I made Time After Time and holy moly what a positive review!! Thank you so much for featuring my fat little zine-I'm taking "might be the best time travel RPG module ever written" to the grave.
Fomo like this is what drives rampant consummerism and we all know what consequences of it are. Buy the things you need and are actually going to use not the ones that are pitched to you. Before buying a thing ask yourself questions Why am I buying it? Who am I buying it for? How often am I going to use it? Do I have something similar? Why do I want it? What in my life is going to be better with it? What happens if I don't buy it? More often than not you buy things for this short shot of dopamine when you order it and another when it arrives.
@@robertchmielecki2580 That seems like a pretty dire read of what is an aspirational purchase of indie TTRPGs which may not ever come to fruition but is at least supporting designers doing their best to eke out some kind of subsistence doing what they love inside this capitalist hellscape of ours, but you do you.
@@Quinns_Quest Quins, I need you to know that I am saying this as someone who has the utmost respect for you and the work you do. The manner in which you use emojis has some real bottom energy. Honestly, I'm here for it.
Got the deluxe box set, it's brilliant. Thanks for the deep dive, the vibe of this game is immaculate. I think I'll run it for the MCDM crew next time we're all together.
@@Quinns_Quest Wouldn't miss this channel for the world! I admit to being a LITTLE delighted you know who I am! Usually it freaks me out. :D We're working on our own little something-something. We should get you into a game, I *think* you'd like it! But who knows...
I got to play a one-shot where I managed to roll up the most kick-ass marine that ever marined. Got me some power armor, a light machine gun and the maximum amount of health/wounds you can roll. A certified bad-ass who promised to, and succeded in, keeping the rest of the crew protected from any nasties on the ship we were boarding. That is until we met the boss monster for the first time. And it swallowed me. I survived, but the armor was wrecked, and my panic check gained me a new condition: Coward, which meant I had to make a fear save any time I wanted to engage in violence. Also that machine gun ran out of ammo after a bit more panic-firing full auto. Lying on top of an air-vent clad only in my blood- and bile-stained fatigues, clutching a looted revolver with 4 shots, trying to work up the nerve to actually fire at the monster fighting my friends on the other side of the cargo bay (and then accidentally shooting the android in the back). Priceless.
I really like the idea of an inconsistent tech level across different adventures and locations. Like when you go to another country from the UK and there are trains which work.
Or to put your analogy in '70s-80s sci-fi terms, it's the difference between the clunky, utilitarian tech of the Space Soviet Union vs. the slicker consumer tech of the Space United States that you would see back then. Take a look at the original '80s edition of R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk RPG for examples of that in an RPG context, where the West has it's slick chrome cyberware, and the Commies have cyberware that looks like repurposed tank parts. Space settings also allows you to have very different cultural approached to tech. We are already have a backlash against AI in our culture and it isn't even fully-formed yet. Colonies where advanced computer tech are banned don't seem far-fetched at all. You also can rely on the old saw of a planet having "ionic storms" or something similar to have a place where nobody can get wi-fi receptions. Trying to resolve the contradictions between modules is the kind of thing that can force a GM to come up with interesting world-building to justify it.
It’s amazing how efficiently one of these reviews can take me from “Oh I’ve heard of that, idk if I’m interested though” to “I have to play this immediately”
It sounds like Quinns needs to write a mothership relationship zine, full of random tables about interpersonal interactions, secrets, agendas and other character personalization that hook two or more players together. It doesn't have to be all chummy either; a past history of love can be wrapped up with a sweet betrayal - negative character hooks still bring the players together in the same way their characters are now linked - and perhaps a short adventure where one of the PCs is the antagonist and maybe they don't even know it until the big reveal at the start of the 3'd act, and ... what will they do now? He sounds like "a member of the community excited to make and sell ... extraordinarily high quality products for Mothership themselves." Well?
This was my read as well. I think he should absolutely create this, I’m sure he could even find an amazing community artist/designer to bring it to zine form
I see a contradiction between what you praise and what you blame You praise the absence of charisma stat and persuasion mechanics. It is conversation, you are right! But you blame the absence of a character's relationship mechanics. But relationships are conversations too! Sometimes with a real person, sometimes with a straw man in your head, of course, but it is what we as people can play without random tables and dices. We cannot shoot blaster into alien spiders or die 3 times in a weekend,, but relationships and power dynamics we can.
Fate has a nice system for this. Some Fate offshoots basically say to pick your character's skills. You come up with an adventure you've been on with someone else. So in the Space Marine concept. Two Space Marines write up a blurb about Remember back in Space Nam. So like they need to do a pincer attack on a baddie. And they look at each other and go Just Like Back In Space Nam. And they get a +2 or whatever. Simple as. Sounds like this game could use it.
on the technology question i usually say yes, to both. 1) yes you have huge reliable two-tone computers on shit mining stations because they are easy to fix, very durable, resistant to shock, and parts are cheap. you want that on DOS machines that run your mining asteroid. however 2) your science ships might as well be from the Expanse with a computer you can talk to and you can ask it complex things and you don't need to be at a terminal. But uh oh, you can't fix these easily or at all if they break, which is usually the state that your players will find them. and no, these systems don't tend to talk to eachother that well but they don't have to and it can still be coherent.
Absolutely agree. Look at how technology exists right now, and you can find good roadmaps for how to adjudicate your games. Can you afford better tech? Did the company that makes it go out of business? And take into consideration that your equipment is being transported slowly across the universe. Your new shipment of laptops ordered 2 years ago aren't actually compatible with your state of the art USB 10.0 connectors.
As someone who struggled with the same thing as Quinns did but couldn't quite put it into words, thanks! This is a brilliant explanation, yet so simple.
I am extremely slowly trying to write a Mothership/Lancer hybrid supplement that I think will be cool. But I love Motherships roleplaying rules a ton, while still loving Lancers tactical play a ton. And I think they can work together (and Lancer, while it has updated roleplaying rules in Karrakin trade baronies, lends itself really well to being able to sub in other rules as well)
Violence against game props report 0:23 Meter-high crotch drop 0:34 Arson 1:36 Shoved into a faceplant 4:22 Used as the murder weapon against a mosquito 5:10 More mosquitoes 5:11 No seriously shut the door, the bugs will get in 8:05 Proof of intent 8:10 Intent 8:19 Faceplant #2 11:16 Our investigation team couldn't accurately determine the height and distance of the fall on this one 17:59 Spanking 18:11 ?????? 19:29 Entrapment 19:42 Entrapment, but less transparent 20:28 Not violence against a game component, but a lack of continuity in the editing 25:18 1.5 meter fall (Hesitation in the throw, the arm slowed down) 35:28 The Book Centipede 36:19 very small drop, but that made a large sound for how small the books are 41:45 There was still a mosquito 44:44 The Dice Tower? 44:54 Definitely the Dice Tower
My 13yo son is astounded by and disappointed in humanity because he got 15k thumbs up on a RUclips comment by only stating the most obvious thing about the video. And here you are with TWELVE (12), mine included!? Injustice fit for a Mothership campaign.
If you are checking Mothership out on a budget, grab the free rules, and get the pamphlet for The Haunting of Ypsilon-14. It's $5, can be run in 1-3 sessions, and should be enjoyable to anyone that is a fan of Alien.
"blood filled capri sun that you call a body" is up there with "I'm hoping baroness Andolyn will let me study her alerions" for favorite Quinn joke. Seriously, whatever ambushed you in a concrete pipe as a child did you a solid.
Reading the GM book for Mothership might be the best thing that's happened to me in my 30+ years of roleplaying. I don't expect to be that impactful for everyone, but the mentality, the practicality (and hospitality!), the constant concrete examples of how to make the game your own and how to find your own way to play started to unravel so much baggage and anxiety that I'd been lugging around.
For the lack of canon, my take is "This galaxy is so large that all of these are true somewhere". But i absolutely get why it puts a higher mental load on the DM cause you have to improvise stuff and find your own vision^^
I think it's central to the broader RPG tendencies Mothership arose from. Like that additional difficulty replaces the aditional difficulty of wondering "What is the "REAL" answer. I better look this up. One minute everyone, I don't want to mess up this point of lore. Once you adjust to there being no real answers its freeing. And once you trust your players ideas, you have a whole table telling you what's real instead of authorial intent. Ask Roland Barthes!
We tried this module and it wasn't for us. The first thing we fell over was the android question. Can we use a medikit on an android? Do they breathe? Etc etc
@@ThaDenz69 All incredibly easy questions to answer, at leat on our table? GM just decides on the spot, and then we live with the consequences. Consistency of decisions is the key, not the search for "real truth".
Two adventures that are absurdly high quality are What We Give to Alien Gods and In Other Waters: Tidebreaker. Both have writers that worked on the Mothership videogame in all but name, Citizen Sleeper. Also, if you're wanting some premium "dropping heavy books on tables" games, Exalted 3rd Edition and Haunted West are both excellent candidiates.
Trick question, the android doesn't asphyxiate or get crushed or freeze or anything else. It drifts in the void of space for decades, unable to do anything but twist helplessly in some vain attempt to regain control over its trajectory. Its self-protection protocols prevent it from terminating and its nuclear powered heart will be good for another 50 years before it needs servicing. It can only stare into the darkness as its joints slowly sieze up and the river of current that drives its executive functions wanes drop by drop. Long after it has lost the ability to move the consciousness trapped inside will finally dwindle, then flicker, then be snuffed out forever. But that moment is far, FAR away. For now there is nothing but time and space and the cold embrace of the void. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.
I have to say, the way you educate and inspire ideas while also showing so much variety in every aspect of how these games work give such a great idea as a buyer for what kinds of games I want to run. Heart has been a blast to run, and I might never have experienced it without your video. Nothing makes me happier than a new quinns quest video, keep it up man!
I’m desperately trying to make time to run a small Cloud Empress game alongside my current Ultraviolet Grasslands campaign. It has absolutely entranced me
I think that if there was an established canon to Mothership, the community that exists around it would not exist because people would feel wrong stretching or bending what is there to their whims and ideas (whether this is correct, people have a harder time hacking when the book has deeper lore); whereas because Mothership is so canonless it is easier to make a supplement that is about say Waste Managers of the Inner Sol System or whatever.
I've downloaded the free rules PDF and am enjoying the read ! It's amazing how good an "example of play" sidebar is to teach rules fundamentals in a simple and engaging way.
Isn't it great how the example of people playing Mothership gets you to set your expectations about people ordering dinner and having no idea what's going on?
I may not ever run these games, but learning about these systems and different perspectives on game design is exciting and interesting. Thanks so much for creating these videos!
Great job again! I hope we see a second seaon because you really set the standard for quality production and top-notch writing. Hope all is well with you as well.
1) I love this series so much, thank you for the time and effort you put into producing these videos. 2) Quinns, I hate you for how you "packed up" the Mothership booklets at the end of the video.
Wonderful review! I'm really hoping to get this to the table ASAP! It got me thinking, a zine specifically for generating deeper Player Character relationships/dynamics and "tuning" how certain world building/lore aspects work in world could have legs? A bag of questions and sliders for Session 0, wrapped in a classic corporate 'team building' handbook aesthetic. Though with much of the mismatched tech, ships, how androids work etc I'd happily work in all that as it's a big ol' universe. The closer to larger settlements we get, the more advanced the tech, and perhaps the smaller the computers, generally speaking. It's fun seeing tech levels collide and explore why some factions/locations use older stuff (and makes me think of the variety in Battlestar - or Firefly), but it's certainly work to keep players all on the same page. I love how the lack of an official world enables so many designers to get really creative and weird with it, even if it means some heavier lifting for those looking to connect it all.
Hey Quinns. I love the content! Constructive feedback that you can ignore incomming: I find your phone interview goofing off both distracting and slightly disrespectful. I understand it's a bit. But for me it falls flat each episode and I don't catch what the creators are saying. That's just the view of this internet stranger. Keep up the great work!
Sounds like this game could benefit from a simplified Fiasco-style system, just to establish some relationships and conflicts among the characters. Thank you for giving me that idea.
Citizen QU-I-NNS, I eagerly look forward to your mandatorily positive review of Paranoia. It would make your best friend and mine, Friend Computer, very happy.
Just discovered your channel with this video and instantly binge watched the rest. You are doing an amazing job, great analysis and advices plus great editing making it so fun to watch ! Already one of my favorite ttrpg channel ! Thank you man, I'm joining your patreon right now !
Why do I always click your videos saying “oh I’ll just watch this review, surely I won’t buy anything” and ALWAYS buy something after. EVERY TIME QUINN
Great review! I don't share your issue about wanting an Official Canon, but I get why some folks would feel that way. It is odd the game doesn't speak on it much at all tho - could help to have a "Consider What's In Your Universe" style section giving you questions to set some of the elements you mentioned (even if only to make the appearance of something different than that norm in a module seem even more noteworthy, strange, etc.). I think you made a great point too around social bonds, personality hooks, etc. I think, like you did, it's easy for more experienced GMs to build that in but in a game that hits so well on so much like Mothership, it feels odd to not have it in the actual text itself anywhere.
7:18 I live off of an alley with a lot of dumpsters on it. I know that garbage trucks don’t “literally” spend 14 hours a day parked outside my window… but it sure FEELS like they do…
I was "Ehhh, I'm not sure this is to my tastes" and then you complained that the game has no core canon and my ears pricked up and my eyes made heart shapes like a cartoon wolf. Setting agnostic systems are my particular flavour of svelte lady-wolf. And since you did ask, while I don't think you are weird of unfair for wanting a game with a cool, consistent canon, I will suggest that running an RPG is as much an act of art as any other kind of writing and performance, and that doing so from your own particular, weird creative baseline is a thrill worth seeking.
I've been very curious about mothership and seen wildly differing information on what it's like to run/play. This is a truly fantastic video, I really feel like I have a real grasp for the intent and style of the game that no one else could put across. I'm so happy that I'm now completely sure that I would not enjoy a moment of this game and that it's anathematic to everything I enjoy in RPG's. Thank you so much
I have no idea what the algo has given me today...just from the intro, im getting early youtube vibes and i'm tasting a hint of redlettermedia. Maybe some floral notes too. The man set his spell book on fire. I'll watch this. 😐
This may be your best review ever, mate. Super edutaining - not to mention convincing. Will be purchasing a "Mothership" box as soon as I can afford to do so. Cheers!
I was hoping this was going to be the next game you reviewed. This is the next game I am running for my group after we finish our Monster of the Week campaign.
I adore the pulpy aesthetic of the adventures. The way I solve the tech disparity in each module is that different places have different tech levels. Kinda how early Battletech did it; kinda how Traveler does it.
So excited to watch this! I ran a one-shot for a few friends a month ago and it was a blast! If you get the "hull breach" expansion, there is a short adventure/scenario in it that is basically Friday the 13th *iiiiiiin spaaaaaaaaaace* - we had an absolute blast making fun of every slasher movie trope and trying to stay alive as the slasher chased us. And if you do die, rolling up another character is incredibly fast and there are other NPCs kicking around that you can take over - so my player who did die to the slasher got super excited when he could hop back in in moments and get back into the action. Really fun game, highly recommended from me :)
My dude, this awoke something in me that I have no control over. I don't even play TTRPGs, but I absolutely want to play this. It has been 1 week since I watched this video, and I have consumed hours and hours of Mothership playthroughs. I need dis.
Sweete Coconuts of London👾 I loved your review on The Wildsea and ordered everything I could to finally give GMing a chance. (It's still on the way though.) I simply love everything in the strange style of China Miéville. Right after watching that a few months ago the enigmatic algorythm did spit out a curious video about an other pen and paper that completely encompassed my other big passion. Really indulgent and stylish space horror called Mothership. So I immediately did order that as well with a bunch of adventures. And now you are doing a brillant review of that as well^^ Thaks a lot! (Got into you guys years back with a video that got me into the Arkham Horror LCG. Still my favorite game. Getting new people into it with your video to this day🖤)
Late to the party and don’t know if you’ll read this or not, but I’ve just found your channel and would probably add your videos to my “things that are fun to listen to regardless of content” playlist rotation even if I wasn’t using them to incorporate new mechanics into my 5e games. But I’m also doing that. I’ve managed so far to never give any money to Wizards while continuing to play their game (because it’s the one I learned with) AND constantly finding new and interesting rules from other systems to use in my 5e campaigns. It makes me very happy when I find something like rolling death saves blind because it adds so much tension to that situation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to try on Mothership at some point and reaaaally want that special edition and screen, but I will be getting those things at such time that I have the time and money to pay for them. In the meantime, I’ll just… watch this video again. And maybe the Lancer one as well.
Been eyeing up (your Mother)ship for a long time, this pushed me to get the deluxe set, and now that I've got it and have read through much of it, I'm already deeply in love
The bit about the lack of unified canon reminds me of an ongoing conversation I have been having with other Game Masters regarding licensed ip RPGs. Specifically, quick and easy shared understanding of terms. To use the "android" example: if we're playing Star Trek or Star Wars or Alien or Bladerunner and we say "android" (or just "droid"), each conjures up something specific and the group is on the same page, even if they may be on different paragraphs.
I love the aesthetics of every one of these videos. I’m very happy to say that I was a backer and own the deluxe box. I’m happy to say this because now I don’t have to run out and buy a copy like I did Lancer.
Great to see this game getting a great review! You are absolutely right about the Wardens book. It's the best ever written and should be in any GM's collection.
With regards to universal canon vs table canon, I think it's up to preference. It's a tradeoff between depth and flexibility. As a player and as a GM, I prefer a more universal canon, because it gives players more things to understand and use ingame without as much need for interpretation right as they're intending to use it. On the other hand, it makes the world less flexible when a player wants to do something cool but they didn't understand that their personal interpretation wasn't the canon one. Like the remote door access example, you can either make that ruling beforehand, and make that knowledge available for players to use, or make up how it works in the moment to fit the mood at the table.
Thank you for this Quinns. This was a fun watch. I have found that Mothership has sparked my interest in being a GM again to the point of prepping my own campaign using several of the offical setting books mixed into the corner of the universe that I have created. I can understand the point of wishing there was a "canon" but I have found that in being forced to create links between some of the book's locations I have been able to create interesting story beats that will, hopefully, intrigue and delight my players. It's nice to have some locations that are fully mapped out and easier to run while I gget to add my own stations and bases to the Verse. I never try to have everyone at the table see the same mind's eye view of a game I'm running. I just try and make sure we're all using the same palette and I think Mothership gives me enough tools to achieve that quite easily.
This is exactly the review I’ve been waiting for to finally pick this up, thank you. I subscribed because I like your style and quality, and because you’re focused on things outside of the mainstream games out there. I hope you’ll do a review on Ultraviolet Grasslands and/or the Vastlands Guidebook that just finished its Kickstarter.
Gradient Descent is the module that I started with and I continue to think about in developing my head canon for what happened to the station, what the artifacts mean to the rest of the universe, and what this and that. The random tables for the artifacts and the android manufactory corporate history alone present juicy ways to link up with other parts of the universe
Thank the dark gods, I was starting to get worried I'd not had a Quinn video for so long. This looks like a doozy of a TTRPG, as well, whatever the hell those are.
Found the channel two days ago and I ate all the videos already (3 of the reviews were titles I had interest in learning) These reviews are both funny and inspiring, pretty neat work, keep it up, cant wait for the next one 👌
Thank you for a dense review of this game I've been curious about; you've shed light on things I was anxious about, such as the inconsistency between adventures & how wibbly-wobbly verisimilitude can be. I'm still pumped to run it, but now I have proper expectatiions.
I'm lovin' the reviews Quinn. Thank you. It was great to hear the players' pov in this one. I'd like to hear more of that. Maybe even an awkward interview? They're most of the people involved in the T-T-R-P-G Comunity after all.
I really like the phone interview gags. Please keep them coming. Less distracting than closed captions. Maybe you could alter the frame size balance between your video frame and the creator portrait frame if people keep getting put off?
I'd love to see how Quinn's Quest approaches Paranoia. I've always felt that in the same way Mothership teaches players to embrace death and horror, Paranoia teaches players to embrace consensual and silly PvP to entertain eachother. A lot of players and newer GMs really struggle to figure out how to handle PvP in a fair, consensual, and most of all FUN way.
I was very worried about how I would handle this whole thing as a GM who has never done horror. Did another bug hunt just now, and wow. I wasn't sure how much of an effect it was having on the party until the first real monster reveal several hours in, and everyone was beyond apprehensive to set it off. I love this game, thank you so much from me and my whole crew!
I'll somewhat support the critique regarding inconsistent world, if only as someone who loves playing Androids and fully felt that inconsistency pop up when _immediately_ in Another Bug Hunt the Warden had to somewhat scramble for an explanation from me on how I imagine my Android to function due to the biological aspects of that module's enemy. It certainly wasn't that we had no fun or didn't figure it out, but at minimum an awkward maneuver to figure out without kinda spilling the beans in one way or another (not personally impacted by spoilers myself and was also playing a Corporate Android so likely would bother others more than it did myself). Love your videos, Quinns! One small suggestion for improving the show: pronouncing TTRPG as "titterpig." Thanks for the consideration. c:
I made Time After Time and holy moly what a positive review!! Thank you so much for featuring my fat little zine-I'm taking "might be the best time travel RPG module ever written" to the grave.
Ahhh it's so good! The rule for if the player characters encounter themselves from the future is ace. Can't wait to see what you do next.
Any idea where to buy physical copies in the UK?
I hope so much that my group gets into this so I can run your mad creation.
@@dilarus8231you ever find a copy? I've been struggling to find any UK retailers with them in stock
Tell TKG that your module is SOLD OUT and need to order more immediately! I NEED my copy! Hahaha
I own both the Heart rulebook and the Wildsea rulebook without having a game of either, Quinns Quest is a crime against my wallet.
But you're supporting desiiignerrs 🥺
@@Quinns_Quest I bought Spire because of you! And you didn't even review that ON Quinn's Quest!
Fomo like this is what drives rampant consummerism and we all know what consequences of it are. Buy the things you need and are actually going to use not the ones that are pitched to you. Before buying a thing ask yourself questions
Why am I buying it?
Who am I buying it for?
How often am I going to use it?
Do I have something similar?
Why do I want it?
What in my life is going to be better with it?
What happens if I don't buy it?
More often than not you buy things for this short shot of dopamine when you order it and another when it arrives.
@@robertchmielecki2580 That seems like a pretty dire read of what is an aspirational purchase of indie TTRPGs which may not ever come to fruition but is at least supporting designers doing their best to eke out some kind of subsistence doing what they love inside this capitalist hellscape of ours, but you do you.
@@Quinns_Quest Quins, I need you to know that I am saying this as someone who has the utmost respect for you and the work you do. The manner in which you use emojis has some real bottom energy. Honestly, I'm here for it.
Got the deluxe box set, it's brilliant. Thanks for the deep dive, the vibe of this game is immaculate. I think I'll run it for the MCDM crew next time we're all together.
I have a sudden idea for a Mothership adventure but I feel like I gotta read Hull Breach et al to see if anyone else got there first. :D
Oh wow, hey Matt! Honour to have you here
@@Quinns_Quest Wouldn't miss this channel for the world! I admit to being a LITTLE delighted you know who I am! Usually it freaks me out. :D
We're working on our own little something-something. We should get you into a game, I *think* you'd like it! But who knows...
@@mcolville email me! quinnsquest.quintinsdomain@gmail.com
Love this
I got to play a one-shot where I managed to roll up the most kick-ass marine that ever marined. Got me some power armor, a light machine gun and the maximum amount of health/wounds you can roll. A certified bad-ass who promised to, and succeded in, keeping the rest of the crew protected from any nasties on the ship we were boarding. That is until we met the boss monster for the first time. And it swallowed me. I survived, but the armor was wrecked, and my panic check gained me a new condition: Coward, which meant I had to make a fear save any time I wanted to engage in violence. Also that machine gun ran out of ammo after a bit more panic-firing full auto.
Lying on top of an air-vent clad only in my blood- and bile-stained fatigues, clutching a looted revolver with 4 shots, trying to work up the nerve to actually fire at the monster fighting my friends on the other side of the cargo bay (and then accidentally shooting the android in the back). Priceless.
That story made my day.
THAT is the kind of RPG story from which legends are formed.
Or as I like to call it...Tuesday
"We finally got a sci-fi game on Quinn's Quest"
Lancer: "Am I a joke to you?"
i literally forgot
how could this happen, i only have four other reviews 😭
@@Quinns_Quest 🤣
@@Quinns_Quest You could make the half-assed argument Lancer is a Sword and Sorcery adventure with a Sci-fi coat of paint? 🤷♂
@@nonspiderweb Ah, like the people who argue Star Wars is a Western with a Space theme. And like those people, you'd be a filthy, filthy liar.
@@winnerwood Well of course Star wars isn't a western... It's a Samurai movie.
I really like the idea of an inconsistent tech level across different adventures and locations. Like when you go to another country from the UK and there are trains which work.
X'D
Come to america and play the find a train game. It's a LARP
@@BeckettWarren You can do it in Boston and be right and wrong on the same day. It's amazing!
Or to put your analogy in '70s-80s sci-fi terms, it's the difference between the clunky, utilitarian tech of the Space Soviet Union vs. the slicker consumer tech of the Space United States that you would see back then. Take a look at the original '80s edition of R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk RPG for examples of that in an RPG context, where the West has it's slick chrome cyberware, and the Commies have cyberware that looks like repurposed tank parts.
Space settings also allows you to have very different cultural approached to tech. We are already have a backlash against AI in our culture and it isn't even fully-formed yet. Colonies where advanced computer tech are banned don't seem far-fetched at all. You also can rely on the old saw of a planet having "ionic storms" or something similar to have a place where nobody can get wi-fi receptions.
Trying to resolve the contradictions between modules is the kind of thing that can force a GM to come up with interesting world-building to justify it.
Or trying to plug in your phone charger.
I'm so excited to watch! I hope he says something strange and looks at the camera for a bit too long. That would be grand
It’s amazing how efficiently one of these reviews can take me from “Oh I’ve heard of that, idk if I’m interested though” to “I have to play this immediately”
It sounds like Quinns needs to write a mothership relationship zine, full of random tables about interpersonal interactions, secrets, agendas and other character personalization that hook two or more players together. It doesn't have to be all chummy either; a past history of love can be wrapped up with a sweet betrayal - negative character hooks still bring the players together in the same way their characters are now linked - and perhaps a short adventure where one of the PCs is the antagonist and maybe they don't even know it until the big reveal at the start of the 3'd act, and ... what will they do now?
He sounds like "a member of the community excited to make and sell ... extraordinarily high quality products for Mothership themselves."
Well?
The relationship map activity in the Smallville RPG might be a good place to start - or to just steal and use.
This was my read as well. I think he should absolutely create this, I’m sure he could even find an amazing community artist/designer to bring it to zine form
I see a contradiction between what you praise and what you blame
You praise the absence of charisma stat and persuasion mechanics. It is conversation, you are right!
But you blame the absence of a character's relationship mechanics. But relationships are conversations too! Sometimes with a real person, sometimes with a straw man in your head, of course, but it is what we as people can play without random tables and dices.
We cannot shoot blaster into alien spiders or die 3 times in a weekend,, but relationships and power dynamics we can.
I think I might give it a swing...and possibly a miss
Fate has a nice system for this. Some Fate offshoots basically say to pick your character's skills. You come up with an adventure you've been on with someone else. So in the Space Marine concept. Two Space Marines write up a blurb about Remember back in Space Nam. So like they need to do a pincer attack on a baddie. And they look at each other and go Just Like Back In Space Nam. And they get a +2 or whatever. Simple as. Sounds like this game could use it.
on the technology question i usually say yes, to both.
1) yes you have huge reliable two-tone computers on shit mining stations because they are easy to fix, very durable, resistant to shock, and parts are cheap. you want that on DOS machines that run your mining asteroid.
however
2) your science ships might as well be from the Expanse with a computer you can talk to and you can ask it complex things and you don't need to be at a terminal. But uh oh, you can't fix these easily or at all if they break, which is usually the state that your players will find them.
and no, these systems don't tend to talk to eachother that well but they don't have to and it can still be coherent.
As someone that works on heavy lifting machinery, this is so accurate
@@antomanifesto Why won't my nintendo connect to twitter?
Absolutely agree. Look at how technology exists right now, and you can find good roadmaps for how to adjudicate your games.
Can you afford better tech? Did the company that makes it go out of business? And take into consideration that your equipment is being transported slowly across the universe. Your new shipment of laptops ordered 2 years ago aren't actually compatible with your state of the art USB 10.0 connectors.
As someone who struggled with the same thing as Quinns did but couldn't quite put it into words, thanks! This is a brilliant explanation, yet so simple.
Love the idea that far future computers might still run Fortran
“I’m heavily pregnant with good times, and I’ll let you coparent for $50” may be one of your best gag lines ever.
Quinn, you can't keep doing this to me. My Lancer game hasn't even properly begun yet
Yeah, I only just got my rulebook less than 2 weeks ago.
@@pdughi Same here
I am extremely slowly trying to write a Mothership/Lancer hybrid supplement that I think will be cool. But I love Motherships roleplaying rules a ton, while still loving Lancers tactical play a ton. And I think they can work together (and Lancer, while it has updated roleplaying rules in Karrakin trade baronies, lends itself really well to being able to sub in other rules as well)
There are 0-edition rules for free. That , one tri-fold scenario and 3 hours is all you need
I love the tone and vibes of this channel. I don’t even play TTRPGs, but god I love hanging out here
Make yourself comfortable! I'm happy to have you here 😊
Violence against game props report
0:23 Meter-high crotch drop
0:34 Arson
1:36 Shoved into a faceplant
4:22 Used as the murder weapon against a mosquito
5:10 More mosquitoes
5:11 No seriously shut the door, the bugs will get in
8:05 Proof of intent
8:10 Intent
8:19 Faceplant #2
11:16 Our investigation team couldn't accurately determine the height and distance of the fall on this one
17:59 Spanking
18:11 ??????
19:29 Entrapment
19:42 Entrapment, but less transparent
20:28 Not violence against a game component, but a lack of continuity in the editing
25:18 1.5 meter fall (Hesitation in the throw, the arm slowed down)
35:28 The Book Centipede
36:19 very small drop, but that made a large sound for how small the books are
41:45 There was still a mosquito
44:44 The Dice Tower?
44:54 Definitely the Dice Tower
I feel honoured and also encouraged to do more slaps and spanks next time 🫡
My 13yo son is astounded by and disappointed in humanity because he got 15k thumbs up on a RUclips comment by only stating the most obvious thing about the video. And here you are with TWELVE (12), mine included!? Injustice fit for a Mothership campaign.
If you are checking Mothership out on a budget, grab the free rules, and get the pamphlet for The Haunting of Ypsilon-14. It's $5, can be run in 1-3 sessions, and should be enjoyable to anyone that is a fan of Alien.
Y-14 was the first module I ran and it worked really well as an introductory adventure.
@@Ends_Of_Invention Hell yeah, me too!
Mystery Quest ran this module!
"blood filled capri sun that you call a body" is up there with "I'm hoping baroness Andolyn will let me study her alerions" for favorite Quinn joke. Seriously, whatever ambushed you in a concrete pipe as a child did you a solid.
Let me study her WHAT? Did I write that?? What the hell was that from 😅
Dang, this video is longer than the 2007 ABC holiday special "Shrek the Halls"
Now that's a timescale I can get behind.
It's crazy how much effort goes into these reviews. Hands down the best TTRPG review content out there. Looking forward to more of this.
If you're looking for someone to oversell you on something, sure
It's kinda funny to have the chaotic sound of large amounts of broken glass be the backing track of your life.
“The implacable corporate hand on the small of your back” 😂 oh thank you Quinns, what a treasure you are
Reading the GM book for Mothership might be the best thing that's happened to me in my 30+ years of roleplaying. I don't expect to be that impactful for everyone, but the mentality, the practicality (and hospitality!), the constant concrete examples of how to make the game your own and how to find your own way to play started to unravel so much baggage and anxiety that I'd been lugging around.
For the lack of canon, my take is "This galaxy is so large that all of these are true somewhere".
But i absolutely get why it puts a higher mental load on the DM cause you have to improvise stuff and find your own vision^^
I think it's central to the broader RPG tendencies Mothership arose from. Like that additional difficulty replaces the aditional difficulty of wondering "What is the "REAL" answer. I better look this up. One minute everyone, I don't want to mess up this point of lore. Once you adjust to there being no real answers its freeing. And once you trust your players ideas, you have a whole table telling you what's real instead of authorial intent. Ask Roland Barthes!
We tried this module and it wasn't for us.
The first thing we fell over was the android question. Can we use a medikit on an android? Do they breathe? Etc etc
@@ThaDenz69 All incredibly easy questions to answer, at leat on our table? GM just decides on the spot, and then we live with the consequences. Consistency of decisions is the key, not the search for "real truth".
Two adventures that are absurdly high quality are What We Give to Alien Gods and In Other Waters: Tidebreaker. Both have writers that worked on the Mothership videogame in all but name, Citizen Sleeper.
Also, if you're wanting some premium "dropping heavy books on tables" games, Exalted 3rd Edition and Haunted West are both excellent candidiates.
the In Other Waters video game is amazing too. Never thought I'd get so much atmosphere out of what is really just UI design.
What We Give to Alien Gods is sold out, do you know if there is a 1e version coming?
Trick question, the android doesn't asphyxiate or get crushed or freeze or anything else.
It drifts in the void of space for decades, unable to do anything but twist helplessly in some vain attempt to regain control over its trajectory. Its self-protection protocols prevent it from terminating and its nuclear powered heart will be good for another 50 years before it needs servicing. It can only stare into the darkness as its joints slowly sieze up and the river of current that drives its executive functions wanes drop by drop. Long after it has lost the ability to move the consciousness trapped inside will finally dwindle, then flicker, then be snuffed out forever. But that moment is far, FAR away. For now there is nothing but time and space and the cold embrace of the void. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.
Yeah I'm going to need you to take 1d4 Stress
Quinns gave me a like and I don't know whether it's a good like or a "you've hurt me" like.
@DrEnzyme stare into the mirrored lake and know the two are the same.
Also shout out to Thousand Empty Light, great solo module
"f you're interested in the consumer review equivalent of EDGING" made me almost spit out my pizza
I have to say, the way you educate and inspire ideas while also showing so much variety in every aspect of how these games work give such a great idea as a buyer for what kinds of games I want to run. Heart has been a blast to run, and I might never have experienced it without your video. Nothing makes me happier than a new quinns quest video, keep it up man!
I love how Mothership isn't too deadly actually. I am currently running one of its standalone hack, Cloud Empress which is lovely too.
I’m desperately trying to make time to run a small Cloud Empress game alongside my current Ultraviolet Grasslands campaign. It has absolutely entranced me
@@HankFlaktoid Good on all of your campaigns, Hank! I love Ultraviolet Grasslands.
FIST: Ultra Edition tonite 👀
FIST: Ultra Edition tonight queen??
FIST: Ultra Edition tonite 👀
I think that if there was an established canon to Mothership, the community that exists around it would not exist because people would feel wrong stretching or bending what is there to their whims and ideas (whether this is correct, people have a harder time hacking when the book has deeper lore); whereas because Mothership is so canonless it is easier to make a supplement that is about say Waste Managers of the Inner Sol System or whatever.
I've downloaded the free rules PDF and am enjoying the read ! It's amazing how good an "example of play" sidebar is to teach rules fundamentals in a simple and engaging way.
Isn't it great how the example of people playing Mothership gets you to set your expectations about people ordering dinner and having no idea what's going on?
0:26 I haven’t been this excited about the contents of Quinn’s lap since… (cue “Summer Lovin”)
Mothership is the gold standard when it comes to source books. It does soooooo much right to help new GM’s
How the hell can you make reviews so damn entertaining to watch? You're a miracle worker, and yes, of course I now really want to play Mothership.
I may not ever run these games, but learning about these systems and different perspectives on game design is exciting and interesting. Thanks so much for creating these videos!
Great job again! I hope we see a second seaon because you really set the standard for quality production and top-notch writing. Hope all is well with you as well.
I've been really excited to watch this after listening to the interview on Patreon and I honestly really love the longer review!
1) I love this series so much, thank you for the time and effort you put into producing these videos. 2) Quinns, I hate you for how you "packed up" the Mothership booklets at the end of the video.
That death save mechanic is GENIUS
Wonderful review! I'm really hoping to get this to the table ASAP!
It got me thinking, a zine specifically for generating deeper Player Character relationships/dynamics and "tuning" how certain world building/lore aspects work in world could have legs? A bag of questions and sliders for Session 0, wrapped in a classic corporate 'team building' handbook aesthetic.
Though with much of the mismatched tech, ships, how androids work etc I'd happily work in all that as it's a big ol' universe. The closer to larger settlements we get, the more advanced the tech, and perhaps the smaller the computers, generally speaking. It's fun seeing tech levels collide and explore why some factions/locations use older stuff (and makes me think of the variety in Battlestar - or Firefly), but it's certainly work to keep players all on the same page. I love how the lack of an official world enables so many designers to get really creative and weird with it, even if it means some heavier lifting for those looking to connect it all.
I LOVE the DEATH CUP. Such a fun idea. Great review Quinns!
Your channel is such a great find. Loved how genuinely critical and thoughtful your analysis of the system is.
"What happened to respecting your audience's time?" Screw that! I'm just glad there's another Quinn's Quest.
Hey Quinns. I love the content! Constructive feedback that you can ignore incomming: I find your phone interview goofing off both distracting and slightly disrespectful. I understand it's a bit. But for me it falls flat each episode and I don't catch what the creators are saying.
That's just the view of this internet stranger. Keep up the great work!
I think the goofing is simultaneously funny/on-brand for The Gamekeeper alter ego, and also kind of rude?
yeah, very distracting
I agree. That was the one part of the otherwise great video that was actively counterproductive.
3 seconds in and I already see Yazeba and Koriko. 10/10
Sounds like this game could benefit from a simplified Fiasco-style system, just to establish some relationships and conflicts among the characters. Thank you for giving me that idea.
Absolutely blessed with another Quinns Quest.
I had never seen the inside of those zines and god damn they are beautifully designed
Citizen QU-I-NNS, I eagerly look forward to your mandatorily positive review of Paranoia. It would make your best friend and mine, Friend Computer, very happy.
Your rpg reviews are just top notch
Just discovered your channel with this video and instantly binge watched the rest. You are doing an amazing job, great analysis and advices plus great editing making it so fun to watch !
Already one of my favorite ttrpg channel !
Thank you man, I'm joining your patreon right now !
Why do I always click your videos saying “oh I’ll just watch this review, surely I won’t buy anything” and ALWAYS buy something after. EVERY TIME QUINN
Great review! I don't share your issue about wanting an Official Canon, but I get why some folks would feel that way. It is odd the game doesn't speak on it much at all tho - could help to have a "Consider What's In Your Universe" style section giving you questions to set some of the elements you mentioned (even if only to make the appearance of something different than that norm in a module seem even more noteworthy, strange, etc.).
I think you made a great point too around social bonds, personality hooks, etc. I think, like you did, it's easy for more experienced GMs to build that in but in a game that hits so well on so much like Mothership, it feels odd to not have it in the actual text itself anywhere.
7:18 I live off of an alley with a lot of dumpsters on it. I know that garbage trucks don’t “literally” spend 14 hours a day parked outside my window… but it sure FEELS like they do…
Really glad to hear a shoutout to Stay Frosty and Slipgate Chokepoint, such a cool game and Slipgate has so much love put into it
I was "Ehhh, I'm not sure this is to my tastes" and then you complained that the game has no core canon and my ears pricked up and my eyes made heart shapes like a cartoon wolf.
Setting agnostic systems are my particular flavour of svelte lady-wolf. And since you did ask, while I don't think you are weird of unfair for wanting a game with a cool, consistent canon, I will suggest that running an RPG is as much an act of art as any other kind of writing and performance, and that doing so from your own particular, weird creative baseline is a thrill worth seeking.
Personally I absolutely *adore* that the world is agnostic to what the table wants it to be
I've been very curious about mothership and seen wildly differing information on what it's like to run/play. This is a truly fantastic video, I really feel like I have a real grasp for the intent and style of the game that no one else could put across. I'm so happy that I'm now completely sure that I would not enjoy a moment of this game and that it's anathematic to everything I enjoy in RPG's. Thank you so much
I have no idea what the algo has given me today...just from the intro, im getting early youtube vibes and i'm tasting a hint of redlettermedia. Maybe some floral notes too.
The man set his spell book on fire. I'll watch this. 😐
This may be your best review ever, mate. Super edutaining - not to mention convincing. Will be purchasing a "Mothership" box as soon as I can afford to do so. Cheers!
I was hoping this was going to be the next game you reviewed. This is the next game I am running for my group after we finish our Monster of the Week campaign.
I adore the pulpy aesthetic of the adventures.
The way I solve the tech disparity in each module is that different places have different tech levels. Kinda how early Battletech did it; kinda how Traveler does it.
So excited to watch this! I ran a one-shot for a few friends a month ago and it was a blast! If you get the "hull breach" expansion, there is a short adventure/scenario in it that is basically Friday the 13th *iiiiiiin spaaaaaaaaaace* - we had an absolute blast making fun of every slasher movie trope and trying to stay alive as the slasher chased us. And if you do die, rolling up another character is incredibly fast and there are other NPCs kicking around that you can take over - so my player who did die to the slasher got super excited when he could hop back in in moments and get back into the action.
Really fun game, highly recommended from me :)
Sooo, Jason X?
@@ian.credible Close - more like Part 2, but just so happens to have some space theming. But no more potential spoilers from me :P
I've been looking and looking for your next installment. Glad to see it here!
My dude, this awoke something in me that I have no control over. I don't even play TTRPGs, but I absolutely want to play this. It has been 1 week since I watched this video, and I have consumed hours and hours of Mothership playthroughs. I need dis.
Sweete Coconuts of London👾
I loved your review on The Wildsea and ordered everything I could to finally give GMing a chance. (It's still on the way though.) I simply love everything in the strange style of China Miéville.
Right after watching that a few months ago the enigmatic algorythm did spit out a curious video about an other pen and paper that completely encompassed my other big passion. Really indulgent and stylish space horror called Mothership. So I immediately did order that as well with a bunch of adventures. And now you are doing a brillant review of that as well^^
Thaks a lot!
(Got into you guys years back with a video that got me into the Arkham Horror LCG. Still my favorite game. Getting new people into it with your video to this day🖤)
It's giving mother(ship)
Id love to hear Quinns opinion of Eclipse Phase
Late to the party and don’t know if you’ll read this or not, but I’ve just found your channel and would probably add your videos to my “things that are fun to listen to regardless of content” playlist rotation even if I wasn’t using them to incorporate new mechanics into my 5e games.
But I’m also doing that. I’ve managed so far to never give any money to Wizards while continuing to play their game (because it’s the one I learned with) AND constantly finding new and interesting rules from other systems to use in my 5e campaigns. It makes me very happy when I find something like rolling death saves blind because it adds so much tension to that situation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to try on Mothership at some point and reaaaally want that special edition and screen, but I will be getting those things at such time that I have the time and money to pay for them. In the meantime, I’ll just… watch this video again. And maybe the Lancer one as well.
What a minute, is Quinn the guy from the Sit Down & Shut Up games review RUclips channel? YES!!!! I love his sense of humor.
Yes. This is his side project.
Yes. This is his side project.
Been eyeing up (your Mother)ship for a long time, this pushed me to get the deluxe set, and now that I've got it and have read through much of it, I'm already deeply in love
The bit about the lack of unified canon reminds me of an ongoing conversation I have been having with other Game Masters regarding licensed ip RPGs. Specifically, quick and easy shared understanding of terms. To use the "android" example: if we're playing Star Trek or Star Wars or Alien or Bladerunner and we say "android" (or just "droid"), each conjures up something specific and the group is on the same page, even if they may be on different paragraphs.
Love this series, but genuinely find the "distracted while listening to creators" gag very offputting.
The equivalent of subway surfer gameplay. I have to look away to focus on what's actually being said.
Yeah - I don’t get it. Was thinking the same.
I love the aesthetics of every one of these videos. I’m very happy to say that I was a backer and own the deluxe box. I’m happy to say this because now I don’t have to run out and buy a copy like I did Lancer.
Oh good, and I was a backer for Time After Time and Hull Breach also. I may have to grab Warped Beyond Recognition.
I hope I never cease to cackle during the opening when Quinn’s is holding the flaming rulebook. 🔥😂🔥
Emily Weiss wrote "Breach of Contract" and just did an interesting interview on Third Floor Wars.
Great to see this game getting a great review! You are absolutely right about the Wardens book. It's the best ever written and should be in any GM's collection.
Dude, your content is awesome. Real laugh out loud moments alongside in depth reviews. Keep up the great work.
Gradient Descent is SO GOOD. I don't think I've ever been scared from reading an RPG before....until I read this.
Exited to see Electric Bastionland!
With regards to universal canon vs table canon, I think it's up to preference. It's a tradeoff between depth and flexibility. As a player and as a GM, I prefer a more universal canon, because it gives players more things to understand and use ingame without as much need for interpretation right as they're intending to use it. On the other hand, it makes the world less flexible when a player wants to do something cool but they didn't understand that their personal interpretation wasn't the canon one. Like the remote door access example, you can either make that ruling beforehand, and make that knowledge available for players to use, or make up how it works in the moment to fit the mood at the table.
I have so much Mothership, but so far only got to play it when we took a break from our weekly D&D.
Thank you for this Quinns. This was a fun watch.
I have found that Mothership has sparked my interest in being a GM again to the point of prepping my own campaign using several of the offical setting books mixed into the corner of the universe that I have created.
I can understand the point of wishing there was a "canon" but I have found that in being forced to create links between some of the book's locations I have been able to create interesting story beats that will, hopefully, intrigue and delight my players. It's nice to have some locations that are fully mapped out and easier to run while I gget to add my own stations and bases to the Verse.
I never try to have everyone at the table see the same mind's eye view of a game I'm running. I just try and make sure we're all using the same palette and I think Mothership gives me enough tools to achieve that quite easily.
This is exactly the review I’ve been waiting for to finally pick this up, thank you.
I subscribed because I like your style and quality, and because you’re focused on things outside of the mainstream games out there. I hope you’ll do a review on Ultraviolet Grasslands and/or the Vastlands Guidebook that just finished its Kickstarter.
Gradient Descent is the module that I started with and I continue to think about in developing my head canon for what happened to the station, what the artifacts mean to the rest of the universe, and what this and that. The random tables for the artifacts and the android manufactory corporate history alone present juicy ways to link up with other parts of the universe
Thank the dark gods, I was starting to get worried I'd not had a Quinn video for so long.
This looks like a doozy of a TTRPG, as well, whatever the hell those are.
Found the channel two days ago and I ate all the videos already (3 of the reviews were titles I had interest in learning)
These reviews are both funny and inspiring, pretty neat work, keep it up, cant wait for the next one 👌
That under-the-cup 'Death Save' mechanic is BRILLIANT :O
Immediately on my buy list and what I'll be dragging my friends into after this cyberpunk game is wrapped up!
I would love to see you cover CAIN! I'm planning to run a game myself pretty soon, and your opinion would hit just right before I began.
Thank you for a dense review of this game I've been curious about; you've shed light on things I was anxious about, such as the inconsistency between adventures & how wibbly-wobbly verisimilitude can be. I'm still pumped to run it, but now I have proper expectatiions.
I'm lovin' the reviews Quinn. Thank you.
It was great to hear the players' pov in this one. I'd like to hear more of that. Maybe even an awkward interview? They're most of the people involved in the T-T-R-P-G Comunity after all.
Great video from a great channel, hoping to see more reviews!
I really like the phone interview gags. Please keep them coming. Less distracting than closed captions. Maybe you could alter the frame size balance between your video frame and the creator portrait frame if people keep getting put off?
Appreciate Quinns putting some of the points in a robot wars font AND the robot wars color. That's dedication.
Your videos always bring a ton of joy, Quinn! Thank you for that!
Seconding your comment on Road Work. Played it at a con and it was one of the funniest and most memorable game sessions I’ve ever had.
I'd love to see how Quinn's Quest approaches Paranoia. I've always felt that in the same way Mothership teaches players to embrace death and horror, Paranoia teaches players to embrace consensual and silly PvP to entertain eachother. A lot of players and newer GMs really struggle to figure out how to handle PvP in a fair, consensual, and most of all FUN way.
I was very worried about how I would handle this whole thing as a GM who has never done horror. Did another bug hunt just now, and wow. I wasn't sure how much of an effect it was having on the party until the first real monster reveal several hours in, and everyone was beyond apprehensive to set it off. I love this game, thank you so much from me and my whole crew!
I'll somewhat support the critique regarding inconsistent world, if only as someone who loves playing Androids and fully felt that inconsistency pop up when _immediately_ in Another Bug Hunt the Warden had to somewhat scramble for an explanation from me on how I imagine my Android to function due to the biological aspects of that module's enemy.
It certainly wasn't that we had no fun or didn't figure it out, but at minimum an awkward maneuver to figure out without kinda spilling the beans in one way or another (not personally impacted by spoilers myself and was also playing a Corporate Android so likely would bother others more than it did myself).
Love your videos, Quinns! One small suggestion for improving the show: pronouncing TTRPG as "titterpig." Thanks for the consideration. c: