Overview
Coriolis: The Third Horizon (CTTH) is a science-fiction RPG from Free League Publishing. Published in 2016, it is one of the earliest implementations of the Year Zero Engine. Inspired by the cultures and aesthetics of Arabia and North Africa, it offers a refreshing alternative to the traditional space opera setting.
The player characters are the crew of a starship: free traders, explorers, mercenaries, agents, or pilgrims. Bound together by debt, necessity, and ambition. Every job carries them deeper into the Third Horizon, a cluster of thirty-six star systems linked by mysterious Portals left behind by a vanished alien progenitor race.
Description
The game assumes the PCs are already together as the crew of a starship, though the nature of that crew is entirely up to the players. Characters begin with broad concepts such as Artist, Data Spider, Fugitive, Negotiator, Operative, Pilot, Preacher, Scientist, Ship Worker, Soldier, or Trailblazer. These are concepts and starting points rather than classes: a Soldier might be a legionnaire, a mercenary, a palace guard, or something entirely different.
System Overview & Key Features
The Year Zero Engine
The Year Zero Engine (YZE) is a dice pool system. Players collect six-sided dice based on their attributes, skills, and gear. The dice are rolled, and each 6 is a success. Normally, only one success is needed, with additional 6s indicating a greater degree of success or even triggering a critical effect. Some tasks require more than one success.
Skills & Talents
Characters possess both general and advanced skills, along with talents that distinguish them from one another. Talents may represent exceptional training, unique experience, or even mystical abilities such as reading another person's surface thoughts.
Pray to the Icons
Faith is central to the setting. Every character is born under one of the Nine Icons, each representing different ideals and granting a unique talent. When fortune turns against them, players may Pray to the Icons, rerolling failed dice in hopes of success. Every prayer, however, grants the Game Master a Darkness Point.
Darkness Points
Darkness Points are a resource for the GM, used to increase tension and complicate the story. They allow the GM to introduce narrative twists such as a PC's gun running out of ammunition, an NPC seizing the initiative, or an innocent bystander being placed in danger.
Combat & Criticals
Combat is fast and dangerous. While characters can absorb a fair amount of punishment, critical injuries are the greatest threat. Weapons have a Critical Rating that can trigger rolls on a d66 injury table, producing lasting wounds, or in the worst cases, sudden death.
Links
freeleaguepublishing - Game page