Hitchhiker 1 Documentation

Hello! Welcome!

This is documentation for my Mothership campaign Hitchhiker 1, a limited-session custom campaign involving a handful of custom rules and driven by literary themes.

The material is directly inspired by the following:

Annihilation, both the book (2014) and the movie (2018)
High Life (2018 film)
Cthulu Mythos
Scorn (2022 video game)

And likely a bunch of other stuff that’s wormed it’s way into my subconscious.

What’s to do here?

If you are a player, start with the character creation guide.

If you stumbled upon this by accident, this documentation will gradually be filled out for provenance.

Take a look through if you’re curious!

The campaign is not yet finished, so the docs won’t have everything on it to prevent spoilers for my players until the campaign is over.

Campaign Premise

You play as one member of a group of amnesiac castaways rescued from a scientific research station called the DSO Braveheart. A deep-space hauling ship, No Whammies answers the distress beacon, currently on a years-long mission doing who knows what.

There are 16 crew members onboard, and you’re not really to sure what to make of them.

Things aren’t exactly normal aboard the No Whammies, but you feel like you can settle in for the long ride back to the inner system until one of the crew goes insane.

Character Creation for Hitchhiker 1

Hello, players!

Character creation for this campaign has a little bit extra tacked on compared to normal Mothership due to the nature of the premise.

This custom process is meant to balance two things.

First, it should grant satisfactory agency and flexibility when it comes to creating a character concept that you find compelling to play, and for your fellow players to find compelling to watch.

Second, it should allow the table to progress the story while also developing the characters.

Things to Know Before Making a Character

First, I’d suggest reading other campaign articles, then coming back here.

I recommend reading the Campaign Premise.

Optionally, if you’d like to be even more informed, take a look at the following articles unique to this campaign:

Custom Modules
NPC Crew
Ship

After you’re done with that, keep in mind the following:

Character Backstory

Your character is a total amnesiac. However, they can be from anywhere, and they’re going to find out their own backstory as sessions progress.

I’d suggest jotting down some guiding principles on your character’s backstory.

If you’d like to make something more involved, go ahead!

I will incorporate the various world-building elements you provide in your backstory into the campaign.

Don’t worry about what you can or cannot do with your backstory.

We’ll figure it out later once you have it written.

Read Here If You Are an Aspiring Android!

The campaign premise has room for only 1 Android, and it’s not a typical Mothership Android.

If you’d like to be an Android, please DM me on Discord.

You will have a unique role to play.

Don’t worry, the base Mothership Android stats are the same.

Sorry if this is cryptic, but that’s all I can say without spoilers.

Rolling Your Character with FoundryVTT

To roll your characters, follow these steps:

Log in to the FoundryVTT instance with your name
- Instance link is on Discord
- The password is blank (feel free to give yourself a password later)
Navigate to the actors tab by clicking on the person symbol on the right
Double-click on the token you own (there should only be one)
Click on the Character Generator option at the top of the dialog box
Choose your class on the left of the generator menu
Then, roll everything with the roll everything button
Save the character

For this campaign, you may choose your patch or trinket. You may also create your own.

To do so, navigate to the Items tab at the lower section of the character sheet, and change the patch/trinket.

Everything else should not be changed, as per Mothership rules.

Post-Creation Skill Edits

You will have an opportunity to work with me at the end of session 1 to make skill changes to your character.

Custom Modules

This article covers all the custom modules used in Hitchhiker 1.

Examples used follow two players: Alice and Bob.

The Warden is called the Warden.

Custom Panic and Death Tables

Panic and Death Tables substantially deviate from the normal Mothership rules, and are kept secret from the player.

They can be uncovered via Scrying the Warden’s Dice.

Losing Control

In this campaign, it is expected for players to lose control of their characters relatively frequently.

When this happens, the whole table will be notified immediately, even if losing control happens off-screen.

Losing control of a character does not mean they died or went insane.

Unknown Conditions

Unknown Conditions are an extension of normal Mothership Conditions, in that the details of the Condition are not known to both the player and the player character.

An Unknown Condition can be revealed with equipment and expertise.

Point System

Players will have access to an additional, rather non-descript meta-resource called “Points.”

Points are scored by players in the following ways:

When the player sells the usage rights of a personal backstory element to the Warden
When the player opts in to doing something that might be obviously detrimental to their character but drives the plot forward

Points are spent in the following ways:

To influence a character in the Warden’s control to do an action that can fully resolve in a single scene
To reveal useful information about a Warden’s dice roll
To suppress an urge

Selling Backstory to the Warden

Players are encouraged to develop their characters in meaningful ways for the benefit of both the table’s entertainment, and to give the Warden source material.

When the Warden intends to use an element of a character’s backstory directly in the campaign as a plot-relevant fixture, the Warden will make the player an offer for usage rights.

However, the Warden can only make an offer to the player if the player explicitly illustrates or monologues it during session play.

All players who are involved in developing the backstory elements will be given Points.

Explicitly, this includes players who facilitated the scene.

“I sit next to Bob and ask him. What’d you find out about yourself, then?” Alice says.

“I come from a long line of tea-makers,” Bob says to Alice.

“Oh really? Is it a special tea?” Alice says.

“Sort of. Psychoactive tea utilizing a steeping method in zero-gravity,” Bob says.

“Say what? I wanna try some,” Alice says.

“How about it, Warden? Do I have some on me?” Bob says.

“I’ll buy usage rights to the psychoactive tea for 2 Points to Bob, and 1 Point to Alice,” the Warden says. “Is that a deal?”

“Uh, yeah. How’re you going to use that?” Bob asks

“Sick!” Alice says, happily marking it down.

“Not at liberty to say,” the Warden says. “If you’d like to get some of this tea, you’ll need some ingredients. You know Samra’s the one to talk to.”

“Oh, Samra? The lady growing the plants?” Alice says.

“Oh boy. Not sure where this is going but I don’t trust it,” Bob says.

Earning Points for Plot-Driving Actions

If a player comes across a scene that is obviously dangerous, the player can also factor in the opportunity to earn Points in their decision-making.

Points will be rewarded by actions that meet both of the following criteria:

The action has the obvious potential to be detrimental
The action will reveal important information, develop a character, drive the plot forward, or showcase something that the Warden has in store

Earning Points via opt-in should not be a surprise. The player may always inquire with the Warden if a certain course of action would obtain Points.

“You can hear the creature thumping about around the corner of the hallway,” The Warden says. “Alice is still unconscious.”

“God damn it, I never should’ve told her about the tea,” Bob says.

“I don’t regret a thing,” Alice says.

“Well, I think I’m just going to feel guilty about this whole thing if you die. I’m going to stuff her in the locker and run down the hallway to distract him.”

“No! Why? Is Bob a simp?” Alice exclaims. “No, don’t do it! She’s not worth it, Bob!”

“I can’t hear you, you’re unconscious!” Bob says.

“Alright, I’ll give you two Points. You are obviously risking your life to develop Bob, and I might get a chance to show how this creature eats people.”

“Ick,” Alice says. “Don’t let it get you! I want to drink more tea!”

“What do I roll?” Bob says.

Cosmic Influence

If a player has lost control of their character, they will be able to influence characters in the Warden’s control by spending Points.

First, the player outlines what they would like the target character to do.

Next, the Warden will appraise it. If the Warden believes that the action breaks verisimilitude, the Warden will veto the action.

The Warden will generally veto any actions that:

Are significantly out-of-character
Are impossible
Break immersion
Violate content restrictions of the table
Are too complex

If the influenced action directly restricts another player, the player will need to consent to the negative effects before the action can take effect.

Lastly, the Warden will name a price in Points.

The player may decide against the action if it is too expensive.

If an action relies on chance, rather than the target character deliberately doing it, the Warden will roll to determine the outcome.

“I’m running like hell,” Bob says.

“You just manage to avoid its lunge,” the Warden says.

“I’m going to scream at the other Marine. Run! Fuckin’ run!” Bob says.

“The Marine shines her flashlight and realizes what’s chasing you, and turns heel to follow your advice.”

“Hold on! I don’t have control of Alice! I’m going to do a Cosmic Influence!” Alice yells.

“Got it. What’s your plan?” the Warden says.

“Wait, Alice, don’t do it. She might have a wife and kids,” Bob says.

“She’s got no wife and kids because she’s also a simp!” Alice crows. “I have her drop to one knee and start firing at the monster to save Bob!”

“Alright. That’ll be 3 Points,” the Warden says.

“Eesh, expensive. Fine,” Alice says.

“The Marine slides behind cover, turns around, and starts peppering the creature with holes,” the Warden says.

“Fuck yeah!” Alice cheers.

“I’m gonna keep running. She knows what she’s doing,” Bob says.

“With the Marine’s covering fire, you are guaranteed to escape. Do you look behind you?” the Warden says.

“Dammit, you’re offering me Points, huh? Nah, I’ll pass. We can see the monster eat someone later,” Bob says.

“Fair enough. However, as you keep sprinting, you hear a scream, followed by a crunch, followed by more screaming, now laced fully with agony. The screams subside into gurgling. There’s a wet thud.”

“Oh God, I feel bad,” Alice says.

“Not looking made that worse, I think,” Bob remarks.

Scrying Warden Dice

The Warden rolls all dice publicly.

At any point, players may spend 1 Point to figure out 1 useful piece of information about the dice roll.

The Warden chooses what to present to the players.

Information examples include:

The text of the table cell that was rolled
The NPC that this involves
Information such as Stats about an NPC this roll involves
A description of the roll’s purpose

This information should not be cryptic, and it should be clear why this information is useful.

Suppress Urges

If the Warden describes that a player character has the urge to do something against the player’s will, the player may spend 1 Point and take 1d4 Stress to suppress the urge without needing to roll a Save.

This ability can suppress urges from Panics, but this will cause an Unknown Condition to be inflicted.

The Unknown Condition is likely worse than the Panic that was suppressed, but it’s negative effects are delayed.

“You remain hidden from the creature, but the smell wafting up from it is giving you the urge to puke,” the Warden says.

“That’s an urge, right? I can suppress it?” Alice says.

“Yes,” the Warden says.

“I spend my last Point to suppress my nausea,” Alice says.

“You keep it down and manage to avoid detection,” the Warden says.

“I think we made it,” Bob says.

“Don’t jinx it!” Alice says.

Ship Overview

The deep-space hauler No Whammies is a modular, well-equipped, independently chartered and stubborn junker with a large number of features to improve its odds in the back reaches.

Propulsion

A variety of methods of propulsion are available to No Whammies.

A fusion reactor supplies long-haul thrust through a primary burner and two main vector nozzles.

In addition, it is currently equipped with deployable solar beam condensers and solar sails to chart efficient paths through space.

Lastly, an antimatter engine contributes increased acceleration in the event of emergency burns for repositioning.

Modules

The modules are split into two sections: the central bay area and the orbital.

In the central bay area are the 3 primary thrusters, the fusion reactor, the antimatter tank, the loading bay, and the pilot’s cockpit.

Within the loading bay are compartmentalized storage bulwarks containing a large variety of goods, including a DSO Autonomous Remote Vending Machine, an antimatter trawl, and enough robotic equipment to mine asteroids.

In the orbital, which can orbit in tandem with the central bay area to generate gravity, are the amenities of the ship.

These include an electronics room with a large computer server, a medical bay, life-support, hibernation pods, and expandable residential quarters for the crew.

The large computer server enables the use of a central artificial intelligence and a virtual reality entertainment system.

The orbital can detach from the central bay in the event of emergency, and switch to secondary engines, acting as a large escape pod.

The orbital itself also has its own escape pods.