Nice blog post. Inspired me to springboard off of it and think about the differences in play culture that can cause things to seem missing or incomplete. Maybe it will be illuminating even if it doesn't change how you feel about Mothership. https://games.semitext.xyz/2025/02/15/So-You-Want-to-Run-an-OSR-Game.html
What Mothership seems to be doing, which I find fascinating, is give you a stripped, lightweight but also tuned rules set similar to how a lot of gamers back in the 90s actually "used" (or more accurately, didn't use) BRP and then seasons that with a bunch of advice to cover off "being a good GM".
Only having rules for the important things is a solid start. Just don't bother having the rules nobody used and deliberately don't have rules which can degenerate into pointless skill checks.
It's kind of a framework/play process for doing Trad horror in a specific way.
I don't think this is a bad thing, it certainly doesn't make me think Mothership is a bad game. I'm just not seeing the idea that this is something new so much as properly codifying a play experience which has been around for decades.
That has its own value, and is a good thing.
This is brilliantly put. It also ties into my own thoughts about the game. I'm doing some worldbuilding for a campaign at the moment and I'm continually running up against the fact it's a very well polished machine designed to make it easy to die. Which isn't great for a long-form story.
Exactly that:) And one of the things I'm playing with at the moment is how to make that a part of the narrative. Currently looking at 'This group of characters make this discovery and probably die. THIS group of characters come in after that and work starting from that discovery.'
My solution was that there are more crew in cryo but the corp has to pay them a bonus if they are woken unexpectedly, so they are only woken when necessary (ie when someone dies).
I'm a little worried that it might feel a little Paranoia but it should be fine.
I think the rules in mothership are mostly just excuses to keep bumping up stress, and that's fun. People often complain that the skills are useless, but I like that you spend all this time (OK, 10 minutes) getting to know who your character *was*, and now we find out if they are also a survivor.
I’ve been thinking about forms of friction and notable absences and the impact of both in any given TTRPG and so I’m glad to read of others mulling that over.
Well, and Brennan Mulligan has talked about the idea of fruitful absence, because his style is so built on improv — which in turn makes me think about the skillsets folks bring to the table that they may forget shape the task of filling gaps, etc.
That's very true. When we were intensely going through different systems a few years ago one of the regular comments from the all members of the Forever GM group was about how some games failed to explain to a GM what was expected of them, precisely because the writer made those sorts of assumptions
@beckyannison.bsky.social has a whole thing about play culture and how some games make explicit how you're supposed to engage with them and others don't.
(I also have a whole thing about it but I suspect hers is more articulate.)
Right, yeah, and some of what we struggled with were those games not doing that, as I recall. (I want to take the time to get into some of this for GMs. Like, I want to provide some tools and ideas, but also just talk about GMing at an experiential "here's the mind-cogs going round" sort of level.)
Yes! It's like, the community around Mothership and the stories that can be told with it & the art, & the scenarios are all brilliant.
But under the hood, I'm left with a slight sigh that I have to use *this* rule set to play this kind of game and I just want to hack the crap out of the engine.
In the Warden’s Manual (I think) they mention hacking the engine is the ultimate form of play. Was really awesome to see a chapter encouraging people to make it their own.
I definitely appreciated them saying that, and I do think there's useful material out there, but there is a larger gulf of "what's not in there by design" for me, which is what the article is about.
Comments
Basically:
1) Use BRP (could be something else, doesn't matter because you're going to...)
2) Ignore 90% of the rules
3) Be a "good GM"
It's kind of a framework/play process for doing Trad horror in a specific way.
That has its own value, and is a good thing.
I'm a little worried that it might feel a little Paranoia but it should be fine.
(I also have a whole thing about it but I suspect hers is more articulate.)
I view it more as an FKR approach. Adlib, improv and role play; play the setting not the rules.
Only have rules for crisis and chaotic drama
But under the hood, I'm left with a slight sigh that I have to use *this* rule set to play this kind of game and I just want to hack the crap out of the engine.