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Tuesday Knight Games has recently announced a new campaign setting for their award-winning Mothership sci-fi horror RPG. Entitled Mothership: Prospero’s Dream, the campaign takes place aboard a massive rundown space station which was first introduced in the popular module A Pound of Flesh. In addition to new world building materials, the project will also feature three full zines, a Warden’s campaign toolkit, dice, maps, new adventures and additional stretch goals.
Prospero’s Dream is being launched as part of Mothership Month 2025 and is currently crowdfunding on Backerkit. Below, we crack open the airlock and take a closer look at all the terrifying details.
What is the Mothership RPG?
Mothership is a science fiction horror tabletop RPG first published by Tuesday Knight Games in 2018. It draws inspiration from both OSR role playing games, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and genre classics like Alien, Event Horizon and The Thing. Thematically, the game is all about building an atmosphere of terror and isolation, rather than action or combat.
Mechanically, Mothership uses a d100 percentile system that emphasizes fast play, high tension and player decision-making. Characters take on roles such as Teamsters, Scientists, Marines and Androids, each with specific skills and motivations. The game also features a Panic system that simulates the psychological collapse of characters under stress.
Notably, Mothership has become incredibly popular over the past decade, starting out as a single zine before evolving into a publishing line that includes a number of adventures and the Mothership 1E Core Set, which raised over $1.4 million on Kickstarter in 2021. The system has since inspired a number of supplements from third-party creators, with many featured in Tuesday Knight Games’ annual Mothership Month event.
What is the “Mothership: Prospero’s Dream” Backerkit about?
Mothership: Prospero’s Dream is a deluxe campaign setting and adventure collection centered on the sprawling space station known as Prospero’s Dream. The Backerkit box set includes:
- Mouths to Feed: A grim murder mystery set in the station’s slaughter factory, featuring missing workers, a serial killer and a cult awaiting a new messiah.
- God Complex: A stand-alone sequel to A Pound of Flesh that takes players into a nightmarish dreamscape haunted by the mind of a dead god.
- Living the Dream: A Warden’s notebook designed to help track locations, NPCs and ongoing events across multiple modules set on the Prospero’s Dream station.
- House Call: A one-shot pamphlet adventure involving a deadly infection and a desperate retrieval mission.
- Poster Maps: A massive double-sided map showing the Dream’s labyrinthine corridors and transit systems.
- Dice & Pawns: A set of percentile dice, a magenta Panic Die and over 15 cardstock pawns depicting denizens of the station.
The set will be available in both a Standard Magenta Edition and a Deluxe Foil Gold Edition, mirroring the design of the original Mothership Core Set.
What are the backer options for the new Mothership Backerkit?
Backers can choose from several pledge tiers depending on how deep they want to go into Prospero’s Dream.
- Digital Edition ($25 USD): Includes digital PDFs of Mouths to Feed, God Complex, Living the Dream and all stretch goals.
- Standard Boxed Set ($75 USD): Includes the physical Prospero’s Dream boxed set, all three zines, maps, dice, pawns and all unlocked stretch goals.
- Deluxe Boxed Set ($125 USD): Features the premium Foil Gold edition of the boxed set, along with the variant cover of A Pound of Flesh and exclusive extras.
- Mothership Month Collector’s Bundle ($250 USD): Includes everything from the Deluxe edition plus MEGADAMAGE 02 (the annual Mothership zine), additional accessories and crossover rewards from other Mothership Month projects.
Notably, each tier also includes access to the shared Mothership Month pledge manager, allowing backers to combine multiple projects and pay only one shipping fee.
Why Back “Mothership: Prospero’s Dream”?
- A complete campaign hub: Prospero’s Dream marks the first time we’ve seen a complete setting for the Mothership RPG, offering a solid base of operations for ongoing campaigns:
- Extra adventures content: The inclusion of bonus zines and modules offers a ton of extra content for Wardens looking to start a campaign or flesh out an existing one.
- Shared universe content: The Backerkit project features community modules and contributions, which is rare to see and really showcases how far Mothership has come.
- Backing a rare genre RPG: Mothership is both a growing indie game and one of the only sci-fi horror systems available, so backing it means supporting a genuinely unique TTRPG.
Final Thoughts
Mothership: Prospero’s Dream returns to one of the game’s most iconic settings and offers a campaign framework for more horrifying experiences in the depths of space. The Backerkit has already exceeded its target goal and is likely going to hit the $500,000 USD mark before it ends in a few weeks’ time.
You can support the project now on on Backerkit.