This is my first Game review here, I hope you guys find it useful.

1520:HRE 2D6 Adventure in the Holy Roman Empire is a historical RPG using the Cepheus Engine for mechanics and set in it's name sake, the Holy Roman Empire.  It's published by Long Shadows Press, distributed by DriveThruRPG, and available in hardback, soft cover, and PDF.  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/397322/1520HRE-2D6-Adventure-in-the-Holy-Roman-Empire

I bought this a couple of weeks back as a PDF and took a read through.  I love Traveller/Cepheus Engine and I was intrigued by the concept of the book.  I like it enough that I'll buy a hardback soon. 

First, if you're not familiar with the Traveller/Cepheus 2D6 system, it's skill based rather than level based.  PC development is done by improving skills rather than by gaining levels.  It's also classless (in the traditional RPG sense, it does have social classes).  Instead, you are rolling based on passed careers your PC had before the start of the game.  All in all, I think it's a good fit for the setting.  If you are interested in learning more about the mechanics (without spending money on a book first), you can go on line and look at the Cepheus Engine SRD online here: https://www.orffenspace.com/cepheus-srd/index.html.  Also, Seth Skorkowski did a Traveller overview video series (99% the same as Cepheus Engine) that's in-depth and explains a lot very well.  It's available on youtube.

Over half the book is the setting material.  The late Medieval/early Renascence period in the Holy Roman Empire is fascinating.  The HRE wasn't a single monolithic country but many countries all under the banner of the Emperor.  This included several kingdoms, lands held privately by nobles and royalty, and free cities not beholden to a noble but directly under the emperor.  The middle class freedoms that were new to the era and advances in economic theories allowed some commoners to rise to incredible levels of wealth, making them more powerful than many of the countries in the HRE.

There's very little deviation from Cepheus Engine in the way of mechanics.  There are a couple of added items specific to the setting and the present technology to bring it in line with the historical feel it's going for.  For veterans of Traveller and Cepheus Engine, it'll be effortless to pick this up and play.

Without changing anything but the setting, you could use this to run a buccaneers game, a colonial Americas game, or any setting from the High Middle Ages to the verge of the industrial Revolution. 

It doesn't have anything in the way of magic or mysticism.  There are several other Cepheus Engine compatible products that could work to add supernatural elements if so desired.  In my opinion, I don't think is would work out very well to mix it with the more common scifi settings for this systems largely because the ratio between the TL 4 weapons and armor would be too strong in comparison with the plasma weapons and high tech battle suites from TL 10-15 sources. 

The Holy Roman Empire in historical context is very complex.  In reality, this book barely scratches the surface of everything that's going on in 16th Century HRE.  This begs for some supplements to flesh it out.  Source books for factions would be excellent.  A book for the structure of a noble house, roles and work done by those roles, and manners and protocols for doing business with nobles would be great.  A catalogue of weapons, armor, and gear would be welcome as well.  Seriously, there's so much going on that they could produce a library of books just on fleshing out the setting that it could rival Rifts. 

There are currently no adventures written for this game.  If you want to run it, you'll either have to adapt other material or create from scratch.  That said, a creative mind will find the setting very fertile for all kinds of adventuring.

There's two things that I don't like, both involve the skills list.  The first, the skills list lumps some things together I think really aught to be separate items.  As an example, Watercraft is a skill in the use of all boats, ships, and the like.  The ability to handle a row boat is very different from a sail boat or a full sized ocean going ship.  This could be remedied by a GM by simply making sub skills like Cepheus Engine proper does. 

The second is that the book links skills to a specific stat rather that allowing the GM to match a stat to a skill for a given set of circumstances.  It's an easy enough fix, just ignore it and roll dice as usual.

The Good:
- It uses it's core mechanics very well.
- The setting is excellent.
- It's beautiful.

The Bad
- The book is a little on the dry side.  It reads as a college history report at times.
- It's a singular book with no supporting supplements or adventures currently.
- I don't like a couple of the deviations from the mechanics.

Thanks for the review, I've been on-and-off interested in this, but the page count and price sealed my disinterest (especially when compared to the free offerings of Mercator and Traveller: 1700). It seems like it's a fine choice for the right group, steeped in the history of that particular era and location.

Quote from: rhialto on June 22, 2023, 06:45:02 AM
Thanks for the review, I've been on-and-off interested in this, but the page count and price sealed my disinterest (especially when compared to the free offerings of Mercator and Traveller: 1700). It seems like it's a fine choice for the right group, steeped in the history of that particular era and location.

I'm glad you found the review useful.  I feel a review is only as good as it's ability to help someone decide if the product is worth the money.
 
I agree that this is a great product for the right table.  Historical RPGs are a bit more of a niche genre so I think it's more important to highlight the good ones.  I've looked at Mercator and 1700.  I think they are good as well.  1520 HRE is more fleshed out than they are but all of them are great.