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Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

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Mon, 2009-10-05 17:12

MachineCode MachineCode's picture

Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

So I recently got the EP pdf and Im currently reading though it. Really loving it so far, the setting is amazing, a great distillation and twist of ideas drawn from many of my favourite authors. Also it will be the first time I've played with a roll under d% system (which I have wanted to do for a while) So I'll be GM'ing a two session long adventure (mission? story?) as an introduction to the system for me and my regular group of players. I need help with one aspect of it though and I would like some input on it. Taking inspiraiton from the short story at the start of the book Im going to have the players head to earth in an attempt to uncover some lost information/tech. Im just not sure what exactly they should be looking for.

Mon, 2009-10-05 18:00

Rasumichin Rasumichin's picture

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

There's the usual memorabilia stuff. The PCs could grab practically -anything- and sell it for a small fortune once (better : if) they make it back up. If i'd send a group earthbound, i'd probably let them look for groups of survivors. I've read there's a supposed couple of thousands of them around, the information one of them could give on surviving TITAN forces and similar hazards would be of extreme interest to factions like the Reclaimers or Firewall.

Mon, 2009-10-05 19:22

MachineCode MachineCode's picture

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

I should probably go into a little more detail. Im trying to leverage the players lack of knowledge of the setting to create some mystery and a sense of adventure that I think is missing from our normal fantasy games. So to that end Im trying an experiment and doing much of the character creation in character. To summarise what I have so far roughly: The players were all on earth during the fall and emergency ego-casted up to an orbiting transfer satellite at some point. The satellite was damaged however and its automatic safety systems kicked in, locking their ego's away in secure, shielded, non networked storage before powering most of its systems down. In the chaos and confusion of those days they were forgoten and never recovered, until now. They are going to "wake up" as infomorphs with some pretty bad memory gaps in a custom VR construct after being retrieved by one of the Hypercorps (somewhere near earth, mabye Luna or Mars). They will have some (now lost to all but them) specific information about a location on earth that contains the mcguffin the hypercorp is after. They will recieve any/all the assistance and training (morphs/implants/XP/VR etc, this is part of the character creation) they require and asked to head back to earth. Before they get there they will get contacted surrepticiously (or even snatched) by Firewall who will reveal a bit more about the setting and warn them against trusting the Hypercorps. Firewall will give them a counter offer, as they dont want the Hypercorp to get the mcguffin. The players will have knowledge of a facility of some kind on earth where the mcguffin is located and they all previously worked/lived (university? research base? old goverment installation?) but dont need to know exactly what it is they are retrieving (at least until/if they actually get to it). It should be something important enough that the Hypercorp/Firewall are willing to go to all this trouble over it, but not setting upsettingly so.

Tue, 2009-10-06 11:19

Kanada Ten Kanada Ten's picture

Scattered Thoughts

Right before the Fall, the PCs were employees of various occupations for a (now defunct) hypercorp whose specialty was nascent cyberbrain technology. One of the bigger brained boffins had his ego transferred to an experimental model, only to be trapped in it during the ensuing chaos of the Fall. Both the boffin and the brain are high value targets, but a previous attempt to snatch revealed that at least some of the corp's original security still operates. The PCs with their various knowledge and intimate expertise of the facility and security were deemed most apt to succeed in retrieval. The fact that this particular target was one of the TITAN's original programmers is of concern to Firewall, who question the hypercorp's motive. Planetside, they discover the remains of a rival hypercorp team at progressive points of infiltration. If they hack the minds and sensors, they can see (and feel) the horrors their precursors endured, along with picking up some neat (or just fortuitous) equipment. Overall, the knowledge of the protocols and passcodes should allow them to proceed mostly unmolested. Upon escape from the facility, they encounter a fresh force from the opposing hypercorp who would rather the brain was theirs and proposition the PCs with prospeity and positions in their organisation. However that interaction of interplay goes, whether to violence or bribery, a band of terrains interjects their objections to anyone leaving with the property of earth - including their lives, which clearly they forfeited by stepping foot on the scarred soil of the surface.

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Rethink Resleeve Redo

Thu, 2009-10-08 10:58

MachineCode MachineCode's picture

Re: Scattered Thoughts

I like the idea of the cyberbrain, I think Ill incorporate that, thanks Kanada. Any ideas for getting the players past the killsat net? I was looking through the vehicles section and was disappointed that there were no drop pod's (anyone who has read starship troopers will know what Im talking about). However they get to the surface I would like to have the players make landfall a way out from the base/facility. So I can have some time to set the scene and get some rising tension going. I would also like to give them a possible physical extraction method while still in their morphs (or at least the potential, depending on how things develop during the session it may not work out that way ;) ) Mabye a old but still (partially?) active automated AA net they have to disable?

Fri, 2009-10-09 08:55

Matrix

Re: Scattered Thoughts

MachineCode wrote:
drop pod's (anyone who has read starship troopers will know what Im talking about)

I didn't, but I know what you mean.

MachineCode wrote:
Any ideas for getting the players past the killsat net?

Well, there are supposed to be scientific (of some sort) expeditions on the surface. I suppose a small ship and a good pilot would be enough. Alternatively, the last space elevator, which is pretty likely to deposit the team across an ocean from their objective (or a sea, if you're into Europe).

Wed, 2009-12-09 11:16

standard_gravity standard_gravity's picture

Re: Scattered Thoughts

I am using MachineCode's idea as the starting point for my starting game. I hereby promise to get back to you with a report on how it went, and how I fleshed it out.

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[img]http://boxall.no-ip.org/img/ext_userbar.jpg[/img] "People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes." - John Dee

Sun, 2010-01-24 00:39

markerjones markerjones's picture

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

The space elevator is a good idea. A good story arc could be what if an AI crew was used to repair a space elevator and the party gets to be the first ones to ride it down. Could also work in that the killsats have ignored the repaired space elevator and that is part of the mystery. Was it ignored because AIs were working on it, or was it even really ignored at all? Are the killsats waiting for something else? Drop pods are also a good idea. The first thing I thought of was the space drop from the star trek movie. Why couldnt EP benefit from something along those lines? Maybe not exactly the way it was done in the movie, but take that concept and work some EP technology into it and see what ideas come your way.

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"Thru the Darkness You Find the Light." -- Seraphim Shock

Thu, 2010-01-28 19:23

Jimson

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

This all sounds good. I 'll be interested to see how all this goes. As far as the drop pod, just go with the number 1 rule of Eclipse Phase...if you can't find it, make it up. "The Ultimate Rule There is one rule in Eclipse Phase that outweighs all of the others: have fun. Don’t let the rules get in the way of the game. If you don’t like a rule, change it. If you can’t find a rule, make one up."

Fri, 2010-02-05 22:27

#10

Sepherim

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

I wouldn't go for Earth: it is the definitive mistery and dangerous land... if they explore it the first and come back succesful, what is left? Instead, there are similar zones in the Moon that can work as well and don't have any major problem for reaching them, and where you can tell more or less the same story. And keep Earth's mystery.

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The mind is information... hack it! [IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/Sepherim/Otros/F_Rep.jpg[/IMG] +4 http://tribulaciones.es/

Mon, 2010-02-08 06:15

#11

standard_gravity standard_gravity's picture

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

Sepherim, although I agree with your point, I think Earth is big enough for a bit of exploring without revealing the whole plot, so to speak. (There are TITAN infected areas on Mars too, and numerous deserted habitats.)

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Mon, 2010-02-08 10:55

#12

Sepherim

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

Sure there is, I just feel that the "grand mystery of Earth" is a bit touched if you go down there so easily and know you can come back. Of course, different zones of Earth will be different in problems and dangers, but you "have already been there, so it'll be just another "dungeon" with new monsters".

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The mind is information... hack it! [IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/Sepherim/Otros/F_Rep.jpg[/IMG] +4 http://tribulaciones.es/

Mon, 2010-02-08 14:31

#13

ardent_seeker ardent_seeker's picture

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

MachineCode what a fantastic idea, it's really going in a cool direction...especially with Kanda ten's take. I have to say, in regards to whether Earth should be the "drop site", I kind of agree with Sephrim. Kanda's ideas are awesome, and an earth landing only adds that much more. Still, in my humble opinion, earth is a place that should be earned...that makes it all-the-more "mysterious"...and the whole earth (and the fall) idea...that much stronger. I mean, among other reasons, earth is transhumanties womb...our sanctuary, our birthright...it shouldn't be that easy to get back into the womb! That said, where else would be a better place? Seph says there are other zones on the moon. Are there other locations/ zones that may serve better? Or maybe...just screw the mystery...drop on Earth with nothing but a can opener and a box of matches. The drop pod idea is good too...better still... designing a drop pod. Just out of curiosity...How would one go about doing that? Are there any rules for vehicle design? Or is it something where you just say to the PCs..." you're in a drop pod...weeee! You dropped...get out" .PC..." I open the hatch and get out"... Just my two cents. Truly MachineCode you have cool idea. I'm very interested to see where it goes.

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"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." - Ripley, "Aliens"

Fri, 2010-04-02 11:26

#14

MachineCode MachineCode's picture

Re: Looking for some help with an upcoming game Im GM'ing

This may be a bit of a necro post I guess, apologies if bumping it is bad form. Things got away from me just after my last post in this thread, lots of stuff going on, moving house and various other things. So I didnt have time to do any more work on the scenario, infact I havent played any pen and paper at all in the interveening time :o Needless to say Im getting quite the itch. So part of the reason initially for using earth is due to the group I GM for. Its always pretty much always the same group and we've been playing various games for years. Im fairly familiar with their temperments and likes/dislikes when it comes to the tabletop. However when a new setting and espically a whole new system comes into the picture its harder to predict which specific aspects each player is going to enjoy and run with (or infact if they will like the system at all) So I had chosen earth [i]because[/i] it is one of the "grander" locations and more importantly because it would let me control the scope of the scenario more easily. Until the players (and especially myself) get more proficient and comfortable with the system and setting. Somebody asked something along the lines of, "well if you go to earth right away, where do you go form there?" my answer is through the Pandora gates. Anyways not to get too off track, Ill be resuming work on this scenario now and my next subsequent posts will all contain specifics related to my progress (unless/until I get stuck). I probably wont post very regularilly but each time I do I plan to add another part of the adventure until its complete. [i]edit: on second thoughts mabye it would be better to start a fresh thread....[/i]