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The Grue
2013-06-26, 09:33 PM
I raised the subject (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286292) of a suitable system for a Revspace RPG earlier and among the suggestions was Eclipse Phase. Having now had a chance to sit down and look over the rules (http://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/)(thanks Grinner), it seems pretty damn suitable.

I've started playing around with them and making a list of tweaks and adjustments that would need to be made to better fit the Revelation Space setting; among them, creating custom backgrounds, factions, and "morphs" appropriate - though in a Revspace RPG your "starting morph" is probably going to be the one you're stuck with in perpetuity.

With the hopes of one day running or otherwise participating in such a game, this thread will serve to collect whatever setting-specific material and notes I come up with. With my usual glacial pace in mind, don't expect frequent or even regular updates.

Feel free to share suggestions and comments if you've got any.

The Grue
2013-06-26, 09:34 PM
Character Creation
Background/Faction picks as presented in the Core book are boring and restrictive. Need to come up with a customized Package table a la Transhuman. No need to refluff the packages themselves(except maybe the Faction ones), just need a table that better reflects the setting.

Original, now obsolete thoughts on Backgrounds/Factions included below for completeness.

Backgrounds
Need to give this some more thought.

Conjoined In-Utero(there's a specific term for them, don't remember what)
You were the product of an early Conjoiner child-rearing program, introduced to nanomachines and neural implants while still in the womb. You suffer from several neurological and developmental defects common to this technique, but retain a savant-like aptitude for mathematics and abstract problem-solving.

Advantages: +10 to any Academics skill, +20 to Interfacing, Machine Intuition trait, Math Whiz trait,
Disadvantages: Neural Damage trait, Mental Disorder trait, Anomalous Mind trait, Real World Naivite trait, must start with Conjoined morph
Common morphs: Conjoined

Conjoined
Born and raised in one of the Conjoiner nest-habitats, you've been exposed to transenlightenment since early adulthood. While you're exceptionally adept at navigating computer systems and networks, you're not used to being alone with your own thoughts.

Advantages: +20 to Interfacing, +20 to Networking (Conjoiners), Math Whiz trait
Disadvantages: Addiction (Transenlightenment) (level 1) trait, Poorly Socialized trait, must start with Conjoined morph
Common morphs: Conjoined

Voidborn
Somebody born or lived mainly aboard a lighthugger
Bonus to Networking: Ultras, maybe Interest: Lighthuggers

Plague Refugee
Would be someone who fled Yellowstone or another major system to escape the melding plague
Take cues from Fall Evacuee, emphasis on survival/lone wolf skills

Generic Soldier Career
What it says on the tin
Combat/soldiering skills, leave some wiggle-room for non-groundpounders

Iced
You undertook an interstellar journey in reefersleep, but something went wrong. You may have suffered brain damage from a botched procedure, or you may simply have wound up somewhere other than your destination. Either way, the nature of interstellar travel makes recovering the lost bits of your life exceptionally difficult.

Advantages: +20 to Investigation, +20 to Research, +1 Moxie
Disadvantages: Edited Memories trait, start with 0 Cred (can still purchase more with CP)
Common morphs: Flat, Splicer

Reefer Corps
Kind of a combination of the previous two; you signed up to be stowed in a reefer casket for a set duration, to be called into service as a reserve if needed.
Soldiering/combat skills, more emphasis on microgravity and exotic environs.
Edited Memories and/or Neural Damage to reflect long-term reefersleep. Immortality Blues?

Living History
Somebody originally from the Sol system
Immortality blues? Historical interests? This might not even warrant its own background entry.

Simulation
An alpha- or beta-level simulation, or AI software equivalent to one.
Infomorph, synthetic or cyberbrain-implanted bodies recommended (GM's discretion)

The following backgrounds from the core book work right out of the box, after hand-editing Reputation and Networking where appropriate:

Hyperelite
Isolate
Uplift



Factions
Demarchists
Little different from core book's Anarchist/Titanian factions, since the two of them are pretty much Demarchists anyway
Common Morphs: Any except Baseline Conjoined. Nonhuman or exotic human morphs should have social stigma attached

Ultras
Take core book's Ultimates/Scum as a starting points since, again, they're pretty much Ultras already
Advantages: Space-related skills; Freefall, Piloting, that sort of thing. Maybe related Interest or Academics or Hardware
Disadvantages: Social stigma? Immortality blues definitely. Might want to consider dropping that trait from a few things, since I seem to be adding it in a lot and it doesn't stack with itself.
Common morphs: All except Baseline Conjoined. Extreme modification highly recommended.

Skyjack
Should be pretty similar to core book's Brinker, tweak some of the skills maybe

Conjoiners
Skills relating to mathematics/interfacing
Social Stigma (Conjoiner)
Common morphs: Splicer, Exalt, or Baseline Conjoined
Any Flats who became Conjoined were likely brought up to a minimum Splicer level of biomodification. That said, the Conjoiners are more known for cybernetic and neural augmentation than genetic tinkering. I can't actually think of any Conjoiners that underwent significant genemodification to the extent of Ultras or even wealthy Demarchists.

Academic
No-****s-given approach to politics, emphasis on scholarly/knowledge type skills

Frontiersman
Blue-collar/redneck colonist type

And the following Factions work pretty well out-of-the-box, again, with necessary hand-editing of Networking and Reputation

Criminal
Socialite
Brinker

Morphs
Credit cost likely won't come up given how rarely "resleeving" occurs in the novels, but is included to reflect the cost of growing a new cloned body since that technology does exist. But since no equivalent of a cortical stack exists, you'd need an intact head to attach to it.

The functions fulfilled by "basic" biomods in Revspace aren't everyday, but aren't uncommon either. Likewise, having the equivalent of "Mesh inserts" seems just as common as not. This would suggest that 'flats' are just as common if not moreso than 'splicers'.

That said while a large number of people would probably be flats, most player-characters would be splicers according to the convention that PCs are above-average individuals to start with. Exalts would be common among the rich/privilaged, while the upper echelons of society in places like Chasm City would frequently resemble Sylphs, Mentons or Olympians while Ultras would tend to look like the more exotic forms of bio- and pod-morphs, notably Bouncers and Remade.

Baseline Conjoined
Implants: Basic Mesh Inserts, Basic Biomods, Electrical Sense, Medichines, Cyberbrain, Skinlink, Respirocytes, Circadian Regulation, Parallel Processor, Reflex Booster, Muscle Augmentation, Hardened Skeleton, Mental Speed L2, Access Jacks, Ghost Rider, Mnemonic Augmentation
Aptitude Maximum: 35
Speed Modifier: +1
Initiative Bonus: +3
Durability: 40
Wound Threshold: 8
Advantages: +10 COG, +10 SOM, +10 REF
Disadvantages: Social Stigma (Spider)
CP Cost: 40
Credit Cost: Expensive(40,000)

(Stats including implants in brackets)

Conjoiners using this morph template would have been born Conjoined, rather than converted. Converts, especially early ones like Clavain and Remontoire were probably Flats or Splicers with the necessary mods installed later. This morph is more like Skade or Weather. Note the cranial ridges; they now come bundled with Mental Speed.

Hyperpig
Neo-Pig morph from Panopticon as a baseline, tweak a bit to be a little more restrictive. Ditto most of the other uplift morphs, though I only remember seeing pigs and lower primates in the books.

Gillies
Start with a Splicer/Exalt, add appropriate biomods

Denezin
Obvious suite of adaptations for low-temperature underwater environments

Diamond Dog
Mechanically a pod-morph, highly augmented and specialized for durability and problem-solving. Crank the cost way up, since Trintignant only ever made two of these.

The Grue
2013-06-26, 09:43 PM
Implants and Mods

Mental Speed
Now a two-level augment similar to Nurachem. Level 2 functions unchanged from the Core Rulebook, and includes cranial ridges to dissipate waste heat. A character with this Augment gains the Social Stigma (Spider) negative trait, but does not gain any bonus CP for it.

Level 1 inflicts (1d10/2) untyped damage on the user for every round active, but can be switched on and off at will. Treat cumulative damage as if it were from the same attack; if the damage points exceeds the character's Wound threshold, they may inflint a Wound just like any other damage. Cost is unchanged.

Cortical stacks aren't a thing, so a character can only get Mnemonic Augmentation by having a cyberbrain.

Provided a character has medichines, they can be "resleeved" or uploaded as long as their head is relatively intact.

Traits
Juggled - 10 CP/20 CP
You swam once too often in the oceans of a Pattern Juggler world.
At level 1, pick any two(three?) Psi-chi sleights. At level 2, pick an additional, three(four?) sleights and a Mental Disorder using the Psi Drawback rules.

Unlike Psi this trait is memory/cognition based. Sleights that are more psi/supernatural in nature are discouraged(make a list?), but the GM has the final say.

At the GM's discretion, sleights gained from this trait may fade over a long enough time period. Characters with this trait who swim in a Juggler sea might experience additional derangement or effects(or might simply never return), again, at the GM's discretion.
I want Juggler swimming to be a thing, if only a minor one. Not sure how to represent it thought. Psychosurgery?


Example Characters

A sampling of notable characters to test the system and help me work out specifics, mainly relating to background/faction combinations. Feel free to suggest any.

Nevil Clavain
Why: Good example of an early-generation Conjoiner, not to mention a convert. It's not really said whether Conjoiners still accept converts during the events of Revelation Space, but if they did they'd probably be closer to Clavain in terms of capabilities.

Dan Sylveste
Why: Example of an academic-type character, and pretty close to what the average Demarchist citizen looks like.

Illa Volyova
Why: Notable as an Ultra with minimal cybernetic augmentations.

Scorpio
Why: The highest-profile uplift we've seen.

Ana Khouri
Why: Testbed for the Iced background,

John Braningan (before; I don't think the system can ****ing handle that monstrosity...though with Panopticon's rules for sleeving into habitats...)
Why: Good example of the average Ultra captain.

Sun Stealer
Why: One of a small number of "infomorph" characters in the books.

Tom Dreyfus
Why: Example of a pre-Plague Yellowstone character, in a job that would suit a PC very well.

Skade
Why: Example of a late-model Conjoiner.

Dr. Trintignant
Why: Similar in capabilities and expertise to a hypothetical PC, and another good example of an "academic" type. But a bit more exotic.

Sky Haussman
Why: Partly because he posesses a lot of interesting skills and biomods, and is about as far as you can follow the latter and still pass for "baseline" human, and partly because I think it'd be funny to draw up a character that has Edited Memories and three identities.