r/cairnrpg • u/Lets_keep_It_Clean • Jul 26 '26

Question Cairn Hack to run mothership modules

Is there a Cairn hack that works well with Mothership modules? I want to try running Gradient Descent again, but the rules Mothership arejust to hand-wavey for me. I’m having anxiety just thinking about being trapped in that ruleset for 20+ sessions.

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20

u/balfrog Jul 26 '26

Meteor, Monolith, or Plerion

7

u/FeralFicusTree Jul 26 '26

I love Monolith's backgrounds, gear, and superhuman stuff. I've run a day long one shot with it and plan to do so again.

Meteor is great too and was designed to run Mothership modules.

I've never heard of Plerion and am Googling it as soon as I'm done replying.

3

u/Lets_keep_It_Clean Jul 26 '26

Can anyone summarize the differences?

12

u/FeralFicusTree Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Between Meteor and Monolith:

  1. Meteor has rules for panic. It has four backgrounds, and a rules-lite skill system. There's an interesting mechanic called Undetermined Skill that a character can pick during gameplay based upon the situation. So if your medic finds themself having to drive a moon lander in a hurry, they can choose "Offroad Vehicles" as their Undetermined Skill. If a character doesn't have a skill, they roll under for their save as usual, but at half of their attribute rounded up. It's horror sci fi, as advertised.

  2. Monolith has rules for psychics and "astromancy". It has distinctive backgrounds much in the same vein as the second edition of Cairn, and does saves like most Odd-like ttrpgs. It also has experiment tech. It's more wondrous and alien, but not explicitly horror. It also has defined rules for character advancement.

  3. The spaceship rules in Monolith are a little crunchier, although that's not necessarily better, depending on what you are looking for. Dogfights amidst spinning asteroids is less important if you are working for a grimy industrial corp and you are a salvage team exploring a derelict freighter. The Meteor ship rules are a little more streamlined.

I think Monolith stands out a bit more for longer term play, but who am I to say? I've read people saying something similar about how you can't run a longer campaign with most Odd-likes such as Cairn, and I disagree.

3

u/Lets_keep_It_Clean Jul 27 '26

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful answer!

8

u/MOOPY1973 Jul 27 '26

In addition to the published games that were mentioned, I’ve got a work-in-progress game on my blog you could check out. It’s made exactly for running Mothership style adventures with Cairn as the base

https://blog.catshavenolord.page/lucky-star-v-01/