Coriolis – The Third Horizon

The Dark Between the Stars

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.

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.

Active games and players

CORIOLIS
Coriolis
Online
Campaign
LFG Online Coriolis
Players
1/6
GM
0/1
Coriolis
en English

LFG Online Coriolis

Newbie friendly
New players are welcome, and nobody expects you to know the rules beforehand.
Adult
The table is for players who are 18 or over.
Looking for a group to play Coriolis : The Third Horizon or Coriolis : The Great Dark with. I'm an experienced ttrpg player looking to get into sci fi with this beautifully written and imagined world of Arabian nights in space! Please get in touch if you're interested to get a group going and looking for players! Moraelin

Read more

Save to favorites
New
Posted 7 hours ago
en English de German
Shadowdark
Shadowdark
...
Mainz
Online
Frank Black
Hi folks. My name is Frank from germany and I am born in 1978. I started playing TTRPGs in the late 80s/early 90s (don't remember exactly) and had a hiatus between 2008 and 2016. In the early and mid 2000s I participated in the organization for a local convention of the german TTRPG Midgard. Most of my life I was the GM and to be honest I really liked it (probably more than beeing a player). At the moment I play in 2 local monthly goups (no GMing). I am not sure if I have to quit one of the groups I am currently playing in because I really dislike the system we are playing (Warhammer Fantasy 4E) and the group is not willing to change that in the near future. Besides of that I am more than curious to try out online gaming although I never did before. So please be patient with me. Old man incoming ;-) Today I enjoy OSR-games the most (Fantasy, SciFi and all other genres). The simplicity of it is just something I really embrace. I dislike extensive backstories for my PCs. I am convinced that it is more natural to build their personality as I play. I don't need characters that have already achieved everything in their backstories. Besides of that I am a gamer not a novelist ;-) I like my characters to go down in a big blow. They should not die of old age. The most memorable PCs I had are all dead :-) The worst thing that could happen to me as a player is if I recognize that the GM cheats just to safe me from certain death. DON'T DO THAT ;-) As a GM I roll openly and take the results as they roll. I don't balance encounters but I consider myself "fair" in regards of worldbuilding and player choices. I like when players don't optimize and just play without searching the solution on their character sheet. I will kill your character if they make bad choices or if fate demands it. I am not into voice acting or such things and I hate it to waste precious game time on playing out every-day-life of characters. The tavern evening with just talking, the 2 hour shopping tour with the local merchants, the chillout session in the public bath I've seen it all and I hated every single minute of it. Bring on the action, the adventure, thats the reason I play. As you may have noticed english is not my mothertounge. Especially my spoken english is probably not the best. But I think I could manage to be in an english speaking group. At least I would try it. I would love to find a group where I could try out online gaming as a player. I think I would not start online gaming as a GM right away but would love to evolve into that. I really don't care how to play online: VTT, Discord, Teams whatever. I really don't care at this point in time.
Save to favorites
en English pl Polish … Spanish, Persian
CBPRED
Cyberpunk RED
...
Online
Kirdan
Forever GM since 1994.
Save to favorites
en English
CoC
Call of Cthulhu
MOTHERSHIP
Mothership
...
Online
fictionalbeing
Long time gamer, played a variety of systems. Interested in the new and indie or the seasoned and traditional.
Save to favorites
en English
DH
Daggerheart
PATH1E
Pathfinder 1
...
Online
JamesCORP
Hi, I'm James from the UK. I've been playing and GMing tabletop RPGs for a long time, and I enjoy trying different systems rather than sticking with one game. As you can probably tell from my system list, my tastes are pretty broad! I've played or run everything from Savage Worlds and Dragonbane to Alien, The One Ring, Star Wars, PbtA games, Blades in the Dark and plenty of others. I'm especially interested in Outgunned right now. I enjoy games where the players actually roleplay with each other rather than everything going through the GM. I like character interaction, collaborative storytelling and giving everyone their chance in the spotlight. Combat is great too, especially when it's exciting and has some narrative weight behind it. As a GM, I'm not interested in trying to beat the players. I want to give them situations to interact with, see what they come up with and make their characters look cool while still giving them meaningful challenges. As a player, I bring the same attitude: work with the group, support other people's moments, and help move things forward. I'm UK-based and mainly play online using Foundry VTT and Discord. My availability varies depending on the game, but I'm generally looking for UK/European evening times. I'm also happy playing with people who are completely new to a system. I don't expect everyone to know every rule before we start, especially considering half the fun for me is discovering games I haven't played before.
Save to favorites
en English el Greek
DND5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5E
CORIOLIS
Coriolis
...
Online
Nikos
Hi, I'm Nikos, live in the UK, I'm an experienced DND player and GM who has been itching for a new setting! I've been interested in the sci-fi and Arabian nights world of Coriolis and have always wanted to try it! Happy to play online in European times, let me know if you're organising something like that! Thanks!
Save to favorites

Videos

Reviews

Sorted by:

No reviews yet.

Login to leave a review.

Other entries

CY_BORG Character Creator
Tools & Platforms

CY_BORG Character Creator

English
Free
Character sheets
Build, gut, and log your doomed punks. Full CY_BORG sheet with a kinetic dice terminal wired to every stat check. Play offline in your browser, or sync to the cloud with one sign-in.

Read more

Dungeondraft
Tools & Platforms

Dungeondraft

English
Paid
Universal
Dungeondraft is a specialized, standalone map-making software designed specifically for creating high-quality TTRPG battlemaps. Developed by Megasploot (the creator of the world-building tool Wonderdraft), it was released in 2020 and has since become the industry favorite for GMs who want to build detailed, tactical maps without needing professional graphic design skills. It is famous for its "smart" tools that handle walls, lighting, and object scattering automatically, allowing a full encounter map to be completed in minutes. Description Dungeondraft bridges the gap between simple grid-sketching and complex image editors like Photoshop. It features a unique, hand-drawn aesthetic that fits perfectly with modern fantasy games. The software is built for efficiency; drawing a room automatically places floors and walls, and the integrated lighting engine allows you to place torches that cast realistic shadows in real-time. In 2026, it remains a "buy-once-own-forever" staple, free from the subscription models that have taken over much of the creative software market.

Read more

The Dark Eye menstruation calculator
Tools & Platforms

The Dark Eye menstruation calculator

German
Free
Toolkit
For anyone playing a female character in The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) who doesn't want to keep track of when their character is menstruating, I’ve written a tool that displays the next twelve occurrences. The calculations are based on the Calendar of the Twelve Gods, which is the most widely used calendar in Aventuria. I assume a 28-day cycle, with the period typically lasting one week.

Read more

Looking for a group?

Find a tabletop group to join or players to invite. Groupfinder is a free looking-for-group platform. By players, for players.