Is Mothership 1e the best Alien RPG? - RPG Review

[@DaveThaumavore]

ERRATA: Scientists play a big role in the first Alien movie. Ash is both an android AND a scientist! Spoiler alert. Support the channel by joining my Patreon! www.patreon.com/thaumavore Sign up for my newsletter! bit.ly/ThaumavoreNewsletter

[@whyamievendoingthis...]

Mothership skyrocketed to my "current #1 darling" ever since I ran the 0e preview, nearly two years ago. The improvements have been great throughout, the system is robust and have never left me or my players feeling unsupported at the table, the modules are unbelievable. Great game, great community, can't recommend it enough.

[@mariodosantos]

9:15 I remember Sean stating on a blog that the decision to make "panic checks" a d20 "roll over" check was made to make it mechanically distinct from the rest of the checks and because most rpg players have d20s somewhere... Basically the reasoning was that when a panic check was called for, having a different die and resolution mechanic would make that roll "special".

[@Sockerludd]

11:38 I love the illustration on page 28, I can feel the intensity and I think that was what they were going for.

[@DaveThaumavore]

Fair enough!

[@discosludge]

The flash frame of the American Flag when talking about barely affordable health care was hilarious.

[@thomervin7450]

Never heard that joke before.

[@MNTwinsBaseball]

When I see art like that at 11:38 I imagine that it comes from the mind of an in world NPC that has seen and survived horrors so great the scribbled sketch is all they are capable of in their near catatonic state. Similar vibes with the art in Veins of the Earth. I dig it. Nice review!

[@TheNubiS]

That is exactly what the intent behind the UCR book is - witness testimonials kind of thing.

[@DarthRadical]

TTRPGs always have their layouts pulled in three different directions. 1. Fun to read through to suck you in. 2. Teach the system. 3. Act as a reference book during play. It's hard to do all three well, but I agree that Alien went a bit too hard at #1. Though that can make it better for collectors who expect never to actually play the system.

[@reelneim]

Hi, Dave. Just wanted to say that I think you make exceptionally good content. You are consistent in the level of detail you include and video composition, making it very easy to follow along and form an impression of the game in focus. It also seems to me like you must spend a great deal of your time not only doing theoretical research but also actively engaging with the games, communities and even the creators and publishers themselves. As an added bonus, you care about the cultures which inspire the games or from where the games originate-which I find impressive when someone themselves come from a part of the World like the USA, being almost completely self-contained. Very good Japanese pronunciation, and your Swedish is passable (though, here; you seem to have backup). This isn't directly related to this video, I just wanted to say that I'm grateful for what you do and thank you. Have a great rest of the week!

[@DaveThaumavore]

Such high praise. Thank you!

[@Mystrich]

My two cents: Mothership is a better Scifi Horror RPG. Alien is a better Alien RPG. Alien does what it says on the package EXTREMELY well, and sometimes to the detriment of exploring other options. Mothership is more broad and in that can lose some of the hyper focus (though not by much because like you said this is still two great games competing)

[@himurogentoku7117]

I think ALIEN RPG is the definitive one if you want to play in ALIEN universe. It's a great labor of love. The amount of thought and respect the creator team put on the game are incredible. ALIEN RPG is one of the best officially licensed TTRPG ever.

[@cyriltournier]

That's debatable. Some mechanics are dubious, like stress and random alien actions. Still a very good product, but far from perfect imo.

[@oldparatrooper]

@@cyriltournierNot really. They should honestly be tied, as the point he gave Mothership over Alien having a weird damage table, he was looking at the critical injury table. Which only gets rolled on when you hit zero hp. Not every time you get damaged.

[@Bearwiffa228]

I think the crit table is mostly fine. Could use a tune up to be like T2k with hit locations(potentially crits), but that would add another(but small) layer of crunch to the game. And Alien is fairly rules light compared to some.

[@tianzhou9861]

@@cyriltournierThe stress gets funky at times, but the random action table is hands downs the best monster action system I have seen for a while.

[@cyriltournier]

@@tianzhou9861 I can second that, although I hate random tables.

[@carltonbauheimer]

So what you're saying is that i need to buy both and then just mash them together for their best bits.

[@dhawkeye4439]

11:36 honestly I love the weird almost-alien looking marine guy on this page

[@Illithid72]

One of my favorite art pieces in the book.

[@elsesome2707]

It's really perfect, a half-remembered nightmare impression scribbled by a panicked witness trying to explain what they saw.

[@dhawkeye4439]

@@elsesome2707 that’s a perfect way to describe it, yeah

[@Doubledb519]

If I’m remembering right on of the creators kids or kid of a friend made that picture. If I had a $1.4 million kick starter you can guarantee my kids would have a photo in it! I’m not a fan of the picture but if my memory is correct I get why it’s in there.

[@juanjfm]

I have run 16 sessions of Mothership. I have come across a bunch flaws but overall it's been an awesome experience. The warden's manual helped me a lot for running any kind of horror game. Fantastic advice. The 'monster manual' is a weird one, don't expect much from it if u are looking for solid stats, but as inspiration for creating your own missions it's great. As for what I wish the game had, I guess any kind of setting would be cool. When I started running it there were just so many questions about the setting that I had to answer on the fly (and automatically became cannon on our table)! I'm not a big fan of the skill system, some skills are too specific and others awfully vague. Overall I've really enjoyed running this game :)

[@matthewharper7333]

The artwork in Mothership seems to be heavily influenced by small press horror magazines of the 80's and 90's. In particular the magazine called Grue. Plus, the instruction booklets look exactly like editions of this magazine with paper covers, stapled spines, and black and white art work on the cover. The size and thickness are the same as well.

[@bilskirnir_]

I've ran another bug hunt along with two Homebrew oneshots. I've enjoy my time with game along with there is good advice online on how to make some modifications. Like changing stress system to work over longer campaign. Since stress in base game can quickly kill a character if not well managed between GM and players.

[@JH-dh2ws]

*staring at my GM* shoot me, kill me. It’s fine, I can play a new character.

[@TitterpigRancher]

The ship ranges are actually more realistic than the visual depictions of what we saw in The Expanse. Despite the "vast" distances they often used in that show, they often shortened the types of engagement ranges you'd get in space SIGNIFICANTLY for dramatic and filming purposes.

[@DaveThaumavore]

So? This is a game where you fight monster aliens and your health and sanity go up and down like a basketball. Why should intership distances be so hardcore realistic?

[@TitterpigRancher]

@@DaveThaumavore Well, it enhances that sense of isolation that makes science fiction horror so effective. You're a LONG WAY from EVERYTHING. There is no one to help you when the excrement impinges upon the rotary oscillation device. You can use it to build a slow sense of dread before that happens, as well.

[@TheNubiS]

Sanity changes very rarely.

[@TitterpigRancher]

@@TheNubiS Trauma can be rapid and devastating though, and just as rapidly compartmentalized for survival purposes. I think that these games would be better served if it was called "trauma" instead of "sanity", but we have the baggage of Lovecraft to contend with.

[@antonwblake]

Mothership is one of my all time favorite ttrpgs. I ran a little bit of 0e during the pandemic, and have now run some 1e since getting my deluxe boxset. Its got a few warts (all the things you mentioned with the ships being the biggest for me personally), but I love this game dearly

[@Skulliver-t8q]

Great review. Having played both and enjoyed both, I feel like MOTHERSHIP was more intuitive for players and easier to run. A hidden gem here is the MOTHERSHIP companion app. We played using it , the free PDF of the Player's Survival Guide and the tri-fold pamphlet adventure "The Haunting of Ypsilon 14". The MOTHERSHIP play experience felt very immersive and organic. Not specifically being in an ALIEN franchise story, but deciding we were going with the late 1970-90's retro future "vibes", we were able to come to consensus in a very natural way. Outland, Alien / Aliens, all the way out to Event Horizon, Pitch Black, or Ghosts of Mars, all felt very usable as touch points in framing a consensus reality for the game. It's not "canned" like it is with ALIEN since it s not bound by any single IP. Some see this as weakness, others a strength. I feel like it opens up the creative space a lot more. MOTHERSHIP felt like it was drawing us in. The lean yet savory design of the core game is present in a lot of the modules and 3rd party content. Audio files included with modules ranging from 2.00 5.00 USD have been an incredible asset to have. Between the quality of the module, the immersive aspect of the audio files and the use of a kitchen timer, our play through of The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 kept us all on the edge of our seats for three hours and this was our first game in MOTHERSHIP. We had no rules hiccups and everything felt narratively plausible and grounded in the fiction. Rules were clear to all and our youngest player was 11 years of age (he was able to run multiple characters from the app with ease. ALIEN, while i also love it, at times feels like something you are chasing in terms of "doing it right".

[@augustochuko]

Hey Dave! I just wanted to let you know that after watching this video on Mothership I went ahead and bought the deluxe edition. I'm digging into the manuals now and the world they have set up here is amazing. I also own several books for the alien rpg and my players loved that game.

[@plissken2245]

Alien isn’t perfect but the players love it. The layout is good to me. It's not overwritten like so many rpg's today. The pre-written adventures are fun. Destroyer of worlds is amazing. Im not interested in running a campaign. Seems too limited to make work. Want to pick up Mothership for sure. Looks fun.

[@nutherefurlong]

The x% house rule thing I think is the outgrowth of the style it harkens to, which is that you're not going to want to memorize a massive list of rules for stuff that may never come up, but using the rules they have as a baseline you can feel your way through what makes sense for your particular table. Keeps the rules light and is sort of part of the fun in my opinion, as long as the bases are covered and everyone at the table can sort of intuit why a ruling makes sense The health recovery and armor systems I'd modify (their Armor Degradation looks more like what I'd want), but that death save mechanism is unmitigated genius

[@ruskerdoo1539]

⁠​​Dave, your reviews have gotten so good over the years and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that you diligently cover such a variety of games! I ran both Mothership and Alien for my group and they vastly prefer the Alien system (we struggle with the OSR playstyle) but I really love the design of the Mothership books and the third party scene. I’ve just wound up mashing the two games together even though my group thinks we’re just playing Alien!!

[@NomeDeArte]

The answer is yes. I recommend the module “when in Rome”, kinda follow the Romulus set up.

[@crushingit5128]

Love how they went with 1e as the new 2024 edition instead of 2e. Small detail but it real shows this is the result of their labor of love over the past few years

[@Daniel-Strain]

I am surprised at the lack of commentary around the web on the fact that enemies have no way to be better at avoiding an attack. It is all based solely on the ability of the attacker. The lack of any social mechanics is also very weird, especially in a game where you need to haggle for job offers, shipment sales, etc.

[@MrPsyren99]

Probably removed all those features so the game could come out, took them 3 years to finally ship everything so idk why you would expect such simple things like that

[@JamBagels]

If I remember the interview correctly, the creator of Mothership said they specifically removed social mechanics so the warden and players have to engage. They didn't want you to be able to just roll to resolve something.

[@Daniel-Strain]

@@JamBagels I have played TTRPGs since the 1980s and I have never seen an RPG where you were supposed to just roll a social skill without roleplaying it out specifically. Anyone playing like that is doing it wrong. The players are supposed to RP, then, if there is a question as to whether or not an NPC would agree/comply/etc, the gm calls for a roll and sets the difficulty based on what was actually said, how good of a case they made, whether they took into account the NPCs interests, and so on.

[@benjaminalexander7028]

@@Daniel-StrainGames removing social mechanics entirely is a backlash against a modern play culture of being able to roll a skill check without having to be creative to succeed. Personally, I think the backlash goes too far, and rather than removing those mechanics, games should just better explain the procedure of social mechanics like you’re describing. It’s often left as implicit instructions which leads to people simply rolling for success or failure.

[@Daniel-Strain]

@@benjaminalexander7028 Much agreed.

[@OperatorJ0hn]

This looks sooo good, the amount of content and the quality seem outstanding. Was allready marvelling at it on their website! Really want to get this eventually 👌 Thx for presenting/reviewing the kit!

[@michaelflynn3970]

Great review, thanks for going over it. I really love the charm that Mothership has, and the possibilities that I feel it can offer with being a bit more 'open' in setting. As for the art, The way I pictured it was this: Some of that stuff was hastily drawn by some dude hiding in a locker from the monster that was going to eat him. Haha but it can be jarring at times! All the same, thanks for taking the time to do this review. Really well done!

[@gagrin1565]

I think there's one major arguement being overlooked here. Are you the type of person who can and will enjoy running a game in an established universe? Does running a LotR game or a Trek game fill you with ideas, or do you find the notion of trying to fit your own groups adventures in the gaps and shadows of other and perhaps grander narratives a strait jacket, something that's getting in the way of your play rather than enhancing it? For me, the big problem with Alien - was the alien. It was hanging over the game the entire time. The expectation that we would meet one, and the inevitability that the players knew everything there possibily was to know about them. Mothership, by comparison, is freedom (and that may or may not be a good thing, depending on your needs).

[@aled857]

Just watched the Death in Space video, now I have to decide between Mothership and Death in Space, great videos

[@pallenda]

Great rundown video! Edit: The normal Mothership box seems to be at a great value price.

[@Nighthaunter-t3j]

Don't knock staple binding. It lasts forever. Square bound glue binding can crack and pages loosen over time but staples can last indefinitely.

[@claudiaborges8406]

I like the insta-fail rule. It’s a big chance but you know it as soon as you roll the tens die. Some percentile dice games use a range like 85-99, 95-99 for some reason… this one’s simple: you roll a 9- you fail

[@deltapi8859]

You could score "Stress" in reverse as "Sanity" starting from 100 and you subtract -5 instead of 1 for each stress. In that way you would still roll under the stat and could roll the d100.

[@jacoblindberg8915]

Stealing this

[@deltapi8859]

@@jacoblindberg8915 haha, awesome. Good to read that it made sense :-)

[@user-qo8js3qk5z]

This is a great review and comparison. Coherent and comprehensive. I really appreciate this content.

[@ThisIsYourGodNow]

A pound of flesh is imo still the best RPG adventure book ever

[@Rich_H_1972]

I prefer ALIEN for the production values, rule system and the familiar universe. I really like MOTHERSHIP though but found a lot of the stuff released for it to be far too variant in quality, which is why I went with the former. There's also HOSTILE too, which is pretty good. Spoilt for choice, really!

[@monkeymule1286]

Picked up zero edition for 15$, which is the sweet spot for a B&W zine game that tells you it's not done. I love its fast cheap and dirty punk take on alien horror. That said, and while i would love the Warden's guide, "deluxe box set" and "stapled printer paper" are two ethos at deep odds with each other. Great review at always!

[@danielcarrasco5251]

Hey Dave, have you considered doing a video on the kickstarter campaign for Rowan, Rook, and Decard's Hollows? Their RPGs Heart and Spire have won more than their fair share of Ennie awards and Heart, in particular, has had a nice bump in its visibility thanks to the Quinn's Quest video. I figured I'd ask since you love spotlighting the frontiers of crowdfunded hobby gaming and I haven't heard anyone else mention it.

[@DrunkenWizardBattle]

this is a great overview thank you, love the idea of mothership and zine-core booklets but man the inconsistent formatting would drive me mad - The approach to GM advice and session planning sounds very cool though. You touch on it but as incredible an experience as the alien RPG is i'd say some of the GM advice in the alien rule books and modules is really unfortunate. Far too many talents that have "under a very specific circumstances you can do a set of very limited actions but the DM can just say no" and modules that encourage you to disregard player agency. I'd be interested in your thoughts on running on going campaigns vs oneshots in both of these settings... the core book for alien has loads in the back half for generating ideas... but i just dont think extended play fits the setting or the lethality that seems inherent in the existing modules.

[@campfirecult4375]

Well done presentation, didn't waste my time, always appreciated. 🔥

[@chevkoch]

Excellent review, thanks for being so balanced in these, criticism and triumphs both.

[@patrikg.6320]

On the contrary sir, those are THE sexiest ships in any ttRPG ever!

[@DaveThaumavore]

@@patrikg.6320 The most phallic.

[@patrikg.6320]

@@DaveThaumavore Thats what I said ;)

[@tompuce84]

11:40 this is Sean McCoy's illustration, the designer of Mothership and it was the only style of illustrations in 0E. I personnaly love it. I also love your vid but you feel like an OG player, rooted in the years of 3.5 edition and vampire 1rst edition. I also played a lot of thoes RPGs and I must say with time passing by I could not stomach any of it anymore, it feels stale. 5E players be damned, there're going to play Knave with me HAHAHA *evil laughter because hey they're gonna die and like it* :p The point you make about new GMs is a good one though, I guess we are formated in a way. But will it really be a problem? The good thing with the common sense aproach is that there can be a dialogue (precise ruling is often time consuming and sterile in the end). The GM has to be just in his ruling and be a friend to the players though, or else ... :$ GREAT VID, thx Dave!

[@ruskerdoo1539]

Yeah, I had to go on the Mothership forums to fill in a lot of the blanks left by the rules, especially around whether monsters roll to hit or not. Ultimately, my group bounced off the game before I had a chance to figure out what house rules to use.

[@tompuce84]

@@ruskerdoo1539 Hey dude, like I said, when in doubt just house rule the thing, what makes sense is the right thing to do! I know it can feel strange but the forum or even the publisher is not in control of the game you run, you are. A good OSR saying is "Ruling not Rules" if you catch my drift. There's this thing that McCoy said about stealth rules for example, there are none in the game because he wanted this to be an actual conversation between players, not something that could be hand waved with a rule. I had so much fun with this game, I think you should give it another go. What system are you playing at the moment?

[@ruskerdoo1539]

@@tompuce84 I really like that approach! Unfortunately by the time I had figured out what was working and what wasn’t and where to houserule, etc., my group had lost interest in Mothership. I guess I just don’t have the years of experience to know what to houserule right away, so I have to run a few sessions before I know what needs to be changed for my table. Right now we’re playing Alien and they’re loving it! Also Blades in the Dark and The Between but those are with a few different people.

[@tompuce84]

@@ruskerdoo1539 Well, if you're having fun, that means you're doing it right! I find that, given enough time, all games are house ruled to a certain degree. Bet you don't play your games exactly as written anyway XD I've heard that Blades in the Dark is quite a heavy system to run, how do you feel about it?

[@ruskerdoo1539]

@@tompuce84 yeah, it’s kind of a bummer cause I like the whole vibe of Mothership over Alien. The graphic design and third party stuff is so good! What’s your favorite adventure module so far? The Blades campaign is my current favorite campaign I’ve ever run, which has at least as much to do with the players as it does the system. It’s an extremely light system on a tactical level, so minute to minute gameplay is super fluid. At a strategic or meta level, there’s a lot of mechanics and a lot of decisions for players to make. The weight is inverted from what you’d see in 5e for example. You can easily drop a lot of the strategic rules and it fails pretty gracefully though.

[@griffincrump5077]

I kinda wanna use mothership to run something like the show Scavenger’s Reign, I feel like it could manage that abstract horror very well

[@99zxk]

Ships can shoot at each other before they can communicate? That seems odd.

[@jaykaye594]

What are your views on Death In Space Rpg? I mean I will eventually end up with all three but interested in your thoughts anyway.

[@ruskerdoo1539]

Death in Space has more eldrich style horror in it and a lot more mechanics for space survival, but in the end it plays a lot like Mothership

[@ChateauLonLon]

He already made a video on Death in Space! You can just search it up and find it :)

[@BryanMullins]

That summary right at the end! ❤️‍🔥

[@LordAnb]

Great video as always! I will say though, I think it would be nicer if you presented your comparison in the end the same way you present the conclusions in your other videos, i.e. by listing the positive aspects of each game instead of just the number of "wins" that one game had against the other. Even though (spoilers) Mothership scored 7 and Alien 5, maybe those 5 categories that Alien won matter more for some folks!

[@solitaryrpg]

I am so happy that I picked up the Felix box set. It was worth the cost.

[@fwbean119]

Love the flash of the American flag when talking about characters barely affording medical care.

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

I wonder about dialong back on the specifically geimdark mechanics (i.e. Panic, etc) and using Mothership for stuff like Firefly or Expance style games.

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

"dialing" back

[@talisoncrosby3431]

I've done it! It works great!

[@reidurbjorn]

If you want a similar game to Mothership and Aliens that has a lot info, expansion booklets, but pretty simple rules, I suggest Hostile. It uses the Cepheus System is broad in scope like Mothership. It's comparable to these two games imho.

[@r1q2]

Sick review. Also Dave, have you ever thought about doing a review on Mythras?

[@alexgreychuck7605]

Love Mothership and got the Deluxe box, liked that too. My group has played both Alien and Moh and had a great time with both. As a gamemaster I prefer Moh to run.

[@jasonGamesMaster]

RE: The ships are super expensive in order to put huge amounts of debt on the players and the stress of that

[@smilemore7431]

There’s something wrong with this video’s description on mobile. There’s a link behind the more button so I can’t see all the links.

[@maxducoudray]

5:15 "I guess scientists don't play a prominent role in the first two Alien movies..." The androids in both are clearly scientists. So even though android is its own class in Mothership, I think those characters set an expectation that there is a science officer on each ship.

[@tonysladky8925]

Wait. Was there a more premium boxed set that came with more modules than just "Another Bug Hunt" like I got? It's been so long I totally forgot at what level I backed or what the other options even were...

[@kyuran]

Yeah, it sounds like you bought the core set. The deluxe set also came with the gradient descent, pound of flesh and dead planet modules.

[@GenuineMattyC]

I loved this video. Great job. I especially appreciate the comparison between Mothership and Alien. I agree with Mothership for the win but Alien is a close second.

[@MelodicMethod]

i see Alien as a means of filling in stuff that I feel Mothership is lacking. I appreciate your review(s) the humility with with you deliver it in the end. There really is no right answer to "which is best?"

[@WookieeRage]

Never heard of Mothership but looking forward to checking it out. Alien does have some weak points but I'm still very happy with it.

[@Jescribano1]

I always prefer non-specific settings cause I find it easier to hack generic into specific than hacking specific into generic. Also is it just me or is it harder to create new stories in those universes without straight up copying the movies homeworks?

[@KyleMaxwell]

I love the TOMBS setup so much I use it in Call of Cthulhu as well!

[@jackleg2007]

Good review as always. From the book 'Voice of the Whirlwind', corporations own the the spaceships. The characters are contractors. For example, some of the crew and captain may work for the corporation that owns the ship. But the ship has an engine and jump drive on perpetual lease and maintained by another corporation. The crew gets a percentage of the profits and can also ship a limited amount of items each way. Thus a group can avoid having to pay large amounts of money. Author Walter Jon Williams.

[@outkastagc]

I am chomping at the face shield to run a game of Mothership. I was curious about Alien but I think it is constrained by its own concept. Alien is powerful because they don't know what the threat is, which is lost because of the name on the book. I think mothership frees that style by opening the door to endless horrors.

[@DaveThaumavore]

@@outkastagc largely true. The Alien supplement Building Better Worlds opens things up quite a bit, but there’s always that background expectation of xenomorphs and other tired concepts from the movies.

[@Wraithing]

14:01 Excellent flash-frame!

[@hyzwar]

Very informative. Thank you for the effort. BR

[@DaveThaumavore]

Glad it was helpful!

[@svenk5221]

I ll get my Deluxe Box tomorrow at my local game store. Can't wait

[@paulll47]

Is there any support for campaign play? I played into a 3 months campaign way back and I remember the game not handling it really all that well, are there any new rules for it?

[@Kindlesmith70]

8:58 That's not an issue except in the case if the player can't role play that change effectively. It's a major aspect of human existance in a world of high stress. The long lasting effects of trauma both psychological and physical. Taking that out removes the human element. Going in to a horror game you'd expect characters to undergo drastic change, just like film protagonists do. If players aren't ready for the possible side effects to 'coping' with horror in game, then that is the wrong kind of genre for them to be participating in. Some of these tables, though, are exceedingly irrational having not even a faint link between the disorder and the cause of the disorder. One key factor I liked, and disliked was Warhammer Fnatasy having varying ways to completely cripple players. It makes for a role play challenge when you're no carrying a companion becuase they've lost both feet to a trap moments before, and there isn't enough time to treat the open wounds from infection because the sounds have alerted something, which may result in the scent of blood being tracked by something else. It's a harrowing scene, and character mays end up emotionally acting out under the duress. Players may want to ditch the dying companion, but the characters are adamant doing all they can to come through the ordeal together. Sometimes, actions will happen that are just outside of concisous control... It's horror. There is also the mindset that players are not their characters, and vice versa that needs to be stressed.

[@admiraltiberius5231]

Great. Another game that sounds like I'd love it but no one will run it so i can play and I can't find players for survival horror🙄😐. Oh well. Great video. I'm definitely going to check out this game.

[@scottwalker6947]

As far as skill training time, and advancing the time line, I think that works here. You are playing essentially freighter crews, 99% of the time you are going to be making Boredom checks, as you are on the Milk Run from Planet Middle of Nowhere, to the Planet Farthest From with nothing happening. This game is, from what I see, designed to run those rare dangerous situations that the crew might find themselves once or twice a year (hopefully...Man, the bonus just isn't enough sometimes Hey! Why don't you freeze him?.)

[@MrCMaccc]

I've been thoroughly impressed by Mothership. In our modern era of socially accessible games (compared to the historical neck-beardy exclusionary era) how front and center the core rulebook and GM book make talking to your players about consent, boundaries and expectations is really great to see. Also the internal referencing/layout of the booklets are amazing and surprisingly very useable at the table. My only issue is how it's not actually d100 but true percentile, which for vtt use means everything either has to get shifted 1 number or you tweak the rules to make it fit properly

[@timothorgodofpunder8129]

I feel that the artwork in Mothership evokes drawings made by traumatised survivors trying to describe what they encountered.

[@Acmegamer]

Wait, you think that rules systems in the 1980s were complete and didn't house rule a lot and often? That's what many of the rpgs systems had in common in the 1970s-80s. Very incomplete base rules systems that you as a GM had to fill in the blanks. It always felt like the norm to me back then. I still approach all game systems like this, and never assume there is a rule for everything. Honestly I feel that people make so much of this harder than it has to be these days. Mothership is feeling like a BRP/RQ variant the more I listen. Interesting. Take away... space is stressful! lol Also I do want to make sure I thank you Dave for this informative well done reviews.

[@echedp8903]

After playing ALIEN RPG a whole lot I've realized once the players get good enough gear and get a good enough understanding of how the game works, it goes from one of the hardest game systems ever to not die in, to one of the easiest to stay alive. One thing specifically is if a player passes twice on a shot they can actually rob a NPC of their slow action, meaning if you have enough players with good enough skills, they can pretty much make it so the NPCs can't fight back. That being said, I still love the system more then any other. I really don't like what sounds like the spaceship rules in Mothership and it seems like it's just missing to many core rules and some of the artwork just doesn't work for me. So ALIEN has the win here for me.

[@ralalbatross]

Alien RPGs strongest feature is that it's rules as written are built to be overridden. The system sustains changes astonishingly well even to core mechanics and the setting absolutely supports changes to the core mechanics. For example it's trivial to import the Trauma system from Call of Cthulhu or even Dark Descent into it as part of capping the 10 stress roll. Armour can be made to degrade. Inventory management is easy and quick. Its also incredibly easy to develop new Npcs for

[@Kineteken]

Medical care then flash the flag, So True.

[@johnkfriday]

I loved reading the ALIEN RPG books but they are overengineered, overheavy, and utterly unusable at the table.

[@anselmoffrisia2930]

This looks so fun! I wish my group would go for it. 😂

[@megasquidd]

Having spent time with both games, I can't really say which one is better suited for what I want. They both have some glaring issues that make me not want to play them. For Alien it is the "same-y" character builds that all YZE games seem to have. When you only have 12 or so skills and class means nothing, this is going to happen. For Mothership it is seemingly half developed ship rules and how incompetent your players seem due to the dice resolution mechanic. At the core I think Mothership will probably end up being my winner because of how good the modules are. I seriously think you could spend a year just running A Pound of Flesh and Gradient Descent. They are so open ended. Alien modules are very railroady and are hard for me to follow as a GM.

[@TheNubiS]

In Mothership you roll infrequently - only in dire situations. Rolling frequently will indeed make your players feel like their PCs are incompetent. It's a common misunderstanding. The philosophy is very similar to Delta Green - the PCs are competent, and if they are skilled in an aspect they frequently don't need to roll checks, they just do it... unless they are under time pressure or in immediate danger.

[@barrybadranath]

How does Mothership compare to Death in Space?

[@2mil8]

Great work. thanks a lot.

[@mothmanprophet11]

I've been running mothership 0e since 2018 and was an original backer of A Pound of Flesh. I, for one, was profoundly disappointed in the 'monster manual' for Mothership 1e. It felt more like a bunch of failed SCP entries than a bestiary. The other books in the box set are great.

[@DaveThaumavore]

Yeah, I don't really vibe with that monster manual either.

[@99zxk]

I have several Free League games. They all seem like great books on initial read, but referencing them at the table is always a nightmare.

[@ralalbatross]

You don't reference them at the table, ever. You memorise the handful of stats that matter and let the pace of the game determine what happens. Half the time my group get into some kind of conflict I run with a soft initiative that doesn't ever become concrete.

[@igneouschronicles]

What's the music at the start of the video?

[@42DangerVision]

What multitool is that?

[@DaveThaumavore]

It's this Kilimanjaro: amzn.to/4emCFmK

[@no_you_hang_up]

Sigh… fine, Dave… I’ll just have to buy both

[@MrMeanSpeaks]

I passed on the box set as I felt that for the price for no hardback books and a bunch of cardboard! No thanks. It's a cool game and I have all I need to run it.

[@EJuliusF]

The fact you even considered that alien and mothership art were close is insane

[@omegaomtv]

for production you gave mothership 2 points. When it would be preference. It is easy to find rules in Alien , use the index. Alien is easier and more pleasant to read. Mothership is efficient, but you really have to pay attention to get what they are saying. I would give a tie on that one not two to mothership. That makes tie over all, a more fair outcome. I prefer Alien RPG hands down The year zero engine I find more exciting to play. The d100 system doesn't do it for me. But Motherships stress is better I think. Since you have to homebrew mothership, you can homebrew Alien RPG to for it's short comings. I ran motherships gradient decent, with alien rpg rules. You can do the same with all mothership modules. With the new Building Better Worlds book, games can be about anything now, not just Alien lore. I like both games. But If I want one sci-fi system, I prefer year zero so Alien wins for me.

[@oldparatrooper]

Totally disagree, mostly because Motherships feels more like a horror version of Traveller. And the skill tree has some weird choices and dependencies (like linguistics to psychology, or art to mysticism to hyperspace). Do agree Pound of Flesh and Dead Planet are awesome supplements.

[@aaronsomerville2124]

The fatal flaw of the Alien RPG is the alien itself. "Alien" implies something unknown, perhaps unknowable. That dead xeno-horse has been flogged into nothing. Everyone has seen that monster a million times and knows exactly what it's all about. If your space truckers encounter a derelict ship, guess what's gonna be on it? If you didn't guess "the alien"... you're fibbing because that's what you guessed. Mothership at least leaves it wide open as to what kind of hosing you're in for. It could be practically anything, which makes it a lot more fun.

[@estebanrodriguez5409]

Anxiety would be more appropiate than Fear... but Fear is shorter and easier to remember

[@claudiaborges8406]

12:10 I agree that this illustration doesnt look like it belongs. You’d expect something more aggressive or creepy in the combat page to convey chaos. This is the equivalent of goggly eyes

[@borgy1337]

To everyone asking about Death in Space: the name is a misnomer (intentional or not). DiS is not space horror. It does NOT have sanity nor stress mechanics. Mechanics are similar to Mork Borg (D20+mod). Often described as a "Space Truckers" rpg.

[@seandalziel7414]

This looks like a great game with the right group of players.

[@seandalziel7414]

In the grim future of Mothership, the main villain is Capitalism.

[@dreesh7726]

Is Mothership 1e the best Alien RPG? YES!

[@elsesome2707]

Ship combat is very intentionally minimalistic Push Your Luck over grand dog-fighting. For one, space dog-fights goes counter to the settings ethos of hard sci-fi with supernatural horror bleeding through the unobserved cracks. Second that cool space dog-fights diminish the horror central to the entire rpg. So, now that we have crumpled your dreams of being Han Solo, are you sticking to your space lasers and dying in vacuum of space or swallowing the humilating defeat of letting the border patrol board you?

[@elsesome2707]

Panic table using entirely different dice is meant to be this big flashing red alarm light to the players. UH OH! THIS IS IMPORTANT! PAY ATTENTION THE MECHANIC WORKS DIFFERENT. I think it's really tidy combination of a Save and Random Table.

[@elsesome2707]

Unconfirmed Contact Report is also important as a setting document. Not all the fluff and so on, even if it's intended to serve as an inspiration for your own original monsters, or as handy in-universe handouts to the players. No, UCR is a blueprint on how to *STEAL* licensed movie monsters. Look closely to the entries and on the pages of the book you can find It That Follows, The Thing, Face-Hugger, Xenomorph, Xenomorph Queen, The Predator, Shaihulud, Adam Smasher, Terminator, The Zone, Solaris, in their distilled forms. The statblocks of each are reduced to the bare essentials, as is everything else in the system, but it should be no brained how to spruce them up for more faithful recreation, or how to further distort them into something entirely new.

[@elsesome2707]

To me Mothership is best at evoking the feelings I got from watching the Alien and Aliens for the first time, not the media franchise comfort. Clash of mundane corporate struggle between the execs and the working class against backdrop of far more hostile and stranger universe than anyone cares to understand. Wayland-Yultani logo is to me far less important than the oppressive heartbeat of movement proximity monitor, and the crew arguing about whether or not they should break the quarantine procedures. Of course if Ultimate Alien RPG needs to be about Resonance of Alien franchise, then Mothership is out of luck. It can't give you the warm fuzzies of recognizing all the little licensed references that feed comfort, completion, and only smidge of surprise.

[@kelseysvenson8544]

I feel like a lot of these games revolves around stress and it's effects, and Alien's stress system is so clever and elegant. Looks much better than Mothership's. I haven't played though, so I dunno.

[@wusashicat1]

Scientists play a big role in Alien 1 because that's what Ash is. . . In addition to his other qualities