Cepheus review - Introduction

Chapter 1

TOC

1. Cepheus Engine Review TOC (you are here).

2. Introduction

Before we even get to “Book 1” we get an introductory chapter on themes, terms, and definitions. It’s worth noting that the bulk of the rules is organized into three “books” similar to the original LBBs: Character Creation, Starships and Interstellar Travel, and one for the Referee.

We get the expected - and perhaps needed for anyone new to role playing on the assumption the book is picked up by someone unfamiliar with RPGs - introduction to “what is roleplaying”, as well as defining Cepheus as follows:

The Cepheus Engine is simply a set of rules for conducting a game based on classic science fiction. Within its pages, you will find rules on creating characters, resolving tasks, fighting other creatures and engaging in huge space battles, building worlds, enjoy the risks of interstellar speculative trading, exploring new worlds, and a host of other diverse activities. Although no rules set can be complete, the Cepheus Engine attempts to provide enough rules to allow you to create almost any science fiction adventure.

The Cepheus Engine is inspired by classic science fiction games from the early days of roleplaying, and shares a lot of similarities with these gaming systems. Material from these older rules sets and those created under the Cepheus Engine are mutually compatible with only a minimum of adjustments required.

This section has a few nice touches. Among others, it defines the core resolution system: Roll 2D6 against a target of 8, adding or subtracting modifiers as appropriate. Meeting or exceeding an 8 is a success. Degree of success or failure can amake a difference. Fortunately, there are significant bonuses for simple tasks, because an 8+ target means that more than half of all rolls will fail.

The referee:

The Referee is the person who will act as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a Cepheus Engine gaming session, or an ongoing Cepheus Engine campaign. The role of the Referee is to weave the other participants’ player-character stories together, control the non-player aspects of the game, create environments in which the players can interact, and solve any player disputes.

Basically the arbitrator of conflicts, and runs the ongoing world outside of the players.

The characteristics are the classic six for Traveller and related games, but unlike Classic Traveller, there is a modifier for sufficiently high and low values. Like Traveller, you have a career or lifepath that gives your background before you caught the wanderer’s bug.

Skills are similar to Classic traveller as well, with one tier of skill roughly the equivalent of two years of study. This doesn’t consistently map. Some skills can be picked up oer two years with a couple hours a day. Others, such as the equivalent to engineer-1, can take two years of full time study. Nevertheless, it forms a workable baseline. The variable targets for CT

On page 5, several types of campaign styles are presented, explicitly listing out general themes or paths that are implicit in Classic Traveller. These include starting a colony, bing a drifter or gun for hire, a merchant, a mercenary, an explorer, and so on.

Page 6 goes more into die rolls and checks, including a table of relative difficulty levels (simple tasks are at +6, making them nearly impossible to fail, for example, unless other factors interfere). If you succeed or fail by 6, you have an exceptional failure or success.

So far, this looks like the CT skill check rules but with a normalized baseline. It gets interesting when two people have a contested check. Here, it’s the highest effect that wins. Basically, you have Bob and Jim. Jim has Engineering - 2, and Bob has Engineering-1. Jim wants to sabotage the drive without it being noticed, and Bob is looking for sabotage. Jim rolls an 8, for a total of ten, an “effect” of two. But Bob rolled a ten naturally, for an “effect” of three. And so Bob finds the sabotage.

Timing is interesting:

Outside of stressful situations such as combat, performing a particular task often takes a random amount of time, depending on circumstances. For most tasks, roll 1D6 and multiply it by the increment that the Referee provides for that action. For example, breaking a flimsy wooden door down may only require 1D6 seconds, while performing delicate surgery might take 1D6 hours. More information on time increments can be found in Chapter 2: Skills.

I’ll have to see what chapter 2 says, but I’m not sure every circumstance would be quite that variable. Also not sure if it would be better to establish a baseline time and then use the D6 as a flux die (-3 to +3). We’ll have to see.

In addition to skill checks, there are also characteristic checks - not directly against a stat, but instead using the stat-based modifiers to target 8 like an otherwise normal skill check.

Finally, there’s a very quick overview of combat sequences, and a couple pages of important terms.