Species V By Macheal Brown For The Cepheus Engine Rpg or Cepheus Engine Lite & Other Classic 2d6 Science Fiction Based Rpg's

 "One June morning, huge flying craft suddenly appeared in the skies above several major cities. Three days later, a voice translated into many different tongues requested peaceful contact with the people of Earth. A week after the arrival of the strange craft, the Secretary-General of the United Nations was the first human to directly contact an alien race. The V’siilir, as they called themselves, were tall reptiloids that resembled in some ways an evolved species of dinosaur. They asked nothing more than Earth’s help in restoring their dying planet.

It was several months before people noticed a spate of disappearances, and it was several months later still that people realized the ones who had disappeared had all been critical of or hostile to the V’siilir. The aliens denied any involvement and even assigned details from among their own militias to assist in the searches.

Then a private investigator managed to sneak aboard one of the giant V’siilir vessels and learned the truth: the aliens weren’t from another planet: they were from a parallel Earth where the dinosaurs never died out and evolved sapience. They planned to use their new discovery of inter­dimensional travel to plunder resources and soldiers.

Once the plot was revealed, battle was joined in earnest. The human race has now taken up arms and taken sides in a war to determine the future fate of Earth."

There's a ton of stuff to recommend Cepheus Engine rpg vs regular garden variety high end OSR titles. There's no kickstarters, the authors have their heart & soul in the deep end of the rpg system. One such creator is Michael Brown. Sometimes as a dungeon master your not looking for high concept BS series of monsters or alien species. This isn't the case with Mr. Brown's hobby work because you tell he's put some thought into his creations for many of his rpg  titles. This brings us to Species V. If you want a mini campaign or a quick pick up campaign for Cepheus Engine or Cepheus Light?! This is the campaign for a one night stand or a full access campaign. Does this sound like the famous NBC mini series 'V' from the Eighties?! Hell yes it does! Could Michael get sued?! Nope because Michael is far smarter then that. The Devil is in the details or in this case within the advanced  reptile alien's details. 
The author provides a bite size campaign within two pages for a cinematic campaign. V’siilir are saurian sophonts & we get the full treatment from set up to playing options in two pages. That's right two whole pages of cinematic reptilian goodness. Where can I see using this alien species who may or may not come from another dimensional Earth nearby?! One that springs to mind is using Species V. with Cepheus Engine Lite. Build a campaign from the ground up in Eighties style nostolgia! 

Crack a couple of beers call your players & away you go with Species V. But if you think that's the end of this review then your sadly mistaken. With the Eighties nosoligia there's the option of running this campaign with Shadowfall by Baggage Books. Perhaps the V’siilir are not so unknown to the puny humans of this planet after all?! Because Lovecraft was right all along! He wasn't racist he was complete Xenophobic of the things outside! The things that crawl in the dark place want to rule us all! 

Can I see using  Species V with another 2d6 sci fi setting such as the Hostile Rpg setting?! Awesomeness abounds with this combination with the players fighting a protracted war in a near future world ruled by our reptile like overlords! The cross over potential would make Dark Horse comics jealous! Want to port over to a smaller venue?! Grab Zozer Games Out World Authority & bring a free quick start one night war! 

So say you wanna take the fight to  Species V?! Well grab a copy of Empire of Time by Baggage Games & beat the reptile bastards back to the stone age across space & time! Heck you can do it across multiple time periods! 

Oh but I want something more complicated & more like the X Files involving Species V? Fine then go all of the way back to the Game Designers Workshop days & grab Dark Conspiracy rpg first edition. Then use the material in Species V to fill in the background for one of the reptilian aliens in the game & go forward with a kick ass game of X Files like action! 

But,but, I want a far more hard core post apocalytic game with the aliens from that classic TV mini series from the Eighties?! Well then take  Species V & add in classic Twilight 2000 let it boil & then really bring home a 'Walking Dead' style campaign using classic original hard core post apocalyptic rpg. Want really blow the players minds add Species V as the source behind the adventure events of Twilight Nightmares adventure 'The Rumors of Our Extinction…" But run Twilight Nightmares with Twilight 2000 first edition. You'll thank me later. 

Is  Species V perfect?! Hell no! Its a bite sized mini campaign homage to a classic Eighties NBC television mini series with its own twist & turns but for what I as a DM need it too do. Species V  fits the bill in spades.