Great Sci-if game. Tons of stuff here and well written and though out.

I wanted to give a thorough review of this title, as it seems some of the other reviews here are a bit short. To blunt my review a bit, I will be fair and state that I fully support indie developers and understand their limited time and resources. I don't expect (or want) Pathfinder when I buy products like this. However, I have a hope that feedback can help the developers improve over time.

My group: We mostly play simple systems and prefer low fantasy. We wanted to take a break from our usual system (SWADE, Beasts & Barbarians) and tried a short trial of Sword of Cepheus (6-ish hours).

Here are the bulletpoints of our experience:

Mechanics: Surprisingly clunky resolution mechanic despite being a 2d6 system. Rolls need several modifiers both from the player and GM. This might get easier with time, but it didn't get intuitive for us. For an easier 2d6 system in the same genre I'd recommend Barbarians of Lemuria. The modifiers need a special mention. Your main stats are rolled as 2d6, with equals a modifier. Exactly like people are used to from DnD - except that the modifiers corresponding to a given score ARE NOT the same values as in DnD. Insanely confusing for people who have grown up playing DnD (basically everyone). Obviously 2d6 isn't 1d20 but I would strongly advise the authors to redo the math to make it fit with what players are used to.

Nomenclature: Sword of Cepheus have decided to use their own words and nomenclature. A refreshing, albeit very confusing, choice. For instance there is no "rolling", it's "throwing". Why? No idea. Stat are written in their own hexadecimal typeset, so a 15 is "F" for instance. Why? No idea. Presumably it is to avoid misunderstandings when writing your stats in a long line (they call this UPP). But there is no reason to do such a thing, just as there is no reason to translate your character-sheet into binary code. When writing a skill level it's written as: "Medicine-1". This means that you have +1 to Medicine... Except when it's a modifier denounced by the ever-familiar acronym "DM". Then DM-1 means 2d6-1. Ohh, and DM of course means Dice Modifier silly. What made you think otherwise?!

Character creation: Character creation is a game in itself, and one probably best left for a fun night with beers on the table. You roll into a career to get skill points. The longer you manage to "stay" in the career, the more skill points you get. I.e. it's impossible to make a balanced party. Which is fine in itself, but very hard to sell to players. It's literally impossible to min/max since EVERYTHING about character creation is randomized. Which is technically a somewhat good thing since the power difference in skills is vast. For instance, guess what's more important of these two skills: "Melee Combat": fighting hand-to-hand, either with a weapon or unarmed." "Steward: the care and serving of nobility, celebrities and other guests of high status and importance." Yes, you guessed right - this is not a game about being a butler. Or is it (see under Combat section). Instead of using the normal way in modern game design of removing virtually useless skills, or at least folding many of them into one, Sword of Cepheus have gone with the interesting choice of forcing players into playing a Vagabond with high Crafts. We're talking about a game with a giant, firebreathing dragon on the front here, not The Sims: Iron Age.

Oftentimes it's actually better to kill a character in creation than play it and slow the group down. Which is lucky since dying in character creation is super easy! Not like in Dark Heresy where it's a fun 1:100 thing. Nope, it's very easy to die before you start, to the point where it took us waaay too long to make characters. Which is ok for a Pathfinder game, but not what you expect from a 2d6 game.

An example: Say you want to play a Barbarian. You roll your stats and get an average Endurance of 7. The "Survival" roll of the Barbarian profession is 7+, so you need to roll 7 or above on 2d6 unmodified or you will die. Fair enough, you got about a 60% chance of not dying, right? Wrong - you need to make the roll 4 times to get the average skillpoints the game seems balanced around. So in fact you have about a 87% of dying in character creation.... You're welcome to quit before (and thus let your character live to actual gameplay), but again this will nerf you substantially. Or not, since you might roll completely useless skills. From a background standpoint, I really think the authors have a good idea here. There are tons of tables with fun things that can have happened to your character before session 1, which is good for less imaginative people. But as it stands, it's virtually unusable to players used to point-buy systems and designing their own character concept. I don't play Sword & Sorcery to be an artful farmer, I play to be Conan!

Combat: Prepare to whiff a lot. Like, really a lot. The target number on 2d6 is 8, with a -3 penalty if you didn't get lucky enough to roll Melee Combat at character creation. Yup, you have an 8% chance of hitting the enemy. Fun times. You don't have hit points. You use the sum of your Endurance, Strength and Dexterity. So you have 3 pools to manage and balance out, since if one or two goes to 0 you suffer wounds. Does it affect your abilities to lose these points? Are they like stats-drains in DnD? No idea, the rules do not say. Why not just sum them up and use that as a hit points pool, and say you suffer a wound if you go below half? No idea whatsoever, other than the authors felt the game needed more number-crunching (hint: It doesn't).

I can't say much more about the combat system since my players got so fed up with it that they decided not to fight at all. Which is technically a rational decision and made for a very realistic, and very un-Conan-esque, game. They simply left the ruins/dungeon I had planned and went back to town to apply for normal jobs. Then we played watercraft simulator for an hour, until I wanted to inject some excitement and had a costumer pull a knife. Which mortally crippled one character and made the rest abandon ship. One drowned since he didn't get athletics at creation (thank God at least swimming is not a seperate skill). Then it was time for farming fun and I gave up.

Layout: Lots of tables and very little fluff, which in my opinion is good. I don't need another Sword & Sorcery setting. Text is easily readable, although the pages are a bit too dense. But it keeps the pagecount down. The art is sparse and pretty generic except for some almost naïve pictures that honestly look like something sketched on the back of a character sheet. It's certainly new, and does underline the indie quality of the product. However, it does nothing to set the mood or scene. Just take a look at the beautiful layout of the Beasts & Barbarians Steel Edition players guide to see how much art can do to hammer home the feel of a setting. I do realise that the Steel Edition was backed by a massive Kickstarter - I know art costs. It's not a critique, just an observation.

Magic system: Really, the one saving grace of this system and the reason I feel like I got my money's worth after all. Not that original in the design, but super flavourful and setting appropriate. You are set up to fail spectacularily and mutate, blow up or get corrupted into NPC-hood (or all of the above) in very short order. Don't expect to survive as a caster - but then again, neither does the rest of the characters. Think "Perils of the Warp" from Dark Heresy/Only War. Which in my opinion is just like magic should be in Sword & Sorcery. I will definetely be using the magic system going forward in our games of Barbarians of Lemuria, as magic is the one major weakness of that system in my opinion. In my own game I was unable to try it out since none of my players were able to qualify for a sorcerer despite trying.

Conclusion: I really wanted to like Sword of Cepheus, but as the product stands it's heavily scarred by what I can only assume is a severe lack of playtesting. I can't believe the authors themselves found trying to make characters for several hours fun?!? As it stands the system needs serious work in core mechanics of dice-rolling and modifier, not to mention simple balancing of skills. It really feels like the authors were trying too hard to come up with new solutions to problems that do not exist. Why not just use common spelling and mechanics? I cannot in good faith recommend this game to anyone in its current form. Unless you want to port/hack the magic system. If you want to support Stellagama Games, I would instead recommend Barbaric!2E which feels like a simpler, smoother version of Sword of Cepheus. Or just play Barbarians of Lemuria like the rest of us.

Edit: Spelling errors and formatting.

I like Cephus. I'm not sold on Deluxe yet. I like the older version well enough. It is a solid, self contained system that is very robust and easy for new players. My main critique is the layout. The fancy border is pretty, but on anything smaller than a large tablet, beware, that fancy border chews up a lot of screen and I end up zooming a lot to read what's there. I would pay for a black and white, no graphics option for the PDF.

I grabbed this while I was on vacation to throw a game together with some family members I was visiting.

The book is pretty well organized. I had to flip through it for about 45 minutes to get a basic overview and to understand how the emergent events and tables worked. After that I was able to run it pretty comfortably from the book with no other prep.

The factions and events are all very flavorful. Everything really comes together to establish the chaotic feel of a city at riot which is a kind of metroplis based adventure I haven't really seen before.

Pros Lore - There are a lot factions at play in the city. The information on each is kept concise but packed with goodness and imagination fuel. Likewise the history of the empire/region are spread out in nice bite sized pieces throughout the different factions

Encounters - Lots of unique things to run into as players move through the city. There is potential for combat, intrigue, puzzles, etc.

Variability - With all of the different events and areas to explore I could see myself running this adventure fairly often as an intro/test game for new groups without getting tired of it.

Art - Very well done pencil drawings throughout ranging from detailed/realistic to more simplistic. Just clean llustrations that were nice to look at and jived with the themes of the adventure.

GM mechanics - Rolling up different city streets, events, and keeping track of the frost giant clock is actually fun and exciting to do as the GM. Simple but unique mechanics that keep things spicey for everyone.

Cons

Writing - For the english version I think it is pretty evident the author isnt a native speaker. There were a few gramatical errors but mostly a lot of sentences just read oddly. It didnt bother me but I suppose it's worth noting.

Vague Escape Conditions - This adventure really leaves it up to the GM on how far the players should need to travel to get out of the city. Normally I appreciate some freedom but since the players are on a secret timer and the frequency of encounters increase the longer they remain in the city I think it's imporant from a balance perspective to have a ballpark idea to play off.

Probably the most fun of the Cephus style games out there.
Is it as glossy as some of the other systems? No. This product is also a fraction of the cost, and is a self contained system unto itself. No frills, just quality gaming material that can be used stand alone, or stripped the material down to its parts and harvest into other cephus style games.

This OSR is a very nice contribution to OSR Whitebox style games with some interesting additions. The game book begins by introducing the game makers.

The game itself contains the usual four classes of the original game, but the importance of the Cleric is stressed as they are the only character that can permanently destroy undead. The Mage, in turn, has clear rules for buidling a laboratory and creating magical items; this is something that is not explained in most short rulesets.

Each class has a unique set of special abilities, and the Cleric and Mage have 6 spells for each spell power (spell level) which is helpful for rolling a random spell.

The simply one roll resolution of the classes for saving throws or skills such the the thievery subterfuge is very nice and in keeping with the likes of OSR such as Whitebox: FMAG. The art is well chosen historical pen and ink which gives a good medieval feel.

Something else new in the game is optional race as classes - all of which are unque to Whitebox - the Antedlluvian, the clockwork Dwarf, and the Lizard-Kin at the end of the book.

Some other nice additions include an aging table (the formatting could have been tweaked a little but overall a nice find!), streamlined and easy to use encumbrance rules (finally!), and some random dungeon flavor tables (note: these are not encounter tables, but rather evoke mood and tell what objects are in a room...)

The treasure lists are very interesting as well, and include helpful random tables.

One minor quibble with the game is that it is not clear how many spells a day a Cleric can cast on page 8. But like other OSR rules, we can easily extrapolite using the Mage rules, but it does leave guess work for a novice gamer.

Also, the list of monsters is great with some unique ones though I prefer OSR games with random encounter tables for dungeons and wilderness like other Swords and Wizardry or Whitebox games to help cut down on GM prep and also allow for solo game experience. This is perhaps a design choice, and a GM can of course create their own encounter tables from the list of monsters provided.

Finally, I found a few minor errata that I shared with the creators. They are small ones, so the game is still completely playable.

Overall the book and content give the game a unique take on Whitebox. Despite a few minor hiccups that I found in the rules or editing, this is a very solid and playable game with well-thought out game rules. I recommend it strongly as an addition to anyone's Whitebox style OSR library!

A very nice pocket RPG. Great to bring along on a camping trip or short vacation for a one shot or 2-3 session run.

The great heavenly sage of the west approves of this product. Buy it now !

This was my introduction to Cepheus (though I've played the game it is based on). Really enjoy Cepheus, it does everything you might expect from a good science fiction rpg. Has some great generative tools as well. If your on the roam for a good game in the same flavor of great Sci-Fi shows such as Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, or even Star Trek or Babylon 5. I'd say the default flavor is definetly more toward the former rather than the latter, but this game has a pretty great kit that can be tweaked and added to quite easily.

Love the system, one of my favorites. It's a D6 based system rather than the more popular d20 system, but that's not a downside. The system is easy to learn. Even if you've only ever played a d20 based game or haven't played an rpg before, this system isn't too tricky to pick up and play.

I love these rules, they combine the best of Classic Traveller and Mongoose Traveller, with other original ideas thrown in as well to improve on both systems. They are simple and easy to use, very clear to understand and well written with no obvious mistakes (there are a few mistakes in the associated character/planet design forms though - Reecon, etc but I will use my own anyway). I love the chargen system, even though I am an old fan of the Classic Traveller randomness I can see the benefits of choosing your path to create a more desirable character to play. Just need to make a Referee's Screen now! Could do with better illustrations and possibly a more subtle colour pallette, but I can live with them considering how good the rules are.

" Flying through the air throwing blasts of energy from your hands, stopping otherwise doomed passenger trains with super-strength, and always thwarting the evil plans of villains bent on world domination: such is the life of superpowered heroes!"

"Superpowered! is a lightweight, 2d6-based role-playing game that allows players to play these superpowered heroes, with highly varied powers, as they work to keep their city, country, world, and the universe safe from the evil plots of those who would destroy all that is right and good."

"Superpowered! is based on the Quantum Engine and is thus compatible with Stellagama Publishing's Cepheus Atom post-apocalyptic rules, Barbaric! sword & sorcery rules, and Quantum Starfarer space-opera rules."

Superpowered! By Richard Hazelwood From Stellagama Publishing For Your 2d6 OSR Campaigns came my way vie Stellagama Publishing. So what does Superpowered! By Richard Hazelwood bring to the table?! A 2d6 superhero rpg that brings the caped heroes to the 2d6 table top arena. And it looks like a pretty solid entry into the genre being powered by the Quantum Engine. Superpowered! acts as both a supplemental system & a stand alone super hero rpg.

Superpowered! By Richard Hazelwood From Stellagama Publishing is a full service super hero rpg within it's own right. And can add a real nice wrinkle to the 2d6 rpg & campaign world. Superpowered! includes a full array of super powers, genre tropes, ideas, & much more for your 2d6 powered campaigns. At five dollars for a hundred pagess worth of game it's a well worth investiment of time & man power on Stellagama Publishing. And it's really a worth addition to your 2d6 campaigns! If combined with Barbaric then the mutant populations of the 2d6 wastelands are going to become much more interesting places. And Stellagama Publishing's Barbaric can add a flare for failed colonies, wild planets, and even whole cloth battle worlds. Is worth Stellagama Publishing's efforts including Superpowered! By Richard Hazelwood worth getting?! In a word, oh yes! That's because the 2d6 landscape of the hobby has been changing for the better. There's tons of options & world settings for 2d6 meaning that DM's & players can really customize their PC's as the system allows fast character creation, lots & lots of options, and a solid system for role playing with 2d6 games. Superpowered! By Richard Hazelwood brings a ton of that to the table top with really solid mechanics, a great system, and a really nice price point. Thanks for reading our review Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want to see more OSR action? Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Amazing! I have read this book cover to cover a few times now, and I am very impressed. I am particularly fond of how the career pages look compared to the previous version of Cepheus Deluxe. I think that the overall visual theme is great, it looks very professional the colors choices are spectacular.

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.

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.

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!