First Impressions - Cepheus Universal (Traveller SRD)

Dom

Dom

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Photo of Cepheus Universal hardcover book, standing on its end on a white and grey desk. The title is at the top in an orange font like that used in Blade Runner, with the subtitle 'The Universal Science Fiction Roleplaying Game' underneath. There is a picture of a suited astronaut - all greens, oranges and yellows​
Cepheus Universal​
First of all, this isn't going to be an in-depth look at Cepheus Universal, as I've not really got the time for that at the moment. I'm also probably not the best person to do that as I've been playing Traveller in its many forms for far too long.

Secondly, the book you see in the image above isn't what you'll get if you order a copy from Zozer Games. I find the layout used by Zozer too big, so I have printed a personal copy as a digest sized hard cover to use at the tale. I anticipate that you won't see the green boundaries around a directly ordered copy.

This is Paul Elliott's take on the Cepheus Engine, informed by the work done on the Hostile Roleplaying game. It is a weighty book, coming in at 443-pages, containing everything you'd need for an extended campaign in a setting of your own choosing. It is more complete mechanically than Mongoose Traveller's core book in any of its editions.

The book is clearly laid out; as I mentioned above, I find the typeface too large and the font irksome, but it is an extremely clear mainly single column layout that's easy to read. The book was perfectly legible when I reduced it down in size. Examples are given in boxed text with a specific colour-fill, and tips and advice in others. There are almost no typos.

Cepheus is built from the SRD for Traveller that was available under the OGL, so it is slightly more crunchy than the current edition of Mongoose Traveller, but not significantly so. The core game mechanic is, as ever, roll 2D6 and achieve 8+ on your roll. Damage is applied directly to characteristics, as per Classic Traveller.

Things I like about Cepheus Universal:
  • Character generation includes a simple point build option which I'll be using this weekend to create the characters for my games at TravCon.
  • The game covers TL1 through to TL18 (so non-technological through to ring worlds and matter transfer which would seem like magic to us).
  • There are coherent and simple design rules for robots, vehicles and space-going vessels, and thought has been given to scaling between the different scales involved.
  • The spacecraft rules draw on Orbital 2100 to have lower technology slower-than-light vessels.
  • Factions treated as characters.
  • There is a light discussion throughout on how the rules would fit with various settings from media.
  • It's a fast read; because it's written clearly and the sub-systems like starship combat etc are modular, the game can be reviewed and understood quickly. You don't need to dive into the detail until you need it.
Things that I'm not so hot on;
  • The typeface used for the layout.
  • The removal of the jack-of-all-trades skill
  • The level of crunch (lots of little modifiers in combat for example - but this is no worse than Mongoose Traveller)
In short, this is a very complete game which has everything that you need for a campaign. You could easily pick up anything written for Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, Marc Miller's Traveller (T4), or Mongoose Traveller and run it easily. Or you could easily grow your own. It is more complete than Mongoose Traveller.

Recommended.

Hardcopy available here.
Digital copy available here.

28 September 2024

Continue reading...
 
Characters are much tighter with starting characters having 7 skill levels in total, plus a small number of zero levels if the Game Master allows. As with many Cepheus implementations, there are almost no cascade skills, so there is a tighter list on offer, or your skill levels count for broader situations. I like that.

I don't miss JOT TBH, but I miss the Art cascade skill, probably missing in Universal because the skill is not reflected in core Cepheus either.

If character advancement is allowed, it's optional, the XP system will allow a sprinkling of zero level skills quite quickly. 1 XP per session (occasional 2 offered) for a slow build of levels. Level zero is just 1 XP cost. If you are going straight for Level 1 then it is 5 x Level as a cost. Of course the real advancement is through the growth in knowledge, contacts, reputation and life experiences.

There is as @Dom notes, a lot to this game. There are a lot of nice touches. I like the handwaving of running costs for the carriage of freight and passengers. Speculative target is simplified with Broker rolls to get profit and more if at a target planetary market.

I like the straightforward acknowledgement that capital ships of 10,000t+ are to be built differently, and more simply. The resulting designs are still absolutely playable in the core space combat system, which looks good. I like that range bands are moved by superior piloting in the early Tactical Phase, without needing to sum thrust points in the background.

Dom's A5 book production is brilliant.
 
I respect Elliot but I have always preferred MgT2e to all Cepheus I have read. Plus there have been so many...
 
Dom said:
Aren’t most of the Cepheus versions by the bloke who originally created it?
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There has been a rich flowering (profligate excess?) of light versions and sub-versions under Stellagama Publishing, that have delivered some interesting ideas and lighter games. Plus, a verdant publishing from other small publishers with interesting setting takes that cleave closer to the core Cepheus engine. Personally, I'm a little less concerned about the game sprinkling, and have enjoyed the creativity, that has also produced, and on my shelves, a nicely developed and genuinely clever alternative in Cepheus Deluxe, and also a sword and sorcery variant of that game.

As mentioned in my recent podcast, for ensuing escapades I have ended up using MgT2e as a core, and ported in some of the attractive concepts from Cepheus Deluxe, all of which, to me, are better handled than the ideas in the Mongoose Companion. This is not for any ease of conversion, for as you say, the 2D6 SF games family are interchangeable, pretty much on the fly, but more to assuage the gaming budget spend on the Mongoose books. MgT2e is the current most played and recognised version, which provides familiarity if running for aficionados (he says without any data to back that up!).

The Cepheus creativity spores continue to float around, seeding new ideas and whole games. Most recently I have had my eye on 'The Gods Themselves' for a very different TL16-19 setting. I see the Cepheus expressions much like the variety and creativity that comes with Chaosium's BRP. You can either take one whole cloth, or blend in cool ideas to your own game.

Thank you for your excellent capsule review. You made me get the A5 off the shelf again and rifle though it! I'm very much attracted to the brevity of character expression in Cepheus Universal. It takes me back to the original three books, with the addition of some scene saving zero level skills. You absolutely could create characters at the table, in no more than 15 minutes, and then start play. It's a clean and comprehensive version of Traveller, which I'd be interested in trying over an extended period. A good measure is usually the starship combat rules, and I think I like the way that Uinversal has done hull point ablation combined with component damage. So many things to mention, but I'll leave it there for now.
 
Dom said:
Out of curiosity, which take on MgT2e? 2017 or 2022?
I've been very reluctant to go and buy all the post 2022 refreshes, despite them looking better (except the core book cover).
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I'm on my 2017 original, but must have got some sort of PDF bundle deal(?) for some of the updates. Although I am sure the Mongoose updated versions provide some good value, I too have been reluctant to, essentially, buy the same game all over again. There will, inevitably, be a 3e at some point, and I might look at that, depending on some of the design decisions. Speaking of which there was a brief fluttering of Mongoose thoughts on combat that looked to be trying to solve a problem that wasn't there. It makes me a touch wary, but overall I expect a 3e, when the time comes, might be a purchase for me. They might instead continue to iterate with rolling 2e updated versions, and if one comes along that truly and substantially improves on what I have, then I will jump in at that point.

Although there are some bits of MgT2e that I'm not so keen on, it delivers a good version of Traveller overall. I like it just a fraction more with my Cepheus Deluxe splicing.
 
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Dom said:
Out of curiosity, which take on MgT2e? 2017 or 2022?
I've been very reluctant to go and buy all the post 2022 refreshes, despite them looking better (except the core book cover).
Click to expand...
I segued to 2022 in 2023 quite seamlessly.. however note that I am happily fuzzy about the minor differences between calibres and build of bullets relative to armour, penetration and explosive power UNTIL a player introduces it to the table from the Field Equipment Guide and the bias towards kinetic weapons becomes apparent.. and I realise that some splat books need banning... as I develop SF reasons why lasers would have similar advances to AP and HEAP rounds.. (never going there again)..

I really prefer the neater skill list and speciality approach of MgT2e, I find the spaceship damage/hull/components of MgT2e equally competent to the Cepheus Deluxe (CD) alternative. Neither solve my small flotilla versus small flotilla problem but we wrote our own variant that enabled multiple zones of range around a centre point in space.. essentially the system hinted at in High Guard but not implemented.

I thought the CD spaceship combat system was pleasantly narrative but was equivalent to the MgT2e one. In fact I often find Cepheus alternatives very pleasant as modular switch in switch out alternatives.

I really like the MgT2e Robots book. I like the speed with which I can design a droid. Ditto High Guard, I find it simple, fast. In both cases.. I tend to use the pregens.. I want to get on to them appearing in a game than design work. The World [Designer/Maker] Book they published is a work of delightful complexity but again I prefer to click on a button and get a system from H&E or one of the only T5 online tools. For me I want to get to the plot elements quickly.

Mongoose keep giving me Charted Space, both new and revisited, they give me a regularish journal, they give me adventures. I only need two rulebooks for the system. I get gifts from others and it's the settings I really treasure.

I have used many Zozer publications in play.. I just have a rough approximate for how to cope with hits..

I have found the multiple Stellagamma variants confusing and the ones I have bought have disappointed me in layout, style and rules explanation.

I have never been disappointed by a Zozer publication.. I am confident that this version is sound but I would prefer to plan and run games than worry too much about rules.

So.. too many Cepheus from Stellagamma.. the alternatives offered aren't enough for me to care.. I want to get to the plot elements fast and play games.. Mongoose give me lots of Charted Space.. I can play 2300ad with the same ruleset.. I can use all the stuff out there with my lovely fuzzy GM head (and do).. so I just use the rules I own.
 
It was helpful to think this over.

I think CD soured me but essentially I just don't need most of the variants when I look.

HOSTILE isn't really 2300, but it is one of the C settings I would enjoy.

However, and this is important, I will always play Cepheus if offered AND any blend of it and MgT.. or indeed T5, T4, CT...
 
Probably going to get Cepheus Universal as my Christmas present to myself. I liked what I saw in the preview on DriveThru. Original Cepheus was ok but I find it a bit dense for my needs (Starship Combat in particuar seems very involved). Not been very excited by the various other iterations (from Stellagama is it?).
 
Cepheus Universal is Zozer. The others are mostly Stellagama.

Digest sized take is my own resizing via Lulu.
 
Dom said:
Cepheus Universal is Zozer. The others are mostly Stellagama.
Click to expand...
I've got a fair amount of Zozer's Hostile stuff - first ed book, plus Gun Locker, Alien Breed, Hot Zone and Synthetics. I prefer Paul Elliott's take on an Alien style universe to the one in the official Alien RPG. Quite like the idea of Cepheus Universal to run Hostile but also games in other settings.
 
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