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Other comments left for this publisher: |
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I have been playing 2D6 SF RPGs since '78. Deluxe is the best such rule set I have ever played with. Enough detail but not too much. Char Gen is great. PC centric rather than machine centric. Ship design easy and covers all the bases. I have had to only make one house rule (very minor) rather than a couple of pages worth as with other most recent offical 2D6 Space RPG.
Cannot recommend enough.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the kind review! |
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It Came from the Scriptorium is an excellent adventure for Halloween, and very much lends itself to an Evil Dead feel.
The abbey itself is a 15 room dungeon with a central chamber of doors, leading to ample choices for player interaction and layout familiarization...
The actual key itself is just about 5 pages, so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with a read ahead, instead of running it at the table blind.
For the price of the adventure, it's hard to go wrong, especially around the end of October.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the excellent review! |
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Last night's regular game fell through with two players unable to attend for a huge fight they had kicked off. But I had written a brief point crawl for this system based on a few Conan stories. First, we went through the character creation. It took about an hour. I'm glad spells are chosen randomly, as that could have taken hours if the player chose each one. The ship cruised up the Poison River searching for a lost city, with poisonous snakes and giant centipedes dropping on the ship along the way. The barbarian characters had great fun with the Frenzy rule to burn through minor enemies. Later, after dropping anchor at the site of the city and helping carry tents and equipment to the expedition campsite, they witnessed a great white ape kidnap a sailor from shipboard and climb into the jungle. The PCs ran off in pursuit, finally provoking a fight and slaying the ape, Conan style, with a critical hit from a thrown dagger piercing the fierce beast's heart! Great fun was had all around, with half of the table hamming up their mighty thewed warriors and the sorcerer player attempting the mightiest spells on the list, failing miserably, and suffering magical corruption as a result. Didn't get to playtest my whole adventure, but our first session of Barbaric was a huge success! I think a few of them bought a copy for themselves too. Bibon son of Phola, Grigor the Archer, Astrid the Hammer, and Elatos of the Cave approved!
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Creator Reply: |
Many thanks for the excellent review! |
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Great theme and style. love the dark forboding atmosphere of this adventure, which gels nicely with the achemical technology.
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A great romp through horror, I will look for a GM to help run a party through this. Thanks for writing it.
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Upgraded or Downgraded?
Firstly, this is a playable game; if you know anything about Traveller, you are good to go with a slightly streamlined, system. I say“slightly” because the new wounding system is needlessly fiddly, replacing a paragraph with a page-and-a-half.
It was a shame to see the ship creation chapter stripped of many of the necessary rules—you can’t design your own ship with this version of the game. Additionally the newly added animal creation rules are incomplete, I solved the problem by referring to the original 1977 rules…but I shouldn’t have to do that. Should I?
Another way in which the new Upgraded rules let themselves down is the careers section; five of the originally presented careers have been removed leaving (almost) the six from 1977. For the missing material the author directs the reader to Cepheus Deluxe.
So a downgrade? I’m afraid so. If you have the original release, hold on to it; the download included a .doc file containing the complete rules which encouraged me to mod and house-rule as I desired, which was not much. There you would find a system that cuts much closer to the LBBs.
So what’s going on here? The Upgraded rules are now no longer designed to provide a complete original 1977 Traveller experience, instead they have become a Basic D&D-style game which directs you to the larger, more complete and more expensive Cepheus Deluxe to continue your adventures. Disappointing the goal of the original release has been lost in the mix. Some of the new material seems to use some cut-and-pasting and the new material is just wrong, the skill Medical is referred to as Medicinal in the wound rules. A bit sloppy lads.
The score…if I had not seen the original Cepheus Light rules I would have given this Upgraded version a solid 3, some of the streamlining is good and I can use the LLBs to fill the vital gaps needed it. But ultimately I would have returned to the LLBs for completeness
But I have to score this game against the original release, I can’t play the game as I would like, it's incmplete in vital ways. This wasn't my experience with the original release, which means I have to give the Upgraded version a one.
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks for the honest review and my apologies for the disappointment. We will consider bringing back the old Cepheus Light instead, following your criticism. |
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Just wanted to say that I really, really love what this system offers. Big fan of Traveller/Cepheus type stuff, and, in running a Rider campaign recently, I decided to take a look to see what else was offered in the same style, and Sword of Cepheus scratched so, so many itches for me. Dangerous magic, the character creation common to the engine I've come to love, a charming old-school DND art style, and, this absolutely is a blessing, the book is fairly short! In a good way, you got right to the point and I didn't have to spend long finding what I needed or digging through fluff. Gotta say that the magic/mutation system is probably my favorite part, I ABSOLUTELTY plan on playing around with it for my cowboy campaign.
I think my only complaint is that the weapons don't have a lot of diversity beyond handedness and dice damage, but honestly that's fine- and sort of the norm for rpg's anymore, if 5e DND is anything to go off of. Other than that, book good, 10/10, cast spells and crush skulls. If you, dear reader, are seeking a quick and easy way to experience some of the best the Cepheus system has to offer, give this a gander. If you, Publisher, are reading this, you did real good!
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the kind review! |
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I loved this and highly recommend the rules system as a clearly written, well conceived way to start playing Traveller ASAP.
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Creator Reply: |
Many thanks for your excellent review! |
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"Terra Arisen is a space-opera setting for the Cepheus Deluxe sci-fi RPG rules. Terra Arisen introduces player characters to the immediate aftermath of the Terran Liberation War against the mighty Reticulan Empire and its many thralls. The Terrans forced the Reticulan Empire to sign a humiliating peace treaty and reluctantly accept Terran independence from the Empire. The upstart Terrans, bolstered by their victory against their old masters, are becoming a power to be reckoned with in interstellar affairs. On a backdrop of espionage, maneuvering, and saber-rattling on new interstellar frontiers, bold player characters can leave their marks as heroes or villains of the new United Terran Republic (UTR). This book provides background information, a 16 by 20 hex star-map covering most of the UTR and some alien territory, and write-ups of all 120 major worlds in this area, as well as other materials necessary to run a science fiction roleplaying campaign in the exciting times of the 23rd century."
This book contains:
History and background material for 23rd century Terra and the larger universe.
Corporations, political parties, and illegal groups – both Terran and alien.
4 major alien species and several minor ones – all detailed!
Rules for generating and playing characters from 5 alien species.
7 alien Careers and 5 Terran ones - from psionic Reticulan Nobles to the heroic Terran Guard!
Character generation rules and event tables for all included careers.
2 small craft and 5 starships with full game statistics and high-res deck plans.
The Terran Quadrant, including 120 detailed worlds and a high-res star map.
A detailed adventure chapter with a wide variety of hooks for exciting adventures in Terran and alien space!
Note that this book provides character generations, biological and cultural background, and flying saucers (!) for playing Gray Aliens – ready to drop into any Cepheus Deluxe campaign and quite compatible with other 2d6 sci-fi RPGs as well!
This setting requires the Cepheus Deluxe rules for use."
Terra Arisen Rpg Campaign Setting By Omer Golan-Joel, Richard Hazlewood, & Josh Peters is one of those space opera's there's far more bubbling below the surface then at first it seems. The Terra Arisen setting is perfectly suited for the Cepheus Deluxe rules. Terra Arisen takes on humanity & it's alien allies rising up against their Reticulan oppressors in a series of rebellions that ultimately results in the establishment of the Terrran Quadrant.
Terra Arisen is a two hundred & eleven page book that wears its history, alien cultures, & background on it's sleeve. And in Terra Arisen these factors colours your PC's life events, careers, and other 2d6 Cepheus Deluxe rules & rolls during character creation. And this applies across the board for the aliens and the humans. This isn't exactly a Reticulan friendly game per say as the later generations of the hybrids and full blood Reticulans have come to question their own ancient empire's practices.
And Terra Arisen is a thinking DM's campaign setting with ton's of potential for the player's to step onto the interstellar stage of old sectors of the Reticulan Empires. Now in the hands of the their former slave races both human & alien. While Terra Arisen seems very woven into it's own campaign setting with its history, politics, sciences, technologies, etc. the setting is a fun one with plenty of opportunities for military campaigns, interstellar merchant hi jinks, and much more all baked into the Cepheus Deluxe rules powered setting. Terra Arisen is a solid addition to the world of Cepheus Engine powered rules. The interstellar's scene is interesting. The ideas here are smartly done. And Terra Arisen is a campagin setting is one that can do a wide variety of play styles.
The playground of the former Reticulan empire populated by their former client races is one of recent military victories. But the interstellar parts & pieces still very much dangerous and not necessarily nice at all. Terra Arisen is a complex & multi dimensional interstellar political & unsettle frontier with its own rules, alien races, & wild edge bubbling just below the surface. Terra Arisen has some solidly done starships and the interior artwork is a mix of Pulp & Science Fictional styles that works for the 2d6 asthetic of the Cepheus Deluxe rules powered material. The layout is crisp, easy to read, & ready to play.
Terra Arisen is a campaign for the Cepheus Deluxe rules that is waiting to be played & played well. Terra Arisen is a excellent addition to the the Cepheus Deluxe rules line of supplements & I for one can't wait to see the next line in the Terra Arisen family of books. Terra Arisen is a five outta of five for creativity, ulility, & actual usefulness at the table top level.
Thanks for reading our review
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery blog
Want more OSR goodness?!
Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the wonderful review! |
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Much better, and more useful for a wide variety of campaigns than it sounds
Would you like to, for five dollars, have enough material to fill an entire space pirate campaign with adventures and encounters? Get this book.
Alternatively, would you like to just have some really good space encounter tables, which offer a very wide variety of different results without becoming overcomplicated? That alone is worth 5$. Get this book.
Likely the best indie published content for space RPGs that I've seen.
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Creator Reply: |
Many thanks for your kind review! |
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Good, other than no water aboard which can be used for drinking, showering, pooping. Remove some fuel and replace with water, water filters, and some of containers for refuse for poop which can be emptied during the trip.
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This book is a super-simplified version of the Cepheus Engine rules, here called the "Quantum Engine". Instead of just redacting parts of Cepheus Engine (or Cepheus Light or Deluxe for that matter), Stellagama did a pretty good job rewriting it and rebalancing it for an audience that wants much less crunch, and yet keeping it backwards compatible enough that you could repurpose Cepheus content easily. I would highlight the elegant solutions they found to reduce ship design, ship combat and psionics into 1-2 pages each (and yeah it works just fine). That's talent right there.
As with other titles from Stellagama, they stand firmly in 4-star realm by writing a compact, no-nonsense and very playable game that falls short in only two categories: uninspired book layout and rules that assume that the reader knows either Traveller or the Cepheus Engine well. In this case I almost gave them 5 stars regardless, because the conciseness of this book is pretty good, and we need more of this. But there ya go, it's a good game and good purchase with room for improvement.
Considering the price, getting this as a backup to a sci-fi itch is pretty much a no-brainer.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the review! |
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Quantum Starfarer is a quick 33 page sci-fi game and a delightful read. And it's a great primer for jumping into Cepheus Deluxe or any of Stella Gamma's 2d6 based games. And the price point is outstanding. Your gaming to cost ratio more than balances out with this rule set.
The interior is black and white with stock public domain photos and the layout is well done and easy to read. Character creation is simple as is combat, starship building, and world building. The quality is typical of Stella Gamma. Excellent.
And my review is based upon the booklet. Great Stuff!
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A GREAT introductory Traveller rules set. Brilliant streamlining job on this. Concise but with just enough detail to be interesting.
Two suggestions at this point:
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Include a couple of Support Weapons in the Weapon Lists as examples. Plasma Gun and Rocket Launcher would be my suggestions.
- I couldn't find a tonnage/ammo equivalent for missiles or torpedo magazines. I know it's in Cepheus Deluxe but perhaps a note here:
Missiles cost Cr1200 each, torpedoes Cr5,000 each. A missile rack holds 3 missiles, a torpedo launcher holds one. Each ton of magazine space can accommodate 12 missles or 6 torpedos.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your kind review!
The additional data about support weapons, more detailed vehicle weapons, and ship missiles will come in a (free!) 1-sheet supplement, together with other cool stuff - and ships up to 10,000 tons! |
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This looks great! I love how the game is so streamlined. For example, compressing the huge list of Traveller or Cepheus Engine skills down to just 7. And combining stats and skills into one thing. Character creation will be a breeze. For the first time in my 40 year Traveller love affair, I can imagine "rolling up" characters and starting an adventure in the same sitting. I also like the character advancement approach, throwing out the traditional approach for something more D&D-like.
This seems like a great system for cinematic games. Whereas Cepheus Engine is great for running an RPG that feels like The Expanse, Quantum Starfarer seems great for running an RPG that feels like Star Wars
This is the most radical Traveller-ish variant that I've seen, and I look forward to trying it out.
Now what I want is a version formatted to make into a Pocketmod format tiny booklet, like this: https://pocketmod.com/howto
Here are a few little issues that snuck through proofreading:
Sheet 1:
"Surgeon: when treating a Seriously Wounded character, the surgeon may throw Heal 6+ to double the recovery rate.." - There is no skill called Heal in this game. Do you mean Knowledge or Technical?
"Each time a player succeeds in a skill throw of at least 8+ and surpasses the target number by 6 or more, the group Hero Points pool gains another point." - I'll be interested to see how this works in play. It's impossible for any character with skill of less than 2.
"PERSONNEL COMBAT" - I think you probably mean "personal" here, not "personnel".
Sheet 4:
"ENCUMBRANCE" - The next line starts "a character may carry a number of major". The "a" should be capitalized. Also, there appear to be at least 2 - maybe more - spaces after the end of that sentence. Just a weird formatting thing...
"Submachinegun(Auto)" - There should be a space before the left parenthesis.
"restores full Lifeblood in 1" - That "r" should be capitalized.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the excellent review and finding the errata! |
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All the errata you noted have been fixed :-) |
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