I just played Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I'm sure a few of you have as well. Great game, deals with many of the same issues as EP. But, DX:HR is just about the beginning of transhumanism. Some interesting issues raised by that game, and I'm thinking about doing a game pre-Fall, with the same sort of questions raised.
Any thoughts?
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Game Based Pre-Fall
Wed, 2011-09-07 11:10
#1
KevinWI
Game Based Pre-Fall
Wed, 2011-09-07 11:54
#2
Angry_Ghost
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
I say bring on a 400 page supplement and call it "before the Fall". Or perhaps "Shadowrun, sans elves"
—
The Force will be with you. Sometimes.
Wed, 2011-09-07 13:08
#3
Herbo
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
You could do a pre-fall game of EP pretty easily by removing Asyncs (due to lack of the EV), grabbing some setting material from Cyberpunk (or non-magic Shadowrun elements), and then sit back and tear Earth apart around your players (instead of constantly teetering on the brink as with most cyberpunk street-scum ventures).
Wed, 2011-09-07 13:28
#4
Rastus
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
Nah, there'd still be elves. They just wouldn't have magic to thank for their existance. :P
Anyways, my best guess to how far back you could go without losing a great deal of what's already in regular EP would be about 30 to 20 BF; Implants, cloning, morphs have been around long enough to be common at that timezone without being completely ubiquitous, while things like uplifts and nanotech is rare but not impossible to come across.
Of course if you want to get as close to DX:HR as possible, you could just turn the clock way back to 60BF and before, but then you wouldn't really need to bother with EP in particular then, now would you?
And for the record, a supplement about stuff before the fall would be rather nice actually. A couple of people could probably use that to help wrap their heads around the sheer scope and depth of EP a little easier.
Wed, 2011-09-07 14:07
#5
KevinWI
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
There's a great line in DX:HR:
"This isn't the end of the world... but you can see it from here."
Thinking about stealing it for a Firewall NPC to say to one of my players. In my current EP game, the players are facing some serious crap, so it's applicable there. too.
Thu, 2011-09-08 05:06
#6
Ashen Victor
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
Most of the material in EP is valid for a Pre Fall campaing (Except asyncs and exurgents, as noted after).
If you are looking for a good setting with politics, memes, sociology, demographics and intensive country data I recommend you the [b]Transhuman Space[/b] supplement: [b]Fifth Wave[/b].
Transhuman Space is basically Eclipse Phase before the Fall.
Sat, 2011-09-10 19:17
#7
jackgraham
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
My second EP campaign took place during the Fall. Maybe it's because I'm a BSG fan, but I'm kind of obsessed with the Fall itself. There's a ton of emotional protein to explore there. The one tricky thing was rep networks; many of the current ones either didn't exist or were tiny before the Fall. This ended up not being too important during the Fall, though, because my PCs quickly resorted to barter. Comm networks were too screwed up for money and favors to be called in.
—
J A C K G R A H A M :: Hooray for Earth!
http://eclipsephase.com :: twitter @jackgraham @faketsr :: Google+Jack Graham
Thu, 2011-09-15 19:23
#8
Thantastic
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
As a player in that game, I will say that the time of the Fall itself is an incredibly rich and often uncomfortable setting to explore. It's also a great platform to give the pcs the chance to make a huge difference in the lives and quality of life for npcs and help shape the foundations of the major factions and conspiracies AF. IBeyond that, just about anything could have and did happen - pyramids of severed heads processing things for a TITAN, an antimatter bomb being used, gunning down scores of child soldiers in a particularly awful us-or-them situation, frequently killing your friends and loved ones who had become infected with the EV...
On second thought, maybe you should stick with playing at least a few years BF.
—
Ex unus plures.
Tue, 2011-09-27 04:28
#9
Caernkeeper
Re: Game Based Pre-Fall
I havent started my EP campaign, but it will definetly starts before the Fall!
Game wise PreFall would have much of the same technology found in EP, but used on the fringes of society or running as prototypes.
Characters starting as muddled up conciousness in the mainframe of a seed ship launched before the Fall. Each chapter would allow players to use the different characters involved in each situation. Each situation would be related to the construction (AI? Neural Interface? Digital Backups?) and launching of the Seed Ship, complicated by the social unrest that preceeded the Fall.
Why go over all this trouble?
1) Going over several characters with limited access to technology will introduce players gradually to the mechanic possibilites.
2) Giving them a first hand taste of death and life on Earth will make the impact of the Fall deeper.
3) The downtime of the travel of this ship to the edges of the solar system will explain the cultural shock toward the more extreme elements of the setting.
4) PreFall Reputation will go a long way once they come back. ("Wait! Are you the author of Paulinia Manifesto? Man, that is the groundwork for much of the [insert relevant faction here] philosophy. You kicked ass back then, didnt ya?")
—
You can't break, can't change, can't take us down.
(We run this town!)
We stand, we'll fight, set fires all night