Eclipse Phase game

[Jordan]

Hey guys, for a while now I've been looking over my Eclipse Phase books with a desire to play. Since it isn't really a mainstream game here (that is to say, not a lot of people know much about it beyond what I have mentioned in chat) I have realized that if I want an EP game, it is going to fall on me to start one up.

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So what is Eclipse Phase? For those who don't know it's a "hard" Sci-Fi game with strong Conspiracy and Horror themes that explores the concept of Transhumanism. The game happens in the far future of earth, 10 years after a singularity event involving Artificial Intelligences called TITANS (yes, all in caps) and the virtual destruction of Earth. Luckily, humanity was able to flee to the stars, and as ever we survive. Luna is completely colonized, Mars is in the process of being terraformed and humanity has spread itself across the solar system. There have been brilliant breakthroughs in technology, amazing and horrifying discoveries "out there" and yet Humanity is still plagued by many of the same sociological faults that plague us today.

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The game will center around a group of people who belong to a secret organization called "Firewall" whose stated goal is to defend and protect humanity from all threats whether they are external (TITANS, hypothetical Aliens, etc.) or Internal (Saving Humanity from itself as it were). The characters will be sent on a variety of mission so the Players will have a lot of leeway in building their characters including the options of being an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) or an Uplift (an Animal species raised to Sapience).

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The has a fairly sttep learning curve when it comes to both IC knowledge of the game and OOC game mechanics but overall I think the game could be a lot of fun and my goal is to start the game in mid to late January.

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So, does this interest anyone?

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CHARACTER CREATION

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Okay, Character Creation. For the most part, I don’t want to stifle anyone’s creativity so aside from the rules below, the world is your oyster. The game is going to be a “vanilla” Eclipse Phase game meaning I am using the core conceits as presented in the setting material provided in the core book (and splat books once I have a chance to read them). You, the players will all be recent recuits to Firewall, a secret organization who is dedicate to the preservation of the Transhuman race (they include both Uplifts and AGIs in their loose definition of “Transhuman”).

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I am using the Package system from the Transhuman book for character creation (message me if you do not have a copy of the book). This simplifies character creation greatly and makes it easier for me to understand the characters when I look them over during the approval process. Please make sure you include a log of what packages you took and a what point value you took them. In addition, there are a few minor rules to character creation I am enforcing.

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1. No characters may be from the Jovian Faction. While I do not mind Bioconservative Characters, the Jovians are extremely militant and integrating them into a diverse group will very difficult.

1. Morphs must be chosen from the Core book. Also, no one may have a Flexbot or a Swarmoid Morph. They are more complex than normal Morphs and I haven’t had a chance to go over their special rules yet. I would also prefer it if no one was an Infomorph as I am still trying to wrap my head around how they work in the game. There are exceptions to this; an Uplift character can have a morph of their Uplift type even if it isn't in the core book; for example an Uplift Bonobo can have a Neo-Bonobo morph if desired

1. I am only allowing one character to be an Async, whether that is through being one of the Lost Generation or just someone who happened to develop them, is irrelevant.; only one Async at the start of the game.

1. The Eye Reputation (i-rep) is the Reputation used by Firewall and considering you are generally new assets of the organization I am capping i-rep at 20 to start, with a maximum of 40 (including Saavy) in the networking: Firewall skill.

I think that is it for now. If there are any alterations or additions to this I will let you know and include them here.

[Jeremy]

As Jordan knows, I am in. Criminal Hacker from Luna.

[Craig ST]

Jordan here, this is my GM account and where I will be taking submissions once I am ready for that step. Before people start throwing concepts around, I just wanted to get an idea of who would be interested and answer any questions people who are less familiar with Eclipse Phase might have. Once I have a gauge of interest, I will either edit the first post with character creation guidelines and house rules or I will start a new thread.

[SalmonMax]

In. Like Flynn. Oh yes I am.

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This is not merely interest. It is a force of nature, rumbling and fuming; like a cloud of consuming nanites.

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Deny it not!

[Krul]

I rather like Eclipse Phase myself, but realized I don't have the right mindset to run it.. play on the other hand, is another matter.

[Craig ST]

Okay, just a quick note. Several of the EP books are offered up for free by the developers so anyone who doesn't have a copy of the core book should be able to get it.

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Here is a link to the Eclipse Phase homepage. http://eclipsephase.com

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I suggest taking a look at the Blog too. they always have links to fascinating articles that can inspire gms/players and could have some relevance to the game.

[Dave ST]

I've never played and I know nothing about the system or it's themes, but I did tell Jordan that if he got this going I'd be more than happy to try this setting out.

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From a completely blank slate perspective, I was curious if it would be possible to play a character who has recently been awoken from a Cryosleep or something and is completely ignorant of everything just as much IC as I am OOC. That way I can actually play the guy a bit confused or behind on the jargon and instead of having to keep asking the ST and the rest of the players OOC for what's going on, the PCs themselves in game could actually teach my character 'how to play' and by proxy be teaching me as well.

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Is that doable?

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Oh, I do have the core book though, so I have a hard copy of the rules.

[Craig ST]

We can sort of do that. During The Fall a lot of people got uploaded off world as information. I don' see why we couldn't say your character was "backed up" long before that, maybe even as one of the original test subjects of the technology and your programming got lost in the shuffle. When The Fall happened, you Ego was just one part of a larger database that got sent off world.

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Of course we would need reasonable story for why someone would have gone to the bother of re-instantiating you into a body after all this time but we can work on that.

[Dave ST]

Maybe he's a cop and one of the most dangerous criminals in history, that he locked up for good (or so he thought) was also part of the program as well. He was downloaded fist and now it's the cops job to find him and bring him justice with his sexy, but plucky sidekick cop friend. I have this awesome idea for a final battle in a cryoprison... it'll be grand.

[Craig ST]

You are NOT John Spartan. NO! Bad Dave!!

[Dave ST]

...well shit.

[Krul]

rofl, Dave.. besides, wouldn't be better to have the endgame be inside a database.. matrix style? of course, your not Neo either, so I guess that doesn't work all that well.

[Craig ST]

Alright, we have 4 players. as much as I'd like to get 1 or 2 more. for is enough for me to get started. If you guys would like to discuss your concepts with each other, at this point feel free. I am currently working on the Character Generation guidelines and when they are done I will post them in the original post at the top of the thread.

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I am curious and excited to see what you guy end up coming up with!

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Edit: The Character Creation guidelines are up in the first post.

[Krul]

To give folks an idea of what I'm thinking, sense in EP folks should work together to for a team, faction wise I'm almost certainly going Extropian, and I'm inclined to go Military, but I'm flexible, if that overlaps with someone else too much, I can shift to a different focus... I'm not thinking async at this point, but that can also change if no one else is going that way.

[Craig ST]

The Extropians are an interesting faction Krul. An unusual blend of inner and outer system ideologies. I know for sure we have a computer expert/hacker and a security specialist/cop-detective. A military character would be okay but you'd been sharing at least some space with the security specialist. I know the idea for an Async has been brought up by someone but as of yet one hasn't been submitted.

[SalmonMax]

Looking at a Belter here, and yes an async.

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Just a happy go lucky gal living out in the Main Belt with her best pal...a Space Roach...and looking for the big score that'd pay off her ship's loan and buy her a nice hab somewhere.

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Yeah. Didn't quite go that way. Not yet at least. Lost the ship and got a head full of heebie-jeebies for her trouble. But there's upsides. Nice custom morph. White pass to a big secret society. And only one or two major organizations wants her head/dead.

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So there's that.

[Dave ST]

Coulda been worse... you coulda been frozen for the last 50 years.

[Krul]

Or, you could be in this situation, this entire sequence is very fitting to the universe of eclipse phase, and fits perfectly the background of some Machine AGI's

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[SalmonMax]

lol...I actually was really seriously thinking of using this as inspiration for my AGI character.

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But the reality of Eclipse Phase is that 'accidental' AGIs don't really exist...or if they do, they're not really playable. Emergent AIs are generally unsocialized and alien-minded to the point they can't really interact meaningfully with transhumans. A nonsapient AI can be uplifted, but they're still rather odd by the standards of human society...and it can't happen by accident.

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Even so, the AGI I was designing was still drawing inspiration from this idea, as something designed to be a kind of personal assistant, which developed goals and wishes for the future of its own.

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In the end, I decided against it, because it was starting to remind me too much of my character in the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow game currently being planned.

[Krul]

To say it can't happen is a bit too broad, it can happen, it's just very unlikely, and there would have to be somemore to it then it appears (I could see something like this happening if there was a Autonomist hacker involved in a hypercorp's robotic's program).... I admit, this sequence made me think about an AGI character myself, but I've got my hooks firmly in my present character concept by the time I came across this.. Also, AGI characters are significantly computer focused, an area of focus that is already covered by our lunar hacker, I believe.

[SalmonMax]

Hee. My AGI character was actually very social. Humanities AGI with the Real World Naivete trait bought off with the AGI Socialization trait. Not BAD with computers, cuz you can't really be bad with computers as an AGI, but by no means a hacker.

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But between my interest in the async thing, and playing a robot in another game, i shelved the AGI idea. For now. If the async doesn't work out, I may bring it back.

[Jordan]

What is really fun is when you start dealing with an AGI who is just beginning to explore the realm of Biomorphs.... Also, that video simultaneously wierded me out and made me want to know the rest of her story...

[SalmonMax]

Exactly!

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That's one thing that made me want to make an AGI. That whole idea of someone who...at least in the past...had been obliged to imitate a nonsapient (though very advanced) robot 'toy.' How did it do that? What effect did it have on how the intelligence views itself, and human beings?

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EP artificial intelligences don't work that way, of course, but there are other games...

[Dave ST]

Just a heads up guys, Jordan finished my PC and he's in my inbox waiting for me to go over and understand all the terminology. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but I got slammed with an extra shift this week (which is cool, because I love money) so I won't too much free time until Sunday night and my typical Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday days off.

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Still psyched about this, just need some time to get caught up.

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Special shout out to Jordan for making me a PC, it's appreciated.

[mjorkk]

If there's still room for a last minute application, I LOVE eclipse phase... though still don't fully understand the forums (still haven't found chat.) I absolute LOVE EP though. I've got this idea for an Extropian judge/bounty hunter who more ideologically in-line with the locus anarchists, but gets a kick out of tracking down and taking out greedy businessmen. Gets a reputation as a "boy scout" and "straight arrow" because he can't be bought, only making more simultaneously hated and popular in extropia.

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However, looking at the party composition, I also have a XP gonzo journalist who can double as a psychiatrist (all that drug use and editing XP lends itself to knowledge of pharmaceuticals and psychosurgery.)

[Craig ST]

Hey guys, sorry I've been quiet here. I've been trying to get myself geared up for the game. My goal is to start Next Monday. which is January the 20th. Very shortly I will be opening a characters Bio threadfor the approved characters. Currently as it stands Salmonmax, Jeremy and Krul are approved. Dave, mechanically your character is all good but we need to go over background details. I know you are busy with real life so I hope this isn't rushing you.

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Mjorkk, I've got 4 players right now and I'm holding a place for a 5th. Unfortunately I'm not prepared to take on any more players. If something changes and I decide to add players I will post here about openings. I hope you understand.

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As always, if I am forgetting something or you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[Craig ST]

Okay the first two Prelude thread are up. The remaining two will follow shortly. the Preludes are meant to be short threads just to give you guys a bit of a chance to define your characters and lead in to the first mission.

[Craig ST]

Okay guys I just want to apologize for how long it's taken me to get back on track. Natalia, your Prelude is now up and I'm working on Adam's at the moment.

I will do my best to post and update on a regular basis and keep you guys informed when I am having trouble. and wow, I don't know why but I had real trouble getting Natalia's prelude out

[Craig ST]

Adam's Prelude is finally started. the rest of you will be updated shortly