The Haunting of Ypsilon-14 is a tri-fold pamphlet adventure for the Mothership RPG. Set on a mining station, the players are visiting the station when people start disappearing. In classic mothership style they then have to survive, solve or save in the ensuing chaos.
Full disclosure I ran this module in my own sci fi system.
I picked up a physical copy of this module as part of a bulk load of Mothership content, for a very reasonable 4 credits. The pamphlet itself is printed on yellow card and the presentation is excellent, cramming a ton of information into the available space. One minor gripe is the presence of a couple of typos, nothing that caused issues, but really for a module this short I’d expect these to have been picked up in proof reading.
Also included were some audio files representing the content of some cassettes that the players could find on the station. This was an excellent addition and really helped build atmosphere.
I was running this as a one shot, so set the scenario hook up with the players running a premium courier service, ferrying important cargo with no questions asked. I offered them a million credits for the job and made sure to establish that this was a hefty pay day to attempt to head off any desires to bug out the second things got hairy. Fortunately the players I ran this for are very experienced and took this to heart.
Prior to running the session I’d read the Alexandrian’s post on prepping for it, which has some pretty good advice. Specifically the recommendation to find some character artwork to represent each of the station crew was spot on. With such a large cast for a relatively short adventure it really helped the players to understand who was who.
I ran this session virtually, and when one of the players accessed the terminal in the station I sent them over a link to this excellent little app that simulates the terminal interface. Like the audio recordings this really helped add to the immersion. Many thanks to Red Mercury for building this, and to Quadra for highlighting it on their blog.
My players did a really good job of reasoning through the situation and exploiting the knowledge and tools they had, successfully managing to save and survive, but not solve the mystery.
Although short and very much in the barebones camp, the Haunting of Ypsilon 14 is a great module. You could definitely stretch this out a little bit and play up the tension, but it’ll also work well as a 2-3 hour one shot. If you really want to make this shine I definitely recommend watching/listening to an actual play or reading a play report to work out the different ways the scenario might evolve to help give you some ideas above and beyond what is in the pamphlet.
Nobody wake the bugbear have a play through and I also watched Mystery Quest’s play through. Seeing how different GMs run a scenario is a great way of improving your own game mastering.
⚠️ Spoiler warning ⚠️
Cast: Ofa (Spotty Wizard) and Finn (Lord)
The crew arrived at the station and commenced automated docking procedures, a little on edge that the only radio contact they’d had was some lo fi rock music being broadcast on one of the station’s frequencies (Sonya’s mix tape).
As the docking sequence completed, a frustrated Sonya arrived in the docking area, apologising that no one had been there to meet them. She told the players that Mike was supposed to be manning the station and that she should probably go find him. They were welcome to try and contact Dr Giovanni but warned them he’d requested no interruptions yesterday, citing some breakthrough.
The team spent a little bit of time in the work station area, getting to know a few of the mining station crew as they came and went. Finn also connected to the Ypsilon 14 terminal to see if there was any info about where they might pick up their package, he also took the chance to run a little privilege escalation attack and a good roll gave him access to the system remotely on his data terminal.
After about 30 minutes the players decided to go and bang on the Heracles’ airlock to ask Dr Giovanni where the package was. They activated the intercom and a raspy voice responded. I played Giovanni as semi-lucid, obsessing over his discovery and demanding another hour to finish his work. This gave the players a bit of a clue that something wasn’t right without giving too many details and helped to build up a bit of tension.
Since they were going to be waiting a while, the players then decided to help look for Mike. Noticing that there was a blockage in the vents Finn went to the crew quarters to investigate while Offa and their pilot Bill remained in the work area and chatted up the station crew in the hopes of finding a way to get the package without waiting for Giovanni.
Finn encountered Rie in the crew quarters who was a little hesitant about him poking around in the vents due to the contraband he had stashed. After Finn made it clear he wasn’t a customs inspector he agreed to go get Finn a flashlight from the work area. As he returned, the creature struck in the communal area, swallowing Rie whole.
Finn and the others soon realised Rie was missing and found the discarded flashlight and a couple of drops of blood. Concerned something might still be in the vents Ofa used the light to search the area above the bunks. Uncovering (more) contraband, a startled Prince, the station cat and finally the cassette Mike had left.
After listening to the tape the players made an excuse to return to their vessel to discuss their plan of action. Rossa found this very suspicious, but Finn told her to stay near water and that they were grabbing some supplies that would help them find Mike.
As the airlock into their ship cycled, the ships computer welcomed the crew and “unknown life form” aboard. Some quick thinking from Finn and lucky cool rolls let the players instruct the computer to pause the airlock cycle, open the door back to the station and ramp up the humidity. Though they couldn’t see it, the computer confirmed the unknown entity had left.
Determining their best chance was to tell the station members to soak themselves in water and then go grab the materials they needed off the Heracles, Finn and Bob remained on the Tempest, Bob readying the ship to leave at a moments notice and Finn using his access to the stations systems to be Ofa’s “man in the chair”.
Donning their only pressure suit, but keeping the helmet off so she could use her rifle’s scope Ofa moved back into the station and immediately spotted strange three toed footprints through her thermal sights. Following them into the work area she panned the scope around, finding to her terror that they circled around to the wall above the door she had just come through. A lucky cool roll and a near miss from the rifle startled the creature, which was not expecting to be visible and it fled the work area and Offa moved towards the Heracles.
Finn was then contacted by Kantaro, who had refused to enter the showers. Deducing that he may be suffering from the same condition as Mike, Finn told Kantaro he could find the quiet he was after down the mines, neatly sidestepping potential hostility from the big man. Using the PA system Finn instructed the rest of the station crew to soak themselves in as much water as possible and prepare to make a break for the airlock. Not knowing what was going on, but having seen Ashraf vanish before them on the way to the showers, the panicked crew agreed.
Meanwhile Ofa had entered the Heracles, Finn having hacked in and overridden the lock down. Scope up she headed towards the research lab. Breaching the lab, and sweeping her rifle over the scene she instantly zeroed in on Dr Giovanni, who turned slowly to face her, grinning manically as his jaw lolled open, yellow goo leaking from his mouth as a distended tongue flopped against his chest.
Ofa’s marine training took over and she despatched Giovanni with a single high calibre round to the chest. Snatching up the courier case from the desk she made a dash for the airlock as Finn radioed that the crew of the station had made it aboard. As the airlock slowly repressurised Ofa fire her gun off until empty and banged it as hard as she could on the deck, hoping that the noise would keep the creature at bay long enough for the airlock to cycle. As the airlock inched closed, Ofa saw the creature rush towards the narrowing gap through he scope, snatching up the wet dressing gown Bob had draped over the back of her pressure suit she threw it through the gap, driving the creature back as the airlock sealed.
The players quickly got the survivors into cryo and once at a safe distance activated the station’s self destruct. The final scene zoomed in on one of the station crew, frozen in cryo with a single icey tear of yellow goo running from their eye.
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