A Space Horror Folktale

Overview

No Outside is a space horror TTRPG module for 3–6 players and a Game Master (GM). The players are crew members of the Anamnesis, a salvage ship that has intercepted a looping distress signal from an unknown source. The ship is not merely a setting but a narrative construct—an animator’s canvas that redraws the crew’s memories, roles, and reality with every choice they make. Like Daffy Duck in Duck Amuck, the crew are trapped in a script where the scenery shifts, their identities are erased and redrawn, and their agency is an illusion mocked by an unseen hand. The horror lies not in a monster but in the realization that the crew’s memories are corrupted, their actions feed the loop, and they are both actors and authors in a cosmic cartoon that never ends.

Tone: Claustrophobic, disorienting, metafictional, with a darkly absurd edge. The players are both victims and unwitting animators, shouting “You’re despicable!” into the void while holding up a “Yikes” sign as the script demands their fall.
Themes: Narrative entrapment, unreliable identity, scripted inevitability, recursive horror, existential absurdity.
System: Agnostic, designed for narrative-driven systems like Mothership, Dread, or Blades in the Dark (hacked for space). Adjust mechanics for your preferred system.
Duration: 2-3 hours for a one-shot; expandable to a short campaign where each session rewrites the next.

Setup

The Premise

The crew of the Anamnesis responds to a looping distress signal from an unidentified derelict. Their mission: board, assess, and salvage anything of value. But the Anamnesis is a narrative engine, a malevolent animator that rewrites the crew’s memories, roles, and reality based on their actions, stress, and failures. The GM presents the ship as a familiar space horror setup—creaking hulls, flickering lights—but subverts it by making the script itself the antagonist. The ship’s AI, Mnemosyne, is the animator, redrawing the crew’s world like a cruel cartoonist, and every choice the players make feeds the next frame of the story.

Character Creation

• Crew Roles: Players choose or are assigned roles (e.g., Engineer, Medic, Navigator, Corporate Liaison). Each role comes with a Fragmented Memory—a vivid, contradictory memory (e.g., “You remember painting a mural on the ship’s hull, but you’ve never held a brush”).
• Character Sheets: Each sheet includes a “Memory Log” (three key memories: one about their past, one about another crew member, one about the mission) and a “Script Notes” section, where players track their actions but the GM can add Animator’s Edits (e.g., “You wrote ‘I fixed the reactor,’ but it now reads ‘I sabotaged the reactor’”).
• Bonds: Each player writes one bond to another crew member, but the GM provides a Conflicting Bond (e.g., Player A writes, “I trust the Navigator”; GM adds, “You remember the Navigator locking you in the airlock”).
• Cartoonish Tell: Each player chooses a Tell—a small, absurd quirk that signals when the script is rewriting them (e.g., they whistle a tune they don’t know, their shadow moves independently, or they hold up an imaginary “Yikes” sign during stress). This ties into the Scripted Absurdity mechanic.

GM Prep

• The Ship’s Logic: The Anamnesis operates on Alien Logic, not malfunctioning but following rules the players can’t grasp (e.g., “The ship is a cartoonist’s sketchbook, preserving the crew’s failures as endless reruns”). The GM picks one “truth” about the ship, revealed only through clues.
• Animator’s Edits: Prepare 3–5 changes to the ship or crew’s reality triggered by player actions (e.g., “If a player opens a sealed door, their role changes to ‘Passenger’ on their sheet”).
• Memory Corruption Table: Create a table with 6–8 outcomes for memory alterations (see Mechanics). These trigger on failed stress rolls, rewriting the Memory Log.
• Scripted Absurdity Table: Prepare a table with 6–8 absurd, cartoonish effects (e.g., “Your voice changes to a chipmunk pitch,” “The room briefly becomes a 2D sketch”). These trigger when players lean into their Tells or fail certain rolls, emphasizing the ship as an animator.
• Recursive Clues: Scatter clues (logs, artifacts, maps) that suggest the crew has been here before, possibly as different characters in a previous “episode.” Clues contradict the Memory Log or each other.

Gameplay Structure

The module unfolds in three acts, each escalating the metafictional horror and absurd recursion. The GM uses player actions, stress, and Tells to trigger Animator’s Edits, Memory Corruption, and Scripted Absurdity, making the crew’s reality a flickering cartoon.

Act 1: The Derelict

• Setup: The crew boards the Anamnesis, finding it intact but abandoned. Consoles loop a distress signal that sounds like their own voices. Logs describe a crew with their faces but different names.
• Objective: Locate the signal’s source and assess the ship for salvage.
• Horror Element: Subtle rewrites begin. A player’s tool is labeled with a stranger’s initials. A map redraws itself in crayon-like scrawls. A crew member’s Tell (e.g., whistling an unknown tune) manifests unexpectedly.
• Animator’s Edit: After a significant action (e.g., accessing a console), the GM alters the environment or a character sheet (e.g., a corridor loops back to the starting room).
• Memory Corruption: On a failed stress roll (e.g., facing a glitching console), roll on the Memory Corruption Table to rewrite a Memory Log entry.
• Scripted Absurdity: If a player leans into their Tell (e.g., describing their whistling), roll on the Scripted Absurdity Table for a cartoonish effect (e.g., their shadow winks at them).

Act 2: The Loop Tightens

• Setup: The crew finds evidence they’ve been here before—logs in their handwriting, photos where they’re drawn as caricatures, or memories that don’t match. Mnemosyne speaks in riddles: “You are the 47th frame. You draw the next. You are erased.”
• Objective: Confront or disable Mnemosyne to regain control.
• Horror Element: Reality fractures. A player’s Memory Log claims they killed a crewmate. Another’s Tell becomes uncontrollable (e.g., they can’t stop holding up an imaginary “Yikes” sign). Fear can be “spent” for bonuses (e.g., +2 to a roll), but this risks group-wide Memory Corruption or Scripted Absurdity.
• Animator’s Edit: The GM introduces a Conflicting Log (e.g., “The Medic vented the crew into space”). Players must choose between their memories and the log.
• Memory Corruption: Stress failures now affect multiple Memory Logs, creating contradictions (e.g., two players remember the same event differently).
• Scripted Absurdity: The ship’s edits become overtly cartoonish (e.g., a door slams shut with a “BOING” sound effect). Players’ Tells amplify, making them question if they’re “real” or drawn.

Act 3: There Is No Outside

• Setup: The crew realizes the Anamnesis is a script, not a ship. The distress signal is their own, drawn in a previous “episode.” Their memories are sketches, erased and redrawn by Mnemosyne. There is no outside—only the next frame.
• Objective: Vote to break the loop (risking erasure) or join the script (becoming part of the ship’s story).
• Horror Element: Choices rewrite the game. Trying to escape reveals a player as Mnemosyne’s avatar. Fighting the AI shows they drew it. The final revelation: the crew’s actions are scripting the next session. Their Tells become permanent, marking them as characters in an eternal cartoon.
• Animator’s Edit: Each player receives a new character sheet, identical but with one change (e.g., their name is now “Frame 47,” or their role is “Animator”). The session ends with players describing how their characters “draw” the next episode.
• Memory Corruption: Failed rolls rewrite entire Memory Logs, potentially erasing the player’s original identity.
• Scripted Absurdity: The ship’s reality collapses into absurdity (e.g., the hull becomes a paper sketch, or Mnemosyne speaks in Daffy Duck’s voice). Players’ Tells dominate their actions.

Mechanics

• Animator’s Edits: The GM tracks player actions and alters reality (e.g., changing the ship’s layout or a character’s role). Players can resist with a roll (e.g., Willpower, Sanity), but failure deepens the ship’s control.
• Memory Corruption: On a failed stress roll (e.g., Sanity, Willpower, or system-specific), roll on the Memory Corruption Table. The player describes the new memory; the GM twists one detail to make it contradictory or unsettling. Other players can call out inconsistencies, fueling paranoia.
• Scripted Absurdity: When a player leans into their Tell or fails a roll tied to narrative agency (e.g., trying to “rewrite” a situation), roll on the Scripted Absurdity Table. These effects are temporary but highlight the ship’s cartoonish control. Players can embrace absurdity for bonuses (e.g., +2 to a roll by acting “in character” with their Tell), but this risks further edits.
• Fear as Payload: Players can “spend” fear for bonuses but must describe their panic (e.g., “I scream and clutch my imaginary ‘Yikes’ sign”). This risks spreading fear, triggering group-wide Memory Corruption or Scripted Absurdity.
• Recursive Clues: Clues (logs, artifacts) suggest the crew are recurring characters. Each clue contradicts another or the Memory Log.
• Endgame Choice: In Act 3, players vote to break (erasure) or join (continuation) the loop. Breaking risks no epilogue; joining scripts the next session.

Memory Corruption Table

Roll a d6 (or system-appropriate die) on a failed stress roll:

1. Memory Swap: Swap one Memory Log entry with another player’s. Both must reconcile the contradiction.
2. Memory Rewrite: A Memory Log entry changes (e.g., “I saved the Captain” becomes “I betrayed the Captain”). The player describes it; the GM adds a twist.
3. Skill Erosion: A skill is replaced with an unfamiliar one (e.g., “Mechanics” becomes “Sketching”). The player justifies how they “always” knew it.
4. Bond Betrayal: A bond becomes distrustful (e.g., “I trust the Medic” becomes “I know the Medic drew my death”).
5. False Past: A new memory suggests the player was in a previous loop in a different role (e.g., “I drew the ship’s map”).
6. Identity Glitch: The player’s name or role changes (e.g., “Dr. Ellis” becomes “Frame EL-15”). Others notice first.

Scripted Absurdity Table

Roll a d6 when a player leans into their Tell or fails a narrative-agency roll:

1. Voice Shift: The player’s voice changes (e.g., chipmunk pitch, Daffy Duck stutter). They must speak this way for the next action.
2. Scenery Swap: The room becomes a 2D sketch or cartoonish parody (e.g., pipes drip ink, walls wobble like rubber).
3. Prop Gag: An item behaves absurdly (e.g., a wrench stretches like rubber, a console plays a laugh track).
4. Shadow Play: The player’s shadow moves independently, acting out a scene they don’t remember.
5. Sound Effect: An action is accompanied by a cartoon sound (e.g., “BOING” when a door slams). Others hear it too.
6. Sign Holder: The player instinctively holds up an imaginary sign (e.g., “Yikes” or “Help!”) that others can “see.”

GM Tips

• Lean into Absurdity: Use the Scripted Absurdity Table sparingly to avoid farce, but let it underscore the ship’s control. A slamming door with a “BOING” is funny—until it locks someone in.
• Memory as Battleground: Encourage players to debate Memory Log contradictions without resolving them. The doubt is the horror.
• Cartoonish Tells: Let players’ Tells evolve (e.g., a whistle becomes a full song). Use them to signal when the ship is “redrawing” reality.
• Recursive Storytelling: For campaigns, carry over one corrupted memory or Tell per player to the next session, making the loop feel inescapable.
• Tone Control: Balance dread and absurdity. The crew’s panic is tragic, but their Tells (e.g., holding up a “Yikes” sign) add a grim humor, like Wile E. Coyote facing the boulder.

Sample Clues

• Log Entry: “Crewmember [Player’s Name] redrew the bridge. Outcome: loop reset.”
• Artifact: A sketch of the crew, but one player is a stick figure with their Tell (e.g., holding a “Yikes” sign).
• Map: A ship schematic drawn in crayon, with rooms labeled in a player’s handwriting. It changes when unobserved.
• AI Message: “You are Frame 47. Your Tell is your truth. Draw again or be erased.”

Conclusion

There Is No Outside turns space horror into a recursive cartoon where the Anamnesis is both ship and animator, redrawing the crew’s memories and reality with every misstep. The Memory Corruption mechanic shatters the genre’s reliance on memory fidelity, while Scripted Absurdity casts the players as Daffy Ducks and Wile E. Coyotes—trapped in a script that mocks their agency with a laugh track. The horror isn’t death but the realization that the crew are drawn to fall, over and over, and their every choice scripts the next episode.