Cepheus Engine vs M-SPACE
Compare Cepheus Engine and M-SPACE side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cepheus Engine | M-SPACE | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Sandbox, Toolkit, Ship-Based, Career-Based, Skill-Based, Random Character Creation, Random Tables, Exploration, Simulation, Tactical | Toolkit, Modular, Skill-Based, Classless, Ship-Based, Tactical, Social Combat, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Random Tables |
| 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 d100 without adding a modifier to the roll and succeed at or below the skill's percentage after difficulty adjusts that target. Critical successes fall within one tenth of the adjusted skill, rounded up. Opposed tests compare success levels and break successful ties with the higher roll. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d100 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Free core rules | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Open Game License 1.0a | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Samardan Press | FrostByte Books |
| Year | 2016 | 2020 |
| Languages | English, Italian, French | English, French, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want interstellar sandbox campaigns built around trading or exploring aboard a shared ship. | Groups who want to build a science-fiction campaign around a starship crew and competing organizations. Optional extended conflicts give negotiations and chases the same round-by-round attention as fights. |
| 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. | Modular ship construction connects crew space and equipment choices to handling and damage in combat. Extended Conflicts use depleting pools to make withdrawal a meaningful choice during negotiations and chases. Passions turn personal loyalties into skill bonuses and conflicts between competing commitments. |
| 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. | The core supplies creation tools rather than a ready-made campaign setting or playable adventure. Default combat tracks hit points by body location, and a Major Wound incapacitates immediately and can kill outright on a failed Endurance roll. Starship motion uses an abstract Speed value that mostly ignores conservation of momentum. |