When I decided to start moving from SF tabletop miniatures gaming to actual roleplaying, I had to decide on a ruleset to use. I wanted to use a SF version of The Fantasy Trip, but that proved to be unworkable. Here’s why I chose Cepheus Engine as that ruleset.
Why I Wanted SF Roleplaying Rules
In the beginning, I did not really plan to use my Far Jewel universe as a roleplaying setting. My plan was to just use it to play Full Thrust. But as time went on, and I fleshed out the system more and more, I began to like the idea of using it for no-kidding roleplaying. That begged the question: which ruleset could I use?
So I asked the question on a couple Google+ communities. I explained that my original thought was to convert my favorite fantasy roleplaying game, The Fantasy Trip, to a SF setting. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that converting TFT to SF would be just too much damn work–and I didn’t have that much time.
One of the systems that was recommended by Brett Slocum was Cepheus Engine. Based on the original SF roleplaying game Traveller, the more I looked at CE the more I liked it. It was a ways from what I was used to in TFT or GURPS but still, it looked like it was the best option.
The thing that it was missing, that I really wanted, was a way to play it solo. I do not have a regular gaming group, so all my gaming is pretty much by myself. Then I found Zozer Games’ Solo. Solo is designed for use with CE or any other 2d6 system, and is fantastic for solo gaming.
What I Really Like About Cepheus Engine
So for CE, what did I really like about it? Well, for one, the 2d6 mechanism was clean and simple, although I didn’t care too much for the random nature of the character generation system. I would rather have a point-buy system like TFT where you craft your character just the way you want them.
Another thing I liked was that CE was setting agnostic–it was not tied to a specific SF setting. I already had a setting that I had invested a lot of time and effort into, and did not want to throw that away. I also did not want to cram the rules into my setting, either. CE just worked.
One more thing I liked was that it had a downloadable System Reference Document (SRD) in Word format. This something I could use to incorporate all of my house rules into and have them in one neat place.
Finally, CE meshed seamlessly with Solo. Solo was designed to work with CE, so the two work together perfectly. With that, I had a clean set of roleplaying rules that did exactly what I needed them to do, with minimal work.
So What Next?
Well, the next step for me is to quit worldbuilding and just start playing! I’ve come up with my initial adventures, created my perfect party, built enough setting to start playing… now I just need to do it!
As I go through the adventures/missions, I will write about my thoughts on how well the systems worked, how the setting works, and post the actual plays. I expect to do this later this month.
I am still going to keep fleshing out my Far Jewel universe, too–that will never be done. I will post updates to that information as well.
So stay tuned–it will be a blast!
Marko ∞
(Originally published on farjewel.com, on 4/1/2018.)
