>Eclipse Phase RPG< Brought to you by the people who were the driving force behind the changes made with Shadowrun, Fourth Edition.
> Quick Start Rules and >Resources<
Eclipse Phase uses a variant d100/percentile system with some twists. The game is fast and simple, streamlined so players can dive into the world and action without being burdened down by complex rules.
• The ability to switch your body at will, from genetically-modified transhumans to synthetic robotic shells, optimizing your character for specific missions.
• The ability to back up your character’s mind and be restored from backup in the case of death--a built-in system of “save points” and functional immortality.
• Characters are skill-based, with no classes, so players can customize their team roles and specialize in fields of their choosing.
• A focused set of psi rules enable some characters to enhance their cognitive abilities.
• Playing a role in a secretive and dangerous conspiracy that seeks to save transhumanity.
Looks very interesting. I have the pdf (got it free due to the Creative Commons license), but haven't had the time to look at it yet. But in a couple of months when we've finished our D&D campaign, I may propose running this. If the players bites, I'm definitely buying the book.
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Looks very interesting. I have the pdf (got it free due to the Creative Commons license), but haven't had the time to look at it yet. But in a couple of months when we've finished our D&D campaign, I may propose running this. If the players bites, I'm definitely buying the book.
I have a buddy who's wanting to run this. He's one of the only people I know that can pull off sci-fi....and pull it off WELL.
I'll let ya'll know what I think of it after about a month.
I just got it recently. I'd like to do a formal review, but haven't had time to really sit down and go over it completely.
It's a very large core book with a lot of details and concepts. The gameplay seems simple enough- roll % vs. skill (or aptitude, failing that). Low numbers are always good, high numbers always bad. Doubles are always a critical- bad or good- and if you need to determine how badly someone failed or how stylishly someone succeeded, there's the Margin of Success/Failure rules. Combat comes down to skill rolls, armor and weapons; faster characters can act more often, which is a distinct advantage.
Eclipse Phase can be kind of daunting. There's a lot of information and concepts at work in the book- alternate economies based on reputation, detailing a character's social networking and political allegiances. Seems like it could also be a headache just trying to keep "resleeved" characters' stats straight after playing in a different morph for a long time and getting used to a certain style of play.
I really like the game and the setting, but the jury's still out on whether it's something my group will enjoy; I'll have to get them to sit down with the fast play rules and see how we like it. The book has really good production values and comes with two of those bookmark ribbons in the spine to help you mark a place. Full color, too.
So, to sum up: I like it, but it is kind of intimidating.
Tried out the quickstart rules last night. It went okay, but I think there could have been a better introduction to the setting. For one thing, we only had three players and no one chose the hacker- which was certainly not ideal. I could have done with a more fleshed out first chapter, as well. For a quickstart, it's counter-intuitive to basically expect a GM new to the system and setting to improvise such a colorful and strange setting as a Scum barge full of exotic characters... especially when the first order of business is to ask around for information. More helpful hints throughout the text would have been nice as well- for instance, a sidebar on grabbing an opponent's weapon, a sidebar on cover, a sidebar on talking your way past guards, etc.
I don't want to give up on the game, but I think the quickstart rules weren't the best introduction.
I have the pdf and agree with James. I think it looks really interesting, and is probably a really awesome game, but I feel like the setting and even the system is daunting. I wanted to try some sci-fi gaming and I was torn between Dark Heresy and Eclipse Phase. I ended up running Dark Heresy mainly because character creation and gming seemed a lot faster and easier.
I feel like with Eclipse Phase I'd need to spend hours and hours reading through everything before I'd even want to attempt to run it. It's a game where I want to be player joining a group that is already familiar with the setting and the game and can show me the ropes.
It's so much easier to run a game like D&D or Mutants and Masterminds that even though Eclipse Phase is probably a really cool game, I doubt it will ever catch on in a big way.
However, I recommend all the setting info for anyone sci-fi lover because even if you don't end up running the game there are lots of cool ideas that you could integrate into other sci-fi rpgs.
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Ah Eclipse Phase, extremely good setting and fluff writing. It's dense, well written and thought out. Written by people who do their research or specialists in their fields. It's certainly an advanced game aimed at older adults probably with a degree or two. Engineers, computer people, and biologists (yours truly) seem to be drawn to it like flies to honey.
Running a game however is a total pain in the tail as a GM. You can't die per se, surveillance is omnipresent, and money is effectively worthless (most of the system is a reputation economy).
How do you motivate players? How do you threaten them? I mean as a player you can always just "abort" a scenario and farcast your ego out only losing the cost of a body. If it's an ego fork doing the mission you care even less.
Daunting as James puts it. It's a well crafted, well thought out, niche product of beauty. Will it ever replace Traveller for instance? Not a chance.
In other words it's the greatest game of which I have all the hardcover books that I'll probably never get to play. Transhuman Space for GURPS was the same way.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely, but know you're jumping in the deep end of sci-fi.
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Running a game however is a total pain in the tail as a GM. You can't die per se, surveillance is omnipresent, and money is effectively worthless (most of the system is a reputation economy).
How do you motivate players? How do you threaten them? I mean as a player you can always just "abort" a scenario and farcast your ego out only losing the cost of a body. If it's an ego fork doing the mission you care even less.
The same is true for a high fantasy world where magic is very common. Surveillance - Scry. Farcasting your ego - teleport. Ego fork - clone. Ressurection? Reincarnation? Massive access to healing spells?
If you can run that kind of fantasy (Pathfinder level 9+) it is not that difficult to run Eclipse Phase.
They don't care about their fork? Have them "killed" switch back to the main ego, and let them learn the fork is now being held hostage and interrogated for all their secrets and knowledge. They will want to get it back? Good - but the fork have been booby trapped with psych engineering and when they merge back, they are now have a trojan horse in their mind so a member of the shadow organisation can disable them, or send them on a killing spree with but a whispered word.
They'll care about the next fork.
Be creative. Be devious. They will love it.
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Resurrecting the thread: Bundle of Holding has a great deal on Eclipse Phase PDFs right now. Check it out.
I have played Eclipse Phase. It is a bit complicated, but I enjoyed it. The society is as complicated as Cyberpunk, which I also enjoy. Roleplaying is roleplaying, it doesn't matter what the world is, it is all the same. Like CunningMongoose said, if you can play a high level character, you can play EP.
We played an eight week run. It is bonkers fun and I enjoyed it, though I'm not sure I understood everything about the setting. I did like the book when I perused through it. We had a few people perish and it seemed grim and perilous
Would give it another play sometime
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Played a game a year or so back now and was great fun but we were all new to it and the Gm let us get too much equipment and we were getting hard to coral at times but it was a blast.
By the end my character was taking her adapted wolf walkies on the outer surfaces of space stations without the need for protective gear just from the set of implants her morph had acquired over time. Great fun though :)