Mothership RPG Take the Waters
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One-Shot Pamphlet Adventure for Mothership 1e
Take the Waters
"You relax, you warm up, you let go. That's exactly what it wants, before it takes you."
What it's about
The prize vacation nobody wanted, in the worst possible way
Take the Waters is a one-shot pamphlet adventure (two-page brochure format) compatible with Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG 1e. The Company gives the crew daily passes to a spa as an end-of-year bonus. Shortly after arrival, the landing platform floods, and guests are stranded until the local shuttle can depart. How lucky: the owner gives them extra days for this unexpected, welcome vacation.
It's all a trick, and that's the heart of Take the Waters: a declared homage to Spirited Away, British folklore, and Korean spas. The pamphlet helps you make players forget they're playing a sci-fi horror RPG, presenting them with a luxurious thermal retreat, before reminding them with a flesh-eating witch that devours guests.
Inside the pamphlet, you'll find a multi-story bathhouse with pools, saunas, and real wood accents, a D10 table of clues to solve disappearances, D10 guests (aka future victims), a day-by-day timeline of how the vacation unravels, and stat blocks for two folkloric creatures, one of which has a name difficult to pronounce with a straight face. Take the Waters works as a standalone one-shot or as a location to be inserted into any campaign.
⚠️ Content Warning
Drowning, mind control, imprisonment. Take the Waters touches on heavy themes beneath its relaxed surface: play it knowing what you're bringing to the table.
From the FroGames desk
🥤 The secret in one line
The longer players relax, the harder the punch. This adventure's best weapon is comfort.
👨🍳 From table experience
It starts with a warm towel and a steaming pool. It ends with someone who doesn't resurface, and no one remembering how long they've been gone.
Four tables, one pamphlet
Who really needs this adventure
Take the Waters isn't an action adventure; it's a slow trap. Here are the four tables that get the most out of it.
If you're a Warden who loves a twist
You live for the moment the table realizes something is wrong. Here you have the tools to lull players into luxury and then flip everything: the day-by-day timeline does the work for you.
If you love folk horror
Witches, waters, disappearances: horror that comes from folklore rather than deep space. If Spirited Away and British legends speak to you, this is the tone you're looking for at the table.
If you want a mystery to solve
Guests disappear, and players must figure out why. With D10 clues and D10 guests ready, you have an investigation that stands on its own, without having to improvise every detail.
If you run a campaign
You need a memorable location to insert between sessions. The multi-story bathhouse connects to any Mothership campaign as a stop, a poisoned prize, or a luxurious trap.
Take the Waters
FrogScore editorial rating by FroGames based on rules, format, and tone of the adventureWhat you open in the pamphlet
Four pillars of Take the Waters
A multi-story bathhouse
Pools to immerse yourself in, saunas, real wood accents: a multi-level thermal location, described to make you role-play luxury before horror. The stage for the deception.
D10 guests (aka victims)
Ten ready-made guests, each with their own presence at the table. They disappear one by one: treat them as real NPCs, and their absences will truly be felt.
D10 clues and a timeline
Ten clues to help players solve the disappearances and a day-by-day timeline showing how the vacation unravels. The investigation organizes itself.
2 folkloric creatures
Stat blocks for two creatures from folklore, including a flesh-eating witch with a name impossible to pronounce with a straight face. The moment Take the Waters remembers it's horror.
Honesty first and foremost
What you WON'T find in this pamphlet
We tell you before, not after the purchase. Take the Waters is a one-shot pamphlet adventure, not a box set or a rulebook. Here's what it doesn't contain.
The Mothership rulebook
To play it, you need the Mothership 1e core manual (rules, classes, dice). This pamphlet is a compatible adventure, not a standalone system.
A long campaign
It's designed as a one-shot for an evening. If you're looking for an extended campaign, this isn't it. However, it can be attached as a location to an ongoing campaign.
Pregenerated character sheets
You bring your own crew or create it on the fly with Mothership's quick creation. The pamphlet focuses on the spa, guests, and monsters, not the PCs.
Italian edition
The pamphlet is in English. The text is evocative, and Mothership's English is accessible, but it needs to be read and rendered at the table.
A box of components
It's a printed pamphlet in brochure format, with the bathhouse mapped on the page. No miniatures, no plastic tokens, no game board.
Immediate horror
The design thrives on contrast: first relaxation, then horror. If you're looking for action and gore from the first minute, this slow-burn isn't for you. Patience here is part of the game.
No surprises during preparation
To bring it to the table tonight, you only need this
✅ You need…
- This pamphlet, with bathhouse, clues, and monsters
- The Mothership 1e core rulebook
- 2 to 4 players plus a Warden
- Percentile dice (d100), pen, and character sheets
❌ You do NOT need…
- Weeks of preparation
- Other expansions or supplements
- Extra maps (the bathhouse is included)
- To have seen Spirited Away (it helps, but is not required)
FroGames Advice
The temptation is to rush towards horror. Resist. Take the Waters works if you really invest in relaxation: describe the warm water, the towels, the wood, the silence. Let players drop their guard for an entire day of play. Use the D10 guests as real people, so when they start disappearing, the loss is truly felt. The day-by-day timeline is your metronome: follow it, and the deception will fall at the right moment.
"The water was so warm, the wood so real. No one noticed that the guests, one by one, weren't resurfacing."
📄
What the pamphlet containsEverything you open in brochure format
🎲
What you need to play itThe pamphlet is an adventure, not a system
Mothership 1e Core Rulebook
The system's manual, with rules, classes, Stress, and Panic. It's the engine that drives the adventure.
A Warden and a crew
2 to 4 players plus the GM. Characters can be brought from home or created on the fly with Mothership's quick character creation.
Percentile dice and character sheets
Mothership's dice set (d100 and polyhedral), pen, and character sheets. Nothing else.
From bonus to nightmare
What a spa vacation is really like
The Bonus
The Company gives the crew day passes to a spa as an end-of-year bonus. A generous gesture. Unusual. No one asks too many questions.
The Arrival
A luxurious multi-story bathhouse: steaming pools, saunas, real wood. The comfort is real, total, disarming. The crew lets their guard down.
The Platform Floods
The water blocks the shuttle. They remain stuck until it can restart. The owner gives them extra days. How lucky, right?
The Disappearances
One guest is missing. Then another. The clues don't add up, nor do the staff's answers. The first Stress roll. Paradise is crumbling.
The Hag
Under the pools, something ancient is hungry. Take the Waters remembers it's horror, and it does so with teeth. Now it's just about getting out alive.
From pamphlet to table
How to organize a session
Read the pamphlet
Fifteen, twenty minutes. The bathhouse, the D10 clues, the D10 guests, the timeline, and the two monsters. All concise, all ready.
Prepare the crew
PCs brought from home or created on the fly with Mothership's quick character creation. Just a few minutes to have a crew ready to relax.
Sell the relaxation
Truly invest in luxury: hot water, silence, friendly guests. The longer players relax, the harder the blow will fall.
Let it crumble
Follow the timeline day by day, scatter the clues, make guests disappear. When the hag arrives, the deception will already be complete.
Honesty in comparison
Take the Waters vs other Mothership one-shots
| Take the Waters | This Bunker Needs a Scrub | The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Location one-shot | Location one-shot | Classic one-shot |
| Tone | Folk horror, slow-burn | Splatter, macabre clean-up | Paranoia, hidden monster |
| Pacing | Slow, built on deception | Immediate, dirty | Medium, escalating |
| Preparation | Minimal | Minimal | Minimal |
| Hook | Bonus vacation that goes wrong | Cleaning contract | Monster among the crew |
| Positioning | Essential one-shot | Essential one-shot | Reference classic |
Why it ends up in your cart
Why it's worth 5 euros
The perfect deception
Lulling players into luxury and then overturning everything is a rare and powerful structure, and here it's ready to use.
Spirited Away atmosphere
An evocative bathhouse, blending folklore and spas, that gives your table an aesthetic beyond the usual space sci-fi.
Table-ready material
D10 clues, D10 guests, day-by-day timeline, and two stat blocks: the adventure stands on its own with very little improvisation.
A true mystery
The disappearances give players something to solve, not just to escape from. Investigation and horror in the same pamphlet.
Rare tone for Mothership
Aquatic folk horror instead of the usual space derelict: a variation that breaks the routine of your Mothership evenings.
Fits anywhere
Standalone one-shot or luxury location to attach to any Mothership campaign. Two uses, one purchase.
Its long-term value
How long will Take the Waters last
An evening that changes face
3 to 4 hours that start as a vacation and end as a nightmare. A complete arc: relaxation, mystery, disappearances, and the hag. A one-shot with a memorable twist that the table will remember.
A location that remains
Reuse the bathhouse as a stop in a campaign, or replay it with a group unfamiliar with the deception: the twist works again. The two folkloric creatures, moreover, live a life of their own elsewhere.
Bring Take the Waters to your next Mothership table and give players a vacation they won't forget.
FroGames as a consultant
The next step
The questions you're asking yourself
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it worth it for such a short pamphlet?
Do I need to know Spirited Away to play it?
Do I need the Mothership rulebook to play it?
How many players are needed?
Is it in Italian?
Can I use it in a campaign instead of as a one-shot?
Take the Waters is a one-shot pamphlet adventure compatible with the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG 1e, in English, a homage to Spirited Away, British folklore, and Korean spas. The Company gives the crew a vacation at a luxurious spa, but the landing platform floods and the guests get stuck: Take the Waters transforms a relaxing spa retreat into a slow-burn folk horror with a carnivorous hag. The pamphlet includes a multi-story bathhouse with pools and saunas, D10 clues to solve disappearances, D10 guests, a day-by-day timeline, and stat blocks for two folkloric creatures. Take the Waters is perfect as a low-prep Mothership one-shot or as a location to insert into any campaign. Content warning: drowning, mind control, confinement. Find Take the Waters and other Mothership 1e adventures on FroGames.it.
Mothership RPG Take the Waters
Frequently Asked Questions
The answers you're looking for, no beating around the bush.
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