Mothership - Character Discovery Procedure
A basic procedure to develop player characters in a session 0 of Mothership RPG.
Step-by-step:
- Each player selects a Class.
- Each player rolls their Loadout, Patch and Trinket.
- Each player selects their Skills.
- Each player, in turn, rolls 3d10 and answers the corresponding questions below.
- Each player, in turn, tells how they met the player to their left.
- Finally, end by asking every player the same question:
"What do you think is more important? To solve the mysteries of the universe, to save the people you care about, or to survive at any cost?"[1].
Questions
General
- Who raised you, and where?
- Why do you keep accepting dangerous jobs?
- If you won a sudden windfall of cash, how would you spend it?
- What scares you most about space?
- What is your end-goal in life?
Marine
- Why aren't you active military anymore?
- What was the most important lesson you learned on the battlefield? What did it cost you?
- What was your closest brush with death?
- What is your ritual before a dangerous mission?
- Who was your commander? Did you respect them?
Android
- What kind of Android are you? Robot, cyborg, or bioroid?
- Who made you? Are you still under their employ, or did you escape?
- What is your prime directive?
- What do you think of humans? Do you feel superior to them?
- What do you do while they all sleep?
Scientist
- What attracted you to science in the first place?
- What personal theory have you always believed in? How committed are you?
- Who was your advisor? Where are they now?
- Should science bow to ethics? To what extent?
- Why aren't you in a safe lab somewhere? What do you seek in space?
Teamster
- Where did you learn to do your job?
- What was the worst time a company screwed you over?
- What cargo would you refuse to carry in your ship?
- What is the first thing you do during a shore leave?
- Where is your family?
[1] Of course, you can use another question more tailored to your campaign.