Monday, August 26, 2019

Mail Room: Cepheus Light


Cepheus Light is an interesting game. If Cepheus Engine is the "OGL reference document" for the original game system, then Cepheus Light is the game taken off in an entirely new and interesting direction. To me, it feels like Cepheus Light is a gameplay-focused "version 2.0" of the game's rules without it having to be encumbered by compatibility issues.

Isn't this just the same rules, just a different package? Well, no, not exactly. Does it matter which one you play? Perhaps. Let us go over the differences before we talk about the bigger picture.

Simplified Skill List

A note about the Cepheus Engine Core and System Reference Document: Cepheus Light skills are somewhat different than the ones included in the Cepheus Engine core rules but are easily compatible. Most notably, Repair is the combination of Electronics and Mechanics; Admin subsumes the Advocate skill; Carousing subsumes the Gambling skill; Piloting subsumes the Navigation skill; and Deception is roughly equivalent to certain uses of Carousing and Streetwise in the core rules.
-page 30, Cepheus Light rule book
The above is the most important paragraph in the book when it comes to differences between Cepheus Engine and Cepheus Light. They combined skills, simplified, folded things together in logical ways, created"pop fun skills" for common RP play styles (deception), and reduced skill bloat in ways that made sense for a more "popcorn sci-fi" style of game.

Of course Han Solo knows how to navigate! Isn't that a part of flying a starship? Fix something? That is the repair skill! Fix a starship-related? Engineering! Computers covers the communication skill. It is that sort of logic which I find interesting, and it highlights the differences between the games. Cepheus Light is sort of a fun B-Movie sci-fi game to me where the roles are boiled down to their movie essences, where Cepheus Engine is the more traditional, more compatible homage to the original rules.

No Specialty Skills

There are also no specialty skills in Cepheus Light. Gun Combat covers bows. Piloting covers all flying and spacecraft. Driving covers all ground vehicles. Science is all science. You have less specialization, and the roles are more iconic and broadly painted. Again, I see this is as B-Movie sci-fi logic, Han Solo is a pilot, he should be able to get in and fly a winged aircraft. We don't need to spend 10 minutes of the movie watching him train for this because of the slight differences between starship piloting and winged aircraft piloting - B-movie logic makes it so.

And then feeling the pain of watching him get lost because he didn't take a navigator along.

Table Play Skills

There are also the "table play" skills like deception added that create rules for common situations that happen at gaming tables. It is interesting to see these added because it reflects a system that is more player and table-fun oriented with skills that cover the classic situations that come up during pen-and-paper games. Stealth is another table-play skill in this set that isn't in Cepheus Engine, and also the Investigation skill falls into this area as well. These are skills frequently used during play because "these are skills the referee needs and the players love to use."

I still like Cepheus Engine because it feels like the AD&D sort of advanced, compatible, detailed, skills-matter system that lets me create specialized, deep, and complex characters when I am in that mood. And I like Cepheus Light for the more popcorn B-Movie characters that are more focused on roles than rules.

Bring on the Stunners and Blasters!

Another thing I like about these "breakout OGL games" that step apart from their host systems is that they are taken in different directions, and they don't feel obliged to stick to the source material. We get classic sci-fi blasters and stunners in addition to lasers here. LMGs make an appearance.

Note that while Cepheus Light's equipment list has some more of the traditional B-Movie sci-fi gear, it is not as complete and extensive as Cepheus Engine's equipment lists. We have basic robots in Cepheus Light, but Cepheus Engine has options for those robots.

It is true that if you are making a generic sci-fi game, you probably want to pare down the gear list to a more basic core set of items and let the referee and gaming group come up with most of it. However, I like the gear options in Cepheus Engine quite a lot and that list feels more complete and new-player friendly. I don't want to have new players asking "can we have this" and the item isn't in the book or the option isn't there.

But then again, if you are more generic-focused why would you want "a lot of stuff you will never use" in the first place? There is a trade-off here in the gear lists to be aware of, Cepheus Engine is more extensive and complete, but limited to the setting it emulates. Cepheus Light is more classic sci-fi inspired, but more basic and less specific. I can see why the gear list was cleaned up. Less is more, and if you are emulating a specific setting you do not want a lot of junk you will never use (and you will create a lot of it yourself anyways).

Another key difference is in the weapon stats. Cepheus Light introduces new firing modes for some guns, such as double-tap, and also vehicle damage ratings that Cepheus Engine does not have. The equipment lists are compatible if you use the Cepheus Light versions as a super-set of "how things work now" and extend the gear list in Engine to suit.

Cepheus Light: Heavy Wanted

I would love to see a huge Space Opera style version of this game with expanded careers, equipment, starships, and so on and pulling from generic sci-fi more so than classic Traveller style games. This game feels generic enough and flexible enough to be one of those "generic space games" that can either be molded to do anything, or expanded to do everything.

I know, this is a light rules set, why do you want everything when you have most of it in or adding Engine? Because I like the direction here, the improvements, and the focus on generic sci-fi as a starting point instead of emulation of established material. To me, the strength of this is a catch-all style of "D&D in space" that can do for sci-fi what D&D did for fantasy.

Extensive Examples of Play

There are a lot of examples of play in Cepheus Light, more than in Engine. They take up quite a few pages in such a short book (with 8 pages on personal combat covering 2 different battles), and get a feeling I would like to see them cut down just a little bit to a page or two each and simplified to the core rules concepts they present. They are fun, full of flavor, and instructive, just I get the feeling they are a bit on the long side for a rules set that is focusing on the basics. I get why they are here though and they are appreciated, regardless.

POD On Lulu

Note, the POD hardcopies can be found on Lulu, not DriveThruRPG. The latest word as of this writing is that DTRPG POD versions were coming soon. I opted for the smaller digest version of the POD copy there because I am a fan of small books.

Overall

Do I really need another Traveller-like game? Not really but yes.

I like M2E Traveller a lot (like how I like my never-played copy of D&D 5E), and to me the strength of that set of rules is the setting. I can see why there are a lot of gamers embracing the 3rd Imperium these days for M2E Traveller - the rules and flavor fit, and if you are going to use the rules, you might as well dive in and explore a rich and varied setting.

Cepheus Engine? This is my "will always live on" OGL version of M1E Traveller. It is important for compatibility, archival, and historical reasons. It is useful as a "gear and stuff book" for Cepheus Light as well should you take the game in that direction, but it isn't really needed. Would I still play this? Without the 3rd Imperium, yes. Once you remove the strength of that setting new things become possible. Although just sticking with M2E Traveller for my DIY universes is also an attractive possibility, and still an option. This is probably the least compelling game for me of the three to play at the moment, just because of M2E's strengths. Still, this is a fun book to read and imagine with, and definitely worth supporting.

Cepheus Light? I like this like I like Cepheus Modern, which this game is a parent of. What is attractive here is the simplification of the rules and more popcorn feeling of generic sci-fi action and roles. I could see using this game to play fast-and-loose games covering 1950's classic sci-fi black and white movies and TV shows. This also works well with the Solo rules set for solo play. Of the three, this (and Modern) are my first choices for quick one-shot solo play, but it still remains behind M2E Traveller for deep, extended campaign play.

I like this entire line really, and it is great to see the OGL community stepping up to preserve, extend, and expand another set of rules in ways we could not have imagined when the original OGL rules were first released.

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