Eclipse Phase RPG, downloadable PDF Options

[Grinder]

Reading through Panopticon for the last days. Can someone explain the following paragraph to me?

Perspectives change over time, however. After the
Fall, transhumanity found itself on a new road. The
backlash against AGIs also spilled over onto uplifts;
if transhumanity could spawn intelligent computer
monsters, why not intelligent animal monsters?
Already controversial, uplifts and their proponents
were once again put on the defensive. By this time,
however, Somatek’s personnel had spent decades
working alongside uplifts, raising many of them from
children to adulthood. Numerous uplifts worked
within their ranks. They knew in their hearts that
treating uplifts as animals or monsters was wrong. In
a surprise move, Duvalier and many of his supporters
found themselves forced out of the company. A new
corporate culture was spawned, one that was friendlier
to uplifts. In the hypercorp’s ranks today you can
find thousands of uplifts who believe in the corp. Who
love the corp. I’m not repeating stories I’ve heard, I’ve
spoken with Somatek workers myself.
As you might expect, the feelings of uplifts
outside the Somatek family circle are considerably
less charitable. Many uplifts hate Somatek and will
have nothing to do with them or anyone who works
for them, even subcontracts for them. Somatek is a
favorite target of uplift terrorist splinters, which is the
reason that Clever Hands is one of the most heavily
defended installations on Luna. Uplifts that voluntarily
work for Somatek are considered Uncle Toms,
sell-outs who help oppress their own kind.

- Why have Duvalier and his supporters been thrown ouf of Somatek?
- Why do non-Somatek uplifts hate the corp (one would guess tht Somatek would have a very good PR company) when most Somatek-affiliated uplifts fucking love the compnay?
- It's mentioned later that Somatek uses intendured service on their uplifts - why should they so such a bad move, PR-wise, if they consider uplifts to be near-equal to humans?

[Grinder]

Oh, the quoted text is taken from pg.120.

[Grinder]

Great, just found the entry on duvalier on pg.136 in which a lot is explained. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[nezumi]

Do you still have questions? I'm happy to explain if you'd like (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (Some of this was also explained in Sunward and Gatecrashing, where Duvalier is introduced as, well, 'ethically liberal'.)

[Grinder]

A friend arranges a social call. He swings by the station, enjoys lunch, makes small talk. He's been working closely with some gatecrashers through the Love & Hate Gate. He avoids talking about what he's doing so far from 'home', although it is clear he is actually travelling by shuttle, not egocasting.

After the meal, the group's hacker comes up with something odd on the security equiment. The party finds a small pouch hidden in a ventilation shaft. Inside is a strange artifact the size of a peach pit. A tag attached to it identifies it as being from the friend, that it should be kept safe until he can return to collect it. Using microscopy, the skin of the artifact is inscribed with an alien script.

News reports that the friend's morph was found dead a week and a half later on a circulator to Luna, his stack brutally removed. Digging deeper reveals that all of his possessions are mising and the morph was actually surgically opened, although it's unclear why.

How it continues depends on the PCs. The artifact may be induced to begin revealing information. It's a sort of treasure map, except instead of leading to treasure, it tracks the movements of this band of aliens as they were pursued by a highly advanced, automated device pursuing the extermination of their species. That detail is not revealed until later on. The mathematical work of establish routes and locations is much easier, and suggest that there is something at a particular location which the characters may get close to by gate. The artifact was recovered by a private team working through the Love-Hate gate, then purchased (through suspicious circumstances) by Go-Nin before it apparently disappeared. Go-Nin is intensely interested in the artifact, since they already began unlocking the map and believe it leads to more alien artifacts. They are actively pursuing it, and killing anyone in their way. They've hired several bands of mercenaries, including the Band of the Black Hand, a group of primate uplifts.

If a transhuman reaches the artifact, they will discover that it is the genocide device - and if interacted with, it will lock onto the transhuman and begin a campaign to exterminate all transhuman life in the galaxy - something which it is, without question, capable of.

The game took a bit longer to come to life, but next weekend it'll happen, so if anyone wants to contribute to nezumi's awesome scenario, feel free to do so. In the meantime two questions for clarification:

The mathematical work of establish routes and locations is much easier

What do you mean with this?

and suggest that there is something at a particular location which the characters may get close to by gate

Does the group has to use the gate to get to the location?

[Shortstraw]

Would pay for good character generator.

[nezumi]

You're holding me to actually remember what I meant? I don't know! Best, guess, the first line is meant to say "it's easier to figure out where the map leads to than WHAT it leads to, as the map itself is based on mathematics, but the what is based on xenoanthropology. Figuring out where the map leads to probably will still take some time (how much time? Just enough to wrap up Act 1, without leaving your players bored waiting for Act 2.) Of course, you'll need to think of why the PCs can figure out the map and Go-Nin hasn't yet. One solution there is they only figure out part, which leads them to the next locale and the next adventure.

Quote two ... I think for the sake of consistency, it needs to be very far away. The likelihood of it happening in the solar system is low, and if it did happen here, the 'treasure' must be pretty small to not have been noticed until now. However, this does not imply that the big scenes have to be far away. For instance, if Go-Nin acquires the object, they'll bring it back home for study. That means the PCs are back in our friendly old solar system for the big show down.

Shortstraw - check out Kindalas's excel sheet character generator. You can find a link to it on the Resources page at the Eclipse Phase website.
Finder's fee please! ;P

[Grinder]

You're holding me to actually remember what I meant?

Yep. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

I don't know! Best, guess, the first line is meant to say "it's easier to figure out where the map leads to than WHAT it leads to, as the map itself is based on mathematics, but the what is based on xenoanthropology. Figuring out where the map leads to probably will still take some time (how much time? Just enough to wrap up Act 1, without leaving your players bored waiting for Act 2.) Of course, you'll need to think of why the PCs can figure out the map and Go-Nin hasn't yet. One solution there is they only figure out part, which leads them to the next locale and the next adventure.

Quote two ... I think for the sake of consistency, it needs to be very far away. The likelihood of it happening in the solar system is low, and if it did happen here, the 'treasure' must be pretty small to not have been noticed until now. However, this does not imply that the big scenes have to be far away. For instance, if Go-Nin acquires the object, they'll bring it back home for study. That means the PCs are back in our friendly old solar system for the big show down.

Thanks for the additional thoughts you put into this. Any interest in fleshing out the adventure a bit more?

[Adam]

Our latest Eclipse Phase title, The Stars Our Destination, is now available!

The Stars Our Destination is now available on DriveThruRPG! This Scum Swarn Setting is 18 pages, in both portrait and landscape-oriented PDFs, and priced at only $5.

Written by Eclipse Phase co-creator Brian Cross, The Stars Our Destination details a prominent scum swarm in the Eclipse Phase setting. Gamemasters will find a useful nomadic setting complete with ship descriptions, NPCs, and plot hooks. Players will find a handy background for their scum characters as well as more details and information on how this faction lives and operates.

Get to know characters like Barking Dog, ships named Three Sheets to the Wind and Abstinence Only, and interact with members of over a half-dozen factions that occupy The Stars!

[Grinder]

Finally! Rimward will be released tomorrow!

Rimward

The news everyone has been waiting for, Rimward is complete. We will be releasing the PDF on Wednesday, July 25. That's this Wednesday! Finally you will get answers to your most burning questions, such as:

1. What's up with the Jovians?
2. Where's the best place in the system to base jump?
3. Why, exactly, is it a bad idea to piss off the Hidden Concern?
4. What's it like to live on an anarchist habitat?
5. Does MeatHab have feelings?

Rimward will be 200 pages and done with the same high quality, full-color production values you've come to expect from Posthuman Studios. The PDF will be available through OneBookShelf for $10.00, PDFF+Hack Pack for $15.00, and a special, limited time, bundle of Rimward+Sunward pDFs for $17.00. That's right, you can have the entire solar system on your computer or mobile device for just $17.00! As always, Rimward will be released under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial-share alike license so you can freely redistribute and remix.

[almost normal]

Nice. Just played last night.

[Adam]

The electronic version of Rimward is out!

Rimward is now available from DriveThruRPG! Our latest 200-page sourcebook is available as a PDF, fully-hyperlinked, with layers and cross-references aplenty as we take you to the far edges of the outer system!

Rimward covers The Main Belt, Jovian Republic, Jovian Trojans, Saturn, The Titanian Commonwealth, Uranus and the Ultimates, Neptune, The Kuiper Belt, The Autonomist Alliance, New Morphs and Gear.

Take a peek at the Table of Contents...

You can buy the Rimward PDF or the Hack Pack of Rimward Art, and of course both of them together in the Rimward PDF + Hack Pack Bundle

Also available until the end of July, for those who haven't fully explored the Inner System, a discounted Rimward + Sunward Bundle.

Blatant ENnies Reminder

Panopticon is nominated for "Best Writing" for Panopticon and Posthuman Studios for "Best Publisher" this year. Please vote! http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/.