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| Eclipse Phase |
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| Average Rating:4.8 / 5 |
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One of the best sci-fi rpgs out there in the last decade. And that's saying a lot when you factor in GURPS: Transhuman Space. But, the team at Posthuman Studios loves their work and they really graps the transhuman/posthuman elements of modern sci-fi. This setting has elements of Mythos horror, but handles it differently. Less strange magical aliens, and more strange technologies that we just don't understand yet. As far as settings go, it's not as hard as Transhuman Space was, but that leadway fixes one of the few problems that THS had. Lack of focus.
The key issue, the drive for PCs in Eclipse Phase is survival. Either on a personal level in the post TITANS era of dispora from earth, or on a species level when humanity kissed a singularity event and came away bloody but still living. Technology is your salvation and damnation. The real key, is how your characters deal with it.
Body swapping, AI life, aliens that are REALLY alien, and just enough WOW factor to make the game exciting. There is PSI powers, but they are handled interestingly...a dangerous legacy left behind by the alien AIs the TITANS became.
Mechanically it uses a d100 system that flows smoothly, but takes a little getting use too. It's serviceable. And that's GREAT! The 3rd Printing of the corebook (which the pdf is a copy of) has little mechanical tweeks and fixes that fix most of the weird early errata bugs.
The core gameplay has the PCs as members of Firewall, a 'save humanity at any cost' type group...and it works. But you will have the freedom to just explore the setting and culture.
Worth the price. Hands down. Fine book.
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The setting is amazing, intriguing and well written. The rules are easy, based on a 1d100, and they permitt to go from a fast (and extremely deadly) firefight to an hacking mission using the same concepts and mechanism.
The character creation is based on few, important choises and Points to spend. it permitts to generate very interesting profiles and to play any kind of PG you like.
Trauma and Stress enable to play horror stories and to see your players going crazy.
The books are well made, well written and with amazing images.
It's a mature game and I really love it.
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Simply put, an epic science-fiction roleplaying game written with a deep sense of human mind and culture and a sense of what technology does FOR and TO the human race. This is such a fresh and original take on the concept of 'post-apocalypse' that it truly deserves to be set apart from games that fit that description. Indeed, 'Eclipse Phase' is merely leaning on the 'post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror' handle because there's no descriptor for something this innovative, at least for now. Let me try:
'Post-human Survival/Technological Paradigm (sci-fi)'.
Do I really propse such a genre moniker? Well, no, it's rather unweildy. What I attempt to do is make my reader understand that just like the Jimi Hendrix Experience's first album, 'this one makes you wider'. Learning the world of this game introduces you to so many issues, existing and potential, in such a graceful and accessible way, that I believe the authors have succeeded in making the RPG (and here I mean the hobby) a true venue for social discourse and the contemplation of social and technological theories.
I'm sure the writers themselves could explain this better; they all have PhD's or will shortly. This core book could sit next to discussions of technology and society by people like Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov and even works, for example, of Noam Chomsky. There is even a tongue-in-cheek reference to Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States', which pleases me to no end.
Have no fear, for while the world created in this book is fully developed, and a highly evolved animal, the gaming mechanics have been kept reasonably simple. The GM and her or his players will be free to explore Transhuman Society post-apocalypse without getting weighted down with too many charts and die rolls. (The game runs on d100 percentiles.)
I'm also impressed that the authors open-sourced the game and encourage players to modify their work to taste.
'Eclipse Phase' is one of the most masterful, powerful classics in gaming, and even succeeds in being a literary touchstone. In the right hands, it will generate contemplation and conversation that will expand minds.
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The art is what initially caught my eye on this book. Both the cover and interior artwork are extremely evocative. The creative commons licensing is another big plus -- I really admire the trust that they're willing to place in their fans. A third perk is that Posthuman incorporates any errata into their PDFs very quickly, so there's no cross-referencing multiple documents when you play.
But those are just icing, really. The most important elements are the system and the setting. The game uses the short fiction, Lack, to draw the reader in, and then goes on to detail a very nuanced post-singularity future in which transhumanity is recovering from near-extinction at the hands of their own creations. While I found myself most drawn to the socioeconomic conflict at the heart of the Martian terraforming effort, there's a little something for everyone in the setting, from the corporatist Planetary Consortium to the autonomists and anarchists of the outer system.
Character creation can be complex if you're not using one of the sample characters, so be prepared for that to take a little time (and ideally, track down an Excel character sheet to help keep track of things), but the system runs very quickly in actual play. The game is flexible enough to handle virtually any type of character, with normal characters including humans, AIs, and animals raised to sapience who may have an assortment of biological or synthetic bodies (or exist as an infomorph, with no physical body at all.)
An interesting and evocative setting, a system that runs quickly in play, and a company that's extremely fan-friendly? I'm hooked.
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I'm going to do this book a SERIOUS injustice with a relatively short review. Considering the price tag of $15 (at least when this was written), it's a steal. The book is huge. It's detailed. It's well written.
The basis of the game is that people are basically just minds now or souls or whatever you want to think of them as. They are called Egos in the game. You can then inhabit Morphs that are bodies made in a tremendous number of shapes, sizes, and capabilities. So the game obviously deals with some very dense subject matter and has an encyclopedic overview of the terms, what the world is like, and how people get along in the universe. Most of the game centers around political conspiracies, horror elements, and investigation and exploration.
In one game, you may inhabit a sexy assassin body and the next a non-humanoid mech. You can be a space fighter if you want. To some degree then, character creation is what your mental capabilities amount to. Things like strength are determined more by what Morph you are in. That is cool because you can just switch out (if you have the cash) to whatever you need to get your job done.
There are a lot of mechanics, so I would recommend just taking it slow and trying to use the base rules to teach yourself and your group the game. The PDF is judiciously bookmarked with hotlinks embedded in the text that will take you to references directly. That is a HUGE help when navigating the book. No "check pg. 209" to slow you down there.
The game and game world are complex, so be ready to read through a couple of times. The production value is amazing though, so it's fun to work through. But be warned, this is about a rules heavy as you can get without it being a joke. It's not a bad thing, it's just not for everyone.
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Absolutely a great work. This book is well written and contains excellent art work to set the tone and mood of the game. The book is well organized and easy to follow allowing for easy searching during games and the system is really solid. I can't wait to see more products for Eclipse Phase.
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This book really brings you some new playing experiences. You need a good round with a little education, because it really dive into matter where you have to think. "Cyberpunk" or better Tranhumanism on a grown up, depp but still fun to play way.
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I can't speak highly enough about this product. As a gamer with years of experience I can say this is the full package. Nice game balance, great writing style and tons of originality. As a cognitive scientist, I can tell these folks have done their homework. They broach a number of difficult and intriguing scientific and philosophic issues with a grace and style that makes them approachable without being simple. Add to that the fact that they stand behind their product with an open source license and I was compelled to happily offer them my hard earned cash. Buy it. Read it. Play it!
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Eclipse Phase is something I'd steered away from. I'm not really a fan of the whole horror thing, and I'm not normally a fan of a d100 system (Usually they're just too simple, and I'd rather just use the Fallout rules that you can find freely available if I had to run a percentile game for some reason).
I missed out on it for so long. I've never seen a tabletop game made with so much care and detail. The fluff is wonderful, taking place in a transhuman society. It's far sci-fi, but doesn't get to the point where everything comes down to pure technology. Skills and attributes are just as important as a plasma gun, and when push comes to shove, you need to be quick-thinking to survive.
I also like it because despite the horror standard setting, it could be run without horror as a standard sci-fi game (and you could bring in horror elements as needed to keep players from using brute-force).
The reputation system is genius.
All I can say is that Eclipse Phase is like a second Shadowrun to me.
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I'll keep this short and to the point. I've bought RPGs for some years and they've been entertaining enough to read, but I've not felt enthused enough to consider running them. That is until I bought Eclipse Phase, which is a very playable product. Lovely quality, graphics and content. For further info, I bought the PDF specifically for reading on holiday on my Kindle DX. I can state that the PDF read fine with no displaying the content.
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Great RPG , excellent production values all around, great setting etc. Big bang for the buck.
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Having spent long years searching for games with rich background, psychological depth, and meaningful stories filled with dramatic gravitas and intense action, I was incredibly pleased to have stumbled upon this gem. The setting is stunningly detailed and provides a wealth of story opportunities before the rules are even mentioned. While some readers may find the degree of detail, both socio-political and techno-material, intimidating or overbearing, I found it to be excellently crafted. By the time you've finished reading the text, you've been virtually indoctrinated into an immersive transhuman world.
Stories in the game setting can take nearly any form, containing elements of horror, science fiction, fantasy, espionage, and the political thriller. Through their characters, players will confront issues of identity, lovecraftian horror, deep metaphysical and existential quandries, and loyalty, all interspersed with the role playing standards of fast paced combat, episodic missions, and tests of skill.
The system mechanics are fairly simple and easy to learn, but not rudimentary. Rather, they serve their purpose, creating a standardized method for resolving conflict of all types while remaining in the background. They don't detract from the setting, but rather augment it. They quickly become intuitive, allowing the story to flow with only minimal interruption when needed.
The document itself is beautifully illustrated and emphasizes the game world without being a distraction. The occasional error in spelling or grammar can be overlooked, though there are a few "wince moments."
For the price, the game is a steal and after reading through the pdf, I am more than willing to pay the additional funds to purchase a hard copy.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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Haven't played it yet, but the book is awesome in its layout and design. The content is well written and excellently laid out. Concepts seem sound and mechanics seem strong. For 15 bucks, its easily worth it.
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Intensely detailed. Perhaps too much so. Found it hard to get into this product. Perhaps I was too drawn in by the pretty cover and and the idea of gaming in a world of bizarre humans and the horrors mankind cannot imagine. What I got reads more like a socio-political dissertation. Too bad. Was looking for more atmosphere. Maybe I'll take the time to read it some day.
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I had started to hear rumblings earlier this year about this game, but all the word of mouth couldn't have prepared me for how much I've come to love this game! The mechanics are simple and allow for a nice level of flexibility in style and tone, and the setting is everything I've been looking for a in a sci-fi game for the last two years. Do yourself a favor if you've not picked it up already and add this to your collection.
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