Eclipse Phase

[clockworkjoe]

Question for you all. One of my players want his character to be a blind swordsman. I have no issue with that but since there is no blind trait, I figured using neural damage would do the trick. Where my question lays, is how would that effect him in AR, VR, infosec checks, etc. He wants to do hacking as well as chopping up his enemies.

That's tricky because the technology is so advanced in EP that someone who is blind means one of three things:

1. They choose to be blind - refusing treatment
2. They are unable to receive medial treatment
3. They are truly and severely fucked up in the head - something is so wrong with them that editing their mind directly with psychosurgery or sleeving into a new body can't fix it.

I could see an ultimate with a blindness filter though - it automatically blinds him in combat or whatever yet disables when he needs to hack or something nonphysical - ultimates are fucking crazy so this could be a personal quest of his.

[Tadanori Oyama]

It would have no effect on his ability to interact with VR because that's simulated reality. His AR wouldn't funtion visually if he can't see.

This sounds to me like a very poor concept for an Eclipse Phase game. This would make the character an extremely noticeable individual. He's likely going to be the only blind man most individual will have encountered in their lifetime: they will remember him. If this is a Firewall game then that's bad. Farther the trope of a blind swordsman would likely be instantly available to anyone and everyone in the setting via their muse. He probably isn't going to surpise anyone with his sword fighting skills.

[Snake-Eyes]

I see what you guys are saying and i'll run it by him. I like the blindness filter Ross. He's a drifter (background) turned scum, so there's your craziness right there. He wants his character to be blind even if he switches morphs thus the neural damage trait I thought of using. But if hacking is mostly AR based, then maybe the blindness filter would be up his alley. To push his skill to the next level he must fight without sight!

[Tadanori Oyama]

I'd be curious to know why he wants to be blind. It's the kind of thing that often gets used as an alterative to having a developed character trait or backstory and I get extremely cautious whenever a disability is mentioned for a character.

[Capitalocracy]

You could just say a wizard TITAN did it, perhaps a precursor to a Know Evil-style virus that got into his backup. You could incorporate it into the plot.

[Snake-Eyes]

I like that idea too. Hey Caleb *hint hint*. And Tad i'll get his reasoning and let you know.

[clockworkjoe]

You could just say a wizard TITAN did it, perhaps a precursor to a Know Evil-style virus that got into his backup. You could incorporate it into the plot.

Yeah that's more or less what I meant with #3 - HOWEVER, I would make that a huge flaw or several flaws because people are going to be scared as hell of you and you will face significant persecution - TITAN-scarred survivors would be social pariahs/lepers in Eclipse Phase.

[Gorkamorka]

Question for you all. One of my players want his character to be a blind swordsman. I have no issue with that but since there is no blind trait, I figured using neural damage would do the trick. Where my question lays, is how would that effect him in AR, VR, infosec checks, etc. He wants to do hacking as well as chopping up his enemies.

Sounds like your player wants to play fantasy.  Have a talk with him and figure out what he wants out of playing.  If he's not into transhumanism and SciFi then maybe you guys should be playing something else.  Or if he's the only person in the gaming group that's not into what Eclipse Phase is about, then maybe he's the problem.

[Capitalocracy]

You could just say a wizard TITAN did it, perhaps a precursor to a Know Evil-style virus that got into his backup. You could incorporate it into the plot.

Yeah that's more or less what I meant with #3 - HOWEVER, I would make that a huge flaw or several flaws because people are going to be scared as hell of you and you will face significant persecution - TITAN-scarred survivors would be social pariahs/lepers in Eclipse Phase.

I agree, and it could be plot-breaking for an inner-system Firewall scenario, but it might work on the outer rim. He could still be constantly harassed about it: "No, I wasn't uploaded. No, I'm not feeling urges to kill you. Well, maybe a little bit."

And if it comes down to it, nobody likes us, everybody hates us, guess we'll go gatecrashing.

[Discomonkey]

I remember there being a discussion, either on the forums, or maybe a sheet on the resource page, discussing various neural damage. One of them was blindness.

Edit: Here we are, by Mr. Anders Sandberg himself:

Cortical blindness

The occipital lobe has been profoundly damaged or corrupted, not only
preventing vision but making it impossible to restore easily. The person
is blind regardless of the morph. Sometimes “blindsight” can remain if
subcortical systems such as the superior colliculus are undamaged: the
person can avoid some obstacles, catch thrown objects or make
surprisingly accurate guesses about their surroundings. Psychosurgery
can often enhance this to a degree, making the person blind for conscious
information but relatively able to move and function.

http://www.aleph.se/EclipsePhase/More%20neurological%20damage.pdf

[Teapot]

I could see an ultimate with a blindness filter though - it automatically blinds him in combat or whatever yet disables when he needs to hack or something nonphysical - ultimates are fucking crazy so this could be a personal quest of his.

This is my favorite solution. Just a bit of ware and maybe some sonar to compensate with half the people he meets refrencing Zato-Ichi. Or he could come from a scum swarm that is going through a kung-fu/samurai phase and most of his friends are also modeled after various legends/films/stories. Watch out for the dude pushing around a cart with a neotenic in it.

[Snake-Eyes]

Awesome. I'm totally using that now. I should see my player tonight if not friday. I'll let you all know how it works out and his reason for the blindness.

[Decimator]

Sense filters are cost Low, so the personal development angle is pretty easy to do.  What'll be interesting is whether he forgoes his development when the excrement strikes the oscillating air circulator.

[SashaKemper]

I remember there being a discussion, either on the forums, or maybe a sheet on the resource page, discussing various neural damage. One of them was blindness.

Edit: Here we are, by Mr. Anders Sandberg himself:

Cortical blindness

The occipital lobe has been profoundly damaged or corrupted, not only
preventing vision but making it impossible to restore easily. The person
is blind regardless of the morph. Sometimes “blindsight” can remain if
subcortical systems such as the superior colliculus are undamaged: the
person can avoid some obstacles, catch thrown objects or make
surprisingly accurate guesses about their surroundings. Psychosurgery
can often enhance this to a degree, making the person blind for conscious
information but relatively able to move and function.

http://www.aleph.se/EclipsePhase/More%20neurological%20damage.pdf

I've read the same PDF, as well as his Think Before Asking scenario. Brilliant man. This blindness could be attributed to a botched Egocasting, as any number of things could go wrong and it's realistic for non-elites to just have to deal with it at their destination. It should have occurred before the character entered Firewall, as their constant back-ups would make it easy to restore his sight (think copy-paste). At severely close ranges (within arm's reach?) the negative modifiers would probably be negated, as other senses take over to "see" for the most part. Their muse would be able to feed AR and mesh data (mail, rep scores, etc.) but hacking would be a stretch without full VR, and even then, the cortical blindness would affect how he would experience VR simulations, I'm sure.

[Teapot]

You can also sleeve him in a neo-pig for added laughs: http://wiki.usagiyojimbo.com/wiki/Zato-Ino