Recently I wrote CHILDREN OF EDEN my first tri-fold module for the MoSh Month Game Jam; and while preparing to do so, I decided to analyze some of the most highly regarded tri-folds available for Mothership (most influentially a widely loved classic “the Haunting of Ypsilon 14”); finding several things to be consistent between most of them. For those who are embarking on their first time writing an adventure in this wonderful but very restrictive style and might be concerned by how economic you have to be with the amount of information you can fit in the adventure… well this is for you! For those who already have written in this style you might already know all of this but even still it might be worth focusing on all the details so as to really make your next Tri-fold pop!

To Start, let’s get some of the more boring “by the numbers” info out of the way. Using an 8 point Font you can fit around 400 words (~2500 characters) on each “Page” of the Tri-Fold. (For Example, in TKG’s “The Haunting of Ypsilon 14” they use an 8 point Arial Narrow as its body text.) this means you have roughly 2200 words to get your adventure across to the warden, which is not a lot so being efficient with how you write is key! (Note: I say 2200 words instead of 2400 words as your front Page you will likely want to fill a good portion with a Title & Picture as a “Cover Image” as well as needing to fill some space with the legalese required for the M1E license etc…)

Second, some quick terminology (none of this is official, just the way I think about things, so as to make it clear when I use terms later). While a tri-fold is one page front and back, I find it helpful to think of each section as a “page” and as the front of the paper folds AROUND the back you get a little bit of an odd layout that looks something like this:

“Page 1” is the fold on the far right of the front of the paper, then as you open that you see the opposite side of the front page so that becomes “page 2” which then as you open further you reveal what I call “the spread” which is essentially the full back side of the paper or “Page 3, 4, & 5”. finally if the tri-fold is folded up and you flip it around you see the middle of the front of the paper, this makes it the “Back” of the tri-fold or “Page 6”. (its hard to talk about a 3 dimensional object made out of a flat plane folded over on itself… but hopefully that all made sense haha)

So we now know both “How Much” and “In What Position” the standard tri-fold is, lets talk about the actual important bit… what sorts of things do you fill it with? The following are just suggestions but I feel they worked quite well for me.

Page 1 — A.K.A. “The Cover”

Overview: page 1 is about selling your module, and quickly telling the warden looking at it what they would be getting themselves into!

Title & Art -

catch the buyer’s eye (who say’s “don’t judge a book by its cover” its quite literally why covers are well designed! be striking this is your first impression make it count!)

Synopsis -

a short, few line rundown of the adventure (this is the first thing a potential buyer will read and it sets the tone for what kind of an adventure they can expect to find inside and the sort of tone they will want to emulate when running the module)

Warden Notes -

A breakdown of “how to read this module” or specialized rules for this adventure (for example if the horror moves from one room to another and you have a mechanism for determining where its at, that would go here…) this really just helps highlight how the Warden should be reading/what they are looking for while reading the module.

Goal / Win Conditions -

What do the PC’s need to do in order to “Win” the scenario? Is there even a way to win? or maybe just a way to lose?… (In my adventure I have this as a “Player Character Briefing” which could be read to the players to sort of say “We have reports of _____ and are sending you in to do _____ for the sake of _____”) this sets the goal for the players (and the Warden) at the outset. This maximizes “usability” making your tri-fold very friendly to Wardens and helps it to be very “Pick up & Play” (there is nothing worse than trying to learn a board game and hearing a block of text about converting this currency for that without knowing how you win… context is key!)

License & Legalese -

its got to go somewhere, so bottom of page 1 or bottom of page 6 are your two best options.

PAGE 2 — A.K.A. “The Flap”

Overview: if page 1 is setting the stage, page 2 is introducing the warden’s “Players” (the tools they will use for interaction) NPC’s and the Horror!

NPC List -

Fairly obvious, but you want NPC’s! but more than that, a quick guide to all the NPC’s in one place, and one that gives important info such as the NPC’s Rank (if they are tied to a military or similar), a specific habit or tick to make them stand out, or an over all vibe.

What is really happening? -

Much of Mothership gameplay comes across as a sort of mystery (not all obviously). A lot of horror comes from the unknown, and so solving “what is happening” is an important part of many MoSh adventures for players BUT that said it should not be kept a mystery for the Warden reading the module! similar to it being a good practice to give the Warden and Players the “Goal” its also important for the warden to know very quickly what is happening, this will help them to parse and be able to run your adventure well. (remember the Warden will make it a mystery for the players, you are not writing a mystery for the warden!) think of this as the “motivation” for the warden’s “actors”. also, as this is here on page 2 you don’t have to worry as much about one of your Players seeing this info just on the front or back pages of the trifold, this is as early as you can give the warden “what’s going on” with minimal chance of giving it to the players.

The Horror -

right after you lay out what is happening for the warden I think its good practice to give your warden the tools (or toys!) they will get to play with during the module… if a giant meat cube is going to be slowly consuming NPC’s and Crew members, its important for the Warden to know HOW that meat cube moves, eats, hides, and otherwise threatens those living through the events of your adventure. (The standard statblock can be found throughout Mothership Adventures and Guides, but a word of caution, this is one of the places where you see changes between 0e and 1e, so make sure you are following an up to date stat block!)

Pages 3, 4, & 5 — A.K.A. “The Spread”

Overview: as the tri-fold is unfolded, the spread becomes the largest block of visual real estate. This can be 3 individual pages like the rest of the module, but based on the form factor, if you want to do 2 or even all 3 of these pages as an interconnected piece, a large map and key, whatever… well here is your chance to do so.

Locations -

Where are events of your adventure taking place? are certain events triggered by arriving at/leaving/ or otherwise experiencing a location? are there NPC’s located here? are there puzzles? traps? clues? directions towards other locations? locked doors?… you get the picture… this is (at least for me) the bulk of where the adventure writing takes place. Bonus points if you can lay out these locations/descriptions in the shape of a map with connective lines between them! (again Ypsilon 14 proving to be a hell of a well crafted adventure!)

Page 6 — A.K.A. “the Back Panel”

Overview: page space is at a premium, having “no blank pages” is a good standard to set, the back of a module is a highly useful space! and I for one think its most useful to fill it as a Reference page. And just like the end of a movie, the back page is a great place for the Credits.

Referenced info -

I personally call this section “Handouts” even though that doesn’t truly describe it, but at least on a tri-fold module your back panel is a great place to store referential material. do you have dialog that is recorded to cassettes (Ypsilon 14, you beast…) you can place that info here for the warden to be able to read from it at the time that the players interact with it… have a minion for your greater horror? that info can go here. a mini-map of a specific area? a photo from CCTV of a blurry killer? a special weapon the players can find only in this adventure? a random table to be rolled on?… anything referential goes here.

Credits -

you, either solo or as part of a team, wrote this! put your name(s) on it! did you use stock images or royalty free graphics? give the creators credits! need to put a special thanks? yup goes here. People made this (hopefully if you are reading this, you aren’t the kind of person to use Generative Ai slop… but then again I’m biased…) let the world know you did so! Some suggestions for Who/What to credit: Writing, Layout / Design, Artist or owner of assets, designer of specialty fonts, any sort of special thanks.

Ultimately, I think the best thing you can do is read a bunch of other modules! If you are looking for what adventure modules to read, Justin Alexander has been going through a lot of Tri-folds and reviewing them, you can find them at his website The Alexandrian

Additionally if you are looking to read things for free there are some good options:

HERE is a Reddit thread about free zines (several mentioned are tri-folds)

Or, you can download the GameJam version of my module for free here: Children of Eden (I cleaned up some things and tweaked balance in a post Game Jam version which is for sale for $2 if you want to support, but if you go down to the “Demo” section you can download that for free!)

Hope this helps,

Happy Adventure Writing!