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For myself, my interest is in ditching some of the 'baggage' of Traveller... mostly carried by Traveller Players, not the game itself.Why might I want to use this rather than another version of Traveller.
For myself, my interest is in ditching some of the 'baggage' of Traveller... mostly carried by Traveller Players, not the game itself.
I never much cared for or about the OTU, but every Traveller game I get in on seems to want to play there... even when they claim they aren't, they seem to keep most of it.
A lame cover won't keep me from buying it (see After The Vampire Wars).
Okay, so.
For someone who's never read any edition of Traveler in any detail, what's so great about this?
Cepheus Engine is an amalgamation of Classic Traveller, Traveller d20, and Mongoose Traveller 1E. So, yes, it's a retroclone of Traveller using the d20 OGL and the Mongoose Traveller 1E OGL. Its goal is to essentially use this amalgamation of Traveller rules to support various third-party science-fiction settings. More of which come out regularly.
So, if you want to check out the Traveller rules without being tied down to The Third Imperium or Mindjammer settings, it's the way to go IMO.
See my post six above yours.
It's newbie-friendly Traveller for people who don't care about The Third Imperium or Mindjammer, and want to use their own settings or even publish their own settings.
Sure, but that just puts in the context of three games I haven't read. It means pretty much nothing to me.
It's a traditional hard science-fiction RPG... relatively hard science-fiction setting...
How about not Star Wars/Trek sci fi. Does that help?Take those adjectives with a grain of salt as its primary sources that it emulates are all pretty "soft," i.e., E.C. Tubb and such.
Take those adjectives with a grain of salt as its primary sources that it emulates are all pretty "soft," i.e., E.C. Tubb and such.
Maybe we should use the term "firm". RPG sci-fi games generally range between firm and soft, like tofu. Gamma World is silken.
Out of all of this I like Hostile the best. However, the write up says the setting has no deckplans (and no starship combat). Can anyone who has this supplement confirm that there are no deckplans? Because those seem really important (Alien is all about crawling around your mining ship while an alien eats your crew).
Omer Golan-Joel said:Cepheus Light is, as it name suggests, a simpler, lighter, streamlined version of the Cepheus Engine rules. We geared it towards new players an those looking for fast-paced play.
Cepheus Light is compatible with the System Reference Document released by Samardan Press and the Core rules published by Moon Toad Publishing and so are all supplements.
The only thing it lacks are personal encounter tables and animal rules (ship encounter rules are included). Everything else is there, though streamlined.
What's in Appendix B?
You're giving me appendicitis.Stuff that isn’t in Appendix A.
What's in Appendix B?
I don't see the answer that I expect Dumarest is looking for in there.Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Larry Niven's Ringworld, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos, the Alien films, Outland, Serenity, Andromeda, Babylon 5, Firefly are among the books, movies, and television shows. Among the video games are Elite: Dangerous, FTL: Faster Than Light, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Star Control 2, Starflight, and the Wing Commander series.
What answer did you expect I was looking for?I don't see the answer that I expect Dumarest is looking for in there.
E.C. Tubb.What answer did you expect I was looking for?
Not particularly, although the absence is striking (to me) for a Traveller game (or facsimile thereof), but then again the list provided is probably 90% stuff I haven't read or seen (and I don't play any video games) and seems to veer toward more recent material. I was mainly curious as I'm not in the market for another Traveller edition anyway.E.C. Tubb.
And with some effort from the referee and players, Cepheus can scale up to 1,5 points up or down.Here's one scale.
1.6 to 2.5 is Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Farscape.
2.6 to 3.5 is the Lensmen series, Star Trek, and StarCraft. That's where you'll find Star Frontiers and FrontierSpace.
3.6 to 4.5 is Dune, Firefly, and Babylon 5. That's where you'll find Cepheus Engine/Traveller and Stars Without Number.
4.6 to 5.5 is Starship Troopers, Honor Harrington, and Battlestar Galactica (2003).
Here's one scale.
Why did you even need a confirmation?That is some fun reading. Reminds me of the "Open Tab" massacre shortly after being introduced to TVTropes for the first time.
This is how I confirm to myself that I am a geek.
Why did you even need a confirmation?
Oooh, now that's something you see surprisingly rarely.I also like that like D&D's Appendix N, Cepheus Light has an Appendix B that lists inspirational science-fiction sources, including movies, television programs, novels, and video games.
I've been following Cepheus for awhile. I wasn't big into traveller, but I did play it a few times. There's a very active community (both on FB and the dead next year G+). Lots of material coming out from publishers. I've mostly gotten pdf's, but I did get Zaibatsu, which is a CE offshoot by the author of Hostile. It's technically the same universe, but revolves around cyberpunk corporate wars in Tokyo. Hostile uses full CE from what I understand, while Zaibatsu uses it's own stripped down version.
Paul Elliot (the author of both) has done pdf releases tied to Hostile which I think might have plans (since most of them involve a ship or space station). He also did some releases that would allow you to use CE for fantasy stuff (a magic book, low tech weapons, archaic firearms). I've also heard good things about the These Stars are Ours! setting
Actually, the influence is more the other way around. The video games industry is full of Traveller-isms, starting with Elite in 1984 (Commander Jameson anyone?)[1]Oooh, now that's something you see surprisingly rarely.