Seven years ago today, we launched Mothership at Origins Game Fair 2018. We had a short-run zine, we only printed 50 copies total, and our marketing consisted of a single post on G+ (rip). We sold out by Saturday.
In seven years, Mothership has grown far beyond anything we imagined:
💸 $3M+ raised through crowdfunding campaigns.
📦 250,000+ copies sold.
🌐 100,000+ followers across social platforms.
📚 300+ books published by first- and third-party creators.
🛠️ 100+ third-party publishers.
📰 Featured in Forbes, Polygon, and more.
🏆 Multiple industry award winner.
A Brief Flight Log
There are ups and downs to any project, and we've definitely had our share. When you zoom out though, it's clear that we have something to show for our time.
2018: We printed 50 copies of the Mothership Player’s Survival Guide and brought them to Origins. They sold out in four days. That weekend changed my life. Within six weeks, Donn Stroud, Fiona Geist, and Jarrett Crader, and I had written, edited, illustrated, and printed Dead Planet, the first Mothership module.
2019: The third-party community took off. Zine creators and adventure writers pushed Mothership into new territory. A Pound of Flesh, the second Mothership module releases. We win Best Game at the ENnies and Best Adventure (silver) for Dead Planet.
2020: COVID hit. But the game didn’t slow down. People started playing online. One-shots boomed. The community flourished in lockdown. We released Gradient Descent and picked up another Best Adventure (gold) for A Pound of Flesh.
2021: Our Kickstarter for Mothership 1E raised $1.4 million exceeding our wildest expectations.
2022–2023: A long delay as we worked on the boxed set. The community flourished with huge releases like Hull Breach. Yet another reminder that we don't succeed alone.
2024: The final 1e boxed set began shipping, including the Player’s Survival Guide, Warden’s Operations Manual, and Unconfirmed Contact Reports, the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, as well as Another Bug Hunt, our starter adventure. The first ever Mothership Month launched with 20 creators raising over $1 million, our second time to break that mark. Wages of Sin alone pulled in almost half a million.
2025: We're still going. We're looking at new media, new adventures, and new ways to scare the hell out of you. Our team is bigger than ever and we’re so excited to show you what’s next.
If Mothership has meant something to you — if you’ve run it, played it, hacked it, published for it, blogged about it, run an AP — thank you. This game exists because of you.
Here’s to another seven years in space.
— Sean
You built one of the most astounding communities around your game! And it shows!
Mothership has been both a gamechanger generally and life changer for myself. Thanks Sean and everyone involved at TKG.