Moonbase Blues: One-Shot Play Report and Mini-Review
The holidays always have the potential to be a gaming drought and this last weekend one of my usual Mothership players (Matt) couldn’t make the game. Rather than completely cancelling or playing something else, I ran a one-shot vignette, picking a short pamphlet module. This post is a combination play report and a mini-review so it will contain unflagged spoilers. Read at your own risk-of-fun if you haven’t played through this adventure.
The selected module Moonbase Blues (D. Shugars, I. Yusem, W. Denning) was excellent. I find the Mothership pamphlets (and to a certain extent any Mosh adventure) to often be hard to grok until you “turn them on” and this was no exception. However, once we started playing and the handful of tables and situations started bouncing off each other, it was great. I think the biggest piece of prep advice I can offer is to make a few additional notes about the NPCs. This is usually where I struggle the most in improvising, so having a clear motivation for the characters helps. Moonbase Blues actually does this better than the other pamphlet I’ve run so far, The Haunting of Ypsilon 14, and you can get a pretty clear picture of how the NPCs will react to the PCs. Also, I used the player handout that came in the digital package and the room numbering on the main station didn’t match the base document. Easy to tweak in Miro (my favorite VTT), but a bit confusing in the moment – fix that before play!
For the setup I dropped Azure Base on a small moon in my “Big Map” that was as far from the main campaign as possible. Two reasons here: 1). It helped me start fleshing out this neglected part of the sandbox, and 2). It keeps the new emergent storyline in a bit of quarantine until I can figure out how it can satisfyingly merge with the events of the primary game. Currently that crew is smuggling and ship-jacking over by Prospero’s Dream.
The Big Map
Puget System
I also told the players they would be a two person CCMC (Corporate Confederation Marine Corps) Reconnaissance Team sent to investigate strange happenings at Azure Base. So militarily themed characters but not limited to the marine class. I allowed them to adjust loadouts a bit to match that; they could replace a weapon with a pulse rifle and armor with Advanced Battle Dress (marine class only) or Hazard Suit or Vac Suit (Other classes). Mission profile included, launch of the drop pod from their ship, the corvette, CSS Nighthawk, landing on the surface, and a short movement across the moon(vacuum) to the main facility. From this we got two great characters: Bull Burnham (a marine played by Jason) and Nola Viloria (an android played by Jack).
The basic premise of Moonbase Blues is that a big blue meteor (I changed this to a comet) has entered the system and due either to the rotation of the moon or because it is orbiting the moon, periodically exposes the surface to a mysterious blue light or radiation. Which of course infects/possesses/changes everyone into crazed blue zombies. When the meteor/comet it as its zenith the zombies become hyper violent. So you have a great timer function, which I started at two hours to zenith as recommended for a one-shot.
Nola and Bull wake up, not in their drop pod as expected but in the base’s security office. Here they find Nola’s loadout, but not Bull’s, so they are down quite a bit of expected equipment. They also get a bit of information from the base’s computer that the disturbance coincided with the comet’s arrival in the system.
The tunnel to other modules is blocked so Bull dons Nola’s vac-suit. I ruled androids can survive in vacuum for about an hour until the cold starts to seize them up. This is where they received their first exposure to the indirect effects of the comet – both getting stage 1 “Meteor Psychosis.” I also ruled that androids aren’t immune as the radiation corrupts their data storage and processing. They then entered the base proper and explored it.
They found some of their first “Meteor-Mad-Colonists” here, though they are still mostly harmless due to the position the of comet. They deduced that the comet is causing the madness. Also, Nola found a sample of the comet, and decided to take it with them – because this is exactly what an android would do. They narrowly avoided additional exposure to the radiation transferring it to a lead lined container.
Now they decided to check the drop pod and find Bull’s equipment (avoiding exposure this time by covering themselves with additional stuff), and then to go the the mechanics bay. Here they met the surviving NPCs just as “comet-rise” occured. The MMCs had already been gathering and were drawn to the mechanics bay, with its last unconverted colonists. The most important NPC here turned out to be Aguirre, a wanted criminal who “attempts to hijack escape attempts if rescued.” I decided this means he would try to steal the drop pod, which has enough thrust to get itself into orbit for pickup by its carrier. He started suiting up while talking to the PCs, then bolted out the door. Bull tried to stop him, but the wounded Aguirre makes it out the airlock. Nola and Gozu (an engineer) used compressed air to “t-shirt cannon” the comet sample towards the pod. This attracts the growing mob of MMCs who use the fragment to assimilate Aguirre. Next Nola launched some plastic explosives at the mob, narrowly avoiding destroying the pod, but blowing up about half the zombies. The remaining ones rushed the mechanics bay with their sacred blue rock to “show them the light.”
The PC group set up a defensive position in the bay, while Gozu worked on reassembling the rover. The crew attempted to douse the MMCs in flammable solvent and ignite them with a rigged hand welder. Part one worked great, part two not so much. The MMC formerly know as Aguirre, does manage to ignite himself in his own attack with a hand welder, but it fails to catch any others.
After a couple rounds of desperate firing, it became apparent that there were still too many opponents and they would be overwhelmed. Bull grabs Nola and blasts his way through the bay doors with the now assembled rover. Once exposed to the full glory of the comet, Nola completes their conversion to a full MMC. Per the module, Nola should have become a warden-controlled character, but at this point (pushing midnight IRL) it was clear the session would end with either Bull making it to the pod or not. We ran with it as a bit of Player vs Player. They battled for control of the rover, and Nola attempted to pull back Bull’s visor. It was great play all around! The battle was decided when Bull (Jason) recalled that Nola had been hit with a rigging gun in the bay fight. So, he ripped the harpoon out of their chest, causing a roll on the wound table! The result is a 9 on the gore/massive scale. Nola’s head explodes due to a spike in internal fluid pressure! A stretch I know, but that’s what happened, ok? Bull blasts off and goes into cryo, leaving the remaining survivors to their fate, while he waits for pick up by the Nighthawk. All in all, a great session. Afterwords I wrote up the Publico News Release below. This came out over the Publico Information System (PIS) so the main PCs will be aware that something happened – but not much more. I think it’s fun as a bit of an inside/meta joke.
Publico News Release
Publico is pleased to announce to our shareholders the recent acquisition of the astro-geological research start-up, Azure Horizons Ltd. The company made a recent breakthrough in the treatment of Seasonal or Space Affective Disorder (SoSAD) with the unique application of a mineral based radiation. During a recent clinical trial, subjects enjoyed a complete alleviation of all depressive emotions and vastly increased task focus. Other health benefits were apparent including a marked resistance to environmental factors. It is believed that this new therapy will increase the efficiency of crew members during long haul space travel and colonization efforts. There is also reason to believe it will lead to additional corporate savings in health care and overtime salaries. Despite this incredible medical advance, Azure Horizons recently faced a significant staffing shortfall at Azure Base in the Puget System; leaving the company little option but to seek acquisition in order to continue this life saving inquiry. However, the takeover was anything but hostile, founder and chief science officer, Dr. Heinrich Blau, Ph.D. UoIM, expressed excitement about the possibilities for Azure as a Publico subsidiary. His only comment being, “I have seen the light!” The University of Idalia Minor, in partnership with Far Hope Mining Co. will be taking over operations in the Puget System in an exciting new expansion of Publico administered space. FHMC is looking for mining crews with experience on extrasolar object exploitation. Interested parties should inquire at their local Publico Employment Opportunity Office.
Referenced Books and Stuff
Characters were created with the Mothership Companion App