Eclipse Phase (role-playing game)
Encyclopedia
Eclipse Phase is a science fiction
horror
role-playing game
with transhumanist
themes. Futurist Anders Sandberg
noted its difference from GURPS
Transhuman Space
was its emphasis on posthuman
(rather than transhuman
) characters. Originally published by Catalyst Game Labs
, Eclipse Phase is now published by the game's creators, Posthuman Studios and is released under a Creative Commons
license. The game has also been optioned for a film by More Nachos Entertainment. In 2010, it won the 36th Annual Origins award
for Best Roleplaying Game. It also won three 2010 ENnie awards
: Gold for Best Writing and Silver for Best Cover Art and Product of the Year.
project to create artificial intelligence
went rogue under the influence of an extraterrestrial
entity known as "Exsurgent" (best described as an organic computer virus
with the capacity to infect both machines and animals with sapient
qualities), 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 transhuman
ity 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.
For damage resolution (whether physical damage caused by injury
or mental stress caused by traumatic
events), players roll a designated number of ten-sided dice and add the values together, along with any modifiers.
license; the text found on the Eclipse Phase website is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. As stated on their website, the publishers encourage players and gamemaster
s to recreate, alter, and "remix" the material for non-commercial purposes. Further, copying and sharing the game's PDF
version is legal.
Your body is a shell. - Change it.
Death is a disease. - Cure it.
Extinction is approaching. - Fight it.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
with transhumanist
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
themes. Futurist Anders Sandberg
Anders Sandberg
Anders Sandberg is a researcher, science debater, futurist, transhumanist, and author. He was born in Solna, Sweden. He holds a Ph.D...
noted its difference from GURPS
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
Transhuman Space
Transhuman Space
Transhuman Space is a role-playing game published by Steve Jackson Games as parts of the "Powered by GURPS" line. Set in the year 2100, humanity has begun to colonize the Solar System...
was its emphasis on posthuman
Posthuman
Posthuman may refer to:*Posthuman, a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards...
(rather than transhuman
Transhuman
Transhuman or trans-human is a term that has been defined and redefined many times in history. In its contemporary usage, “transhuman” refers to an intermediary form between the human and the hypothetical posthuman.-History of hypotheses:...
) characters. Originally published by Catalyst Game Labs
Catalyst Game Labs
Catalyst Game Labs was created in May 2007 by InMediaRes Productions, LLC for the purpose of publishing print Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun sourcebooks...
, Eclipse Phase is now published by the game's creators, Posthuman Studios and is released under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license. The game has also been optioned for a film by More Nachos Entertainment. In 2010, it won the 36th Annual Origins award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for Best Roleplaying Game. It also won three 2010 ENnie awards
ENnies
The Annual Gen Con EN World RPG Awards are annual, fan-based awards for role-playing game products and publishers hosted at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana...
: Gold for Best Writing and Silver for Best Cover Art and Product of the Year.
Setting
Eclipse Phase is a post-apocalyptic game of conspiracy and horror. The setting takes place after a World War IIIWorld War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
project to create artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
went rogue under the influence of an extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
entity known as "Exsurgent" (best described as an organic computer virus
Computer virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
with the capacity to infect both machines and animals with sapient
Sapient
Sapient may refer to:* Sapience, the ability of an organism or entity to act with judgment* Sapient Corporation, a NASDAQ-traded company...
qualities), 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
Mass destruction
Mass destruction may refer to:* Weapon of mass destruction, a munition with the capacity to indiscriminately kill large numbers of living beings* Weapons of Mass Destruction , a 2004 album by rapper Xzibit...
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
Cabal
A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue...
called Firewall that seeks to protect transhuman
Transhuman
Transhuman or trans-human is a term that has been defined and redefined many times in history. In its contemporary usage, “transhuman” refers to an intermediary form between the human and the hypothetical posthuman.-History of hypotheses:...
ity from threats both internal and external. Along the way, they may find themselves hunting for prized technology in a gutted habitat falling from orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
, 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.
Mechanics
Eclipse Phase uses a simple roll-under percentile die system for task resolution. Players roll the percentile dice (by rolling two ten-sided dice with one of the dice representing a 10 value), and compare that roll to a target number with the goal being to match or go under that number with the roll. Unlike most similar systems, a roll of 00 does not count as a 100. In addition, any roll of a double (11, 22, 33 etc.) is a critical. If the double is under the target number it is a critical success, while being over the target number constitutes a critical fail.For damage resolution (whether physical damage caused by injury
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
or mental stress caused by traumatic
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
events), players roll a designated number of ten-sided dice and add the values together, along with any modifiers.
Creative Commons License
The Eclipse Phase roleplaying game was released under a Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license; the text found on the Eclipse Phase website is licensed under the Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. As stated on their website, the publishers encourage players and gamemaster
Gamemaster
A gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
s to recreate, alter, and "remix" the material for non-commercial purposes. Further, copying and sharing the game's PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
version is legal.
Slogan
Your mind is software. - Program it.Your body is a shell. - Change it.
Death is a disease. - Cure it.
Extinction is approaching. - Fight it.