opinion. I rank this one as #5 out of 7.

Out of Darkness-- Literally Dracula is on your spaceship. Attended to by a film-maker named Ridley with a camera-bot, and potentially pitted against "Van Deisel", a blind killer with a bomb around his neck, Jinx the cat and other charming NPCs, and a GM'd werewolf. Crisp, clear graphic design. Very pleasant to behold, although a lot is white space. This could be a fun beer n' pretzels game. 1d100 list of coffee mugs is great. #7 out of 7.

Red Shift-- Again, Dracula on a spaceship (the Demetri, nudge nudge); with two other vampires: the Count's beloved Countess and their (rebellious) Renfield-like thrall. The PCs' ship docks and they get to explore as the mystery deepens. Although there is a timeline that presumes PCs will be happy being railroaded for hours of game-time, that is fixable with effort. The module's graphic design (e.g. an "exploded" map of the colony ship) is visually nice. Dracula is, as one would expect, a tremendously deadly foe (DR of 20). More rats and bats. Once more it's not my thing; transplanting the Gothic Dracula straight into Mothership doesn't give me the right horror vibes. But again that's just my opinion. #6 out of 7.

Breathe Easy-- Vampires are not a big part of this setting or plot. However, I hadn't noticed this on my first skim of the module yet here is an example where a vampire can be (virtually) found on Prospero's Dream space station! In a slickworld "Skull Tower" (very brief, linear scenario). #4 out of 7; maybe; am not sure as I'd want to beef up the detail in this for play; but the fun Breathe Easy module is about far more than this one vampire so it's not a fair comparison. 

The Cohort-- This module rocks. As usual, the creator Simon Taylor hits the ball out of the park with the art and graphic design and the coolness of the story. Elegant, dramatic "pulpy" text that sets up a unique adventure and gets the reader pumped up to play it. A Demeter-like derelict ship, described in rich detail, with a biomechanical vampiric "Flayed Prophet". The evocative art drives home the horror of these alien cybernetic vampires. They are not Gothic vampires. They are monstrous and could serve more as Cosmic Horror Vampires; or Body Horror in how they alter victims' bodies with "nanotechnological coloniser virus". There's a blood red nebula (with its own rules and encounters), "Remade" (virus-overwritten; not infected) thralls that "regurgitate a blood-rich nanite slurry into critical ship systems". Bloody hell that's rad. This one is a high priority for me to run with my campaign, and The Red Moon trifold that connects with it is also a banger. #1 out of 7; wins the Elder Vampire prize.

"Bla, I've come to inject nanoparticles into your blood"

***Late addition! I forgot The Cathedral of the Red Immortal! I own that one too, and am fond of it.  A beautiful trifold scenario that might be the most original of the 7 modules I have. There's heady sci-fi goodness such as a ship and "Cathedral" quantum-entangled in space and the vampiric Red Immortal who sleeps in it but can be awakened if PCs suffer decoherence, traumatically switching realities between Ship and Cathedral. For a trifold, it is utterly jam-packed with weird sci-fi horror nutrition, so much that it is hard for me to succinctly describe. Close to #2, a #3 on my list of 7.

Here are some thoughts on what hasn't been explored in Mothership scenarios that vampires could offer. I am not a module writer; I am just a blogger; and I am happy if anyone freely uses these ideas in any fashion

• Androids as terrifying... or sympathetic?-- vampires; or instead vampires that feed on the pseudomilk of androids? Shiver. That's scary. That's Mothership vibe right there. Has an AI gone mad and produced these horrors? Maybe Monarch from Gradient Descent? Or an android viral algorithm produced by a hacker who must be stopped?
• Cryopods are coffins. Run with that! Who's asleep in that ancient cryopod on that lost Jump-9 ship? Feels like it's been done enough, maybe, as a trope. But you could push the coffin idea further. The "monster" needs that cryopod and the PCs control it, or PCs want to prevent space-dracula from reaching the cryopod before a timer runs out (that sun goes nova, etc.).
• Or run with the notion of how vampires afflict the helpless -- the enthralled, the sleeping or... the cryosleeping! Android taking a slurp while you're cryoed in hyperspace? Or was it... (next)
• What if Hyperspace Raiders from Unconfirmed Contact Reports were vampires? Great idea. 
• What if your five hundred year-old vampire in Mothership was born in 2026? What is its perspective on our history? (ugh... now that's horror...)  It has seen so much. Dare you learn from it? Can it quote H.P. Lovecraft? Or Ayn Rand? Or Elon Musk? (maybe let's not go there)
• Vampires that suck radiation and mutate as they do. Keep them away from your warp cores and reactors!
• Taking a premise that vampires can survive in space, what if they haunt a powerless, zero-G, frigid derelict, waiting ages for prey, perhaps guided into shipping lanes as they hunt? This takes the classic Gothic vibe of a haunted house; no stranger to sci-fi.
• Vampires are about hunger; insatiable, even. What might they hunger for in Mothership that PCs would want to oppose? A twist that they are undead/mutant crew that feed not on blood but on... oxygen? Cryofluid? Electricity? Fuel? Radio signals? Something that PCs/humans attach great value to in space, and has some local concentration that is tempting sustenance for space-vampires, and scarce plus precious enough to create horror.
• Vampires as hunted or to-be-saved rather than hunters? They are victims. A corporation wants them for bioweapons development. A mad scientist has captured them for experiments on immortality. An easy story to create. So many Mothership modules fit this template. Just twist it in a way that amplifies the horror via the sad nature of vampires. (but they're also a-holes)
• Vampires as old stories that provoke an adventure. The PCs know the stories of Dracula and such, and this knowledge leads them to a slickworld where they must use that knowledge to defeat a digital vampire or undo its web of code? (or play a Castlevania MMORPG)

I never got to play it much, but I knew enough to enjoy the excellent Netflix anime series.

• Vampires and castles go together. What's a sci-fi incarnation of a castle? Loads. Not just big ships and stations and planetary bases but how about an icy asteroid travelling at vast speed, PCs must land on it and invade its secret ice-fortress, while vampire-things inside thaw (against a ticking clock)?
• That friggin' "voyage of the Demeter" (ship arriving to port empty of life; full of unlife and vermin) in Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the scariest bits (the recent movie attempt however, errrrrr...) and is the making of a great Mothership scenario, if not already done. Red Shift almost does that with the ship Ceres (get it?). To de-Dracula the Demeter space-freighter, make the vampire have a dehydrating essence that literally turns organic beings into dust, so the empty ship has piles of suspicious dust?

Great story, bro Bram.

• Detouring around sexy vampires to other core issues: vampires have tasted the forbidden fruit and revel in it. They are blasphemers. Rebels. Tempters. Great traits for Mothership. A ship's captain has some invaluable data but will you pay their baleful price for it in... buckets of blood?
• Vampire stories (very) often are about class warfare/social inequality. Hmm do we see that in Mothership? Hell yeah! Corporations. They suck the financial-blood of the masses. A C-level mastermind NPC who is secretly a cyber-ramped-up vamp intent on sucking the PCs into debt? Do they literally suck credits from accounts by hacking in a non-mundane way? Or a mechavampire Corpo Human Resources officer who fuels their cybernetics with human plasma?
• Vampires are about time. Time-travelling vampires? Timeless love? “Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds… true love?”― Bram Stoker, Dracula; and let's not forget "I've crossed oceans of time to find you." ― super sexy Dracula portrayed by Gary Oldman to Mina Murray Harker (Winona Ryder) in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Is a space-vampire using warp technology to try to bring his long-dead love back, even if it creates a black hole that kills everyone else?
• Space is about cosmic horror (vastness) and vampires touch that theme-- take it from Dracula himself: “I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul.”― Bram Stoker, Dracula
• Vampires are also about endlessness (of time). Like space. Roots in cosmic/existential horror. “Truly there is no such thing as finality.” ― from Dr. John Seward's diary in Bram Stoker, Dracula
• Vampires are about loneliness and the unknown. “I will not let you go into the unknown alone.”
  ― Bram Stoker
• Vampires are alien to us. Ramp that up with making them more alien. Do they feed on alien goo? Do they control swarms of alien vermin?

WHAT THE... WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST WATCH

• Dracula is a fine enough foe, but the Nosferatu (Graf Orlok) movie vampire is much more alien and scary. How can we use that as inspiration? Orlok has that terrifying inhuman appearance to draw on. Also the plague he brings -- nanoparticles? (I couldn't think of a less tropey idea) His infatuation with 'Ellen' is his undoing by her luring him to face the deadly dawn -- maintaining this solar tie-in could be clever, if maybe there is a solar flare, or magnetic pulse, or aurora borealis? A blessing by the Solarian Church of Prospero's Dream? 
• Or, inverting the darkness motif, what if the Star Vampire emitted light or another kind of energy? So bright that the crew are sent to snuff it out?
• Vampires are shapeshifters, like werewolves. Trust not whom you see; a monster may lurk within. Plenty of that already in Mothership, but we may be missing a trick.
• Continuing with Prospero's Dream, what if one of the above vampires haunted The Dream? So many tasty prey there, and tech. Does the vampire have hidden sleeve copies of itself? How does it relate to other factions, especially the Doptowners (always good victims on The Dream that need rescue) and Caliban's brood/ACMD? Could it be an oxygen-vampire? I love that idea so much I may need to use it. The Dream and its oxygen-scarcity foundation begs for some freaky gas-vampires.

[Aside: Oh. Wow. I've never seen the sci-fi horror film about space vampires, Daybreakers. Its plot is a cool idea for a Mothership module. Lifeforce is an obvious example, too. OK film. Not a bad idea that the coming of Halley's comet brings alien vampires and thence humanity's stories of vampires (latter link has plenty more ideas!).]

So I've sort of reversed my original views on vampires in Mothership from when I conceived this post. I didn't like the idea much. If you want vampires or werewolves, perhaps play one of those RPGs; set one in space or a space-themed amusement park or whatever. BUT if we do away with the Gothic Transylvanian transplant, there's plenty of tropes left to gnaw on and inspire a fun Mothership scenario and epic villain or such, and yet have it still be familiar enough that the thirst for dark tropes can be satiated. And thence comes my idea for a vampire-themed Mothership campaign. If only I had the time!

How else do you think vampires fit Mothership games? Or do they just suck?

Of Vents, Monsters, and Mothership

Wardens! Tired of the same old "they're coming out of the vents!" trope? Or cannot get enough of it? Fear not! Here is a far-from-comprehensive overview of Mothership modules that I've played (I do not have lifespan long enough to cover all >600? modules out there; and have not yet played many classics) in which monsters and vents are features that make for fun RPGing. I'll begin with modules that I see as the most popular, then move into the black sheep. Continuing on to how vents play roles in the TOMBS cycle. Then a finish with thoughts about novel(?) ways for a Warden to use vents.

Yeah, yeah, we know. And we still love it.

Players! Don't read this! From here onwards, it's pure SPOILERS!

And Wardens, feel free to skip to the bottom where I brainstorm ideas for vents.

Another Bug Hunt: OK, to get this done off the bat, I've only played the Greta Base (first) part and impressively, that does not involve vents that the monsters would use. Interesting, since Aliens is a major touchstone here and vents are such a mainstay of xenomorph horror. But the vents are a good alternate route for PCs to use; they "Jacquay up" the "dungeon". I see there are some vents in later parts of ABH but I've not played it with them.

The Horror on Ypsilon-14: This is an interesting one. The monster is invisible, so really it doesn't need the vents to move around unseen. But it uses the vents anyway and the PCs are both rewarded (finding clues) and punished (ambushed from above, etc.) by the vents. So whether PCs go for a harrowing crawl through the vents or not, they are a feature that impacts gameplay and are part of what makes the module great. But here the use of vents is pretty typical. No twists, IMO. The vents can flexibly play many TOMBS roles. Not just the big climactic steps. Finding clues, hearing creepy noises, seeing blood from victims -- or best yet, seeing an invisible thing that eats another person in front of them!

Decagone: Vents do feature here in two ways: First, the Ventablack robot dogs (or whatever the Warden changes them to) use the vents. Once near the start of the time loop, as an Omen (in TOMBS cycle) that leads to Ned's potential death as another step in TOMBS. And again at the climax in the research lab. Second, there is the vent that is one helpful route for PCs across a near-final end of the map; a vent as a puzzle solution. Nice. 

Year of the Rat: A perfect usage of vents. Sinister cat-sized-rats use the vents to add OMENS creepiness. And the Big Bad really needs the vents to avoid it just being cornered and blasted away. Have it drop down, grab a PC and leap back into the vent with the PC screaming as they are ripped apart. Classic moment and time for 1-2 Panic Checks.

The Screaming on the Alexis (Dead Planet): Vents are a moderate feature, with a classic utility in TOMBS for creepy sounds or glimpses, broken vents that give an "oh shit" clue, and a route for pretty much any of the cavalcade of monsters to use. Good enough.

Plant-Based Paranoia: The vents are a vital part of the adventure, ratcheting up the horror and paranoia as The Big Bad grabs PCs and "snatches" them in, then unleashes pod-people copies. Perfect vent usage. If PCs foolishly choose to go into vents, a Warden is excused if they "punish" those PCs brutally. You could call this a module where the vents are (part of) the monster.

Warped Beyond Recognition: The vents here are begging for Wardens to use them. Again here, The Big Bad (Miriam) scuttles in and out of them in a cat-and-mouse game, and the vents do their traditional role of ramping up the horror. Like Year of the Rat and so on.

Akigara: There are loads of vents here, and conveyor belts in vents, that PCs almost must use. They can be a shortcut around real dangers. This is not necessarily a monster-usage vent system; it's there for PCs to use or not. I like that. Some vents are hidden, too. The Warden needs to prep a bit so they understand the vents vs. conveyor belt system, though. Clever usage of vents. Breaks the tropes.

Brackish: I was a little surprised to realize that there are some vents here but they play a small role (some clues etc.) so that's why I didn't think of them at first. Maybe they could be used even more. Cramped vents and flooding sound terrifying!

Iron Coffin: Excellent vent potential here, for a Big Bad (or is it bad?) that enters into the ship's warren of vents and can wander throughout, wreaking havoc, across almost the entire map (just not the Cockpit or Engines). Classic.

The Dose Makes the Poison: This has a nice system of vents to move around mostly the perimeter of the facility, and is both good for PCs to move around and circumvent obstacles, and for monsters to confront them in or use them for ambushes and such. Lots of vents. Nice map. This module stands out as distinct vent-wise. We had a Fool class PC go into one and meet up with The Big Bad and scramble in terror back out, with a frag grenade lobbed in behind them. A cool moment.

Feast: I've professed my love for this module before elsewhere. It's delightfully simple and yet horrific. 9 main rooms, all connected by vents, each room has something usseful for PCs to do, a mystery quickly unfolds and then there is a brutal monster ("Space Wendigo" as one player rightly called it) that links perfectly to the mystery. Anyway (and I just played this, previously at a con but also just last night at my campaign table!) the vents almost inevitably get involved. I've had the monster first heard making noises in the vents, so the PCs know something is there and get scared. Then, my tradition has been to have it lurch out of the vent above a certain destroyed android in a corner, and claw/grab a PC there, next trying to drag them in to appease its hunger. But PCs can go in there too, and woe betide them if they do! Lean and mean scenario. 

I know there are some vents in Gradient Descent but have not played it yet. Give me time..

THE iconic vent moment!. 

That's 12 modules played and some variation in vent-craft. So, what have I learned from this about vents in Mothership modules?

--Up front: I am not a module writer; I am just a blogger; and I am happy if anyone freely uses these ideas in any fashion.

--TOMBS and vents (and Mothership's vibe) go hand-in hand and that's why vents are popular in Mothership modules.

--IMO, vents are over-used for monster features. I still love them, but may lean toward avoiding them in the future. A vent-usage that avoids the trope for monster ambushes would be great. A monster that distracts people with vents but then snags them from elsewhere? Vents that literally ARE the monster somehow? (cybernetic?)

--I also learned through my players recently! In playing Year Eleven, in which vents do not feature, at the finale with the Big Bad a player asked if there was a vent above the airlock in a maintenance tunnel. The map was, as usual, vague. I thought about it and yes, it made sense, and they should be rewarded for creativity! So vents can be improvised in ways that a Warden/module didn't anticipate!

--How have vents not been used? In modules I've played, but also to a degree out of the far too many that I own and have read... Some thoughts on clever uses of vents:

• Vents tend to have these features that Wardens can manipulate to "vent-up" their "dungeons": 
• Vents are for jump-scares!
• Easily overlooked (except for paranoid PCs/players) parts of "dungeon" geometry, ripe for monstery surprises.
•  An unknown network where entries and exits can be seen but not their routes (i.e., a puzzle).
• They hide stuff, and that's scary. Monsters first and foremost, but also clues, loot, and even PCs!
• Vents are a way for monsters to "teleport" around a map in classic slasher and other horror movie fashion. You don't have to track them on a map, calculating movement rates and 10'x10' squares crossed. They get from get to vent when it's realistic and appropriate.
• A relationship to the machinery of the locale. Too seldom integrated into gameplay. What do the vents DO that is interesting? i.e., why are they there in the game-world? Very often they are just passive spaces.
• A whole module of vents. PCs crawling single-file through a maze of them. Not for the claustrophobic. Crossroads to enable PCs switching positions, traps, dead-ends, collapsing regions of vents, maybe make it a 3D maze with ladders or lifts or whatnot. Clouds of steam obscuring view down the crawlspace. It writes itself! Indeed it did -- in movies (all of which are good and must-sees for inspiration): try Meandre and Cube. Also, The Descent uses tunnels as if they're vents. You could copy a design here and have a great module.
• Vents that have associated "environmental hazards" that raise the tension. Arching over dangers-- maybe the floor below the vent literally is lava? The metal shaft system gets dangerously electrified periodically and PCs must crawl through to get to the off switch before being electrocuted? 
• Or non-environmentally, monsters are visible below vents and PCs must traverse them or else? Maybe the monsters are attacking the vents trying to reach the yummy PCs inside? Reversing the role of vents for PCs vs. monsters! Or NPCs are shooting up at the vents and PCs can only temporarily benefit from cover but must get somewhere?
• Stuck between a vent and a hard place: Make a simple system of vents that has something crucial inside which PCs know they must reach. But monsters or other hazards make this a tough problem-solving or purely horrific experience. A race with a ticking clock? That could be spectacular. PCs know the vents will be flushed with toxic gas soon?
• Vent(s) for the grand finale. The PCs don't know exactly what's at the end, but they know they must go through a cramped vent to reach it. The tension will be taut. Escape, reward, or confronting the Big Bad, it could be great.
• An ever-changing system of vents. An industrial complex (or dynamic spaceship interior? A living AI god?) that keeps shuffling its configuration, for reasons. Maybe a randomizing structure for Wardens to use, in a depth-crawl/point-crawl/hex-crawl kind of thing. Good luck mapping. The vents might become a surprise horror, in that PCs did not expect a dynamic maze.

That's a good start. What else? I'd love to hear your thoughts on venting-up your Mothership game. How have vents been neglected? What other modules use vents well and how so? I'd love to see a trifold-jam with vents as a theme.

Thank you for letting me hyperventilate.

REAPER REPO (module)

 

Adapted directly from CY BORG's free scenario: Adventure by Christian Sahlén; Art and graphic design by Johan Nohr; Editing by Walton Wood.

For Motbership lE.

Here, roughly integrated into Prospero's Dream space station from Tuesday Knight Games' A Pound of Flesh. It would be easy to adapt this for many Dream areas or totally different settlements.

 

Wardens! Not enough cyberpunk in your Mothership? Fear not! Here's a very cyberpunk module. Thanks to CY_BORG creators.

The Job

The Babushka (from the Chop Shop) hires the PCs to steal back a deathmatch VIP’s new plasteel legs. The design was stolen from The Babushka in a break-in 2 weeks back. The offer is 50kcr and 1 cybermod up to 50k value. The legs have to be delivered within 24h. Any damages will result in a pay deduction.

 

The Target

Veteran deathmatch fighter “Steel Jackhammer” recently made the prime-time feeds after his legs were ripped off fighting a horrific thing that emerged from The Veins. He’s now supposed to be resting in his Uptown penthouse after getting state-of-the-art replacements from his The Seraphim Institute sponsor. Find it, find him and the legs, and bring the legs back.

Figuring out this and where he lives is just a Net search away, and a deeper dive (Rimwise, Computers/Hacking, etc.) comes up with an uncut video where a reporter is shown around the flat, giving away its basic layout. Instead of resting, he’s two days deep into a party, during which he slowly moves between (D5): 1: the Master bedroom; 2: the Balcony; 3: the Dining room; 4: the Holo space; 5: the Spa; unless some event or happening calls his attention elsewhere.

 

Steel Jackhammer

C60 I35 Jackhammer Punch 2D10+2 Blunt; on 20+ DMG can attack again vs. any Adjacent target. AP 6 (cyberskin including legs) W3 H20. Typical big dumb, rude bully.

Cyberware: Cyberlegs (leap 30m; Kick 6 DMG Blunt); Spinal rig; Jackhammer Fist; Cyberskin; Scapegoat System (For every 10 DMG user takes, Scapegoat System gains 1 Charge. Charges can be released via touch for 2d10 DMG. Holds 3 charges.).

Carries keys (see below) and 1 Stimpak.

To steal his legs he has to be incapacitated somehow and Intellect:Cybernetics check is required for removing them without causing him 1 Wound (Gore/Explosive). The actions of anyone who notices this is entirely up to how the PCs have acted towards those people during the party, or randomly decided.

D10 VIPs

1. Zenith Poe: C30 I45 Silenced Heavy Pistol (handcannon) 1d10+3 Gunshot; W3 H12 Android (they/them) writer for KILL!KILL!KILL!, a popular deathmatch fan vid-feed. Publishes short, intimate interviews with athletes, often the results of manipulation and guile. Also an amateur horror write, fan of Edgar Alan Poe.

Cyberware: Handcannon; Loudmouth; OGRE; Tattletale; Terminal Jack

Mutation: left arm with handcannon consumed by mod. Misshapen metal mass.

 

2. Ikhon: C50 I55 Stun Baton 1d5+Body save vs. 1 round stun; OR Nano-Death grip: A large black hand of a nanite-cloud emitted from a vent in her chest grabs at the target. Test Speed or be crushed for d5 DMG per round no armour (Blunt); Heavy robes AP2; W2 H14. A Nano-using athlete performing with a mysterious and gloomy warlock persona, but she is mostly a cheerful and friendly character, at least as long as there are drugs available. Keeps 2 Stimpaks handy. 50% chance she is stoned out of her mind on the latest drugs and at [-].

Cyberware: Nanite-vent; Twitch Booster (When activated, the user gains [+] on Speed Checks for 3 rounds and takes 1 DMG as their nerve endings burn.).

 

3. Thugger Minos: C40 I45 Boarding Axe 2d10 Gore/Massive[+] OR Electro-taurs: If given space, Thugger Minos can charge at an opponent—electrified horns first—dealing 3D10 DMG (Blunt) and throwing the victim to the ground if they fail a Body save. Hardened skin AP 3; W3 H17 Cyberspine: Incredibly fast, attacks twice each round. Thugger Minos is a cocky asshole, never missing a chance to mention that few athletes can match a 11-month-long win streak. Day job as a Teamsters Union dockworker doing heavy labour.

Cyberware: Cyberspine; Electro-taurs; Hardened skin.

 

4. Raze: C30 I45 Pulse rifle 3D10 (Gunshot); Filament knife-injector 1D5+1 AA (Bleeding): Auto-injects a dose of nano-chems that (Body save to avoid) floods victim’s vision with advertisements; makes most actions at [-]; W3 H15 Greedy hacker (freelancer) with a deathmatch gambling problem, mainly here to gather gossip that can be used as input into her result-prediction model.

Cyberware: Holoprojector; OGRE; God Mode; Vox Box (mimic voices).

Mutation: Fingers lengthen. Fingernails turn into circuit boards.

 

5. Ric Exxo: C50 I50 Exoloader bash 1 Wound (Blunt); AP 7 Standard Battle Dress; W3 H12 They pilot an exoloader when fighting, and without it, is hardly recognized. This perfectly suits their plan to poison Thugger Minos (because of mixed jealousy and disdain) before their upcoming fight, using a nasty xeno-poison (Body save [-] in 1d5 rounds or 4D10 DMG).

Cyberware: none (disgusted by it)

 

6. Master Crimson: C30 I45 Nanoblade 2D10 (Bleeding) OR Finger-Injectors D10+1 (Bleeding) + Agonising venom (1 round: Body Save or 2D10 DMG); W2 H17 He is a member of Arvtagarna, a small breakout group from the Chop Shop that seeks domination of the Dream’s cyberware industry. A C-list veteran, bored of the entire circus.

Cyberware: Right forearm Nanoblade; Finger-Injectors (left hand’s fingernails); Espernetic Feedback Loop: Psionic attack that overloads targeted electronics (including androids, cybernetics, etc.). Make a Sanity Save [+]. If successful deal DMG equal to the amount rolled. On failure take 1 DMG and gain 1 Stress as per usual; Panic Button (When triggered (on purpose or upon death) violently detonates hidden explosives. Everyone within Close Range must make a Body Save or take 3d10 DMG. If knocked unconscious there is a 5% chance this will trigger automatically.).

 

7. Goliathess: C50 I30 Stonefists 2D10 (Blunt) -- can be fired at a Close target up to 10m away and they are instantly pulled back in again unless they make a Speed check. Berserker circuit: Goes berserk at 1 Wound, attacking twice each round; W2 H20. Up-and-coming athlete; hot-headed (literally!). She is in it for the drama and storylines surrounding the matches rather than the fights, and doesn’t mind engineering some drama just for the views.

Cyberware: Stonefists; Berserker circuit; Spinal Rig; Revenant Protocol (If triggered within 2 rounds of death, allows the user to continue fighting for 2d10 rounds after death. If there are no remaining enemies, user must roll randomly for targets.).

 

8. Jade Boomslang: C30 I45 Cyberfangs 2D10 (Bleeding) +venom (Body save in 2 rounds or fall asleep); AP5 cyberscales; W3 H18 New android talent sponsored by the Vivid Vipers street gang, trying to make a name for himself and not give away that the tattooed reptile scales covering his body are actually a Nanite infestation. Desperately wants to make friends with anyone, really. but their frightening appearance makes that difficult.

Cyberware: Cloakskin [-]; Cyberfangs; Cyberscales; Detoxifiers (Microfibers in fangs give [+] on save to resist poison; 5% chance/use of breakdown).

 

[needs pic]

9. Nikita Alexeyevich Grigorov: C50 I50 Handcannon (Combat Shotgun 4D10 (Gunshot)); AP 7 standard battle dress; W3 H16 Novo-sponsored fighter (gender-fluid), well-backed and crowd favourite because they’re deadly and love to showboat for entertainment, but sometimes are overconfident.

Cyberware: Handcannon; Huntershot (Holds 1 dart which can be fired on command, upon death or unconsciousness. 2d10 DMG); Spider optics (360 deg. view; [+] on checks to spot threats).

Mutation: Mouth splits into impossibly wide smile. Metal throat.

 

[needs pic]

10. Tera Quulan: C50 I50 Vibechete 3D10 AA (Gore/Massive + Bleeding; AP 5 bulletproof vest; W3 H12 Creepy newcomer who is struggling with getting any fame because they are so strange and socially awkward. Secret Hunglung informer. Also works as hired killer, with some business from Solarians that need dirty work done.

            Cyberware: Medusa hair (prehensile cranial tentacles that can extend up to 3m with agility of a hand); OGRE with integrated night vision.

Mutation: Neck vents grow and emit periodic exhaust fumes.

 

Option: Place an important NPC from APoF, or another module, or your campaign, or a new one of note. They may be here to party, or have a secondary motive.

Random Events

Roll every hour in game or IRL, whichever comes first. Each event will only happen once; pick an available event if you roll the same number twice.

1: D5+1 rival dealers storm in, a violent fight ensues. Unless someone interferes, the fight is soon over, the bodies dragged out and the winner happily sets up shop in the hallway. (use droog stats below but no armour)

2: The cats break loose. They attack anyone who panics. Someone will.

3: One of the VIPs invites their fans. Hundreds of holoprojected heads screaming with excitement until someone manages to mute them. They follow anyone famous- looking around, silently watching.

4: A fight breaks out between two VIPs. If no one else interferes, Steel Jackhammer does, taking the side of a non-athlete first, the weaker fighter second.

5: Someone is locked inside the sensory deprivation chamber. This can go unnoticed for hours.

6: Four Novo punks with flying drone suits land on the Balcony, here to kidnap Master Crimson, but aren’t paid well enough to risk death.

Drone-suit Novo droogs: C35 I30 SMG 2D10 (Gunshot) OR Spiked truncheon 1D10+1 (Blunt [+] or Bleeding [+])); AP 3 drone-suit; W2 H15

Full Throttle Nightmare (module)

 

Full Throttle Nightmare

Wardens! Are your Prospero's Dream train journeys too boring? Fear not! Inject this mini-module!

Adapted from “A_BEAUTIFUL_DAY_FOR_A_METRO_HEIST” by JKW for CY_BORG--https://www.patreon.com/JKWRPG/posts/beautiful-day-cy-78951049 

Brief scenario for Mothership 1E; on Prospero’s Dream station

Edited to add more Prospero’s Dream linkage, and strengthen humorous similarity to a certain 1980s action film (and sequel) about a velocitous vehicle.

I made this more about Caliban, introducing my campaign to his influences more. But anyone could remove that and make it about Hunglungs or renegade teamsters or mad Novos or whatever!

 

Caliban openly exerts its influence on The Dream at an inconvenient time, ideally when PCs are blissfully travelling across the Dream for a mundane reason. It’s only fair though if they are armed, as this is a dangerous event.

 

For players:

The Dreamscape Metro blows past your stop. There is an unpleasant alarm buzz, and then loud clicks as the door locks engage. And next, the train starts accelerating. A radio message is broadcast, all-channels locally and accessible on the tram (not the train intercoms, which are blocked out; but audible to PCs with comms or else heard through a passenger’s radio):

“To residents of The Dream and all aboard, a Dreamscape Metro train has been hijacked and its network connections fried so it is out of control. Stop the train safely, save its passengers, capture or kill the hijackers, and get the reward of a 200kcr bounty. The Dream is on your side. You have about 20 minutes before that train is going so fast it derails.” (Fear save or +1 Stress)

 

Every car a kingdom:

PCs are 6 cars away from the control car. No one knows what’s happening.

The PCs enter each car on the bottom right (see MAP Handout) and leave to the next car at the upper left. When they enter a new car including where they begin, roll 1d6 (sorry, not 1d5 or 1d10) twice for what’s happening. The sixth car is the control car.

 

Inside the car: 1d6

1: A rave in full swing. A mutant Sycorax drug mixture is in the air; 60ish people are hallucinating an unholy and maddening vision of two-headed demons [for humour, I'm showing pics of Demogorgon from D&D]. Body Save or join in, and Sanity Save or +1 Stress from visions; failures continue to reroll both Saves when entering each car (succeed = visions fade).

2: A corporate office party! 40ish people are celebrating Cheryl's special day with cake and ice cream and cake and ice cream schnapps. They insist the PCs sign Cheryl's card to fulfill Superlative Universal Networks corporate camaraderie metrics. Cheryl is wasted. They’re all oblivious to the threat.

3: An anarchist's art gallery. 40ish people are frantically trying to sell their work before the train derails and they're condemned to obscurity forever (because they'll be dead). 1d100x10 credits to easily cross the car.

4: A (nameless) cyberprophet of Caliban (C55 I70 Myriad mechatentacles x1d5 (Blunt) W3 H20) proselytizing to 40ish people. He is offering to upload everyone's consciousness into his personal dataslab, as only Caliban can save them now. Some have already agreed; they're dead on the floor, eyes white and empty. He knows that the train has been hijacked by mad Caliban cultists but his mind is focused on what’s happening in this car. Volunteering to him means death (but mental projection to Caliban); he may be ignored or challenged.

5: A shipment of 80ish sentient animatronic toys have been set free in the train’s cargo car by their weeping, incoherent handler Alex Henson (they/them; Union teamster); it is their first taste of life. They cling and claw to the PCs, begging for help. Sanity save or +1 Stress, keep rolling until succeed and then can make it through the car.

6: A prominent political and corporate figure, Mr. Samuel Rodrigueson from Nakatomi Solutions Inc., with their entourage of 1d5+1 Novo thugs (C30 I25 Unarmed 2 DMG or Combat knife 1d5+1 (Blunt) W2) who have had enough of his shit. The entourage is beating their boss up, but their heart isn’t in it and they could be talked down. The 3d10 other passengers are staying clear. The thugs ignore anyone else unless interrupted; soon is beaten unconscious and the droogs have a good laugh.

 

Random events: 1d6

1: The surfaces of the car sprout many semi-organic tendrils that ineffectually grope at occupants—Sanity save or +1 Stress from the sight, and Body Save or +1 Stress from being groped.

2: Something malfunctions horribly, blowing a hole in the car compartment. Occupants test Body Save or get sucked toward the hole out of the train car. They have 1 round to be saved before they are flung out to their demise. Someone else could roll a Strength or Speed [-] check to save them, and/or they could roll at normal chance.

3: Sparks fly as the lights go out on the entire train (continues into control car). Immediately, 1-in-5 chance a PC is shocked for 2d10 damage (ignoring metal armour); only once.

4: 1d5+1 Street punks (C25 I20 Unarmed 2 DMG or Improvised Club 1d5+1 (Blunt) W2) are currently ripping and robbing everybody in the train car (or fighting the cultists, if present), but resistance will cow them.

5: A swarm of 1d5+2 Oracle news drones enters the car and starts broadcasting the chaos on the news.

6: The train's speed causes its magnetic field to expand, creating an anti-gravity field; everything in this car floats in Zero-G [-].

 

Ajax and 1d5 cultists are in the control car, having killed the teamster driver. If challenged, Ajax tries to break the speed panel entirely. At first it is just stuck on accelerate.

Once it's fixed (Mechanical Repair; Jury-rigging; etc.), the train can be stopped.

Stopping the train: heroes of the day! Personally presented reward by Brunhildh. Get bounty and lifetime Dreamscape Metro card with unlimited rides (limit of 10 per day). (Possible additional rewards/penalties; or enmity; from train occupants)

 

Otherwise, the train CRASHES!

Derailing: Body Save: 1d5 Wounds on fail (5 Wounds on Critical Fail); 3d10 DMG on success (no armour); 1d10 DMG (no armour) if Critical Success.

 

Ajax, Preacher of Caliban’s Nightmare 

Ex-stockbroker. Current Caliban cult leader.

C 65 I 45

2x Flailing cybernetic appendages (Blunt) 3d10 or

all Adjacent: Caustic cyberfluid vomit (Fire/Explosives/chemical) AA 2d10

AP 4 W4 H 20

Mutated cyberware: all 5 from below!

 

Caliban cultist

C 35 I 25 Swords (Bleed) 2d10 W2 H 20

Mutated cyberware (1d5):

1. Flowing flesh, regenerates 1d5 Health/round

2. Its attacks sing eerie static; Sanity save or +1 Stress/round

3. Can marshal energy from surrounding machines and direct it (through weaponry) as electrical burst 2d10 DMG once/minute; in addition to other attack(s)

4. Constantly emits energy field that harmlessly absorbs threats from lasers, electricity and fire

5. Can activate and control obvious cyberware within sight for 1 round every minute