1d10 Delver Starting Loadouts

I'm in the camp that doesn't really care for the typical starting loadouts -- too much stuff, too many weapons, and a bit monotonous after running the game for a while.  Here are some alternatives specifically set up for Gradient Descent but applicable everywhere. Changing stats based on implied characterization is also a neat trick.

1d10 LOADOUTS

UNIVERSAL GEAR: regardless of loadout, every diver has a backpack, handheld flashlight, and 1d3 days of rations unless otherwise noted. All characters with armor also have a radio). Regardless of whether they have their starting trinket or not, all these loadouts start with 5 Bends unless otherwise noted.

Loadout 1:

Patch: "Rescind the Flesh"

Rolling Papers in Scrimshawed Case; Trucker Cap; Vibechete, Stimpak (2x), Frag Grenade (2x); Marijuana Cigarettes; Instant Coffee (10 sachets)

+1d3 fear

Loadout 2:

Patch: "I'm secretly an Android" 

Souvenir Rubiks Cube (corporate interview swag); Cyanide Capsule; Battledress; Lightweight Rope (100 feet); Break Action Smart Rifle (single shot; full round to reload; 5 reloads); Pack of Black Pear Tree Menthol Cigarettes.  

+1d5 Bends

Loadout 3:

Patch: Obscure Goetic Demon (Balam -- depicted in the traditional manner as a naked man riding a bear)

Book: "Cryptocurrency For Dummies"; Headlamp; Concealable Vest (+7% armor); Foam Gun (no reloads); Crowbar; Vegan Imitation Jerky (mala flavor)

-1d3 Sanity

Loadout 4:

Patch: Mari Lwyd in a Vacsuit

Eyeball in a Resin Block; Cybernetic Eye; Plate Carrier Vacsuit (+15% armor, all speed checks at [-]); Headlamp; Rigging Gun; Caramel Hard Candy.

+1d5 Strength

Loadout 5:

Patch: "Lag Kills"

Handheld Game Console; Splintermask (APOF p. 25); Revolver (no reloads); Tranquilizer Pistol; Zip Ties (3x); PB&J Sandwich in plastic bag.

-1d3 Armor

Loadout 6:

Patch: "Mama Tried";

Ushanka; Pulse Rifle (1 reload); Headlamp; 2 doses of Daytona; Walkman and Earbuds; Bag of Dried Mealworms (cool ranch flavor)

+1d5 Speed

Loadout 7:

Patch: Atlas Beer Company Logo (ancient rocket)

Solarian religious tract, SMG (2 reloads); Flare Gun (no reloads); Vacsuit; headlamp; cybernetic left leg; flask of wood pulp vodka

-1d5 Intellect

Loadout 8:

Patch: "We're Not Here To Fuck Spiders" 

Pain Pills (2x); Electronic Tool Set; Civilian Hunting Rifle (4d10; 5 shots; one reload; no more than one attack per round); Steamed Buns (Chive and Vegetable Filling) in brown paper bag

+1d3 Combat

Loadout 9:

Patch: "CLOUDBANK SYNTHETIC PRODUCTION FACILITY VERIFIED HUMAN"

Poncho (wool); Pamphlet: "The Case For De-Evolution"; Concealable Vest (+7% armor); gas mask; headlamp; grenade launcher (6 shots); concussion grenades (4d10); earplugs

-1d5 Speed

Loadout 10:

Patch: Vantablack Square

Count Dracula Plushie, Fangs (APOF p. 18 -- loaded with acid; +1d10 damage; 5 reloads); Katana (2d10); Liquid Sword (1 dose).

+1d3 Fear

TEN THOUSAND EMPTY TOMBS: A MICRO SETTING (AND ALSO WORLDBUILDING WITH ITEMS)

A single-location setting that's been kicking around for a bit but that got brought off the back burner after being reminded of Dan's Great Screaming Hell.  With a few tweaks to big picture assumptions, this material is equally applicable to something closer to MOSH's implied setting. 

TEN THOUSAND EMPTY TOMBS

Orbital construction and ecological infrastructure AI gone rampant; driven into a solipsistic death spiral by a memetic virus carried in the EM radiation of the system's dying red sun.  Before retreating to cathedrals of computing substrate to think themselves to death, the builders awakened their human cargo and lesser machine intelligences: both too simple to comprehend the star's message and left without guidance.  Each megastructure/habitat has a unique and often horrible biosphere and many contain ruins of left by failed human and primitive machine civilizations. Many mutated beyond recognition; working to unknown ends. Space travel in-system is easy but slow; carried along by a laser network accessible with electromagnetic prayer. Proper ritual and sacrifice is critical: the gods have lasers.

INSPIRATION: Regular MoSh, Dan's stuff, Arnold K's stuff on the civilizations of the GLOG moon, weird science fantasy OSR things like Ultraviolet Grasslands and Electric Bastionland; Horizon Zero Dawn; K6BD, supernatural age of sail fantasy, etc.

 
WORLDBUILDING WITH ITEM LISTS

The Pilot:

1. Logic module; a metal box the size of a small dishwasher currently mounted to the interior of a laser steamer and connected to the spacecraft's system with optical cables.
2. Diploma (natural philosophy); even machine minds need teaching; they're manufactured by remnant automated systems that don't provide training data.
3. A trusty scribe (and a pair of hands for somebody without them); he's fourteen and just really excited to be here.
4. Their scribe's belongings; that's just how apprenticeship goes kid.
5. Wicker basket full of knickknacks (their scribe is sometimes asked to hold each item up to the camera).
6. The corpse of a machine; methodically directed for spare parts at The Pilot's direction. 
7. Several treatises on orbital mechanics, obscure mathematics, and optics.
8. The ship's manifest; wax seal from the customs office at their last port of call (fake).
9. A small bag of mysterious wire sculptures recovered from a delve; no obvious paranatural effects but feel dangerous.
10. Clothes -- a cloth cover for their logic module embroidered with an agricultural motif.
11. A hold full of improvised heat seekers -- these cost a fortune when you don't make them yourself.
12. A handcart (used by their scribe to move them under gravity).
13. A copper idol (music deity)

The Delver:

1. Cermet battle axe (chipped); wrapped in machineskin. The butt is also a crowbar.  
2. Parrying dagger with a broad double quillion and compressed gas charge; many machine remnants enforce ancient gun control laws for inexplicable reasons.
3. Stick bomb; it's just a shaped charge attached to the end of a collapsible metal pole. Perfect for killing machines or making big holes in thin walls.
4. Vacsuit in a heavy duffel bag stowed in a spare corner; embroidered with heraldry of the Cosmonauts' Guild.
5. 100m of silk rope; it's hard to beat natural fiber for some applications.
6. Wooden bead necklace; carved in the shape of gruesome tomb guardian spirits; good luck for grave robbers.
7. A half-eaten flatbread stuffed with precious bloodfruit (tastes just like real meat) and less precious rice and spirulina algae.  Very spicy; microgravity does a number on the tastebuds.
8. Hacksaw (blade slightly bent).
9. Oracle bones.
10. Checkbook (never used).
11. Pulp paper sketchbook and pressurized pen; beautiful drawings, comprehensive dream journal (mostly nightmares), and foul language in the margins.
12. Pet arthropod (pale, slightly translucent); tolerates vacuum for extended periods.  Surprisingly clever.
13. Harmonica. 

The Lightcaller: 

1. Heavenly Orb; a glassy object that provides a direct line to the insane machine/gods that run the laser infrastructure.
2. Copper ritual knife; the gods must sometimes be appeased with blood.
3. Heavy sleeping bag with straps for microgravity (down filling).
4. Slide rule (for astrological calculations).  
5. Bag with several strings of bead money engraved with the seal of a minor banking house (tungsten).
6. Block of very expensive black tea in a beautiful wooden box. 
7. High-proof spirits distilled from wood pulp and agricultural waste (bottle mostly empty).
8. Soldering iron with lots of solder and several spare batteries.
9. Electric water pipe (marijuana).
10. Makeup kit and high-quality mirror made from a machine's laser weapon.
11. Religious text; copied incantations recorded from the machine/gods.  
12. Child's storybook; inside signed with best wishes.
13. Fruit preserves (blackberry) and flatbread.

LIFE ABOARD A SLIPSEED: RICHES IN IRON

 RICHES IN IRON

The exterior surface of this Slipseed is unblemished by human construction; feeble primate artifice can't survive the rigors of Jump-8 travel.  Not that people haven't tried. The walls of the interior volume are honeycombed with skyscraper-sized concrete coffins; big enough to store a starship.  It also contains a rich but sparse biosphere of rare flora and fauna adapted to hard vacuum and microgravity; taking in the radiation from starships and picking over the debris left by human visitors. The interior is also lit by emissive strips (mostly emitting in near UV) that provide a vital source of energy to the interior.

Deeper, the inner wall is dotted with habitats ranging from nothing more than tin cans and pressurized tents to sprawling complexes of interconnected modules. 

While efforts to claim exclusive control of a Slipseed are not well tolerated, some amount of human governance seems to be permitted.  Visiting ships must be stored in a coffin (and must pay for the privilege).  Likewise, anyone residing on the inner wall must provide their own power, water, and food or buy or barter for it.  But there is nothing stopping itinerant travelers without a ship from fastening one more tin can to the wall.  There's plenty of space inside.

INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE:

Riches In Iron is largely ungoverned.  Like the technology people occasionally stick to its exterior, nothing really seems to stick.

YABBY

Most of the coffins are controlled by the Orbital Solar Power Worker's Local 258 who ensure that nobody is fried by a hot drive and provide reasonably affordable space tugs for visiting people and ships.  They are led by Yabby, an ancient union rep who got their crustacean nickname from their Daeyi sleeve.  When they are not on union business, they run one of the Riches In Iron's larger guesthouses; an unfussy place with camaraderie of a jobsite bunk hab and no luxuries at all.  

BURAJÄN AND LOUISE

Also known as "Bad John." A former colonel in the Antarctic Free State Marine Corps in a Werewolf Sleeve; burnt out from the Last War and running from his demons.  Runs the local Fat Ludovico's Countercultural Pizzeria with his adult daughter, who is an ordained Reformed Eastern Orthodox Priest and also sleeved in a Werewolf (having previously followed in her father's footsteps).  They also provide counseling services and anti-atavism medication to others in combat sleeves.

ELWOOD

She knows everyone in the logistics business at every one of Riches In Iron's ports of call.  She is a one woman broker, aggregator, customs agent, importer, exporter, and commercial arbitrator.  Most of her business comes from the corps because that's who owns ships.  But she doesn't have anything against small operators.  Will rob you blind if given the chance but if you don't strike her as a sucker she's likely to be the best broker anyone without corporate contacts could ever get.

CLEAR ARC

A Solarian priest; chimpanzee uplift.  Has committed to ministering to those who travel through the sunless hell that is hyperspace.  Belongs to the Eyes of Utu, a militant Solarian order committed to upholding the lawgiving functions of the Unconquered Sun.  Not one to let the fact that there's no real law aboard Riches In Iron stop him from enforcing his idea of justice.  A bit of a prick but reliable enough that he's a trusted mediator.  At least he's decisive and predictable.  May or may not be engaged in the other business of the EoU's more secretive branches.  

CLAUDIUS

The local commander of DSS Solutions' local security detail.  He is only really a friend to the corps but willing to coexist with others while aboard Riches In Iron.  Always scheming with assassins and saboteurs on call (often hires sacrificial outsiders).  Presents as a dreadful, very corrupt person but articulate and well-read.  Responds well to real paper books and cold hard cash.  Secretly a PRU operative; if he gets wind of any dangerous artifacts or paranormal horrors he'll first ensure they can do no harm and second, secure them for Rhombus. 

WHO'S VISITING THIS JUMP?:

1. An android cult come to worship the Slipseed; childlike bodies and brilliant white robes.  They haven't bothered with getting accommodation and wander around in the hard vacuum.
2. Two PANSEC Fleet Security Division frigates and horde of ultraviolent crayon eaters; luckily they're only here for one jump.  In the meantime the number of bar fights has tripled.
3. A massive Jump-2 colony ship; hitching a ride before making several shorter hops into unknown space.
4. Refugees from a local war; barely able to afford oxygen and food.
5. A corporate wizard; everyone seems to keep a wide berth.
6. A freighter full of pirated idol pop cassettes operated by the grimmest, most violent smugglers you've ever met.
7. A professional sports team traveling for a multi-year string of exhibition games.
8. Stratmeyer Syndicate goons.
9. A small asteroid manhandled into into Riches In Iron's central volume; not clear why anyone would go to all that trouble.  It's just floating there.
10. A new greenhouse full of real coffee plants! Hopefully its here to stay.

THE SLIPSEEDS: JUMP CYCLERS BUT MEAT

 I've talked about jump cyclers before.  Very sensible, nice ways to travel without just getting in the cryopod and waiting.  But they just aren't weird enough for my meatpunk default setting.  And I've also been stewing on approaching default FTL a bit differently than Mothership's implied setting does and making it (1) more difficult and (2) more interesting for parties that don't have a starship.  

To that end (with all credit to all the science fiction authors who have done living spacecraft) here we go:

THE SLIPSEEDS

Jump drives are an imperfect and very unsafe technology.  Humans have enough brainpower to wade into the sea of esoteric mathematics that enables FTL.  But humanity has natural predators in hyperspace; urging it to step out of the shallows; subtly manipulating the collective psyches of realspace prey species: these predators are the Gaunt. 

While Jump-1 and Jump-2 drives are mostly safe, anyone who inquires too carefully will run into the carefully laid snares set by the Gaunt (to the extent that the Gaunt have human-comprehensible intentions and internal lives).  The results of these incautious inquiries are memorialized by the ruins of the Dead Planet.  Nobody has made it past this great filter.  It has claimed primitives, interstellar civilizations, and digital gods. The Gaunt are patient.  Everything has succumbed in due time. 

Everything save one species; the Slipseeds.  These titanic beings have mastered higher-order hyperspatial mathematics.  A typical Slipseed is a five to eight kilometer long oblate spheroid.  The core is brilliant white with filamentous soapslick 'wings.'  The core is hollow and Slipseeds usually tolerate human construction projects in their interior volume.

While they are no conversationalists and relate to humans like humans relate to particularly clever ants, the Slipseeds do appear to have wants and needs.  They seem willing to follow routes that are useful to human passengers in exchange for mundane resources; metals are highly prized.  Exotic transuranic elements and antimatter even more so.  

In any event, the Slipseeds are largely indifferent to what their passengers do; they will transport warships, aid convoys, and everything in between.  When credibly threatened (which takes more than ordinary shipborne weaponry), a Slipseed can create terrible directed energy pulses using femtosecond-long hyperspace rifts.  

Within the belly of a Slipseed, human passengers are safe from the dangers of hyperspace and can meet other travelers, trade, and explore the belly of a titanic bus-alien. 

1d6 RUMORS ABOUT SLIPSEEDS   

1. Slipseeds cultivate technological civilizations like we cultivate yeast: humanity is the most efficient synthesis pathway for exotic elements and antimatter. (Not implausible)
2. Slipseeds feed on experiences of sentient creatures and tolerate the indignities of carrying their baggage in exchange. (Not implausible)
3. Slipseeds are the physical ancestors of the Sleepers.  (Doubtful)
4. Slipseeds are really human time travelers, shepherding humanity into a safe future in which it is not consumed by the infinite hunger of the Gaunt. (Doubtful)
5. Slipseeds have secret deals with corporate executives and the Exile States and are far more talkative than they appear. (Absurd)
6. Slipseeds are the non-sentient tools of another species designed to suppress advancements in hyperspace technology, (Not implausible)

SKILLS AS PATCHES: PART II

 To run the skills as patches method, you need some tables: here's a start

TEAMSTER BACKGROUNDS (d10 or pick)

1. Mechanic (vehicles or aircraft)
2. Reactor Tech
3. Shipbreaker
4. Life Support Tech
5. Miner
6. Manager
7. General Contractor
8. Blue Collar Criminal
9. Agricultural Worker
10. Factory Worker

MARINE BACKGROUNDS (d10 or pick)

1. Conscript
2. Professional soldier
3. Corporate security
4. NCO
5. Warrant Officer (roll on Teamster table)
6. Powerpoint Jockey 
7. Demolitions Specialist
8. Propagandist
9. Intelligence/Counterintelligence
10. Medic

ANDROID BACKGROUNDS (d5 or pick)

1. Administrative
2. Military (roll on Marine table)
3. Labor (roll on Teamster table)
4. Jump Drive Specialist
5. Executive

SCIENTIST BACKGROUNDS (d10 or pick)

1. MD (pick a specialty -- i.e. virologist, trauma surgeon, psychiatrist)
2. Psychologist 
3. Veterinarian 
4. Xenobiologist (pick a specialty)
5. Exotic Physicist 
6. Computer Scientist
7. Anthropologist 
8. Engineer
9. Starship Pilot
10. Forensic Accountant

50 BACKGROUNDS AND FAILED CAREERS:

1. Criminal: Burglar or Thief
2. Criminal: Drug Offenses
3. Criminal: Violent
4. Criminal: White Collar 
5. Penal Colonist
6. Dilettante
7. Intern
8. Farmhand
9. Janitor
10. Bachelor of Arts
11. Bachelor of Science
12. Entertainer 
13. Colonial Militia (Reserve)
14. Bartender
15. Bouncer
16. Firefighter 
17. Park Ranger
18. Sex Worker
19. Customer Service Employee
20. Artist
21. Indentured Employee
22. Flash Clone
23. Drifter
24. Salesperson 
25. Mechanic (Hobbyist, pick specialty)
26. Cook
27. Secretary
28. Peaked in High School
29. Athlete (Amateur) 
30. Athlete (Professional)
31. Underclass 
32. Activist
33. Revolutionary
34. Union Representative
35. Driver
36. Middle Manager
37. IT Professional
38. Factory Worker
39. Journalist 
40. Author
41. Partied So Hard You Forgot
42. Mortician 
43. Lumberjack
44. Armchair Investor
45. Import/Export Business 
46. Underworld Fixer
47. Event Promoter
48. Religious Authority Figure
49. Cultist
50. Monk/Nun

ALTERNATIVES TO MOTHERSHIP'S DEFAULT FTL

I've been playing a bit of LANCER and have really enjoyed embracing the effects of relativistic slower-than-light travel.  And I tend to lean on Larry Niven's Known Space stories for inspiration.  But what started out as a case for STL-only MoSh has turned into a another list post.  So here are some alternatives to the standard jump drive.  Credit to the relevant fiction where it's due.

d10 WAYS PEOPLE TRAVEL THE STARS INSTEAD OF JUMP DRIVES

1. They don't.  But digital uploading is permitted, uploaded minds may travel relativisticly on tiny starmoth-sized lightsail probes propelled by lasers.  It's too hard to transmit the amount of data in a human mind on a comms laser. 
2. STL only (low time-dilation) on a highway of fusion pellets; interstellar space travel is a managed utility like train travel if you also spent years on a train.  Lifespans are long enough and cryopods are good enough that traveling STL is acceptable to anyone who doesn't mind leaving their old world behind. 
3. STL only (very high high time dilation); it's possible to launch a ship into hyperspace to easily travel at an arbitrary speed but Very Bad Things happen to ships that exceed the speed of light.  To the people in the ship's reference frame time passes hundreds of times faster.  But what takes subjective minutes takes years in the rest reference frame.
4. STL only (high time dilation); magical asteroid-sized aliens that can manipulate gravity make a living transporting other species and allow humans to hitch a ride. Thanks Steven Baxter.
5. FTL (realspace); magical asteroid-sized aliens that can manipulate gravity and exotic matter are the only source of warp drive technology.  
6. FTL (hyperspace); as standard MoSh but it takes less time in realspace to get somewhere than it does in hyperspace.  This obviously benefits corporations shipping things and makes the life of a typical spacer even more miserable.
7. FTL (wormholes); established gates allow FTL travel.  Using wormholes as a time machine will destroy the wormholes (a tactic used by saboteurs and warring polities).
8. FTL (hyperspace); hyperspace is really hell and you need to sign an actual contract with the entities that reside there before you jump
9. Pseudo FTL (instant jump); you're traveling between alternate universes; often the only humans in a given universe are hanging around the jump point. Credit to Diaspora (in some games anyway).
10. FTL (instant jump); psychic navigators teleport ships around.  If they rely on drugs to do this, pour one out for Frank Herbert. 

IMPROVED SLEEVE RULES (AND EVEN MORE SLEEVES!)

This post is an effort to present my collection of combat sleeves in a more concise and uniform way.  These rules assume that you're using Quadra's PC hits rules (https://www.traaa.sh/mothership-house-rules).  I also suggest rolling on the critical hit table of your choice whenever a PC loses a hit with the exceptions noted below. 

THE RULES

HEALING:

Robotic sleeves must be repaired and don't heal (as androids at my own table); chimeras gain advantage on their body saves when resting; other sleeves heal as regular players.  

HITS:

Many combat sleeves add an extra hit. If this hit is marked with an asterisk, losing it does not force a roll on the critical hit table. 

RESLEEVING:

On reseleeve make a SANITY and BODY save.  If either is a critical failure you die.  Otherwise you incur substantial medical expenses equal to 10% of the cost of the sleeve.   Each time you resleeve increase your minimum stress by 1.  This stress is eliminated if you return to your original body or merge with a chimera sleeve.

If you are in an unusual body or a substandard chrome sleeve you must roll sanity each week or month.  On a failure, you panic at an inopportune time. 

If you are implanted in a chimera, you may choose to ignore the results of the panic table but must make a SANITY save and take 2 STRESS.  After the first failed save all subsequent saves are at disadvantage.  After two failed saves, you have merged irreparably with the chimera.  Your next death will be permanent

SLEEVES

HORIZON NEUROGEN

The market-leading manufacturer of chimera sleeves.  Well-deserved reputation for rigorous QA testing and stable host temperaments.  The secret to smooth host-brain integration is Gaunt Worm extract.  Brain is stored in the armored chest cavity in all Horizon sleeves.

WEREWOLF (3mcr):

It doesn't look anything like a werewolf but the host is a social pack predator by nature. Elaphantine skin, hunched posture, massive limbs, and a whiplike tail.  Inexperienced operators wear it like powered armor.  Veterans embrace the host's instincts.

Hits: +1*

Strength: 4d10+20 

Speed: 5d10+10 

Combat: 4d10+20

Body: +4

Fear: +4

Armor: +4 (costs 1 cybernetic slot and stacks)

Abilities: IR vision and phased array radar (as IR goggles and bioscanner) -- 1 cybernetic slot; claws and teeth 4d10

REAPER (1mcr):

Designed for tight spaces and hard vacuum.  Unsettling hypermobile limbs and razor-sharp claws.  Can fit through anything the size of its head.  A roughly human silhouette but elongated.  

Hits: +0

Strength: 5d10+10

Speed: 4d10+20 

Combat: 5d10+10

Body: +2

Fear: +6

Abilities: IR vision and phased array radar (as IR goggles and bioscanner) -- 1 cybernetic slot; claws 2d10; fits into all spaces wider than a human head, rated for 30 minutes in hard vacuum (consumes 50% of a human's oxygen), climbs as fast as it walks.

PRU WEREWOLF (60mcr):

Manufactured especially for corporations with deep pockets for operations that call for contact with the paranormal including the sleeve's namesake: Rhombus' legendary PRU kill teams.  You can't afford it.  Any resemblance to an Alpha Gaunt is purely coincidental (also, why do you know what an Alpha Gaunt is anyway?). 

Hits: +1*

Strength: 60

Speed: 60

Combat: 60

Body: +4

Fear: +4

Sanity: +8

Armor: +4 (costs 1 cybernetic slot and stacks)

Abilities: IR vision and phased array radar (as IR goggles and bioscanner) -- 1 cybernetic slot; claws 5d10; redwire implant (no stress from violent actions carried out by you or allies); limited telekinesis (claw attacks at range), and a really nasty scream.

CONSOLIDATED ROBOTICS

Rugged, efficient, and affordable chrome.  Spare parts are available anywhere.  Financing is accessible to the masses and most purchases include a free gift and fully-insured body storage.

HESSIAN (500kcr):

Named for the folkloric figure; a headless chrome sleeve. Lightweight, compressible, and durable.

Hits: +0

Strength: 35 (fixed)

Speed: 30 (fixed)

Body: 40 (fixed)

Armor: 45 (fixed, stacks with body armor) 

Abilities: Integrated IR, Integrated Bodycam, Internal oxygen for brain (lasts 48 hours per tank)

TITAN (10mcr):

A hulking sleeve powered by a miniature nuclear reactor.  

Hits: +1*

Strength: 60 (fixed, advantage on checks)

Speed: 25 (fixed)

Combat: +10

Body:  50

Armor: 60 (fixed, doesn't stack) 

Abilities: Integrated IR, Integrated Bodycam, Internal oxygen for brain (lasts 48 hours per tank), Two integrated weapons of your choice

DAEYI

 A first-rate manufacturer of specialist chrome.  Proprietary DNI adapters allow unusual body plans without undue neural overhead. Branching fractal manipulators and multilateral symmetry is common.  Daeyi sleeves excel in microgravity environments.  

APEX (3mcr):

4-axis symmetry and fractal manipulators.  Despite the unwieldy appearance, moves surprisingly quickly on foot).  Even faster in microgravity.  

Hits: +1

Strength: 50 (fixed)

Speed:  4d10+25

Combat: +15

Body:  45

Armor: 55 (fixed, doesn't stack) 

Abilities: Integrated IR, Integrated Bodycam, Integrated Mag Boots, Integrated Thruster Pack, Internal oxygen for brain (lasts 48 hours per tank), 2 integrated toolkits of your choice, climbs as fast as it walks, fractal disassembly arms (3d10).   

AN ALTERNATE SKILL SYSTEM: SKILLS AS PATCHES

 How best to handle skills in Mothership and in other OSR systems is a recurring discussion.  Folks have addressed this in the context of level-less play, debt for skills, tweaks to the details of the skill table, etc. Mostly, those approaches have been satisfactory when I've used them at my table.  I've noticed a few issues, however. 

Some skills are keyed into concrete mechanical benefits and in campaign play are borderline mandatory. Others are essential to certain character backgrounds but don't necessarily come up that often (zero-g is the worst offender), knowledge type skills can slow down investigations and some, like mathematics or hyperspace may only come up once or twice in a campaign, and finally the scientist skills don't always fit together logically and, without house rules, don't adequately reflect a skilled professional. The most obvious example is that in default MoSh a character playing a doctor will never get the surgery skill at the start of the game.  Many of these issues can be (and no doubt will be) addressed in the boxed set without making any radical changes to the skill system.

The approach I propose is a bit more radical and a lot more minimalistic.  First, it relies on the fairly orthodox OSR assumption that most in-game problem solving shouldn't depend on what you have on your character sheet.  MoSh actually does a pretty good job at this insofar as the skill list mostly capture things outside of the realm of player common sense but I'm going even further.  Players coming from DnD or other games with very concrete skill lists will probably have a harder time.

The core assumption is simple: your character has knowledge and skills consistent with their class and background.  When your character's background would justifiably give them a substantial advantage, they make an appropriate ability check with advantage.  Sometimes having applicable background is a prerequisite to rolling in the first place: in that case, they don't roll with advantage.

In practice, there's a little more to it than that:

• The benefit of rolling with advantage is larger than a regular skill bonus (about +20%); accordingly, skills should be narrower.  Someone with a doctorate degree in xenobiology will be screwed when they're up against plants or viruses. 
• When your character's background would give them relevant knowledge about something, just tell them what they know without rolling.  I do this even when using the regular MoSh skill system and it makes the scientists feel a lot better about themselves.

The really fiddly bits:

• Marines start with proficiency in automatic weapons.  Characters who roll a relevant background also have proficiency in automatic weapons.  Everyone else gains proficiency by surviving an adventure in which they used an automatic weapon and taking an appropriate amount of time to train.  If you're playing a campaign where you don't expect characters to take firearms skills you can make things a little more difficult by requiring more survived missions or requiring a character to pass a fear save in addition to spending their downtime training.  
• Nobody gets the skill bonuses to attack.  Tough shit.  At my own table, there are better weapons, cybernetics, and Meat solutions to shooting better; these provide between +5% and +20%.  If you don't provide these options, you might find that certain high INSTINCT enemies are tougher. I don't view that as a bad thing.  

• Nobody gets miscellaneous skill perks from stuff like Tactics and Command (I find these really obnoxious and don't miss them at all).   

But wait! You haven't told me how you get skills!

Every character first rolls on a table for their class (or selects a specialty).   Scientist specialties come with more narrative permissions and are 'better.'  Marine specialties come with fewer narrative permissions and are 'worse.'  Teamsters pick two specialties.  Your specialty is usually a trade, MOS, or something that requires a graduate education.  For example, Life Support Tech, Shipbreaker, Veterinarian, Exobotanist, Demolitions Specialist.  

Additionally, each character rolls on a common table to determine their life experiences prior to (or alongside their career). Everyone but teamsters roll on this table twice.  Teamsters roll three times.  These backgrounds should be fairly specific -- "Criminal" is too general but "Burglar" or "Penal Colonist" hits the spot.  The analogy to patches should be immediately obvious: once again you're doing a lot of characterization with a d100 table.  If a player can justify how a patch or trinket implies a skill (guitar playing, gambling, getting drugs, or whatever) they can roll to do that with advantage.  This gets even more mileage out of patches and trinkets!  

When a character spends an extended period training, expending money and time to train, consider giving them an additional background from any class table (within reason).  One additional background one for everyone but teamsters.  Teamsters get two.

A CAMPAIGN, LOADOUTS AND NPCS: SURPLUS

 

The Last War is over.  The alliance of Rim megacorps you once served was soundly defeated by the Exile States. One more little nail in the coffin of corporate tyranny; a small step in the right direction.  That's cold comfort to you. You were rebuilt for war and cut loose as your employers disintegrated.  The corps promised you your body back when you enlisted but once the orbital strikes and rolling blackouts started, you know that the freezers stopped.  You don't have a plan.  But you've got a combat sleeve, a well-used weapon, and nothing to lose.

WHO WERE YOU BEFORE THE LAST WAR? [1d10 Backgrounds]

1. Corporate security; a mall cop with a gun
2. A colonial kindergarten teacher; from a company town
3. A teenage delinquent; desperate to get off-word 
4. An indentured white collar employee; enlisted to escape your contract
5. A fast food worker; looking to make something of yourself
6. The rebellious child of an executive; reality caught up quick
7.  A rural colonist; war sounded better than desperate rural poverty
8. An organized criminal; the corps are the biggest gangs there are, after all 
9. A career soldier; you thought a combat sleeve was a logical career move
10. You had a technical background and the corps needed a specialist; here you are 

WHAT DO YOU HAVE LEFT [1d10 Loadouts]

1. Horizon Werewolf Sleeve, Combat Space Suit (plate carrier empty, several holes), Breaching Charges 3x, Compressed Gas Knife, decent cookware and a collection of real spices, a wedding band that doesn't fit on your clawed fingers
2. Horizon Werewolf Sleeve, Pain Pills 6x,  Laser Cutter Power Cell 2x, Electronics Kit, a poorly maintained cybernetic arm, a stolen tradesman's van, tapecomp and several idol pop tapes a photo of your kids
3. Horizon Werewolf Sleeve, Surgical Kit, Battledress, Revolver (no bullets), an emergency medicine skillslick (and slicksocket), Nerve Gas Grenade 1x (Werewolves are immune), carjacking tools, Knives 6x
4. Horizon Werewolf Sleeve, Crowbar, Federova-Turner 'Onika' Deck, Flares 6x, a copy of Gideon's Bible, an Occupational Health and Safety Certificate  
5. Horizon Werewolf Sleeve, Pulse Rifle 2x, MREs (for combat sleeves) 28x, a sleeve tattoo
6. Daeyi Apex Sleeve, Concussion Grenade Launcher, Concussion Grenades 6x, monofilament wire, a photo of your old self (glass smashed), responsibility for a human child
7. Daeyi Apex Sleeve, Integrated Smart Rifle, robot repair kit, a wedding band that doesn't fit on one of your many fractal manipulators, vacation vouchers (never used)
8. Consolidated Robotics Titan Sleeve, Integrated Flamethrower, your old body's right hand in an acrylic block, a violin and case (too small for you to play easily)
9. Horizon Reaper Sleeve, Goggles, Stimpack 6x, formal attire (silk)
10. Infiltrator Combat Android, DVK 'Micro-80X' Wristcomp, one disguise kit (new face and body), Scalpel 2x