Mothership vs Night's Black Agents
Compare Mothership and Night's Black Agents side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mothership | Night's Black Agents | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi, Horror | Horror, Modern |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Deadly, One-Shot Friendly, Survival, Atmospheric, Low-Prep, Cinematic, Fast-Paced | Investigation, Espionage, Character-Driven, Gritty |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 under stat/skill. Stress and panic mechanics escalate tension. | GUMSHOE engine. Investigative abilities auto-succeed — if you have the skill and there's a clue, you find it. General abilities (combat, athletics) roll 1d6 + spent points vs. difficulty 4. Point pools refresh between sessions, creating resource-management tension. Four play modes (Burn, Dust, Mirror, Stakes) tune mechanics to your preferred espionage tone. |
| Dice | d100 | d6 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Community | Medium | Medium |
| License | 3rd Party License | GUMSHOE SRD (CC BY 3.0 / OGL) |
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Tuesday Knight Games | Pelgrane Press |
| Year | 2022 | 2012 |
| Best For | Terrifying sci-fi horror one-shots and short campaigns. Panic table creates unforgettable moments. | Groups who want spy-thriller action fused with supernatural horror — burned agents unraveling a vampire conspiracy through investigation, chases, and tradecraft. |
| Highlights | Rules-light, well-regarded module library, panic system creates mechanical tension | Investigation never stalls — clues flow automatically, Conspyramid campaign structure is a well-designed GM tool, four tonal modes let you dial in the spy genre you want, highly modular vampire creation system, works stripped of vampires for pure espionage |
| Considerations | Panic table can cascade and end sessions abruptly, limited long-campaign support in core rules, stress mechanics can feel repetitive over extended play | NPC combat math can feel unbalanced against PCs, multiple point pools to track can bottleneck play, narrow genre focus limits reuse, requires significant GM prep for conspiracy networks |