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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Reviews => Topic started by: Ted on August 08, 2021, 03:21:25 PM

Title: Blood Floats in Space [Mothership]
Post by: Ted on August 08, 2021, 03:21:25 PM
Blood Floats in Space, by Chance Phillips and published by Apollyon Press

System: Mothership
Length: Thirty (30) pages
Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/304024/Blood-Floats-in-Space (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/304024/Blood-Floats-in-Space)

The “Good” (Likes)
A concise introduction identifies the purpose and features that differ from the base game, Mothership.  This riff on that system is a marked departure from the general theme. The artwork feels like a Troika mashup in the gonzo vein; it works with Mothership, but not in the body horror/intruder feel that Mothership captures.  This supplement adds two interesting features: religious faith and psychic powers.

The inclusion of the Faiths chapter is an interesting addition to the space horror theme, which generally eschews matters of religion and belief; this chapter works through the content provided and the ideas raised.  Good variety between the faiths, each receives a table for description/manifestation.

The psychic powers section provides interesting flavor and mechanics.  Each of the twenty (20) powers begins with a colorful name, followed by a strong description.  These powers feel unique.  In addition, the table of psychic catastrophes provides the necessary risk/trade-off that makes Mothership work.  Across the twenty-one (21) failures, there are some terrible effects, many permanent, all of them delightful.

Lastly, the rumors table is quite good.

The “Bad” (Dislikes)
This supplement is a design disappointment.  There is far too much whitespace on a number of pages and the artwork dominates an entire page as opposed to being woven into the text of the page.  The layout is also substandard, much more could have been done with much less. 

As for content, the equipment page include five (5) new items.  This feels light, especially when one of the pages was left 50% empty; just a little bit of creativity, perhaps building off the strengths (i.e., religious faiths, psychic powers) of the supplement, could have delivered some additional items that reinforced the gonzo vibe.

The “Ugly” (Conclusion):
This is a good supplement for the Mothership setting, but not great.  The supplement lacks sufficient flavor and wastes a significant amount of space with whitespace; either provide more content or reduce the number of pages.  If this supplement had covered just space religions and psychic powers in sixteen (16) or fewer pages, it would have been much more successful.

Rating: 3/5