How to Get Started with the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG
Plus: ⚰️ The Iron Coffin is in its last 48 hours on Kickstarter!
I’m busy, just give me the facts! (TL;DR)
Download three things:
The free rules PDF
A one-page “pamphlet” adventure (like The Iron Coffin)
Listen to an Actual Play to hear the game in action. Then, go play.
What is Mothership?
Mothership is a sci-fi horror roleplaying game (RPG) published by Tuesday Knight Games. The box set was released in 2024 after a record-breaking $1.4m Kickstarter.
The vibe is equal parts Alien and Cowboy Bebop. There are chest-bursting aliens, all-power mega-corporations, and hardscrabble space truckers. The space suits are bulky. The computer screens flicker. Your ship’s “check engine” light is always on.
That thematic range is a big part of the appeal. One week, you can delve into an abandoned android factory and ask “What does it mean to be human?”. The next week, you can visit Jurassic Park.
Do I need to learn a lot of rules?
No. Mothership strikes a balance between “rules heavy” RPGs like D&D 5e and “rules light”, everything-is-left-to-the-Game-Master-to-figure-out RPGs.
On one hand, most of Mothership’s rules fit on half a sheet of paper.
On the other hand, the official Warden’s Operations Manual condenses years of Game Master experience into 60 carefully designed pages that guide you— step-by-step— through preparing and running your first session of Mothership. This will sound hyperbolic, but it’s one of the most useful RPG books ever published.
What do I need to play?
While there is a beautiful boxset and the aforementioned Warden’s Operations Manual, the only things you actually need to play Mothership are:
The free rules PDF
The Mothership Companion app (where you can create Characters and roll dice)
A one-page “pamphlet” adventure (like The Iron Coffin, which is currently in its last 48 hours on Kickstarter!)
OK, but how do I actually learn how to play?
To learn how to play, do the following:
Watch the Basic Training Course (a few videos that teach you the Core Rules)
Join the official Discord (a chat room and community hub)
Watch an Actual Play (a video of real people playing Mothership)
Finally, schedule a game with a few of your friends (or folks online) and just dive-in.
You’ll forget some rules. Someone will get massacred by an alien. Your friends will ask to play again next week.
It’s that kind of game. 👽