Roleplaying Game of Transhuman Conspiracy and Horror, Eclipse Phase HUH? Options

[Heath Robinson]

When can we expect the SR port?

[InfinityzeN]

Just picked up the PDF and scanning it right now.

*Edit*
Just to show you how far out some things are, a little quote for you.

Pleasure pods are capable of switching their sex at will to male, female, hermaphrodite, or neuter.

Try to wrap your mind around that concept.

*Edit 2.0*
Found an error.

UPLOADING-RESLEEVING CONTINUITY In ideal circumstances, a person who is intentionally resleeving (p. 271) can arrange for the uploading and resleeving process to occur with any noticeable loss of continuity.

Should say 'occur without any'.

Another error.

Using this augmentation allows the user to lie and conceal their emotions in such as way as oo fool the keenest observer

Should say to instead of oo.

[Demonseed Elite]

I've read through a good chunk of it and I'm very impressed so far. Looks really solid and very interesting.

[Werewindlefr]

Why is there a major spoiler about the exsurgent virus and the ETI on page 25 - the glossary, when it's strictly GM-eyes only information?

[Rob Boyle]

Why is there a major spoiler about the exsurgent virus and the ETI on page 25 - the glossary, when it's strictly GM-eyes only information?

Cuz it's the glossary. It's a trade-off, if you leave it out, you make the glossary less useful.

Found an error.

We have a thread for errata on the EP forums, so if you find more, please post them there!

http://www.eclipsephase.com/ep-core-rulebook-errata

[Backgammon]

Still reading it too. The RPG.net thread probably has loads more info, but here's my quick overview -

The setting is different that I though, mostly in the regard that I thought it would be a huge multi-solar system world with tons of people - not quite Star Wars big but something with lots of planets and stuff. Eclipse Phase is actually post-apocalyptic. Humanity almost got totally wiped out. There are about 500 million people left, dispersed in our solar system in colonies. This is not a Bad Thing. The colonies and societies are rich in themes, and there is a good mix of have vs have-nots and post-scarcity. Plenty of things to do.

The game is very well conceived to work excelently for guns blazing campaigns as well as more subtle campaigns revolving around politics and scientific discovery. Basically, think about it - if everyone can be resleaved, whats the point in killing anyone? That leads to the non-guns blazing campaigns. But then again, there is always a reason to blow shit up, so very aggressive games work too. Very nice.

The transhuman setting basically correctly follows the logical conclusions of transhumanism's effect on society. So far I find it flawless. Also, you can go ahead and play a Boo! discovery type of game, tackling on the horrific secrets lurking on the shadows, or just set a game in the very concrete realms of political intrigue and faction warfare that have nothing to do with big bad things out there.

The inclusion of mental problems, with cthulu-esque insanity problems, is a VERY nice touch.

I haven't gotten to those sections yet aside from brief overviews, but Psi seems to be a very interesting aspect. It's very rare and is taxing to the user, who is prone to mental traumas and disorders. It's been done, but it's working out pretty cool here.

So as a game setting, it earns high mrks because it's possible for players to go in many different directions. More so that Shadowrun - yeah, in Shadowrun it's easy to make an alternative campaigns, but in a way you seem to always fight the material to do so. In Eclipse Phase, it just feels so easy to go in whatever direction you want.

The mechanics seem simple and workable. This I am not one to talk about much one way or the other though, I usually don't care much. Others will have better opinions.

The fiction of the setting, or backstory or metastory or whatever you want to call it is good too. The "default setting" is that characters work for this organization called Firewall that exists to fight the big bad Boo! things out there which may call upon agents at any time, - though otherwise they are free to do whatever. It's a lot better explained in the book, but the feeling I get is that this is a very flexible but intelligent way to get characters easily involved in large plot events without making it feel like they are pawns or being railroaded by Uber NPCs. In fact, Eclipse Phase has a distinct lack of Uber NPCs, which is comforting.

[Backgammon]

Another comment is that the feeling of the game, even though it's post-apocalyptic, is NOT cyberpunk. This is NOT a dystopia. There are bad thing but there are good things too. It's kind of a fresh breeze for a hardcore SRer like me. Not everything hopeful has to fail, it's nice.

[WyldKnight]

Me and my friends are already getting ready to run a rl game but if there were enough people a PbP game would also be pretty fun. Honestly the only thing I find wrong with EP is that there isn't a character generator online to feed my occasional laziness lol.

[eidolon]

I hear you. I'm sure it's a matter of ROI, but it really strikes me as odd that more RPGs don't include an official, inclusive, routinely updated character generator in their game line.

I love that the communities step up with stuff like the Chargen spreadsheet on here for SR, but I'd pay good cash money for a (reasonably) bug free, actually planned and well thought out, functioning character generator for games that I play. Most notably Shadowrun.

Hear that Catalyst? I want to give you money for an official chargen app for Shadowrun. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[WyldKnight]

Even better if the app can run on smart phones. I would want it for the sheer cool factor. So anybody out there feel like making a generator? I'll give you cookies.

Btw, what does ROI mean?

I'm not sure if this was asked already but does anyone have any idea of when the books will be street side?

[Demonseed Elite]

Btw, what does ROI mean?

Return on Investment.

[eidolon]

Sorry, yeah. Return on investment. I just imagine that surely they've looked at what it would cost to do right, looked at what the market would support price-wise, and the profit margin just wasn't high enough.

At least, I certainly hope they've done at least that much.

[Backgammon]

Complete speculation, but I would imagine the problem is also they don't have any in-house programmers. So they'd have to farm it out, which requires a relationship with a small dev company, which is trickier than it sounds (you can't entrust your brand quality to just anyone). All that for a char generator, knowing full well the community is going to build one that is effectively just as good? I wouldn't go for it either.

[Synner667]

Of course, if they knew what they were doing, they'd actually do what many other companies are doing...
...Offer it out as a competition, then offer a prize to the winner.

That gives you...
...Other people doing the hard work
...Community building
...Interaction with customers
...Recruiting of people for the future
...Raising brand awareness
...Reputation of being innovative

And probably other stuff, too.

If any of that comes to fruition, I will expect my reward.

[Adam]

Of course, if they knew what they were doing, they'd actually do what many other companies are doing...
...Offer it out as a competition, then offer a prize to the winner.

Of course, if you knew how our business and licensing deals worked, you might know that many of the things that people outside of our business suggest are not actually possible, and this is one of them. Shadowrun stuff can't work like that, because we don't own it.

Now Eclipse Phase ... well, since it's entirely Creative Commons, anyone can take it and make a character generator.

[Adam]

Seriously, do you understand how rude and presumptuous the phrase "If they knew what they were doing" comes across as?

[Tanegar]

Space, implants, mad AIs, horror?

"L-l-look at you h-h-acker, pa-pathetic creature of meat and bones..."

Looks good to me.

Ohhh... I never even thought of that. Now I totally have to include brain-parasitizing worms and a zombie-infested ghost ship run by a psycho AI in my campaign.

[eidolon]

Of course, if you knew how our business and licensing deals worked, you might know that many of the things that people outside of our business suggest are not actually possible, and this is one of them. Shadowrun stuff can't work like that, because we don't own it.

Well of course we don't know how Catalyst's business and licensing deals work. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Is this one of those things that's under the heading "Catalyst doesn't own the rights to do electronic stuff for Shadowrun?" Because if so, sadpanda.

effectively just as good

That's just it. Effectively, but still not as good.

No matter how promising the stuff that comes from the community is at first, the ones that are actual programs, and not just a spreadsheet, die as soon as the dev realizes how much work is involved, and the spreadsheets, not to take away from the awesome job done on some of them, particularly the one in CP right now, are just spreadsheets. They do the job okay most of the time, but they're fiddly, finicky, and well, not as nice to look at and use as a full-fledged, stylized generator would be.

Again, not taking away from how cool it is that people are doing this stuff on their own (and really, if someone would make a good chargen prog I wouldn't care that it wasn't officially from CGL, etc.), but I want something good, polished, and finished, and I'd pay for it. That's all I'm saying.

[Kanada Ten]

Coming home after reading the above RPG.net thread, inspired and desiring, I said to my love, "There's a fifty dollar book I'd like for my birthday." She looked dubiously down over her laptop at me and replied, "Is this for Shadowrun or something? 'Cause fifty dollars is too much for a Shadowrun book." Knowing then that there was only one chance at success, I swallowed and said, "No, not for Shadowrun. Here, let me show you a picture of it first." And thus borrowing her laptop, the glossy pages of Eclipse Phase were brought forth: the golden inverse skyline of the Venusian aerostat gracing her eyes with its frenetic metropolis emerging for the swirling clouds. "I can see why you wanted to show me it first," she said at last. Congratulations, Post Human Studios; congratulations on creating a book that looks like it's worth fifty dollars.

[Bull]

That's just it. Effectively, but still not as good.

No matter how promising the stuff that comes from the community is at first, the ones that are actual programs, and not just a spreadsheet, die as soon as the dev realizes how much work is involved, and the spreadsheets, not to take away from the awesome job done on some of them, particularly the one in CP right now, are just spreadsheets. They do the job okay most of the time, but they're fiddly, finicky, and well, not as nice to look at and use as a full-fledged, stylized generator would be.

Again, not taking away from how cool it is that people are doing this stuff on their own (and really, if someone would make a good chargen prog I wouldn't care that it wasn't officially from CGL, etc.), but I want something good, polished, and finished, and I'd pay for it. That's all I'm saying.

Yup. Sadly, the licensing is just freaking complicated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

I put down $30 for the Hero Lab program and the Mutants & Masterminds generator a while back, and man... Worth it. That's a shiny, polished program right there. We only played a half dozen game sessions, and I only used it for one character, but still I say... Worth it. The second that Lone Wolf announces that they finally have the Shadowrun generator that they've had in the wings ready for sale, I will be throwing money at them, even if I have to rob a bank to do it.

Bull

[eidolon]

So I guess never mind, Catalyst.

Hey Lone Wolf, I would give you money for this.. According to this thread, you're working on it. Good to know. Money. Right here. For you.

[Bull]

So I guess never mind, Catalyst.

Hey Lone Wolf, I would give you money for this.. According to this thread, you're working on it. Good to know. Money. Right here. For you.

We've sorta known this for a while, but any detail is good news.

Bull

[Cardul]

Coming home after reading the above RPG.net thread, inspired and desiring, I said to my love, "There's a fifty dollar book I'd like for my birthday." She looked dubiously down over her laptop at me and replied, "Is this for Shadowrun or something? 'Cause fifty dollars is too much for a Shadowrun book." Knowing then that there was only one chance at success, I swallowed and said, "No, not for Shadowrun. Here, let me show you a picture of it first." And thus borrowing her laptop, the glossy pages of Eclipse Phase were brought forth: the golden inverse skyline of the Venusian aerostat gracing her eyes with its frenetic metropolis emerging for the swirling clouds. "I can see why you wanted to show me it first," she said at last. Congratulations, Post Human Studios; congratulations on creating a book that looks like it's worth fifty dollars.

Looks like it is worth 50 dollars? The thing is worth it..best writing I have seen in a while, and the writing staff are actually friendly, and do not have a "Our way using information only we have access to is the only way, if you disagree, we will just ban you" approach like some other development teams do..

Now, if only we could get some solid answers to some questions that seem to be getting asked alot due to a missing line of text...

[eidolon]

Now that I'm read back up on Shadowrun, and since I'm not GMing first in our round-robin, I can finally get back to reading EP. I got sidetracked when I actually managed to get a Shadowrun group going. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cardul]

Now that I'm read back up on Shadowrun, and since I'm not GMing first in our round-robin, I can finally get back to reading EP. I got sidetracked when I actually managed to get a Shadowrun group going. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Just remember: the Devs for EP will not answer the most burning question on the forums over there(I have seen no less then 3 separate threads asking about it): do the Lost start at Level 1 or Level 2 Psi?

Yes, one could argue that because they start off with 2 Disorders, they have Psi at Level 2, but it could also be argued
that because of their circumstances growing up, that one of those Disorders could be caused by the psychological stressors of the environment and, though their latent psi ability, not detecting the "people" there, thus starting them at Psi level 1, with an extra disorder.