Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique a wide range of modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath.

Cryo-Siq is a 6 page module for Mothership by Waco, where you are awakened from cryo-sleep and hunted by an assassin that has snuck onto the ship. I backed this on Kickstarter.

This tiny module slaps. The player characters are awakening from Cryo-sleep, so you have an immediate goal (get a stim-pack) and a mystery (who took the stim-packs?). The rooms are lettered, but additional numbering indicates vents and the presence of a lock (clever!). Your enemy is a mastermind, so he’s out-thought the player characters already by one step, so it’s the players job to out-think them. The referee doesn’t have to figure out how to be smart — just follow the module — there are 6 creative ways the assassin does this, in a random table, which is really fun and deadly, as well as a bunch of things baked into the module. There’s a small but solvable mystery to discover who the assassin is masquerading as on the crew, as well. All of these add up to a toy box feeling akin to the recent Hitman videogames.

Added to that is a small but meaningful map. Each room has 1-2 points of interaction, that make them worth interacting with and seeking out. I really like how they are linked, drawing you deeper in. They could use additional clarity, though — there’s a little too much implication — “If the core remains exposed for 30 minutes, lethal dose radiation will bombard the room.” is the first mention of the exposed warp core for example. Similarly, it’s implied the assassin was always on the ship, but not clearly stated. This happens a lot — the little bit of extra exposition would make this easier to run blind, something which a module of this size is perfect for.

Cryo-Siq is a compact little module. It’s fully illustrated — Waco does an amazing job with the art — and gorgeously coloured, but the text could use some space to breathe, in my opinion. I’m not sure the logic behind the 6 page count — the majority of the module is across 2 spreads, which seems intentional, but the map is on the back of that spread, despite being both gorgeous and center-stage. I think this is a module that wants to be printed, but the layout needs more foresight for it to be more functional. Add 2 pages, flesh out some of the items that are missing, and put the map and random tables are on one sheet, with key and introduction are on the other — this would remove a bunch of these flaws.

If you’re looking for a one-shot Mothership module, and enjoy the kind of module where players are being hunted, or they’re solving a mystery, Cryo-siq is for you. I think it would benefit from a scenery-chewing referee, because it has a main character in the assassin, but it really fits a fun niche in the Mothership ecosystem. Cryo-Siq is perfect for any con or introduction to Mothership, particularly when you don’t have much time.

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