Mothership was just a breath of fresh air after being in D&D for so many years. I was super impressed when I picked it up on a whim. Both for DM(or warden) and players, the game gives you so many good tips and advice on how to run/play a game that everyone can digest easily. Not only that, the GAME is super good. Our group keeps wanting to just play more Mothership instead of the next meeting at the tavern lol
My group and I have been doing a lot of Mothership and we absolutely love it. Such and amazing game and the modules out there for it are just as well written and super cheap in most cases. Lots of adventures are just little tri-folds that cost a dollar or two but are really easy to run and super fun to play.
Was so cool to come across this video today, as I bought mothership yesterday and read the warden guide and was like “Why aren’t DnD books like that?” So well designed and thought out. Running my first game tomorrow. Excited.
I am a DM for 25 years now. And I can say, in all the time, I've never seen a better guide to running a game, than the Motherships Warden Manual. I wish I had it back in the day, when I was learning by doing. I think I got very good at it, but beware kids! Being a good DM means, you will be the DM for almost all pen and paper games you join... You can only lead other to the treasure you can never possess...
As a teacher and a librarian, and having been introduced to roleplaying by people who were ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with keeping their books in pristine condition, the dogeared pages made me wince.
@@jessehackett6570 see-SAME. But the fact that these books are NOT the $ 50 tomes of my childhood, these are kinda cheaply published books made for USE, not for worship. And I love that. A huge stumbling block for me as a young dm was feeling ownership over the games and part of that was because these books were untouchable and expensive. I don’t feel bad making notes in these books because replacing them doesn’t feel like an impossibility.
I have a friend that takes his game manuals and strips them down to the pages and has them spiral bound down at the local kinkos or whatever the modern equivalent is……While it might just be the most horrific thing a person could do to a book…its also a genius level utilitarian hack that was game changing and brilliant. I still don’t know if I feel offended or impressed.
Just got the Deluxe set after seeing the Quinns Quest video on Mothership and just finished reading the Wardens Guide. This video couldnt have been better timed. Thanks for your insight and great editing!
24:25 What I have learned running games is that a carefully crafted plot idea rarely survives contact with the party. So even if you throw your best idea in first, be aware you are throwing it into a meat grinder. So instead of plot, I concentrate on creating a place for things to happen in, a handful of NPC's with clear objectives, one opening dilemma to get the party debating the situation and asking questions and something/problem for them to overcome. In the background, there will be something like three factions, with their own agenda, that will attempt to engage the party for their own ends. Then hit play. Usually by the end of the session, new exciting ideas will have begun to take shape for the next session.
I gotta say this video in general were just SO GOOD as far as like simple straightforward explination of how to run/build a horror game and I love it so much
I love your enthusiasm and the DIY ethos! I love stealing things from games and seeing what works. Mothership is great, can't wait to play more of it. :)
Been running Mothership one shots online for people recently and aside from it being a great system that really marries it's mechanics to the tone it's conveying, the books are just so well done. The Warden's Guise, the Player's Guide, the little modules, it's all just *excellent* design layout and clarity.
The fact I didnt notice the chihuahua for the first 9 minutes of the video was a little humbling 😅 But i think it speaks to your ability to capture the attention of an audience! Thanks for an informative video, gonna pick up my own WOM when I can!
My game group just finished a 3 year d&d campaign, and honestly the first one in my 23 years of playing it where a campaign actually "ended" - where it could just stop there or potentially pick up again far in the future where our characters will level up a bunch and we can flesh them out more without grinding and experiment with higher level stuff. It was magnificent, but also ended with the DM saying he needed a break. I've DM'd my own completely homebrew campaign and world that I loved building but that was years ago and I simply don't have the time to do something that massive again which led me to Mothership in the search of a new game that's lighter, easier to pick up, more module based, and with lots of engaging pre-written adventures to reduce the prep/psychic load. I've also run the game Dread a few times and I feel like I just love horror RPG games. Your videos on Mothership are terrific. You're really passionate and both the game and you have really digestible advice. I can't wait to play it with all my friends.
Really interesting video, and made me remember I backed Mothership on kickstarter and had the deluxe box in a closet and hadn't gotten around to checking it out yet. It has now broken free from its prison and I'm making plans to make use of it, so thanks for the reminder! Also your dog is freaking adorable.
I think, and this is a bit of a tangent, "Warden" might be the single most important contribution the game makes to the ttrpg space - not that TOMBS isnt an excellent theming device, not that the investigation cycle isnt an amazing framework for levelling up play, and not that "fail forward" isn't a groundbreaking concept to getting players on all sides to build something beautiful together - Warden is just a perfect replacement for DM or GM. It shrugs off the stigma associated with "master", its setting agnostic, it can be seen as a guide or a jailor so it really encapsulates the dichotomy of the host player's relationship to the table. The 1880 Strategos manual often refers to the host as "arbiter" or "referee" - and as much as I love "arbiter", warden just hits precisely the English language vibe I want when I sit down at the head of the table. I would invite anyone that is still going to play 5E after WotC and Hasbro have treated us like garbage - deface your DMG and replace the title with "Warden", take what you want from the SRD and don't give them another penny.
@@bazzatron9482 I could do a whole video on the evolution of the word for the person behind the screen. Referee is a holdover to 19th century wargaming which is the grand-creature of ttrpgs
I DM-ed DnD for lets say 5-6 years continuously for my close friends and wife, we had a blast going through several campaigns. We have stopped only because we got way too busy for the moment but we are looking to continue at some point within the next year. During my time off as a DM I started listening to podcasts of various other systems both fantasy and sci-fi and man oh man I had so so so so many times the sentence appearing in my head "This is done waaaaay better then DnD". I realized that its better to play with a system that is created specifically for a theme/setting and it uses mechanics geared towards the specific setting. This way the players can actually feel that they are playing in Middle Earth ( The One ring RPG not the 5E version), in the Arthurian Legends with Pendragon, in a sci-fi setting with Mothership etc etc. I was amazed how a simple changing initiative every turn made the players always be on their toes and not being "Oh my turn passed, now I have to wait for 5-6 minutes before my go etc" or having different armor class on different part of your body in Runequest really made the players pay more attention and be involved in combat. There are many many more examples like these. All of this made me realize that actually DnD is pretty generic and not catching the imagination of players and has lots of problems that are not being addressed properly and most of the time can easily be fixed. Frankly I am no longer interested in playing DnD or if I will I will heavily modify the rules with home made rules based on great rules of other systems or instead just play Mothership, Alien RPG, The One Ring RPG, Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Blades in the Dark, Dune RPG, hell I will learn Vampire and run a small campaign :). I also backed the Diskworld RPG so more things to come. If anyone has reached this sentence and by any chance is a DnD DM - my advice to you is don't wait for years like me to check and run other systems. You and your friends can only benefit from exploring different systems even though a simple one shot ( most definitely there will be complains regarding - oh I don't know the system, why you make me create a character without the help of DnD Beyond, OMG...etc but you can overcome the complaining and have a great time).
@@aldaron1021 this is a huge part of growing as a GM and player, and it’s honestly legit that plenty of people want to stay in their safe space of D&D, I love the game myself, but wow did I start to have more fun playing dnd when I started to play other trpgs!
Commenting for the gods Algo and Rhythym, but also to say this was a great introduction to Mothership’s GM tools! I cannot wait to get my hands on this game and try to run it!
Coming from Burning Wheel, off the back of Role master, Space master, Call of Cthulhu and Second D&D (yes I am that old) and having just run my first session of Mothership, I have to say I am impressed with the ease with which my players could create a couple of characters and get straight into the action. Don't get me wrong, Burning Wheel is a great game, but my goodness, character creation is a commitment, as is Role master to be fair. Thank goodness for the automated programs people have written. Don't need that with Mothership, character creation is super easy, barely an inconvenience. The one thing Burning Wheel really trained me to do was to make roles count, because of the way they are tied into the belief system. So for Mothership, it was easy to adapt that style, I told my players, your characters are super competent at their jobs, you'll only have to pick up your dice when the outcome is in doubt, and it really matters. On that basis, we managed to chew our way through a decent portion of the first act and get into the second, more ominous stage of the adventure at the first sitting. I think the dice were rolled five times in all. Otherwise, I just kept them in the "describe", "question", "answer", "act", "mostly agree to whatever reasonable action without the need to roll dice", and repeat. I try to treat "failure" more in terms of "non-optimal success". Eg. Yes you can fire at the monster in this confined space, undoubtedly, but if you fail there is a chance, say 50/50, that ricocheting projectiles from your weapon will hit one of the players at half damage - yes you are included in the term "one of the players". Still want to let rip? Or are you suddenly feeling less lucky? Yes, it is statistically possible you might kill yourself, it is also entirely possible the monster might save you the trouble. Then I would remind them to look at the situation and consider if there was anything that could be argued to their advantage. Which is similar to Burning Wheel in that you can argue to improve your chances of success for circumstantial advantage and help. Which I think is a good system in itself to keep the players engaged with the environment.
There are some pretty cool RPGS out there that Im just learning about now. I have ordered Heart and really want to get Daggers in the Dark as well. But this sounds like a pretty awesome game as well.
Ty for highlighting this! Going to buy the core set now! I have been running Rime of the Frost Maiden as a first time GM and the DM guide is so unhelpful lmao Mothership Warden’s manual looks perfect for me upping the horror in that module!
Yeahhhhhh! Dude, that module has so much fun small stuff, it's the big pieces that won't quite fit together satisfyingly. Check out the alexandrian's reworking of it!
Love how excited you are about mothership. You mentioned some good points that I want to try out - but in a completely different setting and with my own homerules. Cheers🍻
I'm on the hook as DM for the next campaign as we start to close up the final chapter of the game we're playing. This has really helped me get into the right headspace for not just designing a cool world but actual good gameplay to run IN that world
Honestly the music has been the most talked about part of this video lol! I am planning to make a couple “plan with me” mix videos, let me know if you’d be interested!
Overjoyed to be subscriber 999 for you. Upended horror for me and a system that I'm definitely going to get into and run as many versions of The Thing as I can 🤣
I love Mothership! I've been playing since 0e. I am having a hard time going back to D&D. So much so that I'm running Cloud Empress, which runs off of Mothership's Panic System, to feed the D&D "itch" Great Video! More Mothership content please!
This was a FANTASTIC video! I've only been DM a few times, but it helps me be more mindful! Plus, I have a copy of Mothership that is begging to be read now! I really want to run a Prey-esque mini campaign
I bought 0e a few years ago and ran a few one shots. Recently picked up the 1e survival guide for free and figured I would just "run a campaign" with only rhe updated rules. This video convinced me to pick up the warden's guide.
It's absolutely amazing for all gms no matter the system. I also can't recommend the deluxe set enough because it comes with four amazing modules. Unboxing on monday so stay tuned and turn on notifications!
Mothership Warden Operations Manual rewired my brain. Every single game I've run since I read it, in any system, has been better. Like, literal noticeable level up of my GMing.
The biggest mindset change you need to switch to Mothership is that your characters are not invincible superheroes. They're a bunch of working stiffs who are about to have the worst day of their lives. I love Mothership's death save mechanic.
Man, looking for Mothership reviews I stumbled with yours. Definetily good content but yours was waaay more carismatic. As I am not a native speaker I will be hearing your at least 2 or 3 times. Greesting from Peru
@@XimCines this made my freaking week!!! Thanks for the watch and the rewatches! Hoping to get a how to play done by Monday! Hope to see your comments and questions on future vids!!!
This Warden Manual has made me raise my expectations of the 2024 Dungeon Master Guide. If a small company like Tuesday Night Games can do this in so little spcae, WotC should be able to make an awesome DMG. Ball is in your court WotC. I will try and run Mothership games. 1.5 year Curse of Strahd burned me out on DMing 5e for now. Great video! Only critique is the background music is a bit too loud for my liking. It distract from your voice, and what you say is worth focusing on. :)
@@pallenda it’s really unique in my experience. Dnd isn’t the only game that has botched this! You SHOULD try some mosh. The big change is that characters aren’t… special? In the same way? Thank you for the feedback super helps me be a better editor.
I will say is the community around the game is some of the most creative group of people. Also everyone seems to have bought into the same design methods, being very direct to them but also so interesting.
@@MilesAwayGames I'm back! It went super well. I had 4 players and ran part 1 of Another Bug Hunt as planned. Everyone had a blast and it ended in a really messed up and rather dark way with just the smallest glimmer of hope. A perfect place to end a one shot but still have the potential to continue. Seems like the players might be down for that.
What happens when you fail a check or roll low? You lose time. Time is a constant that is overlooked a lot. In D&D, missing means you lost a segment of time or things take longer. If there's no reason to worry about time, then there's no consequence. So, make time valuable. Putting effort into this task means taking away time from something else and failure means a further loss of time. Investigation checks I always say that the most skilled character should always succeed at their one thing. Which, like the above, means players will try and put that character in the right place at the right time. They save time by being in that position. Characters with good investigation skills know what to look for, they identify what may be useful or not. They'll notice some little detail that is a big deal like the random scribbles on a piece of paper in a pile of papers. This will make players be excited to have their character shine. When you make a player roll on a skill that their character is supposed to be good at for the team, and they fail, it sucks. For everyone. No one is having fun in that moment. No one is excited about it. It's deflating. That character should either succeed right away, or save time doing that thing.
I'd love to hear more about your Mothership experience. My game-master ran it (without me ☹) and said he could figure out how to run it as a campaign; it was too deadly. Thoughts?
@@andymeechan3924 Ha! No I took it serious! Everyone is up my butt on my videos about the music being too loud! It’s defs my weak point when it comes to editing but glad you were kidding lol
On the point of Tip 10, if there's one thing games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring have taught me, it's that questions are *indeed* better than answers. People will devote hours to thinking about the questions that don't have answers, and have a lot of fun trying to fill in the gaps.
There's more useful, actionable, directly gameable material in the 50 or so pages of the Warden's Operation Manual than you'll find in any official brand DMG you can buy from WotC.
@@PO-pz8bh thank you so much for the feedback, and the specific audio advice. Super helpful. Do me a favor and listen to some of my more recent videos and tell me if I managed to fix it?!
On failed rolls advancing the story, Call of Cthulhu is brilliant at failure progressing the story none the less. Sometimes the failures are more interesting!
TBH I think delta green, CoC's dirtier, grimier, wifi active cousin talks about this even better, but mothership's advice on how to make failed rolls turn into interesting gameplay tops anything I've ever read!
I am! Some of them are excellent, and some get slapshod. Honestly the gauntlet has perfected that form of storytelling, so much that it's moved past PBTA, check out the between!
i wish i got the deluxe box instead of standard, if ONLY for the bigger box i could fill it up with modules. Its not that much more expensive, and the two adventure books that are the upgrade difference are the very best
To be honest, Call of Cthulhu could have done this even better before Mothership. Great scenario writing and great game system that can teach the GMs to be humble and more active and less dependent on the book and the rules.
@@delgar89 personally from a pure rules perspective I think it’s sleeker and smarter. And way more subjectivity I like the setting a lot more. They are the “same” but conspiracy Cthulhu is my JAM
I like what you're expressing but the music is sometimes at the same level of your voice and it doesn't help to process the info. My brain is stuck on trying to differentiate the two sounds… And I'd love a video / tutorial about those Mothership rules, as a newbie. How to play encounters / combat… Even better some step to step best-first-adventure as a Warden :) Cause I don't know how to start.
@@betterburnout thanks for the feedback! I’m a baby editor and it super helps me get better. The how to play is up! Sub and check out my channel! Also please let me know if the music is balanced better on the how to play… I tried so hard to get it right.
I’m pretty sure you saw this ruclips.net/video/E98kJ3UAm5U/видео.htmlsi=P1QMpF82PzfCSqOr amazing video from @alfred valley which I watched several months ago and didn’t realize I had literally stolen the open line from until your comment… I am going to have to credit him when I get home…
@@MilesAwayGames no worries - everything is a remix - both good videos, but yeah that one stuck with me and came bursting back to the surface when you posted yours - seems like an awesome game - could just be my brain looking for it or my algorithm adapting, but I think Mothership is about to have a moment
@@MilesAwayGames awesome - I’ve been excited about Nimble lately, and they just launched on backer yesterday a full version of the 5e hack that came out last year - there are early bird specials in the first 48 hours if you find yourself similarly interested - have a good one 🥳🫂👍🏿
My only issue with using these tips to make D&D better is - if you change all the core rules of D&D, you're just playing some other game - so play some other game.
@@cephyn11 I am a huge proponent of this, but if you watch all the way through, none of these are an actual rule change they are just the ways that you communicate about the game and the way that you structure the conversation that is all tabletop role-playing games
@@MilesAwayGames ah i misunderstood then about the changing combat to have monsters do damage on PC misses - i thought that was mothership inspired too.
God I feel you, but these books are so cheap and meant to be USED. I've never done that before. Big step for me ahhahaha. And yeah, he likes everything dog eared. 🦮
@@whenwollf the math is too punishing, imho unless you wanted it to be DARK fantasy, but this is an interesting question! I kinda wanna make a video about this? To start I’d just make the character stats higher to make the success average higher than 50%, and then I’d find some more thematic adjustment for the panic system. Just a question have you looked at the lotr game?
@@NanoGamingGamer yeah, I’m definitely learning how to balance my levels the hard way… if you wanna do me a favor and watch some of my more recent Mothership content and tell me if I’ve improved, that would be honestly super helpfull!
Appreciate your feedback! Yeah I’m still a baby editor, and music balance is still eluding me. If you want to do me a HUGE favor, watch my latest mothership video and tell me there if it has the same problem? I did my best to fix it!
I really wish every TTRPG had this type of content in the GM's Guide... This looks amazing!
@@successfulgeek it’s remarkable and I hope it becomes less rare
Mothership was just a breath of fresh air after being in D&D for so many years. I was super impressed when I picked it up on a whim. Both for DM(or warden) and players, the game gives you so many good tips and advice on how to run/play a game that everyone can digest easily. Not only that, the GAME is super good. Our group keeps wanting to just play more Mothership instead of the next meeting at the tavern lol
@@DCAMM720 as they say, it’s got the sauce
My group and I have been doing a lot of Mothership and we absolutely love it. Such and amazing game and the modules out there for it are just as well written and super cheap in most cases. Lots of adventures are just little tri-folds that cost a dollar or two but are really easy to run and super fun to play.
Was so cool to come across this video today, as I bought mothership yesterday and read the warden guide and was like “Why aren’t DnD books like that?” So well designed and thought out. Running my first game tomorrow. Excited.
WHAT TIMING! How did it go!?
@@MilesAwayGames very well! We did the first chapter of Another Bug Hunt. Lots of terrible NPC deaths 😈
I am a DM for 25 years now. And I can say, in all the time, I've never seen a better guide to running a game, than the Motherships Warden Manual. I wish I had it back in the day, when I was learning by doing. I think I got very good at it, but beware kids! Being a good DM means, you will be the DM for almost all pen and paper games you join...
You can only lead other to the treasure you can never possess...
As a teacher and a librarian, and having been introduced to roleplaying by people who were ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with keeping their books in pristine condition, the dogeared pages made me wince.
@@jessehackett6570 see-SAME. But the fact that these books are NOT the $ 50 tomes of my childhood, these are kinda cheaply published books made for USE, not for worship. And I love that. A huge stumbling block for me as a young dm was feeling ownership over the games and part of that was because these books were untouchable and expensive. I don’t feel bad making notes in these books because replacing them doesn’t feel like an impossibility.
I have a friend that takes his game manuals and strips them down to the pages and has them spiral bound down at the local kinkos or whatever the modern equivalent is……While it might just be the most horrific thing a person could do to a book…its also a genius level utilitarian hack that was game changing and brilliant. I still don’t know if I feel offended or impressed.
The real cosmic horror is the guy who folds the corners of the pages over.
@@dougalstanton I AM THE THING YOU FEAR
I knew someone who did that with their play scripts. So useful in tracking down where certain points in the production were.
Getting ready to run a Curse of Strahd game, and this video inspired me to reconsider how I prep, starting at session 1
Yesssss!!! Strahd is gonna be so much fun with some of these little tips. Lmk how your session 1 goes!
Just got the Deluxe set after seeing the Quinns Quest video on Mothership and just finished reading the Wardens Guide. This video couldnt have been better timed. Thanks for your insight and great editing!
I'm so glad! The deluxe was such a treat to unpack and start to dig into. What are you going to run first!?
Now *I* am really excited to play Mothership!!
LETS PLAY
24:25 What I have learned running games is that a carefully crafted plot idea rarely survives contact with the party. So even if you throw your best idea in first, be aware you are throwing it into a meat grinder. So instead of plot, I concentrate on creating a place for things to happen in, a handful of NPC's with clear objectives, one opening dilemma to get the party debating the situation and asking questions and something/problem for them to overcome. In the background, there will be something like three factions, with their own agenda, that will attempt to engage the party for their own ends. Then hit play. Usually by the end of the session, new exciting ideas will have begun to take shape for the next session.
“Into a meat grinder” LOL
I gotta say this video in general were just SO GOOD as far as like simple straightforward explination of how to run/build a horror game and I love it so much
@@Swamp_Hound made my freaking day. More Mothership content coming Monday, sub if you haven’t!
That inro and the background music made this feel SO COOL. I bookmarked this video so I could rewatch it and am glad I did.
Mothership is 🔥.
The warden guide is phenominal
It's the best it's really changed me for the better.
Just went for a walk listening to your video inspired 2 stories, now I need to write all this down.
@@MrMuertoloco so glad it got the brain going! That is the GOAL!
I love your enthusiasm and the DIY ethos! I love stealing things from games and seeing what works. Mothership is great, can't wait to play more of it. :)
@@cassidy944 SAME it is so freaking cool! Got to schedule my 2nd game with my group!
@@MilesAwayGames Hope you make a follow up video to this one once you get to play again!
Been running Mothership one shots online for people recently and aside from it being a great system that really marries it's mechanics to the tone it's conveying, the books are just so well done. The Warden's Guise, the Player's Guide, the little modules, it's all just *excellent* design layout and clarity.
Couldn't agree more, it's changed me for the better.
The fact I didnt notice the chihuahua for the first 9 minutes of the video was a little humbling 😅 But i think it speaks to your ability to capture the attention of an audience! Thanks for an informative video, gonna pick up my own WOM when I can!
Made my day! Thank you. He’s worth noticing thought ⚫️👅⚫️
Yoo this is a super eloquent version of the rant i sent all my friends after i ran my first mothership game. Nice video.
@@penultimately97 HA! Not that eloquent, just edited. You don’t see the minutes of silence as I stare at the ceiling lol.
My game group just finished a 3 year d&d campaign, and honestly the first one in my 23 years of playing it where a campaign actually "ended" - where it could just stop there or potentially pick up again far in the future where our characters will level up a bunch and we can flesh them out more without grinding and experiment with higher level stuff. It was magnificent, but also ended with the DM saying he needed a break. I've DM'd my own completely homebrew campaign and world that I loved building but that was years ago and I simply don't have the time to do something that massive again which led me to Mothership in the search of a new game that's lighter, easier to pick up, more module based, and with lots of engaging pre-written adventures to reduce the prep/psychic load. I've also run the game Dread a few times and I feel like I just love horror RPG games.
Your videos on Mothership are terrific. You're really passionate and both the game and you have really digestible advice. I can't wait to play it with all my friends.
Hey thank you SO MUCH! They will keep coming until I get bored.
And yeah I’m having the same feeling about mosh combined with a bit of dnd burnout.
Really interesting video, and made me remember I backed Mothership on kickstarter and had the deluxe box in a closet and hadn't gotten around to checking it out yet. It has now broken free from its prison and I'm making plans to make use of it, so thanks for the reminder!
Also your dog is freaking adorable.
YES!!! Also thank you ⚫️👅⚫️
I think, and this is a bit of a tangent, "Warden" might be the single most important contribution the game makes to the ttrpg space - not that TOMBS isnt an excellent theming device, not that the investigation cycle isnt an amazing framework for levelling up play, and not that "fail forward" isn't a groundbreaking concept to getting players on all sides to build something beautiful together -
Warden is just a perfect replacement for DM or GM. It shrugs off the stigma associated with "master", its setting agnostic, it can be seen as a guide or a jailor so it really encapsulates the dichotomy of the host player's relationship to the table.
The 1880 Strategos manual often refers to the host as "arbiter" or "referee" - and as much as I love "arbiter", warden just hits precisely the English language vibe I want when I sit down at the head of the table.
I would invite anyone that is still going to play 5E after WotC and Hasbro have treated us like garbage - deface your DMG and replace the title with "Warden", take what you want from the SRD and don't give them another penny.
@@bazzatron9482 I could do a whole video on the evolution of the word for the person behind the screen. Referee is a holdover to 19th century wargaming which is the grand-creature of ttrpgs
I DM-ed DnD for lets say 5-6 years continuously for my close friends and wife, we had a blast going through several campaigns. We have stopped only because we got way too busy for the moment but we are looking to continue at some point within the next year. During my time off as a DM I started listening to podcasts of various other systems both fantasy and sci-fi and man oh man I had so so so so many times the sentence appearing in my head "This is done waaaaay better then DnD". I realized that its better to play with a system that is created specifically for a theme/setting and it uses mechanics geared towards the specific setting. This way the players can actually feel that they are playing in Middle Earth ( The One ring RPG not the 5E version), in the Arthurian Legends with Pendragon, in a sci-fi setting with Mothership etc etc. I was amazed how a simple changing initiative every turn made the players always be on their toes and not being "Oh my turn passed, now I have to wait for 5-6 minutes before my go etc" or having different armor class on different part of your body in Runequest really made the players pay more attention and be involved in combat. There are many many more examples like these. All of this made me realize that actually DnD is pretty generic and not catching the imagination of players and has lots of problems that are not being addressed properly and most of the time can easily be fixed. Frankly I am no longer interested in playing DnD or if I will I will heavily modify the rules with home made rules based on great rules of other systems or instead just play Mothership, Alien RPG, The One Ring RPG, Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Blades in the Dark, Dune RPG, hell I will learn Vampire and run a small campaign :). I also backed the Diskworld RPG so more things to come. If anyone has reached this sentence and by any chance is a DnD DM - my advice to you is don't wait for years like me to check and run other systems. You and your friends can only benefit from exploring different systems even though a simple one shot ( most definitely there will be complains regarding - oh I don't know the system, why you make me create a character without the help of DnD Beyond, OMG...etc but you can overcome the complaining and have a great time).
@@aldaron1021 this is a huge part of growing as a GM and player, and it’s honestly legit that plenty of people want to stay in their safe space of D&D, I love the game myself, but wow did I start to have more fun playing dnd when I started to play other trpgs!
Very good and informative info, you're clearly very enthusiastic about writing cool stories and running fun games! The music is very stressful though
HA! Yes it is that. Let me know if my newer videos are less stress inducing, I’ve been working on my sound ballancing
Commenting for the gods Algo and Rhythym, but also to say this was a great introduction to Mothership’s GM tools! I cannot wait to get my hands on this game and try to run it!
Coming from Burning Wheel, off the back of Role master, Space master, Call of Cthulhu and Second D&D (yes I am that old) and having just run my first session of Mothership, I have to say I am impressed with the ease with which my players could create a couple of characters and get straight into the action. Don't get me wrong, Burning Wheel is a great game, but my goodness, character creation is a commitment, as is Role master to be fair. Thank goodness for the automated programs people have written. Don't need that with Mothership, character creation is super easy, barely an inconvenience. The one thing Burning Wheel really trained me to do was to make roles count, because of the way they are tied into the belief system. So for Mothership, it was easy to adapt that style, I told my players, your characters are super competent at their jobs, you'll only have to pick up your dice when the outcome is in doubt, and it really matters. On that basis, we managed to chew our way through a decent portion of the first act and get into the second, more ominous stage of the adventure at the first sitting. I think the dice were rolled five times in all. Otherwise, I just kept them in the "describe", "question", "answer", "act", "mostly agree to whatever reasonable action without the need to roll dice", and repeat. I try to treat "failure" more in terms of "non-optimal success". Eg. Yes you can fire at the monster in this confined space, undoubtedly, but if you fail there is a chance, say 50/50, that ricocheting projectiles from your weapon will hit one of the players at half damage - yes you are included in the term "one of the players". Still want to let rip? Or are you suddenly feeling less lucky? Yes, it is statistically possible you might kill yourself, it is also entirely possible the monster might save you the trouble. Then I would remind them to look at the situation and consider if there was anything that could be argued to their advantage. Which is similar to Burning Wheel in that you can argue to improve your chances of success for circumstantial advantage and help. Which I think is a good system in itself to keep the players engaged with the environment.
Yeah I have come to lean on too many dice rolls and this system has really helped that! The SPEED of the game is remarkable to me.
There are some pretty cool RPGS out there that Im just learning about now. I have ordered Heart and really want to get Daggers in the Dark as well. But this sounds like a pretty awesome game as well.
Can´t wait for my Mothership Box to arrive. This video is amazing. Thank you.
YESSSS Stay tuned for mother MosH stuff!
Such a good dig into this book. Thanks so much.
So glad it gave you some value!
Ty for highlighting this! Going to buy the core set now! I have been running Rime of the Frost Maiden as a first time GM and the DM guide is so unhelpful lmao Mothership Warden’s manual looks perfect for me upping the horror in that module!
Yeahhhhhh! Dude, that module has so much fun small stuff, it's the big pieces that won't quite fit together satisfyingly. Check out the alexandrian's reworking of it!
Love how excited you are about mothership. You mentioned some good points that I want to try out - but in a completely different setting and with my own homerules. Cheers🍻
That's the best part about this book... It's so widely applicable.
This is awesome. Thank you for sharing this knowledge.
@@Buggyismellow appreciate you! Hope you subbed for more KNOWLEDGE 📖🧠
I DID!!!! 🥳🥳🥳
@@Buggyismellow LETSGOOOOOOOOO 💣💣💣💥💥💥🌋🌋🌋🧨🧨🧨
I'm on the hook as DM for the next campaign as we start to close up the final chapter of the game we're playing. This has really helped me get into the right headspace for not just designing a cool world but actual good gameplay to run IN that world
Valid points for new GM's and veterans alike. Thank you for sharing!
Appreciate you a bunch. I am amazed by this book, I hope you give it a read.
This was a great video! I was wondering what music was playing throughout it, I liked it.
Honestly the music has been the most talked about part of this video lol! I am planning to make a couple “plan with me” mix videos, let me know if you’d be interested!
Overjoyed to be subscriber 999 for you.
Upended horror for me and a system that I'm definitely going to get into and run as many versions of The Thing as I can 🤣
@@RedBairnMedia OH MAN WE ARE SO CLOSE WHAT!?!?
@@RedBairnMedia also big thanks mate!!!!
I love Mothership! I've been playing since 0e. I am having a hard time going back to D&D. So much so that I'm running Cloud Empress, which runs off of Mothership's Panic System, to feed the D&D "itch"
Great Video! More Mothership content please!
Yessss! Same tbh, which is tough because it’s my job… tryna sell more people on this game so I can run more!!!
This was a FANTASTIC video! I've only been DM a few times, but it helps me be more mindful! Plus, I have a copy of Mothership that is begging to be read now! I really want to run a Prey-esque mini campaign
Hey thank you so much! A prey game would be SO COOL
@@MilesAwayGames Does Mothership have the support for eldritch powers or would I need to do some modification?
ok you've sold me on this. heading to my flgs to nab this, just to help ease my journey as an everlasting newbie dm. thanks. so helpful.
We love to hear it!!! So glad you enjoyed and you’ve come to the right place for GM insights!
great discussion of warden principles applied generally🎉
@@ajooser 🍻🍻🍻
wow. CHILLS! thanks for this!
@@evanallen4987 Chills!? Amazing so so glad it served you.
This was really great!
@@RickRuckus thanks my dude 🍻
I subbed after two videos! Excellent content!
Yo thank you! part of the ship part of the crew!
just watched twice, great find thanks!
@@samuelbroad11 dude, incredible! so glad it had value for you!
I bought 0e a few years ago and ran a few one shots. Recently picked up the 1e survival guide for free and figured I would just "run a campaign" with only rhe updated rules. This video convinced me to pick up the warden's guide.
It's absolutely amazing for all gms no matter the system. I also can't recommend the deluxe set enough because it comes with four amazing modules. Unboxing on monday so stay tuned and turn on notifications!
I'd be very interested in a video about how to play mothership
Heard and in the works.
Mothership Warden Operations Manual rewired my brain. Every single game I've run since I read it, in any system, has been better. Like, literal noticeable level up of my GMing.
Agreed, this book has focused my style so noticeably.
The biggest mindset change you need to switch to Mothership is that your characters are not invincible superheroes. They're a bunch of working stiffs who are about to have the worst day of their lives. I love Mothership's death save mechanic.
Man, looking for Mothership reviews I stumbled with yours.
Definetily good content but yours was waaay more carismatic.
As I am not a native speaker I will be hearing your at least 2 or 3 times.
Greesting from Peru
@@XimCines this made my freaking week!!! Thanks for the watch and the rewatches! Hoping to get a how to play done by Monday! Hope to see your comments and questions on future vids!!!
Good video but found the music was too loud in some places, fighting to hear you around the 12:45 minute mark.
Great, thank you for this feedback it's super helpful as I learn how to edit my audio a little better.
This Warden Manual has made me raise my expectations of the 2024 Dungeon Master Guide. If a small company like Tuesday Night Games can do this in so little spcae, WotC should be able to make an awesome DMG. Ball is in your court WotC.
I will try and run Mothership games. 1.5 year Curse of Strahd burned me out on DMing 5e for now.
Great video! Only critique is the background music is a bit too loud for my liking. It distract from your voice, and what you say is worth focusing on. :)
@@pallenda it’s really unique in my experience. Dnd isn’t the only game that has botched this!
You SHOULD try some mosh. The big change is that characters aren’t… special? In the same way?
Thank you for the feedback super helps me be a better editor.
I kinda wanna go get mothership now
Honestly you should, but maybe wait until my unboxing video :)
I will say is the community around the game is some of the most creative group of people. Also everyone seems to have bought into the same design methods, being very direct to them but also so interesting.
Dang what a good video. But dang dude saying how you know that im good and smart. You earned my subscribe
@@leroyowers9946 you are! You’re killin it my dude!
Yuuusssss! More Mothership Please!!
On its way!
Am dming my first game of MS soon. Feel like I got lucky reading the wardens manual before trying to dm anything.
@@streetsurgery it really would have saved me years of hard lessons. Plz come back and let me know how it goes!?
@@MilesAwayGames will do, gonna try Another Bug Hunt as a one shot
@@MilesAwayGames I'm back! It went super well. I had 4 players and ran part 1 of Another Bug Hunt as planned. Everyone had a blast and it ended in a really messed up and rather dark way with just the smallest glimmer of hope. A perfect place to end a one shot but still have the potential to continue. Seems like the players might be down for that.
@@streetsurgery AMAZING! I just did the same thing!!! It ended with a gloooorious sacrifice!
I wish there was more stuff out there like the WOM in terms of GM help and just layout in general.
It's really remarkable. I'm still shocked how much it's helped me articulate my own GM style.
this editing and lighting and camerawork is way too clean for 600 views. great job man
You.... Made my day.
Wow!! Thank you!
@@tuesdayknightgames 🍻 it’s changed my life tbh! Thanks for the game and the view!
ICRPG is also great at providing tools to use with any TTRPG.
I have literally never heard of this!
Gods, I've performed all these GM SNAFUs so, so many times. This video was a splash of cold water in my face! 🤦♂
SAME, it's been a learning experience, and I'm still coming back to this book regularly to get my medicine.
Mothership is the gold standard for sourcebooks For new GM’s.
Totally rewired my brain and reminded me of what's important.
What happens when you fail a check or roll low?
You lose time.
Time is a constant that is overlooked a lot. In D&D, missing means you lost a segment of time or things take longer. If there's no reason to worry about time, then there's no consequence.
So, make time valuable. Putting effort into this task means taking away time from something else and failure means a further loss of time.
Investigation checks
I always say that the most skilled character should always succeed at their one thing. Which, like the above, means players will try and put that character in the right place at the right time. They save time by being in that position. Characters with good investigation skills know what to look for, they identify what may be useful or not. They'll notice some little detail that is a big deal like the random scribbles on a piece of paper in a pile of papers. This will make players be excited to have their character shine. When you make a player roll on a skill that their character is supposed to be good at for the team, and they fail, it sucks. For everyone. No one is having fun in that moment. No one is excited about it. It's deflating. That character should either succeed right away, or save time doing that thing.
I'd love to hear more about your Mothership experience. My game-master ran it (without me ☹) and said he could figure out how to run it as a campaign; it was too deadly. Thoughts?
@@GenuineMattyC great video prompt, super appreciate this. I have thoughts and a wild tool I’ll be throwing down soon to fix exactly this!
I’m so glad that TTRPG channels are talking about other games, I hope they- Wait, what do you mean “applying these rules to D&D”?
Did I say that!? Yeah the rules won’t work… the concepts. 💥
Great review of Mothership. Enjoyed the background music. Any chance you'd be willing to share your source?
Great presentation. The background track was a
Little overwhelming at times though
Terrific content. That music is a pain in the hoop though.
HA! Yeah, I definitely messed up the balance! Thanks for the feedback and so glad you enjoyed the musings!
I appreciate you took that comment in jest - it's certainly how I intended it 😁
@@andymeechan3924 Ha! No I took it serious! Everyone is up my butt on my videos about the music being too loud! It’s defs my weak point when it comes to editing but glad you were kidding lol
Make a video about creating a new oneshot via those rules.
@@Dart_ilder dope idea. For mosh or for another game system?
On the point of Tip 10, if there's one thing games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring have taught me, it's that questions are *indeed* better than answers. People will devote hours to thinking about the questions that don't have answers, and have a lot of fun trying to fill in the gaps.
FOR REAL. God I'm still wondering about ER secrets.
Hey! My hometown Pacifica Taco Bell shirt, nice! Thanks for the video!
WE OUT HERE REPPIN'
There's more useful, actionable, directly gameable material in the 50 or so pages of the Warden's Operation Manual than you'll find in any official brand DMG you can buy from WotC.
It's an operations manual. I love it. It's no guide, it's like reading the instructions for a forklift.
Love your videos!
@@PO-pz8bh thank you so much for the feedback, and the specific audio advice. Super helpful. Do me a favor and listen to some of my more recent videos and tell me if I managed to fix it?!
On failed rolls advancing the story, Call of Cthulhu is brilliant at failure progressing the story none the less. Sometimes the failures are more interesting!
TBH I think delta green, CoC's dirtier, grimier, wifi active cousin talks about this even better, but mothership's advice on how to make failed rolls turn into interesting gameplay tops anything I've ever read!
Nice video sir
@@JSmithHendricks thank you!🙏
How familiar are you with Powered by the Apocalypse games? You would like them
I am! Some of them are excellent, and some get slapshod. Honestly the gauntlet has perfected that form of storytelling, so much that it's moved past PBTA, check out the between!
i wish i got the deluxe box instead of standard, if ONLY for the bigger box i could fill it up with modules. Its not that much more expensive, and the two adventure books that are the upgrade difference are the very best
Unboxing coming on monday might tip you over! I gotta say it's... worth it.
Must know the name of the fur baby!
@@KingFrog368 this is Tupac!
The music on this video is so loud i can't barely hear you :(
Wooooorking on that balance! Thanks for the suggestion, seriously helps me get better at this.
To be honest, Call of Cthulhu could have done this even better before Mothership. Great scenario writing and great game system that can teach the GMs to be humble and more active and less dependent on the book and the rules.
@@matthew_thefallen ehhh CoC is unfortunately tethered to a mess of old ttrpg crunchiness for no reason. Should have? Definitely.
@@MilesAwayGames do you think delta green is better than coc?
@@delgar89 personally from a pure rules perspective I think it’s sleeker and smarter.
And way more subjectivity I like the setting a lot more. They are the “same” but conspiracy Cthulhu is my JAM
I like what you're expressing but the music is sometimes at the same level of your voice and it doesn't help to process the info. My brain is stuck on trying to differentiate the two sounds…
And I'd love a video / tutorial about those Mothership rules, as a newbie. How to play encounters / combat… Even better some step to step best-first-adventure as a Warden :) Cause I don't know how to start.
@@betterburnout thanks for the feedback! I’m a baby editor and it super helps me get better. The how to play is up! Sub and check out my channel! Also please let me know if the music is balanced better on the how to play… I tried so hard to get it right.
I am liking and commenting for people like me.
Have I seen this video before? Including with the cassette type audio? Is this a repost?
I’m pretty sure you saw this ruclips.net/video/E98kJ3UAm5U/видео.htmlsi=P1QMpF82PzfCSqOr amazing video from @alfred valley which I watched several months ago and didn’t realize I had literally stolen the open line from until your comment… I am going to have to credit him when I get home…
@@MilesAwayGames no worries - everything is a remix - both good videos, but yeah that one stuck with me and came bursting back to the surface when you posted yours - seems like an awesome game - could just be my brain looking for it or my algorithm adapting, but I think Mothership is about to have a moment
@@TwinSteel his video is so amazing! He’s a great creator. And I really hope it does, man, this game has me very hooked.
@@MilesAwayGames awesome - I’ve been excited about Nimble lately, and they just launched on backer yesterday a full version of the 5e hack that came out last year - there are early bird specials in the first 48 hours if you find yourself similarly interested - have a good one 🥳🫂👍🏿
My only issue with using these tips to make D&D better is - if you change all the core rules of D&D, you're just playing some other game - so play some other game.
@@cephyn11 I am a huge proponent of this, but if you watch all the way through, none of these are an actual rule change they are just the ways that you communicate about the game and the way that you structure the conversation that is all tabletop role-playing games
@@MilesAwayGames ah i misunderstood then about the changing combat to have monsters do damage on PC misses - i thought that was mothership inspired too.
@@cephyn11 no, that's actually sweeping the heartbreaker community rn. Nimble, the MCDM rpg, and several others.
Slightly triggered by dog-eared pages... until I realized the cute dog did it. 🤓
God I feel you, but these books are so cheap and meant to be USED. I've never done that before. Big step for me ahhahaha. And yeah, he likes everything dog eared. 🦮
Is Mothership only for horror or can I use it for classic LOTR style fantasy adventure?
@@whenwollf the math is too punishing, imho unless you wanted it to be DARK fantasy, but this is an interesting question! I kinda wanna make a video about this? To start I’d just make the character stats higher to make the success average higher than 50%, and then I’d find some more thematic adjustment for the panic system. Just a question have you looked at the lotr game?
Great content, but just couldn't listen all the way, the background music was driving me insane 😂
Wish I could remake this video with that fixed. Let me know if my newer videos fix this problem plz.
I hope I can find a group to play mothership and call of cthulhu. My group isn't really interested since we mostly play 5e
Mothership, gud
I just got through my first session and WOW it really is.
👾
🛸
Content good, audio bad.
@@DirtForm hey, we out here learning how to edit the hard way, lol
you really talk like a dm
It is my job!
@@MilesAwayGames lol. i didnt mean it negatively btw, good video 2 out of 2 stars 👍
Your music is overpowering your voice.
@@NanoGamingGamer yeah, I’m definitely learning how to balance my levels the hard way… if you wanna do me a favor and watch some of my more recent Mothership content and tell me if I’ve improved, that would be honestly super helpfull!
How to fix 5e? Just play SWADE
I see a video every week or two on how to 'fix' DnD, particularly 5e. Here's a novel idea, quit playing a terrible system.
@@Slydeish why is 5e a terrible system to you?
Hm, well here's a channel in need of more subs, [click].
Hey! Thanks! Welcome aboard!
I found the music too loud. I had to stop the video.
Appreciate your feedback! Yeah I’m still a baby editor, and music balance is still eluding me. If you want to do me a HUGE favor, watch my latest mothership video and tell me there if it has the same problem? I did my best to fix it!
5e sucks
@@bobhill-ol7wp sucks for your table* ;)