Character Questions for Mothership

Wrote up some lists of starter questions based on some discussion on the MoSh discord. Includes some general-use stuff at the top, and then questions, backgrounds, and looks broken up by class.

(Annotated with some non-essential notes on design intent and analysis. In a hurry? Skip it!)

Based loosely on Powered by the Apocalypse (pbta), Forged in the Dark (fitd), and/or "storygame" character creation stuff. Not my usual preference, to be honest, and I don't know if this is something I'd actually bring to the table, but it's an interesting design exercise! And might be helpful for players who want a little more structure or guidance.

I think you can also get a lot out of asking about each character's trinket, patch, loadout, and skills. The skill tree particularly holds a lot of interesting clues, and comparing what I have here to a closer read of the Player's Survival Guide (Tuesday Knight Games, McCoy et al, 2023) shows that each class is more expansive than their elevator pitch might suggest.

 

What's missing from this post? Campaign-frame-based questions and relationship-focused questions. I feel like the "looks" are a little lacking, either in number or clarity, and are probably more useful as inspiration than as direct results. Might circle back to expand things, especially if I get a chance to table-test.

Pick or roll! Use as-is or as a starting point for your own stuff!

General Questions [1d10]

1. What do you do to unwind?
2. How have you changed your body to adapt to life in space or express yourself?
3. How did you get your trinket and what does it mean to you?
4. Who on the crew would you trust with your life. Why?
5. When was the last time you felt safe with another person?
6. Where did you come from, and how did it make you different?
7. Who are you doing all this for?
8. What are you working towards?
9. Who on the crew don’t you trust?
10. What do you fucking hate about space?

 

MARINE.

Marines are defined by their capability for violence and survival. Extra wound, combat boost, etc. So what's the character's relationship to their line of work? What lies at the bleeding edges of their experience? 

Throwing together a wide variety of backgrounds was surprisingly easy. The core of the class is pretty tight. You fight for a living. Maybe you even survive.

Simple. Compelling. Likely to get themselves killed.

Marine Questions [1d10]

1. What do you do when you get angry?
2. How long do you plan to be in this line of work?
3. How do you feel about killing?
4. Who do you count on when things go wrong?
5. What haunts you?
6. What’s the scariest situation you’ve been in?
7. What weird habits or superstitions have you picked up?
8. How do you want to die?
9. What’s your favorite piece of gear?
10. Who on the crew would you protect, no matter what?

Marine Backgrounds [1d10]

1. Criminal enforcer. Got old contacts and old enemies.
2. Deserter. On the run.
3. Washed out of commando training. Attitude problems.
4. Prison conscript. Taking a shot at sentence commutation.
5. Career military. In this for the long haul and retirement benefits.
6. Private security contractor. Waiting for some real action.
7. Raised in extremist militia. Got out, but some things stuck.
8. Combat veteran. Carry the scars of a previous campaign.
9. Gun-for-Hire. Long history of underpaid violence behind you.
10. New-school mercenary. Aim to be a slick and stylish killer.

Marine Looks [1d10]

1. Shaved head
2. Numerical tattoo
3. Memorial bracelet
4. Unit insignia tattoo
5. Lip rings
6. Stained tank top
7. Floppy hat
8. Fish tattoo sleeve
9. Massive burn scars
10. Shark teeth balaclava
    

 

SCIENTIST.

Thursday Garreau's excellent "Specialist not Scientist," post on Injector Seat provided a helpful framework here. (I'm tempted to adopt "specialist" as a class name personally; scientist remains here for clarity.) She points out some unexpected variety to the potential range of scientists in the skill tree, from esoteric xeno-researcher to surgeon to military officer, the class is defined by their high-level of specialized training, rather than a particular function on a crew (e.g. marines and violence). 

I don't know that I got to an appropriate level of variety here, but that was the intent. The questions revolve around what role that training plays in the scientist's life or what drives them to be that character in horror fiction that wants to dig deeper, touch the alien eggs, find answers. 

Their looks trend more stylish. They've got cash and culture to throw around, after all.

Scientist Questions [1d10]

1. What’s the worst thing you’ve done for The Company?
2. How far would you go to get your research funded?
3. What have you seen that you wish you could forget?
4. What scares you more than anything else?
5. What brought you to your field of study?
6. How did you pay for your training?
7. What drives you to learn?
8. Who on the crew fascinates you?
9. What sparked your dark obsession?
10. What do you hope to discover?

Scientist Backgrounds [1d10]

1. Fresh out of the academy. Eager to get you hands dirty.
2. Longtime corporate asset. Follow orders to a fault.
3. Fringe researcher. Trying to find evidence for your theories.
4. Disgraced. Need a breakthrough to prove yourself again.
5. Self-taught on the rim. Idiosyncratic approach.
6. Obsessive net-dweller. Known on deep, obscure back-channels.
7. Many years of field work. Ran out of funding.
8. Last-minute dropout. Bailed to get some real-world experience.
9. Pop-science mouthpiece. You know your stuff but that doesn’t sell.
10. Dedicated student. Too straight-laced for your own good.

Scientist Looks [1d10]

1. Knock-off high-fashion coat
2. Heavy eyeliner
3. Blackout tattoos
4. Embroidered flowers
5. Glow implants
6. Galaxy tattoos
7. Corpo-minimalist casual wear
8. Skull ring
9. Artificially smooth skin

 

TEAMSTER.

Everybody loves an Everyman, right? Mechanically, the Teamster hangs out in the middle of the other classes, with flat stat and save bonuses, and a trauma response that's helpful rather than a hindrance. Their default skills (Industrial Equipment and Zero-G) support the idea of the Teamster as a tough, hardworking spacer. That's the angle I've gone after here. 

A closer read of the Player's Survival Guide reveals a wider variety of concepts than I accounted for. With a trained and expert skill available, there's a wide range of available possibilities from veterinarian (zoology, field medicine) to engine-grease preacher (theology, mysticism) to military engineer (military training, explosives). A range I don't think I quite captured. Oh well.

The core things here are the friction between Teamsters and The Company, how you wound up in such a tough job in the first place, and what your capacity for survival is. The backgrounds have similar material.

Teamster questions [1d10]

1. How did you end up in terrible debt to The Company?
2. What Company Policy do you regularly break?
3. What do you owe someone else on the crew?
4. Why were you kicked out of your last job?
5. What’s the worst place you’ve ever been?
6. How would you change working conditions for your crew?
7. What’s your go-to way to blow off steam?
8. How far would you go for a job?
9. What did you leave behind when you left home?
10. Who have you screwed over to get where you are?

Teamster Backgrounds [1d10]

1. Needed to get away from home. Fast.
2. Sick of this job. No way out.
3. Third-generation union member. Make them proud.
4. Love the work. Hate The Company for what they took.
5. Drifter. Have a hard time settling down.
6. Pod-born. Made to work.
7. Big family. Sending credits back home.
8. Massive generational debts. Trying to claw your way out.
9. Escaped a corporate job. Never looked back.
10. Street rat. Making your way to greatness one credit at a time

Teamster Looks [1d10]

1. Industrial harness
2. Smokestack tattoo
3. Chunky sneakers
4. Dark overcoat
5. Brow spikes
6. Hi-vis vest
7. Glitter stickers on gear
8. Name tag patch
9. Old flight jacket
10. Knitted gloves

 

ANDROID.

Scientists are here to solve, Marines are here to save, Teamsters are here to survive, and Androids are here to do ... whatever it is Androids do. They're the weird class. Where weird things go! Tougher than Teamster and Scientists, and (maybe??) more ethically expendable than Marines, Androids operate in an interesting space between/around the other classes. They open up a lot of opportunities for at-the-table invention, and there's not much stopping you from justifying that extra wound as built-in armor, redundant organs, or a whole bunch of spider legs.

In sci-fi, Androids and artificial intelligence (or "ai" as all the ads are calling it these days) often serve to raise questions about human cognition and sentience, either by comparison or as a simplified subject. So the questions poke around in that territory, as well as the potentially fascinating implications of android hardware, and/or the suspiciously close relationship between an Android and The Company.

Android Questions [1d10]

1. What were you made for?
2. How do you process the world differently from humans?
3. What manufacturing defect do you try to hide?
4. What do you use as a power source and what makes it hard to get?
5. What do your memories feel like?
6. Why are you so unsettling?
7. What aftermarket modifications have you made to yourself?
8. How much does your programming control you?
9. Why does The Company trust you more than the rest of the crew?
10. What is your designated priority during an emergency?

Android Backgrounds [1d10]

1. Achieved autonomy. Went freelance.
2. Company property. Totally loyal.
3. Discontinued. Scraping by as a scavenger.
4. Built with singular purpose. Then discarded.
5. Mass-produced model. Except for one detail.
6. Home-built from spare parts. Packed with bugs and features.
7. Crudely reanimated “corpse-worker.” Kinda awful!
8. Lab-grown bioform. Horrifying adaptations.
   
9. Military surplus chassis. Repainted and repurposed.
10. Near-perfect simulacra. Permanent occupant of the uncanny valley.

Android Looks [1d10]

1. Faceless white shell
2. Biomechanical hybrid organism
3. Covered in valves
4. Faceless and looming
5. Graffiti paint job
6. Spiny carapace
7. Rubbery grey skin
8. Ruggedized industrial coating
9. Covered in corporate branding
10. Stitched-together human components
    

I've spent a lot of time thinking about Mothership since I first bumped into it, but I still managed to find new things about its four default classes by poking around with this. (Particularly how flexible the skill tree actually is.)

It gives me a new appreciation for how tight the class design is in MoSh -- and likewise how tricky it is to write storygame style questions! Not bad for a first try, and a neat little study. I'd probably do things very differently with another stab at this. Maybe later!

End up using this at the table? Wrote up some similar stuff? Got thoughts? I'd love to hear about it!