So many Cepheus versions. What's what?

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DornKratz

DornKratz

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I have to say I'm having a great time with Stars Without Number. The rules don't get in the way and the sandbox support is fantastic. But. The dichotomy of 2d6 for skills and d20 for combat bugs me enough that I'm considering switching systems.

Cepheus sounds like an obvious choice: open, inexpensive, same Traveller chassis, tons of support. But I open DTRPG, filter for Cepheus and core rulebooks, and there are still 53 books, including two SRDs, Cepheus Light, Cepheus Faster Than Light, Cepheus Deluxe, Cepheus Universal, Cepheus Atom, Sword of Cepheus, Zaibatsu, and Hostile. How do I even start to find my way in this ecosystem? Is there a way to see how various character creation, combat, vehicle, and progression rules stack up?
 
DornKratz said:
I have to say I'm having a great time with Stars Without Number. The rules don't get in the way and the sandbox support is fantastic. But. The dichotomy of 2d6 for skills and d20 for combat bugs me enough that I'm considering switching systems.

Cepheus sounds like an obvious choice: open, inexpensive, same Traveller chassis, tons of support. But I open DTRPG, filter for Cepheus and core rulebooks, and there are still 53 books, including two SRDs, Cepheus Light, Cepheus Faster Than Light, Cepheus Deluxe, Cepheus Universal, Cepheus Atom, Sword of Cepheus, Zaibatsu, and Hostile. How do I even start to find my way in this ecosystem? Is there a way to see how various character creation, combat, vehicle, and progression rules stack up?
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Maybe start with your ideal and we can rule out some things or highlight others.

Of those Sword if Cepheus is a fantasy implementation so maybe not one that you need to look at.
I'm currently smitten with Hostile.
 
The version from Moon Toad Publishing, Cepheus Engine RPG, is at least authorized by Cepheus designer Jason Kemp. That's as good a starting point as any. HOSTILE from Zozer Games is probably the most popular rendition, but is sharply focused on Alien-style space truckers. Zozer also produces its own generic version of the rules, Cepheus Universal. At 443 pages, this is (I believe) the most comprehensive version.
 
Allen Varney said:
The version from Moon Toad Publishing, Cepheus Engine RPG, is at least authorized by Cepheus designer Jason Kemp. That's as good a starting point as any. HOSTILE from Zozer Games is probably the most popular rendition, but is sharply focused on Alien-style space truckers. Zozer also produces its own generic version of the rules, Cepheus Universal. At 443 pages, this is (I believe) the most comprehensive version.
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Hostile sounds interesting. That gritty, cassette futurism style is right up my alley, and fairly close to how I'm running my current SWN campaign. The allure of a Universal system is strong, though.

Does anyone know if there is significant difference in ship/vehicle combat? That's been a pain point on every space game I've ran.
 
DornKratz said:
Hostile sounds interesting. That gritty, cassette futurism style is right up my alley, and fairly close to how I'm running my current SWN campaign. The allure of a Universal system is strong, though.

Does anyone know if there is significant difference in ship/vehicle combat? That's been a pain point on every space game I've ran.
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Looking at the prices, Hostile is broken into two PDFs I think. One is rules and one is setting and each are like $17-20. Cepheus Universal is $19 and contains most of the same rules as Hostile plus some as far as I can tell. I'd lean to get Cepheus Universal if you have your own setting you want to use
 
The same question was recently going through my head, as I've been wanting to acquire a copy of the game for our library RPG collection. My choices were thankfully constrained by what was available through our normal vendors, so I didn't have to evaluate as many variants. I went with Cepheus Light even though the name sounds more like a cheap beer than a game (stay away from Cepheus Ice, the hangover is brutal!) It streamlines CE to feel closer to early Classic Traveller (proto-Traveller) -- fewer Careers, tighter skill list, smaller starships, etc. Haven't had a chance to really read through it yet but I will soon, as I hope to use it to run some CT for the library's Tabletop Adventure Gaming mini-con in June.
 
The original Cepheus was pretty much Mongoose Traveller 1e. Layout was better but pretty much the same game.

The Hostile setting book is great for Alien or Outland, but I already have the Alien RPG and Mothership, and it covers the same ground. It uses its own modified version of MongTrav rules.

The newest version, Cepheus Deluxe, starts diverging from Mongoose Traveller. It has a pool of HPs instead of Stat depletion and random character creation takes a back seat to a build-your-character model (the random is still an option)

My absolute favorite is Cepheus Light. It looks and feels more like Classic Traveller with modern mechanics and it hits just the right spot for me. It reminds me of Shadowdark, just a polishing up of a classic game. I have the Pocket Edition from Lulu and it's a treasure.
 
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Is there a version of Cepheus engine where gaining experience would have more impact to character development than in the original game?
 
Moracai said:
Is there a version of Cepheus engine where gaining experience would have more impact to character development than in the original game?
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I don't know of one myself but I don't have comprehensive knowledge of the ecosystem. (Funnily enough, at work last Friday I proposed a swearbox for use of this term, but I like it for the Cepheus variants!)

Thing is, in a 2D6 system, a +1 mod is a big deal. So a D&D-style experience system where you gradually improve in game-mechanical terms will either quickly break the 2D6 curve, or require the addition of a shedload of skills to give you something to spend your points on. It's consistent with the fact that in Classic Traveller, PC progress happened in in-game-universe terms (characters gain more political power, exotic tech, wealth, or knowledge).

Edit: I know Classic has an experience system, but it is so slow (4 years to gain a skill level or attribute bump) that it doesn't really count.
 
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Triumvir said:
I don't know of one myself but I don't have comprehensive knowledge of the ecosystem. (Funnily enough, at work last Friday I proposed a swearbox for use of this term, but I like it for the Cepheus variants!)

Thing is, in a 2D6 system, a +1 mod is a big deal. So a D&D-style experience system where you gradually improve in game-mechanical terms will either quickly break the 2D6 curve, or require the addition of a shedload of skills to give you something to spend your points on. It's consistent with the fact that in Classic Traveller, PC progress happened in in-game-universe terms (characters gain more political power, exotic tech, wealth, or knowledge).

Edit: I know Classic has an experience system, but it is so slow (4 years to gain a skill level or attribute bump) that it doesn't really count.
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I've run a Traveller campaign that went long enough in-game that had it been in CT the PCs would've gained five increases by now. As it was in GURPS they've got... many character points.
 
Sharrow said:
I've run a Traveller campaign that went long enough in-game that had it been in CT the PCs would've gained five increases by now. As it was in GURPS they've got... many character points.
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Prison Planet..?
 
600+ sessions over the years. Exploration and 'recovery' for first patrons, and then for themselves.

Playing around with pre-War R&D projects intended to extend jump ranges out past six parsecs via controlled mis-jumps. Turns out there's a reason people don't induce mis-jumps on purpose. It also turned out that that the maths behind the 'controlled' bit was wrong. So they spent a long time getting home.

Then they decided if they fixed it, it could work. It didn't. So they got to spend even more time trying to get home, this time from a whole other universe.

So they thought 'well if long jumps don't work, maybe inter-universe travel?'. This was a bit more successful, though attempts to make bank from it were disappointing - the government claimed it as eminent domain and classified the whole thing.

We left the game for a break after they went on a long trip mapping out the weak points between universes, on government pay ("You can work for us on a government salary, or you can retire to somewhere where we can keep a close eye on you, and never go anywhere interesting again. Your choice.")
 
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