Ive been browsing for a good system for a hard sci fi campaign. Ive gone through a tone but really like a couple of the settings made for Traveller or the Cepheus Engine. Anyone have any experience with both? I was set on Mongoose Traveller as the newest version out there but it seems Cepheus has a pretty big following for what amounts to a cleaned up version of a very old system. Is it worth a go?

There's an old thread, this one https://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?36208-Clement-Sector-The-Rules-a-fixed-version-of-Cepheus-Engine where I asked about a "fixed" version of Cepheus Engine. We found the rules and written to be unusable.

Quote from: rgrove0172;1038083Ive been browsing for a good system for a hard sci fi campaign. Ive gone through a tone but really like a couple of the settings made for Traveller or the Cepheus Engine. Anyone have any experience with both? I was set on Mongoose Traveller as the newest version out there but it seems Cepheus has a pretty big following for what amounts to a cleaned up version of a very old system. Is it worth a go?

You might give Clement Sector a try.  That's our version of the Cepheus Engine rules with modifications to fit our setting.

And it's on the Bundle of Holding until Monday the 14th.

(I'd post the link but I'm not sure of the rules here about ad links outside the ad forum...)

Quote from: Gypsy Knights Games;1038093You might give Clement Sector a try.  That's our version of the Cepheus Engine rules with modifications to fit our setting.

And it's on the Bundle of Holding until Monday the 14th.

(I'd post the link but I'm not sure of the rules here about ad links outside the ad forum...)

That's the conclusion I came to in the other thread--try Clement Sector.

Could be Im missing something but it looks like the commentary on that thread regarding Clement Sector was essentially about a little vagueness in a bit of the character generation section. If thats all the Cepheus Engine has troubling it I dont really see a problem. We pretty much freeform our characters anyway regardless of what system we use. As long as the core mechanics are sound (personnel combat, vehicle combat, space combat, skill resolution, space travel etc. ) its all good as far as Im concerned. Im a pretty notorious house ruler anyway. Is there some other fundamental flaw with Cepheus that would make me want to stick with Mongoose Traveller or some other reason?

By the way, Im sure Clement Sector is great but when I hear its been modified to fit a setting, Im out. Ill have my own setting to modify the existing rules with in most cases.

I bought a bunch of the Clement Sector stuff and it looks very well done to me. It seems like the same "traveller" char gen with more options for species and careers. TONS of nice details, I feel like you could run a game in Clement Sector for 5 years. :-D

I should probably throw in that the settings Im looking at are near future, hard sci-fi in type and seriously curb a lot of FTL, advanced weaponry, power sources etc. There are no aliens in any setting Ill run (except for nasty critters) so thats not an issue. Ill look at Clement Sector though, no harm in browsing it.

Quote from: rgrove0172;1038119I should probably throw in that the settings Im looking at are near future, hard sci-fi in type and seriously curb a lot of FTL, advanced weaponry, power sources etc. There are no aliens in any setting Ill run (except for nasty critters) so thats not an issue. Ill look at Clement Sector though, no harm in browsing it.

There's In The Dark for Cepheus and Hostile which are more hard sci-fi, lower tech. IIRC In The Dark is near future, solar system only.

Quote from: trechriron;1038137There's In The Dark for Cepheus and Hostile which are more hard sci-fi, lower tech. IIRC In The Dark is near future, solar system only.

There's also a few individual releases that are compatible with Hostile (Alien Breeds, Orbital 2100 and Far Horizon) from the same publisher

Quote from: rgrove0172;1038107Could be Im missing something but it looks like the commentary on that thread regarding Clement Sector was essentially about a little vagueness in a bit of the character generation section. If thats all the Cepheus Engine has troubling it I dont really see a problem. We pretty much freeform our characters anyway regardless of what system we use. As long as the core mechanics are sound (personnel combat, vehicle combat, space combat, skill resolution, space travel etc. ) its all good as far as Im concerned. Im a pretty notorious house ruler anyway. Is there some other fundamental flaw with Cepheus that would make me want to stick with Mongoose Traveller or some other reason?

By the way, Im sure Clement Sector is great but when I hear its been modified to fit a setting, Im out. Ill have my own setting to modify the existing rules with in most cases.

We never got past character generation. Cepheus Engine SRD is PWYW, so get it for zero to test it. If you like it, drop them some money.

The issues we found with CE were big enough that, even if I were planning to house rule everything, I'd start from Clement Sector (or some other variant). I found them a bigger deal than "a little vagueness" -- we found the generation rules impossible to use. IIRC, we found similar issues with starship construction.

I would do this simply because I assume the issues we found in Character Generation are present in other places in the CE SRD. Starting from Clement Sector should give you a shared base understanding, rather than an inconsistent understanding from the SRD.

Plus that Bundle of Holding is pretty nice.

I also like that John Watts is very professional and contributes positively in all the threads in which I've seen GKG post.

The Bundle of Holding for all the Clement Sector options is currently $21, or $10 for the base three. Alternatively, if you're not publishing this, the Classic Traveller CD is $35.

It strikes me that all these systems are fundamentally extremely similar.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1038529It strikes me that all these systems are fundamentally extremely similar.

That's why we're talking about them. The main difference is how clear the writing is.

Quote from: Tod13;1038553That's why we're talking about them. The main difference is how clear the writing is.

You said there were issues with the writing of Cepheus Engine. What we're they? I'm looking for specifics to see if things might be improved.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1038529It strikes me that all these systems are fundamentally extremely similar.

Yep. CE took some of its rules straight from Mongoose Traveller, that are not mentioned in the SRD.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1038700Yep. CE took some of its rules straight from Mongoose Traveller, that are not mentioned in the SRD.

It did? Which rules?