It is possible that there has been a lot of discussion around this before (and I did touch the subject when I first came here with little result) but I find it strange that so much discussion has to do with explaining tech or rules and so little with the actual world. This is actually the greatest challenge to me as a GM - to give my players a feeling for how the world and the people in it looks.
For example, in the first adventure I had, the players arrived to a fairly large rotating habitat by ship which meant I had to think about how the ship docks with a habitat and how you get into it. The simplest way I thought was if the vessel docked in the middle of the habitat, at a non-rotating part of it (to avoid having to match rotation perfectly before although I guess that is possible too Babylon 5 style). Then they had to exit the ship, move down a zero-g corridor and into a sort of "air-lock" that would start to rotate to slowly match it's rotation with the habitat and then they could climb down into the actual habitat. I have no idea if this is the best way but it is what I could figure out to make sense and it is small things like this that becomes problematic.
Then we have the question of how people's homes look. What furnitures do people still use? Do they decorate for the "real feel" or not? And if they don't, what sort of AR overlay do they use? What colours are in fashion? Do they have actual specific lightsources or do light come from everywhere in the roof / walls? Considering you can control your computer with thought, is there any need for monitors or other external computer interfaces? Do people have holo-projectors in their homes and in that case what for? Is there a kitchen or is all food nanofabricated? Describing something simple as a home gets very tricky, you want it to have a certain sci-fi feeling, make sense in the setting and also be possible for your players to picture in their head.
The same goes for other parts of the world - the habitats in general, how do they fit together? How are the various floors / parts connected and what sort of travel makes most sense? What sort of "community" places exist (like pubs or clubs) and what do they look like? These are tricky things to me.
Most problematic however is how people look. What styles are in fashion? Do people really still use jeans and T-shirts? Do they wear suits? It makes little sense to me that early 21st century fashion would be present in Eclipse Phase but what cuts and materials ARE in use? Is there any reason why people would limit themselves to natural hair colours? In modern and fantasy or even sci-fi settings based on TV-shows, these things are supplied for you. Now you have to make it all up yourself which can be fairly difficult or at least a lot of work as a GM.
Oh, and before I forget - we also have the AR overlay. Even though you can decide how much or little you want to see, is there some form of "basic hub" that is used? Do you see people walking around with names over their heads like a MMORPG? Do objects come with attached "links" in your AR overlay that you can click to see history / information? Again the possibilities are endless.
So my question is really; how do YOU describe the Eclipse Phase universe, the locations and the people? Personally I think colour is important in all roleplaying, so we shouldn't forget helping eachother out with it!
—
Lorsa is a Forum moderator
[color=red]Red text is for moderator stuff[/color]
Mea Culpa: My mode of speech can make others feel uninvited to argue or participate. This is the EXACT opposite of what I intend when I post.