Mothership: Scifi Horror RPG Review

Get Mothership and Dead Planet in PDF here: www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/p...
Buy Mothership in print: www.exaltedfuneral.com/produc...
Buy Dead Planet in print: www.exaltedfuneral.com/produc...
Mothership and Dead Planet are scifi survival horror RPG books written by Sean McCoy and Fiona Maeve Geist. Perfect for an "Aliens" type game or any kind of lovecraftian horror among the stars.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My RPGs (PDF): bit.ly/QuestingBeastPDFs
My RPGs (Print): bit.ly/QuestingBeastBooks
Newsletter: bit.ly/TheGlatisant
Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon
Amazon recommendations: amzn.to/3RwpZzU
Questing Beast merch: bit.ly/QBMerch
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My blog: bit.ly/QuestingBlog
Must-read blog posts: bit.ly/OSRposts
The best RPG blogs: bit.ly/OSRblogs
What is the OSR?: bit.ly/PrincipApoc
Send a review copy or advertise: bit.ly/ContactQB
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This channel makes use of affiliate links, which help support me at no cost to you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[@QuestingBeast]

Tap into the OSR with the Questing Beast newsletter: bit.ly/Glatisant Join the Questing Knights on Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon Download my RPGs and adventures: bit.ly/ItchStore My favorite OSR books: bit.ly/TopOSRBooks

[@houstonjoe7361]

instablaster.

[@BrooksSligh]

Additional comment because that derelict ship generator with the dice is literally the best thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Holy hell that's good stuff.

[@MrTonypace]

I was flipping through new things in Games of Berkeley, saw this, and started grabbing all the Mothership they had.

[@Leverquin]

is that in basic rule book or additional?

[@Metal_Horror]

@Leverquin I think it's in the Dead Space module. Just watch the video again I'm sure you'll see it. I plan on getting this game soon (and a handful of modules.) Their modules tend to come with goodies that act as game upgrades like cybernetics and stuff.

[@moonmaan]

The cheatsheet is SO good! I learned to play it before I even opened the book. And then the character sheet having all the steps you need to create a character??? great!

[@jameshalleluyah8133]

The layout of these books hits me where I live. Thank God someone finally realized that layout matters.

[@evilscientistrecords]

These books are amazingly well-made, and perfect for capturing that blue collar gritty Alien space-faring atmosphere.

[@BrooksSligh]

Whoa man you're right, that weapons page is some next level stuff. Also love the character sheet flowchart thing & the ship design stuff. Sold.

[@csimpson14]

Wow! I love the Stress/Panic system - I immediately want to patch that into a Veins of the Earth game. Great stuff as always Ben - nice work.

[@mikegould6590]

I love the design. I wish the logic in this applied to more complex games. Thanks Ben! EDIT: The graveyard reminds me of an old episode of Space 1999 called “The Dragon”. I had nightmares as a kid because of that show.

[@shitmandood]

As an update here, I found out and bought the full $45 Kickstarter last Friday to get all of the books & PDFs. There's apparently a 3rd booklet due out in June.

[@luizricon]

Just wanna thank you for pointing me to this amazing game yesterday on your Live. Exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for on d%. I'll try and combine these ideas with some of the things I'm already working on and it looks promising! Thank you. A fan of the channel BTW

[@Zenas521]

eighth? It sounds like a cross between Aliens and Event Horizon. Hmmm... Spooky...

[@aquakroot]

Hey Ben, I was wondering if you keep track of all the design features that you think all games should have? I think it could be a useful design guide document

[@QuestingBeast]

Off the top of my head: Each topic should be kept to a single page or two-page spread. It's not a novel, it's a cookbook. It needs to be easy to use under pressure Increase information density, white space is the enemy. Focus on useful, gameable information. Format information so that the important bits can be pulled out immediately. All information should be better that what a competent DM could invent on the fly. Books should be bound in such a way that they can lie flat. Illustrations, diagrams, and flowcharts are always preferable to written descriptions and explanations. Isometric is better than 2D.

[@-Nicoreon-]

why do i feel that my play group would devolve this into red dwarf stile dark scifi comedy quickly, if i had them play this.

[@mr.badguy8500]

Probably cause you haven't sprayed them with mind eating fungus spore that can go through their air filters and have their heads explode to show some malformed Half Fungus-Half Human Skull chasing after them. :3

[@rupert5066]

@@mr.badguy8500 thanks for the new sleep paralysis demon!

[@fuzer909]

@@mr.badguy8500 We have such wonders to show you..........

[@DechantMusic]

AMAZING DESIGN! THE OSR AND INDIE SCENE IS IT! WOW!

[@walkingthepath3975]

Stop making me spend money ;) another good video Ben. Thank you.

[@lladonzombie]

Ugh! Why do you do this to me! I still haven’t had a chance to try Knave yet. You are slamming my poor brain with so much exciting stuff that I can’t handle it. I joke, but seriously, this is so my kind of thing that it hurts.

[@shitmandood]

Looks & sounds amazing. I think I'll get these right now & check it out. Thanks!

[@1simo93521]

This is the rpg review channel hands down! Great work as always man.

[@benasaro1043]

Great review, looking forward to getting this!

[@Mankcam]

Looks like Vornheim in Space, except using a D100 instead of D20. Shit, I have to get this now :-)

[@themagus517]

It's not clear from the video that the game is in Beta. The impression that is given is that it's a finished product.

[@QuestingBeast]

Where does it say that it's in beta?

[@themagus517]

@@QuestingBeast On DrivethruRPG in the product description.

[@QuestingBeast]

@@themagus517 Thanks!

[@FantasticDimensions]

Yep, if you buy this you are paying to playtest...

[@Skullkan6]

Even as a game in beta it's won an ennie for best game.

[@TheMerrox]

This looks brilliant, I must get a copy of this game. Thank you for showing this =)

[@EtherealDoomed]

I'm buying this just for the ship generation stuff. What INCREDIBLE tools!

[@thomascouch4864]

You sold me on this, I couldn't pass up the OSR Gold Bundle on Bundle of Holding. It had all of Mothership you had reviewed in it.

[@crummyautumn]

Awesome review. Gonna pick this up thanks.

[@timothyyoung2962]

Thinking about picking this up. I haven't purchased a sci-fi horror game since TSR's old Bughunters game, but this looks really cool.

[@SeanPoppe]

Holy hell I'm buying this right now.

[@beaudoran]

love the design and how intuitive it is; to me this is in the same league as hot springs island.

[@iantaran2843]

Jeezus I gotta try running a few games of Mothership, that is absolutely beautiful.

[@kateworm]

Moon Colony Bloodbath is a reference to a Mountain Goat's EP!

[@RPGmodsFan]

Thanks for this review. Before now, I never heard of this RPG.

[@Farns77]

Looks amazing, reminiscent of early SLA.

[@colerape]

Is this still in Beta? How does a Beta version of the game win an Ennie Award? (Still listed on DriveThruRPG as a Beta) Great Review. Makes me want to play this game.

[@tylerjohnston5551]

In case you're interested and didn't know the Kickstarter for 1e has finished and about to start shipping if you want to order it

[@usapatriot4163]

Great review! One question. I don't see any monster stats. Is there another book that goes with this one, like a gamemaster book?

[@Rabidninjas5]

It took alittle digging but they expect you to use the mercenary stats in the core book. Instinct covers many skills includong speed but it looks like for these monster stats they singled out speed to add individuality to them

[@moolate127]

Being a d100 system would this be compatible as a scifi module for Call of Cthulhu at all?

[@randalthor6670]

Just caught this vid, and immediately went out and bought the game (& module). Very cool. Does anyone know if they are doing more in this line? I didn't see anything on their website - at least nothing jumped out at me.

[@QuestingBeast]

I saw a new adventure, "A Pound of Flesh" at GenCon. Not sure when the official release is.

[@randalthor6670]

@@QuestingBeast Cool, thanks. I will look for it.

[@d_Brian67]

Great design and a really great game!

[@qsviewsrpgs4571]

I love various and a plethora of Sci-Fi and Sci-Fantasy style games. Mothership is top tier and should not be overlooked by anyone.

[@joecoo4615]

Stumbled over this cool review I'm hacking up ideas for Horror What's going on with Mothership now? Is out of Beta or are they still playtesting? Sounds like this could be a nifty resource. Have you checked out The Starship From Hell. That has lots of cool stuff for an Event Horizon vibe to it. also recommend Augmented Reility it's like vorhiem but Cyberpunk.

[@niklase.4850]

They have a Discord page that the community fills to the brim with ideas for alien species, random d10 tables of things happening, etc. and the dev team occasionally goes through it for ideas. It's really cool.

[@marca81]

This looks awesome

[@The69Oskar69]

I wonder if this game would be good as the first paper RPG to play, of course with the Dead Planet and also how many dices do I need and what kinds :d Oh also I would play with my gf only, not sure if RPGs are good to play only with one player and game master, can game master play too?

[@marksable5753]

Both books are great. Is it me or are there now stats for NPCs though?

[@shitmandood]

Did you read the Mothership book? The NPCs are 0 level characters basically, pretty easy to kill if anything happens. I've read the entire book recently & I'm still in awe of how they've set this up. It's so simple & easy to follow, which makes you wonder why other RPGs have such complex rules. However, it's really easy to get killed if the Warden relies too much on the dice. For example, just traveling out in space, if the ship has some noise or experiences a bump, the Warden could have the PCs roll for a fear save. If just one person fails, it can lead to stress, panic, phobias, & death pretty fast. If I were running this game, I'd definitely not have a save being rolled for every little action, only for the main plot points where it's being laid on the line. Otherwise, nobody will ever be able to set foot in space without going insane!!! Like for example, if they can't use cryo on a jump that might take a week (if you use standard Traveller Jump drives). The story flow of everyone going nuts in space, completely stressed out from standing/sitting in the ship, by the time they arrive at their destination will pretty much end the game. It wouldn't be an enjoyable experience for anyone. I think the ship should have a ship library, video games, perhaps a deck of cards, or astrogation research, basically something to pass the time for everyone. In Traveller, the time between sessions, if you're still in space or whatever, is said to be used to improving some skills with a ship library. So I'd probably just do it that way: stress reduction or learning during idle times. I think there is a podcast on the Tuesday Knight games that gives a play walkthrough or two about the game that I still need to listen to, in order to get an idea of the play, which will probably be useful.

[@shitmandood]

I listened to the Mothership podcast. I was right. Too many Fear rolls created a TPK. People rolling doubles and constantly failing their rolls. You're not going to get very far in the story at all. It all had to be revealed after everyone was dead. However, they didn't implement the rule of picking an NPC to become a full-fledged PC after the other one died...remember Mothership is supposed to be able to set up a new PC in 5 minutes after death & get right back into the action. They could've at least finished the game with cannon-fodder NPC to PC conversions. Someone would've survived...eventually.

[@euansmith3699]

"... a of it is a little bit sci-fi themed... but I think you could use it for any game..." Actually using sci-fi themed nightmares in a 1920's or fantasy based game could be fun.

[@ravenshadowz2343]

How come Mothership has Player's Survival Guide written on the cover was this a mistake? It's more like Call of Cthulhu RPG since it uses the same dice mechanic as CoC RPG

[@MyBacktrail]

The layout looks similar to a regular book like D&D 5e, but shrunk down to fit that size, including shrinking the font size. Tiny text, I'd need some strong reading glasses. I'd be much happier with a bigger book.

[@MrSpengman]

Okay, who's the masochist who doesn't like this?

[@QuestingBeast]

That's the dislike fairy. He stops by all of my videos. It's adorable.

[@matthew_thefallen]

Too bad for the artwork side in the first book, kinda cheap...

[@matthewrenn]

First?

[@geumlazar5101]

Second?