RPGaDay 2025 28: Suspense
I once read about Hitchcock movies and the difference between fear and suspense. Fear being an immediate response to an immediate stressor. Suspense, on the other hand, is a response to an imagined negative future. When I think of this in the context of the OSR, Mothership immediately springs to mind. I dislike jumpscare horror but I really enjoy horror that creates a sense of unease. So, in that light, here’s a d8 table of elements to add a sense of unease to your suspenseful Mothership games:
| d8 | Element of unease |
|---|---|
| 1 | The base which should be vibrant with life is deathly silent and devoid of people. |
| 2 | Every single light has been turned off, and no computer is active. |
| 3 | Everybody smiles at the PCs but they have dead-eyed stares as they do it. |
| 4 | The alien ship that must be investigated seems fully organic in nature. |
| 5 | The sound of measured breathing is constantly heard via the radio. |
| 6 | The biochem lab has a set of biohazard containment units that have broken doors. |
| 7 | There’s massive amounts of blood everywhere but not a single body to be found. |
| 8 | The entire base is empty, except for a single, huge pile of dismembered bodies in the common area. |
Look forward to more RPGaDAY posts throughout the month!
