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Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same simple morph

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Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:41
#1
graf
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Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same simple morph

This was sort of hinted at in parts of the book so it's not original but...

I have a few buddies who're thinking about playing EP as an off-game (from our regular DnD game). Was thinking about an introductory session (just two of them) where they pick archetypes and are egocast into simple robotic bodies in a far off mining colony on a mission for Firewall.

It think it'll be simplier and a good intro because...
1. You start off like they do in Lack with the "adjusting to a new body" (good intro to the setting).
2. While you don't get to play the character as-is (cause the morph is different and you don't have gear) it's also a lot simplier; everyone has the same, simple body and no gear. So no obsessing about what scads of different implants, morph traits, etc do.
3. If you die, or whatever, you don't lose your starting morph.

Any thoughts (good, bad, how it can be improved, etc...?)

Obviously, some character-types will adjust better to the resleeve than others (psi have some penalties, etc). Are there any sample characters from the book that would be totally ruined by it?

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Mon, 09/21/2009 - 02:23
#2
bastlynn
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Re: Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same ...

Sounds like a really good startup session to me.

Half the reason I'm starting my PbP up without agents-as-PCs is to develop for a GM to have an intro game without that default setting in place. Personally, I kinda hope once I get this thing written out that I can include it on the wiki as a free adventure PDF. Wink

It also gets the idea into the players heads pretty quickly that the morph is merely equipment. It's something I know a number of players would have a hard hard hard time adjusting to.

Samples that may be affected - infomorphs and swarms, are very tied up both mechanically and conceptually with the sort of morph that they have. The player picked that morph for a *reason*, so you want to make sure you know what that was and if this scenario would negate it.

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Mon, 09/21/2009 - 10:25
#3
graf
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Re: Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same ...

bastlynn wrote:
Sounds like a really good startup session to me.

Thanks! Turns out I'm actually not going to GM the game first.
Which is awesome because I'll get to be a player.

bastlynn wrote:
It's something I know a number of players would have a hard hard hard time adjusting to.

Yeaaaah.
This is really becoming a huge deal.

There's a character creation thread over on the "main" boards that has completely disintegrated under the weight of pushy players demanding total freedom to pick their morph and gear and, basically, guarantees that they always and forever have access to/the right to equip their characters however they want.

It's been the big thrust in "mainstream" roleplaying for a a while now (esp. DnD). I think that many players have this need and it's good that they're finally getting (close) to admitting that they're playing to have control/satisfaction (or whatever) that's missing in their normal lives.

Eclipse Phase seems to propose an alternative sort of "noir-ish" style. The universe is harsh, you make do with what you have and if you can hold back the darkness for another day then that's awesome.

If things go well we'll see people openly awknowledging that the game is complex and there are multiple ways to play.

If not we'll be trapped forever in the "i'm right, you're wrong" hell.

****

You're a big mancat for letting people start outside of firewall.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you corral them all together.

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Mon, 09/21/2009 - 18:11
#4
bastlynn
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Re: Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same ...

I'll be doing what I do in my normal games, usually I run a small intro or set-up to get everyone in roughly the same proximity and then let loose with it. I'm hoping this scenario will end with an easy-in to the standard Firewall agent campaign, so GMs who don't want an established team can use it as a jumping point. Of course if a GM doesn't want to turn the group into an agent team, they should be able to leave that part out as well, since it's not plot critical. Smile

If I'm really mean in Shadowrun I give a list of contacts to whichever player wanted to play face and make *him* do the party roll call. Wink

re: The "losing my morph" argument. In the end it boils down to GM trust - you have to trust your GM to take care of you as a player. That's not just for equipment, but for scene drama and plot line as well. I'm very lucky, my regular group uniformly has experience behind the screen. We're very willing to accommodate our GM because each of us knows how hard the job is. Collaborative gaming FTW.

I can understand the annoyance from some players for the switching morph issue. Less in the possessiveness of their equipment sheet and having 'lost' that key bit of RP identity - more in the loss of potential character points during character generation.

Given that you can buy a morph from the beginning with CP, if you then lose the morph due to plot reasons and not your own dice fault, then you've lost those CP and potential skillpoints they represent with it. By contrast someone who was caught in the same situation, but who made an infomorph... didn't lose CP, and didn't lose the skillpoints they bought instead of the morph. At most, they lost credits - and they can generally get *that* back. Lost CP are lost unless the GM gives different XP for each player. (And that's a whole other can of worms!)

You could make the argument in that case that one player is paying the price of taking the short term benefit vs. another being rewarded for long term preparation - but realistically speaking, the sense that something is unfair is going to taint the issue. There will be a sense of losing something (potential skillpoints 'wasted' on a morph).

Emotions aren't logical - that's why they're called emotions. When such a switcharoo is launched unexpectedly on a player, when they didn't have that in mind when they planned, then yes, it will be an issue.

The best solutions to it are out of game solutions.

a) Talk to players, let them know what structure your game is going to have, and coordinate a solution with them on the problem. Do. Not. Ignore. Or. Dismiss. It. (Unless you like ignoring or being dismissive to your friends... which certainly raises other questions...)

b) House-rule that morphs are only to be bought with credit not CP, and give the players an extra arbitrary (10k?) amount of credit to use for that expense. This saves them from losing potential skillpoints by spending with CP, and returns the morph to it's proper location as gear. Gear can be replaced, CP can't.

(Feel free to quote the above if you think it'll help work some knots out on the RPG board Wink )

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Tue, 09/22/2009 - 05:21
#5
graf
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Re: Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same ...

Thanks for the assist. I'm resisting looking at the thread for a while.

Personally I tend to think that some percentage of the posters don't actually play/run games. They're constantly re-fighting the battles they've lost in their real lives online.
Suggestions like "you need to communicate your needs better" or "you need to trust the GM" don't resonate. That's not the relationship that a subset of the group wants, or could even appreciate.

*******

I agree that there is an implicit choice in character generation in EP that isn't present in other games. To simplify what is is a spectrum of choice into just two points:
1) You can make a broadly viable character, where you focus development on the ego, a range of skills, contacts in different areas, or
2) you can just focus on short term and try to game the mechanics (get the best one or two weapons, maximize skills+specializations for those weapons, buy a great morph and implants that are all tailored to perfectly fit your combat strategy).
In most Shadowrun/DnD games the second strategy is the only way to play and you're punished for being off the power curve.
EP seems to be carving out a middle ground; where the GM can run a few adventures where a given PC has access to their awesome/twinked out morph/perfectly sculpted combination of morph and implants/etc and then has to give it up for a bit to go on an egocast for Firewall.

Since the mechanism is built into the game it's less effort than trying to pry the frenzied berseker off their +5 axe of abusiveness. And maybe... they're realize there's more to their character just a magical weapon and an endless parade of combat. (OK probably not but...)

******

Making a PC do coordinate the "get together" it is a good idea. Especially if it's on a board or something where people can watch the fun.

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Tue, 09/22/2009 - 05:56
#6
bastlynn
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Re: Simple starter adventure -- egocasting into the same ...

Aye - I've seen those sort of devolved arguments. Logic stops applying after awhile when it's personal like that. I'm with you on the thought that that sort of mentality comes out of someplace offline.

It'll be interesting to see how much that very transhuman idea of mind and body separation is going to impact the playstyle and concept of play for the players. It'll be interesting at least. Wink

And yes - PC's gathering other PC's has led to some of the most spectacular scenes, up to and including a 'vetting' technique that involved gel rounds. Wink

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