121
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: One Money Unit!
« on: July 15, 2014, 09:04:48 AM »
"In Tom Church We Trust"? "In Sharp Edges We Trust"?
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122
General Chaos / Re: Gaming Confessional
« on: July 14, 2014, 07:26:45 PM »
I once ran a Christmas-themed Call of Cthulhu one-shot in which a servant of Yog-Sothoth performed a ritual to turn Santa Claus into an avatar of his god, based on their metaphysical similarities re: space-warping abilities.
This led to kids staying up late to see Santa coming down the chimney, beholding something eldritch and suffering massive SAN loss. The Arkham Asylum ended up needing a special children's ward, which was funded by a local philanthropist named Charles Dexter.
I think maybe one of my players might have forgiven me for it by this point for sending them to the Charles Dexter Ward.
This led to kids staying up late to see Santa coming down the chimney, beholding something eldritch and suffering massive SAN loss. The Arkham Asylum ended up needing a special children's ward, which was funded by a local philanthropist named Charles Dexter.
I think maybe one of my players might have forgiven me for it by this point for sending them to the Charles Dexter Ward.
123
General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?
« on: July 14, 2014, 01:41:32 PM »
I spent a year away from my XBox because work is stupid, so I've been binging lately to catch up on stuff I missed. Saints Row 4, GTA 5, Arkham City, DmC..
124
RPGs / Re: Lost: A tenative idea for an Eclipse Phase campaign
« on: July 14, 2014, 01:37:40 PM »
This is relevant to me since I'd basically had the identical idea for a game, so apologies for the thread-necromancy.
Here's how I'm seeing it:
The Futura simulations took place over about three years between AF 2 and 5, though initial plans and funding started almost immediately after the Fall. Since the active phase of the project took place quite some time after the Fall, I figure that at this point they would have been aware that Earth wasn't going to be reclaimed any time soon and would instead try to acclimatize the kids to the realities of a post-Fall society. That means most of the population would be on Mars or in space stations - and it would be much easier to simulate an environment the size of a single space station than an entire planet.
The book also states that Futura simulations were running simultaneously on three different stations, with a human staff of about 2000 and AGI staff of about 45 - I figure that forks of those 45 AGIs would be shared on each of the three stations. They might have even forked the scientists and researchers, to reduce the chance of variables - science! and all that.
So I'm imagining the simulated kids live and grown up in what I'm currently calling Futura Station, which in their simulations appears to be either orbiting Luna or Mars. The station would be a fairly typical (though relatively small) cylinder hab. As well as the children and their teachers, it would include enough to educate them on day to day social interactions, which means stuff outside of school life. So, I was thinking that perhaps Cognite employed some infugees to play the role of 'NPCs' for the kids to learn from - storekeepers, fake 'parents', the local preacher, special guests at the school and so on. These infugees might or might not be subject experts for educational purposes, but remember their most important quality is genuine humanity, as contrasted to the AGIs. The AGIs fill the role of 'school teachers' while other important roles for emotional and social development would be filled by infomorphs.
So basically, instead of 'boarding school', I'm seeing it more like Truman Show - a small simulation of a population center with some hard limits on how far you can explore. In this case, the hard vacuum of space and the fact that all the shuttles always seem to be out on missions. However, as the Lost Madness becomes more and more apparent, the AGIs are re-purposed to take on more overall control of the kids' lives and it's certainly possible that the sim would warp and perhaps shrink to discipline them.
(The addition of these infugees and AGIs also pads out the potential roster for async character concepts without having to be quite as 'damaged' as the Lost were, since they were presumably exposed to Watts-McLeod when it was introduced to the simulation too.)
Here's how I'm seeing it:
The Futura simulations took place over about three years between AF 2 and 5, though initial plans and funding started almost immediately after the Fall. Since the active phase of the project took place quite some time after the Fall, I figure that at this point they would have been aware that Earth wasn't going to be reclaimed any time soon and would instead try to acclimatize the kids to the realities of a post-Fall society. That means most of the population would be on Mars or in space stations - and it would be much easier to simulate an environment the size of a single space station than an entire planet.
The book also states that Futura simulations were running simultaneously on three different stations, with a human staff of about 2000 and AGI staff of about 45 - I figure that forks of those 45 AGIs would be shared on each of the three stations. They might have even forked the scientists and researchers, to reduce the chance of variables - science! and all that.
So I'm imagining the simulated kids live and grown up in what I'm currently calling Futura Station, which in their simulations appears to be either orbiting Luna or Mars. The station would be a fairly typical (though relatively small) cylinder hab. As well as the children and their teachers, it would include enough to educate them on day to day social interactions, which means stuff outside of school life. So, I was thinking that perhaps Cognite employed some infugees to play the role of 'NPCs' for the kids to learn from - storekeepers, fake 'parents', the local preacher, special guests at the school and so on. These infugees might or might not be subject experts for educational purposes, but remember their most important quality is genuine humanity, as contrasted to the AGIs. The AGIs fill the role of 'school teachers' while other important roles for emotional and social development would be filled by infomorphs.
So basically, instead of 'boarding school', I'm seeing it more like Truman Show - a small simulation of a population center with some hard limits on how far you can explore. In this case, the hard vacuum of space and the fact that all the shuttles always seem to be out on missions. However, as the Lost Madness becomes more and more apparent, the AGIs are re-purposed to take on more overall control of the kids' lives and it's certainly possible that the sim would warp and perhaps shrink to discipline them.
(The addition of these infugees and AGIs also pads out the potential roster for async character concepts without having to be quite as 'damaged' as the Lost were, since they were presumably exposed to Watts-McLeod when it was introduced to the simulation too.)
125
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: RPPR offends England
« on: July 14, 2014, 06:27:57 AM »
Not The Shard, but relevant: London Skyscraper Is Actually Solar Death Ray, Melts Jaguar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675
126
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The Strangest Places You've Listened to RPPR?
« on: July 14, 2014, 06:23:32 AM »
Changeling: The Lost.
127
RPGs / Re: THE QUEUE: Whacha got in YOUR gaming pipeline
« on: July 13, 2014, 11:04:29 PM »
Currently running an Eclipse Phase game titled Mockingbird Protocol, where the players are sentinels who must deal with the aftermath of a massive breach of Firewall information to the LLA and generally try to stop the moon from catching fire and rebuild the ruined conspiracy.
After that, I have a few things lined up. This is them in no particular order.
Night's Black Agents: Blue Blood - Set in London, the game revolves around a vampiric conspiracy ruling the UK from the shadows and coming under threat from a different breed of vampire encroaching from the mainland. Players would be low-ranking individuals in the government bureaucracy who have recently come across some information about a minor royal.
A Song Of Ice And Fire - The Rise and Fall House Harrowmoor - Okay, I mostly want to run through the house creation system to see how it goes but other than that the idea is to set the story right at the start of the books and treat it as an alt history. Things play out differently, a few background details change and the titular house is in the center of the cannibalistic wolf-pit that is Westerosi politics.
Legend of the Five Rings - The Tainted - Set initially around the Temple of Soothing Rest in the Crab lands, an ancient asylum/sanatorium for bushi who have been exposed to the taint of the shadowlands but allowed to live. Their life is one of peaceful meditation, asceticism, regular inspections by the Kuni and regular doses of white jade tea to prevent the growth of their taint, all under the watchful eye (and surprisingly calloused fists) of the local monks. When the head abbot is found brutally murdered and a strange, mournful voice echoes from under the temple, the bloody truth of the temple's history will out. Players can be taint-infected patients/inmates, monks staffing the temple or visiting the temple when the murder takes place.
Continuum: Okay, I don't have a story concept for this. I just found the book at the UK Games Expo and want to see if I can make one of my players have an aneurysm at the table.
After that, I have a few things lined up. This is them in no particular order.
Night's Black Agents: Blue Blood - Set in London, the game revolves around a vampiric conspiracy ruling the UK from the shadows and coming under threat from a different breed of vampire encroaching from the mainland. Players would be low-ranking individuals in the government bureaucracy who have recently come across some information about a minor royal.
A Song Of Ice And Fire - The Rise and Fall House Harrowmoor - Okay, I mostly want to run through the house creation system to see how it goes but other than that the idea is to set the story right at the start of the books and treat it as an alt history. Things play out differently, a few background details change and the titular house is in the center of the cannibalistic wolf-pit that is Westerosi politics.
Legend of the Five Rings - The Tainted - Set initially around the Temple of Soothing Rest in the Crab lands, an ancient asylum/sanatorium for bushi who have been exposed to the taint of the shadowlands but allowed to live. Their life is one of peaceful meditation, asceticism, regular inspections by the Kuni and regular doses of white jade tea to prevent the growth of their taint, all under the watchful eye (and surprisingly calloused fists) of the local monks. When the head abbot is found brutally murdered and a strange, mournful voice echoes from under the temple, the bloody truth of the temple's history will out. Players can be taint-infected patients/inmates, monks staffing the temple or visiting the temple when the murder takes place.
Continuum: Okay, I don't have a story concept for this. I just found the book at the UK Games Expo and want to see if I can make one of my players have an aneurysm at the table.
128
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: July 13, 2014, 10:47:21 PM »
I really like Eclipse Phase, it's probably become something of an obsession at this point...
Currently IRL running a game set around Luna, playing in an online game and trying to drum up interest in more EP goodness on the forums..
Currently IRL running a game set around Luna, playing in an online game and trying to drum up interest in more EP goodness on the forums..
129
RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder
« on: July 13, 2014, 10:45:32 PM »
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derwent,_Derbyshire
The village in Derwent was 'drowned' by the Ladybower reservoir in 1947.
The 2001 UK census lists Derwent as having a population of 51.
Innsmouth is real.
The village in Derwent was 'drowned' by the Ladybower reservoir in 1947.
The 2001 UK census lists Derwent as having a population of 51.
Innsmouth is real.
130
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The Strangest Places You've Listened to RPPR?
« on: July 13, 2014, 10:40:24 PM »
I mostly listen to RPPR in transit, spent a lot of time in Korea listening to Know Evil to teach myself EP. I got into the others as well. I remember listening to The Iron Devil on the Incheon subway, or the Esoterrorists game in Itaewon. Better Angels was an interesting one considering I was working in a private school out there - I could definitely recognize some of the, uh, 'interesting characters' portrayed as universal.
I listened to Tribes of Tokyo IN Tokyo, which was cool - though Akihabara's weird. Wasn't brave enough to try a host/hostess club, in case of vampires.
Rural Yorkshire was another one, for Base Raiders: The Vault. Good places to hide bases around there - Derwent, the drowned village under Ladybower lake, or Fountains Abbey. I wasn't listening to an AP at this point, but I did run a game set in rural Yorkshire, while I was in Korea, and my players were Americans. Multiculturalism!
I listened to Tribes of Tokyo IN Tokyo, which was cool - though Akihabara's weird. Wasn't brave enough to try a host/hostess club, in case of vampires.
Rural Yorkshire was another one, for Base Raiders: The Vault. Good places to hide bases around there - Derwent, the drowned village under Ladybower lake, or Fountains Abbey. I wasn't listening to an AP at this point, but I did run a game set in rural Yorkshire, while I was in Korea, and my players were Americans. Multiculturalism!
131
Recruitment Board / Eclipse Phase: Among The Lost (PBP Interest Check)
« on: July 13, 2014, 10:23:12 PM »
Game Title: Among The Lost
System: Eclipse Phase
Players Wanted: 3-6
Posting Rate: Every couple of days
Special Rules: Might streamline a few things to keep things simple. Probably using Caleb's rep houserules. Game will focus on the Lost - being a Lost is not mandatory though I would like there to be a few.
Advancement Rules: Advancement will take place during breaks, times when we skip ahead a few days or weeks.
Pitch:
Ten years ago, in the Fall, the majority of transhumaity was rendered extinct by the TITANs. Earth, the cradle of the species, was robbed from us. We went from a total population of billions to a few hundred million. But what's really concerning is that we haven't been repopulating.
Cortical stack technology have guaranteed a kind of immortality, which has reduced the psychological need to leave successors as a legacy. And many transhumans now lack the biological equipment, or corporeal presence, with which to make more transhumans. It seemed like transhumanity was at risk of dwindling down to nothing.
Enter the Cognite hypercorp and their Futura project, an attempt to put the minds of infants in time-accelerated simulspaces. With eighteen years of 'life' experienced in three actual-years, the next generation of humanity was planned to be sleeved into speed-grown morphs and bolster flagging population numbers. But something went wrong. The children of the Futura Project soon became known as the Lost Generation, dangerous lunatics who somehow escaped their simulspace prisons before their time and slipped from Cognite's grasp.
You are a member of the Lost. You are hunted. You are unstable. And you are dangerous - an async.
The game will begin within the Futura Project simulation, detail some of the events that led to the downfall of the Futura and then the escape. Once you're out, the idea is that you'll be reunited a few years later by an anonymous mesh message that brings you all to Titan. Because as bad as the Lost were, it seems that perhaps transhumanity has not quite learned from its mistakes.
(But I don't want to play a crazy psychic fugitive.
That'sbecause you're lame totally fine. I'm aware that there are issues with having characters being too same-y and a bit of diversity is fine. But you should be ideally connected to the Lost somehow - maybe a former Cognite researcher, or a significant other to one of the Lost - so that you have in-character reasons to be there.)
System: Eclipse Phase
Players Wanted: 3-6
Posting Rate: Every couple of days
Special Rules: Might streamline a few things to keep things simple. Probably using Caleb's rep houserules. Game will focus on the Lost - being a Lost is not mandatory though I would like there to be a few.
Advancement Rules: Advancement will take place during breaks, times when we skip ahead a few days or weeks.
Pitch:
Ten years ago, in the Fall, the majority of transhumaity was rendered extinct by the TITANs. Earth, the cradle of the species, was robbed from us. We went from a total population of billions to a few hundred million. But what's really concerning is that we haven't been repopulating.
Cortical stack technology have guaranteed a kind of immortality, which has reduced the psychological need to leave successors as a legacy. And many transhumans now lack the biological equipment, or corporeal presence, with which to make more transhumans. It seemed like transhumanity was at risk of dwindling down to nothing.
Enter the Cognite hypercorp and their Futura project, an attempt to put the minds of infants in time-accelerated simulspaces. With eighteen years of 'life' experienced in three actual-years, the next generation of humanity was planned to be sleeved into speed-grown morphs and bolster flagging population numbers. But something went wrong. The children of the Futura Project soon became known as the Lost Generation, dangerous lunatics who somehow escaped their simulspace prisons before their time and slipped from Cognite's grasp.
You are a member of the Lost. You are hunted. You are unstable. And you are dangerous - an async.
The game will begin within the Futura Project simulation, detail some of the events that led to the downfall of the Futura and then the escape. Once you're out, the idea is that you'll be reunited a few years later by an anonymous mesh message that brings you all to Titan. Because as bad as the Lost were, it seems that perhaps transhumanity has not quite learned from its mistakes.
(But I don't want to play a crazy psychic fugitive.
That's
132
General Chaos / Re: Introduction
« on: July 13, 2014, 10:05:30 PM »
Hey guys,
I'm Patrick from the UK. I got into RPPR through the Actual Plays, specifically Know Evil. At the time, I was actually teaching English in Korea, hooked up with a group of expat roleplayers and wound up being somehow pegged to GM an Eclipse Phase game. To help internalize the rules, I decided to listen to APs in my downtime, Know Evil was one of the first I found and the rest is history.
I chose the name RadioactiveBeer because IrradiatedBrewery was a bit too wordy. Ross knows what he did.
Been a while since I used a forum, but thought it would be a good way to keep my toes in the RPG community.
I'm Patrick from the UK. I got into RPPR through the Actual Plays, specifically Know Evil. At the time, I was actually teaching English in Korea, hooked up with a group of expat roleplayers and wound up being somehow pegged to GM an Eclipse Phase game. To help internalize the rules, I decided to listen to APs in my downtime, Know Evil was one of the first I found and the rest is history.
I chose the name RadioactiveBeer because IrradiatedBrewery was a bit too wordy. Ross knows what he did.
Been a while since I used a forum, but thought it would be a good way to keep my toes in the RPG community.