Remove ads

Eclipse Phase General (also Self-promotion)

blast flame said:
It's implied that Lady Gaga still lives for instance.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There's also a sidebar of someone who was born in 1983 in Gatecrashing (page 43). It's possible that this person was crazy, brainwashed, or lying - given the circumstances of the interview - but the interviewer, at least, doesn't seem to treat the idea of someone born in the mid-1980s as implausible.

geckonator9 said:
Is there some kind of basic gene-modding or childhood acclimation necessary for it, or can a baseline human just start resleeving and morphing from the get-go?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

No, resleeving works immediately. A standard healing vat can add mesh inserts and help with other cybernetics. Acclimation might take a bit, though, especially if the circumstances of their resleeving are unfortunate (and first time resleeving is always a penalty that could make things worse).

geckonator9 said:
I kind of want the campaign to be a basic tour of the system and the mechanics, starting at one end and flying or infocasting to the other as they pursue some mystery. I don't know, details aren't clear yet as I draft some stuff and I was going to talk to them about character creation today.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Good luck with this. One thing is that reputation and factions are pretty central to Eclipse Phase, so you might want to think about introducing different factions and offering the opportunity to join. Another is that maybe you could wake the characters just after the Fall and have them tour by slowboat around the system (time to build familiarity, rep) until the timeline 'catches up' to 10 AF.
 
So, I'm running an EP scenario on Discord (voice chat, no account or download needed), expected to run 4-5 hours, either tomorrow or Weds. Click on the signup to claim a spot!

Time: Sometime Tuesday or Wednesday Afternoon (probably after 5:30 PM Eastern US)
Location: Octavia, Venus
Character: Pick any Premade character from any official EP setting book (Core, Sunward, Firewall, Transhuman). Character must be Firewall.
Signup: http://whenisgood.net/ykabpii
Other Notes: Voice required. Some EP experience preferred. PM me for more details.
 
Last edited:
Hello.
I have a character idea (unrelated to game in previous post) that i'm enthusiastic about, but i feel that i may be not objective about it. So i want second opinion on viability and overall sanity.

Adeptus Mechanicus
Background: Hyperelite
Faction: Socialite
Motivation: Artistic Expression, Wealth

Ego
Traits
1.High Concept: Magos of Cult Mechanicus on Mars
2.Trouble: Kayfabe
3. Speaks with Machine Spirits
4. It's all a lie

Infosec - Great
Deceive - Great
Civ Rep - Good
Program - Good
Shoot - Fair
Rapport - Fair
X-Risks - Fair
Cred - Average x5
Will
Fight
Cover
Kinesics

Ego stunt: Civ Rep - Entrepreneur

Morph
Traits
A) Galatea
B) Sculpted for 41 millennium

Stunt: Attraction

Gear Stunt: Holy Bolter

Basic idea is a hacker who, as a side project, runs a Cult Mechanicus church in Olympus (Fuxingmen).
He is not serious about it, but keeps kayfable when uses his Magos persona.


Semi-related to above:
I) For a such character bolter is oblivious choice in weapon and seekers are close enough.
HOWEVER. I noticed strange thing in core EP mechanics: Seeker Pistol has 8 shots and has descripted as "pistol sized". Kinetic Heavy Pistol has 10 shots, with means that micro-missile seekers right size for a bolt ammo.
BUT. If we look at Seeker Rifle, a two-handed gun, it holds only 12 micro-missiles. Witch is strange, if it's possible to put 8 shots in pistol-sized weapon, than it should be possible to put twice that in a rifle. I think it's purely because of combat balance issue with character with lots of seekers.

II) Is it possible to design (and print with access to Cornucopia Machine) actual bolter. Obliviously not in effect, but in principle - gyrojet-like projectile that launched from classic cartridge using gunpowder.
It should be less effective than anything else in same size, but it's possible to design such a thing, that still be useful as basic firearm? Without access to professional design teams and such. To use as a prop, but one that actually functions.
 
Last edited:
This game is cool! The system is a bit rough, though. For those of you who play Eclipse Phase, do you play it with the vanilla system? With homebrew? Transhumanity's FATE? Another system? I'm curious!
 
Leetsepeak said:
This game is cool! The system is a bit rough, though. For those of you who play Eclipse Phase, do you play it with the vanilla system? With homebrew? Transhumanity's FATE? Another system? I'm curious!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

To be honest, I play with the original system, but then ignore what the system says half the time, whenever I feel like it's not doing what I want. Fate can work, but it's got the problem of being Fate, which requires a certain mindset, and especially for Eclipse Phase, a certain type of player.
 
Acatalepsy said:
To be honest, I play with the original system, but then ignore what the system says half the time, whenever I feel like it's not doing what I want. Fate can work, but it's got the problem of being Fate, which requires a certain mindset, and especially for Eclipse Phase, a certain type of player.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I want to try to run a story using the original system again, because I've done that once and we just got really surprised by the numbers when you've got at least 1 Speed Boost (The action economy gets a bit crazy) that and I recall stuff like being able to fire your gun faster depending on speed, which felt a little bit weird to me, and that's how I first got started on a houseruling gun mechanic craze.

I can't remember at this point in time, but I got the sense that disallowing like 8 bursts also broke the system, so I felt like I couldn't really win. In your experience, have you limited the amount of ranged attacks you can actually make with high Speed?

I can't really remember other pitfalls aside from that. I like the original system on paper, it's just the practice of it that got me a little sore.

Are there any big issues you've run into that you personally ignore most of the time? Or do you have any suggestions on how to navigate combat issues?

Also out of curiousity, how have you structured your games? Do you do a lot of farcasting or only a little? In my last game, I had the awkward position of feeling like I had to audit my player's access to equipment really harshly but was more lax within scenarios that took them away from their hub, though looking back at it I feel like I was far too rigid in my structuring of the stories there.

I want to try running Eclipse Phase again but in a more sandboxy form, and I was contemplating using the way Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was structured. Although it has missions which go elsewhere, it also had plenty of content in its hub location, which might make for fun times in game.
 
Last edited:
The big issue is that EP combat, if approached the way you approach other RPG combat, very quickly turns into (literal or metaphorical) rocket tag. A character that isn't outfitted in the maximum stacked armor is dead meat...and even then...

The solution to this is to not be seen, or shoot first, but the rules here are basically "roll infiltration to win" or "spend moxie to win". That's the other thing - I would strongly advise giving moxie back, not after the character has time to rest and recharge, but only one per session default regen, and when either achieving a motivational goal (a campaign event) or doing something risky (ie, that will require rolls) in a way that makes the game more interesting. Otherwise, players will spend moxie for practically every roll, and it takes a lot of the tension out of the game.

More when not on my phone.
 
I know I ended up snapping the combat system over my knee pretty much entirely by accident when I first played.

I built a hacker. An AGI with ties to the Triads, to be precise, because organized crime in a transhuman world was a fascinating concept that I wanted to play around with.

And because my hacker needed a way to stay relevant in physical scenes, I bought him a synthetic morph - one of the nicer ones, with fake skin because I liked the terminator aesthetic (my character ended up being an old movie buff precisely because of this). And since other characters were building some combat capability into the game, I decided some armour and a pair of shotgun-pistol things would be a decent mid level investment. Throw on some speed enhancing upgrades, because hey why not go for the 'computer thinks many times faster than you' as an archetype, and whoops.

The GM ambushed me with a full squad of military soldiers once, and I basically mowed them down in a round. Can't remember the precise details, but in the end the game devolved into 'Have Speed 4 or die'.

Probably because so long as you have more speed than the other guy, you can dedicate all of your actions to defense save for the excess, which can then be used to mow down the enemy with impunity.
 
Acatalepsy said:
The big issue is that EP combat, if approached the way you approach other RPG combat, very quickly turns into (literal or metaphorical) rocket tag. A character that isn't outfitted in the maximum stacked armor is dead meat...and even then...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes, but EP combat is easy to break. Buy a maker and set it to make Cases. Buy another that makes missile launchers.

Proceed to defeat everyone via HEAT missile swarm. "Yeah your Reaper can kill a hundred of my failbots. But can it kill two hundred?"
 
Leetsepeak said:
I can't remember at this point in time, but I got the sense that disallowing like 8 bursts also broke the system, so I felt like I couldn't really win. In your experience, have you limited the amount of ranged attacks you can actually make with high Speed?

I can't really remember other pitfalls aside from that. I like the original system on paper, it's just the practice of it that got me a little sore.

Are there any big issues you've run into that you personally ignore most of the time? Or do you have any suggestions on how to navigate combat issues?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So...I basically ignore initiative a lot of the time. Often I try to run combat more abstractly and more cinematic, with groups rarely being within easy striking range of each other. Like firing bursts down a corridor, then relocating, or using drones to locate each other before using seeker rifles or railguns to tear through (or go around) walls. How that goes depends on your group.

Leetsepeak said:
Also out of curiousity, how have you structured your games? Do you do a lot of farcasting or only a little? In my last game, I had the awkward position of feeling like I had to audit my player's access to equipment really harshly but was more lax within scenarios that took them away from their hub, though looking back at it I feel like I was far too rigid in my structuring of the stories there.

I want to try running Eclipse Phase again but in a more sandboxy form, and I was contemplating using the way Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was structured. Although it has missions which go elsewhere, it also had plenty of content in its hub location, which might make for fun times in game.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm currently participating in a sort of "hub world, episodic" game called Eclipse Phase Missions. If you're looking for a game online, check it out! We could always use more GMs and players. My non-EPM games run the gamut; usually I have some central problem or issue I want to address, often something fairly high-concept, but again, it varies.
 
In my previous game we used Initiative as it is in other games, where you roll it once and stick with that, because otherwise the rules made me weep.

Eclipse Phase Missions sounds interesting! I don't know if I have the mental wherewithal to throw my hat into that ring, but I'll totally check it out.
 
MJ12 Commando said:
Yes, but EP combat is easy to break. Buy a maker and set it to make Cases. Buy another that makes missile launchers.

Proceed to defeat everyone via HEAT missile swarm. "Yeah your Reaper can kill a hundred of my failbots. But can it kill two hundred?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Vehicle combat rules (and esp vehicles themselves) are absurdly stupid. In my first EP game I realized how hard it was to destroy even a basic civillian aircar.

So when I became an EP GM, I designed a Nemesis character who sleeved himself into a vehicle. Absurdly unkillable with handheld weaponry, can rig a small fleet of drones, and if you do cripple the vehicle he just transmits himself out and self destructs the hardware.
 
So I'm back to thinking I might run an Eclipse Phase game.

It'd start before the fall, and the group would be [Shadow runners] who get involved in plot.

We'll see if this desire persists.
 
FBH said:
So I'm back to thinking I might run an Eclipse Phase game.

It'd start before the fall, and the group would be [Shadow runners] who get involved in plot.

We'll see if this desire persists.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
On or off earth? How will you handle the relative lack of backgrounds and factions? Will you make new ones , cause earth should have it's own factions, ect ?

Also, how much before the fall?. Seems cool, though.
 
I somehow had a mistaken case of thinking I was double posting that led to deleting my post. I've been reading Shadowrun 4e and between Simsense vs XPcasting, augmentations, wireless mesh networks, and corporations having orbital habitats, you can obviously tell the same people worked on both games. Are there any other analogues I haven't noticed yet that may be worth mining for Eclipse Phase worldbuilding ideas?

Other ones: Rigging vs Jamming. Skillsofts.
 
Last edited:
Conjured Blade said:
I somehow had a mistaken case of thinking I was double posting that led to deleting my post. I've been reading Shadowrun 4e and between Simsense vs XPcasting, augmentations, wireless mesh networks, and corporations having orbital habitats, you can obviously tell the same people worked on both games. Are there any other analogues I haven't noticed yet that may be worth mining for Eclipse Phase worldbuilding ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If you fast forward to 5e, CFD is basically a much tamer version of the Exsurgent Virus, since the disorder is caused by nanites overwriting your mind with that of an AI.
 
Estro said:
On or off earth? How will you handle the relative lack of backgrounds and factions? Will you make new ones , cause earth should have it's own factions, ect ?

Also, how much before the fall?. Seems cool, though.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'll probably create a set of adapted background packages for it. I don't want to give away just how long before the fall, but in general, events will still be in flux and they'll be at least some possibility of a different outcome than what exists in the standard EP game.

A lot of backgrounds actually work both pre and post fall IMHO, some obviously don't, but I don't see adaption being a problem.
 
I just got the Argonauts supplement. Between the Trustees/Medeans, ISET, and their clandestine OZMA affilated counterparts ELRON, you could totally go for an Evangelion style conspiracy alphabet soup here.
 
Conjured Blade said:
I just got the Argonauts supplement. Between the Trustees/Medeans, ISET, and their clandestine OZMA affilated counterparts ELRON, you could totally go for an Evangelion style conspiracy alphabet soup here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think I was a little disappointed in the lack of detail over some of the pre-Fall wrangling and the transformation of the relationship of the Argonauts in the post-Fall world. To me the Argonauts were essentially a minor NGO that ended up in possession of much of the surviving technical and intellectual infrastructure when the dust settled. The Argonauts as an entity in transition are much more interesting than a relatively mature organization.

The more I think about EP, the more I think that 6 months or 5 years post-Fall are much more interesting settings than 10AF.
 
Acatalepsy said:
The more I think about EP, the more I think that 6 months or 5 years post-Fall are much more interesting settings than 10AF.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
While I don't have as much knowledge about the setting as you do, my first impression of EP was that its timeline was actually irresponsibly vague. I was quite interested in periods other than 10AF too - in fact, I'd find the idea of a campaign that starts pre-Fall (say, 10-20 years before it), goes through the events of the Fall, and ends 10 AF, would be quite interesting.
 
vicky_molokh said:
While I don't have as much knowledge about the setting as you do, my first impression of EP was that its timeline was actually irresponsibly vague. I was quite interested in periods other than 10AF too - in fact, I'd find the idea of a campaign that starts pre-Fall (say, 10-20 years before it), goes through the events of the Fall, and ends 10 AF, would be quite interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think it makes a good call to leave a lot of the pre-Fall stuff vague, including things like "what year is it". It's mostly a good call to shy away from things that are either too hard a connection to real life, or that too narrowly define the game or intrude on the possibilities and mysteries of the universe, which includes a lot of just pre-Fall and mid-Fall stuff. But for things that happen in the leadup to the Fall, and things happening in those first few chaotic months and years after? Those are defined, so they aren't really mysterious...but they are sort of boring, and lead to a sense that the current status quo is much more static than it should feel.
 
Honestly, i'd like to see the time period when people born/made after the fall are starting to come into their own, like 25 AF. More generational issues to play with - social change is slow and often works on generational time frames, you get some interesting things there.
 
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top