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[Eclipse Phase PbP] Session 1: Tranquil Sea, Burning Earth [OOC]
Snowbeat
i need somethingto kick this thing's ass over the lineRegistered User regular
i need somethingto kick this thing's ass over the lineRegistered User regular
The pitch:
...WELCOME TO NEURONET SECURE MESH SERVICES...
CONNECTING TO SERVER 190027///2192///undeclared///...
CONNECTING...
CONNECTED. HAVE A NICE DAY.
YOU HAVE TWO MESSAGES WAITING. PLAY?
So you did resleeve. Figured you would but thought I'd check anyway. Sorry I couldn't track your stack, friend, but I'm an independent contractor, no matter what Firewall says about what's going on. My priorities are still wallet first, morph second, you third. Anyway, I saw your team's signal go flat and figured it was about time to make myself scarce. If you resleeved where I think you did, I'm pretty close. Don't expect to see me, though-- I'm keeping a low profile. Owe some money to some bad people. You know the story. Anyway, just thought I'd check in, even though I know we're not supposed to. Come find me at our usual spot... that is, if your last backup remembers where that is.
MESSAGE LEFT BY [NAME WITHHELD]. PLAY SECOND MESSAGE?
Hello. You have awoken. We would tell you what killed you, but that information was lost with the rest of your stack. Your new stack has been hard-programmed with a location. You will receive more instructions upon your arrival. Be assured that you are needed and without you, one more domino will fall in the long chain that leads to transhumanity's destruction.
Please be prompt and prepared. Thank you.
MESSAGE LEFT BY [NAME WITHHELD]. END OF NEW MESSAGES.
Eclipse Phase is the game of looking forward and regretting the impulse. It's the game of "the ends justify the means", even if the means involve the murder of thousands. It's the game of being uncertain of who you're even pretending to be and looking into the mirror and not recognizing the face. It's the game of near-constant death and revival, and the consequences of such.
It's the game of transhuman adventure and horror, and it's fucking great.
Have you ever wanted to play a swarm of microbots whose only goal in life is to become the richest "man" in the Solar System? This is your game. Have you ever wanted to be a six-foot-tall sentient octopus in a space-suit fixing the microwave emitter array on the side of a salvaged lifeboat? We've got it here. Have you ever thought about just how cool it would be to get eviscerated by a dozen buzzsaw wielding killbots and then wake up in someone else's body, (nearly) good as new? You can finally live out that sick fantasy.
Eclipse Phase is vertigo: the warring emotions that come from knowing you shouldn't do something and wanting to anyway. Eclipse Phase is the roleplaying game for skydivers and stunt pilots, because there's no time for planning when something vicious, armed, and utterly alien comes hurtling at you from the depths of an alien jungle.
As the book has it:
Your mind is software. Program it.
Your body is a shell. Change it.
Death is a disease. Cure it.
Extinction is approaching. Fight it.
Now for the real talk:
Eclipse Phase is a under-percentile d100 roleplaying game developed by Rob Boyle and his company, Posthuman Studios. It draws its gameplay largely from various incarnations of GURPS and allows for a wide variety of customization and individual play styles. When everything is added together, it all seems rather complex (and sometimes it is!) but almost every roll boils down to trying to roll under a Skill score that has a modifier applied to it.
Characters are equally complex-looking but fundamentally simple: each character has seven aptitudes (the game's equivalent to stats or attributes), an average of 20-30 different skills, and usually a couple of traits to top it off. Oh! Each character also simultaneously occupies two separate stat-profiles: the ego and the morph. Your ego (AKA your consciousness, synchronized and downloaded) holds all of your stats and is the major part of your character, but your morph (AKA whichever body you've decided to sleeve into this week) also plays an important part in determining the final modifiers to your skill tests and the upper limits of your aptitudes. For example, Flat morphs (basic humans without any form of genetic or cybernetic modification) have an across-the-board aptitude maximum of 20, which means that if your Cognition 35 xenobiologist sleeves into one, you're going to be thinking a lot slower than usual. But, like I said, it's actually fairly simple, at least once you get out of character creation.
Now, for how we're going to run this PbP, as, yes, it is rules-heavy and yes, GM interaction is sometimes key:
- Every player is required to make at least one post a day. No exceptions, barring personal crises. At the very least, post to give me permission to run your character for the rest of the day because you have to run your pregnant dog to the vet.
- To streamline the often overwhelming number of skill rolls a character might have to make, I'm going to allow players to, for the most part, roll their own in non-combat settings. I'll expect you to honestly report rolls and to add appropriate difficulty modifiers, but I'm not going to be a jerk about it. I'd rather the story move smoothly than the game get bogged down in two-week-long roll disputes.
- IC thread will be strictly IC, OOC will be strictly OOC. If a combat is conducted, we will convene in the OOC thread (or, possibly, an IRC channel) and roll it out as quickly as possible. We will then play the results in the IC thread. This will also be the only time the "post every day" rule will be lifted. I know this isn't how it's usually done, but the stilted waiting-game that most PbPs suffer in their combat sessions is detrimental to both the tone of this particular game and to my own mental health.
- I fully expect this to have a rotating cast as people stop playing, get kicked off, or have their schedules change. This game is perfect for that. If you want to come in after the game starts, just PM me. We'll work something out.
Below is a list of links that you will find helpful in creating your characters. The rulebooks are, in fact, free to be downloaded and shared under a Creative Commons License, and I have linked to Rob Boyle's own webpage where he lists the torrents for the core book and its various supplements. I recommend reading as much of it as you can, but don't worry too much about it. Everyone has to start somewhere. Try to get at least through the mechanics chapters in the core rulebook, but I will be posting a shorthand guide in this thread before we begin. I'd appreciate it if you would also read the fluff; as I mentioned before, it's quite good and integral to your enjoyment of the game itself.
Rob Boyle's blog with free rulebook torrents!
Useful Eclipse Phase resources (and yes, I know about half the links on this page are dead)
The unofficial Eclipse Phase wiki
A character creation spreadsheet (download v.70). Works in Excel, supposedly. Try at your own risk.
Chuck's Eclipse Phase Wiki
A really good example of a character profile (thanks Leper!)
I'm looking for 3-6 players to join me on a dangerous one-way trip into the silicon bowels of the singularity. Your characters are going to die, go insane, and turn on one another in the absence of better options. They will be mutilated, tortured, asphyxiated, vaporized, incinerated, mashed, bashed, turned into stew, and occasionally shot. If you end up with your character's ego occupying the body of a one-winged cybernetic raven with a drug problem at the end of all of this, you'll be one of the lucky ones.
Now sleeve in and get ready. Do you really want to live forever?
Some fluff:
“Will there be anything else, sir?”
“No, thanks. Just the drink.”
“Very good.”
Legba, connection, newsfeed, please.
Of course.
… WELCOME TO EXTROPIAN.FEED///SUB.NEWS///SUB.RIM…
… YOUR ID HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED… WELCOME, [ERROR]…
… FEED CONNECTION COMPLETE…
[MESHNET.TECH.HUBFEED] EXOTECH ANNOUNCES NEW SPECIALITY MESH, CODENAMED DARWIN
[MESHNET.TECH.HUBFEED] NEW MORPHS INCOMING SKINAESTHESIA? OUR CORRESPONDANT REPORTS FROM MORPHGEN AF10
[NEWTEK.INFOLINK.RIMFEED] NEW STUDY INDICATES ECTO USE LINKED TO GENETIC DRIFT
[EXTROPIAMESH.NEWS.PRIORITY] SAFETY/HEALTH: FIRE REPORTED IN DOCKING BAY 17A
[EXTROPIAMESH.NEWS.ENTERTAINMENT] ALYSS BRINK REPORTED TO BE X-CASTER FOR NEW SEASON OF "SO YOU WANT TO BE A SIMULSTAR"
[MESHNET.NEW.RIMFEED] WHICH REP NETWORK IS BEST FOR YOU? IT'S MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU THINK
[EXTROPIAMESH.NEWS.PRIORITY] SAFETY/HEALTH: DOCKING RING 17 HAS BEEN SEALED AND VENTED
[GADGETTALK.FETISH.RIMFEED] ANTI-PLEASURE POD LEGISLATURE GOES FORWARD IN ERATO COUNCIL
[SOURCE.POLITICS.RIMFEED] JOVIAN REPUBLIC REJECTS TITANIAN EXPLANATION OF "GORGEOUS GEORGE" ORBITAL INCIDENT
[NEWTEK.INFOLINK.RIMFEED] NEW STARWARE PLASMA DRIVE RUMORED FOR AF11 LINE
Legba, eliminate the technology sniffer feeds.
Doing so now.
[EXTROPIAMESH.NEWS.PRIORITY] SECURITY: POLICE DRONES RESPONDING TO SITUATION IN TUBE c, TUBE SEALED AND VENTED
[SOURCE.POLITICS.HUBFEED] VENUSIAN ARISTOCRATS DEMAND NEW CONCESSIONS FROM AEROSTAT COLONY GOVERNMENTS
[MESHNET.GOVERNMENT.HUBFEED] RURAL MARS REPORTS ONLY 11% VOTER RESPONSE TO DAILY POLLS
[MESHNET.SOCIAL.RIMFEED] FEAR AND REPRESSION IN THE JOVIAN JUNTA: PART 3
[EXTROPIAMESH.NEWS.PRIORITY] SECURITY: TUBE C AND ALL CONNECTIONS HAVE BEEN SEALED FOR PUBLIC SECURITY. STANDBY
"Here's your drink, sir."
"Thanks."
Legba, investigate that last story, please. Full feed. Store it in my short-term.
Looking into it... done. Stored as actualized experience.
Thanks. Connect me to client #183. Secure it.
Of course. Connecting.
>>Samedi reporting in. Your distraction has been delivered.
<<Thank you. I'm transferring the credits now.
>>Will there be anything else?
<<No, thanks. Word of warning?
>>I'll always take a free one.
<<Might want to avoid Progress Plaza today.
Legba, disconnect. And blacklist #183. I don't like the talkative ones.
Removed from your address book. Do you need anything else, or can I get back to my reading?
Call me a car.
Current players:
@Cayrus as Dr. Augustus Richmond
@Lord_Asmodeus as Sec
@Ringo as Gen Fulmis
@Zendracon as Gerrad Lancaster
This is the OOC thread for discussing the game, the story, the themes, or whatever your hearts so desire.
Rules (for the IC thread):
Typically, I'll put flavor text italicized and bolded. It is essentially information non grata, stuff that is for your OOC minds only.
Text that is only italicized should be used for the voices of your Muses. I encourage you to talk to them.
Anything OOC in the IC thread should be spoilered. This should mostly consist of dice rolls. If you have a question, post it in the OOC thread or PM it to me.
Information is key and, as such, will be safeguarded. If your character has not received, heard, or read something during gameplay, they do not know it. Please be vigilant of metagaming.
Dice rolls will be done using Invisible Castle or Orokos. I will be performing passive rolls for your characters when the narrative calls for it.
Text that is only italicized should be used for the voices of your Muses. I encourage you to talk to them.
Anything OOC in the IC thread should be spoilered. This should mostly consist of dice rolls. If you have a question, post it in the OOC thread or PM it to me.
Information is key and, as such, will be safeguarded. If your character has not received, heard, or read something during gameplay, they do not know it. Please be vigilant of metagaming.
Dice rolls will be done using Invisible Castle or Orokos. I will be performing passive rolls for your characters when the narrative calls for it.
Snowbeat on
+1
Posts
Geth roll 1d100
I'll start by following those links.
http://robboyle.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/eclipsephase_quickstartrules.pdf
It's a quick rundown of the game's rules, its major story elements, and the sort of characters you'll play. I'd recommend not reading the scenario included, however. We're not playing it, but I might "borrow" certain mechanical bits from it.
(Yes. Yes I would care for a free Eclipse Phase Pop)
I'm thinking I might go with a Neotenic morph, still considering backgrounds and Ego information.
So here's the thing: obviously, you'll be some sort of cerebral character. What sort is up to you. Hacker, researcher, thief; all are good choices for a Neotenic. You can't be direct-combat but a specialized sniper/assassin is possible. Being socially stigmatized in this game is no joke: you'll be suffering a -10 to -30 on any social rolls you make due to the fact that "normal" people are repelled by your choice to live in the body of a child. Another thing to note is the cost of the morph. Neotenics are "Expensive", which means it'll be that much more difficult maintaining the funds to keep yourself in neotenic morphs as well as up-to-date backups. But neotenics are hard to hit, better at intellectual pursuits than most morphs, and interesting to play. You just have to design your character from the ground up for them.
Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before
Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
The first is a First Generation Spacer who takes the Scum approach to life because they've got the immortality blues, works on long distance spacer ships and visits exotic brinker locales, is sort of a hacker/explorer type trying to bring some color back into their life, favors the Neotenic Morph because it gives them a sense of returned youth, and because it's good for the sort of traveling and work they do to get by.
The second is an Infolife. They work as an enforcer or a mercenary, also works as a mechanic and general fixer-upper to keep themselves and their equipment up to snuff, as well as to diversify the sort of work they get. I'm thinking they'll either be a criminal or a mercurial, especially since they USED to 'work' for somebody else, but had since decided they wanted to be a freelancer. I'm thinking they'll use a Novacrab Pod, an Arachnoid/Synthoid, or since they had been previously used as security just straight go with a Reaper.
I'll have to double-check that tonight, when I get back to my computer. I'll send you a PM.
remember that basically the entirety of character creation is dedicated to the ego, not the morph. Morphs are one of the last things you pick for a reason. you should plan on having to switch morphs regularly and sometimes without warning.
That said, from the sample characters in the core book I find both the Titanian Explorer and the Anarchist Techie to be interesting. I'm gonna look at mixing the two.
@Ringo, what're you trying to make?
I also had an idea for a LLA diplomat from Luna with Reclaimer tendencies. I'd like to do that, but I'm not quite sure how a Reclaimer would end up in Firewall.
Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before
Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
Right now I'm thinking of a gatecrasher who serves as a pilot for a more wealthy/famous gatecrashing patron.
I'm working on my character sheet and I've got some skill/morph questions. The Reaper can fly right? It uses an ionic drive which, despite the description of the Reaper morph using its legs to walk around in gravity, is built to propel it through an atmosphere. It also has Thrust Vectors, so it can move through Zero-G/Space right? Would that be Flight, or Piloting then? Like, flight would be like a bird or a morph with wings, and not something with engines essentially.
Also they're super expensive
The ionic drive allows for low-altitude flight in-atmosphere and the Thrust Vectors are atmospheric-use only.
@Lord_Asmodeus, could you PM me what you're working on?
http://eclipse-phase.wikispaces.com/Morphs#Morphs!-Synthetic Morphs-Kite
I'm confused because 60 doesn't seem like a great rolling percentage, and yet you're supposed to be an expert at the skill at that level
Well that could mean a thorough re-evaluation of where I'm spending these points
Also, time spent extra on a task does add to the number you have to roll under, but it's systemized. For every 50% extra time you spend on a task, you get +10 to the task in addition to any other bonuses.