Quote from: Dave 2 on August 28, 2024, 09:06:01 PMWhat I'm just now catching up on are the Fair Use policy, and Traveller's Aide Society. If I understand correctly we can now do just about anything rpg-related with rules or Third Imperium for free release, and for commercial release on drivethrurpg "modules, adventures and rules" using Mongoose Traveller as a base (but still no fiction or comics, unless short vignettes in an rpg resource). That's... not absolutely everything, and probably still too little, too late for the Cepheus horde, but still, that's a much better option than the low point.*

Looks like licensed setting are the big thing they're holding onto aside from fiction, "established publishers only" though they'd consider prolific TAS authors. Still a big limit there, depending on what you'd like to do.

*I am paraphrasing much of that heavily, you should probably read for yourself before publishing anything but they are short enough its not burdensome.

Or publish for Cepheus which uses the OGL.

Believe it or not, I've heard about Cepheus. There's a fanboy drops around in every single Traveller thread to let me know.

But Mongoose doing what they should have done from the beginning is still the interesting part of this news to me.

Also, the OGL - is probably stable for quite a while now that Hasbro/WotC has backed off kicking the leg out. But I do follow Cepheus enough to know there was some internal discussion about what to do when they were threatening to yank it.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on August 27, 2024, 12:58:45 PMGood news for Traveller, I'll stick to Cepheus tho.

I'm fairly partial to Cepheus Universal and HOSTILE more so than MGT2E.

Hi there! I have been tasked by Stellagama HQ to deliver a brief summary of  the different Cepheus products we have released.

Cepheus Light: This is our first reworking of the Cepheus Engine SRD (not our product). We call it "Light" because we made a bunch of design choices to turn the SRD toolkit into a game that you can just play without the GM having to work on the rules very much. Cepheus Light is a complete game. Yesterday, Cepheus Light just got a new facelift, layout, and errata treatment. If you bought a PDF of Cepheus Light, you should have gotten an email from DTRPG telling you that the new version of the PDF is available to you, for free on their website.

Cepheus Light Upgraded: A short-lived version of Cepheus Light that had some tweaks that ended up in Cepheus Deluxe. It is no longer available for sale.

Cepheus Deluxe: This was our more complete version of Cepheus Light. It had some rules tweaks that fans told us they wanted, and had a more in-depth ship combat, and different ship armor/damage rules. This version of our rules has the Stamina/Lifeblood damage rules for characters, instead of the older system of damage reducing attributes (though it's pretty easy to use the older rules without much work). It also has robot design rules, and elaborate encounter rules that I apparently wrote in some sort of fugue state. It is not available for sale anymore.

Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition: This is the version with the "psychedelic vomit" page borders. It has more examples, an errata treatment, and commissioned art. This was the version that we kickstarted, and is now the main version you can buy on DTRPG.

Sword of Cepheus: We released this using the Cepheus Light rules a few years ago, and kickstarted a second edition last April: new art, better layout, and updating it to Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced rules. The second edition was just released a couple of days ago. You can get it on DTRPG. Print on Demand version is about two weeks out.

Cepheus Faster Than Light: This is a minimalist version of Cepheus Deluxe, at only 38 pages. There are only 6 careers, no rules for making anything, and is just designed to get people playing and fast. We've moved to other lighter systems for fast-playability. I thought it was no longer available, but I'm always happy to be wrong about these things.

Quantum Starfarer/Barbaric!/Solar Sagas/Superpowered/Dark/Cepheus Atom: This line of products uses a much lighter 2d6 system (we call it Quantum) with no careers, and skills-as-attributes. Quantum Starfarer is a basic space opera game. Barbaric! is now in a 2nd edition that was kickstarted earlier this year (I think) is for fast-playing Swords and Sorcery gaming. Solar Sagas is a pulp scifi game in the vein of Buck Rogers set in our solar system. Superpowered is a superhero game using the Quantum system. Quantum Dark is a small urban fantasy/horror game. Cepheus Atom is a post-apocalyptic game using the Quantum rules.

FTL:Nomad: Moving forward from the OGL scandal in 2023, we developed a new Xd6 system that we're using for many of our new products. FTL:Nomad is a space opera game. A lot of Nomad is based in Cepheus and Quantum, so you'll feel right at home with it, but there are some significant changes that make it our own thing. Along with FTL: Nomad, we released the Xd6 SRD this year. We also released free quickstart rules for Nomad.

Cepheus Ridiculous Speed and Cepheus Ludicrous Speed: These are only available on Druidia, and none of you look like Drewish Princesses.

Quote from: Tod13 on August 28, 2024, 08:43:41 AMYea. I've asked about that. Stellagamma keeps talking about writing something up, but never seems to have the time. I kind of understand but I think it would make sales jump because the system(s) would make more sense to people.

I hope my post in this thread helps clarify things.

Thanks for the heads up on all the CE flavors.  I have a few and just got SoC 2ed but have not gotten to read it yet.

Quote from: Heavy Josh on September 01, 2024, 12:35:50 PM

Quote from: Tod13 on August 28, 2024, 08:43:41 AMYea. I've asked about that. Stellagamma keeps talking about writing something up, but never seems to have the time. I kind of understand but I think it would make sales jump because the system(s) would make more sense to people.

I hope my post in this thread helps clarify things.

Thanks Heavy Josh! Much appreciated.

Well, the thing you need to remember about Cepheus is that it isn't a game in and of itself.  It's a launching pad for people to build other games.  All of those "versions of Cepheus" aren't "game versions" per se but rather a series of different games launched from the same launching pad.

The same goes for my Clement Sector and Rider.  Both are launched from the Cepheus Engine launching pad, have gone in their own directions, and are their own games now.  Same goes for all of those Josh listed as well as Zozer's Hostile and so many others.

Indeed, there's now so many games being launched from this pad, that I can't keep up with all of them either. 

Quote from: Heavy Josh on September 01, 2024, 12:25:02 PMFTL:Nomad: Moving forward from the OGL scandal in 2023, we developed a new Xd6 system that we're using for many of our new products. FTL:Nomad is a space opera game. A lot of Nomad is based in Cepheus and Quantum, so you'll feel right at home with it, but there are some significant changes that make it our own thing. Along with FTL: Nomad, we released the Xd6 SRD this year. We also released free quickstart rules for Nomad.

Or, as we call it, "Mongoose Protection Insurance".

Are any of them licensed as CC BY 4.0? The ones I have purchased thus far are CC BY SA 4.0. I am interested in the former license but not the latter.

Thanks,
Steve

Quote from: Independence Games on September 02, 2024, 11:26:08 AMOr, as we call it, "Mongoose Protection Insurance".

We do not call it that. 😊

Quote from: swzl on September 02, 2024, 12:46:33 PMAre any of them licensed as CC BY 4.0? The ones I have purchased thus far are CC BY SA 4.0. I am interested in the former license but not the latter.

Thanks,
Steve

The Xd6 system SRD (the Nomad system) is released under CC BY 4.0.

Quote from: Heavy Josh on September 02, 2024, 03:28:20 PM

Quote from: swzl on September 02, 2024, 12:46:33 PMAre any of them licensed as CC BY 4.0? The ones I have purchased thus far are CC BY SA 4.0. I am interested in the former license but not the latter.

Thanks,
Steve

The Xd6 system SRD (the Nomad system) is released under CC BY 4.0.

Which I can't find anywhere, the SRD I mean.

Quote from: Heavy Josh on September 02, 2024, 03:27:02 PM

Quote from: Independence Games on September 02, 2024, 11:26:08 AMOr, as we call it, "Mongoose Protection Insurance".

We do not call it that. 😊

LOL.  By "we", I meant me and my business staff (aka my wife).

Quote from: Heavy Josh on September 02, 2024, 03:28:20 PM

Quote from: swzl on September 02, 2024, 12:46:33 PMAre any of them licensed as CC BY 4.0? The ones I have purchased thus far are CC BY SA 4.0. I am interested in the former license but not the latter.

Thanks,
Steve

The Xd6 system SRD (the Nomad system) is released under CC BY 4.0.

Thanks. I'll look into it. Is it on DriveThru or hosted on a website?