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Hello from a newb.

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Rockheimr Rockheimr's picture
Hello from a newb.
Just a quick first post to say 'hi'. I have recently bought and am reading through the corebooks, and loving them of course. :-) Having skimmed some threads here though I see I'm not the first person to a) not like the default Firewall campaign idea, b) not really see why the game is pushed as a combat-action-horror setting - I love the transhumanist ideas here - and just think in an rpg the absence of threat of death would make combat (and to a slightly lesser extent horror) feel .. a bit 'meh'. Btw - is it just me, or does the basic set-up of the solar system remind any of the other old timers of the High Colonies rpg? I was even thinking of transplanting some of the crazy-mad-bad ultra-rightist High Colonies stations and factions. For me it's the transhumanist elements, and the amazing setting that really draws me in. Exploration, politics, social interaction, conspiracies, crime, all these elements are there .. not to say I'd never use horror elements, just very rarely I think. I don't like the inclusion of psionics and the alien Factors either - they slightly jar with the otherwise pretty hard sf feel imo - so will leave those out. I am mulling ideas for a starting game, where the pcs are astronauts from a shortish while ahead of our rw modern day (say the 2050s), who had early model experimental stacks implanted - but who were lost on an early asteroid belt exploratory mission. Their bodies not found until AF10. They were resurrected as a curiosity, questioned thoroughly, then eventually paid with a basic grade morph each and a month's basic living creds - and shown the door. Now they begin play almost as lost in the setting as the players, learning with the players how the solar system and humanity has changed. There is a bit more to it, with the three other astronauts of their ship not having been found, and the hypercorp who reinstantiated them seeming more interested in the missing crewmen... Finding themselves on a rather industrial asteroid mining station, the pc's need work - and I shall conspire to push them into the odd line of freelance Insurance Assessors and Recomen - working the jobs they choose from long lists published by various Backup Insurance Companies daily on the mesh - where they have to track down and recover stacks from dead highrollers who'd been rich enough in life to pay for top level backup insurance, or to assess whether people who've missed several backups are in fact still alive. The only hypercorp I can find involved in asteroid mining ops is Fa Jeng (sp?) - would they work as a manipulative hypercorp badguy organisation? Any suggestions or tips?
Jaberwo Jaberwo's picture
Welcome! :)
Welcome! :) It's true firewall isn't for everyone, but I found that once I just made every character have the +survival of Transhumanity motivation it's a great way to just send the characters on a lot of diverse missions. it is also quite easy to screw up spectacularly in EP so a big organisation that provides IDs and cover ups is quite useful especially in the beginning. Action and combat? I haven't heard that about EP before, the combat is quite different here than elsewhere, less tabletop more instant death. The horror part on the other hand is quite true, I think, because there are so many possibilities to get fucked up in so many ways, some of which might not even occur to you. And not having read anything about the TITANs they give me the ultimate fear of the unkown feeling which is one of the best parts of EP for me. Well sometimes there is just the fear of very known and horrible things, too. Ultra-right bad sounds like the common stereotype associated with Jovians. The plot and setting for you first campaign sound great, but at first glance it seems there will be a bit of horror with the missing crewmen ;) Any Hypercorp should do, they all have their evil subsections doing black ops stuff.
OneTrikPony OneTrikPony's picture
Fa-Jing would make a great
Fa-Jing would make a great nemesis. You could also use Zbrny Limited (see the top bar on page 74) Don't think that the capability of being raised from the dead makes death any less motivational for players. They stand to loose plenty when they die; Rez, Morph, Gear, Money, Rep. Also don't ignore the sanity system. It's not a penalty system it's a role playing aid. Horrible stuff happens, this helps your players play it. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

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.

Rockheimr Rockheimr's picture
OneTrikPony wrote:Fa-Jing
OneTrikPony wrote:
Fa-Jing would make a great nemesis. You could also use Zbrny Limited (see the top bar on page 74) Don't think that the capability of being raised from the dead makes death any less motivational for players. They stand to loose plenty when they die; Rez, Morph, Gear, Money, Rep. Also don't ignore the sanity system. It's not a penalty system it's a role playing aid. Horrible stuff happens, this helps your players play it. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
Thanks, I did notice the mysterious Zbrny Ltd (I guess that'd be pronounced 'zz-brr-nee'?). Hm, maybe... I will definitely be using the sanity system - though I don't want to infringe on the essential transhumanist game element of being able to resleeve too much. I'm still in the planning stage at the mo, but will post up when I start.
Rockheimr Rockheimr's picture
Jaberwo wrote:Welcome! :)
Jaberwo wrote:
Welcome! :) It's true firewall isn't for everyone, but I found that once I just made every character have the +survival of Transhumanity motivation it's a great way to just send the characters on a lot of diverse missions. it is also quite easy to screw up spectacularly in EP so a big organisation that provides IDs and cover ups is quite useful especially in the beginning. Action and combat? I haven't heard that about EP before, the combat is quite different here than elsewhere, less tabletop more instant death. The horror part on the other hand is quite true, I think, because there are so many possibilities to get fucked up in so many ways, some of which might not even occur to you. And not having read anything about the TITANs they give me the ultimate fear of the unkown feeling which is one of the best parts of EP for me. Well sometimes there is just the fear of very known and horrible things, too. Ultra-right bad sounds like the common stereotype associated with Jovians. The plot and setting for you first campaign sound great, but at first glance it seems there will be a bit of horror with the missing crewmen ;) Any Hypercorp should do, they all have their evil subsections doing black ops stuff.
Yes, the missing crewmen are a potential horror bit - can't say too much, but after some jobs they will spot one of the astronaut's names on an Insurance List as having been lost the week before ... on Earth! I also have an idea for a wider plot involving egos disappearing, which the pcs will begin to notice through their work, this will lead to a conspiracy involved in stolen egos being smuggled out of the solar system ... possibly to the Big T's.
Skelshy Skelshy's picture
Space opera
I GM it with a lighter theme - bit more space-opera -ish, bodies are cheap, people are powerful. There's still enough horror in in the general darkness of the setting.