Cepheus Engine vs Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game
Compare Cepheus Engine and Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cepheus Engine | Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Sandbox, Toolkit, Ship-Based, Career-Based, Skill-Based, Random Character Creation, Random Tables, Exploration, Simulation, Tactical | Space Opera, Licensed IP, Ship-Based, Sandbox, Skill-Based, Tactical, Strong GM Support, Exploration |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 and add the relevant skill, characteristic modifier and difficulty modifiers. A total of 8 or more succeeds. The margin above or below 8 is the Effect, which determines the outcome where the rules call for it. | 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 | Free core rules | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | Open Game License 1.0a | Proprietary (Frontier Developments licensed IP) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Samardan Press | Spidermind Games / Modiphius Entertainment |
| Year | 2016 | 2017 |
| Languages | English, Italian, French | English |
| Best For | Groups who want interstellar sandbox campaigns built around trading or exploring aboard a shared ship. | 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 terms generate experienced characters whose skills and starting assets reflect their prior lives. Planetary trade codes modify cargo prices, giving merchants a reason to compare routes and markets. World and encounter tables provide the referee with material for an interstellar sandbox. | 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 | Failed career survival rolls kill characters by default, with an optional mishap alternative requiring referee approval. Damage reduces physical characteristics, weakening injured characters until they recover. Operating a ship requires tracking recurring expenses alongside its income. | 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. |