The Good, The Bad, & The Clement Sector - Thoughts on the Blackness & The Frontier

 Clement Sector is one of the more interesting incarnations of the Cepheus Engine rpg  has a starship universe that tops out around TL12 or 13 that is perfect small interstellar craft space adventure campaign setting. Why?! Because of the fact the Clement Sector has very few limits on the PC's & so many options for campaign angles. 

The Clement Sector thrives on the Space Western themes & works best when coupled with rpg players who are into the idea of the Western theme. Time & again over the past couple of months the Serenity tv show has been one of my go too jams to sell a Clement or Earth sector because of the way John Watts sells these two rpg settings; "Clement Sector is a small ship setting, with restrictions on the size of starships bought about by the Zimm drive, the setting’s only means of FTL interstellar travel." The Zimm drive is as much of a part of the Clement Sector as other rpg campaign setting elements. The closing of the Earth wormhole is both a blessing or a curse depending upon how it affects the further expansion of humanity within the blackness. The Zim drive is a part of the balancing element allowing humanity to expand itself further into the edges of the map. And because of the small size of the starships and their technological levels it has many elements in common with the Wild West of history. And these translate into the expansionist attitude known as "Manifest Destiny" and the historians' "Frontier Thesis" being a part of the Clement Sector. Why is this important because it makes creating adventures that much easier.And this gets borne out far more in the Tech Update 2350 where the borders expand as the space technology eases the map expansion just a bit more.

The stakes have become higher, the corporations exploration agenda kicks into high gear, and there's fare more going on within the Clement Sector & without. The smaller starships means that the frontier is just as dangerous at the lower technological levels as the higher ones. Exploration, jobs, etc are all in a day's work for a day's pay for a starship crew. 
Within the Clement Sector its business as usual but outside of the borders of the known qualities there's plenty of danger to be had. And its within these grey areas that our parties often find themselves in the Wild West adventure  analogies .  From cattle russling, to straight up bank robbery the players I've played with over the last couple of months have drawn straight from the American Frontier. And almost every time the mini campaigns have been highly successful. 

Five Reasons for this have been as follows: 

1. There have been very low scale jobs involving both sides of the law enabling there to be far more grey areas then in other campaigns. 
2. The Space Western adventure idea lends itself to lots of different campaign venues. You can literally go from straight up exploration into almost borderline Science Fiction horror scenarios easily. 
3. The sheer variety of ideas, settings, etc. when a party has a space craft is mind blowing & the hooks, lines, and sinkers from a Frontier campaign is baked into the Clement Sector. 
4. There are a lot of NPC's & factions within the Clement sector allowing the DM to set one or more of them after the PC's. This is regardless if their aware of it or not. 
5. The bad elements of the Clement sector are not ones to sit on their laurels. They will & do continue to cause mayhem in space regardless of the players wishes and this is something that will cause the PC's endless trouble. 

OSR Review & Commentary On 'Crime In The Clement Sector' By John Watts For The Cepheus Engine rpg or Your 2d6 Old School Science Fiction Rpg's

"As with all societies, crime is a part of Clement Sector.  It is a constant throughout history and the future is no different. Some player characters may be engaged in criminal activities while other characters may be members of law enforcement trying to stop such criminals. 

Outlaw: Crime in Clement Sector details crime throughout the setting and how each of the many independent worlds of Clement Sector feel about such crimes.  From Arson to Treason, from the "street" level to the boardroom, you'll find it detailed here.

"Outlaw provides seven character building careers for those who want to play a criminal character or simply have that as part of their background.  Cleaners, Drivers, Dealers, Forgers, Hitmen, Prisoners, and Smugglers.  Need a shady background?  We've got it along with a chapter filled with tasks providing the Referee with easy references to allow a character to attempt such dirty deeds. If they get caught, we have information on how to deal with a trial and imprisonment.

Outlaw also details organized crime, its history, and how such organizations operate in Clement Sector.   Want to play an entire criminal organization rather than just a single character?   We provide that here!  Building on the rules presented in Balancing Act and Almighty Credit, we give you the tools to play the organization!

Join the dark side!  Find out how crime really does pay. "



Crime pays or does it,   asks this very question including everything from street level crimes like arson all the way up to board room corporate  white collar interstellar  crimes. Its all laid out in very one hundred & twenty nine pages for your criminal PC's. The Clement Sector offers all kinds of opportunity for intergalactic crime. The closing of the hyperspace gateways to Earth caused all kinds of rosters & circumstances for crimes within the Clement campaign setting.  'Crime in the Clement Sector'  brings home to the crimes & the local circumstances of the Clement sector's locations & adventure slices. John Watts lays everything out in easily understood English. There's plenty of opportunity for mayhem & wanton violence by PC's. Crime however is laid bear with punishment following swiftly on its heels. 

There’s no such thing as good money or bad money. There’s just money. “ -Salvatore Lucania aka Charles “Lucky” Luciano, February 7, 1936 (standard)

'Crime in The Clement Sector' isn't your normal Cepheus Engine rpg supplement, it digs down into the underbelly of the Clement Sector's criminal empires. Diving through the sorted details to bring a picture of a sector roiling in corruption & depravity. This isn't light weight boast either. Details from 'murder for hire'  to full blown mafia operations are covered in detail. There isn't an 'Orion Syndicate' here but a detailed mafia that has been operating since the closing of the gates. The  material is stark covering Russian mafias & others with little regard for niceties. Because the eventualities  of arrest are also covered along with prison life & even what happens to a con who survives the interstellar systems of law within the Clement sector. 

So 'Crime in the Clement Sector' by John Watts cover space piracy within the Clement sector?! Yes it does & it goes over the relationships between the crimes, the powers that be, the board room, and the halls of power within the Clement sector. Space piracy has a nice meaty connection to the mobs of the sector. Much of the material within 'Crime in the Clement Sector' by John Watts could be used to knit together a far wider ranging Cepheus Engine rpg campaign by reigning in Stella Gemma Publishing's Piracy & Privateering supplement. There's enough bones here to keep the wheel of the internal crime syndicates greased for such a campaign. 

While there's more detailed Clement sector books including the 'Skull & Crossbones' supplement, 'Crime In The Clement Sector' goes more about the more day to day crime elements. Crime does a great job of the how & why an adventurer would turn to a life of crime. This is more evident within the how & why of  'Crime in the Clement Sector' . I highly recommend 'Crime in the Clement Sector' by John Watts for the DM whose looking to an interstellar street level crime game. Does crime pay?! That's for you to decide! 

Review & Commentary On Pay What You Want 'The Thing in the Ice' By Joseph Mohr For The Cepheus Engine Rpg

"It is well known across the Sonora sector that the planet Saresere is a frozen planet with no atmosphere. Despite these harsh conditions the Kon Lo Corporation has a small station on the world mining precious minerals. Of course....this is the story planted by the corporation to keep preying eyes from taking too close a look. Instead of miners there are scientists on this world excavating for alien artifacts and relics. They maintain a small complex of buildings on the surface of the planet. Recently all contact with these scientists has been lost." 


There's something about the 2d6 science fictional goodness of Cepheus Engine rpg  that draws me in like a moth to the flame. Not really nostolgia although there's a far degree of that, no there's something deeper here. And no more is this more primal then in other adaptations of the material. This is more of a 'locked room crime investigation'. And that's great for an old school Traveller or Cepheus Engine adventure. 


Joseph Mohr is the little rpg engine that does, he not unlike Michael Brown & many Cepheus Engine rpg designers quietly churns out adventure after adventure. And 'The Thing in the Ice' is Mr. Mohr's latest adventure  effort & 'The Thing in the Ice' nails it. Yeah its a 'pay what you want' & yes the scenario seems very familiar. And yes its only nineteen pages. But by God this is a neatly little way of handling a John Carpenter style adventure with a few twists of its own. This is a very well done short adventure but I'd run this with experienced players. There more then enough that can go wrong to wipe out an entire Cepheus Engine rpg party. This is quite like John Carpenter's The Thing from Another World but there are some shaded differences. And its with those differences where the party could potentially exploit the situation to actually move this beyond the tradition horror/dungeon adventure that takes place with paranoia aplenty. Or the 'The Thing in the Ice'  could simply be used as a homage to classic novella 'Who Goes There' or the classic John Carpenter film.  And that's fine.. The cartography & layout are solid,especially liked the maps in 'The Thing in the Ice' 

What if 'The Thing in the Ice'  happened to take place in Stella Publishing's setting 'These Stars Are Ours!? Imagine a new freed humanity PC's are called into an ice covered world & things get down right paranoid as the PC's are dealing with both investigation of the alien life form & the dire circumstances. Is the alien life form a left over Reticulan bio weapon or something else?! 

And what about the other Cephues Engine rpg campaign settings such as John Watts 'Clement sector'?! Three things spring to mind here. One the sector isn't fully explored so there's more then enough room for this alien life form. The stars are still isolated, & finally the paranoia is already baked into 'The Clement Sector'. This alien life form is going to be one more alien among the stars to contend with. 

Now let's talk about the fact that the Hostile rpg setting by Zozer Games comes with a similar 'John Carpenter's Thing From Anothr World' scenario baked already in the setting book. This isn't really a problem. Because 'The Thing in the Ice'  is different enough to be run right along this homage & the PC's are still going to be wondering what do with the alien life form. Zozer games system is a perfect rpg contrast to what has come before.And in point of fact Zozer Games 1970s 2D6 RETRO RULES. But are going to be some or more adventure elements in 'The Thing in the Ice'  

I really like  'The Thing in the Ice'  the advenure tone is one that really expands in an original way to an idea that we've seen time & again over the years since the appearance of the alien life form in  John W. Campbell Jr.'s short novella 'Who Goes there' 
Note that  'The Thing in the Ice' is a short adventure but there's room for expansion. And that promise is there within this adventure. 
However  'The Thing in the Ice' does what it sets out to do with a one shot adventure that can be added or subtracted from a campaign. The adventure provides the DM with the tools for running a one shot & does it well with plenty of opportunity for investigation as well as a real danger for even an experienced group of PC's their players.  'The Thing in the Ice' is a nice & dangerous mid tier Cepheus Engine rpg adventure!