Johnson Squared: a farcical whodunit mystery for Mothership RPG

Johnson Squared: a farcical whodunit mystery for Mothership RPG

Deputised with the full legal powers of Janus Corp, the Crewmembers must identify a rogue scientist leaking data off-colony. The only problem: everyone on the station is an exact clone of the same man.
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MOTHERSHIP MONTH 👽

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This project is part of MOTHERSHIP MONTH 👽, which runs from November 12th - December 11th 2024. Learn more →

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A farcical Cronenbergian romp featuring: Sabotage! Corporate Spies! Experimental Mutagenic Serum!

And Janus Corp have hired you to get to the bottom of it!

Find the Renegade, save the Project, but hurry! You’re on company time!

Farcical Whodunit: A mystery for the ages with a colourful cast of suspects featuring: Johnson, Johnson, Johnson, Johnson, Johnson, Johnson, and Johnson. Don’t let the farce fool you, there’s plenty of horrors lying in wait across Gemini Station.

Corporate Enforcers: It's up to you to investigate the mysterious happenings occurring on Gemini Station. Janus Corp have deputised you to get the job done by any means necessary. Acting counter to Janus Corp™’s interests may have financial, reputational and even lethal consequences.

An A5, 60 page, staplebound zine printed lithographically on the fanciest paper we could get our hands on. For the paper nerds: we're printing on Arctic's Munken Lynx and using Pantone colours on the covers, as well as a soft-touch varnish. Eryk's still looking for suppliers in the UK who can do it, but we're wanting to use staples with a squared spine like the one Emiel Boven used on The Electrum Archive. 
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Janus Corp™: Janus Corp is in the business of genetic engineering, with portfolios in the health and agriculture sector, but mostly in massive bio-weapon manufacturing. After recent mishaps at Gemini Station and now fearing corporate espionage, or worse, a drop in shareholder value, they are sending you to investigate and solve this mystery so the company can get back to what it does best: turning people into monsters of mass destruction.

Gemini Station: Gemini Station is a small research outpost nestled on a remote jungle moon designed to study and devise military applications of the genetic engineering the Johnsons pioneered. We’re certain you will enjoy your stay at the station with the colourful staff, and please note that all news of escaped mutations are just rumours.
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The Project: With their sabotage, whoever the Renegade is on Gemini Station has jeopardised the fate of the ‘Project’ on the eve of its completion. The culmination of years of work and the lives of many Johnson clones, possibly lost in vain. Janus Corp wants the Project completed, and the only way to do that is to recover the stolen Data-Drive and neutralise the Renegade. 
 
The Escape: The Renegade plans to escape with the stolen Data-Drive on the evening shuttle and leave a ruined Gemini Station in their wake. But they did not anticipate the arrival of the Crewmembers. The Players will have a single day to resolve the issue, before the Renegade blows the whole thing up. 
 
Holding Court: Paranoia is rife on Gemini Station. Throughout the day, as the Crewmembers investigate there will be several options to form an impromptu court in the canteen, where rumours can be gathered, accusations cast, and evidence shown, all in the search for the Renegade.
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You can’t have a whodunit mystery without a sordid bunch of characters to point fingers at. One of the following characters in the Renegade.  
 
  • Seven active clones of the maniacal genius geneticist, Doctor Richard Johnson. Each with their own schemes and suspicions to investigate. 
 
  • Three members of staff, the careerist administrator, Erika Debicki, the slack security officer, Isaiah Hudson, and the underhanded steward, Alek Greerson. 
 
  • Five so-called ‘Defective Johnsons’ eking out a hardscrabble life in the wild jungle around the station. Please note that their existence is purely speculative and Janus Corp will not tolerate rumours of defective clones living on any Janus Corp Property. 
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Mutagenic Serum: The latest and greatest in Janus Corp tech. Why spend decades breeding a destructive bio-weapon when your enemies can become one for you? Just one dose of Janus Corp Mutagenic Serum (patent pending) will turn even the toughest of humans into rampaging monsters, destroying everything around them.
 
Makeshift Weapons: Grudges and schemes fester in Gemini Station. Get your hands on home-made weapons, secret pistols and more!
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Unique Specimens: A menagerie of twisted Specimens born out of the immoral genetic meddlings of the Johnsons await the unwary.

Conspiracies Abound: Everyone knows the best way to climb the corporate ladder is to throw someone else off of it, and in this case someone else is you! Watch your back in a situation full of devious characters who'd love nothing more than for you to fail.

Severe Johnson Exposure:
They didn't clone him and make him work alone for nothing, Johnson will be a tough nut to crack and even the strongest of minds may break under the strains of questioning with half a dozen egg heads. 
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Joshua Luke Cable, Writer
Joshua Luke Cable is a writer, filmmaker and events assistant from Yorkshire, with a voracious appetite for audiobooks and film, and a penchant for writing horror and historical fiction. He is a contributing writer at Peregrine Coast Press, on projects such as ‘Transmission For Them‘ and 'Filmmakers Without Cameras'. You can follow him at @jlcable.bsky.social.

Samuel T. McNally, Writer
Sam is a writer and filmmaker, using a mix of celluloid, TTRPG's, cameras and prose to deliver stories ranging from abstract horrors to absurd comedies. His latest short horror 'DO NOT OPEN' is in film festivals now and is working on much more.

Chris Airiau, Editor
Chris Airiau is a neurodivergent sf game writer living in France, forever obsessed with the weird and speculative. As 5 Million Worlds Press, they have published When in Rome and Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones for Mothership RPG, among others. You can keep up with their makings at 5mwpress.substack.com or chrisair.itch.io.

Eryk Sawicki, Layout & Design
Eryk is a pierogi-core grafik dezajner (Sin Eater, Sidekick, Transmission For Them) currently living in the UK. His time is spent running Peregrine Coast Press, organising games workers with the IWGB Trade Union, and being a fixer at SoulMuppet. He doesn't have any free time.

Kyle Prior, Artist & Illustrator
Kyle Prior is a freelance illustrator and designer who combines his love of all things sci-fi with a keen interest in myth and folklore to build worlds, create characters and tell stories for museums, immersive experiences, and print. You can follow him on instagram at @kyle.b.prior. I’m sure he’ll post on there eventually, right?
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All shipping will be handled internally at Peregrine Coast Press at our cosy little studio in Leeds, UK.

Shipping will be EU friendly and have all taxes pre-paid so your packages will arrive quickly and (relatively) cheaply. Exact shipping will be calculated and collected after the campaign through the Pledge Manager.

You can expect to pay:
- UK: £4.50
- EU: £5-£10
- US: £7

We're on track to print and ship in January.
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Brace yourself for Mothership Month—a group-collab project led by Tuesday Knight Games featuring some of the brightest stars from the Mothership third-party publishing (3PP) community. Each 👩‍🚀 creator has launched a brand new adventure filled with criminals, smugglers, and rimspace pirates.


 

Mothership Month Supply Pods

🚀 Back 5+ projects at the physical level and gain access to the SUPPLY PODS.
Every five projects that fund, you get ANOTHER Supply Pod with more free goodies.

🌟 Supply Pod 1 (Unlocks 5 Projects): x1 pack of Mothership CHARACTER CARDS. Each pack contains 13 pre-made character cards ready for use as pre-gen characters or NPCs. Each pack comes with at least one FOIL card.
🌟 Supply Pod 2 (Unlocks at 10 Projects): Stay tuned as we reveal more supply pod as the campaigns fund!
🌟 Supply Pod 3 (Unlocks at 15 Projects): Stay tuned as we reveal more supply pod as the campaigns fund!
🌟 Supply Pod 4 (Unlocks at 20 Projects): Stay tuned as we reveal more supply pod as the campaigns fund!

Streams, Interviews, and more!

All month long, we're diving into the void with daily streams, unsettling interviews, and exclusive, heart-pounding reveals. Whether you're a veteran spacer or new to the Mothership, join us in celebrating the universe’s bravest survivors…and those who didn’t make it back.

Thanks for joining us on our first ever Mothership Month! 👽
If you believe that this project is not in compliance with BackerKit’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, you can file a report by sending a message via this link: Report this project