As I'm sure most people reading this will know, Cepheus Light is a simplified version of the Cepheus Engine sci fi rpg, based on the classic Three Black Booklets of the first well known space based rpg. This Faster Than Light version contains the basic rules for character creation, mustering out and benefits, equipment and the money system including weapons. Rules for ground, air and spaceship movement and combat. There are example ships with stats. As such, it's not the whole game. But it doesn't claim to be and wasn't designed to be. So, how useful is it? The answer is, very useful, within it's scope. It is clearly written, concise and for someone who knows their way around an rpg, sensibly laid out. How would you use it? I can see two main uses straight away: firstly as a quick reference book for referee and players at the table. You could even give copies to the players before the game if they've not played before. Secondly, if you as a referee are familiar with the genre and are happy to create your own material, you don't need pages and pages on world building or detailed table top spaceship combat rules. You could hack these up yourself. Or, with relative ease you could use source books from other games to give you campaign material. One would only need to adjust the money system and assign equivalent tech levels to do this. In fact, that's probably what I will do for a few games and see how it goes. I gave it five stars because anything else would be churlish. If I do have a quibble, it's only with the lack of artwork. But then, thinking of the game's ancestors, those little black books where just a wall of text weren't they?

Pretty much everything available to run an scenario with a group of mates, some beers and some nibbles. The full CE:SRD or CE: Lght rules sets are available for those wanting to run campaigns within a fuller setting.

It's free, it's stripped down to the essentials of sci-fi roleplaying, and it's concise. This is a framework--there's no DM advice, and a great deal of the roleplaying elements are left up to the referee to make up (trading, for example, as a previous reviewer has mentioned)....and that's 100% OK. If you need something weightier, get Cepheus Light or the full-blown version.

You really can't complain about a free product that simply and effectively does exactly what it advertises....and best of all, no death at character creation. ;)

Cepheus: Faster Than Light is just about all you'd need to play, but it lacks a few things you'd need to run the game. There is nothing on planet/system building, building your own ships or vehicles or trade. However, that's not a problam though as Cepheus Light is also "pay what you want", available here and that adds everything else you'd need!

I will add one nit-pick, though, and that is the lack of a Trader/Broker skill in both of Omer's Light versions of Cepheus. I typically run Merchant campaigns or, at least, the PC's are having to "do trade" to keep their heads above water and make their ship payments. :) I've decided that I'm going to add it myself at 1/2 the number of terms a character was in the Merchant career...1 term = Trader-0, 2 or 3 terms = Trader-1, 4-5 terms = Trader-2, etc. I know Omer included other skills for the find cargo / negotiate price routine, but I want something specific and I'm going to let the Trader skill replace any of the other skills used for Trading. This is just a nit-pick, though, as using Liasion/Streetwise/Admin/Carousing/Int/Soc would get the job done.