What is the Game, and What Makes a Good System?

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In a confluence of events, I ran my first session of Mothership this week, after having played it most weeks for the last six months or so, coinciding with the Paul Beakley of Indie Game Reading Club posting his review of the game. I think it is a well articulated critique, echoing some points made in Dwiz' review over on Knight at the Opera (now sadly unavailable).

However, as a self-professed "system-curious indie guy", I think Paul underestimates the value of a simple but effective chassis (or at least, he comes to the conclusion that it is not what he wants out of a game). The strength of the stress system is how simple it is to interact with - yes, the rules in the booklet may not be enough to fully drive play on their own, but perhaps that was never the intention? I would argue that the core rules of Mothership offer just half of the game, with the other half left open to be filled by modules or an enterprising game master: The quality of the rules should then not only be measured by how well they provide a complete framework, but by how easy they are to slot the other half into.

The stress and panic system will likely not yield enough stress and panic with only the baseline triggers, but it is extremely easy for module writers and GMs to add in additional triggers for stress gain and panic. The true strength of the Panic Engine of Mothership is how easy it is to put mechanical triggers into your games without bloating the system with extra rules.

As Paul puts it in his Bottom Line:

"For readers and players who want clear, explicit advice on how to get the most out of the game, also great. If you’re not into module content? Still okay, and it’s more flexible and de-licensed than Free League’s Alien. And if you just want a system that has very little to say (“gets out of the way” as the saying goes) but is easy to eyeball and execute? Maybe more than okay."

Mothership's strength is not necessarily in the raw mechanical system, but rather in the game that exists around that. Mothership is certainly a Sci-Fi horror game, but a lot of that doesn't lie in the raw technicals of the system, but indeed rather in the advice on how to play run it. And the little booklets certainly provide that advice! I would argue that the game is not only in the mechanics, but also in what is presented around the mechanics. The Overview & Principles are just as important for defining what the game Cairn is as the reliance on saves and roll-under mechanics. If you copy the raw mechanics but let go of the advice, you'll be playing a mechanically similar game, but it might have a very different feel, and it wouldn't be Cairn.

At the end of the day, Paul is of course entirely correct in his review, as any reviewer who recognises their own subjectivity always is: he clearly articulates why Mothership is not the ideal game system for him, and that's okay. 

Mothership, to me, is like the best pre-made pizza dough you can imagine getting at the shop: it can produce an amazing pizza, but you have to add some topping, either by making it yourself (for which it offers ample guidance), or by buying a topping kit (of which there are many delicious options on offer), but in itself, it is not a ready-to-heat premade pizza. If you are happy to put in the work, Mothership makes it easy, and if you're happy to rely on someone else's work, even easier, that's where Mothership shines.

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