Thousand Empty Light
Have you found all the secrets?
Thousand Empty Light » Devlog
The pdf for the Thousand Empty Light dust cover has now been uploaded to the itch page.
The main reason for this is that there are three main 'secrets' to uncover across this project: two in the core zine, and one on the dust cover. These all lead to some bonus lore content.
As of writing this, 7 people have discovered the first one. No-one has discovered the second or third.
Happy hunting!
Files
Alfred Valley - Thousand Empty Light dust cover v1.0.pdf 369 kB
Dec 04, 2022
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Thousand Empty Light
A solo Mothership adventure set in an underwater tunnel
| Status | Released |
| Category | Physical game |
| Author | Alfred Valley |
| Tags | mothership, mothership-rpg, physical-game, sci-fi-horror, Singleplayer, solo, Tabletop role-playing game, zimo, zine-month |
More posts
- Audio recordings!Nov 18, 2023
- Secret objective ciphersNov 29, 2022
- THOUSAND EMPTY LIGHT is live!Oct 26, 2022
Comments
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Are the links ok? I think I solved the cover puzzle but typing in the password shows a 404
I just checked and it seems to work fine. If the password is wrong it will just tell you it's wrong, not sure why you're getting a 404.
ya, I definitely encountered some password is wrong notices (so I excitingly still have more to discover) but one the passwords I input regarding the Missing hint gives me a 404.
Edit- got it. Very cool. Thanks for confirming the links were ok.
Glad to hear it!
Who are Lorm Swan, Sed Orner, Caleb Null, Fuscian Elefiend, Maurice Pusse, Interazzo Volley, Icras Ali, Viv el Amet, Prav Vita, Donny Elementum, Kesha Torpal, and Sabeth Solar?
It's subtle but Prav Vita appears in one other place in the zine.
Okay, can somebody spoil this for me? I’ve been pounding my head against itch.io trying to solve these puzzles. I’m not sure if I’m stupid, or if the links are broken.
I don't believe the links are broken.
Where have you got to?
Oh hi! Love the module! Played it a ton!
I’ll admit, I’ve solved the binary puzzles, but all of the online puzzles have me stumped. I just got the dust cover the day I posted, so I suppose I should just be patient and try harder.
P.S. The C Triple-S oracle is AWESOME! My wife and I use it in our co-op games all the time!
Amazing to hear the oracle is useful for you!
Each secret bit has two parts effectively - the URL for an itch page (e.g. alfredvalley.itch.io/l) and the password to access that page. Each of the 3 pairs in TEL (one being on the dust cover) are hidden in different ways and are discovered independently of each other.
Is there one in particular I can help you with to start off?
So, I get the binary system. I was a little mystified at first, but once I figured out that it was on the internet, not in the module, that was my first hurdle.
So, until I discovered that the dust cover had been made available for sale, I was content to just enjoy the module as it stands, and I used the gaps left by the unsolved puzzles as sparks for a larger campaign.
Now I have the dust cover, the tape, etc. I’m ready to solve the puzzles. I haven’t even tackled any except the “Missing” password. It seems so simple on the face of it, but after having tried every spelling, tense, capitalization, and even a few more esoteric phrases; I can only assume that the puzzle is not nearly as simple as it looks, or else I must be fat fingering the keyboard constantly.
Thank you for your patient indulgence.
How do I say this delicately:
I am an analog person living in a digital world, and the boundaries where those Venn’s Diagrams overlap is a hostile space for a person of my anachronistic skill set.
Ha, that's a good way to put it!
To start you off, the 'missing' clue points to a password hidden in plain sight in the missing persons list.
I absolutely loved Thousand Empty Light, and the way it was executed (especially all the little secrets, codebreaking etc - I think I've figured out/discovered all of them). I was playing from a printout of a PDF version I got from DTRPG but I ordered a physical copy too just so I can have a proper version :). Thanks for making this, Alfred! :)
I'm going to leave my long playthrough write-up/journal here for posterity too (I try not to spoil too much of the secrets!):
http://evildrganymede.net/wp/2025/01/13/thousand-empty-light-a-full-playthrough/
I’ve found the one in the dust cover, one from the main zine, decoded the command but so far haven’t found the elusive last one people are talking about? (I thought I had found all 3 before I came here.😅) can the final one be found before starting the game like the rest? Or is it found in the game itself? Just so I don’t spend weeks looking for something I can’t find before I start the campaign 😆
edit: just noticed the guy under me cracked all 3 before starting the game. Guess I need to look harder.😬
edit 2: Im obviously blind. All 3 found and solved!
I've cracked all of the 3 codes that were mentioned by the game's author (one from the dust cover and two from the actual game book) to obtain the additional "secret" content.
Can I check with the author as to whether there is a fourth "code" to be cracked, specifically "/R"? I note this goes to a page asking for a password. That being said, this page may well serve other purposes that are not related to this game :-)
I will be setting off to TEL 022 tomorrow - so wish me luck!
Hazmos la vista amigos ;-)
Wow, you’ve stumbled on a page which will become relevant when something is launched later this month!
Thank you for getting back to me and clarifying my question. The phrase "watch this space" springs to mind. I shall very much look forward to your forthcoming announcement later this month.
Assuming I get out of TEL 022 in one piece. I am about to enter Caisson (West) now as I type. Hence you are receiving this message. Over and out.
Your committed service has been noted - Hazmos
I can report that I have just discovered callsign "Tattletale". That one was very sneaky. Over and out (for now).
This is just downright amazing. My first playthrough kept me up at nights.
And now that I'm hunting for the secrets, I really can't stop thinking about it.
This was my first time trying a Mothership module, and I definitely made some mistakes (definitely with the Incident of near misses table lol), but it was an amazing experience from the beginning to the end. Surprisingly, during my first playthrough I had no idea the module contained secrets, so I did my best to just imagine how stuff would go down using the PANIC system and the reports already written by the previous lamplighter. (If anyone is curious, I wrote down the playthrough (here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nqhmxzpbp84cRNCXbcR67326f-dMgA4K004eNhNXWgo/...)).
And now after I'm done with my first playthrough and found two of the secrets, I am kind of obsessed with the module.
I'm definitely going to go for a 2nd run with another character (maybe a higher clearance scientist that might know of these two secrets and could comment on the mistakes of my first lamplighter haha) and I can't wait for it.
Thank you for creating this amazing game.
Aaaand without further ado, I'm going keep looking for that one password that still eludes me.
Amazing, thank you for your comments. I’m looking forward to reading your playthrough, I love seeing people’s different experiences.
I really enjoyed your playthrough. I think it’s the first one I’ve read that mentions getting to the East Caisson. I love the ‘alien’ you introduced.
Thank YOU for creating such an amazing game! Haha the alien is one of the hightlights of that playthrough. I was so scared for my character but he survived by the skin of his teeth heh. ;)
Thanks again for reading my playthrough and being so kind to reply! This is a lovely, lovely game.
It may have taken longer than I'd like to admit, but I just finished cracking the 3 codes to unlock the Documents and the extra track. This module is so friggin cool-- I had to figure these out!
Awesome! Congratulations! I don’t think many people have cracked all three.
I was about to run the adventure this evening but got caught up with the secrets and I couldn't stop until I found all three! Excellent stuff. I'm also planning to run this for another player after I give it a go myself, as an intro for Mothership. Any tips?
Ha, love the dedication! No particular tips for running this for someone, should run easily enough I think. I’d love to hear how you get on.
Oh my god this module is so awesome! Just ran it and for my solo character and found the three secrets. That was SO COOL! Thank you for this!!!!
My character miraculously survived but took so much stress and panic. I decided to continue playing her and made up a head cannon about what she found and it giving her some paranormal/psionic abilities. Should be interesting to see where this goes!
Awesome! Where’s she off to next?
Good question - I’m still hemming and hawing over that one! There are so many modules it’s tough to decide. I often have a hard time getting started due to being overwhelmed with choice. Any suggestions? I want to keep going solo and experiment with using your ORACLE system. I really enjoy it!
I don’t have any particular module recommendations (tbh I think it’s hard to go wrong, there are so many strong ones) but I’m really interested to hear how you get on! Im guessing your character gets picked up and shuttled out of TEL 022?
Ooh or a submarine could come pick her up and you could segue into Alone In The Deep: https://smurphy-games.itch.io/alone-in-the-deep
Ooh, that's so good! I was going to have her interviewed by Hazmos at the end, and have no memory of what she saw, but I love the idea that maybe she instead kinda blacks out, leaves through the fontanelle, and ends up getting picked up by this sub... Yeah, let's throw more at her before she gets outta there - LOVE IT. I will let you know how this goes! Since I'm solo'ing it, I know there is a chance she might die, so we'll see haha. I'm playing it kinda careful because of that.
Poor thing! Yeah, I'd love to hear how you get on.
I found the one in the dust cover (ALFRED...) and the "missing" password. Figured out /L. Nice graphic design. Changed the zoom in the PDF reader to "show".
Found the /O and took a while for the password (lowercase!). Great easter eggs (and book, and storyline)!
Thank you for your comment and glad you managed to figure them out! The lowercase on the /o is a mistake on my part (I fiddled about with the password recently). I have amended it to be uppercase to match the decoded message.
Any hint on how to get the password for/P? Typed missing but is invalid
jk got it! Just need to figure out the /L…
FOUND ahaha this is such a fun way to introduce scenarios I need to take notes for future ARGs
I found /O, gave me a .WAV and a .PNG... Not a clue what /P could be that Password eludes me.
EDIT: Just found /L and got another .PNG
The more I read this module the more I love it. The secrets, the system, the visuals and the writing. All is perfect for me.
It really makes me happy seeing people find these bits!
Thank you very much for the kind words.
Dang, /O has been eluding me for months. Every now and then I try new things, but I really can not find the clue that will unlock it. I could unlock "Vault" and "Fell stroke", but knowing that there is a document AND a wav file behind /O... I guess I have to keep trying to unlock this last bit!
EDIT: Ok, just found /L and with this I got all 3 documents: "Fell Stroke", "Vault" and "Deep", plus "Item O". These are great! Nevertheless, password for /O I am pretty sure that it did not work first time I used it some months ago but now it did. Well happy to finally have all 3 secrets"
almost looks like a url…
I’m hunting for the password as I type… it’s still missing as yet.
Fucking got it! Still looking for the password for ‘O’
:)
You would be the first to find O.
I still haven't found it. I've been looking, on and off, for so, so long now. I must finally admit that I have failed. Please, please can I have a clue??