My Cepheus delight, which is a mere extension of my Traveller delight, is finding broader expression in the fantasy genre. I very much enjoyed ‘Sword of Cepheus’ from Stellagama Publishing, with its tempting open content approach for my own innovation and fantasy making.
Enter Westlands, Menagerie Press, actually doing what I merely chunter about. From the creators:
Menagerie Press is creating Westlands, a 2D6-based fantasy RPG with streamlined mechanics based on the Sword of Cepheus open game license system reference document. The 2D6 fantasy system (Traveller, Sword of Cepheus) has a true sword and sorcery feel, allowing exploration and adventure in a savage land. Action resolution is quick, putting an emphasis on story, not rules.
In Westlands, we’ve taken the core open-license 2D6 fantasy reference material and are adding extra content, including reworked (more dangerous!) sorcery mechanics, optional rules for simple firearms, and an expanded bestiary.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/394108/Westlands-2D6-System-RolePlaying-Game
It’s $1 from Drivethru, in an unaccountably unbookmarked 147 page PDF. Aside from that basic ommission, it is a nicely rendered SRD, itself open content, with some ideas blended from Cepheus Deluxe, to create a very usable light and traditional sword and sorcery game. I’d describe it as a permeation on a theme rather than a radical step on from Sword of Cepheus, though the additions and tweaks are nice.
I had backed the book project with a few squid extra as a thank you for putting in some effort on this. The release was also eagerly anticipated, as I wanted to see if this iteration would sate my itch to have a compact Cepheus fantasy game for my own table. Perhaps, Westlands would simply do all the work for me, put Wayfinder to one side, and allow me to get on with other vanity projects such as a Hopepunk Forged in the Dark game or even back to Blade and Spell powered by the Omni system. All of those more likely than me creating my self fantasised ‘Forthright’ – a complete D&D 4th Edition retro-clone.
In summary, no, Westlands isn’t quite what I was looking for, in large part because what I am aiming for isn’t this game’s target. Although there are liftable components, Westlands is going for the grittier end, with sorcery a danger in and of itself. I want lighter and more heroic. Optional Westland elements, such as Traits, and heroic Characteristic generation would be standard in my game, and the magic is going to be some form of maleable and free form system, drawing on my Atlantean past.
If anything Westlands has spured me on to keep at my own SRD, with talents for ancestries, free form magic and some meta about place and hope against shadow. I hope JRR would puff appreciatively on his pipe. A convention playtest kit would seem about right, if I can drag myself away from Eventide.
Westlands is well worth a $1 pick-up and something you could run straight away in a sword and sorcery setting of your choice.