Eclipse Phase Pregenerated Characters

[rkarnes]

What mechanic are you thinking of?

Well right off the top of my head without the book in front of me, when a character takes damage greater than twice their wound threshold, they need to roll 1d100 under the sum of their somatic attribute and their coordination attribute.

When a character is shot at, he can attempt to hide behind cover, avoid fire, and otherwise dodge the attack by rolling a 1d100 underneath half of that character's fray skill.

Margin of Failure/Success can get a little foggy when the roll has a lot of situational modifiers.

Nothing mind shattering, it's just that remembering when to divide, when to multiply, and when to subtract can get a little difficult. I just think it requires a lot of referencing the book.

 

[Treebore]

Well right off the top of my head without the book in front of me, when a character takes damage greater than twice their wound threshold, they need to roll 1d100 under the sum of their somatic attribute and their coordination attribute.

When a character is shot at, he can attempt to hide behind cover, avoid fire, and otherwise dodge the attack by rolling a 1d100 underneath half of that character's fray skill.

Margin of Failure/Success can get a little foggy when the roll has a lot of situational modifiers.

Nothing mind shattering, it's just that remembering when to divide, when to multiply, and when to subtract can get a little difficult. I just think it requires a lot of referencing the book.

The screen is pretty sweet, and like anything, once you start using the system, you will start remembering everything better and better, and before long, you will rarely even look at the screen. Or books. Plus don't forget, they have almost everything you need to know compiled on just a couple of pages in the book itself. So its not like you need to do a lot of page flipping. At least most of the time.

 

[rkarnes]

Plus don't forget, they have almost everything you need to know compiled on just a couple of pages in the book itself.

What pages are you talking about? The reference sheet in the back, near the character sheet? That's got a lot of rules that are nice, but what if you are running a game and you need to know how much damage eelware cyberclaws do? What does a character need to roll to avoid the effects of shock? Is it SOM*2? Is it DUR+Energy Armor? How many shots does a railgun on full-auto expend per burst? When does trauma kill a synthmorph? Game's pretty complex.

 

[Karak]

I will tell you that one of the major mechanics of the game requires players perform basic arithmetic, and that the arithmetic depends on what exactly you're trying to do. Players who want a fast, simple, and clean system that's easy to learn should look elsewhere. If you want a deep and flavorful game to be your group's main course, then this could do the trick.

This example really lights my fire for some reason. I love that.

 

[Sadras]

Is Eclipse Phase actually fun? I admit I had the same issue with the book.

Just started, we've had one session so far and I found it mind blowing. The scope available for storyline purposes for the GM is wide, really wide. And the heavy lifting seems to be done up front upon character creation. Playing our second session this Saturday and I cannot wait.
The GM would do well to do 1-2 intro sessions with light dice rolling for everybody to become acquainted with the system and allow minor changes in the beginning. Story and settingwise I cant see how you can go wrong - so rich.

Again I mention that I speak with only 1 session's experience.

 

[Karak]

Just started, we've had one session so far and I found it mind blowing. The scope available for storyline purposes for the GM is wide, really wide. And the heavy lifting seems to be done up front upon character creation. Playing our second session this Saturday and I cannot wait.
The GM would do well to do 1-2 intro sessions with light dice rolling for everybody to become acquainted with the system and allow minor changes in the beginning. Story and settingwise I cant see how you can go wrong - so rich.

Again I mention that I speak with only 1 session's experience.

This is the way I felt about it a bit but never really got in depth into it as I was doing something else. But seeing the word here, I feel its worth throwing some time at it.
I really dig what I am reading here in this thread about it.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Eclipse Phase is a d100 conversion of the SR4 system. Divide every EP stat by 5 and you get an SR4 stat. Divide every skill total by 5 and you get an SR4 dice pool.

Guns are also direct conversions. To convert EP firearms to SR, divide the "average DV" by 3 (round to the nearest) to get the damage code. Divide AP by 5 to get an SR AP rating.

As a math-guy, I really dislike having a multi-die system that doesn't have a bellcurve or create any additional statistical certainty. I'd rather they do a d20 conversion, given that all modifiers are divisible by 5 and they recommend using 5pt increments..... d100/5 = d20. Sigh.

I prefer the SR4 mechanic over EC (though it's obviously convertible with minimal effort) and EarthDawn over SR.

 

[rkarnes]

Eclipse Phase is a d100 conversion of the SR4 system...

I have never heard that, and I have never played Shadowrun, but if what you're saying is true (and I have no reason to doubt you), that makes me disappointed. I was at the store, holding both Shadowrun and Eclipse Phase, anguishing over the decision!

 

[JustinAlexander]

I have never heard that, and I have never played Shadowrun, but if what you're saying is true (and I have no reason to doubt you), that makes me disappointed.

It's an over-simplification. EP's core system is clearly based on the SR4 system, but the changes are more significant than just changing the dice pools to percentiles: All of the key systems (combat, hacking, rigging/jamming) have been simplified and streamlined.

 

[rkarnes]

It's an over-simplification. EP's core system is clearly based on the SR4 system, but the changes are more significant than just changing the dice pools to percentiles: All of the key systems (combat, hacking, rigging/jamming) have been simplified and streamlined.

That's good, but even if it were just Shadowrun with d100 it would still be worth it for the setting and metaplot.