Gradient Descent (Sci-Fi Horror)

Gradient descent is a renowned adventure, from the makers of Mothership.

This pen and paper / table top role playing adventure starts on Prospero's Dream, a space station hub in rim space, and from there the crew embark to The Deep. Once at The Deep, players go on dives, or Expeditions.

While there is the possibility of side missions and there’s plenty to do on the station, I’m mostly interested in a first run through of Gradient Descent to start with.

ABOUT
Dives to The Deep are organized around Expeditions, which are a group of players who go back and forth from The Deep, which facilitates open table play with player rotation between expeditions.

• Pen and paper / Table top RGP play (in person)
• Sessions (up to 3 hours each)
• Expedition based open player groups of 1 or more sessions
• Mostly Fridays (weekly or two weekly), sometimes Saturday
• Prefer consistent players, those who'll stick around to play at least a single expedition through
• Beginner-friendly, no-prep, turn up and play
• Mothership (1e) RPG
• Sci-fi horror
• Set in a retro sci-fi universe / Soft Sci (hand-wavy explanations)

TURN UP AND PLAY
Everything needed to play the game is provided and no preparation or experience are needed.

SIGN UPS AND JOINING AN EXPEDITION

• Please sign up only if you really intend to play and can stick thru with the current expedition and play that regularly.
• If you can’t attend, change your RSVP to Not Going as soon as possible to give others a chance to play.

OPEN TABLE
This is an open table, meaning anyone can join, but first spots go to those players in the Gradient Descent WhatsApp group.

If you do not get a spot, Join the wait list and the WhatsApp player group, that way you get a chance to join a new expedition.

EXPEDITION BASED PLAY
Play consists of expeditions, there and back from the Deep. This allows players to rotate between missions.

• Each expedition is 1 or more sessions, and ends when the players decide to.

COMMUNICATION
We use a WhatsApp group to share material and coordinate sessions.

PLAY STYLE
Fiction-first sci-fi horror based on modern OSR-style principles that emphasize player creativity, balancing risk-reward, facing sometimes hard and very open choices, investigation, exploration, problem solving, and when it comes to it, fast and lethal narrative-first combat.

While combat is fast, loose, and not move- and powers-based, an openly creative approach to combat certainly helps survival. It's the plan / setup that is often decisive and that's totally open and down to the group's creativity and very often this has nothing to do with the skills on your character sheet but your own imagination as well as things you use, on you and in your environment.

This is a big module, it is a very open space, with infinite, very open possibilities. It's more about dealing with situations in the way you choose to do, as opposed to a set story you are supposed to follow, and multiple character death is very likely.

While there is no formal levelling up, character growth emerges from the game itself: acquired experiences, reputation, items, allies, enemies, wounds, and from what the player chooses to (or not to) pursue.

Uses Theater of the Mind (verbal narration) supported with a few visuals when needed, with no battle maps or miniatures. That's for fast and smooth play that focuses on the player's own unique imagination.

Lastly, the setting is implied, not stated: from where you go, who you meet and often concretized by interaction and player suggestion.

WHAT THIS IS NOT
Some players have expectations, and so as not to disappoint them, and to be clear what to expect, this is what the game will not offer:

• Complex character building
• Long complex "move like" combat using skills and feats and multiple actions
• Complex character creation or builds with XP and levelling up
• Battle maps with miniatures
• Using only the character sheet to overcome problems and threats (perception, persuasion or trap checks, etc)

CONTENT WARNING
Mothership is a horror game for mature audiences. It contains depictions of violence, foul language, some sexual content, drug use, suicide, depictions of mental illness, trauma, stress, and panic as well as well as body horror that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Gradient Decent also depicts scenes of graphic violence, body horror, emotional trauma, psychological distress, obscene language, and harm to android children.

Please be advised.