Cepheus Deluxe vs Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game
Compare Cepheus Deluxe and Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cepheus Deluxe | Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Space Opera, Career-Based, Skill-Based, Classless, Character Building, Sandbox, Ship-Based, Exploration, Random Tables, Strong GM Support | Space Opera, Licensed IP, Ship-Based, Sandbox, Skill-Based, Tactical, Strong GM Support, Exploration |
| Core Mechanic | For uncertain tasks, roll 2d6 plus a skill and characteristic modifier to reach a target number. A natural 2 fails and a natural 12 succeeds when the task is feasible. Effect is the amount by which the modified result exceeds or misses the target. Advantage means rolling 3d6 and keeping the highest two dice. | Roll a d10 and add your Skill bonus (one-tenth of your skill score, rounded down): equal or exceed the GM's difficulty number to succeed. A natural 1 always fails and a natural 10 always succeeds, within reason. The same roll plus a weapon's Accuracy bonus drives combat at all three scales (personal, vehicle, and spaceship) against a target's Defence score. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d10 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | OGL 1.0a; Cepheus Deluxe Compatibility-Statement License | Proprietary (Frontier Developments licensed IP) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license and compatibility license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Stellagama Publishing | Spidermind Games / Modiphius Entertainment |
| Year | 2022 | 2017 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a shipboard science-fiction sandbox with career histories and a working trade economy. | Groups who want to play freelance starship commanders trading, exploring, and dogfighting their way across the 34th-century Milky Way. Particularly suited to fans of the Elite: Dangerous video game who want to expand the experience with crewed ground missions and off-ship intrigue. |
| Highlights | Career events produce contacts and enemies that can become adventure hooks. World profiles alter trade prices and local restrictions, giving destinations practical consequences. Distinct shipboard actions let the crew contribute beyond firing weapons. | Three integrated combat scales (personal, vehicle, and spaceship) share the same d10 resolution but each has scale-specific actions and damage rules. Spaceship combat uses a two-zone abstract flight system with zone-restricted actions (joust, dogfight, broadsides, ram, and others), so manoeuvre matters without a grid. Sixteen ships from the video game (Sidewinder through Anaconda) are statted with full component, weapon mount, and modification rules. The Random Generation System provides d10 tables for generating star systems, missions, encounters, and military objectives between or during sessions. |
| Considerations | Career creation spans several terms of skills and events before ordinary play begins. Trading campaigns require recurring expense and cargo accounting. The Referee builds the setting from generators and adventure seeds. | Spaceship combat has more moving parts than personal-scale checks: shield recharge, equipment actions, floating bonuses, component criticals, and ammo all need tracking each round. The conversational prose style is approachable to read but slow to navigate when looking up a specific rule mid-session. Single-pilot ships are the default; running larger crewed vessels with multiple PCs at the same console takes GM adjustment. The setting is locked to the video game's 34th-century three-superpower politics, which constrains departures from established lore. |