Author Topic: Eclipse Phase  (Read 600864 times)

Cthuluzord

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #105 on: September 10, 2011, 09:51:19 PM »
It wasn't as if you guys were ever going to get a pat on the back for being a part of a militant conspiracy organization :-)

And Luna's government isn't full of jerks; all governments are full of jerks. Luna just so happens to be security minded, and there was a massive explosion in a public works project. They did what they do. 

It definitely would have been worse if you guys hadn't shown up, but the clanking masses wouldn't have been blamed directly. They would have just suffered under the new, super-duper space patriot act like everyone else.

Trust me, though, that was game was a "win" for Firewall, about as big a one as any Sentinel can expect.  I won't shit on you guys all the time.

Tadanori Oyama

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #106 on: September 11, 2011, 05:49:38 PM »
If you aren't loading from a back up then it's a win as a Sentinel.

Cthuluzord

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #107 on: September 19, 2011, 10:34:44 PM »
Here is a short story I wrote for the EP campaign.  A bit of flavor text for the players, if you will.  There isn't any actionable plot information the players can use, but avoid reading if you don't like SPOILERS.

Errand

Kyler glided past the dank conduits of the maintenance tunnel, swimming through zero-G with the practiced ease of a born brinker.  He was full-burn down the pipe, in serious danger of a bang up if he missed one of the handholds his muse was highlighting in his entropics.  Mom had programmed Tilda for maximum physical safety, but the personality matrix was developing a narrow reading of the command and often allowed Kyler off-mesh for jaunts such as this.

He was excited to get back to his hideout.  He’d been forbidden from going to the disused storage capsule in the old cluster ever since Vera was forced off-station.  But Mom was doing her tenth-day duties on EVA maintenance, a 16-hour shift if you added in the decompression time, and Kyler had plenty of time to get back to the sleeper pod before she got wise.

Kyler booted up Parabola Coaster before he even reached the hatch. He’d gotten sick good at mapping vertexes since Vera had tutored him, and he loved to ride down the curves he’d made on his entropics, feeling the nanos simulate wind on his face and coming so close to yakking as the inner-ear mod Pavlov-ed him with that crazy, gut-dropping sensation he imagined kids with gravity got all the time.  Mom would totally red alert if she found out he was logging extra credit hours on Parabola instead of Word Sensation, but that game vac-ed without the dedicated drug gland and Hackops hadn’t cracked DRM on the bluies yet.

Kyler cycled the hatch and nestled into his favorite corner, the one near the hot water pipes. Entrhalled as he was mapping a mad-queasy ride of high-frequency waves, he almost didn’t see the man. He appeared as little more than an outline lit by the glow of LED’s.

Kyler was kicking for the door when the man spoke. “No need to run.  I’m not maintenance.”

Kyler snagged some cable and looked back at the shadow. “Who you blowing up my spot then, morph?”

“My?” said the man, floating closer but never leaving the shadow. “Possessive pronouns? Such profiteering language for so young a ladka.”

Kyler blushed for having cussed in front of an adult.  He was in for it now.

“Besides,” the man smiled, his teeth glowing dull blue in the haze, “it isn’t as if your name is on it.”

“Is too, morph!” Kyler said, unwilling to go down without a fight. “Spec it, low-rez, gots a tag right there.”  Kyler pointed to the place where he and Vera had burnt their names in some ceramic with a hacked laser communicator.

“Are you Kyler?” asked the man.

“True”

“And who is Vera?”

Kyler looked down, uncomfortable with the man’s questions and slow drift towards him. “Vera was m…a friend. We came here to play school. It was quieter and she knew how to get admin on the levels. More fun.”

The dark shape nodded as he slowly adjusted course, thankfully veering towards the hatch rather than the boy. He looked damn tall up close, those long limbs of his not so much drawn shadow as they first appeared. “And why isn’t Vera here today?”

Kyler went back to his game’s entropics, trying to drool the guy out. “Mom said we could co-op no more.  Said Vera weren’t no kid, but like an adult sleeving a kid, spec it? She was a Neolithic or something.”

“Neotecnic?” asked the man.

“Yeah. That one.”

“Shame,” he whispered, drifting past within inches. “It is the dharma of the old to train the new.”

Kyler squirmed, “Whatever. You gonna post or should I find another spot? I’m going for high scores, here.”

“Oh, by all means,” the man was halfway out the hatch already, “stay here. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your studies.”

“Like. Tetyell.”

Kyler hit play on the game.  He was part way down the first parabola when his vids flicked off.  He wanted to say something, but for some reason the words wouldn’t come. The weightless feeling, that one that came before you hit the bottom of the conic and that fabled gravity took hold again, that feeling he’d felt his entire life, took on a new intensity.  He looked down, down, down until he could see his feet, until he could see the fronts of his knees.  He could see himself, upside down, with the dark shape behind him and shrouded in a red sheet, and then the world went dark.

*   *   *   

The monowire cut clean before snapping. The boy’s stack glistened at the base of the exposed spinal column. He wrenched it free with a gloved hand and kicked the body across the room, leaving a comet trail of blood frozen in the half-light.

Sir, Shiva entreated, her do-not-disturb parameters no longer active, message waiting from the inner system.

He commanded it play while fishing for the case slung behind his back.

Cypher: Octopus and the rest made me. No idea how. He and the courier just fucking rezzed into the room as I was assuming Hoffman. One of them was coordinating security as I bailed with the beta-forks, I assume.  Had to Ctrl-Alt the shapers and most of the tour group. Opsec maintained but the objective was not achieved. Luna is blown.

“Interesting.” He removed the scour ring from its containment field, careful to only touch the outer rim. “Of all the variables…hmmm….” He placed Kyler’s stack atop the ring’s center cavity and watched it slowly sink, somehow not coming out the other side.

Shiva, he commanded, dictation. Maximum encrypt.

Go.

He placed the ring back in its container, unable to resist a hand wave through the space where the non-stack was violating the Conservation of Matter. @ cypher: Will be casting into the theater by the time you receive this. Prep a clone and call a conference simulspace for immediate debrief. Signature.

@ operations.oversight.pc.mars: Operation complete. Confirm body bank operative’s orders to space my morph after casting. Set operative’s memory lock countdown to thirty minutes at receiving of this message. Engage countdown. Signature.

@ intel.oversight.pc.mars: Keep me briefed on any further farcasts scheduled by Vera Dax. She may enjoy slumming with the Brinkers, but demographic testing of unapproved software mods is clear a breach of Intellectual Property Act 745CA9 of the PC charter and I’d rather not be distracted with any more of these errands. Signature.

@ e-feeder.mesh: Purchase a season pass of “Release the Kraken.” Identity L confirmation code. Identity L Signature.

End dictation. Send.


The hive at his belt hummed as it fed nanos across his body. The tiny machines licked blood from their master’s hands like a loyal hunting dogs.  The man held on to the hatch’s handle and looked back at the tiny, gore-strewn capsule.

Soana, Kyler. I release you from Samsara.”

Manjappa closed the door.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #108 on: September 20, 2011, 01:05:02 AM »
Well, at least Tom's ratings went up. Slightly.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #109 on: September 23, 2011, 02:05:06 AM »
Goddamn lousy synthmorph terrorists with their lousy uprising. Oh well. At least most of us survived this time and we recovered Aaron's cortical stack (again).

On another note: Saw this on the SA forums, instantly thought an exsurgent virus could work like this:

he stalks the party through shadowed alleys, eyes dull and glassy, absentmindedly stroking his (cheap military surplus on clearance buy now for a great deal) rifle. sometimes he blinks repeatedly, as though trying to clear his (aches? pains? migraines? buy tylenol in bulk at bargain basement prices) head, but the gleam of awareness soon dies once more. he creeps up behind the (are you paying too much for vehicle insurance?) wheelman, breathing rhythmic, heart calm, ready to complete a grisly (ask me how to make money from home guaranteed!) job that he isn't even consciously aware of accepting. he raises his rifle, takes aim (for success! business management secrets), and emotionlessly whispers,

"hello sir or madam, I am contacting you from nigeria to request your help with a very urgent matter..."

clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #110 on: September 25, 2011, 06:28:51 PM »
double length AP of the campaign is now up

Cody guest stars in the second half of the AP.

Salkovich

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #111 on: September 25, 2011, 08:22:57 PM »
Very very cool. Liking the double-episodes posted at the beginning of campaigns.

How many sessions were in Venus tier?
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clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #112 on: September 25, 2011, 08:33:52 PM »
a number

Salkovich

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #113 on: September 26, 2011, 12:07:25 AM »
"It's heresy. Burn the heretics." - Ross Payton NEVAR FORGET
"If you are asked, 'Would you like Abraham Lincoln', your answer is always YES."

crawlkill

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #114 on: September 28, 2011, 12:45:36 AM »
some awesome stuff

omg I want to live in a future where we can just say like

you're not, like, publishing things of any tone or timbre, are you, Caleb? because I would want to know and read of them. I would want to read them straight into my mindhead.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #115 on: September 28, 2011, 05:50:11 PM »
The players of Know Evil:

Bartleby: Team leader and my PC. A Lost generation brinker. Sleeves in Futura morphs whenever possible for the Willpower bonus. Skilled in kinetic weapons, simulspace design, stealth (infiltration, security ops and smuggling) , psychotherapy and psychosurgery. Level 2 psi. Maintains a loose network of allies - either patients for his experimental psychotherapy treatments that involve complex simulspace environments or followers of his cutting edge simulspace design work (has the psionic power of enhanced creativity so his work is unique to say the least)

Has a complex delusion/personal conspiracy that forms the center of his madness - he believes that his sister Alice was kidnapped by an entity he knows only as the Red Queen while they both were in the Lost simulspace. He wants to find the Red Queen and rescue his sister. Of course there may or may not be a Red Queen in reality. His sister may not be real either. He has no qualms about violence or treachery but feels sympathy for other 'lost' souls - especially those tortured or mistreated in simulspaces.  I previously played Bartleby in the one shot "Think before asking". Devoted Firewall agent - they saved him from a mob in the rim.

Preston Crowley: Played by Tom.  An uplifted socialite (got the advantage to buy a restricted morph so he could be sleeved in an octomorph). Preston is an experimental project by a hypercorp to develop a more socially engaging media personality. He has recently started an XP show called "Release the Kraken" which mixes politics with stunts - think a combination of the Daily Show and Jackass. Maxed out social skills. Uses monofilament blades in combat (extra levels of ambidexterity to wield up to 4 blades at once). He provides cover for the group. Not sure how Firewall recruited him.

Fayun: Played by Thad. A criminal from Luna with a varied mix of underworld skills and abilities. Proficient in spray weapons. Has a sordid background on Luna but doesn't want to go into it. Sleeved in exalt morph I believe.

SAIRAC: Played by Aaron. AGI engineer sleeved in arachnoid morph at start of campaign. Argonaut background. Idealistic and helpful, SAIRAC is a skilled hacker and programmer. Full time Firewall agent. Uses beam weapons and seekers. Prefers non-lethal solutions. Advocate of AGI rights.

Gerrad: Played by Jason. Fall evacuee, anarchist and reclaimer. Military background - worked for Direct Action on Earth during the Fall. Abandoned post to save as many lives as possible. Has edited memories so he isn't sure exactly what happened but he made an enemy during the Fall. An enemy that's highly placed in Direct Action now. Gerrad is highly suspicious of technology, especially AI technology. Skilled in hand to hand combat and beam weapons. Saved an important anarchist during the Fall. The anarchist is his patron now.

We recently got a new player but we've only played 1 session with him so I don't know his PC too well - some kind of ultimate Cognite security guard sleeved in a remade morph.

enigmatic

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #116 on: September 28, 2011, 06:12:01 PM »
Looking forward to the AP's of the Eclipse Phase campaign.  I've gotten inspired by the past APs to host a game at a tiny convention in Birmingham, AL (no, RPGs aren't illegal here).

Here's the current plot:
Quote
The Characters are contacted by Firewall to investigate a habitat, that has stopped communicating with the outside world.  When they go to investigate, they discover that everyone seems to be under some form of daze.  No hostilities are encountered, but everything is “dead”.  All the inhabitants seem to be sedated in some way, both physical Morphs, and Infomorphs.  The mesh seems to work normally, but is “dead” with no other Ego activity.  After investigating, they discover that a weaponized anesthesia AI was being tested on the unknowing colonists.  Hopefully they will reawaken all the colonists, who will react as if the entire habitat was in a coma.

After reporting this to Firewall, the characters are instructed to track down the source of the AI and get a copy to Firewall.  This a danger to transhumanity, and countermeasures need to be devised to prevent another attack.

After investigating, all roads point to <Evil Corporation X>’s research station on a Martian Asteroid.  At this point investigation turns into a heist as the Characters must get into the base, download a copy of the AI, and escape.  Well, at least get the copy to Firewall.

How does that sound? After listening (& reading) "Think Before Asking" I figured I'd also get into the Creative Commons spirit and type up a big fat adventure guide.  I'll post it once it's gotten to the alpha stage, but right now it's maybe 50% done.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #117 on: September 28, 2011, 07:38:35 PM »
"anesthesia AI"? What's that? Wouldn't it be a nanovirus or narcoalgorithim, not an AI?

Where's the habitat located?

Z

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #118 on: September 28, 2011, 08:11:03 PM »
Am I missing something in the sourcebook, or can a transhuman be an infomorph? It doesn't seem to make any distinction between an AGI and an actual consciousness when playing an infomorph.

Also infomorphs own because you can play as a murderous Cortana.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Eclipse Phase
« Reply #119 on: September 28, 2011, 08:28:44 PM »
Am I missing something in the sourcebook, or can a transhuman be an infomorph? It doesn't seem to make any distinction between an AGI and an actual consciousness when playing an infomorph.

Also infomorphs own because you can play as a murderous Cortana.

infolife background is for AGIs only and includes real world naivete and social stigma AGI traits. Any character can choose to 'sleeve' as an infomorph for 0 CP during character creation.