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Eclipse Phase 1st Edition
Eclipse Phase: The Roleplaying Game of Transhuman Conspiracy and Horror
Eclipse Phase is the post-apocalyptic game of conspiracy and horror. Humanity is enhanced and improved, but also battered and bitterly divided. Technology allows the re-shaping of bodies and minds, but also creates opportunities for oppression and puts the capability for mass destruction in the hands of everyone. And other threats lurk in the devastated habitats of the Fall, dangers both familiar and alien. In this harsh setting, the players participate in a cross-faction conspiracy called Firewall that seeks to protect transhumanity from threats both internal and external. Along the way, they may find themselves hunting for prized technology in a gutted habitat falling from orbit, risking the hellish landscapes of a ruined earth, or following the trail of a terrorist through militarized stations and isolationist habitats. Players may even find themselves stepping through a Pandora Gate, a wormhole to distant stars and the alien secrets beyond.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2009
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227 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
October 12, 2019
Había olvidado que tenía esto aquí xD
No he leído tantos manuales de rol con atención como para hacerme una idea justa, pero éste me chifló
El sistema es muy sencillo pero está explicado convenientemente (no como en Aquelarre, por ejemplo) y tiene un intento de mediar entre la interpretación (que aún así se queda corto pa mi gusto) y las tiradas para resolver los conflictos
Pero lo realmente CHULO del manual es la ambientación. Págs y págs y págs dedicadas a explicar el universo y fueron las que más disfruté. Me las releí, busqué mapas (ibcómodos de consultar en un libro tan largo)
También me moló la exhaustividad con la que se habla de los sistemas informáticos y las comunicaciones en internet, porque no son algo a negligir si vas a hablar de la (trans)humanidad en el futuro.
No he leído tantos manuales de rol con atención como para hacerme una idea justa, pero éste me chifló
El sistema es muy sencillo pero está explicado convenientemente (no como en Aquelarre, por ejemplo) y tiene un intento de mediar entre la interpretación (que aún así se queda corto pa mi gusto) y las tiradas para resolver los conflictos
Pero lo realmente CHULO del manual es la ambientación. Págs y págs y págs dedicadas a explicar el universo y fueron las que más disfruté. Me las releí, busqué mapas (ibcómodos de consultar en un libro tan largo)
También me moló la exhaustividad con la que se habla de los sistemas informáticos y las comunicaciones en internet, porque no son algo a negligir si vas a hablar de la (trans)humanidad en el futuro.
October 26, 2011
This is not a bad game. The rating I give it is due to it not being a good game for me. It was very much "OK" from my perspective.
I do find at least a bit of irony involved in a game about transhumanism that uses old school game mechanics based around a skill and attribute system using percentile rolls (one of the reasons it's probably not for me).
In many ways this game reminds me of Shadowrun. Mechanically, this is because of a similar initiative system, but there's more to it than that. Cyberpunk was cutting edge science fiction when Shadowrun first came out. Transhumanism is a major part of much science fiction today.
The subtitle on this book is "the roleplaying game of tranhumanism conspiracy and horror." If we accept that as a mission statement, I think it does an excellent job of getting across the transhumanism. There are a lot of interesting concepts here, from identity to economy.
There are conspiracy and horror elements, but neither is emphasized much throughout the book. The background contains elements of horror, but that's either in the past or largely confined to quarantined areas. They don't really get emphasized until the GM's section, and I see that as potentially problematical for players as they won't necessarily be looking to play a horror or conspiracy game, unless they focus on the subtitle, or it's emphasized in character creation by the GM.
Overall the world building is interesting and anchored (as far as I can tell), in reasonably solid science. I did get a chuckle out of a couple of things though. Most notably that the authors have killed off Christianity for being too inflexible, but have allowed the Muslim religion to survive. I'm not going to slam or praise either religion, but I think the authors may need to revisit their own prejudices if they truly think that the Muslim religion is more flexible in its belief system. I think it far more likely they would share the same fate, whether that be extinction or survival.
My opinion of the game might improve if I ever get the chance to play it, but I won't be going out of my way to look for such a chance. I've got too many other games that I have yet to play, and that I want to play more.
I do find at least a bit of irony involved in a game about transhumanism that uses old school game mechanics based around a skill and attribute system using percentile rolls (one of the reasons it's probably not for me).
In many ways this game reminds me of Shadowrun. Mechanically, this is because of a similar initiative system, but there's more to it than that. Cyberpunk was cutting edge science fiction when Shadowrun first came out. Transhumanism is a major part of much science fiction today.
The subtitle on this book is "the roleplaying game of tranhumanism conspiracy and horror." If we accept that as a mission statement, I think it does an excellent job of getting across the transhumanism. There are a lot of interesting concepts here, from identity to economy.
There are conspiracy and horror elements, but neither is emphasized much throughout the book. The background contains elements of horror, but that's either in the past or largely confined to quarantined areas. They don't really get emphasized until the GM's section, and I see that as potentially problematical for players as they won't necessarily be looking to play a horror or conspiracy game, unless they focus on the subtitle, or it's emphasized in character creation by the GM.
Overall the world building is interesting and anchored (as far as I can tell), in reasonably solid science. I did get a chuckle out of a couple of things though. Most notably that the authors have killed off Christianity for being too inflexible, but have allowed the Muslim religion to survive. I'm not going to slam or praise either religion, but I think the authors may need to revisit their own prejudices if they truly think that the Muslim religion is more flexible in its belief system. I think it far more likely they would share the same fate, whether that be extinction or survival.
My opinion of the game might improve if I ever get the chance to play it, but I won't be going out of my way to look for such a chance. I've got too many other games that I have yet to play, and that I want to play more.
June 6, 2017
El mundo de la ciencia ficción en los juegos de rol siempre me ha tocado un poco de lejos, la verdad. Siempre he sido mucho más de fantasía épica o medieval, terror... o Mundo de Tinieblas, claro. Pero lo cierto es que cuando vi Eclipse Phase me llamó la atención, quizá porque cuando le eché un ojo me dio la sensación de que tenía "algo" de Dan Simmons en su trasfondo, y cuando ha caído en mis manos entre los regalos de cumpleaños, me ha pillado con ganas y me he lanzado de nuevo a la lectura rolera.
Voy a empezar con lo malo, que así luego me puedo dedicar a lo bueno. Lo malo es que la distribución del libro es un poco confusa, se van mezclando capítulos de ambientación con capítulos de reglas, y aunque el sistema es fácil de entender (es semejante al clásico sistema d100 de Cthulhu, incluyendo tiradas enfrentadas y su sistema propio de pifias y críticos), hay muchas reglas, variantes, posibilidades, modalidades e intervenciones que las modifican y que habría que tener en cuenta en momentos muy puntuales, pero a los que en lugar de dejar en un punto más generalista o en manos del narrador, parece que los diseñadores han decidido dar todas y cada una de las posibilidades.
Lo bueno: la ambientación es la leche. Eclipse Phase nos lleva a un futuro medio en el que el alzamiento de las Inteligencias Artificiales ha destruido la Tierra y la humanidad se reparte en diferentes formas de ocupación por el Sistema Solar: desde colonias planetarias a naves abandonadas, pasando por toroides, asteroides o cúmulos espaciales. Pero además la humanidad se ha trascendido a sí misma, la muerte es una opción o un accidente, y los transhumanos tienen la posibilidad de modificar sus propios cuerpos en un mundo de hipercorporaciones en las que toda información y comunicación está al alcance de la mano con una tecnología que no deja de avanzar... quizá hacia una nueva Caída pese a las restricciones contra las Inteligencias Artificiales. Y frente a ello, la organización secreta Firewall trata de evitar que todo vuelva a estallar...
La verdad es que el juego es una (pequeña) joya de la ciencia ficción dura, con un mundo en el que pensar y que explorar... quizá más adelante...
Voy a empezar con lo malo, que así luego me puedo dedicar a lo bueno. Lo malo es que la distribución del libro es un poco confusa, se van mezclando capítulos de ambientación con capítulos de reglas, y aunque el sistema es fácil de entender (es semejante al clásico sistema d100 de Cthulhu, incluyendo tiradas enfrentadas y su sistema propio de pifias y críticos), hay muchas reglas, variantes, posibilidades, modalidades e intervenciones que las modifican y que habría que tener en cuenta en momentos muy puntuales, pero a los que en lugar de dejar en un punto más generalista o en manos del narrador, parece que los diseñadores han decidido dar todas y cada una de las posibilidades.
Lo bueno: la ambientación es la leche. Eclipse Phase nos lleva a un futuro medio en el que el alzamiento de las Inteligencias Artificiales ha destruido la Tierra y la humanidad se reparte en diferentes formas de ocupación por el Sistema Solar: desde colonias planetarias a naves abandonadas, pasando por toroides, asteroides o cúmulos espaciales. Pero además la humanidad se ha trascendido a sí misma, la muerte es una opción o un accidente, y los transhumanos tienen la posibilidad de modificar sus propios cuerpos en un mundo de hipercorporaciones en las que toda información y comunicación está al alcance de la mano con una tecnología que no deja de avanzar... quizá hacia una nueva Caída pese a las restricciones contra las Inteligencias Artificiales. Y frente a ello, la organización secreta Firewall trata de evitar que todo vuelva a estallar...
La verdad es que el juego es una (pequeña) joya de la ciencia ficción dura, con un mundo en el que pensar y que explorar... quizá más adelante...
September 6, 2013
I got this game not knowing what to expect, being vaguely acquainted with transhumanism. I had heard some things about the game but nothing that piqued my curiosity. Then, on a whim, I bought it.
WHAT DO THE CHARACTERS DO IN THIS GAME?
The default assumption is that they are part of a shadow organization called Firewall, whose main goal is to defend transhumanity from threats within and without. However, the setting is so good and flexible that a lot of other campaigns are possible (the book includes suggestions, but I'm sure inventive GMs can come with many more) from traders in space, to settlers of a new colony, to explorers of the Pandora Gates (see below), to news teams in search of the next scoop, to private detectives in mars, to scientists investigating diseases caused by TITAN viruses (see below), and so on and so forth.
THE GOOD STUFF
The system is a straight percentile system where you roll a d100 and you succeed if you roll equal or under the value of your skill. It's simple and intuitive. I am a big fan of Call of Cthulhu which is also a percentile system so I was at ease. There is the advantage that the system takes little or no time to explain to a beginner. You just show him a character sheet and each skill value is a percentile. Everyone knows what Beam Weapons 75% means. There are a few additional rules, mainly cooperative rolls and competitive rolls, but nothing that slows down the game. Many call it bland, I call it a system that fades into the background and let's you play your story.
The setting is the thing that makes this game really shine. It's an inventive and complex look at what humanity becomes after a particular nasty Artificial Intelligence - TITANS - destroys the Earth, takes Humans to the brink of extinction and disappears without a trace. At this point, Humanity has evolved into something else: transhumanity. People can digitize their minds (Ego) like software and copy them into new bodies (morphs). Most morphs are biological morphs with some enhancements but others are completely mechanic or uplifted animals. Humanity has spread throughout the solar system and split into several factions. Given the profound changes in the way people live and perceive their ego/morph, society also changed to something else.
This is all explained in the first 100 pages or so, touching upon all aspects of society: sex, entertainment, news, law enforcement, economy, religion, etc. The authors create a possible future for humanity based on a few hard sci-fi concepts such as the ubiquitous Internet (called Mesh in this game), nanotechnology and the singularity, ego uploading and downloading, etc. It made me want to read more about this stuff and there's an extensive nonfiction and fiction bibliography in the back of the game.
Because now transhumanity can upload their ego to new bodies, death is virtually non-existent. Characters will die easily if they are not careful, but they can upload their ego into a new body as easily. Consider this like a saved game that you load when you die. Very nifty.
THE NOT SO GOOD
The character creation system, although not overly complex, is a bit convoluted. It takes a bit of practice and it may be daunting to first time players. Fortunately, the game's website has a lot of resources that simplify this process such as fillable character sheets or Excel sheets with automatic calculations. The good thing is that the book is choke full of pre-written characters. There's something to everyone.
Even though the character sheet is quite complete, it can still be a chore to rewrite stuff when the characters change morphs. My advise is to have prepare additional character sheets in advance with the data filled in so that the game won't grind to a halt when someone dies and uploads into a new morph.
There's no introductory scenario. Granted, the book is lengthy as it is and there is a free introductory adventure that you can download from the website. I consider this a very minor gripe mentioned only for completeness sake.
THINGS PEOPLE MAY OR MAY NOT ENJOY (SPOILERS)
After all the setting, rules and gear, there is a smaller GM section where secrets are revealed. Some parts of this take the game beyond what is a hard sci-fi setting. There are portals that take people across the universe and alien races that interact with transhumanity. I enjoyed these parts, however some may not.
VERDICT
Get it now! It's one of the best sci-fi roleplaying games out there and one of a handful with transhumanist themes (the other two being Transhuman Space for GURPS and Nova Praxis for Strands of Fate). This is no Star Wars or Star Trek, but a very coherent and logical extrapolation of the future with plenty of room for chase scenes, gunfight, explosions and octopus in space.
WHAT DO THE CHARACTERS DO IN THIS GAME?
The default assumption is that they are part of a shadow organization called Firewall, whose main goal is to defend transhumanity from threats within and without. However, the setting is so good and flexible that a lot of other campaigns are possible (the book includes suggestions, but I'm sure inventive GMs can come with many more) from traders in space, to settlers of a new colony, to explorers of the Pandora Gates (see below), to news teams in search of the next scoop, to private detectives in mars, to scientists investigating diseases caused by TITAN viruses (see below), and so on and so forth.
THE GOOD STUFF
The system is a straight percentile system where you roll a d100 and you succeed if you roll equal or under the value of your skill. It's simple and intuitive. I am a big fan of Call of Cthulhu which is also a percentile system so I was at ease. There is the advantage that the system takes little or no time to explain to a beginner. You just show him a character sheet and each skill value is a percentile. Everyone knows what Beam Weapons 75% means. There are a few additional rules, mainly cooperative rolls and competitive rolls, but nothing that slows down the game. Many call it bland, I call it a system that fades into the background and let's you play your story.
The setting is the thing that makes this game really shine. It's an inventive and complex look at what humanity becomes after a particular nasty Artificial Intelligence - TITANS - destroys the Earth, takes Humans to the brink of extinction and disappears without a trace. At this point, Humanity has evolved into something else: transhumanity. People can digitize their minds (Ego) like software and copy them into new bodies (morphs). Most morphs are biological morphs with some enhancements but others are completely mechanic or uplifted animals. Humanity has spread throughout the solar system and split into several factions. Given the profound changes in the way people live and perceive their ego/morph, society also changed to something else.
This is all explained in the first 100 pages or so, touching upon all aspects of society: sex, entertainment, news, law enforcement, economy, religion, etc. The authors create a possible future for humanity based on a few hard sci-fi concepts such as the ubiquitous Internet (called Mesh in this game), nanotechnology and the singularity, ego uploading and downloading, etc. It made me want to read more about this stuff and there's an extensive nonfiction and fiction bibliography in the back of the game.
Because now transhumanity can upload their ego to new bodies, death is virtually non-existent. Characters will die easily if they are not careful, but they can upload their ego into a new body as easily. Consider this like a saved game that you load when you die. Very nifty.
THE NOT SO GOOD
The character creation system, although not overly complex, is a bit convoluted. It takes a bit of practice and it may be daunting to first time players. Fortunately, the game's website has a lot of resources that simplify this process such as fillable character sheets or Excel sheets with automatic calculations. The good thing is that the book is choke full of pre-written characters. There's something to everyone.
Even though the character sheet is quite complete, it can still be a chore to rewrite stuff when the characters change morphs. My advise is to have prepare additional character sheets in advance with the data filled in so that the game won't grind to a halt when someone dies and uploads into a new morph.
There's no introductory scenario. Granted, the book is lengthy as it is and there is a free introductory adventure that you can download from the website. I consider this a very minor gripe mentioned only for completeness sake.
THINGS PEOPLE MAY OR MAY NOT ENJOY (SPOILERS)
After all the setting, rules and gear, there is a smaller GM section where secrets are revealed. Some parts of this take the game beyond what is a hard sci-fi setting. There are portals that take people across the universe and alien races that interact with transhumanity. I enjoyed these parts, however some may not.
VERDICT
Get it now! It's one of the best sci-fi roleplaying games out there and one of a handful with transhumanist themes (the other two being Transhuman Space for GURPS and Nova Praxis for Strands of Fate). This is no Star Wars or Star Trek, but a very coherent and logical extrapolation of the future with plenty of room for chase scenes, gunfight, explosions and octopus in space.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2011
This is a generally quite nice rulebook. Setting is engaging, but leans a little too much towards "hey what would the future be like if it was just today's internet but more so" for my liking - should make for an interesting time for contemporary geeks, but rings a little hollow for me by not anticipating many serious changes to the cultural/technological status quo, aside from introducing the regular near-future-SF standbys of resleeving, AI and straightforward nanotech. Understandable assuming a limited budget and therefore limited time for real navel-gazing predictions, but kinda disappointing. Less forgivable is the constant unstated assertion that if you tack "hyper" onto something as a prefix it becomes More Futuristic. What the shit, for example, does "hyper-elite" actually *mean*?
Mechanically Eclipse Phase is an incredibly clean system - it runs on one universal straight/opposed skill-test system for everything with almost no special-casing, even in the combat. I was a little thrown by what looked like an excessive amount of randomness until I got my head around the "take your time" rule, which more-or-less mitigates that problem, and should probably be more clearly emphasized as it changes the way the ruleset fits together fairly significantly. Most of the mechanics chapters focus on fleshing out how to decide what skill check to use in what circumstances, and what action chains are recommended for various common tasks. My one criticism of the mechanics - and it's a middle-sized one - is that if anything it's *too* clean: there's very little personality to the rules, and nothing that's particularly noteworthy mechanically. Probably well-suited for a reasonably rules-light and generalist campaign, but not a particularly interesting ruleset on paper as a result.
It's no Battlefleet Gothic, but it's also no D&D3, and overall it acquits itself well.
Mechanically Eclipse Phase is an incredibly clean system - it runs on one universal straight/opposed skill-test system for everything with almost no special-casing, even in the combat. I was a little thrown by what looked like an excessive amount of randomness until I got my head around the "take your time" rule, which more-or-less mitigates that problem, and should probably be more clearly emphasized as it changes the way the ruleset fits together fairly significantly. Most of the mechanics chapters focus on fleshing out how to decide what skill check to use in what circumstances, and what action chains are recommended for various common tasks. My one criticism of the mechanics - and it's a middle-sized one - is that if anything it's *too* clean: there's very little personality to the rules, and nothing that's particularly noteworthy mechanically. Probably well-suited for a reasonably rules-light and generalist campaign, but not a particularly interesting ruleset on paper as a result.
It's no Battlefleet Gothic, but it's also no D&D3, and overall it acquits itself well.
April 20, 2016
Although many influences on Eclipse Phase are clear (everything from cyberpunk to Lovecraft to more recent hard scifi), it's a strikingly original setting, with engaging and thought-provoking, and story-generating ideas abounding. I recommend someone else read this just so I can start discussing it with them!
January 15, 2023
I have every edition of this game including 2E and Transhumanity Fate, and let me tell you that I love/hate this game, the setting is amazing, the cosmic horror is lovecraftian enough without using the Mythos, the setting is so ahead in time that the concept of human seems like a memory. In summary this an outstanding vision and interpretation of all it's reference sources. However the lack of vision of the developers when choosing the rules systems have lead this game into a moderate success, gamers just love it or hated it, because of how crunchy the system is, and people that call this d100 system simple are just delusional, and the are just telling you about the easy part (the delta green part) but on top of that there is crunchiness in top of crunchiness, and luckily there are many people that have put up with that and still play. The answer from developers was to create a mediocre Fate version that have not please that niche much because again it's crunchyness, but also Fate is not exactly an RPG is more a Storytelling RPG like game. Since I bough and played this game I have tried to port it to different systems but the problem is I work from 9 to 5.
December 16, 2021
Reviewing gaming books is always tough - what I like to play is probably not exactly what you want to play, and so on.
Anyway ... I think this is an interesting one that is worth a look - whether to play as is, or to steal ideas and mechanics from for other games.
I like the d100 mechanics (kinda like CoC, but not exactly), and I think the combat mechanics are pretty good. The game also has an interesting work-around for character death, which apparently is something you just can't have in modern games.
The advancement mechanism is clever, and I like the skill system (even if I don't love the skill list as is).
I could see this game being a little clunky for some and some of the mechanics will drip up long-time veterans of other games (just because they have little "twists"). Also, there's a lot of fluff here, and I'm not sure it will be for everyone. For me, I like a lot of the setting, but there are some odd parts as well.
Anyway ... I think this is an interesting one that is worth a look - whether to play as is, or to steal ideas and mechanics from for other games.
I like the d100 mechanics (kinda like CoC, but not exactly), and I think the combat mechanics are pretty good. The game also has an interesting work-around for character death, which apparently is something you just can't have in modern games.
The advancement mechanism is clever, and I like the skill system (even if I don't love the skill list as is).
I could see this game being a little clunky for some and some of the mechanics will drip up long-time veterans of other games (just because they have little "twists"). Also, there's a lot of fluff here, and I'm not sure it will be for everyone. For me, I like a lot of the setting, but there are some odd parts as well.
October 13, 2022
Eclipse Phase is an interesting setting to me, moreso than a game, as I confess I've never actually had the chance to run it despite holding a passing interest in doing so. I personally adore transhumanism fiction and settings ("Orions Arm" and, to a lesser extent, Ian M Banks' "The Culture" come first to my mind when I think of such) and Eclipse Phase hits all the right chords for me to "vibe" with the concepts presented within. I find the setting gripping, but the rules themselves can often come across as needlessly complex to explain, and although I enjoy such complicated rules, many others do not.
September 16, 2018
It's an RPG with no really extraordinary innovations but the setting is astounding (way much better than Cyberpunk [whatever year]) and the characters are really cool and fun to play with!
November 7, 2018
This world is so detailed! It must have taken them so long to create it!
September 8, 2025
Overrated.
March 30, 2013
Part of me loves the hell out of Eclipse Phase-the setting is freaking amazing transhumanist post-apocalyptic existential horror cyberpunk.
On the other hand, I have some problems. The d100 system is... workable, I guess, but the skill list not particularly inspired, which is a problem given that you have to spend 700 of 1000 character points on it.
For RPGs, a big question is always "what do you do?" Kill monsters and get treasure; lounge around being depressed and drinking blood, get screwed over by some corporate Mr. Smith douchehole. In Eclipse Phase, the default setting has you as agents of Firewall, a distributed intelligence agency/conspiracy that preserves transhumanity from existential threats. While I haven't read the GM guide, Firewall appears to send poorly equipped agents on suicide missions. Not much fun there.
A second question is the materiality of the setting, and this is another area where Eclipse Phase falls short. Okay, minds are software, bodies can be bought off the rack, and everybody lives off of nanoreplicators in space, but I think there should be a more serious engagement with the value of information vs kilowatts and reaction mass, the dangers of high-powered weapons in glorified tincans, and how polities fragment when point-to-point travel takes months, and low bandwidth communication takes hours. The Solar System is big.
That said, kickass setting in a lot of ways, great presentation, and the book is free. What do you have to lose?
On the other hand, I have some problems. The d100 system is... workable, I guess, but the skill list not particularly inspired, which is a problem given that you have to spend 700 of 1000 character points on it.
For RPGs, a big question is always "what do you do?" Kill monsters and get treasure; lounge around being depressed and drinking blood, get screwed over by some corporate Mr. Smith douchehole. In Eclipse Phase, the default setting has you as agents of Firewall, a distributed intelligence agency/conspiracy that preserves transhumanity from existential threats. While I haven't read the GM guide, Firewall appears to send poorly equipped agents on suicide missions. Not much fun there.
A second question is the materiality of the setting, and this is another area where Eclipse Phase falls short. Okay, minds are software, bodies can be bought off the rack, and everybody lives off of nanoreplicators in space, but I think there should be a more serious engagement with the value of information vs kilowatts and reaction mass, the dangers of high-powered weapons in glorified tincans, and how polities fragment when point-to-point travel takes months, and low bandwidth communication takes hours. The Solar System is big.
That said, kickass setting in a lot of ways, great presentation, and the book is free. What do you have to lose?
August 14, 2016
The game itself in many ways is better than Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader of Warhammer 40k from Fantasy Flight. It uses the same percentile system as well. But at the same time it lacks... something.
Earth has been invaded and smushed by evil aliens, humanity has fled to other planets and moons in the sol system. Humanity has transcended the need for just one body, they can have several bodies which serves several purposes. You want to inhabit a gorilla body and be strong? Sure. Want to be a gun weilding octopus or mechanic? Sure. Or want to be a super-soldier kill-bot? You can be all that, while still having the same psyche, well... more or less. It can degrade some from changing bodies a lot or dying.
For who says the memories you have are your actual memories, and not something made up by the corperation or enterprise you serve? That is part of the fun, but it is also part of the problem. For if you play with people who dont take notes and try to keep up with what is the current set of memory a char has, then your gonna have a bad time. While it is an interesting mechanic in the game, it leaves you having to pick people which bother to take notes and keep current and old memories seperate.
Also, space combat isnt really a thing sadly. Well, other supplements might have rules for such now. But if you want space combat and a game that offers horror and conspiracy in a space setting, give Rogue Trader a look.
Earth has been invaded and smushed by evil aliens, humanity has fled to other planets and moons in the sol system. Humanity has transcended the need for just one body, they can have several bodies which serves several purposes. You want to inhabit a gorilla body and be strong? Sure. Want to be a gun weilding octopus or mechanic? Sure. Or want to be a super-soldier kill-bot? You can be all that, while still having the same psyche, well... more or less. It can degrade some from changing bodies a lot or dying.
For who says the memories you have are your actual memories, and not something made up by the corperation or enterprise you serve? That is part of the fun, but it is also part of the problem. For if you play with people who dont take notes and try to keep up with what is the current set of memory a char has, then your gonna have a bad time. While it is an interesting mechanic in the game, it leaves you having to pick people which bother to take notes and keep current and old memories seperate.
Also, space combat isnt really a thing sadly. Well, other supplements might have rules for such now. But if you want space combat and a game that offers horror and conspiracy in a space setting, give Rogue Trader a look.
November 21, 2013
This is the logical evolution of R. Talsorian Games' Cyberpunk 2020. This game has everything a post-cyberpunk enthusiast could want and more. It is part space opera, part survival horror, part conspiracy suspense and part Spy-game. I have never read a better conceived science fiction game yet and I am quite familiar with Traveler, Star Frontiers, Jovian Chronicles, Star Wars, and the triple threat of the Warhammer 40,000 universes three RPGs. The setting of this game is the part that makes it rise above all of the others. It is astounding in it's scope and depth. It is thick with plot hooks and details galore that you could base entire campaign off of by themselves, yet it never stops delivering even more possibilities and hints for other styles of scenario. It is not an OMNI-systme like GURPS or others of that type, but it lends itself well to playing all manner of modern and future campaigns. This game could easily be adapted to run a Mass Effect Roleplaying campaign. Or an ALIEN campaign or any of several other famed franchises. It is worth twice what it retails for in terms of what you'll get back out of it.
August 29, 2010
As far as transhumanist RPGs go (and I don't imagine there are many) it's a real good image of what scientific achievement unchecked can accomplish (the good and the bad). It is really hard to describe transhumanism than to say it is essentially what happens when the concept of humanity is irrelevant when humanity can be altered to suit its own needs or functionality and where mortality is no longer much of an issue. In the book just about any person with the means can have their "ego" downloaded and then "resleeved" into any "morph" of their choosing. So you can become anyone you want to be, gender, race and physical beauty all being up to you. It gets much more existential than most RPGs but there is alot of horror and conspiracy theory to pad the game design with rogue AI's and alien enemies.
January 5, 2016
It is a decent trans-human game with functional rules that center around percentile base rolls.
Setting wise it has the classic trans-human conceits including AI, brain hacking, body modification/swapping, etc. It does suffer from some left wing/progressive conceits such as the marginalization of Judaism and Christianity the Islamic swing into benign sects, gender identity fluidity due to body mods and casting Capitalism in negative light.
It does posit interesting post scarcity societies with use reputation as a form of currency to obtain rarer items and/or favors.
Outside of the trans-humanism the setting is partially post apocalyptic with horror tones with earth lost to humanity.
I am not sure about later runs but early runs of the book suffered from binding issues that caused pages to come loose. Those seeking a copy should be aware of the potential of binding failure.
Setting wise it has the classic trans-human conceits including AI, brain hacking, body modification/swapping, etc. It does suffer from some left wing/progressive conceits such as the marginalization of Judaism and Christianity the Islamic swing into benign sects, gender identity fluidity due to body mods and casting Capitalism in negative light.
It does posit interesting post scarcity societies with use reputation as a form of currency to obtain rarer items and/or favors.
Outside of the trans-humanism the setting is partially post apocalyptic with horror tones with earth lost to humanity.
I am not sure about later runs but early runs of the book suffered from binding issues that caused pages to come loose. Those seeking a copy should be aware of the potential of binding failure.
May 14, 2016
★ - Most books with this rating I never finish and so don't make this list. This one I probably started speed-reading to get it over with.
★★ - Average. Wasn't terrible, but not a lot to recommend it. Probably skimmed parts of it.
★★★ - Decent. A few good ideas, well-written passages, interesting characters, or the like.
★★★★ - Good. This one had parts that inspired me, impressed me, made me laugh out loud, made me think - it got positive reactions and most of the rest of it was pretty decent too.
★★★★★ - Amazing. This is the best I've read of its genre, the ones I hold on to so I can re-read them and/or loan them out to people looking for a great book. The best of these change the way I look at the world and operate within it.
★★ - Average. Wasn't terrible, but not a lot to recommend it. Probably skimmed parts of it.
★★★ - Decent. A few good ideas, well-written passages, interesting characters, or the like.
★★★★ - Good. This one had parts that inspired me, impressed me, made me laugh out loud, made me think - it got positive reactions and most of the rest of it was pretty decent too.
★★★★★ - Amazing. This is the best I've read of its genre, the ones I hold on to so I can re-read them and/or loan them out to people looking for a great book. The best of these change the way I look at the world and operate within it.
July 29, 2022
My player group was just in it for the monkeys. Hacking traffic lights, too. Hacking everything. I messed up and they destroyed the Gamma-Fork of a TITAN in a hack battle. That's like knocking out Superman with an iron pipe. Decapitated the Delta-Fork before he could deploy his Basilisk Hack, then gave away the head to charity. Sold some dude's ego to a pit fighting ring. This one player took aphasia as a trait and a gorilla ego and spoke exclusively in nouns and unconjugated verbs, went around decapitating people and stealing their cortical stacks for money. The triad boss was sleeved into their spaceships' kitchen.
Five out of five.
Five out of five.
May 10, 2020
I love the setting and i love the way it is presented. The whole idea that mankind has "transcended" to transhuman and potentially can live forever is a very intrigued concept. All the things that can go wrong if a civil war erupts or if a Titan suddenly decides to come back and snatch the transhuman.
I really hope I get a chance to play this game with my friends, because the setting is so damn awesome!
I tried the quick start campaign on Mars, and we had a blast back in 2014.
Well worth the read and well worth the money. I have the hard copy at home, and it feels great when I flip the pages and start reading.
I really hope I get a chance to play this game with my friends, because the setting is so damn awesome!
I tried the quick start campaign on Mars, and we had a blast back in 2014.
Well worth the read and well worth the money. I have the hard copy at home, and it feels great when I flip the pages and start reading.
August 14, 2016
This popped into my recommendations and since I had purchased it about a month ago and read it, I thought I would post a short review. It is a well done, well thought out RPG that adds a bit more to the Transhuman genre than SJG's Transhuman Space. I liked the background and gaming universe. I only dropped a star off since I found it a bit more complex than I prefer. Your mileage may vary, but then given the subject matter, the more detailed game system may be to many players/GMs liking. Good game over all. I can understand why it was an award winner.
March 2, 2012
I just DM'ed my first session and I am really enjoying the setting and mechanics of this game. The art in the book is hauntingly beautiful and really works to evoke the techno-psychological-suspense atmosphere of the game.
My only complaint is that the binding on my copy is already falling apart. But, you can download PDFs for free at the author's website, so that's good.
My only complaint is that the binding on my copy is already falling apart. But, you can download PDFs for free at the author's website, so that's good.
April 27, 2013
Majstersztyk w dziedzinie tworzenia gier. Książka powinna być modelem tego, jak je pisać, wydawać i promować. Wszystko w niej nomen omen, współgra: język, koncepcje, ilustracje, sposób dystrybucji. Co najbardziej mnie ujęło, to żelazna konsekwencja. Jeśli wprowadzany jest jakiś pomysł, to przedstawiane są też jego skutki, nie istnieje w próżni.
Dla graczy i czytaczy science-fiction to pozycja obowiązkowa.
Dla graczy i czytaczy science-fiction to pozycja obowiązkowa.
May 8, 2024
Obviously written with a great deal of love. References all the major players in the genre and makes a solid effort to place the players in the environment. Ultimately however I think the genre is just too complex to do true justice to it in an RPG. If you buy one transhuman RPG book make it this one or GURPS Transhuman Space. Probably this one.
December 11, 2009
F***ing amazing. I dunno what else to say. The system may not be the very best I've ever seen, but the setting blew my mind with its awesomeness. This WILL be played sometime
May 12, 2010
nice ideas, system is clearly for crunchy playas.
but a great treatment of a pseudo singularity.
but a great treatment of a pseudo singularity.
February 14, 2011
System is, as noted elsewhere, on the heavy side but the background material is both ample and excellent.
June 26, 2011
Amazing setting with a crunchy system to back it up.
August 22, 2012
A fantastically written RPG book that goes out of its way to immerse you in a distant future where humanity has altered itself to almost unrecognizable levels.
August 2, 2017
Fascinating setting. Atrocious system. Potentially amazing stories get lost in the crunch.
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