Review & Commentary On The Clement Sector Core Setting Book For Cepheus Engine & Old School 2d6 Science Fiction rpg's

 John Watt's just sent me the Clement Sector third edition book & its huge as in six hundred & seventy five pages huge of material. And so let's dive right into the back end of the Clement Sector Third Edition. 

Clement Sector just got a huge upgrade & its a beast of a pdf at six hundred & seventy five pages of extended Clement Sector goodness but why?! According to John Watt's info dump its more then a fancy new paint job; "Clement Sector Third Edition will be available at DTRPG and the Independence Games webstore on December 16. If you have purchased the second edition, be on the lookout for a special offer in your email that will allow you to get the new version at very substantial discount.

Folks have been asking me what changes will be in the third edition of Clement Sector and what will be added to it. Along with a lot of clarifications, there are a few changes.

There's no intention to invalidate the existing books and force people to buy new ones. Indeed, we're not trying to pressure you into buying this version. However, if you already own the Clement Sector PDF, we're going to provide you with a rather substantial discount to get this PDF.

Third edition is 673 pages. The second edition was 270 pages.

This is the section from the book on what many of those changes are.

"While we consider this to be the third edition of Clement Sector, there are few changes between the rules of second edition and this one. Here, we will cover those changes.

This volume exists so that all the pertinent information concerning Clement Sector could be found in one volume and would save newcomers to the system and setting from having to purchase multiple books to have an understanding of the setting. Therefore, the first change from the second edition of Clement Sector is that this book contains the entirety of The Clement Sector Core Setting Book, Clement Sector: The Rules, and Ensemble Cast. The advanced space combat rules from Clement Sector: The Rules will now be found in the upcoming third edition of The Anderson and Felix Guide to Naval Architecture.

In addition, this book contains excerpts from several books that we felt would be relevant to the new player. These include the inclusion of two subsectors from Ariel Sector and two subsectors from Tranquility Sector which have appeared in Subsector Sourcebook 5: The Colonies, The Slide, and Unmerciful Frontier: The CCA Sourcebook. This book also contains the Achilles altrant from Tree of Life: Altrants in Clement Sector, uplifted Lions from Wondrous Menagerie: Uplifts in Clement Sector, and the Prisoner career from Diverse Roles. Three vehicles appear here (the American Dreams RetroWheels Grav Cycle, the Croselly Meteor Cruiser, and the FV(G)107 Stoat IFV from 21 Vehicles. The Starlight-class Merchant Vessel is included in this volume which originally appeared in Ships of Clement Sector 4-6: Traders, Scouts, and Small Craft. Information concerning smuggling appears here from Outlaw: Crime in Clement Sector as well as information concerning piracy from Skull and Crossbones: Piracy in Clement Sector. Information concerning visas and the political situation in Clement Sector is taken from Balancing Act: Interstellar Relations in Clement Sector. Information on the history of corporations is taken from Almighty Credit: Corporations in Clement Sector. While we felt it was important to add some of the pertinent information from those books into this one, we think you will still find these books entertaining and useful as well.

The major change in this edition from the second edition of this book is the change from the Characteristic of Social or Social Standing to Charisma. This is something which I have long championed and wanted to do and here, in this version, we have. If you’re using older volumes which use SOC, simply change that reference to CHA. It should be a one-to-one switch in most cases. However, if you have a character that you feel is more charismatic than their SOC would indicate, feel free to modify it to better reflect the character’s charisma. After all, the main reason we’re changing this is because I have always felt that Social Standing really had no place in Clement Sector.

The other change is within the skill listing. First, we have added Draw. This is to continue to lean into the “space Western” feel of Clement Sector that we are hoping to evoke as well as because it is a fun addition. Feel free to add the skill to characters that you and your Referee feel need to have it.

We have removed the skill “Steward” and replaced it with “Chef” and “Etiquette”. Chef, as you might imagine, handles the parts of Steward that once covered cooking and Etiquette handles the parts of Steward which once covered dealing with people and being polite. Adjust your characters accordingly and, if you come across a career track which offers Steward, you are free to pick either Chef or Etiquette.

We have also removed Zero-G and melded this into Survival (Freefall). In a similar vein, we have also moved Vacc Suit and Battle Suit into the overall skill “Suit” with specialties which cover these. Simply convert these skills one-to-one as needed."" 

But is a third edition of the Clement Sector neeeded!!? Well in a word yes! The Clement Sector is a series of rpg products that has evolved over time with their writer & designer's vision. They are indictative of a greater trend in the Cepheus Engine rpg's community. Unlike the normal OSR, the Cepheus Engine community is quite vigious & highly active. Not in a controversal way or a reactionary way but a creative way. The Clement Sector campaign setting has literally evolved over time & consolidated its contents into a usable campaign setting. This is because its writer is highly active in molding it to be complete open & playable as a campaign for 2d6 old school science fiction play. 
Overlooking the third edition of the Clement sector  & reading through the pdf since last night brings a sense of smoothing out a few of the rougher patches. This isn't to say that the book doesn't have room for the DM to drop their own star system or sub sectors into the Clement Sector quite the opposite. The Clement Sector seems to read a bit better as fully realized  & written campaign setting. But there's a wrinkle with the Clement sector; "In 2210, scientists discovered a wormhole allowing travel to the opposite side of the Milky Way galaxy.  Once across, exploration teams discovered worlds far more suited to human habitation than those in star systems nearer to Earth.  Were they terraformed by some unknown race?  Are they just a coincidence in the vast diversity of the universe?

Over the ensuing years humans left Earth and began to colonize these worlds.  Nation-backed colonies.  Corporate colonies.  People who simply no longer felt compelled to remain on Earth.  The best and brightest.

In 2331, the unthinkable happened.  The wormhole collapsed leaving those in Clement Sector cut off from Earth.  Now these new worlds and new civilizations must stand on their own.

The year is 2342.  Adventure awaits!" 

You've got two sectors for the price of one! You've got the Earth sector & you've got the Clement Sector both of which have gone along their mary way as the bloody worm hole collapsed. Both of which have their own campaign setting 'bug a boos'. And this isn't a bad thing. The DM needs to choose where, when, & how they want their campaign to run. 
And third edition of the Clement Sector goes a long way towards making that happen. It smooths out the details, clarifies the rules, brings in new material, & expands upon the possibilities of adding in your own spin on the Clement sector. 

I'm not sure that the Clement Sector oozes a 'Space Western' feel but it certainly oozes a 'last frontier' feel to it. This is a sector that isn't going to be tamed easily and its gonna result in a lot of PC's deaths! So its handy to have a Clement Sector PC sheet.But is Clement Sector worth the money?! Thirty dollars for a soft cover six hundred & seventy five page monster of a book is well worth it in today's rpg market. More over there's enough to run the Clement Sector for years just with the material in this book. 

You Can Grab The Clement Sector third edition book right here.