How Much Game Do You Need?

Recently, I had to flee my home and stay in a hotel for a few days after a minor disaster. So, I had to take a game on the road. I grabbed the first game I could see, one sitting on a shelf the contractors threw there when they had to move my hall shelves. This one was completely a random "grab it off the shelf" moment, since everything was all over the place, and I needed to head out fast.

That game was Sword of Cepheus, Second Edition. This fits in my iPad Mini travel bag. I grabbed a handful of d6 dice and was all set and good to go. This was a whim, and in part, the workers in the house made it for me. They left it face-up, alone, on a shelf shoved in my bedroom; they had to move there to get it out of the way.

So, it is fate that decided this for me, just like the roll of a die. I accepted the result and grabbed the book. This was my choice, one of possibly many, but in a way, the book called to me and said, "Grab the sword and accept the quest which first presents itself."

Whoever put that book there for me made a karmic choice for my future, and since it sounded fun, I went with it. Life is about adventure, and there are moments when you do not understand why something happens or how it happened, but you go with it, take that path, and see where it leads.

My small tote bag doesn't even fit an average 10-inch tablet; it is made for smaller devices and holds a digest-sized book (like Shadowdark) nicely. I could have grabbed Shadowdark, but I like the d6 games better for travel, since who wants to carry around a ton of special dice? Six-siders work; they are easy to replace at any supermarket or pharmacy, and they are the universal die.

As I was sitting in the hotel, the thought occurred to me, if my house burned down and I lost all my games, would I be happy with just this? And then I knew, I would. If I lost it all, this game would be good enough for me, and that is a freedom I never knew I could come to terms with. A liberation from the massive libraries and shelves full of books this hobby foists upon you, constantly screaming, "more is more!" and "you need hundreds of pounds of books to enjoy a game!"

It is all lies.

It is all consumerist garbage.

And it is all designed to part you from as much money as these exploitative gaming companies can manage. In a way, your average pen-and-paper roleplaying game company is no different than a mobile game company, though the model is designed to be a little slower and a lot heavier. If they are selling you a library, they are selling you a lie.

These small, indie, community-focused games? They are closer to the true spirit of the hobby: throw-a-book-in-a-bag games that offer the same "depth" and "expressive options" as a game a hundred times its size and weight. Traveller has sort of lost its way with that massive, three-shelf library, and the digest-sized Cepheus games remain closer to that spirit of freedom and portability.

Why do I need to tie my life down with thousands of pounds of books? I am just burying my decades of roleplaying under a mountain of paper and lies. Giant gaming libraries are the dirt we throw on the coffin of our hobby, and they do nothing for me other than to appease some "collector's bug" I have inside my brain.

Collecting is not playing.

Owning more is not enjoying more; it is often the inverse.

Owning more means being more unhappy and playing less.

If I were to add one more game to this, it would likely be the OGL-free FTL Nomad for science fiction (and anything modern) gaming. I would need a slightly larger bag for this, but it would fit into my mobile life much better. I could do fantasy gaming with FTL Nomad, but SoC2 has so many wonderful tables and a Conan-like feel that I cannot pass it up.

FTL Nomad covers the rest, and while it doesn't do the 2d6 attributes, if I ever wanted a more traditional 2d6 science fiction game, Cepehus Light (my Car Wars RPG) fits in the bag, too, and is digest-sized. FTL Nomad does more genres and has a nice collection of thin expansion books, so I am getting far more with less.

I have a slightly deeper tote on order, with a 5" depth rather than my current bag's 2.5". While I like the slim bag, I will try the deeper one to see if it is a bit more comfortable for gaming on the go, plus my little notebooks, pencils, erasers, dice, and other gaming bits and bobs. The idea of finally freeing myself from a few thousand pounds of worthless gaming fat and overload is extremely appealing to me.

A few dice that give me a touch of randomness, but not so much that I am deciding which die to use. The polyhedral dice are distractions, and very few of them are statistically different enough to matter. The only difference between a d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12 is a one-point average shift between each die, and nothing a one-point modifier could simulate. Maximums and minimums are nothing compared to the average result you expect over a thousand rolls.

I don't need the polyhedral dice, nor the games that use them.

This is an extra requirement, and another chain tying me to an already worthless and bloated library.

There is a certain magic to carrying every world, game, and universe in a small bag and taking it wherever you go. I have the freedom to point to a destination, attraction, or event and say, "Let's go," and take it all with me. Every world, character, campaign, and idea is in a tiny bag that I can toss over my shoulder and travel with.

All I need are a few six-sided dice.

And my imagination.

And I am finally free of a pile of paper that only serves as a weight to bury my dreams and experiences under. Digital is not the answer. PDFs are not the future.

A simple book that works without an Internet connection or electricity.

The basic die that I can find anywhere.

And freedom.

Cepheus Engine SF-RPG

There are plenty of Cepheus games out there, including one I discounted as an earlier version of the game, a flawed market leader, and a new standard in generic sci-fi gaming.

Get the black-and-white version of Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition (CDEE) since the color version is a massive misstep. The borders are distracting and garish, and even the B&W version suffers from being overly large and wasting space. Also, the deck plans in the back of the book are nice, but far too small to use.

I would love to see a version of this game with less flash, a clean B&W layout, and better presentation.

The previous version, Cepheus Deluxe (CD), is also a good choice. It does not have the layout issues of the newest book, though it lacks some of the newer improvements. I still like the Stellagama Publishing versions of this game since they focus on providing a solid, generic Traveller-like experience. The art and layout are not the best, but the game delivers on the concept.

There is another version of this book based on the SRD, so this previous version is not really needed unless you really like this edition. I like it, so I keep it on my shelves.

Cepheus Universal (CU) is better presented and laid out, and makes several good system improvements. CU is the game's more "generic sci-fi" version and is less Traveller-esque overall. Even though CU is the better-put-together game, CD and CDEE do better with the generic Traveller subsector sandbox experience. I like CU because it can simulate any sci-fi setting easily and out of the book with very little work.

This is my current favorite generic sci-fi game outside of Stars Without Number.

Another option is the Cepheus Engine SF-RPG (CE SF-RPG), a no-art version of the game from Moon Toad Publishing. This is a surprisingly solid, no-frills, SRD-based, constantly updated version of the original core rules. They have vehicle and spacecraft design add-on books. This is an excellent choice as a bare-bones printed version of the SRD, and the newest file is reportedly updated with links. If you find CDEE or CD hurt your eyes, and the CU game isn't Traveller enough for you, the CE SF-RPG gives you the rules with no fluff.

The SRD-based game does not have an XP system, so you can leave it as-is or hack in one like we did. Ours was a simple 1-3 XP per successful encounter, 10 XP for a level zero skill, 10 XP times the desired level for raising skills or ability scores. You can also track XP per skill and ability, and spread rewards only to the skills and abilities used during that session. Modify the reward rate as desired.

I still like this game. Limiting ships to 5,000 tons in the base game and creating a universe of smaller vessels creates a fun "small ship" universe where space battleships don't determine who controls the universe. Adventure ships still matter, and navies will comprise battlegroups of smaller-sized ships that characters can reasonably fight and flee from. Limit task-group size to 6-9 starships with various roles, and you will have a space navy game that still works on character ship levels.

Also, since you don't have large ships in a base-book game, one planet can't easily invade another with massive troop ships. War will be between smaller battle fleets, and supporting like-minded factions on a world with off-world weapons and monetary support is a better way to "invade" a world, and dramatically increases the faction and political wrangling that characters and factions must do to win a war of population and resources. Star Wars has gotten too "instant teleportation" and "massive fleet and troop battles" that individual characters don't matter anymore. As a result, massive-scale IP is less heroic and fun to play.

The Spacecraft Design Guide adds capital ships larger than 5,000 tons, if you want them in your game. They are kept as an option, which is how it should be. Even with capital ships, if you limit those, they won't affect planetary invasions as much as they do in other games.

I am less and less interested in art in role-playing games these days. It is either AI slop, AI-assisted slop, purple-haired happy tree friends garbage, groan-inducing message art, or poor-quality filler. The times we get great art, it is done by one artist. Having seen all the terrible art in RPGs these days, I do not mind a book with no art at all. If I want something, I will make my own AI-generated slop, show it to players, and pray they don't laugh. Or I will return to drawing and do it myself, since even a crappy game master sketch has more heart than a soulless rip-off AI-art machine.

All of them are excellent choices, with a few being better for some things than the others.

Cepheus Engine vs. Traveller

Okay, yes, Traveller is expensive. The books are very high-quality, color, excellent paper, and hardbacks. You will pay for that these days, and it is costly. But the universe is impressive and in the top ten of science fiction, even when you include movies and films.

Yes, the Traveller Universe is just as old as Star Wars and, in many cases, more compelling.

I read that Marc Miller, creator of Traveller, recently sold the rights to Mongoose to keep his legacy alive. Marc also had nice words for the Cepheus Engine side of the 2d6-i-verse, and having an open, community-supported implementation is critical for the legacy to survive. Mongoose is working on extending an open license to Cepheus publishers, and there was work on this and updates this year.

It takes a while since this has to go back and forth between publishers, legal, and owners and get community feedback. A license nobody will use wastes time, so I applaud all sides trying to get this right. Nobody wants another OGL.

https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/traveller-open-content-new-programme-on-the-way.123770/page-5

This is an excellent step in supporting and continuing the legacy and ensuring "everyone can play." The Traveller, part of the legacy, belongs to a good steward in Mongoose, and the 2d6 system belongs to the world. This is important since a lot of creative development and R&D is happening in the community games, which benefits us all.

Also, the Cepheus games are often printed at a lower cost than the Traveller game, being in print-on-demand. This makes them more fun! I love both Hostile and Cepheus Engine games, and there are a bunch of exciting mods and developments in these systems that make them more suited for generic sci-fi or modding to play in universes like Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect, or Star Wars, which Cepheus handles easily. It is nice to have a game with no Imperium or backstory and no iconic ship designs so players can morph the system into any universe they can imagine.

The CD game has a "traits" system (like talents) that enhance character customization. This game also expands psi-powers to be on parity with 2022 Traveller.

And, no, "officially licensed games" do not do a better job of playing Star Wars or Star Trek. I can't tell you how many of these I have before the license runs out and the game is forced to switch publishers and systems repeatedly. Also, some games move to a second edition far too quickly.

Also, if you know where to look, you can get "Trek" and "Wars"-like experiences inside Traveller, and at times, they are even better. There are modules and sourcebooks for naval and mercenary campaigns. You can get cruiser deck plans for giant ships and run a "Trek-like" exploration campaign, with complete rules for simulating the ship's crew, encounters, missions, and full support for an entire game. While the licensed Star Trek game does this, very few Star Wars games do this, and the level of support is never as good.

You would be hard-pressed to find mercenary games in an officially licensed Star Trek game, and while it is possible in Star Wars, the support is feeble. Traveller has a boxed set and adventures for these types of games. Exploration? Strong in Trek, non-existent in Wars. In Traveller, you generate systems and make star maps; the game has done this since day one. Space piracy? Non-existent in Trek, weak in Wars. Traveller has a boxed-set slipcase deluxe adventure regarded as one of the best space pirate campaigns ever.

If you can get over not playing in "officially licensed IP," the universe is yours. Traveller has become the "D&D of sci-fi," absorbing all the best concepts and campaign types of every sci-fi universe and making a universe that does it all.

The only weak area of Traveller is the "star knights"-style campaign, which has "force-like" power. The first edition of Mongoose Traveller has a psionics book, and one is needed for the Second Edition. Part of me feels a mythic "Star Knight" faction would fit well in Traveller, who go around, protect psionic adepts, and prevent exploitation and brutalization of psi-sensitive peoples.

This would be a "better Jedi than the Jedi" and give them an "X-Men" style cause to travel the universe for (which the Jedi do not have). This faction could be supported privately by wealthy psi-supportive people and work behind the scenes. If you look at what the Jedi in Star Wars has become, it has fallen far from the ideal.

For me, an X-Men-style campaign of Star Knights protecting psi-sensitive people would be far more compelling and exciting than the muddled mess of the Jedi, which has turned into a strange mish-mash of an intelligence agency, political faction, self-important trainers of Jedi (who have no real reason to be doing anything other than 'they just are'), planetary explorers (?), and Coruscant police force.

You could also have an evil faction led by a megalomaniac "Magento" figure who preaches psi-supremacy over ordinary people, with its own "Dark Knights" who hunt and corrupt psi-sensitives for its side. This would fit well in Traveller, and you could ignore it if this isn't your thing - which, to be honest, applies to Mercs and Naval campaigns, too.

Cepheus Universal has the "force sword" if you want it, and you can rule this weapon as a legacy of ancient psi-knights from long ago. It isn't "on-sale" at weapon shops or mass-produced anywhere. CU is another excellent adaptation of 2d6 sci-fi gaming, with gritty art and more gear.

Cepheus is a lower-cost and community-supported version of the game. You can find fantasy gaming and many other genres in the open system, which expands the appeal of the 2d6 system. And lower cost means just as much fun! Traveller and the official books are more suited to support the Imperium setting, and a lot of work is done for you - which is why you pay for the full-color books and all the information you don't have to come up with.

Traveller, along with the great work in the Cepheus area, is quickly becoming the "D&D of space" and absorbing all the best ideas in sci-fi gaming.

Classic Car Wars: Cepheus Atom & Other Games

Suppose you are doing a Car Wars campaign with the Cepheus Light set of rules. Another great book to accompany your game is the excellent post-apocalyptic Cepheus Atom rule book, a rules-light version of a science-fantasy Gamma World or Mutant Crawl Classics setting.

Suppose your game leans heavily into post-apocalyptic themes, such as scavenging wastelands, survival, and barter with groups of survivors. In that case, this is a perfect digest-sized book to add to your library. This game also has Gamma World-style mutations, mutant monsters, and exposure to mutation-causing contaminants.

Our game was a mix of magic, superheroes, war themes, sci-fi, and gonzo post-apocalyptic maniac insanity. Different areas of the world were almost like classic post-ruin theme parks; some were super science, some were superheroes, some were like Mad Max, others Gamma World, some Death Race, primitive areas, some like Rambo vs. the Soviets, and some mutated animals. Our game was this wonderful mix of crazy but loosely related 1980s after-the-bomb-style insanity and action-movie tropes.

In our world, Detroit, Fort Wayne, and Toledo were the triangle of destroyed, barbaric, mutant-filled mayhem that was impossible for everyone to traverse, and they just did their own thing. Grand Rapids and Toronto, along with most of Michigan, were also in this destroyed, ruin-filled, toxic blast zone area of savage mutants and ruined cities.

The more Car Was area was Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. Along with Midvale because we loved that place. Between Midvale and Pittsburgh are oil wells; if I start this game again, those will be a major focus.

The "Car Wars" part of the world was just a few areas left with roads and civilization. There were also destroyed parts, uncivilized areas, mutants-and-mayhem, Mad Max, and 1950s sci-fi enclaves worldwide. There were Land of the Lost-style areas with barbarians and dinosaurs, much like the Savage Land-style superhero theme comics, and there is also another excellent game in the 2d6 sphere called Barbaric 2E.

If areas of the world were sufficiently barbaric and isolated, they may have degenerated into violent tribes. This is more like a "Thundarr the Barbarian" feeling and has a magic power source. Parts of the world can be different, and the people there accept that and see their way of life as the proper reality. If there is a savage area of Michigan where people ride dinosaurs, that is how it is. One of the problems with the OG Car Wars was assuming "everything will be like normal America," which was a significant theme problem with the AADA Road Atlases.

In our world, there were areas where everything was turned on its head, and it wasn't this modernist, 20th-century American throwback. Like the new Planet of the Apes movies, there were parts of the world that were not the same, nor would they ever be.

Also worthy of mention (but not digest-sized) is the entire Sword of Cepheus game, or as a more traditional fantasy game based on the 2d6 system, the Westlands game.

Westlands is highly underrated. I would not use this as a Car Wars resource but more as a parallel fantasy reality to Car Wars. Where Sword of Cepheus is more dark magic and talismans, Westlands is more traditional fantasy. Westlands is an awesome 2d6 fantasy game, complete and more like a full OSR implementation.

Cepheus Deluxe deserves mention as another game to pull from, especially talents. Where Barbaric 2E and Sword of Cepheus are digest-sized games, the others are full-size books and do not have that "small book" feeling I want for Car Wars. If it is a digest-sized game, it is in my Car Wars world. Big-book games are their own worlds.

This also includes the 1950s-based Solar Sagas game for retro-1950s style space adventures, based on the sci-fi digest game Quantum Starfarer. This makes my high-tech enclaves (like NASA, non-oil Houston, Vandenburg, and a few other isolated space enclave futurist cities) a more Fallout-style pre-ruin enclave that shuns the regular Car Wars world and explores near space to try to leave Earth's madness behind. These places existed in our world, and they were highly isolated since they focused on off-Earth activities and did not share much with anyone.

Car Wars was the glue that loosely held the world together. Savage fantasy mutant areas existed in the wilds, and superheroes lived in fortress cities. Oh, and there is also a 2d6 Cepheus digest game for that, and out superheroes were often accused of ignoring the outside world (which they did). Fallout-style enclaves were more interested in living their own way and leaving the planet. it all worked together wonderfully as a gonzo post-apoc game with Mad Max cars, mutants, sci-fi, and superheroes. The evil Soviets kept trying to destroy the world like classic Cold War enemies. The world was factionalized, and people believed in their way of life.

This wasn't the AADA Road Atlas world at all. It was closer to the Umerican setting in a wasteland future with strongly themed factions with their own outlooks, lands, goals, beliefs, and even technologies. Parts of the world were mutant strongholds, while others had savage magic. Parts were isolationist retro-future enclaves, while others seemed like superhero comics. The glue holding our setting together wasn't DCC; it was Car Wars and a 2d6 Traveller-like role-playing game.

There are many fun 2d6 games out there, and they are just as good as many d20 games. They mesh well with both Car Wars and Battletech, and they are a unique alternate reality in the gaming sphere worth checking out.

Cepheus Light: Classic Car Wars

This topic was discussed in the previous article. This article attempts to recreate our hybrid Traveller Classic and OG Car Wars role-playing game, which lasted 30 years. The two systems complement each other well, and we were surprised at how well they all worked together.

Let's start with the SJ Games Car Wars Bundles, which get you started with Classic Car Wars. This is not the new version with all the 3D figures and cards; this is the OG design system and phased movement, where 20 seconds of combat took you four hours. Horribly inefficient? Trying to do what a computer does better by hand? Full of math and engineering?

Yes.

And fun.

Oh, this is so much fun.

Wait until you solve an engineering problem of "other players trying to kill your character." This isn't some DVD player DM reading the text boxes in an adventure; you should rather just read through them than play because it is all predetermined anyway.

This PvP game killed AD&D and left it on the asphalt as roadkill. BattleTech killed this game later, but that game was nothing like the gas-fueled rage of the open highways and death arenas. BattleTech was also not a great multiplayer game where four to a dozen or more players could all play together in teams or a free-for-all. 

BattleTech and MtG were primarily two-player games. Car Wars was multiplayer gang warfare on wheels.

You have a budget, a crew, and one car.

Now, build one to win.

Every other car on the table will be gunning for you.

You also want a copy of Cepheus Light; anything more is overkill and distracting. There are a lot of fantastic advanced and expanded editions out there, and they say this version is depreciated, but it is well worth picking up as a rules-light 2d6 RPG core. The skills are directly mapped to Car Wars skills, and there is an ability score and advancement system for extra fun.

For personal combat, skill rolls, hazards, and roleplaying, use Cepheus Light (CL).

For car combat, use Car Wars.

The skills and ability DRMs work on both sides. Yes, add the CL ability DRMs to appropriate Car Wars to-hit rolls and the skills that apply.

In Cepheus Light, ability modifiers are capped at +3 (human maximums), and skills are capped at +5. The Car Wars Compendium (CWC) has no upper skill limit; even a +9 is mentioned. So, the caps and skill levels are comparable, and Cepheus has a lower overall cap. I would allow a DEX DRM modifier to both gunnery and driving skills, so lower-level Cepheus characters with DEX 9 or higher will be more capable than a 30-point starting Car Wars Compendium character. Driving skills do not affect Handling Class in CWC, only crash rolls (by subtracting from the crash roll).

For mixed combat, use Car Wars with the Cepheus skills. Keep people in the Car Wars at the standard 3 hits (plus body armor) when vehicle weapons fire at them; it won't matter in too many cases. The rough damage conversion is 1d6 Cepheus hits to 1 hit of Car Wars damage. If body armor gets destroyed in Car Wars, it is destroyed in Cepheus.

Convert in Car Wars hand weapons and map them to Cepheus hand weapons. Most of them can be swapped one for one.

Character generation will be random, and you can be creative in freely swapping out career types. The pirate in CL is a "raider" in Car Wars. The army in CL could be a mercenary. The belter is an oil worker. A colonist is a townsperson. An agent is a law enforcement officer. The merchant is a trucker. The rogue is a criminal. The scout is a scout. A scholar could be a doctor, engineer, oil survey geologist, or professional. Marine (paratrooper) and navy (air force) careers could be airborne forces for corporate and government factions if you have the Car Wars Compendium and want that level of government power in your game with the helicopters. If you have boats, leave Navy and Marine as-is, or use them for both.

If you want to expand your game, pick up a PDF copy of the Car Wars Compendium. This has a more complete skill system, but there are too many skills for what the game is trying to do. It also lacks ability scores and sticks to the 3 hit system of the main game. I like the more "zoomed-in" feeling of Cepheus Light, especially in combat, abilities, and the standard 8+ checks modified by DRM and skill.

A word of warning here, this expands the game considerably. It is easy to get overwhelmed with over 100 pages of special rules for a pocket box game and tons of options like gas engines, metal armor, helicopters, boats, hovercraft, and many new weapons and pieces of gear - this is worth it if you want to immerse yourself in the Classic world, but complete overkill for a simple road warrior style game using the essential pocket boxes.

The biggest thing you would want this for is Road Warrior-style games where the cars use gas engines, metal armor, and those cool cupola turrets with a gunner in them and a weapon they manually point and fire. Get this book if you want to be less "plastic armor and electric engines" and more "steel and gasoline."

Also note that many vehicle designs are of the "electric and plastic" type, though those can be easily converted to metal armor. The power plants need to be swapped out, and you will dive into vehicle design to customize them.

There is an alternate expansion path with Cepheus Deluxe Expanded Edition, which adds a talent system and ways to buy talents and increase ability scores with XP. The rest of this book is overkill for a Car Wars game, and soon, you will be off exploring space.

Cepheus Light has just enough and not much more, which keeps it focused on the 2d6 mechanics without too much extra supporting cruft. While CD is a fantastic game, stick to the lighter system for Car Wars and let the books fill out the rest.

Is Classic Car Wars slow? Yes. You will play a battle for hours if you are not strict about time. A 30-second 8-car battle took us 6 hours. We played car battles with over 200 vehicles, which took days, but this was before computers, pre-NES, and post-Atari 2600. It was summer, so we had the time, and it was fun. You will not sit there and ponder your move. At most, a 30-second sand timer should be set in a phase when a decision must be made. Otherwise, you move forward and do nothing.

The drama of these battles is like nothing you have experienced. I have not tried the new game, but the old game blew BattleTech away for us, and even Warhammer. Those games seem slow, overly methodical, and plodding compared to simulating a car flying around the board at 60 mph, and you want to keep going since you will make yourself an easy target. And after a few hours with a car that is barely holding itself together, to win is a fantastic feeling.

Adding a role-playing element opens the world up and makes you feel like more is happening from a story perspective. The 2d6 RPG and Car Wars combination killed AD&D and our Aftermath game for us, and we never returned. It was this or Star Frontiers, and that is all we played.

Those were the days.

Cepheus Universal vs. Deluxe

Okay, color me slightly confused. There are two Cepheus games out there now. Cepheus Universal by Zoser Games, creators of Hostile and Modern Warfare. This is a new 400+ page book that Cepheus-izes the rules found in Modern Warfare and Hostile and presents it as a generic 2d6 sci-fi game.

This massive book covers every subject you can imagine in a sci-fi game, along with a lot of referee's advice. It cuts closer to the original 2d6 sci-fi game but keeps things on a more realistic and grounded scale. There are also plenty of excellent design systems here for all sorts of things, aliens, vehicles, capital ships, animals, and so much more.

The weapons and equipment lists are expansive. You get a lot of stuff here! The art here is also excellent. We get some absolute stunners and inspirational pieces. This sets the standard for indie 2d6 sci-fi gaming. The book is fun just to flip through and read, and every piece of art is a standout.

The book comes in a PDF now, with a tan and white background version in the download. If I bought a hardcover, I would go for the classic white background - if they offer one.

Universal uses a 6+ ability score roll and an 8+ skill roll as the base.

The other is Cepheus Deluxe, by Stellagama Publishing, which also makes Sword of Cepheus, a 2d6 fantasy game. This is the original I fell in love with, and this version has a trait system (like feats) that allows you to improve your characters with unique abilities. This is a short, more compact, 200+ page book. The art is okay at best, with a few standout pieces.

While smaller, the game is tighter and feels very beer-and-pretzels to me. The gear lists aren't as extensive, and there isn't as much stuff, but when I am developing my own setting and want to do most of the work myself, this book gives me the minimum and gives me room to develop the rest.

This version also has a more generous character development system, but you could always use this improvement and trait system with either game. I really love the trait system here, and I like the more generous and gamified advancement.

Deluxe has the better cargo and trading rules (a 12-page chapter versus Universal's half-page of rules). Again, if you like this system better, it can be used with either game with no effort. Do not discount Deluxe because it is not as slick or big; the designers knew the best parts of 2d6 sci-fi and went into depth where needed. Universal tends to be "more is more" and Deluxe is "tightly focused on fun parts."

If I were using this game to power a Car Wars RPG (which we did in 1980 with another 2d6 game), I would use Cepheus Deluxe since it is more of a simple framework, shorter, and easier to mod. If I want a complete, standalone 2d6 sci-fi game, I will go Universal (with Deluxe traits & advancement, trading, and other parts I prefer). Deluxe is a more straightforward game with a tighter core engine. There aren't as many design systems and charts here, and it is a better starting off point for heavily modded games.

Deluxe uses a flat 8+ roll for both skill and ability checks.

Deluxe offers a full-color hardcover book (which I do not like at all, my eyes!) and a more classic black-and-white version - which I love and is a pleasure to read.

Both books are great and worth indie 2d6 gaming options. Most of everything in either game works with the other too, so you are not wasting money if you have both. Part of me likes Universal since it is more comprehensive, beautiful, and covers everything. Another part of me likes Deluxe for its basic, no-frills, solid, core design in a smaller package.

Both do what Traveller doesn't - give you a 2d6 sci-fi framework for DIY sci-fi gaming. Modern Traveller leans hard into the Imperium setting, which is both good and bad. I have the new Traveller books, and I can't separate that game from the setting, which limits my ability to hex-crawl sector explore and explore strange new worlds.

There are times when I want the 2d6 sci-fi, but I don't want the weight of such a heavy, lore-complete setting that I have to wade through to make sense of. For quick, beer-and-pretzels sci-fi where you are rolling dice and creating new sectors on the fly, Cepheus has you covered.

Mail Room: Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition

The art is a bit meh, and the layout is an explosion of colors - but I still love this 'best of 2d6' science fiction set of rules. The game is coming into its own, abandoning the random character generation, cleaning up the rules, and focusing on providing that OSR 2d6 science fiction experience.

Why not Traveller?

It is too tied to the Imperium setting, and the system is getting too big. When I think of Traveller, I go back to the original books. I don't want a slick presentation, nor do I want endless shelves full of expansions. The rules should be in one book - which they are if you just stick to the core Traveller book - but the ships and feeling of Traveller are too Imperium for me. I can't see an X-Boat or scout courier and not think of the setting, and they are so closely tied to it that it is like using TIE Fighters outside of Star Wars and expecting people to not think of that franchise.

And the more books you add to Traveller, the more you buy into the official setting. Three books in, and you are not playing anywhere else.

If I want my own universe and a one-book system for 2d6 roleplaying, this is my game. If I want to hex-crawl in space and figure out what is over there in the next star, this will do it without loading a heap of guilt on me that I am not using the official setting.

The hardcover's colors aren't as crazy as the PDF due to printing, which is good. There is also a B&W version now, which I am also considering getting. Are there things that could be improved? I want more alien archetypes or design rules for aliens; more ship designs would be excellent. I would love a plain, B&W, no-art version. But all of these are nice-to-haves and things I can do myself, which is the OSR at heart.

A flawed classic but far better than a lot of the alternatives. The fun-to-play factor outweighs any complaints about art or layout.

The Effect of Charts on Imagination

Over-reliance on random charts is the current fad-de-jour in pen-and-paper game design, and worse, it harms our imaginations. This can also extend to in-game systems, combat charts, crit charts, and over-reliance on chained dice rolls to determine special effects.

I recently had two experiences with this: my Road War game using the Cypher System rules. My cinematic, dramatic vehicle combat in Cypher felt much better than trying to "sim" everything using a vehicle combat system like Car Wars. I did not need that level of detail, and the results I got using Cypher System felt more realistic and engaging than "boiling down" and using a full-vehicle combat game.

And I got a result that, for a story-based game, felt right, fit into my story narrative better, and did not take four hours to conclude.

The second was my consideration of running a "hard sci-fi" game using the same rules but using the gear, ships, and overall feeling of the Cepheus Deluxe setting (an excellent game on its own). The feeling of "just use Cepheus Deluxe" was strong in this project. The breaking point was ship combat. Would I use the Cepheus ruleset or abstract it with Cypher System and use a variant of my Road War rules (cars as monsters with weapons)?

The Cepheus Engine ship combat system looks fun, with charts and tables for particular damage results that seem like out of a starship combat simulator. It is tightly integrated into the game's engine, which is nice, but the number of rolls and tables you need to work through seems daunting. The ship combats also seem complex, with one taking some time to simulate through and ensure all the rolls are done correctly to get the best results.

But to what result?

In Road War, I proved my imagination was better than any chart, and I had some great results in determining what happens on damage rolls, critical hits, and critical failures that made the entire game feel more like "Mad Max" than a complete vehicle combat sim could ever give me. If I applied the same logic and procedure to a "hard sci-fi" game, I bet I could come up with some memorable moments far better than any set of charts could give me. Some moments and things in my mind make space combat "hard sci-fi" - far better than any chart in any game.

I can do better with a generic system and a few guidelines.

So why do I need the charts and rules?

Random charts and detailed systems are excellent when you have no clue or need inspiration. But relying too much on them or creating monolithic "game systems" based on random charts feels wrong. Mainly when I had limited time, and I had played "chart games" before that went nowhere, with me rolling on random charts, getting results that did not excite my mind, and then rolling again and again, each time getting less and less excited about the following result.

Yes, rolling through a Cepheus Engine ship combat chart and "playing that game" would be fun as a "sim." But I must answer, "Is that what I want to do for my game?"

This is a tricky question. For those that don't have a massive frame of reference for what can happen in a "hard sci-fi" game and those who want to be surprised by chart results, the complete systems and charts can be a great experience. They take time and an understanding of the rules and leverage the game's design systems to create better fighting machines.

For those who want to tell a story, the detailed and complete combat systems and books full of charts will likely be a hindrance and drag on the game. I can get many of those "oh crap" moments in Cypher System with GM Intrusions, and the critical hit system works well to turn that around in the players' favor. Do I give up being surprised by a chart result? That is one weakness to 100% using your imagination, in that there will be things you will not think of on a chart.

But on the flip side, there are millions of things in my head that can happen, and one chart could never hold them all.

Boxes of Stuff, Tangibles Lists

Some games are nothing more than a few loose rules tying together a box full of like things. The "stuff" the game collects is more important than the rules. Many sci-fi games fall into this sort of game design routine; there is very little difference between classic sci-fi games other than theming and flavor.

We mixed Traveller, Star Frontiers, and Space Opera equally. They were all just "stuff books" for each other, with Space Opera being the king. We didn't know much, the starship conversions were messy, but it worked out.

One of my favorite games in the genre is the excellent Cepheus Deluxe. I tried the new Traveller, but the Imperium setting keeps the game from being an actual 2d6 generic system. I prefer 2d6 with the Imperium removed and that core complex sci-fi universe challenging you at every turn. Still, I get the feeling a lot of these games are designed like that "box of stuff," like the classic Aftermath! game and its million ways to die, to-hit charts for snakes, hexagonal grenade explosion templates, and a strange assortment of late 1970s sporting goods weapons, like 0.22 long-rifle slash 0.410 shotgun break action over-under rifles.

The rules exist to hold the box of stuff together. With both games, the mechanics can get repetitive in ways never intended, endless die rolls to complete an action, with die rolls before combat rounds begin, layered die rolls to make attacks, and even more, die rolls to find out what happens to who. Many of these die rolls exist to confirm the average case or provide a "wouldn't it be cool" bonus that ends up being gamed hard since it is the easy path to win.

Incremental vs. Overall Design

This is where a game designer needs to step in and ask, "Why?"

Why are we rolling so many dice? Why are there this many steps to something that should be conceptually simple and serve the story? How many steps and die rolls do we need for one round of combat? Do the tiny differences matter?

Cypher System was a wake-up call to me, with its single-challenge rating system and abandonment of the minutiae. This is clearly veteran game designer work, something streamlined and designed to get out of the way and let you tell your stories.

Game designers, especially veteran ones with decades of experience, have been around long enough to see when a game's design is leaning too much on dice-rolling for procedural rules. Pretty soon, you get so lost in the box of stuff, multiple rules, and successive dice rolls in chains, you are applying special modifiers for one piece of gear in a unique circumstance, and suddenly, the trees are all you see.

Not the forest.

And indeed, not the story you are trying to tell.

The Tangibles List

But these boxes of stuff are the tangibles that link the experience together. What would Car Wars be without spike droppers, paint sprays, and flamethrowers? Some of these items are outside your typical "Road Warrior" experience, yet they make that box of stuff say, "I am Car Wars!" You can pick a few items out of Traveller, like the laser carbines with the power backpacks, the standard issue "blade" weapon and some space pirates still use revolvers and sabers as their boarding party weapons. That says "Traveller" to me, the same the iconic "power drill" laser pistol of Star Frontiers says that the game's box of stuff is unique and iconic.

You need those tangibles to tie the experience together.

I get why some don't like generic games like Cypher System, FATE, GURPS, or Savage Worlds. Cypher almost goes out of its way to simplify gear and weapons into three basic categories and toss away many special, single-case rules tied into gear. With Cypher, if you have the gear, you ease the task. Some tasks may not be possible without special gear, like hacking into a computer without a computer. All weapons are light, medium, or heavy. Even gear prices are grouped into a few levels.

Let's say you wanted to play a Traveller-style game with Cypher. Where would you start?

For me, the tangibles take precedence. I would probably print out the middle 30 pages of  Cepheus weapons and gear and use that as my "tangibles list" for my game. Starship combat, I would need to figure out. But that gear list ties the experience together, which is what you should start with when emulating a genre. I can simplify these down to Cypher-like items, the tiered weapons, and the gear that eases a task, but that gear list is my tangibles for the game.

The same with the fantasy genre, but there are some tremendous generic OSR equipment books to build your tangibles list from, such as the excellent Old School Armory (DriveThruRPG has this). This can be boiled down into the Cypher-like gear and weapons system, but it gives you a list of items that define the game and experience. When someone goes shopping, hand them the book. When you need to gear out a bandit, use the book.

The base Cypher rulebook has some great tangibles lists in the genre sections, but those feel generic. I prefer defining my genre and backing that up with a tangibles list to define what the players can find, hold, and use in the world. A lot of the "other stuff" can be cyphers and artifacts themselves; in that hard sci-fi game, you could say "the items of the ancients" are scattered around and use cyphers and artifacts to simulate ancient-tech items and have a great game. In fantasy, those are the magic items.

I feel that the "tangibles list" is one of the "unsaid parts" of the Cypher System, assumed to be there in the generic gear lists they give you, but much better if you can find and define a specific source of items in the world that you can use to say, "This is what is in this world."

You need cyphers and artifacts.

But you also need a defined, concrete, and well-designed tangibles list to base the foundation of the setting. While gear and weapons are ultimately flavors, strictly defining that flavor will keep the game grounded and feel more like a setting based on reality than on a list of generic items. These items also serve as inspiration for items that may ease the difficulty in tasks you may not have thought of, as that 10 gp crowbar will come in handy for forcing open stuck doors and chests. Defeat a vampire and want it to never return? You need that mallet and wooden stakes for 3 gp.

You need a great tangibles list.

Once you have a tangibles list, many other parts of the setting just come quickly. With just the Cypher System rulebook, I can have a fantasy world. With that tangibles list defined in a book like Old School Armory, what was once a "generic fantasy world" takes on an entirely new feeling, more old-school flavored, but definitely different than the one that comes with the core Cypher System book.

Yes, this is still just all "flavor," - but the flavor is narrowly defined and in a collection that is compelling and interesting enough to capture your imagination. This also gives you ways to break free from the generic parts of the game that don't seem compelling, like for treasure, and gives you the flexibility to drive player motivation with game-world wealth and value.

Real Money Options

Also, a great tangibles list with prices will let you break from the monetary system in Cypher System used in character creation, where prices are generic and tiered, to one based on the game world's currency. Sure, in fantasy, you can start with an "expensive" item; but once the game starts, you will find 157 sp and 68 gp and buy things from your tangibles list using that, not the generic tiered prices used only in character creation.

Then, seeing that 5,000 gp fist-sized ruby will put a sparkle in your eye. Some genres thrive on finding that 1,300 gp, or having 20,000 cr to upgrade a starship and having a tangibles list that supports prices and currencies adds to the flavor of the game and takes it a step away from the generic and into that familiar feeling area.

Could you switch freely between generic prices and realistic wealth? Nothing stops you, and using both systems may be beneficial. You could convert all a party's treasure to one wealth value and say it could buy a castle. You could keep realistic wealth for most found treasures, say a side job provides comfort equal to a generic price level, and track that on the side.

But if a party likes shopping and saving money for purchasing artifacts and other power items, having a tangibles list gives you a few more options while increasing flavor and immersion optionally and seamlessly.

Star Nomad: No OGL Sci-Fi Roleplaying

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1560107317619028/permalink/2963830590580020/

This is a beautiful thing. The wonderful people behind Cepheus Engine are making a clean-room sci-fi RPG called Star Nomad, just in case the OGL drama invalidates their game and gets Cepheus Engine pulled.

See how pointless pulling the OGL was?

You are talking about imaginative people who can write games in their sleep and have experience writing rules and publishing, with built-in groups of fans ready to dive in and support them. This game will be ready by mid-2023, in a few months. And the game will be even better once they feel free to come up with new ideas and what they want to see in a sci-fi game.

Present us with adversity, and we respond with innovation.

I feel Wizards only revealed their greed and created a massive dislike for their new games and platforms. People are abandoning D&D and seeking alternatives, which the indie community will happily build for them quickly. And the licenses will be something they have no control over, allowing 3rd parties to create things for free, and pull people farther away from D&D.

In a year, the OGL will likely be mostly forgotten and unused. A footnote in gaming.

This is like fighting water by punching it repeatedly. What were they thinking?

Stellagama Publishing: Wait and See

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1560107317619028/permalink/2963322697297476/

Another bit of news, the creator of Cepheus Engine, the Traveller-like 2d6 game, is in a wait-and-see mode and considering creating their own rules system.

HOSTILE

Hostile is sort of like the "grown up" version of Cepheus Engine. The base Cepheus Engine rules are this generic, semi-campy romp through classic 2d6 sci-fi adventuring. I love the base game for modding and as the universal system from which all else comes. Hostile is the 1970s retro-future serious alternative to Cehpeus Engine, where everything is gritty, toned-down, and realism is emphasized over the lighthearted.

The technology base is sort of a 1970s retro-future welded-together mess of cool, and the game goes from there into an Earth-based 2d6 sci-fi campaign. There is a heavy Alien influence here, but it isn't everything this game has to offer, and frankly, you can play this game without the space monsters and have just as much fun. There are other great influences here as well, including Blade Runner, The Thing, Total Recall, Event Horizon, The Abyss, Outland, The Expanse, and Pitch Black. Even TV shows like Ice Road Truckers or Deadliest Catch are inspirations for this world and the adventures it can provide.

Ordinary space workers in an industrialized future. An incredibly dangerous universe. Plenty of alien monsters nobody understands. A retro-future filled with cynicism, conspiracies, hidden agendas, and quick death.

Again, you could say this is just an Alien wannabe game, but it really isn't and deserves a little more respect and attention. Alien is just one series in the genre, and this genre is bigger than one franchise. It is like saying all superheroes are Marvel or DC and full stop, and you miss out on roleplaying games like Champions or TV series like The Boys. This is "retro-fi" at its finest, and tries to strike a balance as a "generic retro-fi RPG" the same way D&D tries to be a "generic fantasy RPG." And at times I feel I want the genre to move beyond Alien and break free from that creative stagnation, no matter how cool the movies still are.

There are six main themes to the game:

1. The heroes are everyday workers in space.
2. The future is heavily industrialized.
3. Everything is dangerous and every job is high-pressure.
4. The universe is populated by humans and space monsters.
5. The future is retro-future dirty, full of retro-tech, repaired, second-hand, and used.
6. The outlook is cynicism. Conspiracies, manipulation, lies, and dirty secrets are everywhere.

The Alien RPG is cool, but where Hostile shines is it is a few levels more generic and allows for all sorts of non-Alien concepts and creatures to be introduced. I could mod in psionic rules to Hostile and it would work, whereas in Alien it would feel really strange. I could throw "1950s sci-fi movie monster of the week" style adventures at the characters, like a blob, giant ants, giant worms, parasites that attach to people and control minds, space vampires, silicate rock creatures, or the monster out of The Thing, and it all just works.

I would still use Alien for one-shots or to introduce people to horror RPGs, just because it is so recognizable and accessible. But the market for RPGs also seems to be flooded with RPGs based on TV and movie properties, and I can only play so many of these before I quit playing all of them and just want something simple that does more than one thing. For now, I am done buying licensed RPGs and want experiences that break free from the source material and give me room for my own creativity.

Could I play all of the above with Cepheus Engine or even Traveller? Yes, but Hostile oozes flavor and gives you tons of specific gear, ships, weapons, armor, and a complete setting that fits the theme. I have this game next to Battletech on my game shelf and ooh that sounds like a cool peanut-butter-and-chocolate combination.

Battletech with retro 70s tech and a true hard science and survival mentality? That is cool, and removes some of that gleaming and brand new sheen from the universe and puts it back on a more humanistic and realistic grounding that I love. When the future gets too clean and plastic it gets too sterile and uninteresting. Even the original Star Wars movies had that gritty and clunky retro-tech feeling, and after a while, you get designers who want to change the look and feel to a cleaner aesthetic and you lose not only the feeling of the universe but a huge part of the story and meaning.

Cepheus Engine is always my "source code" for modding and game creation, but Hostile is the best implementation of that 1970s sci-fi game, but it breaks free of the original movies in the genre and gives you the room to put your own spin and creativity into the universe.

Mail Room: Hostile Setting & Rules

The 2d6 system games continue to impress me. The Hostile setting and rules are better, more fleshed out, better "gamed," and better modeled hard sci-fi system than most anything I have ever seen. Yes, the "Alien" RPG is classic and great for those movie one-shots, but an extended campaign in that system feels like a stretch.

Cepheus Deluxe does a damn fine job of doing an open license 2d6 sci-fi system, and it is my top pick for a companion RPG for anything from Battletech to Car Wars. Cepheus does generic space opera the best with the Traveller style flair, and it can be dropped into any game, story, movie, universe and just work as a generic sci-fi ruleset. Because it does not have a galaxy, the game can be used anywhere for almost anything.

But let's say you wanted a more focused, thematic, and set near-future universe sci-fi experience. While Cepheus Deluxe works, Hostile does all that, plus more.

Hostile is every bit of an Earth-based near-future sci-fi setting, as I can imagine, and while yes, it does the entire "Alien" thing if you want it to, there is so much more here to play with. The whole 70's retro-tech vibe, the skepticism of the era, space adventure, mysteries of lost civilizations, space warfare, and experiences in the strange thing are handled perfectly in this game with lots of art, great layout, and a flair for that clunky tech and art that we love about this genre.

This is the sort of campaign and rules set up I wanted for Alien, a more sandbox style of game that scales from the personal survival experience to fleet battles. Alien feels unique, and it does not go outside of that; here, we have an entire universe that does not need xenomorphs to be exciting or even space monsters at all.

Note that you need both the rules and settings books for Hostile to play. I thought the setting book was optional, but it has player-focused content and personal gear.

Kickstarter: Cepheus Deluxe: Enhanced Edition

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/482738549/cepheus-deluxe-enhanced-edition

If you are like me and use this game as a toolkit engine for everything from Traveller-like games, a Battletech RPG, a Car Wars RPG, a Star Fleet RPG, and anything else under the stars where you want a simple lightweight 2d6 system to roleplay with, this is going to be huge.

The bestseller Cepheus Deluxe sci-fi tabletop role-playing game, reformatted in full color, enhanced layout, and new art.

I am not a big fan of the current art in the Cepheus Deluxe rules, some of it is not the best but it all has heart. Seeing it all in full color, with a better layout and art? Especially if the above is a teaser image?

I'm in.

Battletech: Beginner Box, part 2

It feels strange to think wargames like Battletech are more accessible than most tabletop roleplaying games. When you look at the page count of the main rulebooks, we have:

• Battletech Beginner Box - 12-page rulebook
• Battletech: a Game of Armored Combat - 56-page rulebook
• Battletech: Clan Invasion - 32-page rulebook

That is 100 pages total of rules for the core "mainstream support" version of the game, with all options (and a few record sheets). You go to tabletop dungeon games, and you are talking 400-600 pages for the player's manuals and over 1000 for the core books of the game. Like Pathfinder 1e (and 2e is getting there), some games are thousands of pages spread across many "collectors market" books.

Granted, the core rules of more tabletop RPGs are probably less than those 100 pages of Battletech core rules, but the bloat in dungeon games in both fluff and options is orders of magnitude larger than an average wargame. To get down below 100 pages for a set of dungeon rules, you need to play B/X, and I see why people do. If you like B/X, I feel Battletech is an excellent next step for tabletop gaming since it shares that "core simplicity" model while being endlessly expandable with imagination.

And Battletech is more of a tactical game than your typical dungeon game, except for something like Dungeon Fantasy or D&D 4E. Being more in that wargame mold, Dungeon Fantasy has a pretty low page count, an incredible accomplishment.

You can expand Battletech with esoteric rulebooks for the edge-case situations and battle styles, VTOL, spacecraft, and other "non-core" battles - but I don't see even all those options books taking more than a half-shelf of space. Still, the core rules of the 56-page core game and 32-page Clan expansion are the heart of the game since the beginner rules are a cut-down subset and not used for much more than learning, so those 12 pages really don't count once you start playing.

Most of the space taken by Battletech is figure storage.

And since the core rules do not have that dungeon game bloat, you can keep the entire game in your head with minimal reference. Another great thing about Battletech is determining the "challenge level" of battles is trivially easy. In contrast, in most of today's dungeon games, you get into complex formulas, CR levels, XP allotments, or rankings. Pick some pilots, set an overall tonnage limit, and start picking mechs.

And suppose I use a simple 2d6 system like Cepheus Deluxe as my RPG. In that case, I can have a whole wargame-plus-RPG experience with minimal rule memorization and page count and simple core skill mechanics compatible across both games. I don't need a mech system for Cepheus since I am here to play Battletech. Nor do I need characters that take up pages of record sheets; since Cepheus is a Traveller-like system, I can do a 3x5 index card for each pilot and generate a character in less than 5 to 10 minutes. If I want to get out of a mech, make some survival skills rolls, and fight an alien monster on foot, the system is there and works (and stays out of the way).

These two games are the peanut butter and chocolate of my collection. Simple. Taste good together. And always fun.