Mothership vs Outrunners
Compare Mothership and Outrunners side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Mothership | Outrunners | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi, Horror | Horror, Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Deadly, One-Shot Friendly, Survival, Atmospheric, Low-Prep, Cinematic, Fast-Paced | Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Narrative, Fiction-First, Collaborative, Survival, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Worldbuilding, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 under stat/skill. Stress and panic mechanics escalate tension. | Each character assigns one die from a d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, and d4 set across six stats, then rolls the relevant stat's die against a difficulty number; if half that die's maximum already meets the DC, the action succeeds without a roll. Rolling a die's maximum value without beating the DC triggers a Twist of Fate, exploding up to the next larger die. Fate Points, earned mainly by failing rolls, are spent to reroll, sway outcomes, or invoke the Hands of Fate at a narrative cost. |
| Dice | d100 | d4–d20 |
| Complexity | Low | Low |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | 3rd Party License | ORC 1.0 (free SRD) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Tuesday Knight Games | Einsol's Razor |
| Year | 2022 | 2025 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Terrifying sci-fi horror one-shots and short campaigns. Panic table creates unforgettable moments. | Groups who want a rules-light, emotionally charged one-shot or short campaign about doomed characters racing to outrun a foreseen death, and GMs who want a portable fate-and-survival horror premise they can drop into almost any setting with little prep. |
| Highlights | Rules-light, well-regarded module library, panic system creates mechanical tension | Every character begins with a prophesied glimpse of their own death, which seeds concrete clues into the story and ties each session's tension to a deadline the player already knows is coming. Rolling a stat die's maximum without meeting the difficulty explodes it up to the next larger die, turning desperate long shots into escalating last-second reversals rather than flat failures. Fate Points are earned mainly by failing rolls and then spent to reroll, sway outcomes, or invoke the Hands of Fate, so setbacks bankroll later comebacks and every intervention carries a narrative cost. |
| Considerations | Panic table can cascade and end sessions abruptly, limited long-campaign support in core rules, stress mechanics can feel repetitive over extended play | The default Adamah setting is sketched in only a few pages and the game expects the table to invent most of the world at session zero, so groups wanting a prepared, detailed setting must supply it themselves. Equipment grants only narrative permission rather than mechanical bonuses, so players who enjoy itemization or tactical loadouts will find nothing to optimize. The foreseen-death premise is built to resolve at the Vision's deadline, making the game strongest as a one-shot or short arc and harder to sustain across a long, open-ended campaign. |