My Last 5E

There are times I wonder, "Why would I ever go back to 5E?"

I have far better fantasy games, and ones that speak to me more than 5E's soft, power fantasy, super heroic, broken past level 10 mush. I have Dungeon Crawl Classics, which does that power fantasy far better, and with much less predictability. I have GURPS Dungeon Fantasy for the fantastic character builds. I have Rolemaster for the crit charts, and HARP for a version that actually plays smoothly. I have Swords & Wizardry for the 0e game, and I have Adventures Dark & Deep as my classic first-edition style game. Castles & Crusades and 3.5E are good games.

I have enough fantasy games.

If I had to keep one before selling the eight storage crates, what would it be?

It would not be Wizards D&D. That is getting sold. I can understand wanting to stay with 5E, but not D&D.

Tales of the Valiant is also being sold. Despite this being the best-supported and produced Open 5E versions out there, the game is too cartoony for me. Additionally, there are very few differences between ToV and 5E; the two are essentially the same game. This was done for maximum compatibility, which is a plus for some with a lot of 3rd-party content. This may be the game for you if you fall into that category.

It still has the same flaws! I can't support a game that is very similar down to the things I dislike about 5E. What is the point? A slight difference in character options and a CL+1 power level? It isn't made by Wizards? That is enough for many, but I wanted more. I am still holding onto my library and hoping things change for the better.

I wanted structural improvements, drawing on past versions to incorporate the best features in terms of rules, classes, content, and systems. There are still excellent rules from past versions of the game that could be incorporated into 5E. Why do we have to lose all that hard work and progress?

The quality level of the ToV books is fantastic, and there is a wealth of content to enjoy. Thousands of monsters and spells await your use. The only issue is that character creation requires electronic tools, and there is a lack of player options in the core books.

I love you ToV, but you are not for me. I have a better version of 5E in my hands today. Despite the fantastic quality and support for ToV, my heart is with a better-crafted version of 5E.

And no, it isn't Shadowdark. I am keeping this because it is an S-Tier game in its own right.

This is a 5E to me, but the small shelf space is not a question. Additionally, it boasts the best "pick up and play" ability among all 5E games. The game has a great community, heart, and is well-supported. Shadowdark, I can play with anyone, and I can do so instantly, with about 5 minutes of prep.

Shadowdark is more of a competitor to "B/X OSR clones" for me at the moment. Having a game that plays like 5E, yet has the simplicity of OSE, is a winner, especially for pick-up games with new people. I am not describing the OSR, OSE, or any other conceptual "buy-in" sort of theory to new players.

This is a simplified, fast-playing, 5E version.

That is all I need to say.

Most of them will give Shadowdark a chance.

And we have a winner.

Level Up Advanced 5E is the only one that would make me dig through my "sell crates" again to pull just it out, plus a handful of the best third-party books, and I would sell the rest of my 5E collection. The designers dared to fix 5E, which they got roasted for at the time, but it turned out to be the right choice. There is a much drier balance to Level Up A5E; the math is fixed, martial classes have many great options, and the three pillars of play are supported and work well.

They incorporate many of my favorite rules from earlier editions, such as a warlord-style battle commander class and rules for sleeping in armor. If there is something about 5E that makes you say, "Isn't it silly...?" then chances are A5E fixes it.

I'm disappointed that I didn't back their second monster book or collected gazetteer hardback Kickstarter; I'll have to wait for that. I thought I was done with the game.

The game is deadly. They polled the play-testers, and they said, "Make the game deadlier." Turn up the challenge. Give us a sense of accomplishment when we complete a battle, like our characters could die. Don't let combats turn into boring "dice rolling dance breaks" from the roleplaying.

Drawing spell and steel matter. It is a dangerous choice.

Easy combat makes roleplaying meaningless.

You need a ranger for exploration play, and they don't suck here. The exploits have been mostly fixed. Martial classes are insanely fun and have fighting-style customizations. The monsters are scary and deadly. I do not have to multi-class. The characters have depth. The world is exciting and dangerous. Characters feel powerful, but not broken. I don't have much experience with high-level play, but the team made fixes there as well.

Supplies matter. Shelter quality matters. You can't comfortably sleep in your armor, like your character was some plastic action figure who can't ever remove it and wear comfortable, everyday clothing.

There is no such thing as infinite "pop-up healing."

Fatigue will kill you, and it won't be an easy resurrection. The spell is 7th level, takes an hour to cast, requires 2,500 gold in components, and requires approximately four long rests to recover from. Even the "death within one minute" revivify spell requires 300 gold in components to function and is only an in-combat option. The doomed condition requires 7th-level magic to remove it.

You can always house-rule in a hardcore death option and require a system-shock roll on resurrections. Make a DC 5 CON roll, with a result of 1 always indicating a failure. Failing means the soul never wants to return to the living and is happy in the afterlife, roll a new character. Increase the DC by one for every death after the first, and by one for every close friend or loved one you have lost in the mortal world.

You are not taking long rests in a closet in the Tomb of Horrors. Even short rests are not something you can depend on, nor will they restore fatigue. You can break down mentally. Obviously, some of the more egregious 5E tropes have been discarded. Dumb things people feel they have to defend "because it's D&D" are a thing of the past.

You can get "expertise dice" for skills. Destiny replaces alignment and controls inspiration, making it matter again. Inspiration has weight to it, and it isn't a meaningless flippable toggle that other classes can set on your character due to "mechanics."

Orcs and humanoids are still monsters here. Yes, EN World is very progressive, but they respect the hobby and its traditions. You can play an orc, if you want, and they can still be the bad guys. I wish forums and gaming sites could be less divided, but this is the world we live in, sadly. The game itself remains true to the hobby and gameplay, which I appreciate.

The fixes and improvements here render Tales of the Valiant unappealing to me.

Level Up is, hands down, the better-designed version of 5E.

Many LUA5E players skipped ToV, saying, "There's nothing new here. I don't see a reason to switch."

Third-party subclasses do have compatibility issues, but then again, LUA5E offers enough depth and options that I do not really need them. 5E NPCs and characters can "play alongside" characters built with this system, but to get the most out of the game, it is recommended to create them according to the rules.

Level Up A5E also has an excellent character sheet on Roll20. This works nicely with my "all digital" conversion going forward. I am no longer using a part of my house for maps and pawns. My home is cleaner, my shelves have more space, and I'm playing more using an all-digital format.

Level Up did a better job fixing 5E than the D&D 2024 rules do. They bring a game back to the table.

If I do keep a version of 5E, this one and Shadowdark will be the only two. Most of my third-party books, and those that distract from the core experience I want to craft, will be removed. What I keep will be a more focused, better game with fewer distractions, and nothing that makes the game "cute and stupid." I want a serious game.

Too many options can also be detrimental to a game. I don't need thousands of spells or monsters to play 5E. Too many books can kill a game. All I want is one-half shelf of the absolute best.

I own far too much 5E.

Owning less, with the best core game possible, will make me like it more.

Rolemaster FRP, The Best Version?

Sometimes, the Rolemaster FRP system was one of the most bloated games ever created; other times, it was the best-put-together version of  Rolemaster ever made. In every section, they provide the formulas, offer relevant charts, and clearly explain them on the page.

This isn't obscure. Nothing is hidden, like in the paragraphs of Rolemaster 2nd Edition. It is on a page if you need to find a rule or know what a chart and formula do. The 2nd Edition is straightforward and simple, but RM FRP is laid out like a fantasy wargame.

There may be a LOT of it, but nothing is hidden.

I first reach for the FRP books if I need clarification on a Rolemaster rule. There are times when I play 2nd Edition, and I simply default to the FRP rule because the 2nd Edition rule is either nowhere to be found or is intentionally overlooked. RM FRP will clarify it; the procedure will be straightforward, even if the math is slightly different.

Yes, characters need four pages of skills. It's insane, but GURPS has hundreds of skills as well. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and this game share many similarities, including their shared "detailed characters and gritty combat" genre style. Rolemaster has more class direction and adjusts skill point costs depending on the chosen profession, whereas GURPS has a flat cost that remains the same for everyone.

Is there a difference between GURPS and Rolemaster?

Rolemaster features critical hit charts and a degree of role protection in skill costs per profession, enabling rapid progression in a few favored areas. GURPS features tactical hex combat, an open-ended skill system that allows you to develop your character however you want, and a detailed system for building advantages and disadvantages.

Both feature complex characters and intense combat.

If you think of RM FRP as "Advanced AD&D" that only uses a 1d100, you will be better prepared to understand it. It has less in common with GURPS than with a massively mutated, house-ruled, and extra rules-added version of AD&D that leans into Tolkien and classic fantasy novels.

Once you complete character creation, the in-game systems are more straightforward than those of D&D. It's all just 1d100. The charts are easy. Download the PDF and print out your weapon tables and critical hit charts. Every player is responsible for their own.

Best of all, the first book is all you need to play the basic game. They took the best of the best, including combat, magic, and spells, and you just need the first book to get started and support campaign play. Spells only go up to level 10, but then again, Rolemaster games rarely reach that point unless it is a hardcore group.

Rolemaster United is a bit wordy, much like the HARP expansion books, which often write essays on a subject and worry about the rules later. I appreciate the clarity and straightforward nature of RM FRP; it provides the charts and game rules, keeping the chit-chat to a minimum. I do not want a term paper or an explanation of "why this is" - I want the rules because I am in the middle of a game, and please do not waste my time.

RMU needs an editing pass by people who do not play the game and understand nothing. Every page needs a "top 10" question list written, and we must ensure those are answered before moving on. I've read the books, and I still have questions; it's tough to find answers quickly.

I like the new Rolemaster United, but it needs improvement in terms of clarity, conciseness, and artwork. It needs a "tightening up" pass, and all the formulas and charts should be pulled out and placed on the page first, with a short box explaining the rule and how it works, similar to RM FRP's 250 pages of tightly organized game rules. Writing a great rulebook is a lost art, and so far, only Shadowdark and Old School Essentials have managed to knock it out of the park.

I have high hopes for this version; I need to see the bestiaries and others. Until then, my heart is with RM SS/FRP. RM FRP is a complex system, but it is also very transparent about everything. I still have a few questions as I read through the book, but most everything is well laid out.

The Gamemaster Law book is excellent and included rules for "kingdom events" decades before other games recognized their existence. Like HARP, the RM FRP game contains numerous books and things to discover. This is a GM book written before the modern era, and it delves into many great world-building subjects and ideas. The GM book also includes race creation, perfect for building your campaign worlds with unique cultures and character backgrounds.

A hidden gem in the series is the book At Rapier's Point, which offers roleplaying in classic 17th-century Europe during the era of the Three Musketeers. The game's combat system and even HARP are ideally suited to this sort of swashbuckling game.

Whenever I pick up Rolemaster, I am conflicted. I like to support the new version and that vision. I like RP FRP and how complete and well-supported this version is. I get that "Unified" is trying to bring together fans of both versions and have one core, supported game. I also understand that the 2nd Edition is the easiest to play (once you know it) due to the lack of skills, in-depth calculations, and sub-calculations.

Rolemaster Classic will always be my AD&D of the system, the best-supported, earliest edition.

HARP has always been my B/X version; it is simple, fast, and fun. It is a complete game and a worthy D&D replacement, as the systems are simple yet offer an authentic Rolemaster experience. It features a ten-book core collection, all presented in hardcover editions. This is the game closest to Against the Darkmaster, but it's more suited for generic dungeon adventures. The "stuff collection" in this game is significantly more expansive and complete.

RM FRP is akin to my AD&D 2nd Edition, where the game offers more options and is complex, yet it still retains its charm and expanded play options. This is the "roleplaying" edition of the game, as its extensive skill coverage and numerous templates and build options allow you to play any character you can imagine. It is a comprehensive game with multiple books to purchase, so support is excellent and superior to HARP. This includes a 21-book core rulebook collection, but none of the books are in hardcover or print.

That is my wish: to see a Kickstarter campaign to collect all these books in hardcover, perhaps even premium editions with leather covers. This is also my first version of the game, which introduced me to Rolemaster, so it will remain one of my favorites.

Rolemaster United still needs to prove itself, and the game is incomplete. I support this, but I am holding off for now. Once the monster books are out, then we will see. All of these are offered in hardcover.

HARP SF is an anomaly. I have this, but I don't know what to do with it. It is sort of like B/X science fiction and exists as its own thing. You can get these in hardcovers.

Spacemaster is an SF game closely related to Rolemaster Classic. We actually played this back in the day, and it was a strange, fun, out-there experience. This is the more expansive "space opera" game style with battleships, tanks, power armor, and all sorts of tech and science fiction tropes. These are PDF-only.

Spacemaster Privateers is the RM FRP version of science fiction, and it is better suited for those who are more comfortable with RM FRP and the design concepts used in that game. I discovered this one recently, and I wish we had played it. It diverges in its own direction regarding the universe, and there is a recommendation to use Silent Death as the ship combat game for SM Privateers, which would be interesting since this would limit ship tonnage in the universe to 10,000 tons or under, with a focus on starfighters and small ships. Most are offered as PoD, with two exceptions.

We were big into Silent Death, and the rules are still available on DriveThruRPG. This would be fun to play on VTTs. It is also very playable with any Spacemaster or HARP SF games. The universe here is fascinating and varied, and many sleep on this for both a "Battle-tech style" divided universe and an interesting science fiction setting in its own right, with a faction for everyone. There are 22 books here, but they are all in PDF format.

I need to follow my heart in this regard, as I watch the new books and support them as they come out.

RM FRP is my game.

HARP is always a strong second choice.

Mutant Epoch Quick Start Rules

Some games defy explanation. Mutant Epoch is one of them. The game is essentially the work of a single creator, encompassing both the art, which helps define the setting. The game is ugly, unhinged, insane, freakish, crazy, and a work of art in gaming.

At times, I wonder, what did I just read? And then the brilliance of that pure honesty and "just say it" moment hits me. The game feels like a psychedelic drug trip mixed with a classic 80s or 90s Heavy Metal magazine subscription. This is not a game for everyone, as it tackles mature themes. If you come in expecting to have your feelings protected and coddled by cute, cozy game animals or pastel fantasy races, just walk away.

This is the roleplaying equivalent of starting out sleeping under a bridge and becoming a post-apocalyptic murder hobo, lord of battle, and spiked baseball bat-wielding cyborg auto-battle gladiator.

In a way, this game is more accurate to modern, on-the-street 2025 city life than today's pandering role-playing games, which often simulate present-day fantasy worlds, usually mirroring the suburban enclaves of the rich in which the games are played. Mutant Epoch is "living in the combat zone" if the combat zone encompasses the entire world. Every tactic of surviving on the mean streets of 2025 is a valid play style here. The local warlord's enforcers may show up in riot gear with gas and batons, just to beat the stuffing out of the discontented, including your characters, for their own amusement.

Does it matter that you are "the rules-anointed heroes" and "adventurers so always right?"

No, you are still getting the tar beaten out of you.

This isn't 5E.

People despise honesty and tend to gravitate towards groups that lie to them the most. We live in an era where power is defined by how hard you fight to make outright lies ...truths. The rich want to keep pretending they are influencers and cosplaying fakeness. Wall Street needs to keep selling you the lies of nostalgia and fantasy to keep the opiate entertainment flowing, lest you realize what is really going on.

And the world of Mutant Epoch sucks. It is filthy, random, broken, filled with hate, do anything to survive, and violent. This isn't some author's "perfect world" written into the adventure to reinforce a personal belief. Everything can kill you. Civilization...isn't.

I grew up in rural Appalachia, a place so impoverished that we created our own games out of cardboard boxes that would have otherwise been sent to recycling, drawing on them with ink markers. We made our own hand-drawn maps using pencils and colored pencils. We ate government food, which consisted of giant blocks of cheese and butter, bread purchased at the thrift store, and had very few healthy options provided by that system.

Violence, hooliganism, crime, and even the threat of nuclear apocalypse were everyday things.

We rented VHS tapes. We read paperbacks and comic books. We got our TV over the air. We did not have cable, streaming, or the Internet. We watched shows as they were broadcast, and there was no option to "see them later." We listened to the radio, waiting for our favorite songs to come on.

Your education was the only thing they could not take from you.

Politics and online debates over beliefs, hot-button topics, and lies were never a thing. The government never helped, was rarely present, and played a minimal role in our lives.

We were poor.

We never mattered to anyone.

If you could find any advantage out of your 'lousy start in life,' you took it. I don't care what it was - your smarts, a trade skill, or your looks - if you had something, you leaned on it hard to escape. If you didn't, then you still hustled and made the most of what you had. You could never truly escape, but the battle became between how you helped yourself versus how you helped others. And there were times when nothing you could do would make it better, so you fought hard to minimize the loss.

I get where this game is coming from.

This isn't OSR, this is a new game. The rules are elementary at their core, just a straightforward percentile system with a resistance chart, but they are surrounded by charts so deep that it is like sorting through a city landfill. And it is not an unpleasant task to sort through them, every one of them is another character creation option for truly unique individual characters.

The character creation process has a vast gulf between the most powerful and least potent characters. You may start out as a special forces combat cyborg or as a hairdresser android. You could start out as a mutant behemoth gladiator or a lowly mutant servant farmer with a passive sensory power.

The definition of who you are should not start with power; it should be your story and what you do with what you have. There is an "anti-5E" sort of design ethos at play here, where no two characters will ever start off being equally balanced and powerful. However, if you can't make the best of a strange set of skills, make lemonade out of lemons, you are not an imaginative and genuinely great role player.

That hairdresser android? Give me that character and watch me become the hairdresser of a giant Mad Max-style highway gang, and convince them that they can't indeed be awesome without 80s hairband levels of mullets, hairspray, coloring, and volumizer. I now have a whole highway gang at my disposal. If I tell them an ancient installation has a ten-year stockpile of mousse and hair gel for our greasers, you can be sure we are heading in there to grab everything we can. Who was talking about character power again?

The game is a "direct-to-video" simulation of 1980s and 90s post-apocalyptic movies, comics, graphic novels, fiction, and popular culture. The game is raw, uncut, and unhinged, so far removed from PC publishing culture that it shines as a masterpiece of gaming and a reflection of today's zeitgeist in the fight to survive another day.

No April Fools

I never participated in April Fool's Day, as society constantly lies the other 364 days of the year; why do we need a special day to do it again? I view this as an "Internet Vacation Day" since I'm cautious about the information I read online, so I take the day off from my sources and step away from it all.

Additionally, all the April Fools' stories persist for a week or more, allowing confusion and misinformation to linger online and contribute to the chaos that defines our age. The holiday used to be a fun surprise, but these days, most of what we read is carefully crafted misinformation and deliberate omissions. Just look at any Wall Street company's quarterly reports.

Gotcha stories these days don't make me laugh; I just feel that the whole day ends up being wasted time and brings more confusion. What we need is a Day of Truth. Then again, who can say what that is anymore?

The best I can do is to avoid contributing to it and refrain from consuming it.

ADAD vs. DCC

Of the two games competing for my time, Dungeon Crawl Classics and Adventures Dark and Deep are my favorites. DCC is designed in the typical 3.5E style: Give the players toys, silly powers, and lots of funny dice, and watch them cause havoc and panic while trying to avoid dying. The whole design theory of "classes give the players table toys" is embraced by this game, and this is a classic 3.5E design style.

Is DCC a serious game? It can be, but for the most part, it is embracing the mantra of old-school gaming while standing on the back of a pterodactyl while shooting a las-rifle at rampaging muck men. DCC is always supposed to be over the top on the player side, and also how deadly the dungeons are. Forget a poison needle on a treasure chest; a swarm of flesh-devouring beetles comes out of the chest; save or be left a kneeling skeleton with lockpicks still in your hands.

ADAD hits differently. I sit here in front of giant tomes of knowledge, like fate has bestowed two mighty spell books into my possession, letting them rest on the table before me, and it is up to me to unlock their secrets. Characters don't get toys; they have tools. You are judging your weight allowance. You are kitting out your equipment. You don't have a "class toy" that will kill those goblins on the road ahead; you have limited resources and the choice to wade in and fight, avoid them, or deal with them another way. Spells are to be saved as a last resort, and magic is not used flippantly.

If there is one thing about D&D 4E and 5E that ruined gaming for me, it is those "infinite use" powers and spells that trivialize magic. I imagine a "Street Fighter" character infinitely casting fireballs or Hadouken, summoning forth "fire fist magic" with no cost or care. You could use this power at a restaurant to open a ketchup bottle. Cheap and easy magic ruins the magic, the world, the characters, and the game.

I don't know what those "always on" powers are, but they ain't magic. They are VFX, CGI, fake and dumb-looking. It is "empowerment" minus the power.

Magic assumes something is mysterious, has a price to pay, and is not well-understood.

DCC gives me that with its unpredictability.

ADAD gives me that with its scarcity.

Especially if you play "the spell game" in ADAD, where spell scrolls are not free, easy to find, buyable in shops, and freely traded. A fireball scroll? Spells and that knowledge locked in them are power, and wizards will not "pass that around" freely. There are no "public universities" with "free spells" to walk in and copy into your spellbook. If you find a rare and unique spell in a dungeon, you can trade that for something you want (if you can find someone to deal with), or you can keep that spell for yourself.

Imagine a world where anyone can buy a fireball scroll. Magic is power. Power is not handed around freely. Kingdoms, wizards, magic orders, and every other group would horde scrolls and spells to control these powers for their benefit. Just like today. Power must be tightly controlled and doled out to advance the group's aims, goals, and control of the world.

Even clerics should not be given the whole spell list for which to pray. You find a temple, serve them well, and then are granted access to the fonts of knowledge on how to pray for a new power or two. In every prayer, you need to learn to receive the blessing. A temple may be small and not have higher-level powers locked away; you need to seek a larger one. You may be given quests or expected to give tithes. Clerics learn their spells, too. There are pecking orders and hierarchies of the faithful in churches. Prove your faith in your god.

The whole assumption spells are like MMO powers and given to you when your character "dings" and levels up is another stupid trope of modern gaming.

The "video-gamification" of D&D has been going on since D&D 3.5E, and it sucks. I will play video games to get that hit, not tabletop games. Putting the rules before your world is lame, and it is another power grab by game designers away from referees, placing that power in a book and set of rules instead of a story and a world a group creates together.

"But the book says I get all these powers for free!"

Beware of those games. They take power away from your characters, referee, and group. They make every character in the world the same. That is real power if my wizard is the only one in 500 miles with a fireball scroll. If every wizard gets "fireball for free," there is no power or ownership of something unique or rare. For clerics, your faith may not be large enough to have powers above level 5, so you must help establish temples, seek ancient knowledge from similar lost gods, and build your church among people of the land.

Modern games divorce your character from the setting and story of the world. You are married to the rules and the game designer's whims. They take power away from you by pretending to give it to everyone for free.

ADAD is the real thing, where part of your character's story is acquiring knowledge, wealth, and power. None of this is given to you for free. You may have a few spells or a good to-hit, but most of your decision-making is driven by the story versus what you feel you are capable of, minus any notion of turn-based abilities or encounter powers that require short rests.

My ranger has no spells, just a sword and a limited quiver of arrows.

My fighter is a high AC and has a ton of hit points.

My magic user and cleric have a few spells saved for the right moment.

My thief is skilled, and those come up when I need them.

I am not thinking of feats, subclass powers, cantrips, short rest powers, or looking through my character sheet to "find something to do" on a turn. In DCC, I am sort of doing that at a lower level, like my fighter's "mighty deeds" die, but I prefer that "mighty deeds die" to anything that 5E offers me since it is designed as a "fun old-school themed mechanic" instead of a "character sheet lock in" one. DCC is very pulp and action-oriented, which appeals to me.

With ADAD, I have very little of that "character sheet interference" in my thoughts and actions. What I do is almost entirely controlled by my character and their motivations. This is a much more serious and gritty mechanic, harkening back to the days when rules were not as important as they are today.

DCC is my 3.5E game. It is also a direct replacement for 5E.

And ADAD is my 1e game.

Cepheus Universal

The more I read Cepheus Universal, the more I like it.

It is not as generous with skills as other Cepheus games, but this fits better with the original little black book games and how those were. You don't have a hit point or stamina pool that rapidly regenerates; there are no advantage dice mechanics and no talents.

The only modern mechanic they include is an optional experience system that allows for slow progression. Still, there is a warning against letting this take over the game, and it can also be burned in-game as a heroic luck system. Everyone having +4 skills and a 12 in their key ability scores will blow out a carefully balanced 2d6 game, so I see why the warnings are there.

You can always port traits from the other Cepheus games if you like.

The entire tone of the CU game is hard science fiction, cyberpunk, military, survival, and inspiration from movies and fiction. This is not "generic Traveller-like" gaming that seeks to reproduce a generic Imperium-like game; this is a game that wants to emulate any story in any science-fiction genre. There are detailed survival rules and support for lower-technology levels, such as fantasy or Age of Sail. We also have good rules for post-apocalyptic settings, hacking, clones, genetic modifications, cyborgs, robots, AI, and even time travel.

If your game goes into "hardcore planetary survival," and characters are making bows to replace their drained laser pistols, the game goes there.

If your game is Cyberpunk meets Traveller, with a layer of Blade Runner replicants thrown in, the game goes there.

It will go there if your game is TL16 "Federation Space Navy" with ship transporters, ship officers, and multi-setting phase pistols.

The game goes there if your game is "Galactic rebels and space knights with TL14 force swords" versus an evil empire.

If you want "space truckers or marines versus evil space bugs," the game goes there.

If you want "space armies with machine guns versus hordes of hive-mind bug monsters," the game goes there.

Do you want classic serials like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon? Do you like 1960s trippy, humorous, avant-garde science fiction? Woody Allen, Spaceballs, or Barbarella? The game goes there; turn on heroic mode and let yourself laugh.

A "Massive Effect" style of space troubleshooter and authorized space marshal game? It works.

CU also has mechs and vehicle combat, which is another genre covered.

A "Galaxy Guardians" style of renegade space heroes game who fight mighty space overlords? It works; just add licensed music that hits those nostalgia notes and turn on heroic mode.

Want "Lost Land of Pre-Historia" or "Dinosaur Park? Pick up a copy of Westlands (or Sword of Cepheus) and use the dinosaurs in those games. Anytime you mix technology and fantasy elements in a game, Cepheus will handle this far better than a d20 game.

Do you want "cyborg cops" versus criminals? The genres this game emulates go on and on.

The game even has "heroic play mode" rules, where NPCs are rarely hit, most enemies are one-hit mooks, player characters have a "luck pool" that absorbs damage, and players have a pool of destiny dice to add to failed rolls. Instead of writing the base rules as a "gimme 5E" game design of high player power, the game keeps the default realistic level of play and offers heroic play as a toggle. It has an Alien level of realism by default, but you can turn on that pulp "Star Wars" style of play with a toggle.

Again, the systems in this game are well thought out and designed.

The rules seem tested and battle-hardened. Compared to the ship combat examples in Cepheus Deluxe EE, this game requires far fewer dice rolls (not one per weapon mount per turn, which can get super annoying), and a layer of abstraction has been added to this system, which makes it feel better put together. Capital ships have a layer of abstraction added to them but can still interact with "adventure class ships," which also feels right.

The game also keeps the "hull size to drive" ratio concept of the original Traveller, where the smaller ships are limited in how fast they can accelerate and how long they can jump. You aren't going to do "far reaches" exploration missions in a battleship. Jump-6 stops at 1,200 tons, and jump-5 stops at 1,800 tons. Jump-4 is a maximum of 3,000 tons, while jump-2 is all a 5,000-ton ship can manage. You can limit capital ships to jump-2 as well if you would like.

The colossal problem the original High Guard book for Traveller had was opening up 6G acceleration and jump-6 to battleships. It broke the original game, and we played it before it came out, and it was a different world. There was a size limit on ships, and the big ships could not go that fast or far. You would not see a massive ship in a system 4 parsecs away from anything because it could never have the jump range to get there. No " battleships are sitting in the middle of nowhere" unless something in the system built it and stayed only in the system. Smaller ships could always outrun the larger ones, given that you mounted enough maneuver drives on them.

Also, with hyperdrives, jump-6 will eat up 60% of your tonnage as fuel for one jump. You can jump that far, but will you really need to? Trade-offs must be made.

Smaller ships going faster and farther is a "pro-player" design choice. Smaller starships and crews will do the critical things. Owning a small, capable, fast ship and having a skilled crew will get you more jobs than you can handle, whatever you do.

No game has done this much science fiction since the original Space Opera game, and Cepheus Universal does it better. There is one set of rules that covers everything, and you can mix and put all your science fiction in a blender if you like and play that. Mix "Trek and Wars" and play it out. Science fiction is supposed to be fun. Or serious. Or whatever you want it to be.

Cepheus Universal is this generation's Space Opera.

Also, how many 5E Kickstarter projects will I need to pay for to get games that cover all this? The worst part about the 5E market is the grift, book after book, to get the game to cover everything you want. Many games copy an inspiration closely; that is all you can do with it. Or they leave out key details, like the economics of space travel, trade, starship costs, or even star travel. Can we make money running cargo? The game doesn't know, and it implies neither should you. It is the sign of an idea they never thought about or purposefully left out of the game and never told buyers about it. Some games have ship combat with a few sample ships but leave out ship design. In other games, you can tell they never tested sections of the rules, and they just "wrote it and shipped it."

This is not the case in most of the Cepheus games. CU goes the extra mile to ensure that it tests and delivers significant systems before they are included in the book.

Why not use GURPS?

The ship combat and design here are better, faster, and more manageable. It is all abstracted to a level where the action can be handled quickly and stays in the story. Cepheus Universal quickly handles it in a rules-light format, using 2d6 for everything. The characters are better in GURPS, but how well the system runs and handles a wide variety of science fiction subjects, technology, and topics quickly and with a degree of detail and certainty will be by Cepheus Universal.

CU is far easier for ship, vehicle, and mech design than GURPS.

Why not use Cepheus Deluxe EE? In all honesty, you can. You can port in the trait and experience systems. Use the tables. It all works together. CU is twice the size, with more subjects and topics covered. CU has many fixes and improvements. The CD game is faster, looser, and has a more modern set of rules - that may appeal to some, especially coming from 5E.

The CD game has some nice rules and sections for speculative cargo and passengers, so the tables from one game can help the other. In CU, they aggregate this into one value per ton and roll to keep cargo hauling simple (and free from exploiting the system). Either game you choose is good; my preferences naturally go towards a game that can simulate more.

CU goes back to the basics in some ways, especially with characters. Less complicated characters are a good thing. Where they keep characters simple, they deliver genre support and a width of science fiction content that makes my head spin.

This is a fantastic game, easily S-Tier, and it can be easily overlooked unless you read it and carefully consider what it offers.

Off the Shelf: Cepheus Deluxe & Universal

Cepheus Universal (CU) is the better seller, but nothing beats my B&W hardcover of Cepheus Deluxe Expanded Edition (CD). Both are essentially the same game, with CU being the "more stuff" version, but CD perfectly balances what the game offers and what I am looking for.

The art is not the best, and the color books are harsh on the eyes. I do not like this trend of color books on poor-quality paper at DriveThruRPG, and my full-color CD EE book has sort of "dried up," and the pages feel like crinkly cardboard. This is likely too much ink on the page and how it dries after a few years. I live in a dry climate, too.

There is an option for a B&W hardcover for Cepheus Deluxe; go for that. My B&W copy has lasted well, is easy on the eyes, and the pages are as good as new. Still, I would like a classy B&W book version without the silly striped borders and with cleaned-up art and presentation. If it looks like OG Traveller, you have my eyes.

B&W is great for OSR games; it is cheaper, looks classy, and lasts longer than the color printings on the paper DTRPG prints. CU only has color with no B&W option (Lulu.com), but the paper quality is better.

So why pull this one from storage and give it another look?

CD is the best sandbox sci-fi game I have. The only other game that comes close is Stars Without Number, better for generating factions and planetary points of interest. Still, the CD game has campaign support for cargo, random tables of spacer-related activities, sample ships, and generic science fiction campaign support in the classic 2d6 style. I would still use SWN as a resource but CD as the engine.

The CD game also has a character and ship sheet on Roll20, which fits my "going digital" strategy nicely. Ever since I went fully digital, I have had no need for large tables with maps, and I play my games more with my virtual games tucked away and always ready for me to resume.

I know, "going digital" sounds like the antithesis of classic gaming. Using a VTT for solo play sounds like a surrender. It is not. For me, it is a space, cleanliness, and organizational issue. With limited space, I only want my shelves to hold the best games I will ever play. I don't wish to have maps, figures, pawns, or other figures collecting dust.

The book's digital character sheet, VTT support on Roll20, and extensive campaign support are some of the best "game loops" in science fiction gaming, especially for solo play.

Why not Traveller? There are two reasons. The Traveller game has gotten too big, and I don't want the Imperium setting. I like generic sci-fi, and with Traveller, I am removing more Imperium than adding my stuff. The Traveller universe is still a top-tier setting, but it is not the right fit for the game I am working on. It is a great game with a vast library; I am just not inspired to run it all.

Other games, like HARP SF, don't fill the need. They are character and combat games, but they don't give me the "other cool stuff to do" that CD provides. Even Stars Without Number gives me more and retains B/X compatibility, too, so I can reskin monsters. I like HARP SF, but this game does not fit my ideas for my next game.

Lots of science fiction games drop the ball at starship design and combat. Cepheus Deluxe (and Traveller) does not and excels in both areas. Stars Without Number also does a good job.

Cepheus Universal is a great alternative or companion book. Regarding character development and skills, it is more like OG's "little black books," whereas Cepheus Deluxe is a bit more generous (on skills and advancement) and has a talent system.

The CD system is more of a pick-up-and-play science fiction game, with a few modern twists, like advantages and disadvantages on rolls (3d6, use two highest or lowest). The CD system also uses a "hit point" system with stamina (damaged first, heals fully in 10 minutes) and lifeblood (damaged after stamina is depleted, heals slowly). If total damage is less than half lifeblood, that will heal with a day's rest. The CD system is very "5E" with its damage and recovery rules but has realism applied to severe wounds.

The CD system is more of a "lightweight, generic, 2d6 sci-fi game" with more generous character systems. The ship's maximum size is 10,000 tons, so the scope is smaller.

CU is more hardcore; characters rarely change, and it is more of a hard science fiction game. The wounding rules are more like your typical 2D6 science fiction OG game, with the depletion of END first, followed by STR or DEX. Healing is still on the generous side for gameplay purposes but still has a layer of realism where it takes more time to heal. CU has way more gear and equipment, and the book is 456 pages (compared to CD EE at 219 pages).

CU also has a cyberpunk feel and supports abstracted adventure and capital ships. This means it could be used to play a Star Wars or Star Trek-type game without too much trouble, so its scope is more extensive. The ship combat system is easier in CU than in CE, with far fewer rolls and attacks grouped and rolled for as one. In CE, every weapon is rolled for every turn, and comparing the starship combat examples is eye-opening.

CD EE is a worthy, lighter-fare modern science fiction game.

CU is the hard-science, more complete, science fiction "space opera" game.

The Rich Have Taken Over D&D

I see a lot of this new-style D&D art, you know, the modern-looking, overly flamboyant, cosplay-style costumes that are so prevalent in fantasy art these days. It is as if the chainmail bikini has evolved into the flashy, stylistic armor styles inspired by anime, where a shoulder pad is more prominent than half of the character's torso, and only one is worn. Additionally, numerous flashy pirate and Victorian styles are incorporated, enough to make Steampunk cosplayers cringe.

None of it is armor. It is all faux-dungeon fashion.

And I remember the old D&D.

It was a suit of realistic chainmail, or a thief in a rugged leather vest. Ordinary plate armor. Gritty and rugged individuals who likely did not have a choice, or poverty was so endemic that crawling in a 700-year-old hole in the ground looking for coins was the best way to cheat a feudal system where you were likely dead by your late 30s. This was the only way to get ahead without being forced to drag a hoe through a field for potatoes and crop yields that barely reached sustenance level.

Back in the day, D&D was a blue-collar experience.

The art was very 'common person' and elevated the ordinary into the realms of the fantastical.

Everyone looked like they didn't want to be there, and no one had armor tailors.

These days, D&D, dungeon-ing, and adventuring feel like a hobby of the idle rich. Everyone in modern art appears to be happy, well-dressed, stylish, and good-looking. I feel a nausea coming on when I watch a reality TV show featuring a crowd of 'perfect people' selected for their stylistic traits and good looks. Living mannequins.

Everyone starts as a fantastic, stylized, powerful hero with a perfectly tailored set of armor that has a unique style (likely copied from anime, but as stale as three-day-old sushi), and they look... rich.

Everyone in the new games looks rich, fat, happy, well-fed, beautiful, handsome, overly made up, and like hand-picked contestants from a reality show. They all have perfect, brightly dyed, modern hairstyles, as if they had just visited the salon before embarking on a "little jaunt" to the Tomb of Horrors to test their magic and combat skills.

They all appear to be fake social media influencers putting on an act.

Death isn't even a fear for them.

These people are nothing like me, nor do I have anything in common with them. The art feels like an "in crowd" of lifestyle influencers who don't want rabble to be a part of their exclusive club. This attitude seeps into groups and live streamers, the "better than you" culture that tells others, "unless you are good-looking and popular, the game isn't for you."

I recall the days when playing D&D automatically assumed you were considered unattractive and unpopular. We were the nerds who played out of our notebooks in school, and the rulebooks were three-hole punched so we could hide them in our Trapper Keepers. Teachers would take the books from you.

D&D, back in my school days, was a subversive revolution. We played in secret, out of sight of the teachers, and a few kids had to hide the fact that they played from their religious parents. Some kids used the numbered counters in a cup because special dice would be a dead giveaway, or teachers would think they were gambling. Real sets of dice were kept hidden, and two of the six-sided dice were always pulled out of the Monopoly game.

These days?

D&D has been taken over by the wannabe influencers and those who pretend to be rich to gain followers. Even their characters reflect this attitude. It would not surprise me if they had livestreaming rules in the new games, allowing followers to watch along as they embark on their incredible adventures.

Oh, wait, we have a game that does that. This is a good game because it acknowledges the stupidity and embraces the concept. It is a parody of what D&D and modern fantasy gaming have become.

Celebrity livestreaming.

For a lifestyle brand.

Fantasy That Doesn't Know What It Is

The argument that most any version of D&D "doesn't know what it is" is valid, and this has been true since the first edition. We have always felt AD&D was a mash-up of a few different fantasy genres, Tolkien and many Appendix N others, and the game "was its own genre."

Every version of AD&D and D&D was like this, and the "what it was" permanently changed at the company's whim. The first edition is the game's purest form, incorporating wargaming and Appendix N. The second was a role-playing game based on the NYT Bestseller novels. The third was "Magic: The Gathering D&D." The fourth was World of Warcraft, the tabletop game. The fifth Edition was the "we're sorry" edition, which went back to basics but made the game into a rules-focused superhero ARPG. Clones of D&D were one step removed. They still didn't know what genre they belonged to, except for "Not from Wizards."

In a sense, the game is "what you make of it."

It isn't anything, really, like a box of action figures and toy vehicles isn't anything.

Some games offer a generic framework for various worlds. Other games offer a generic version of a specific world. GURPS is the former, and D&D is the latter.

The first edition is the pinnacle of the genre, untainted by corporate influences, and the best "generic fantasy" game, blending various forms of fiction to create its own unique world. You can't say this game, or any future derivatives, has a genre except "generic fantasy."

We were aware of this as early as the 1970s.

I also hear the criticisms of Shadowdark. It is still one of my S-tier games, offering the best implementation of 5E, but it is often described as "generic dark fantasy" due to its fantasy genre. However, even within the "D&D"-style generic fantasy genre, it is deadlier and features a theme of evil, evoking a sense of magical darkness akin to a horror movie. Is it any particular genre? This still falls within the "generic fantasy" genre, combined with "evil darkness," which is acceptable.

The game is establishing its own unique setting, which is helping to solidify its legacy as "something else" and making it more than just a generic fantasy ruleset. I hope the new setting guide gives this game a "what" and "where" that many crave. December and the Western Reaches book delivery is a long time off, but I look forward to that Christmas present and this game getting its own identity.

Many get jealous of it, but it is false; they didn't think of making this game first. Technically, the 5B game was one of the first, and there have been rules-light 5E implementations at every gaming convention since 5E was made. However, the audience for Shadowdark doesn't come from the OSR; it comes from the 95% of the market that plays 5E, which is why the game is so huge.

Shadowdark is an OSR gateway game. It is also a direct replacement for D&D for many, which is good. Overall, rules-light 5E benefits the hobby and the OSR.

But no D&D game will ever do a specific version of fantasy well. It will always be a staple of the D&D genre. If I want a fantasy game based on a book or specific setting, I will grab my copy of Basic Roleplaying or GURPS and start designing a real game from scratch. You can't do particular fantasy with D&D anyway, since the game's "books full of stuff" tend to intrude on the conversation, and you will have mages in Game of Thrones casting "Tenser's Floating Disk" and "Magic Missile." Beholders will be floating around. As cool as it sounds, it will ultimately prove to be unimpressive.

D&D makes every genre its own, and generic fantasy is no exception.

It is like saying that Marvel movies are in the MCU genre but aren't superhero movies. Anything in the MCU genre is part of the MCU, not any other superhero genre.

D&D brings its standard set of "fantasy assumptions and the kitchen sink" to the table, and it takes over your genre. Sure, you can ask "what is the genre" all day, but the only answer you will get is "kitchen sink fantasy."

I love kitchen-sink fantasy as a genre, but I am always wary of it because it takes over your game, shoves your ideas out the window for the sake of the kitchen sink, and brings everything else in through the door.

However, if you attempt to categorize generic fantasy games into a single genre, you will be chasing your tail in circles forever. They aren't any genre but themselves.

Rolemaster FRP

The Rolemaster FRP books have always been the nicest in the series, and this game edition is the most complex. That said, this version of the game feels the best supported, the art is fantastic, the books are laid out very professionally, and the library is the largest and most complete of any of the versions.

When I had trouble understanding a concept in Rolemaster Classic, I came here and understood it better. These books feel the easiest to learn from and read, except the Arms Law book, which was fixed in the 2003 version (above), which reprinted and streamlined the tables in an easier-to-read format.

The argument is that if you are going Rolemaster, go for the best edition. I grew up with the 1990s version, which was my first introduction to the system. Many still prefer the Classic (2nd Edition), and you can get those books as softcover print-on-demand books.

The new books are excellent and filled with bug fixes and optimizations, and this version is well-supported on VTTs. However, the library is currently incomplete. I support them and keep up with the PDFs and hardcovers, but my heart is in the 1990s with the system I first knew as Rolemaster. The company supports both systems, but Unified is the path forward for the future game. At this point, it is a matter of preference and personal comfort.

Unified is also the more straightforward game, better laid out, streamlined, and organized. The art is okay, and the collection of races is strange. 90% of people will define their own custom races and worlds, so the ones they give are good examples, but most will just DIY their own race choices.

Unified is also well-play tested, with many edge-case rules thrown out. The system felt like it had been redesigned to incorporate the best of the Classic and Standard systems, with bloat and endless details cut out of the game for the best parts.

I wish the RM FRP had PoD hardcovers. The RM RFP Creatures & Monsters is the game's current "best monster book." I hope they release the two planned monster book volumes this year. I need my monster books!

HARP is also a strong game. Sometimes, I read through Rolemaster, and I give up and go right back to HARP. Even the new edition of Rolemaster has its strangely written parts and outright contradictions in the text that throw up a stop sign in the middle of an expressway, and I am left scratching my head and wishing it was all a little easier to play. HARP is that game, and it can have the same (or better) crit charts in one of the expansion books.

Parts of Rolemaster United are still horribly overwritten and obtuse. In many cases, they lack clarity in the summary and examples that clarify what is going on. The game was written by people who understand it, and just breaking into it means understanding not only what is going on now but also how it used to be done in past versions.

An example on page 32 of the new Spell Law is where two identical level 30 magicians get a new level 23 fire spell on the Fire Law spell list. When they each have an existing level 23 fire spell and are "doubling up" on spells at that level, one pays 1 DP and the other 2 DP. It isn't explained why one pays 2 DP versus 1, and the example explains what developing the 31st and 32nd ranks of Fire law would cost, which has nothing to do with what is presented in the example.

The red books RMSS/FRP simplified how many spells you learned per level, removed the "spell gain roll" mechanic of classic, and made "knowing spells at a purchased level" automatic. Universal goes back to the earlier mechanic, but only for "extra spells doubled up at a level," which is confusing since this seems to be for "player developed" spells only, and the spell lists don't double up on spells at a level.

So, we get a broken example that covers an edge case. It seems a lot more critical than it is and confuses the entire mechanic of answering the question, "How many DP does it cost to learn spells at a given level of a skill?"

The answer is zero, "The first spell on the level is free if the level is already paid for."

To be fair, United aligns with RMSS/FRP and makes sense. However, the research rules in United confuse things, especially since they are only for player-developed spells.

The game is transitory, and they needed to release the core books and books "usable with other systems" first, such as the Treasure book. We still use the older monster book. The new game is worth checking out and supporting. I have a soft spot for the red-book classics, but the future looks bright for this game, and I hope more people rediscover a true classic.