The Hollow Die

Let's Create a Character in Mothership

About Mothership

What is Mothership?

It's simple, it's fast, and it's brutal.

Mothership is the RPG that, in my opinion, best understands the tropes and ideas of classic Sci-Fi Horror movies and games, and brings those ideas to the table.

The system itself is not revolutionary, nor overcomplex, which is exactly why it thrives in this environment of dread, loneliness, and survival against impossible odds; you are like the characters in these stories.

Why Mothership?

I think Mothership has the perfect balance for this kind of theme. We can create characters quickly, but with personality. We can jump right in and still have to think about the environment, our actions, and everything else.

It also has the perfect amount of content for how I like to run games. There are many zines and pamphlets, but nothing feels overwhelming. You can understand a whole setting in an afternoon, prepare for a one-shot in a few hours.

Creating the Character

First of all, Mothership has some old-school DNA. Character creation is expected to be quick, interesting, and sometimes weird.

Because of that, instead of thinking of the whole concept of the character and then creating it based on that, we go the opposite way.

Rolling Stats

In Mothership, you only roll when things are dangerous, when there is a real risk. And when you roll, you are trying to roll under the Stats. Let's roll 2d10+25 for the stats:

Well, the only thing I can actually do is be fast. I am thinking of a runner, maybe a courier.

Rolling Saves

Same as with stats, you are trying to roll under your save to avoid harm. Let's roll 2d10+10 for the saves:

I am also great at avoiding mental and physical issues, maybe a very centered person.

Choose your Class

Considering I am not good at combat, nor at intellect, I think I will focus on my speed and great saves by selecting a Teamster.

I can be something like a scout, an ex-courier, or something similar.

Teamster adds +5 to all Stats and +10 to all Saves.

Roll Health

Health is d10 + 10, and I got 13... Not great.

Gain Stress

Everyone starts with a minimum of 2 Stress, because we all have problems, I guess.

Take note of your class's Trauma Response

For the Teamster, it is: Once per session, you may take advantage of a panic check.

This is the only good Trauma Response, by giving you an advantage instead of making situations worse.

This Trauma Response can change during the game; there are some adventures that have you get different Trauma Responses after some events.

Choose Skills

As a Teamster, we start with Industrial Equipment and Zero-G.

We can also choose one Trained Skill and one Expert Skill.

I guess for me the most useful Trained Skill is Athletics, because I can use it with my speed. Piloting also makes sense as an Expert Skill. Maybe I am very good at piloting quickly. Maybe I was a spaceship racer.

Roll Loadout, Trinket, and Patch

Loadout

There is a loadout table; you need to roll a d10.

I rolled a 1, meaning that I start with:

Trinket

There is also a d100 roll for the trinket.

I rolled a 95, which means I have: Pamphlet: Interpreting Sheep Dreams.

I don't know yet what that means; maybe I am very gullible and believe anything.

Patch

The last d100 table!

I rolled a 78, so my patch is: Atom Symbol.

Well, for some reason, the atom symbol also makes me think of racing or speed. I am not sure why. Maybe that was my racer symbol before I got to wherever I am working right now.

Credits

Although the title doesn't say it, we also roll credits now, a 2d10x10 for it.

I got a 150.

Finishing

Name

What even is a good racer name?

Ayrton Senna is the only one I know from real life. There is Anakin Skywalker. There is also The Flash, who is Barry Allen.

Ayrkin Allenna? Ugh.

Barry Sky? Better. Good enough.

Pronouns

He/Him

Personal Notes

Used to be a spaceship racer, has incredible reflexes, and has great running speed. However, when his opponents started installing chrome in their bodies, he wasn't able to keep up and lost everything he had.

Nowadays, he works at any job that comes his way.

Final Character: Barry Sky

Conclusion

I know it looks like a lot, but in truth, in the table, it goes really fast and really smoothly; it takes no more than 10 minutes to create the character, complete with a concept behind it and cool details to take into the Role-play.

Barry Sky is interesting, goofy, and the perfect kind of character to die horribly in space, for the most dumb of reasons.

Creating the character was really fun, and I wish there was a table for me to use it in, which shows how interesting Mothership really is.