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Grim posted:
what? Don't ever make decisions based on what people are saying in the EP forums.
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May 5, 2013 04:15
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You make a persuasive argument, I just don't want weird creepy sex people to misinterpret a mildly entertaining idea as being part of catering to their crowd - anyway, I ought to be able to come up with something more creative than an autistic cephalopod (and if I can't I can steal ideas off you guys!)
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May 5, 2013 06:26
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A goony cephalopod. Go into E/N and replace words with Eclipse Phase terms and octopi and you can make a character blog!
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May 5, 2013 15:27
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Your character will be from the Scum Barge Reducto Ad Hitlerum, and you will like it young goon!
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May 5, 2013 18:04
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Morph Recognition Cards are a $20 add-on - I might get two sets at that price!
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May 7, 2013 22:50
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Oh cool cortical stacks will be here in 10 years  http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/tech/brain-memory-implants-humans/index.html?hpt=te_r1
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May 8, 2013 00:39
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Apparently they're going to start handing out art assignments for the Sample Characters to their artists very soon, I'm so excited! Also the new Infomorph Open Playtest material went up, not enough time to check it out yet Grim fucked around with this message at 04:40 on May 16, 2013 |
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May 16, 2013 02:35
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They just released a new set of stretch goals for the last few days - RPPR writing an adventure, chargen software, and an official port to FATE. Kinda wonder whether they'll achieve all of those in six days, though.
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May 16, 2013 22:00
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NGDBSS posted:They just released a new set of stretch goals for the last few days - RPPR writing an adventure, chargen software, and an official port to FATE. Kinda wonder whether they'll achieve all of those in six days, though. Let's hope they at least get to $80k for the new adventure! Although, chargen software would be baller as hell
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May 16, 2013 22:35
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I've run an Eclipse Phase Campaign with a personal hack of the FATE rules, and it works pretty well. The reputation tracks are the hardest part to make work well, but that may just be due to my own failings. Switching out your morph is super easy though, and phase-based aspect creation practically writes itself. I'm excited and really hope that they get there.
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May 18, 2013 02:27
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I really hope the late-kickstarter push works for these guys. Meanwhile I'm going to run an Eclipse Phase game sunday on Skype, which is the first time I've played with people over the internet.  I'm building spaces in Roll20, I think I have everything covered since I prepped way more then usual, but the anxiety is getting to me.e: turns out since my players are using "The Spreadsheet" v0.95, one of them is running into major issues with it. This is off to a great start. The Meat Dimension fucked around with this message at 04:36 on May 18, 2013 |
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May 18, 2013 04:18
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What kind of problems? I know that the guy who wrote it never tested things out in Google Docs so sometimes you need to improvise
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May 18, 2013 06:28
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black metal hugbox posted:What are features you'd want to see in an Eclipse Phase app? Something that manages rep. It's a crazily complicated system, much as I like it.
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May 18, 2013 12:03
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Grim posted:What kind of problems? I know that the guy who wrote it never tested things out in Google Docs so sometimes you need to improvise He claims he was getting charged too much for an aptitude; he didn't send me his sheet to check however and opted to just redo his character. Oh well.
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May 18, 2013 16:50
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Welp, the new stretch goals were enough for me to jump the gap between $30 (PDF) and $100 (Book+Shipping+Morph Cards). To be honest I'm more stoked for the chargen software than I am for the fate rules - I've already played a campaign using Eclipse FATE and it worked fine. A full D&DI-style character management app would be godly though.
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May 18, 2013 16:56
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Yeah, I'd prefer 'Singularity' over another written adventure.
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May 18, 2013 19:54
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I'm a lamer who never backs Kickstarters. I'm actually considering backing this one, though. What I'm wondering is if there's anything that I'd miss out on if I don't back it. I read through the rewards and obviously I'd miss out on vanity stuff at ridiculous price levels like having myself used in artwork. I'm not actually sure how the stretch goals are supposed to work, though. Are those for backers only? Would I miss out on things like the morph guide, morph cards, character creator, and such? Or is that stuff going to be released eventually to the public at large down the road? Some of it is clearly mentioned to be a print on demand or epub product, which clearly implies that it will be for sale eventually, but some of it is not and I don't know what the deal with that is. Edit: The reason I care is because I'm Canadian, so I'd rather pay $50 Canadian to my local store to buy Transhuman when it's released, rather than pay $65 US plus whatever Customs feels like bilking me out of. But if the bonuses are backer-exclusive it might be worth it. BattleMaster fucked around with this message at 10:55 on May 19, 2013 |
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May 19, 2013 10:47
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BattleMaster posted:I'm a lamer who never backs Kickstarters. I'm actually considering backing this one, though. Other than waiting a little longer then everyone else to get the physical goods no there is no real down side. Because of eclipse phase’s creative commons license all electronic good are free. You can pay for them but you can legally download them from anywhere. wrong way fucked around with this message at 18:09 on May 20, 2013 |
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May 20, 2013 18:00
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Kickstarter just hit the 90k for the chargen software. It's being doing about 4k a day for the last week, so either it'll just come short of the 100k stretch goal or maybe there'll be a last-minute push and it'll just exceed, either way I think it's going to be a near thing.
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May 21, 2013 15:46
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I'd really like to see the official Fate conversion, but it's not like there aren't a bunch of fan hacks if they don't quite make the goal. Edit: It is kind of hilarious to see the occasional outcry on their official forums about how this narrativist drivel will be the death of the game and blah and blah. Destrado fucked around with this message at 16:11 on May 21, 2013 |
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May 21, 2013 15:53
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TheDemon posted:Kickstarter just hit the 90k for the chargen software. It's being doing about 4k a day for the last week, so either it'll just come short of the 100k stretch goal or maybe there'll be a last-minute push and it'll just exceed, either way I think it's going to be a near thing. Even if it doesn't get to 100k on KS, the paypal backers should push it over the top.
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May 21, 2013 17:48
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FATE for Eclipse Phase is gonna finally get me to read FATE. Sweet.
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May 22, 2013 01:07
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clockworkjoe posted:Even if it doesn't get to 100k on KS, the paypal backers should push it over the top. They're just shy of 100k now, so they've gone ahead and opened the FATE backer levels anyway. Huzzah.
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May 22, 2013 02:03
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It's nice, but after the Exalted Kickstarter I really don't think I can spare another 30 for the character creator
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May 22, 2013 04:22
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Yeah, I have to admit I wasn't expecting them to charge extra for the character creation software. I'll probably still get it, but given how complete it was looking already and that they're charging backers full-price for it I'm not sure why it needed the $10,000 from the stretch goal.
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May 22, 2013 08:59
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I'm not exactly happy that I have to pay for the software, but at this point its drops in the bucket. I got an email today regarding character art references so I'm really stoked  Meanwhile I do have an issue with complimentary skills: one of my players has an Infosec, Interfacing, Academics (Computer Science), and Programming all above 61. I'm okay since he's dropped a gigantic portion of points into all of this but I'm not exactly thrilled on every single Infosec, Interfacing, and Programming check having some synergy with Academics (Computer Science) or another one of those four skills. Is the player abusing the system or am I just out-of-touch with skill checks? My IRL group never did this, so its a little awkward. The Meat Dimension fucked around with this message at 09:34 on May 22, 2013 |
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May 22, 2013 09:22
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Technically that's within the rules, but keep in mind the rule for complimentary skills says "the gamemaster may apply". Also, I find a lot of GMs don't use difficulty modifiers half as much as they ought to (they can go up to -60), nor do they use their own complimentary skill and teamwork bonuses. Major systems might be defended by a team of AIs, for example, and they might either each make their own defending roll or they might work together for a teamwork bonus.
TheDemon fucked around with this message at 23:27 on May 22, 2013 |
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May 22, 2013 23:20
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Thanks for the advice. I think I've been okay on modifiers but less so on teamwork and complimentary bonuses; I'll certainly be factoring them in for future sessions. Now if I could stop rolling 99s...
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May 23, 2013 00:59
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I don't get how the chargen software is going to be superior to the excel spreadsheet generator that Kindalas made. If it could create batches of related but non-identical NPCs, that'd be pretty great.
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May 27, 2013 04:02
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Keeping track of multiple AI would be pretty handy to me, plus we saw there was lots of room for art + background in some of the screenshots
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May 27, 2013 04:59
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If it's the spreadsheet I'm thinking of, having a small descriptions for what things do would be really great. Gear is the first thing I can think of, but same with things like ego and morph traits. edit: also, morph switching could be easier.
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May 27, 2013 18:26
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I'm working on an adventure for an EP campaign, and I just named a trio of NPCs Lucky Pierre, Chixculub, and Omobolanle Meyer. I seem to have this idea that in The Futuretm, increased racial/cultural intermingling will result in more multicultural naming conventions. Omobolanle Meyer happens to be Yoruba/Jewish.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:12
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Here are some random ideas for NPCs, businesses, sports and quests to find on Gerlach. I enjoyed writing them. Weed Samurai Hook: Players want to get high. GM wants an adversary. Description: Cross between Matthew Lesko, the guy who sells the book on how to get thousands from the government and John Belushi’s samurai deli character.   Ever since the early 2000s sequencing of the Cannabis sativa genome, biologists have gone nuts designing their own hyperweed and extoling their particular brand’s properties. The Weed Samurai is one of the major suppliers of future hyperweed in Gerlach. Most of his market share comes from the casual and weekend hyperweed users who are amused by his popular and bombastic weed themed antiestablishment viral videos. He is known for the consistent quality of his product and his ability to deliver bulk shipments at the drop of a hat. Because of his services, the Weed Samurai obviously has connections to the Triads and Scum barges that visit Gerlach. It is also rumored that Weed Samurai is in possession of one of the original Earth strains of Cannabis sativa from when Earth bioreserves were first established on Gerlach, early in the cylinder's history. The Weed Samurai has dispensary kiosks scattered around the popular areas of Gerlach’s arcologies (about the size of a porta potty… or a suicide booth) with an old school neon statue of him dancing like a loon, waving around his katana on the top. If the kiosks are watched long enough, the surveillance team will observe small innocuous corporate robots (limited AGIs, not infolives) that will service each station on an irregular basis then eventually head back to a central weed producing factory. Secret: Weed Samurai is actually a master chemist/pharmacologist assassin underwritten by a hypercorp. Weed Samurai specializes in binary protein toxins that are designed to kill at a specific time and corrupt the cortical stack, then uncouple and be immediate deleted by the proteasome after the subject is neutralized. Generally the binary toxin is designed as an aggressive prion that blows the unlucky morph’s brain full of holes (as per Kuru/Creutzfeldt-Jacobs), leaving a body leaking blood and partial necrotized neurons out of every facial orifice. The binary components of the toxin are usually delivered to a target personally through a contaminated liquid or general area aerosol, then by having the target purchase an infected strain of hyperweed. The latter is usually accomplished by having the infected strain of hyperweed being heavily discounted and/or virally advertised in the areas the target frequents. Due to the nature of binary toxin and the delivery system, it is difficult to link the Weed Samurai’s to his victims. Cinematic: A showdown should involve fighting the Weed Samurai, dressed in a his bright green Japanese power armor suit (polka dotted with the marijuana leaf motif of course) and wielding a mono-edged katana, in the middle of a brightly lit cannabis greenhouse with farmer bots everywhere dressed as geishas while the players are suffering from psychedelic hallucinations induced by spiked weed. This is a perfect time to use Afroman’s ‘Because I Got High’ as background music. UWHRRINDICTED.EXE Description: A Computer Virus This virus affects AGIs or those with a cyberbrain with periodic bouts of violent paranoia in which the infected is filled with a sense of dread. Hallucinations always feature blue phantoms emerging from shadows and blue surfaces with intent to stalk and slay the infected. Random people also seem to be aggressive and hunting for the infected, and this paranoia includes the hallucination that these hunters are holding glowing blue blades. Often victims violently insist (in person and on blogs) that these ‘hunters’ all having some sort of crescent moon iconography on their person, feeding into the idea that there is a vast terrible conspiracy out to get them. The virus is smart enough to only display symptoms when the infected logs off the mesh, goes into autistic mode, or is physically separated from their friends. Quest : A Piece of History On Gerlach the competition between scientists for positions, lab space and grants is fierce. Often, popularity can give you an edge over an equally brilliant colleague. A junior scientist contacts the group to find a music video on budding yeast made in the early 2000s that went viral among the scientific community. (see Some Budding Yeast I Use To Grow) Originally Gerlach was designed to be a research center for Venusian terraforming. When the fall came, the population swelled to 750,000 far far more than the habitat was designed to handle. Thus, outside the arcologies, in one of the lesser needed bioreserves a dome was built to house excess personal items and power inefficient parts of the station that were mothballed so the habitat’s systems could handle the strain of all the excess fall refugees. The dome is called The Stash. Somewhere, under mountains of pre-fall trash and unclaimed corp machinery lie tunnels and warrens that brush against the very interior of the cylinder. Somewhere down there the scientist claims there is an ecto with the viral video she seeks. Rumors abound that everything from smugglers havens to wanted fugitives to the poorest of the poor lurk in the depths. The dome however has developed a large crack linking it to a nearby bioreserve. As natural selection marches on, who knows if criminal syndicates are the worst thing the party can encounter? The Twins Rational: The Neo-synergists are on Firewall’s watch list. Sometimes they trade experimental variants of their hypermesh insert to researchers they work closely with. One Soul, Two Bodies: The Twins are a pair of English accented mentat morphs, one male, one female, involved in research on Gerlach (or they run a storefront, or they are triad members, whatever). They take turns completing a sentence and a conversation with the pair sounds like the person is talking to one entity that is having an internal monologue. Gerlach is accepting of individuals who want to engage cognitive experiments on themselves, and the being that is the Twins made two alpha forks of itself that communicate with the experimental hypermesh insert. The mystery is that the link between the twins is not diminished by distance. Is this some new psi power that may be a threat to Firewall? Basically the Twins are an excuse for you have the Bioshock Infinite professors, the Lutece twins, in game. Monkeyshines! "Have the time of your life, at Monkeyshines! Get your Shine on!" Description: Entertainment center and bar with a hidden agenda of promoting transhuman tolerance. Used as a dead drop. Monkeyshines is one of Gerlach’s hottest entertainment centers where everyone who enters the games MUST sleeve into a gorilla neo-hominid morph to participate. Those without an appropriate morph are forced to rent a used one. As for the condition of the morphs, well just consider the feeling of used shoes at a bowling alley with the smell of a cart from an old carnival ride. The forced adoption a neo-hominid morph is of particularly importance to the owners of Monkeyshines because they want biomorphs to experience a sliver of uplift culture, and infomorphs to have the experience of what it feels like to be in a living animal body. Half of Monkeyshines is an upscale bar and grill designed with the glitterati at play in mind. The other half caters to neo-hominids; featuring a eucalyptus grove (adjoining the bar and designed so that neo-hominids and non-hominid guests can mingle), a rainforest area with tall trees and branches for brachiating, and a simulated natural spring sauna area. The whole place has a jumping, sports bar vibe. Then there are the game arenas. Game: Gladiator Balls Imagine a metal mesh buckyball about three stories in diameter. It is similar to the mesh balls motorcycle daredevils spin around in. Now imagine a room with a magnetic floor where five of these mesh balls can roll around. Now consider that the interior of the balls are a zero g environment housing two neo-hominids duking it out with foam jousting sticks. Rules: Each player is given two foam jousting sticks. At any given moment a player must have one jousting stick in a hand and another in either of his prehensile feet. The objectives of the game is to knockout the opponent; or make a powerful enough strike to a hand or prehensile foot so that he drops a jousting stick and becomes disqualified. Now imagine doing this in a zero-g environment while trying to secure yourself with one hand and one foot in a spinning metal ball. It gets more complicated. As mentioned, there are five metal mesh spheres on the field. This is a five vs five team game. All teammates are connected by a tacnet. When an opponent is disqualified or knocked out, metal bands around their wrists and ankles magnetize them to the interior of the mesh sphere, allowing the winning player to run around the interior of the sphere like a gerbil to move the sphere in any vector they choose. The audience always appreciates victors stepping on the fallen opponent’s face while running on the interior of the sphere. Since the team is tacnetted, a teammate who has won intrasphere combat may direct the sphere to collide with a neighboring sphere to help his teammate in that sphere. Intersphere collision causes two effects. First, any player gripping the interior surface may be jostled, losing their footing or worse. Secondly, an electric shock affects the sphere with less momentum. This shock propagates from the point of collision to encompass a third of the surface area of the target sphere. Thanks to tacnet, a winner in one sphere can help his teammate by timing collisions with the opposing sphere to zap his teammate’s opponent or knock him into a less favorable position. Victory is declared when a team controls the majority of the five spheres. How the gently caress you would run this I have no idea. Game: X-treme BBall in SPAAAAACE Take a normal basketball court with standard rules. Add a half-g a half-g environment so the gorillas can jump super high and make mad dunks. Then add some Quiddich-like features. There is one ‘Bludger’ flying foam black ball which is controlled by the audience. Audience factions decide who has control when by popular vote. Vote selling and social media manipulation is part of the fun. Each team also has one ‘Beater’ who carries a Zweihänder-sized foam club who can run out on the field when the opposing team crosses half court with the ball. Their movement is restricted to their team’s side of the court. Add snitch rules if desired. Note: In a half dimmed corner of the court there is an innocuous gold and purple jersey under glass (and a layer of inert nitrogen) with the number 34. Game: Banana Paintball Imagine if you will, gorillas spinning in zero-g dual wielding bio-engineered bananas that shoot sticky goop at each other. Some gorillas are in shades decked out in bananadoliers, from which they rip new banana-guns when their old one is out of paste. Watch as the discarded banana-gun peel gravitates to the surface of a fortification floating in zero-g. Gasp as the audience makes the banana peel crawl along the fortification remotely and takes bets on if, who and when some unsuspecting neo-hominid is sent spinning into zero-g without cover because he slipped on it. Banana Paintball is held in a zero-g arena with floating fortifications that are spatially anchored to one area (or orbit the arena if the GM wants more complexity). The fortifications can consist of: a long wall, a corner with a small platform to snipe from, or a sealed tower with handles on the side and ramparts on the top and bottom. Pretty much any terrain from a good first person shooter can fit here. The surfaces of the fortifications are made of metamaterials that have the physics of bouncy castles. If a gorilla freefalls into one with a great deal of momentum they will be bounced harmlessly in the opposite direction with a net gain in momentum. Naturally this leads to gorillas zooming around the arena. Naturally this sport is a spectator favorite. The Bananagun: A bioengineered banana designed to hold a five round clip which players can expel one at a time in a sticky projectile or full auto in a single splattery stream. The banana is a plant-animal hybrid engineered to expel the mushed fruit payload in a peristaltic wave. The payload is small by design to so that players are required to constantly reload by throwing away the smoking empty peel and tearing off a fresh banana gun from one of the banana-gun trees around the arena. The banana shot is completely harmless when it hits a target, but it is very sticky and can blind an opponent if shot at the eyes. It was also designed to be VERY tasty. Opposing banana paintball teams may choose from yellow or white banana guns, which have banana or vanilla flavored payloads, respectively. Audience participation: The audience can give points to a player for sick acrobatic moves while dodging and firing. Particular slick maneuvers are immediately broadcast on all entropics in the establishment in slowmotion. If a player is hit multiple times in a comical way (especially by misfire by fellow teammates) the shameful splatter vid pops up on ever screen and the announcer does his best Mortal Combat impression, yelling ‘BUKKAKE FATALATY’. Everyone cheers. The Purpose of This Tomfoolery: The shadowy owners made this entertainment area with a singular goal in mind: increase transhuman tolerance and make it popular through pure fun. Not only was the establishment designed to literally force transhumans to experience the joys and pitfalls of being in a neo-hominid uplift body, it was also built with massive server space for all sorts of infomorphs to interact as virtually as possible with the biomorph fun. Audience participation is designed to have factions that include both infomorphs and biomorphs. The infomorphs rely on biomorphs to more accurately analyze betting options and tactics due to their experience in the physical, and the biomorphs rely on the infomorphs electronic speed to place bets and clinch inter-factional deals. The objective is to have an individual leave Monkeyshines with a spring in their step and a broadening of their experience. Plot Function: Dead drop for spies. Data can be placed in one of the spare neo-hominid morphs the player rents or be embedded in a prize package from one of the games. The establishment also has an unusual amount of server space on Gerlach which could be used to store infomorphs in an emergency or it could be a good place for an infolife criminal to hide. It could also be a target for an unshackled seed AI to monopolize and expand its influence over the station. Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jun 12, 2013 |
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Jun 12, 2013 19:48
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That's a great write-up, I'm definitely stealing and adapting the Weed Samurai and Monkeyshines for my own gangs of Elysium game.
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Jun 12, 2013 22:31
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ZearothK posted:That's a great write-up, I'm definitely stealing and adapting the Weed Samurai and Monkeyshines for my own gangs of Elysium game. That's indeed fantastic. I totally want to run EP again, now.
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Jun 12, 2013 23:49
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As much as I love the idea... Like with Shadowrun, I'm having incredible amounts of trouble wrapping my head around everything. I'll have to play it online, under someone's tutelage, before I even try to run this for my regular group. That said, it'll eventually be a match made in heaven. 
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Jun 13, 2013 00:10
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I've been running it for a while but still get my mind blown regularly. (Just started running Lurking in Every Flower, in which someone murders some people and flees. Police promptly grab their backup and interview it...)
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Jun 13, 2013 00:29
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So I just had a horrifying discussion with my group. One of them is wearing a Neotenic with catgirl mods and, while looking for character art, remarked that it's like a rule of the internet that there is a catgirl version of everyone. Another player linked a picture of Pinkie Pie as Catwoman (which I assume was the first thing he could find on short notice), and I realized: It's easy to posit small populations of transhumanity that focus on any era, subculture, or meme from Pre-Fall days. Further, with genesculpting, you could easily craft custom morphs for them to wear. Applejack furies. Twilight mentons. Rarity sylphs. ...pleasure pods... 
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Jun 15, 2013 22:07
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Dareon posted:So I just had a horrifying discussion with my group. One of them is wearing a Neotenic with catgirl mods and, while looking for character art, remarked that it's like a rule of the internet that there is a catgirl version of everyone. Another player linked a picture of Pinkie Pie as Catwoman (which I assume was the first thing he could find on short notice), and I realized: Pff, the scum barges probably think you're a vanilla wimp if that's as risqué as you go. Though given there's probably a decent market for morph makers who specialize in crafting such custom morphs, you could probably easily get a Firewall mission out of investigating a new craze involving exhuman-style morphs (clever if disturbing fakes, or the real thing? And even if harmless, can you really allow a potential cover for exhuman infiltration to continue? And how much SAN is lost from viewing the inevitable Rule 34 XPs?).
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Jun 16, 2013 00:07
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 08:30 |
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Yeah, it's basically only horrifying from the perspective of we the players at the moment. But you really shouldn't stick deviant-by-current-standards sociosexual tropes front and center in an RPG. See also: Exalted. 
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Jun 16, 2013 04:06
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