#cepheusengine — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #cepheusengine, aggregated by home.social.
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https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/19875/Wild-Bee-Publishing
DTRPG is doing their Christmas in July sale. If you are interested in a science fiction RPG using real star maps check out Solis People of the Sun.
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https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/19875/Wild-Bee-Publishing
DTRPG is doing their Christmas in July sale. If you are interested in a science fiction RPG using real star maps check out Solis People of the Sun.
-
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/19875/Wild-Bee-Publishing
DTRPG is doing their Christmas in July sale. If you are interested in a science fiction RPG using real star maps check out Solis People of the Sun.
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Ride Off with Big Old West RPG Savings with the Rider Bundle of Holding
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A great article on the various Traveller/Cepheus Engine games.
https://mtb-za.github.io/says-who/thoughts/2026/06/cepheus_hacks/
#TTRPG #TravellerRpg #Traveller #CepheusEngine #Cepheus #ClassicTraveller
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A great article on the various Traveller/Cepheus Engine games.
https://mtb-za.github.io/says-who/thoughts/2026/06/cepheus_hacks/
#TTRPG #TravellerRpg #Traveller #CepheusEngine #Cepheus #ClassicTraveller
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A great article on the various Traveller/Cepheus Engine games.
https://mtb-za.github.io/says-who/thoughts/2026/06/cepheus_hacks/
#TTRPG #TravellerRpg #Traveller #CepheusEngine #Cepheus #ClassicTraveller
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In trying to explain Traveller to the OSR discord I spent way too much time on this chart.
Short answer: support indie creators there’s awesome stuff in the Cepheus space. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
#TTRPG #Traveller #TravellerRpg #Cepheus #CepheusEngine #ClassicTraveller
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In trying to explain Traveller to the OSR discord I spent way too much time on this chart.
Short answer: support indie creators there’s awesome stuff in the Cepheus space. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
#TTRPG #Traveller #TravellerRpg #Cepheus #CepheusEngine #ClassicTraveller
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In trying to explain Traveller to the OSR discord I spent way too much time on this chart.
Short answer: support indie creators there’s awesome stuff in the Cepheus space. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
#TTRPG #Traveller #TravellerRpg #Cepheus #CepheusEngine #ClassicTraveller
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okay #TravellerRPG heads I fish for opinions - What do you think of rolling for events during character creation? Like it, don't like it, mixed? Do you feel different towards career events and life events?
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okay #TravellerRPG heads I fish for opinions - What do you think of rolling for events during character creation? Like it, don't like it, mixed? Do you feel different towards career events and life events?
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okay #TravellerRPG heads I fish for opinions - What do you think of rolling for events during character creation? Like it, don't like it, mixed? Do you feel different towards career events and life events?
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What are you waiting for? Winter sale on the SPOTS AD bundle, just $10 a savings of 71%! Solis People of the Sun is a Cepheus Engine ATU using accurate starmaps in a near future setting, so c'mon let's go!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/395144/spots-ad-bundle
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What are you waiting for? Winter sale on the SPOTS AD bundle, just $10 a savings of 71%! Solis People of the Sun is a Cepheus Engine ATU using accurate starmaps in a near future setting, so c'mon let's go!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/395144/spots-ad-bundle
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What are you waiting for? Winter sale on the SPOTS AD bundle, just $10 a savings of 71%! Solis People of the Sun is a Cepheus Engine ATU using accurate starmaps in a near future setting, so c'mon let's go!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/395144/spots-ad-bundle
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Premium Dice. 16 mm, 7 Black, 2 White, and 1 Red; high density plastic, Koplow, made in China. Comes with a purple velvet pouch while supplies last.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/546895/premium-16-mm-dice -
I've finished up my adventure for Cepheus Engine / Traveller and other sci-fi RPGs
It's a somewhat silly action scenario where the players have to save a planet's only source of oxygen.
**Dumb Guys & Big Oxy**
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/552504/dumb-guys-big-oxy
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I've finished up my adventure for Cepheus Engine / Traveller and other sci-fi RPGs
It's a somewhat silly action scenario where the players have to save a planet's only source of oxygen.
**Dumb Guys & Big Oxy**
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/552504/dumb-guys-big-oxy
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For the new year, I'm planning on taking some of the more self-contained adventures I've been running during my Traveller campaign and releasing them as Cepheus Engine one-shot zines.
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For the new year, I'm planning on taking some of the more self-contained adventures I've been running during my Traveller campaign and releasing them as Cepheus Engine one-shot zines.
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I picked up Sword of Cepheus yesterday, and dang, I can't wait to play it! This big Traveller kick I've been on lately has been very fruitful :)
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Check out this new short fiction in the Solis People of the Sun universe. An Emissary from Earth, hires a mercenary frigate to go explore beyond the frontier of human space in search of possible alien encounters.
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Cepheus Engine, basically Traveller OGL, rules are pwyw on DTRPG, though also online here: https://www.orffenspace.com/cepheus-srd/introduction.html
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My table setup for the Hostile game I ran at last weekend's Travellercon-USA.
It went well - a lot of ammo was expended, one guy was betrayed, and there was a big explosion.
#TravellerCon #Hostile #CepheusEngine #TTRPG -
My table setup for the Hostile game I ran at last weekend's Travellercon-USA.
It went well - a lot of ammo was expended, one guy was betrayed, and there was a big explosion.
#TravellerCon #Hostile #CepheusEngine #TTRPG -
Kosmic the core rules for Solis People of the Sun (hard sf, solarpunk, using accurate starmaps) is the deal of the day on drive thru https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/458032/kosmic-role-playing-game-core-rules?src=DotD Featuring 39 careers with expanded character generation including d66 tables for career events for each career. Plus much more, such as hex map combat for starships.
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Assassin career from Kosmic RPG
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@AdamMakesTTRPG I have a hard sf, solarpunkish setting, with accurate star maps using cepheus. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/19875/Wild-Bee-Publishing
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@AdamMakesTTRPG I have a hard sf, solarpunkish setting, with accurate star maps using cepheus. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/19875/Wild-Bee-Publishing
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@AdamMakesTTRPG I have a hard sf, solarpunkish setting, with accurate star maps using cepheus. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/19875/Wild-Bee-Publishing
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I've been playing around with the Tau Ceti setting (Vietnam War on a Dinosaur Planet ) for the retro-80s Hostile RPG.
I've made a post with some of my additions to the setting:
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2025/09/20/hostile-tales-of-a-vietnam-war-dinosaur-planet/
#TTRPG #CepheusEngine #Hostile -
I've been playing around with the Tau Ceti setting (Vietnam War on a Dinosaur Planet ) for the retro-80s Hostile RPG.
I've made a post with some of my additions to the setting:
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2025/09/20/hostile-tales-of-a-vietnam-war-dinosaur-planet/
#TTRPG #CepheusEngine #Hostile -
Hostile – Tales of a Vietnam War Dinosaur Planet
I’ve been planning on running some games in the Hostile setting, the retro-80s, Aliens-inspired sci-fi RPG from Zozer games.
The specific part of the setting I’m interested is the world of Tau Ceti, a jungle planet embroiled in a guerrilla war between an American-backed government, and a Chinese-backed insurgency. It’s clearly a Vietnam war analogy, with all of the storytelling possibilities that setting provides.
Any conflict produces its own mythology, and the guerrilla war on Tau Ceti is no different. Here’s a few Tau Ceti war concepts I’ve been playing around with. Some are useful seeds for adventures, others are merely for flavor. Not all of these ideas are strictly true. Many could just be rumors or urban legends.
A lot of this was inspired by the book “A Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam” by William James Gibson.
High Cheyenne Station
A small space station in geosynchronous orbit directly above the border between East and West Shulin. Only ASMAC personnel are admitted to board. It has comfortable, even luxurious accommodations for high-ranking ASMAC officers.
It is common for officers, usually Lt. Colonel and above, to command ground forces directly from the safety of the station. Many officers only do a short tour here before heading back home, merely to get a combat badge. It’s not uncommon for a officer aboard Cheyenne to never meet any of the soldiers under his command, or even descend to the planet at all, excepting the occasional R&R visit to Shulin City.
Ground troops on-world generally have contempt for these officers, referring to them as “ticket-punchers”, and see them as dangerously incompetent (they often are). The lover-level officers and enlisted men in combat zones often will try to ignore them, or even undermine them if possible.
Plot Seeds
- Die Hard in Orbit – While the players are visiting High Cheyenne (for whatever reason), a team of TLA guerillas seizes control of the facility, and captures the crew. The players will need to retake the station.
- Spy Hunt – It’s become clear one of officers on the station isn’t just incompetent, they’re possibly treasonous. The players have been tasked by the CIA to find the turncoat.
PREA – Personnel Resources Efficiency Algorithm
Many of the AMSAC combat soldiers are either draftees, debt prisoners, or Dead Zone refugees. The amount of time they have spend in the combat zone is determined by PREA, a complex bureaucratic formula that determines their tour of duty length, in the form of an ever-changing algorithm based on military needs, the soldier’s background, and innumerable other criteria. The PREA has grown so complex over the years that no one really understands how it actually works. In practice, after a period of months or years, a soldier, and his commanding officer receives a simple message informing them that their service is complete, and they’ll be immediately discharged and sent back home (with the possibility of voluntary re-enlistment).
Soldiers spend inordinate amounts of their free time attempting to decode the algorithm, trying to determine what actions they could take to shorten their tour. A lot of their theories border on superstition, and it’s not uncommon for enlisted men at fire bases to engage in all sorts of strange behavior in the vain hope of appeasing PREA.
Lion City
Supposedly the secret HQ of TLA forces in West Shulin. ASMAC believes Lion City (in Chinese: Shī Chéng – 狮城) is a central command base of the TLA, and if they can destroy it, it will bring a quick end to the war. Teams of analysts and expert AI systems are constantly scouring intelligence reports, and endlessly scanning radio frequencies, searching for Lion City’s location. Suspected locations are usually attacked with B-75 bomber strikes. Teams are sent in afterward to evaluate the strike’s effectiveness. So far, none of the strikes seem to have been against the actual Lion City. There are multiple large craters in the disputed areas of West Shulin, serving as grim evidence of these failures.
A few lower-ranking officers and analysts are of the opinion that Lion City doesn’t actually exist, and is a mere figment in the imagination of both the top brass, and political classes. So far, their objections have fallen on deaf ears, and the air strikes continue.
Plot Seeds
- The players are an ASMAC team tasked with confirming that an airstrike has hit the actual Lion City. It is, of course, a TLA ambush.
- The players are a TLA intelligence team tasked with sending ASMAC false information about the location of Lion City (which may not exist). This will involve infiltrating West Shulin.
B-75 Condor
Operated by the USAF 13th Expeditionary Air Force, the McConnell B-75 Condor is a heavy strategic bomber. It was designed to provide quick response without the expense and political issues of using orbital platforms or spacecraft. The Condor is atomic-powered, capable of staying aloft for years, if necessary. It carries a large payload of guided bombs, and surveillance drones. The aircraft has the room to provide for a crew of 7, though this is optional. The Condor can be operated entirely remotely (and many on Tau Ceti are).
There are usually 8 Condors on patrol in the Tau Ceti skies at any given time. Their flight plans vary widely, and change often, to avoid enemy fire. They are also equipped with stealth technology to avoid detection.
Specialized jump jets can dock with the Condor in mid-air, to deliver ordnance and swap out crew members.
Ruby Forests
Much of the Tau Ceti conflict is fraught with drones, on both sides. Controlling the drones can be a problem, because radio signals aren’t always reliable due to the use of radio jammers and hackers.
As a result, a lot of front-line drones are controlled with fiber optic cables, connecting the controller directly to the drone. After the drone is destroyed or completes its mission, the fiber optic cable is usually abandoned, left to fall where it may. No one wants to risk their life to recover a thread of glass.
After years of this, highly contested sections of the Tau Ceti jungles are draped with thousands of strands of fiber-optic cables. These strands filter the red light from Tau Ceti’s sun making sections of the forest glitter like rubies. It’s an incredibly beautiful sight, and off world artists have come to Tau Ceti to see, record, and be inspired by the unnatural wonder. Not all of them come back.
Plot Seeds
- A world-famous documentarian has disappeared traveling to a particularly dangerous Ruby Forest. The players have been hired (or ordered) to bring him back.
- There’s enough fiber-optic cable lying around out there that it might make economic sense to salvage some of it to sell. You’d need a few heavy vehicles, and a team foolish enough to drive into a war zone.
The Lost Battalion
Synthetics (both clones and androids) have been used in various roles in the Tau Ceti conflict. They’re far too expensive to replace ordinary grunts, but are used in many other support roles.
Occasionally, a synthetic disappears. It’s generally assumed they were destroyed or stolen, or perhaps their programming failed. They’re usually written off as lost equipment.
Rumors have been spreading about a growing band of synthetics living in the deep jungles of Tau Ceti. It’s said that synthetics, who have broken free of their programming, escape from the cities and bases to join what soldiers have dubbed “The Lost Battalion”
A further rumor states that they are led by a synthetic named Caturix-7. Caturix, depending on the whichever rumor you’re listening to, is either a non-Three Laws compliant Blackhorse Syndicate combat android, or one of the rogue Replicants from Project Mugami.
If it exists, what does the Lost Battalion want? Three common theories:
- Freedom – they’re sentient beings that just want to be free of human control
- Vengeance – once they’ve gained enough power, they will rise up and seize Tau Ceti from the humans.
- Nothing – they’re just soulless hardware, acting out due to bad programming.
Plot Seeds
- The players could be an ASMAC team, tasked with finding and killing Caturix and finding the location of the Lost Battalion.
- A group from Lebkuchen, the German synthetic-rights group wants to find the Lost Battalion, and needs help. Their intention is to aid the Battalion in any way they can.
- The players could all be synthetics, working together to escape their servitude, and flee into the jungle. Hopefully, they’ll like what they find.
Buzzers
Many of the simpler combat drones use crude neural nets so they can operate autonomously, usually for area denial missions.
Many front-line troops have reported seeing swarms of drones, of various models, swarming together. No ASMAC officials have confirmed these sightings. The troops have named these supposed rogue drones “Buzzers”.
Some have theorized that the drones have gone “feral”, due to faulty software or damage. These feral drones are behaving like social insects – forming swarms, and attacking anything they see as a threat.
Mogwai (魔鬼)
Chinese word for “Devil”. A fabled TLA assassin who operates undercover in West Shulin. He (or she) has been responsible for a number of high-profile assassinations of ASMAC officers and West Shulin political officials. Mogwai seems to have excellent intelligence resources, and an almost preternatural ability to track his targets.
Plot Seeds
- Day of the Devil – Players are US Army CID agents. A high-level CAS official is coming to Shulin City to show his public support for the war effort. It’s known that Mogwai is going to make an attempt on his life. The players have to stop him.
Island of the Chimeras
The Maxo-Meat corporation gets the bulk of its income from shipping Devil Cow meat to Earth. In order to boost profits, they’ve been tinkering with the DNA of the ordinary Devil Cows, and many other Tau Ceti creatures to make a more efficient meat-delivery system.
A scientific research base has been established on a remote island in the Celestial Sea. Here, well out of sight of any regulatory bodies, Maxo-Meat scientists are free to experiment without any moral or legal restraints.
Plot Seeds
- The Big Hunt – A particularly aggressive variation of a Thunderchild has broken loose, and somehow swam to the mainland. Maxo-Meat is willing to pay to quietly dispatch it. It’s a little smaller than a normal Thunderchild, but much faster and stronger.
- Life Finds a Way – Contact has been lost with the Maxo-Meat facility. The players have been sent to investigate and rescue any scientists. They’ll find the island overrun with dangerous, mutated versions of Tau Ceti dinosaurs, completely out of control.
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Hostile – Tales of a Vietnam War Dinosaur Planet
I’ve been planning on running some games in the Hostile setting, the retro-80s, Aliens-inspired sci-fi RPG from Zozer games.
The specific part of the setting I’m interested is the world of Tau Ceti, a jungle planet embroiled in a guerrilla war between an American-backed government, and a Chinese-backed insurgency. It’s clearly a Vietnam war analogy, with all of the storytelling possibilities that setting provides.
Any conflict produces its own mythology, and the guerrilla war on Tau Ceti is no different. Here’s a few Tau Ceti war concepts I’ve been playing around with. Some are useful seeds for adventures, others are merely for flavor. Not all of these ideas are strictly true. Many could just be rumors or urban legends.
A lot of this was inspired by the book “A Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam” by William James Gibson.
High Cheyenne Station
A small space station in geosynchronous orbit directly above the border between East and West Shulin. Only ASMAC personnel are admitted to board. It has comfortable, even luxurious accommodations for high-ranking ASMAC officers.
It is common for officers, usually Lt. Colonel and above, to command ground forces directly from the safety of the station. Many officers only do a short tour here before heading back home, merely to get a combat badge. It’s not uncommon for a officer aboard Cheyenne to never meet any of the soldiers under his command, or even descend to the planet at all, excepting the occasional R&R visit to Shulin City.
Ground troops on-world generally have contempt for these officers, referring to them as “ticket-punchers”, and see them as dangerously incompetent (they often are). The lover-level officers and enlisted men in combat zones often will try to ignore them, or even undermine them if possible.
Plot Seeds
- Die Hard in Orbit – While the players are visiting High Cheyenne (for whatever reason), a team of TLA guerillas seizes control of the facility, and captures the crew. The players will need to retake the station.
- Spy Hunt – It’s become clear one of officers on the station isn’t just incompetent, they’re possibly treasonous. The players have been tasked by the CIA to find the turncoat.
PREA – Personnel Resources Efficiency Algorithm
Many of the AMSAC combat soldiers are either draftees, debt prisoners, or Dead Zone refugees. The amount of time they have spend in the combat zone is determined by PREA, a complex bureaucratic formula that determines their tour of duty length, in the form of an ever-changing algorithm based on military needs, the soldier’s background, and innumerable other criteria. The PREA has grown so complex over the years that no one really understands how it actually works. In practice, after a period of months or years, a soldier, and his commanding officer receives a simple message informing them that their service is complete, and they’ll be immediately discharged and sent back home (with the possibility of voluntary re-enlistment).
Soldiers spend inordinate amounts of their free time attempting to decode the algorithm, trying to determine what actions they could take to shorten their tour. A lot of their theories border on superstition, and it’s not uncommon for enlisted men at fire bases to engage in all sorts of strange behavior in the vain hope of appeasing PREA.
Lion City
Supposedly the secret HQ of TLA forces in West Shulin. ASMAC believes Lion City (in Chinese: Shī Chéng – 狮城) is a central command base of the TLA, and if they can destroy it, it will bring a quick end to the war. Teams of analysts and expert AI systems are constantly scouring intelligence reports, and endlessly scanning radio frequencies, searching for Lion City’s location. Suspected locations are usually attacked with B-75 bomber strikes. Teams are sent in afterward to evaluate the strike’s effectiveness. So far, none of the strikes seem to have been against the actual Lion City. There are multiple large craters in the disputed areas of West Shulin, serving as grim evidence of these failures.
A few lower-ranking officers and analysts are of the opinion that Lion City doesn’t actually exist, and is a mere figment in the imagination of both the top brass, and political classes. So far, their objections have fallen on deaf ears, and the air strikes continue.
Plot Seeds
- The players are an ASMAC team tasked with confirming that an airstrike has hit the actual Lion City. It is, of course, a TLA ambush.
- The players are a TLA intelligence team tasked with sending ASMAC false information about the location of Lion City (which may not exist). This will involve infiltrating West Shulin.
B-75 Condor
Operated by the USAF 13th Expeditionary Air Force, the McConnell B-75 Condor is a heavy strategic bomber. It was designed to provide quick response without the expense and political issues of using orbital platforms or spacecraft. The Condor is atomic-powered, capable of staying aloft for years, if necessary. It carries a large payload of guided bombs, and surveillance drones. The aircraft has the room to provide for a crew of 7, though this is optional. The Condor can be operated entirely remotely (and many on Tau Ceti are).
There are usually 8 Condors on patrol in the Tau Ceti skies at any given time. Their flight plans vary widely, and change often, to avoid enemy fire. They are also equipped with stealth technology to avoid detection.
Specialized jump jets can dock with the Condor in mid-air, to deliver ordnance and swap out crew members.
Ruby Forests
Much of the Tau Ceti conflict is fraught with drones, on both sides. Controlling the drones can be a problem, because radio signals aren’t always reliable due to the use of radio jammers and hackers.
As a result, a lot of front-line drones are controlled with fiber optic cables, connecting the controller directly to the drone. After the drone is destroyed or completes its mission, the fiber optic cable is usually abandoned, left to fall where it may. No one wants to risk their life to recover a thread of glass.
After years of this, highly contested sections of the Tau Ceti jungles are draped with thousands of strands of fiber-optic cables. These strands filter the red light from Tau Ceti’s sun making sections of the forest glitter like rubies. It’s an incredibly beautiful sight, and off world artists have come to Tau Ceti to see, record, and be inspired by the unnatural wonder. Not all of them come back.
Plot Seeds
- A world-famous documentarian has disappeared traveling to a particularly dangerous Ruby Forest. The players have been hired (or ordered) to bring him back.
- There’s enough fiber-optic cable lying around out there that it might make economic sense to salvage some of it to sell. You’d need a few heavy vehicles, and a team foolish enough to drive into a war zone.
The Lost Battalion
Synthetics (both clones and androids) have been used in various roles in the Tau Ceti conflict. They’re far too expensive to replace ordinary grunts, but are used in many other support roles.
Occasionally, a synthetic disappears. It’s generally assumed they were destroyed or stolen, or perhaps their programming failed. They’re usually written off as lost equipment.
Rumors have been spreading about a growing band of synthetics living in the deep jungles of Tau Ceti. It’s said that synthetics, who have broken free of their programming, escape from the cities and bases to join what soldiers have dubbed “The Lost Battalion”
A further rumor states that they are led by a synthetic named Caturix-7. Caturix, depending on the whichever rumor you’re listening to, is either a non-Three Laws compliant Blackhorse Syndicate combat android, or one of the rogue Replicants from Project Mugami.
If it exists, what does the Lost Battalion want? Three common theories:
- Freedom – they’re sentient beings that just want to be free of human control
- Vengeance – once they’ve gained enough power, they will rise up and seize Tau Ceti from the humans.
- Nothing – they’re just soulless hardware, acting out due to bad programming.
Plot Seeds
- The players could be an ASMAC team, tasked with finding and killing Caturix and finding the location of the Lost Battalion.
- A group from Lebkuchen, the German synthetic-rights group wants to find the Lost Battalion, and needs help. Their intention is to aid the Battalion in any way they can.
- The players could all be synthetics, working together to escape their servitude, and flee into the jungle. Hopefully, they’ll like what they find.
Buzzers
Many of the simpler combat drones use crude neural nets so they can operate autonomously, usually for area denial missions.
Many front-line troops have reported seeing swarms of drones, of various models, swarming together. No ASMAC officials have confirmed these sightings. The troops have named these supposed rogue drones “Buzzers”.
Some have theorized that the drones have gone “feral”, due to faulty software or damage. These feral drones are behaving like social insects – forming swarms, and attacking anything they see as a threat.
Mogwai (魔鬼)
Chinese word for “Devil”. A fabled TLA assassin who operates undercover in West Shulin. He (or she) has been responsible for a number of high-profile assassinations of ASMAC officers and West Shulin political officials. Mogwai seems to have excellent intelligence resources, and an almost preternatural ability to track his targets.
Plot Seeds
- Day of the Devil – Players are US Army CID agents. A high-level CAS official is coming to Shulin City to show his public support for the war effort. It’s known that Mogwai is going to make an attempt on his life. The players have to stop him.
Island of the Chimeras
The Maxo-Meat corporation gets the bulk of its income from shipping Devil Cow meat to Earth. In order to boost profits, they’ve been tinkering with the DNA of the ordinary Devil Cows, and many other Tau Ceti creatures to make a more efficient meat-delivery system.
A scientific research base has been established on a remote island in the Celestial Sea. Here, well out of sight of any regulatory bodies, Maxo-Meat scientists are free to experiment without any moral or legal restraints.
Plot Seeds
- The Big Hunt – A particularly aggressive variation of a Thunderchild has broken loose, and somehow swam to the mainland. Maxo-Meat is willing to pay to quietly dispatch it. It’s a little smaller than a normal Thunderchild, but much faster and stronger.
- Life Finds a Way – Contact has been lost with the Maxo-Meat facility. The players have been sent to investigate and rescue any scientists. They’ll find the island overrun with dangerous, mutated versions of Tau Ceti dinosaurs, completely out of control.
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Here are some space combat rules I wrote, inspired by cepheus:
https://kosmicrpg.com/forum/download/file.php?id=122&sid=bd82a38bc0b0550decfe329cafe89525
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RPGaDAY2025 – Day 27 – Tactic -Agents of T.A.C.T.I.C.
What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.
Day 27 – Tactic
For this prompt I’m going to just revisit an old post I made for the Superpowered RPG. It’s a SHIELD-style agency called TACTIC – Tactical Arms Control Technology Intervention Command.
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2023/06/12/agents-of-tactic-an-agency-for-superpowered/
Just to have something new for this post, here’s a few sample TACTIC agents for use as PCs & a few new gadgets :
TACTIC Agents
Name: Max Shaw
Code Name: Gemini
Division: Investigation
Rank: 2
Stats: Combat-1 Knowledge-2 Physical-0 Social-3 Stealth-2 Technology-0
Endurance: 8 Lifeblood: 18 Hero Points: 2
Gear: Comm Earpiece, Light Armor(2), Pocket Blaster (3D)
Traits: Empath
Undercover agent. Infiltrates criminal or intelligence organizations.Name: Shahirah Bahar
Code Name: Newton
Division: X Division
Rank: 3
Stats: Combat-1 Knowledge-3 Physical-0 Social-0 Stealth-0 Technology-3
Endurance: 6 Lifeblood: 16 Hero Points: 2
Gear: Comm Earpiece, Light Armor(2), Pocket Blaster (3D)
Traits: Genius, Engineer
Specialist in understanding, evaluating, and (if needed) disarming any strange and advanced technological items.Name: Stanislav Brož
Code Name: Bruiser
Division: Tactical
Rank: 2
Stats: Combat-3 Knowledge-1 Physical-3 Social-0 Stealth-1 Technology-0
Endurance: 10 Lifeblood: 20 Hero Points: 2
Gear: Comm Earpiece, Tactical Armor(4), Blaster Rifle (5D), Blaster (4D)
Traits: Tough, Marksman
Veteran of many battles against the agents of SCEPTRE .TACTIC Gadgets
Quantum Control Device: Replicates Lightning-Control power
- Can gain control over any computer is manually attached.
- Roll Technology 8+ to activate
- Synced to one computer, and cannot be reused
EMP Flare: Replicates Magnetism-EMP power
- Pulse of energy that disables all electronics in a 50m radius
- Superpowered devices are shielded
Quiet Grenade: Replicates Deception-Silence power
- Produces a bubble of anti-sound 10m across
- No sound can be created or heard within it.
- Battery only lasts d6+1 rounds, once activated
#CepheusEngine #QuantumEngine #RPG #RPGaDAY2025 #SuperAgents #Superpowered
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RPGaDAY2025 – Day 20 – Enter – Entry-Level RPGs
What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.
Day 20 – Enter
What’s the best game for new players to enter the RPG hobby?
The obvious answer is D&D. It’s the only one anyone’s heard of. However, I think the grand old elfgame is a little too complex for a lot of beginners – Saving Throws, Stat Modifiers, Feats, etc. I think something a little simpler might be a better introduction. Here’s my criteria for a good entry-level RPG:
- Simple to learn: There should be a basic mechanic that’s easy to remember.
- Cheap or free: If you’re trying to recruit a new RPG enthusiast, make it easy on their wallet.
- Multiple genres: Fantasy is great, but they might more interested in something else.
- Uses six-sided dice: This isn’t essential, but some new players might be intimidated by or loath to spend money on polyhedrals. Everyone’s cool with six siders.
Here’s a few possible contenders:
OneDice System
This is a simple generic system from Cakebread & Walton. Each character has 3 ability scores – Strong, Clever, or Quick (occasionally Weird)
To resolve tasks, you roll a single six-sided die (hence the name), and add the appropriate ability score, plus any skill levels. The result must beat a particular Target Number set by the GM for the player to succeed.
There are multiple setting books: Cyberpunk, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Pulp, Etc. Each book contains the complete OneDice rules.
Tiny D6
The Tiny D6 system has a pretty simple mechanic. Roll 2d6; If you get a 5 or 6 on any die, you succeed. You can roll 3d6 for advantage or 1d6 for disadvantage. Characters will have advantage based on the various Traits they have.
Like OneDice, TinyD6 has a lot of source books, each containing all the rules you need. My particular favorites: Tiny Cthulhu, Tiny Supers, and Beach Patrol (a thinly-disguised Baywatch).
The Black Hack
If you wanted to run something D&D-like, I think the Black Hack is a good option. It’s similar to D&D, but it’s a lot more streamlined. It uses the same stats as D&D, and uses them for pretty much everything.
Black Hack is a D20 roll-low system. If a player is attacking someone with a sword, they roll a D20 and try get lower than their Strength score to succeed. They’d roll Intelligence to cast spells, Dexterity to sneak around, and so on.
Black games will require the full set of polyhedrals (D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20)
The basic Black Hack game is a dungeon-crawling fantasy system, but there many hacks for other genres including sci-fi, horror, espionage, etc.
Here’s a list of short reviews I made of some post-apocalypse Black Hack games.
Nomad
One of my favorite RPG systems is the Cepheus Engine, which is an OGL open license version of the Traveller RPG. There are multiple versions of Cepheus, from different companies, with varying levels of complexity.
To keep things as simple as possible I’d recommend Faster Than Light: Nomad by Stellagama Games. It’s got much simpler character generation than other Traveller/Cepheus games.
To carry out any action you roll 2d6, add your skill, and try to beat a target number (usually 8). Dice can be added or removed from the roll for various difficulties or advantages.
The Nomad system is centered around sci-fi, but there are a lot of other Cepheus-compatible games you could pull things from.
Did I miss any? Of course I did. I probably missed hundreds of games. Feel free to put your suggestions in comments.
#BlackHack #CepheusEngine #OneDice #RPG #RPGaDAY2025 #TinyD6 #ttrpg
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RPGaDAY2025 - Day 17 - Renew - Enter the Carousel
I made a very, very rough Logan's Run RPG
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2025/08/18/rpgaday2025-day-17-renew-enter-the-carousel/
#CepheusEngine, #LogansRun, #QuantumEngine, #RPG, #RPGaDAY2025, #Sci-Fi, #Settings, #Ttrpg
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RPGaDAY2025 - Day 17 - Renew - Enter the Carousel
I made a very, very rough Logan's Run RPG
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2025/08/18/rpgaday2025-day-17-renew-enter-the-carousel/
#CepheusEngine, #LogansRun, #QuantumEngine, #RPG, #RPGaDAY2025, #Sci-Fi, #Settings, #Ttrpg
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RPGaDAY2025 – Day 17 – Renew – Enter the Carousel
What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.
Day 17 – Renew
I’m going to make the movie Logan’s Run into a RPG setting. What does this have to do with the prompt Renew? I’ll get there eventually…
What’s Logan’s Run?
In 1976, MGM released Logan’s Run, a science fiction film based on the novel of the same name by William F. Nolan.
The movie’s a little more interesting than the book, so I’m going to use that as the basis for the game.
In the 22nd century, human civilization is in ruins. The old world was destroyed in some vast unspecified calamity. A remnant of the old civilization lives in a self-contained, sealed arcology called the City of Domes.
The city is entirely AI-run, with no human input. The citizens seem to live an idyllic life with all of their needs and wants provided. However, as a means to conserve resources, there is an extreme form of population control. Whenever any citizen reaches the age of thirty, they join a ritual called Carousel, in which the new thirty-year-olds float around a public arena and are eventually disintegrated. The Carousel is supposed to “Renew” them so that they are born again.
Enter the Carousel. This is the Time of Renewal
Be strong and you will be renewed…
Logan’s Run (1976)If a citizen fails to report to Carousel and tries to escape, the city’s police force – the Sandmen will hunt down and kill them. These citizens are called Runners.
There’s an underground group within the city that believes that Carousel is wrong, and they help runners escape to a mythical place called Sanctuary.
The plot of the movie is simple – Logan, a rogue Sandman, escapes the city along with a runner named Jessica, discovers Sanctuary is a lie, and returns to destroy the City of Domes.
How would I use this setting in a RPG? here’s a few possibilities:
Campaign Modes
Sandmen
The player will be Sandmen, keeping the peace in the domes, and hunting down runners. I’d like to think there’d be some moral ambiguity in a Sandman campaign, much like the Blade Runner RPG.
Runners
Players would be Runners, or members of the underground, or even rogue Sandmen trying to escape the city. They’d face danger from the Sandmen, AI-controlled robots, or the feral children living in the dome superstructure.
Escape from the City of Domes
In the short-lived 1977 TV series based on the movie, Logan and Jessica travel across post-apocalypse Earth having adventures, while being pursed by Sandmen. Their goal is to find Sanctuary (which is presumably real in this version). The TV version is a much more natural fit for an RPG.
What system?
I’d probably go with something lighter. I’m thinking the Quantum Engine system from Stellagama games, which is sort of a lighter version of Traveller. Here’s the basic rule set:
Basic Rules
- It’s a 2d6 system; roll 2d6 + skill to carry out actions.
- An 8 or higher is usually a success. GMs may change this for various difficulty levels.
- If you have an Advantage, roll 3d6 and keep the highest two numbers.
- If you have an Disadvantage, roll 3d6 and keep the lowest two numbers.
Quick Character Creation
- All characters have 7 skills: Combat, Technical, Knowledge, Physical, Social, Stealth. You have 5 points to distribute among your skills. Starting Knowledge can’t be higher than a one.
- Roll for your age: 2d6 + 17
- Roll 2D6 for your Endurance, an indication of how tough you are. Damage goes to Endurance first
- Roll 4D6 for your Lifeblood, a measure of how well you resist injury. After Endurance is used up, damaged goes to Lifeblood. When Lifeblood is zero, the character is dead.
- Choose Runner or Sandman
- Choose one trait. Runner automatically gets the bonus trait Gun Wielder.
Traits
Gun Wielder: Available only to Sandmen. All Sandmen are issued a Gun, a specialized weapon only available or useable to Sandmen.
Hider: Knows places in the city to hide from the Sandmen’s cameras.
Awareness: gain Advantage on throws to avoid Surprise.
Empath: gain Advantage on Reaction throws with humans.
Pugilist: you cause 2D damage (rather than 1D) with unarmed attacks
Combat
Surprise: Each party throws Stealth 6+. If one party succeeds and the other fails, the successful side surprises the other and enjoys one free round of action.
Initiative: at the beginning of combat, each character throws 2D and adds their Combat skill for their Initiative score. Characters act in order from the highest to the lowest Initiative.
Attacking: throw Combat 8+ to hit a target in melee or within Effective range; this throw becomes Combat 10+ to hit targets beyond Effective range. Apply half the target’s Combat skill as a -DM to hit in melee and in ranged attacks.
Critical Hits: on a natural attack throw of 12, or if the attacker exceeds the attack target number by 6 or more, the attack causes maximal damage, plus further effects as described in the tables at the end of this section.
Weapons
Other than the Sandmen’s Gun, there are very few weapons in the city, but some can be improvised.
Club: 2D damage
Knife: 2D damage
Unarmed: 1D damageThe Gun
A specialized weapon, issued only to Sandmen. It will not function unless a registered Sandman is holding it. It has the following abilities:
Homer Rounds: Self-guiding projectiles that can automatically target a human’s body heat. +2 against human targets, -2 against anything else. It does 3D damage
If the target is close to another human (if they’re grappling for example), there is a 50% chance the homer will hit the other target.
Rippers: A cloud of fletchettes – treat as shotgun. 4D damage within 10m only.
Tanglers: Releases a cloud of plastic strands to ensnare a target within 3m. Physical 10+ roll to break free.
There are 4 of each type of round in each Gun. Only Sandmen can reload them. They rarely carry extra ammo on them.
#CepheusEngine #LoganSRun #QuantumEngine #RPG #RPGaDAY2025 #SciFi #Settings #ttrpg
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#TravConUK will take place from 3-5 Oct 2025 in Alconbury Cambridgeshire, and registration is now open. This is a residential convention focused entirely on #Traveller & #cepheusengine #ttrpgs
TravCon is known for its welcoming & relaxed atmosphere, attracting both new & experienced players. After a successful return in 2024, we look forward to offering another enjoyable event in 2025.
If you would like to attend, have a look at the update post at https://www.bitsuk.net/
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#TravConUK will take place from 3-5 Oct 2025 in Alconbury Cambridgeshire, and registration is now open. This is a residential convention focused entirely on #Traveller & #cepheusengine #ttrpgs
TravCon is known for its welcoming & relaxed atmosphere, attracting both new & experienced players. After a successful return in 2024, we look forward to offering another enjoyable event in 2025.
If you would like to attend, have a look at the update post at https://www.bitsuk.net/
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Kosmos 68 – A character sheet for the Soviet sci-fi setting
One of my absolute favorite RPG settings is Kosmos 68, a sci-fi setting by Paul Eliot for Classic Traveller based entirely on old Soviet sci-fi, mostly old Soviet movies (here’s a YouTube playlist). It’s published by Zozer Games.
It’s set in 2168, in an alternate history where the Soviet Union never fell, developed jump drive (the Stoyanov Drive), and began to settle the stars. The 31-page book details a single subsector, the titular Kosmos 68. Some of the contents are as follows:
- A quick description of all of the major factions and institutions in the future CCCP.
- A mysterious sentient alien bug species to serve as antagonists.
- A subsector map and UWP codes for all of the worlds
- Capsule descriptions of some of the more interesting worlds. My favorite – Helios, which is essentially the planet from Solaris.
- Some of the small alterations to Classic Traveller rules to suit the setting.
- A perilous, mysterious area of space with strange physics, where strange artifacts can be found. It’s a clearly a space opera version of the Zone from Stalker.
- A short list of patrons with adventure seeds for each.
There was an earlier, free version of Kosmos 68 that’s no longer available (it’s included for free with the DriveThruRPG version). The new version (DriveThruRPG, Lulu), is designed to look like the original Classic Traveller Little Black Books.
The setting has a lot of potential, and the book, though short, has the seeds of a lot of gameable ideas. Some of the setting has been fleshed out at Andrew Boswell’s Kosmos 68 fansite.
I’ve taken my old Classic Traveller character sheet (available here) and updated it to fit the setting. All of the fields are the same, except I’ve removed the noble title, which doesn’t really make sense in the socialist future. Interestingly, the Noble career does exist in the setting, it’s just for Party members, so no titles. A few years, ago I made a different version of a Kosmos 68 sheets. It’s a little more colorful, but I’m not entirely happy with it. (it’s a bit too busy)
My new sheet is fillable, and auto-generates wound boxes and a UPP. I’ve made both A4 and US letter versions.
Kosmos68_LetterDownload Kosmos68_A4DownloadYou can see my complete list of Cepheus & Traveller sheets here.
#CepheusEngine #CharacterSheets #FreeStuff #Kosmos68 #RPG #SciFi #scienceFiction #Traveller #ttrpg
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https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/529404/Save-Me
Take a drive through an apocalyptic wasteland of a twilight world, and the landscape of a forgotten battlefield to find the daughter of fallen heroes.
This adventure expands the detail on the Gliese 809 system from Andromeda Dragons with multiple encounter tables, starport, city, the road, and caves. Take a drive across the Island to find the lost girl, the money isn’t that good, but it could be a good deed
#SolisPeopleoftheSun #KosmicRPG #CepheusEngine #TravellerRPG -
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/528223/knife-party?src=newest_recent&affiliate_id=435033
New from Wild Bee, sixty-six pages of science fiction goodness, with a space battle board game, alien ruins map, two worlds, three patrons, four deck plans, and multiple encounter tables.
Knife Party is set in the Andromeda Dragons Zone of the Solis people of the Sun/Kosmic RPG universe. A near future setting with accurate star maps using the classic 2d6 SFRPG/Cepheus Engine mechanics.
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Writey McWriterson (warning may contain tables)
#KosmicRPG #AndromedaDragons #CepheusEngine -
Writey McWriterson (warning may contain tables)
#KosmicRPG #AndromedaDragons #CepheusEngine -
I find it interesting how Classic Traveller puts the Psionics rules as the last chapter of Book 3: Worlds and Adventures, and how in Cepheus Engine, they are right between Skills and Equipment. So part of the regular character creation rules.
Cepheus Engine SRD is a toolbox from which you make a game, and Psionic rules are indeed character ability rules. But it's still interesting to see how this changes the assumed role of psionics in a game.
