Mien Mothership NPCs

Last year, I ran a Troika! campaign for several months and adored using its particular brand of reaction tables: Mien tables. As running distinct and memorable NPCs is definitely a weak point in my GMing ability, I've started creating some resources to help me quickly generate interesting characters and behaviors on the fly.

NPC Generation

Best used in conjunction with the great NPC tables found in Dead Planet, Pound of Flesh, and the Player's Survival Guide.

Ritual

1. Keeps a pet snake in their vacsuit.
2. Runs an office pool for first crewmember to bite it, bets against themselves.
3. Pours out a little air from O2 tanks when starting an EVA.
4. Brings a Revolver into Cryosleep.
5. Writes a new will for every expedition. Leaves best gear to favorite crewmates.
6. Insists on drawing lots for shit duties.
7. Gives everyone a new callsign.
8. Takes mementoes from dead crewmates.
9. Gets on good terms with the crew's Android(s).
10. Writes proverbs on their Cryosleep pod hood.

Vice

1. Fresh, real food.
2. Always smoking, including in vacsuit.
3. Pain Pills and Stimpaks.
4. Kills unnecessarily.
5. Cryosleep dreams.
6. Kleptomaniac.
7. Adrenaline junkie.
8. Intercepted comms voyeur. Always listening.
9. Fanatical religion.
10. Cosmetic biomods.

Tactic

1. Drops a live grenade on death.
2. Always goes in last.
3. Puts an extra bullet in any seemingly dead non-human.
4. Runs in to fire at point blank.
5. Goes for the legs.
6. Takes risky shots--fires past allies.
7. Always aims first.
8. Plays the environment--brings down ceilings, shoots red barrels, etc.
9. Pacifist. Does not fight unless convinced.
10. Protects favorite crewmate at all costs.

Mien

Use these tables to determine the initial disposition of an NPC, or to see how they respond to PC actions. Roll on the most applicable table if an NPC doesn't precisely fit the mold of the 4 core Mothership archetypes (e.g. Marine Mien for a pirate or Teamster Mien for a common civilian).

Marine

1. Self-Sacrificing
2. Professional 
3. Philosophical
4. Resigned
5. Overcompensating
6. Green
7. Wasted
8. Ornery
9. Mutinous
10. Berserk

Teamster

1. Keen
2. Reliable
3. Stoic
4. Jaded
5. Sardonic
6. Sinful
7. Cagey
8. Shifty
9. Rapacious
10. Broken

Scientist

1. Quixotic
2. Driven
3. Pragmatic
4. Pensive
5. Cold
6. Neurotic
7. Paranoid
8. Harrowed
9. Egomaniacal
10. Infected

Android

1. Obedient
2. Saccharine
3. Curious
4. Blunt
5. Impassive
6. Mocking
7. Punitive
8. Glitchy
9. Corrupted
10. Assimilated