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CREATING YOUR CAPTAIN AND CREW
Every crew begins with a reason to continue.
Before choosing weapons, recruiting strange beings or searching the ruins of dead civilizations, a player must decide who leads their crew and what has brought them together.
The Captain is the centre of the crew's story.
They are the one who makes decisions.
They are the one who accepts the risks.
They are the one who remains standing when everything else begins to fall apart.
—
THE CAPTAIN
Every crew has one Captain.
The Captain is a unique member of the crew and is created by the player.
They may be:
- A survivor from a fallen civilization. - A warrior seeking glory. - A scavenger searching for forgotten treasures. - A machine carrying out a purpose nobody remembers. - A Mycelian intelligence inhabiting an unusual host. - Something else entirely.
The Captain does not need to be the strongest member of the crew.
A Captain's importance comes from their choices, not simply their power.
—
THE HUNGER
Every Captain has a Hunger.
The Hunger is the reason they continue when everything else has ended.
Mortisphere offers no promise of rebuilding the universe.
There is no final victory waiting.
There is only what remains.
A Captain's Hunger may be:
- Wealth. - Revenge. - Knowledge. - Survival. - Recognition. - Power. - Loyalty. - Faith. - Curiosity. - Something impossible.
The Hunger guides the crew's decisions throughout the campaign.
—
BUILDING YOUR CREW
After creating a Captain, players build the rest of their crew.
A standard starting crew has 60 points to spend.
Each crew member has a value determined by their Existence Die.
Die| Cost d4| 4 d6| 6 d8| 8 d10| 10 d12| 12 d20| 20
Players may spend these points however they choose.
A crew may consist of:
- Many weaker members. - A few powerful individuals. - A mixture of different beings.
There is no perfect composition.
Every choice creates strengths and weaknesses.
—
CHOOSING CREW MEMBERS
Available crew members are determined by the campaign.
At the beginning of the game, crews are assembled through the opportunities available in Last Light.
The settlement contains those willing, desperate or strange enough to join a dangerous expedition into the remains of the universe.
A recruit may be:
- A mercenary. - A mutant. - A machine. - A Mycelian host. - A forgotten remnant. - A creature adapted to the final age.
Each recruit brings their own abilities and limitations.
—
CREW IDENTITY
Before beginning the first scenario, players should consider what their crew represents.
Are they:
A band of professionals taking contracts from Last Light?
A group of scavengers looking for forgotten wealth?
A collection of dangerous beings united only by necessity?
A force following an ancient purpose?
A gathering of creatures that should never have worked together?
The answer does not need to be mechanically defined.
A crew's identity emerges through play.
—
STARTING EQUIPMENT
A crew begins with the equipment available through its starting options.
Further equipment is gained through:
- Completing scenarios. - Discovering forgotten locations. - Trading in Last Light. - Defeating enemies. - Making difficult choices.
The most powerful equipment in Mortisphere is rarely simply purchased.
It is found.
It is taken.
It is earned.
—
THE FIRST CREW
The first crew is not meant to be perfect.
It is meant to survive long enough to become something.
The members chosen at the beginning of the campaign are only the beginning of the story.
Some will become legends.
Some will be replaced.
Some will become unrecognisable compared to what they were.
But every crew begins the same way:
A few things that refuse to disappear.
LAST LIGHT
At the end of everything, there is still a place where people gather.
That place is Last Light.
It is the final great settlement of Mortisphere. A place built from the remains of countless ages, where survivors, machines, creatures and things that have no proper name continue to exist beneath the glow of artificial lights.
Last Light is not a symbol of hope.
It is not the beginning of a new age.
It is simply the last place that has not gone completely dark.
—
THE ROLE OF LAST LIGHT
Last Light is the centre of a crew's campaign.
Between scenarios, crews return here to recover, prepare and decide what comes next.
Within its walls, a crew may find:
- New recruits. - Equipment. - Information. - Opportunities. - Contracts. - Strange discoveries.
Everything has a price.
Sometimes that price is currency.
Sometimes it is a favour.
Sometimes it is simply surviving long enough to return.
—
THE MARQUIS OF LAST LIGHT
Last Light is governed by the Marquis.
The Marquis maintains order within the settlement and controls much of what remains of its resources.
The Marquis is not a hero.
The final age has little use for heroes.
The Marquis is a ruler who understands one simple truth:
A terrible order is still preferable to complete collapse.
Whether that makes the Marquis a necessary protector or simply another parasite feeding on the remains of civilization is a question every crew must answer for themselves.
—
THE MERCENARY GUILD
The Mercenary Guild is where crews find opportunities.
The Guild connects those who need something done with those willing to do it.
A contract may involve:
- Recovering lost technology. - Eliminating a dangerous creature. - Exploring unknown locations. - Protecting valuable assets. - Retrieving resources. - Investigating impossible discoveries.
The Guild does not care why a crew accepts a contract.
It only cares whether the task is completed.
—
RECRUITMENT
Last Light is one of the few places where a crew can find new members.
Those who gather here come from everywhere.
Some seek payment.
Some seek purpose.
Some seek escape.
Some simply want to see another day.
A recruit does not need to be trustworthy.
They only need to be useful.
—
TRADE AND REPAIR
The remains of dead civilizations are still valuable.
Within Last Light, crews may exchange their discoveries for:
- Equipment. - Repairs. - Services. - Information. - Access to new opportunities.
Some objects are understood.
Many are not.
A weapon may be centuries ahead of current knowledge.
A machine may contain instructions written by a species that disappeared before humans existed.
A relic may be priceless.
Or it may be worthless.
The difference is often discovered only after it has already been used.
—
LEAVING LAST LIGHT
Every journey begins the same way.
A crew gathers.
A contract is accepted.
Equipment is prepared.
The lights of the settlement disappear behind them.
Beyond the walls of Last Light is Mortisphere.
The dead worlds.
The forgotten places.
The things that survived.
The things that should not have.
A crew leaves because something waits outside.
Usually, it is something that wants them dead.
Sometimes, it is something they want even more.
THE CAPTAIN
Every crew has a Captain.
The Captain is the individual through which the player experiences the campaign. They are the one who makes decisions, accepts contracts, chooses risks and determines what the crew becomes.
A Captain is not simply the strongest member of a crew.
A Captain is the reason the crew exists.
—
CREATING A CAPTAIN
A Captain begins like any other survivor of Mortisphere:
Something that has continued when it should have ended.
A Captain may come from any origin available within the campaign.
They may be:
- A survivor of a lost civilization. - A warrior seeking purpose. - A scavenger searching for impossible treasures. - A machine carrying forgotten commands. - A Mycelian intelligence with its own ambitions. - A being changed by the final age.
The only requirement is that they have a reason to lead.
—
THE CAPTAIN'S ROLE
The Captain has several responsibilities within a crew.
They:
- Make decisions during the campaign. - Accept opportunities from Last Light. - Determine the direction of the crew. - Carry the consequences of failure. - Represent the crew's identity.
Other members may be stronger.
Other members may be stranger.
Other members may be older than entire civilizations.
But the Captain is the one who chooses what happens next.
—
THE CAPTAIN'S HUNGER
Every Captain has a Hunger.
The Hunger is the force that drives them forward.
In a universe where everything has ended, continuing requires a reason.
That reason does not need to be noble.
A Captain may desire:
Wealth
The accumulation of resources, treasures and relics from the dead universe.
Power
The desire to become something greater than what remains.
Knowledge
The search for forgotten truths buried beneath extinct civilizations.
Revenge
A debt that has survived even when almost everything else has not.
Survival
The simplest and most understandable Hunger.
Purpose
A reason to continue when there should be no reason left.
Faith
A belief in something beyond the ruins.
Glory
The desire to be remembered by whatever remains.
A Captain's Hunger shapes the campaign, but it does not determine every choice.
The final age has a way of changing even the strongest convictions.
—
CAPTAIN ADVANCEMENT
Unlike ordinary crew members, the Captain is expected to develop throughout the campaign.
A Captain does not simply become stronger.
They become more defined.
Their choices create their identity.
A Captain may gain:
- New abilities. - Equipment. - Followers. - Injuries. - Enemies. - Reputation. - Permanent consequences.
A Captain who survives long enough becomes inseparable from their history.
—
THE FALL OF A CAPTAIN
A Captain is difficult to remove.
While ordinary crew members become incapacitated when reduced to zero Health, a Captain may continue fighting beyond normal limits.
The Captain's survival represents the determination of the crew itself.
However, this does not make them immortal.
A Captain can still be defeated.
A Captain can still suffer consequences.
A Captain can still lose everything they have built.
The final age does not care who is important.
It only cares what remains.
—
THE STORY OF THE CREW
The Captain is the beginning of the story.
The crew is what carries it forward.
A Captain without a crew is only another survivor.
A crew without a Captain is only another collection of things refusing to disappear.
Together, they become something greater.
Not a hope.
Not a salvation.
A reason to continue.
RECRUITING YOUR CREW
A Captain is only as strong as the things willing to follow them.
The crew of Mortisphere is not a standard military force. It is a gathering of individuals brought together by necessity, opportunity, desperation or shared ambition.
Some join willingly.
Some are purchased.
Some are discovered.
Some are simply found still moving among the ruins.
A crew is built from whatever the final age has left behind.
—
THE RECRUITMENT POOL
The available recruits in a campaign are determined by the options discovered through Last Light, scenarios and campaign progression.
Not everything that exists in Mortisphere can be recruited.
Some things are too dangerous.
Some things are too intelligent.
Some things have their own reasons for continuing.
A potential recruit must have some reason to join the Captain's cause.
That reason may be:
- Payment. - Protection. - Curiosity. - Shared goals. - Personal ambition. - Instinct. - An agreement nobody else understands.
—
RECRUIT COST
Every recruit has an Existence Value.
This value is represented by their die.
The standard costs are:
Die| Cost d4| 4 d6| 6 d8| 8 d10| 10 d12| 12 d20| 20
When creating a starting crew, players spend their available points to recruit members.
A larger die represents a greater investment.
A smaller die allows a crew to contain more individuals.
—
CREW SIZE
There is no fixed number of members a crew must contain.
A crew may consist of:
- Many weaker beings working together. - A small number of powerful entities. - A mixture of survivors, machines, organisms and remnants.
Every approach creates different strengths.
A large crew has more bodies, more options and more opportunities to complete objectives.
A smaller crew has fewer members but each one carries greater individual power.
—
ORIGINS
The final age contains countless forms of existence.
The following are examples of origins available to crews.
Survivors
The descendants, remnants or altered forms of civilizations that once ruled the universe.
They rely on adaptation, skill and whatever equipment they can recover.
Machines
Constructs created for purposes that may no longer exist.
Some still follow ancient commands.
Some have developed new identities.
Some do not understand that their creators are gone.
Mycelians
Organisms that use biological remains as vehicles.
A Mycelian may inhabit a body, adapt a host or develop into something entirely different.
Not every Mycelian is a mindless organism.
Some possess intelligence, personality and ambition.
Remnants
Things that survived from previous ages.
Ancient beings.
Lost experiments.
Impossible creatures.
Entities that should have vanished with the worlds that created them.
—
RECRUITING THE UNUSUAL
Mortisphere does not have clean categories.
A machine may develop emotions.
A Mycelian may become an individual.
A survivor may become something barely recognisable.
A creature may carry technology older than civilization itself.
Origins describe where something came from.
They do not determine what it becomes.
—
NAMING THE CREW
Every crew should have a name.
The name may describe:
- Their origin. - Their purpose. - Their reputation. - Their Captain. - Something only they understand.
A crew's name may begin as a joke.
It may become a warning.
It may become the last thing remembered after everything else disappears.
—
YOUR FIRST CREW
When creating a starting crew:
1. Create your Captain. 2. Determine your Hunger. 3. Spend your starting points on recruits. 4. Choose available equipment. 5. Record your crew on the crew sheet.
Your crew does not need to be impressive.
It only needs to survive its first encounter.
That is more than most things in Mortisphere ever achieve.