Eight or Better

I keep coming back to the same throw.

Roll 2d6. Add the skill. Sometimes add a characteristic DM. Beat 8.

That is most of the game.

Difficulty is not a new target number every time. It is a DM. Easy work is +2 or +4. Hard work is −2 or −4. The referee can call it in a second, and the table keeps moving. Nobody is hunting a chart while the airlock cycles.

The curve does the rest. 7 is the most common result. 2 and 12 are rare, and they feel like they should be. A skill-0 character with no modifiers is living on a coin flip plus a little hope. A skill-2 veteran with a decent characteristic is competent without becoming a cartoon. You can see the difference at the table without a lecture.

That is why the small 2d6 books still feel like magic. Classic Traveller, the Cepheus Engine SRD, Cepheus Deluxe, FTL Nomad, the various Lights and Universals — they all orbit the same idea. The dice stay out of the way. The world generation, the ship, the patron, and the next jump matter more than the resolution system.

I have watched bigger games spend pages explaining how to roll dice. Subclasses. Advantage piles. Degree-of-success matrices that eat a turn. The 2d6 family already solved the problem in a paragraph and then spent the rest of the page on what you actually do with a free trader and a bad rumor.

You can dress it up if you want. Advantage dice. Extra D6 and keep the two highest. A fixed target of 8 with dice added or subtracted, like FTL Nomad. Talents instead of a long characteristic list. None of that breaks the engine. The engine is the two dice and the 8.

What I will not do anymore is pretend I need a 400-page core book to get there. If the rule does not change what happens at the table in the next thirty seconds, it can live in an optional booklet or stay in my head.

So that is the article. Roll 2d6. Add what you know. Eight or better. Then get back to the subsector.

The rest is just good refereeing and your boundless imagination.

Liking the 2d6 Games More and More

I like the 2d6 games more and more. I am finding the huge, full-sized, shelf library games to be heavy, unwieldy, space-wasting, and not worth my time. They are easily damaged by water leaks and other disasters, and are expensive to maintain and store.

None of my "big game" books were damaged in the last leak, but I ask myself the same question after every disaster. Why do I hold onto huge libraries of books that I will never read and don't need? Would I be happier with smaller, more focused, easier-to-manage, and lighter-weight games? I am not talking rules-light, but compact, expressive, and full-featured without a few thousand pages and a hundred pounds of bloat?

I am happier with smaller games.

They hold a sort of magic for me, where every word, chart, and rule was carefully weighed before it was put into the game. There is a cost to writing a page of rules in a small game, and we are just getting the best of the best in many of these designs. In contrast, I have games that needlessly run for pages for a single subclass. I can just see the writer being "paid by the word," and my eyes roll at the fat, terrible, boated, and heavy design with a few core concepts spread over pages of fluff text and art.

It is not worth keeping them around. The bigger they are, the worse the game becomes. I get the feeling the new Traveller, with shelf after shelf of books, is less playable than a small, digest-sized, 2d6 game like the original version was decades ago. Even a rules-light game like Cypher is huge, with a simple core concept, yet the books are far larger than they need to be. I can't find a 5E implementation (outside of Shadowdark) that is compact, and most of 5E feels like a lost cause.

I don't get that much enjoyment from them.

The bigger they are, the worse it gets.

A small-book game is like holding magic in my hands. They did so much with so little. There is nothing wasting my time and taking up space. The rest is up to me.

FTL Nomad Thoughts

What a cool game.

FTL Nomad is sort of an evolution of the "2d6 space game," but rules-light, built for speed, and licensed under CC BY 4.0. The entire system forgoes ability scores in favor of a skill-plus-talent system. You also get a character archetype, which is like a class that gives you a special bonus.

The game uses a single target number of 8, and a unique XD6 dicing system, where advantage and disadvantage dice cancel each other out, and if you are in the negative, you roll whatever is left and take the two lowest, and if you are in the positive, you roll whatever is left and take the two highest. Skill level is added to the end result.

For example, a net -2D difficulty on a 2d6 skill roll means you roll 4d6 and take the two lowest dice. A net +3D difficulty means you roll 5d6 dice and take the two highest dice.

Damage can also gain advantage or disadvantage, and while it is capped by the number of damage dice, taking the highest or lowest still counts.

The system is fast, elegant, stays out of the way, and preserves a single target number. Many 2d6 games have a target number for each difficulty level, but here it always stays 8. Difficulty adds or subtracts dice. Some report this is an excellent storytelling and roleplaying system that stays out of the way.

The game has seven skills (but optional rules in the first expansion can expand that list to 14 or 20), but the basic game stays simple and focused.

The game features starship combat, aliens, robots, world creation, encounters, creatures, vehicle combat, and everything else you need in a science-fiction game. The rules for each are simple and straightforward, built for speedy, consistent, rules-light fun.

Where traditional 2d6 games follow the attributes plus skills system, this dares to do something different, and it works incredibly well. It does not get bogged down in attributes that mean little in play or exist only to modify rolls when very high or very low.

Cepheus Engine SF-RPG

 There are plenty of Cepheus games out there, including one I discounted as an earlier version of the game, a flawed market leader, and a new standard in generic sci-fi gaming.

Get the black-and-white version of Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition (CDEE) since the color version is a massive misstep. The borders are distracting and garish, and even the B&W version is overly large and wastes space. Also, the deck plans in the back of the book are nice, but far too small to use.

I would love to see a version of this game with less flash, a clean B&W layout, and better presentation.

The previous version, Cepheus Deluxe (CD), is also a good choice. It does not have the layout issues of the newest book, though it lacks some of the newer improvements. I still like the Stellagama Publishing versions of this game since they focus on providing a solid, generic Traveller-like experience. The art and layout aren't the best, but the game delivers on its concept.

There is another version of this book based on the SRD, so this previous version is not really needed unless you really like this edition. I like it, so I keep it on my shelves.

Cepheus Universal (CU) is better presented and laid out, and makes several good system improvements. CU is the game's more "generic sci-fi" version and is less Traveller-esque overall. Even though CU is the better-put-together game, CD and CDEE do better with the generic Traveller subsector sandbox experience. I like CU because it can easily simulate any sci-fi setting, in or out of the book, with very little work.

This is my current favorite generic sci-fi game, aside from Stars Without Number.

Another option is the Cepheus Engine SF-RPG (CE SF-RPG), a no-art version of the game from Moon Toad Publishing. This is a surprisingly solid, no-frills, SRD-based, constantly updated version of the original core rules. They have add-on books on vehicle and spacecraft design. This is an excellent choice as a bare-bones printed version of the SRD, and the latest file reportedly includes links. If you find CDEE or CD hurt your eyes, and the CU game isn't Traveller enough for you, the CE SF-RPG gives you the rules with no fluff.

The SRD-based game doesn't have an XP system, so you can leave it as-is or add one like we did. Ours was a simple 1-3 XP per successful encounter, 10 XP for a level zero skill, 10 XP times the desired level for raising skills or ability scores. You can also track XP per skill and ability, and spread rewards only to the skills and abilities used during that session. Modify the reward rate as desired.

I still like this game. Limiting ships to 5,000 tons in the base game and creating a universe of smaller vessels creates a fun "small ship" universe where space battleships don't determine who controls the universe. Adventure ships still matter, and navies will comprise battlegroups of smaller-sized ships that characters can reasonably fight and flee from. Limit task-group size to 6-9 starships with various roles, and you will have a space navy game that still works on character ship levels.

Also, since you don't have large ships in a base-book game, one planet can't easily invade another with massive troop ships. War will be between smaller battle fleets, and supporting like-minded factions on a world with off-world weapons and monetary support is a better way to "invade" a world, dramatically increasing the faction and political wrangling that characters and factions must do to win a war over population and resources. Star Wars has gotten too "instant teleportation" and "massive fleet and troop battles" that individual characters don't matter anymore. As a result, massive-scale IP is less heroic and fun to play.

The Spacecraft Design Guide adds capital ships larger than 5,000 tons, if you want them in your game. They are kept as an option, which is how it should be. Even with capital ships, if you limit those, they won't affect planetary invasions as much as they do in other games.

I am less and less interested in art in role-playing games these days. It is either AI slop, AI-assisted slop, purple-haired happy tree friends garbage, groan-inducing message art, or poor-quality filler. The times we get great art, it is done by one artist. Having seen all the terrible art in RPGs these days, I do not mind a book with no art at all. If I want something, I will make my own AI-generated slop, show it to players, and pray they don't laugh. Or I will return to drawing and do it myself, since even a crappy game master sketch has more heart than a soulless rip-off AI-art machine.

All of them are excellent choices, with a few being better for some things than the others.

Originally published on the SBRPG blog, 5/15/25.

Traveller vs. Star Frontiers

Oh, now it is getting personal. How dare you compare these?

And I speak with someone who had a Star Frontiers campaign world go on for 30 years, I know which one won in our hearts. But the game never lasted long, got a silly remake with the color-coded "Marvel Super Heroes" results table and some awful 1980s Macintosh vector art with Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space, and the game was left to die.

Wizards resurrected the corpse with d20 Future, and I hope they never touch this game again with the D&D rules, or they will most certainly ruin it and desecrate the fond memories I have. After what they did to Spelljammer, I do not trust them with science fiction. The game outsold Traveller in the 1980s, but we received no follow-up from TSR. We had a handful of adventures, no true second edition, no hardcovers (unless you count the PoD today, thank you, Wizards), and the game died by the 1990s and was a dead game.

Our love for Star Frontiers went on for decades. The system broke down due to skills and abilities that exceeded 100%, and the game struggled to handle higher-level play. We ended up replacing the rules systems with other ones, and that is where we left it.

Today, the spirit of Star Frontiers lives on in the excellent Frontier Space game, picking up where the original left off, and it has a much better action economy and system of rules in place. I would still use the Star Frontiers Universe and the Knight Hawks ship combat game, but Frontier Space is essentially Star Frontiers these days. There's no reason to play that game when we have far better options available, plus an open, community license. But none of these are 2d6 games!

Traveller is.

Compared to Star Frontiers, Traveller is massive. The game only went out of print a few times, and we had various versions reincarnated over the decades. Today, it is in excellent hands, with the first edition of the Mongoose game having an open license, and the second has a partner license, but the first-party support from Mongoose is phenomenal. The first-party support for Mongoose Traveller, second edition, is better than Wizards and D&D.

Traveller survived and thrived, and it is a robust game. This is the best and largest science fiction role-playing game out there these days. Compared to Star Frontiers, Traveller won the war. I still have a massive soft spot for Star Frontiers, though.

If I were starting a science fiction game today, what would I do?

Traveller would be the one. While Frontier Space is a fantastic emulation of the original comic-book-like game, and it improves on the rules in every way, I could do the same or better in a 2d6 game these days. I know, it is heresy, but the support in Traveller for so many campaign types, and the number and quality of adventures, means I have decades of things to do, and there is still more coming.

There are thousands of systems, numerous starship types, varied campaign types, a trading game, mercenary adventures, mass combat, ship combat, capital ships, a war campaign, science missions, and much more. You can run diplomats, spies, cyber-hackers, criminals, space pirates, freedom fighters, space law enforcement, bounty hunters, navy campaigns, scouts, entertainers, reporters, or any other modern profession-style campaign, but "in space."

Frontier Space is still here and supported. But not to the level of Traveller. Not to the depth of information, campaigns, one-off adventures, ships, and stars to explore, plus infinite universe generation. To be fair, Frontier Space does have random mission, installation, villain, system, sector, and planetary generation - so it is no slouch in this regard either. Both are far better than the original Star Frontiers. And the Frontier Space tables are entirely usable with Traveller, too.

Traveller wins on starship design, combat, and the wealth of designed and fully mapped starships. You can go heavy metal war-game with Traveller and have capital ship battles, and not just simulate them in narrative. What you design can be battled and tested. You can fight the premade ships. The space combat in Traveller is one of the best systems out there. High Guard even has fleet battle rules. It goes there, and you get a lot with this game.

And Traveller gives you an entire sector to create yourself. If you really loved the Frontier setting, you could recreate it there with a handful of stars on that map and still have plenty of room to explore. Of course, there will be neighbors around, or you could use the sector as a standalone place without the Imperium. 

So, who wins the Traveller versus Star Frontiers comparison?

Frontier Space needs to be in the discussion. Each game does something excellently. Traveller excels at both the macro game and the focused campaign games, and it has the best setting in science fiction gaming. Frontier Space excels at pulp space adventure comic-book science fiction. Star Frontiers has its classic setting.

 But, the winner?

The game you love.  

FTL Nomad

I get the feeling the 2d6 gaming world is abandoning the OGL in droves now, and the games being released reflect that reality. FTL Nomad is the evolution of the Cepheus Deluxe idea into a Creative Commons-based game, free from the OGL and adopting its own 2d6 rules and way of doing things. This is an excellent open system, and the game even comes with a SRD to download and use when you buy the book.

It is nice to see the 2d6 gaming sphere abandon the OGL and do their own thing, and while still supporting and selling the legacy titles, building a solid future on a better base license and more open, community-supporting model.

I am looking forward to this one. 

Midnight Boulevard

Oh, how I love the indie game market, since we get niche games for all sorts of amazing genres. Midnight Boulevard is a 2d6 game based on the classics of Film Noir, specifically from the book's list on the first page:

• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Laura (1944)
• Detour (1945)
• The Big Sleep (1946)
• Out of the Past (1947)
• Gun Crazy (1950)
• In a Lonely Place (1950)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• Touch of Evil (1958)

That is a pretty narrow list of films, and it covers all the greats in the genre. The game gives very basic rules for characters, combat, vehicles, and equipment as it is only 29 pages long. The game does not need to go into detail, and if you ever needed survival rules, fire, poisons, diseases, carrying capacity, creature creation, or weather, you could pull them in from the Cepheus SRD, if needed.

 

If you are playing 2d6 games, you likely have a bunch of them, and you have a lot of rules to pull in from your compatible games. This is how we did it in the old days! If you want extra character detail, pull in the excellent Cepheus Light Traits book for a few special tweaks for your characters.

I wanted to see more in terms of art, style, tone, and how to put together a Noir Plot. Then again, if you are a Film Noir fan, you will already have a few books on these films in your library, and know it well, but it would be nice to see these things laid out to help newer referees or those discovering the genre. There are some tips, but I want a bigger section on the types of games, how to run a plot, more of the genre tropes, and the different types of stories and campaigns one can run. 

Oh, and I need The Killing by Stanley Kubrick on that film list, too. Speaking of campaigns, I get most of the games here will be one-shots, with multiple shots fired, and The Killing is a the perfect example of a heist plot in the genre, and a perfect movie to frame scenarios around. We have everything in this one, plenty of gun battles, double-crosses, a cast of iconic characters, and a complex job with many working parts the specialists all need to figure out and work through.

This is where simple 2d6 games shine. Since character creation is fast, people can get playing instantly. The character creation process also generates history and background, so players have something more to work with than a plain B/X character.

Also, it does not matter if a character gets killed, you could make a new one right in the middle of play in five minutes, come up with a quick backstory, and get playing. As the mobsters and criminal PCs get whacked, replace them with cop characters for those players to hunt the rest of the criminals down, and make it a PVP game.

And this isn't a set of 5E rules that requires far too much investment and involvement. What do you do with a level 20 mobster? How many powers will I have? How do I multi-class with warlock and paladin? 5E sucks for any other genre but its own superheroic fantasy one. D&D will always be D&D and nothing else.

But remember, crime does not pay. This is a game that should end terribly for all criminals involved, to keep with the genre theme, and just playing through this and "seeing what happens" is entertainment enough. If your players are mature enough to handle doomed characters, this type of game and genre will return a level of fun that far outweighs the scant amount of pages this is presented in.