Eclipse Phase House Rules

These are the rules I commonly use in my games, thanks to the Eclipse Phase boards and Shunkawarakin for the assistance!

Game Mechanics

The Blackjack System

As per the latest updates, I use the blackjack system of getting closest to your skill rating without going over. Your Margin of Success is your roll in that case and getting your rating exactly is the best possible MoS. Margins of Failure are the difference between the roll and 100. An Exceptional Success is a roll above 30 which is a success and an Exceptional Failure is a roll below 70 that is a failure.

Auto-Successes and Auto-Failures

Getting 00 on a d100 roll (or getting 100 using a web roller like Invisible Castle) is the best roll to get. It counts as zero (an auto-success) and as a critical (being doubles). Of course, it has a MoS of zero so it's not as good for opposed rolls. If you roll 99 it is always a failure (per Eclipse Phase p. 173). This means that if you gain a rating above 100 (from situational modifiers, you can't have a rating above 99 naturally per page 174) you still need to roll… just don't roll a 99.

Characters

Character Questionaires

Any players who want to fill out character questionaires can gain Rez bonuses and will also be offered opportunities for more roleplaying in the game, in addition to generally improving the game world for everyone. The two options are the Character Questionaire and the Muse Questionaire. Rez points are awarded for the Character Questionaire as noted on each question (so you don't have to do it all) and a flat 5 Rez are offered for completing the Muse Questionaire. Please submit by private message or email (moc.liamg|semajtihpem#moc.liamg|semajtihpem).

Making a Living

Characters who have an Art or a Profession skill which may be practiced in a given situation can roll per hour to generate a number of credits equal to their roll on a successful roll. A critical success multiplies the result by 1d10. On a failure, the character breaks even and makes nothing, while a critical failure results in a loss of the amount rolled (due to a dissatisfied customer, a bad business deal, wasted resources, etc). The roll can be modified by circumstances, and bonuses from complementary skills apply as normal.

In some circumstances it will be impossible for a character to conduct business. For example, there are no art buyers on an abandoned, TITAN-infested comet and the best roll in the world won't change that.

Simulspace does not multiply the hours available working since it is assumed that the average programmer or virtual artist today works in a simulspace, and the economy is not about to pay them sixty times the going rate for doing so. Time also must be spent for eating, sleeping, and taking breaks, although a character attempting to work every waking hour can do so and suffer stress as a result.

Skill Specializations

When picking specializations, or fields for skills like Academics or Interests, I suggest following the advice for such things in Shadowrun (which shares a developer with EP). A specialization or field should be one to two words only and breadth/depth should depend on the skill used. Academics or Medicine is a pretty large topic with clearly defined limits, i.e. you learned this stuff in a class. If you have Academics: Politics then I have a clear idea of your body of knowledge since any topic you might apply this to has to be from a class or book. Interest and Profession are broader topics so they are definitely two-word fields. Interest: Politics tells me nothing about what the body of knowledge is and where you got it from; try Interest: Martian Politics, Interest: Political Crime, or Interest: Political Alliances instead. Same goes for specializations, so your Navigation (Planet) skill tells me nothing about where you got that knowledge. Try Navigation (Luna) instead if you've been all over the ol' Dusty Grey or Navigation (Backcountry) if you want to generally be good at directing rovers anywhere from Mercury to Titan.

Morphs

Neo-Avian Morphs

Neo-Avian Uplifts (Eclipse Phase p. 141) are described as "the size of a human child" benefit from the same -10 modifier to be hit in combat that Neotenic morphs (same page) do. However, each wound a Neo-Avian takes has a cumulative 10% chance of disabling its ability to fly (wings are a significant percentage of a bird's cross-section from most aspects).

Update: The game creators agreed with this suggestion in Transhuman and have applied this quality (the neutral Small Size trait, Transhuman p. 95) to the following list of morphs: dragonfly, flexbot modules, hypergibbon, kite, neo-avian, neotenic, scurrier, spare. Additionally, the following morphs have the Large Size trait (Transhuman p. 94): fenrir, neo-beluga, neo-orca, q-morph, sundiver. Lastly, the following morphs have the Very Large Size trait (Transhuman p. 95-96): neo-whales, surya.

Recognizing Morphs

Not every morph is recognizable as a certain type, much like cars in the modern age (sure, that's a hatchback but is it a Hoda Civic, a Kia Fit, or something else?). Someone with an appropriate knowledge skill such as Profession: Morph Design, Academics: Synthmorph Design Theory, or Interest: Biomorph Design, or a similar skill can try to tell the type of a morph that they encounter. Telling the broad category of a morph (biomorph, pod, or synthmorph) is typically pretty easy unless they are wearing a mask and requires no check. By law in the LLA, PC, and Morningstar Constellation, pod designs may not disguise the "seams" connecting their different body sections. Some companies even make these seams more obvious and include a company logo or trademark symbol in the design.

A success will determine type, major aptitude modifiers, and standard augmentations and enhancements. Every 10 points of MoS will reveal specific things like manufacturer, specific traits, lesser-known capabilities, and any visible deviations.

Update: This section more-or-less agrees with the suggestions in Transhuman and has been modified to be more in line with that book. For more information on identfying morphs and variations of "standard" models, check out Transhuman p. 184-187.

Swarmanoid Morphs

I will be using the "queen bees theory" of swarmanoid consciousness, having a handful of drones with mini-cortical stacks that each keep track of part of the sleeved ego. Dividing up the swarm is typically not an option unless you want to operate as two independent delta forks with around 50% of the swarm each.
Rules and discussion of this interpretation can be found here in an article from Issue 1 of the Eye.

Update: This is also the interpretation favored in Transhuman. For more information check out pages 211 to 215 of that sourcebook.

Mind Hacks

Psi and Morphs

This is not a house rule but just pointing out some of the rules that are lost in the shuffle. Synthmorphs and pods, having non- or partially-biological brains, are resistant to psi sleights that affect minds. Synths are immune and pods get +30 to opposed checks versus psi attacks (Eclipse Phase p. . Also, an async sleeved in a synthmorph cannot use psi sleights and one sleeved in a pod gets -30 to using psi skills (Eclipse Phase p. 219 and 220) and suffer twice the strain DV as normal (Eclipse Phase p. 223).

Healing Strain

To heal strain (Eclipse Phase p. 223) from using psi sleights, you have to rest just like recovering from stress. Strain is similar to damage but a different track so that an async with a Durability of 30 can take 20 damage and 20 strain and be fine. However, this also means that the async can accumulate twice the number of wounds as a non-async which will cause them enough trouble to off-set. After 24 without using an active psi sleight, the async can make a WILL x 3 test to recover 1d10 points of strain. Equipment like nanobandages are not much use against strain as it is internal damage, but medichines and healing vats will heal strain at the same rate as physical damage. Wounds suffered from sleights are no different from other wounds, however, and must be healed the same way. Note that wounds are inflicted only when you suffer damage/strain that exceeds your wound threshold at one time (Eclipse Phase p. 207).

Accelerated Future

Calling in Favors

The rules for calling in favors (Eclipse Phase p. 287-290 and Rimward p. 176-179) are for the normal use of rep scores. In different reputation networks, your standing and deeds can get you favors, discounts, or information. A prominent nano-ecologist might get some private research on other scientists' desire to be in mind for the next collaborative paper, a resourceful sculptor knows folks want to be connected to him through social networks by as few links as possible and scores an invite to a party, and a productive autonomist genehacker can jump the queue in the vacsuit line because of his service to the community. All of these things are favors of various levels which people in the network are happy to give for the payoffs they can get in return. Asking for too much too quickly, though, results in burning rep as people realize they probably won't get their payoff: the nano-ecologist is asking everyone for help and can't collaborate with them all, the sculptor is showing up everywhere and losing his cache, and the genehacker is doing so much vacsuit borrowing he isn't helping people out as much. In order to avoid this, you have to give an appreciable space between your big asks (according to the table at the bottom of Eclipse Phase p. 289).

If you want to speed things up, however, you can offer a direct exchange of favors to lessen the impact on rep. Offering to do a favor of a certain level as part of the Networking roll for pursuing a favor can offer one of the following advantages:

  • A favor of the same level as the one requested will give you a +30 bonus to the Networking roll, a level lower gives you +20, and two levels lower gives you +10. For example, in order to have a better chance at a Level 3 favor, you can offer to do a Level 2 favor for the contact to get a +20 bonus to the roll.
  • A favor of the same level as the one requested can also reduce the time to refresh by one-half, a level lower reduces it by one-third, and two levels lower reduces it by one-quarter. If you are worried about using a Level 4 favor, for example, you can offer to do a Level 2 favor in exchange and you'll be able to safely call in another Level 4 in three weeks instead of a month.

These benefits are entirely dependent on the GM and on the nature of the favors. Typically they require a small sidequest that could conflict with or even compromise your main mission. If you promise to do a favor like this and then don't follow through for some reason, the rep burn is twice the normal amount.

Custom Muses

If you want your muse to have a little more or a little less power, or you just want them to fit your character like a glove, you can build one using this Muse Template. There is also the option of having multiple muses or muse-like programs that help out in specific situations. You need the room to run another muse (see pages 143-145 of Transhuman) but they can be a godsend in helping you navigate a new hab, negotiate foreign cultures, or just stay in cover. Skillsofts are much more seamless but custom muses can be picked up and dropped easily. A sampling of custom muses can be found here.

Egocasting With Data

When you egocast to a new location, your data is typically sent with you and downloaded at the egocasting facility into your new morph's mesh inserts or an ecto purchased for the purpose. In governmental egocasting facilities, this data receives a cursory inspection (though standard encryption practices mean they can usually only tell what sort of files are present) and darkcasting facilities may copy the data for later inspection.

Time-Accelerated Simulspace

While you can program in a simulspace, you can't hack a system that isn't part of that simulspace from inside a simulspace: ergo, you can't use the simulspace to hack enemy systems at x60 speed. There are other ways to speed up hack attacks using brute force that are plenty powerful enough. At x60 speed, you really can't interact well with the outside world even computers since they are designed for normal reaction speeds. Imagine a conversation where you had to wait an entire minute for the person at the other hand to spend a second thinking, then it takes them three to four minutes to tell you a short sentence.

What a TacNet Is and Isn't

A TacNet (tactical network) is a virtual private network (VPN) between team members that shares real-time tactical information including sensor feeds, visual fields, and text messaging. It's not necessarily restricted technology (the book says that sports teams use it as well as Firewall agents) which means it's not some strange hive-mind. The capabilities of a TacNet are listed in the book (Eclipse Phase p. 205-206), although a member in the TacNet needs to opt in to watching these feeds. They are designed to be non-distracting, watching the visual feed from another participant does not distract from your own visual field, but watching several feeds at once is overwhelming (see the "TMI (Too Many Interfaces)" sidebar in Panopticon p. 170).

As a VPN, a TacNet also needs a network to operate on. If you are patched into a local mesh (assuming one exists) then you can operate silently on that, although you are vulnerable to hackers just like any private network on the mesh. If no mesh is available or you'd rather stay off the local network, you can also use laser/microwave links or even fiberoptic cables to connect directly to your teammates. These are subject to line-of-sight as usual, however.

Gear

Armor Ratings

Your character's Armor Rating is limited to your morph's Durability rating. A cheap case with heavy combat plates, a riot shield, and a full helmet will still suffer from the substandard design of his morph. Any AR rating above Durability is ignored.

Creating Blueprints

When designing blueprints for a fabber, one usually works in simulspace at 60x speed (so every real minute is an hour in the program). The rates of work and ability to create all assume this so bear this in mind when creating a designer or engineer. You can also find the rules I'm using for blueprint design here, although they are originally from RPOL.net by way of the EP forums.

Encumbrance

There are no encumbrance rules in the Eclipse Phase core book but keep in mind the reasonability factor. As a run of thumb, if you're concerned that you might be carrying too much, you probably are.

Overlapping Nanites

If someone is hit with a nanoswarm, they are covering with the little nanobots that run around causing their particular brand of havoc. A second nanoswarm on top of this will only be half as effective (disassemblers deal half damage, injectors will take two rounds to deliver their payload, etc.) as they are hampered by the already-established swarm. Any further swarms are effectively blocked by the swarms already affecting the target. Note that this does not affect guardian swarms which deal directly with the nanite swarms they encounter, and if you war surrounded by a guardian swarm one is plenty for any number of enemy swarms as they can deal with them a few at a time.

Nanotech Ammunition

The Eclipse Phase core book mentions using nanotech in capsule and splash kinetic rounds (p. 337-338) and splash seeker missiles (p. 341). If you do this and hit the target the nanites work as normal, but if you miss they become an area-denial effect in the area where the projectile ended up. No one designs a bullet full of nanites to hit their target then take off without dealing with it so there's no reason to assume the nanites would buzz around on a miss.

Simulspace Units

A standard ecto can do a lot of things, but it is not capable of running a simulspace program. A slightly larger ecto made for the purpose is required, of Moderate cost and about the size of a standard briefcase. Such a unit can run up to twenty simulspace instances and are typically used for small VR games, artisans, designers, and business people who prefer to meet by simulspace but also remain mobile. The highest time-acceleration for a portable simulspace unit is 60x.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License