The Meeps

The Meeps is a sci-fi horror adventure for Lucky Star. Players are a crew sent to investigate a lost vessel and encounter an alien creature that has killed most of the crew and mutated into new forms both silly and terrifying. It features themes of body horror, dismemberment, thoughts of suicide, claustrophobic spaces, and extreme itchiness. 

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The ocean planet Doridos has high concentrations of rare minerals in its water. Mortinson Semiconductor Conglomerate (MSC) operates a fleet of submersible mineral trawlers filtering the water to extract this treasure. 

One Month ago, trawler Nereus lost all contact with base. Yesterday it reappeared, floating aimlessly on the surface. It has power, but the engines are off and it is not responding to communications. Scans reveal no human lifesigns. The crew is presumed dead.  

Today, your crew approaches Nereus aboard an MSC bulk freighter. You have a priority list of jobs to complete on Nereus. MSC expects you to work on jobs in their priority order, but your crew may split up to work on multiple jobs at once. 

Per MSC policy, your crew will not be allowed back on the freighter until they complete these jobs to the satisfaction of their supervisor or provide sufficient documentation of their inability to do so.

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Nereus was infected with The Meeps, an extremophilic algae that thrives in the mineral-rich ocean of Doridos. Sucked in by the trawler and trapped in the Mineral Tank, The Meeps grew rapidly and mutated while feeding on concentrated mineral slurry. Then they spread through the ship via the water recycling system. Most of the crew is dead and eaten by Meeps, but some remain, injured but still holding on despite their Meep wounds. 

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The Meeps is a production of Cats Have No Lord. The text is © 2025 Luke Simonds and is licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Cover image by NASA from the public domain.

Illustration of the Nereus is © 2022 Amanda Lee Franck and used with permission via Comradery. 

All other illustrations © 2025 Luke Simonds. 

Inspired by: Tide pools at Unai Nanasu, The Muppet Show, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses as translated by Stephanie McCarter Created for the 2025 Sci-Fi Derelict Jam using the themes of extremophiles and muppets.