But wouldn't it be more like "Crusade" (despoiled Earth, powerful unseen enemy, etc.)? Further, in an EP setting, B5 would have been more an Autonomist habitat with powerful Scum and Extropian movements, or so it seems to me. Mayhap it started as a UN attempt to bring peaceful dialog to the predecessors of the factions, and then the Fall occurred. TITANs manipulating ex-humans could be strangely similar to certain video assets previously believed to be "fictional entertainment". ;-)

It has been attempted a few times, either in the Eye or with the numerous Wiki projects. Unfortunately I just don't think that they got enough penetration into the community to last. The Eclipse Phase community isn't exactly that large, or at least it is heavily segregated. I assume that there are others with similar post rates as these official ones, but even still, we only have maybe 10 regular, long term posters. And that number tends to fluctuate heavily depending on the release schedule that PHS+ is managing at the time. Barring PHS+ somehow managing the release schedule they were intending to hit in 2010 (4 books a year, an electronic release every two months, I seem to remember), I just don't think a public attempt at such a thing would be capable of generating enough buzz.

It is something that needs to be done without real intent. The Internet is fantastic at detecting posers, it can see real passion and it tends to know the difference between that and a money/attention grab. I think the trouble comes from the themes of EP being fairly esoteric outside of Transhumanist circles. Sure, 'normal' people think abut things like consciousness and the future of technology, or at least I assume that they do, I did before discovering Transhumanist thought. But the depth that EP goes into, and the assumptions that it makes, are not conducive to ease of transmission. A lot of the things that make EP special are difficult to talk about. Hell, look how often the concept of ego transmission gets muddled on these forums. There are quite a few long, in depth conversations about the nature of the soul, and how it affects far casting and forking. A central conceit of the setting, that dualism is arguably provably false (not that I believe otherwise, but I think you know what I mean), is a hot topic. Hot topics do not for easy transmission make. Especially when it comes to something as core to someone as their central beliefs of the soul. I certainly think that EP has things that can draw people, regular Internet people anyway, into the setting. But it is a lot more difficult than something like d&d, which can use the age old 'here is a sword, go murder hobo' power fantasy. I dunno. The art is incredibly evocative. The issues are extremely relevant to today's world (anyone else seen Internet arguments about Google Glass and how it will affect privacy?). I would love if EP got more general attention. But I definitely think it would need a medium change to get there. Jesus Christ this is a badly written post. On the iPad, and I tend to go all over the place when I write anything on this thing.

CodeBreaker wrote:

It is something that needs to be done without real intent. The Internet is fantastic at detecting posers, it can see real passion and it tends to know the difference between that and a money/attention grab. I think the trouble comes from the themes of EP being fairly esoteric outside of Transhumanist circles. Sure, 'normal' people think abut things like consciousness and the future of technology, or at least I assume that they do, I did before discovering Transhumanist thought. But the depth that EP goes into, and the assumptions that it makes, are not conducive to ease of transmission. A lot of the things that make EP special are difficult to talk about.

I still have problems to this day of people being afraid to try the game because it feels too "alien" from the real world. Shadowrun essentially feels like a crapsack version of our world with a bit more tech and a whole lot more magic. But Eclipse Phase is a whole different beast. There are no real-world city analogs for the characters to explore (that aren't annihilated husks infested with TITAN weaponry, I should add), and the cultures are pretty damn different from what we're used to. As one of my players put it: "it's so much sci-fi, that it feels more fantastical than fantasy".

CodeBreaker wrote:

Hell, look how often the concept of ego transmission gets muddled on these forums. There are quite a few long, in depth conversations about the nature of the soul, and how it affects far casting and forking. A central conceit of the setting, that dualism is arguably provably false (not that I believe otherwise, but I think you know what I mean), is a hot topic. Hot topics do not for easy transmission make. Especially when it comes to something as core to someone as their central beliefs of the soul. I certainly think that EP has things that can draw people, regular Internet people anyway, into the setting. But it is a lot more difficult than something like d&d, which can use the age old 'here is a sword, go murder hobo' power fantasy.

What is true for Christianity isn't true for the world. I've actually discussed Eclipse Phase with a couple of foreign RPG fans I know (one a Taoist, one Buddhist), and they seem to agree that Samsara is pretty compatible with resleeving technologies. I won't get into it much here, since this is a completely different topic, but I was basically told that a soul just needs a proper vessel, and a proper vessel is anything that can contain "life", which is a very flexible concept.

CodeBreaker wrote:

I dunno. The art is incredibly evocative. The issues are extremely relevant to today's world (anyone else seen Internet arguments about Google Glass and how it will affect privacy?). I would love if EP got more general attention. But I definitely think it would need a medium change to get there. Jesus Christ this is a badly written post. On the iPad, and I tend to go all over the place when I write anything on this thing.

I discussed creating an artbook for Eclipse Phase on another thread, and I think that it would be a great way to help push it out of the limitations of just being an RPG. Combine that with a broader push into literary fiction, and I think there's a lot of potential for it. I just wish we could at least drum up enough interest and flair to inspire memes.

CodeBreaker wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I don't think PHS+ are doing anything wrong. They are building their core brand nice and steadily, securing their base. But I do hope that they have eventual (and I mean eventual, like a while into the future) plans to leverage their awesome setting into something marketable to the general population.

I don't think a videogame is necessary for drumming up interest. Exalted has a fairly large fanbase, that has put together a crapton of money for its kickstarter, and it never had a videogame or TV show or movie. It had a 5-part comic miniseries, a couple novels, and an extremely popular webcomic that basically fueled its initial popularity. Eclipse Phase needs something in that ilk.