I just love these old-school 2d6 roleplaying games. They are endlessly hackable, simple, and blazingly fast. They get the job done without a whole lot of fuss. The swords-and-sorcery version is the very cool Sword of Cepheus game, while the sci-fi version is Cepheus Deluxe. Want to hack the rules and make your own version of the game? Well, they have SRDs in MS Word format too:
- https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/380839/The-Sword-of-Cepheus-Reference
- https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/371216/Cepheus-Deluxe-Reference
It feels like Linux, and with some excellent layout software and some incredible art, you too can make your own roleplaying game. All you need is a game concept and, section by section, you would go through the rules, make additions or edits, and then playtest.
Also, a similar game for 2d6 fantasy called Westlands is only a dollar and comes in PDF format. It is not as nicely laid out as Sword of Cepheus, but it is very similar and will work well. It does a few things differently, and this is good to keep in mind if you find Sword of Cepheus a bit too dark fantasy and not enough swords and sorcery.
Strange Magic
Sword of Cepheus uses a magic corruption system and categorizes magic in white, gray, and black flavors - with black giving corruption. They have a strange system where spells take 10 minutes to cast unless you pre-charge with one-shot or rechargeable foci items. It is a different type of casting system, and they give you an option to fast cast at a penalty, so the game does its own thing with magic and requires a bit of expense and pre-planning with the spells you want to cast.
It feels like a bit of slamming the brakes on caster power, and it may seem excessive to some, and a lot of bookkeeping, pre-casting, and preparation for spell casters. When I first read it, the system turned me off, and it felt like a huge hassle. Until I read Westlands and realized that game ignores foci and the 10-minute casting time and does things more like I am used to.
Oh, yeah, I can just mod the game and fix it. I swear I am reading too much of Pathfinder 2, and in this mode, if it is written in fun, I can't change it, or I will break the entire system. And yes, it took me reading a 95% similar game to realize that. This is your brain, and this is your brain after reading 600 pages of rules.
Use the Westlands casting style if you want to play this game with straight swords and sorcery with easy magic. If you tried to ignore corruption, that is up to you too. These magic systems are hackable, and you can turn options on and off like toggles in a video game.
And, in fact, you should.
Ugh, these games these days where if you change something, you break everything else.
2d6 Systems
These 2d6 systems are popcorn to me. My brother and I hacked together a Car Wars RPG out of the original Traveller, and that system held up for 20 years. It works incredibly well, and I am doing the same thing for Battletech. Seeing hackable 2d6 systems these days for new games is such a cool thing.
Ask yourself, how much game system do I need?
All I need is a quick 2d6 system with a few customization options for many things. The Cepheus engine adds traits to the mix, which are like feats for character improvement (and you get during generation). These could be the "pilot abilities" on those Battletech pilot cards or special abilities you create for your character and get GM approval to use in fantasy games. These traits add to the game's current level of character customization and make it more than the traditional "ability plus skills" we expect from conventional 2d6 systems.
You could bolt on a heritage system like they have in Pathfinder 2, where you can level up your racial abilities and pick different powers as you go, like an asimaar getting wings or a holy aura. A dwarf could buy ore sense or detect vibrations. You could add class packages that do the same things. Hey, mod the game, go ahead.
Where other games try to give you a complete package and experience out of the box, these 2d6 systems are Linux distributions inviting you to make the game your own.
Or, put another way, it gives you the tools to make your own game.
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