Eclipse Phase conversion to GURPS (ideas?)

[Lamech]

Right, physical traits belong to the shell which is gear. Paid for with cash. I would definitely keep DX in the mind part of things. To keep in the theme of EP, a shell could grant some mental modifications (IQ, DX, etc.)

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Eukie

My rationale was that certain things that are derived attributes in GURPS are not derived attributes in EP. For example, in GURPS ST determines you number of hit points, whereas in EP, top-level athletes will die as easily from bullet-wounds as everyone else. Hence, to recreate that effect, I needed to divorce HP from ST. Additionally, I felt that giving ST, DX, etc. to morphs and then modifying it with Ego attributes meant that I could meaningfully give morphs things like maximum lifting capacities, maximum movement speeds, etc., without limiting the skill of the sleeving Ego.

Well, there's no reason you can't modify derived characteristics from their attribute-derived default values. If you really want, you can simply decouple them.
Decoupling HP [2/level] changes ST cost to [8/level].
Decoupling Per & Will [5/level] leaves IQ at [10/level].

Originally Posted by Eukie

It also seemed like the best way to divorce gross physical stats from mental aptitudes and adaptability.

Divorcing physical and mental attributes is great, but the idea that one mind driving a tank (or spaceship, or whatever you decide to sleeve into . . . we're transhumans, we don't limit ourselves to silly humaniforms) results in it having ST 900 and another one in it having ST1,150 is quite odd from balance, plausibility, and convenience PoVs.

Originally Posted by Eukie

That kind of adaptor software in EP isn't very competent. In EP's d100 scale, software can't increase your skill above 40. On a purely mechanical level, I don't really see what's so scary about it; if you pay to have a physicaly strong body and are also good at using your strength, you hit harder. Much like just increasing your ST and Arm/Leg ST, really.

It's not about skill. It's about the fact that a given shell's ST is very software-dependent under your interpretation. So it would make sense for a NAI or Shadow layer to exist between the infomorph driving the shell, and the shell's muscles, and everybody would go for the best layer on the market.

Oh, and for bioshells in GURPS, mental faculties affecting ST is already covered. Extra Effort.

Originally Posted by Eukie

However, would it be more in line with the GURPS "philosophy" to instead have "Body ST/DX/HT" that determines the ST/DX/HT of your body, and then let Egos use the normal ST/DX/HT to modify the Body ST/DX/HT values? What I really want to avoid is the THS thing where infomorphs/mind emulations have only one meaningful Attribute (IQ), because all the other Attributes are set by the kind of cybershell/bioshell you put that mind into.

IQ, Will, Per, and an assortment of mental things that GURPS calls Advantages, but which nonetheless performs functions similar to attributes in other systems (Charisma/OPHs, Combat Reflexes/Paralysis, Fearlessness/Fearfulness, High Manual Dexterity / Ham-Fisted, Empathy/Sensitive/Low Empathy etc.).

[Michael Cule]

I would be less inclined to worry about reproducing the exact way that EP handles combat. It will be easier to use the GURPS engine and create a version of the world with it.

How are you planning to handle Wealth and Reputation? Because they're going to decide how much access a character has to new bodies, back-ups and all the Cool Stuff in the setting and EP is not simple in the way it handles the two interacting issues.

[Seneschal]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

I would be less inclined to worry about reproducing the exact way that EP handles combat. It will be easier to use the GURPS engine and create a version of the world with it.

How are you planning to handle Wealth and Reputation? Because they're going to decide how much access a character has to new bodies, back-ups and all the Cool Stuff in the setting and EP is not simple in the way it handles the two interacting issues.

I'm curious about Wealth and Reputation too. I've searched for previous EP threads to see how GURPS would handle a rep economy, but nobody's come up with a good system.

The reputation system in EP is something between Reputation, Patron, Contact Group and Wealth, with Duty attached. Socially, people see your rep score and react to you according to how high it is (which is GURPS Reputation); materially, simple goods are free, and whenever you need a favor, information or some expensive gadget, you roll as if invoking a GURPS Contact or Patron. However, you need to volunteer and fulfill other people's requests to maintain/increase your Rep.

This could probably be subsumed in a single advantage. But the EP mechanics of invoking "higher rank favors" and "burning rep" probably can't be emulated.

EDIT: BTW, isn't there a Pyramid with an alternate Wealth system? Something where items have abstract prices from "cheap" to "expensive", and you roll to see whether you are liquid enough at the moment. That kind of Wealth would suit an EP campaign, I just can't remember where I've seen it.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Seneschal

EDIT: BTW, isn't there a Pyramid with an alternate Wealth system?

Pyramid 3/44, Alternate GURPS II, "Abstract Wealth" by Jason Brick.

[Seneschal]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Pyramid 3/44, Alternate GURPS II, "Abstract Wealth" by Jason Brick.

Thanks! I've found this in the article:

Other Resources
It’s easy to apply this idea to nonfinancial resources, creating similar systems to manage someone’s influence, social status, or pull within an organization. In a complexly social campaign, each adventurer might have a different score to represent his Status with a dozen or more factions.

There's your EP reputation. :D

[Michael Cule]

One problem is that the Inner System runs on a more traditional capitalist system along with corporate drones, oppressive robber barons bosses and all that good stuff. You may need to think about how to handle changes from one to another.

And reputation in EP doesn't stick, you can erode it by asking too much. Isn't there a 'favours owed' mechanic somewhere in GURPS? That might work better.

[The Benj]

For a setting like Eclipse Phase, I'd probably just treat bodies as equipment that costs money, leaving points only for stuff that won't change from sleeve to sleeve.
But I'd probably give the option of bodies as Signature Gear.

[Eukie]

The exam period is over and I have vacation, so here's a chargen-writeup-guide I did to cover the most important societies in the setting:

Wealth, Status and Cost of Living
Wealth
The starting wealth of the Eclipse Phase campaign is $50,000, the normal for a TL10 campaign. The dominant currency in Eclipse Phase is the “credit”, which is used across the Solar System by the vast majority of all habitats that use currency. The credit is denoted “c”, and for game purposes $1 GURPS is equivalent to 1c.

The full range of wealth levels exist in the Eclipse Phase universe. Brinkers and anarchists squeezing out existences on the edge of the Kuiper Belt and infugees in storage are Dead Broke, more well-to-do anarchists and the average hypercorp citizen are Average, while the owners of giant corporations and the hyperelite are Multimillionaires.

People with settled lifestyles have 80% of their starting wealth in the form of physical assets such as living space and clothes (p. B26). You can almost always claim that the cost of your morph is part of these 80%; exceptions would be dedicated combat morphs such as Reapers, which are almost never used for habitation.

In several anarchist strains, there is no such thing as personal property. Everything is owned and shared by the community according to communal and individual needs, and money does not exist as a concept. Despite this, anarchists are not all Dead Broke. For members of anarchist communities that don’t believe in personal property, Wealth levels represent the wealth of the community per capita. The wealthier the community, the more affluence its members can live in, and the more items can be appropriated by an individual without the community reacting negatively. The Wealth Level of an anarchist represents the amount of luxury they live in, and the amount of property (such as morphs, tools, or nanofactory feedstock) they can bring off the anarchist hab without offending anyone. High reputation among the anarchists can increase your wealth level beyond the average, as people are more lenient with your proclaimed needs. Especially poor reputations can likewise decrease your wealth level to below the average.

In the Planetary Consortium, the Morningstar Constellation and the Lunar-Lagrange Alliance, the average wealth level is Average, although about one fifth are Poor infugees working off Indenture contracts. Income inequality is high; a small elite maintain Wealthy levels or above, with the richest Consortium families owning assets worth tens of billions of credits or more.

The Titanian Commonwealth is one of the major centers of trade, commerce and industry in the trans-Jovian Solar System, giving the average Titanian a Comfortable wealth level. Welfare ensures few people fall below Average, but financial ruin or long-term unemployment can drop unfortunate individuals to Struggling, where they rely largely on free public goods from state welfare nanofactories. Income inequality is low, but owners of major businesses such as interplanetary shipping can attain Multimillionaire wealth.

The Jovian Republic is one of the few places outside the Kuiper Belt where non-Indentured Dead Broke and Poor can be found. About 21% of Jovians - often immigrants or unfortunate Fall refugees - are Poor or on the low end of Struggling, working in manufacturing to support the remaining 79%, which have Average wealth levels, with some Struggling and some Comfortable. A wealthy 0.1%, largely original colonists, have wealth ranging from Comfortable to owning assets worth billions of credits.

The anarcho-capitalist and libertarian communities such as Extropia tend to have average net worths of Struggling or worse, with significant populations tied up in Indenture contracts or other forms of debt slavery that lands them as Poor or continually Dead Broke. A small, complacent elite manage to avoid being overwhelmed by spiraling debt and insurance costs and have financial freedom and Average (or better) wealth. Income inequality is extremely high, with a few lucky individuals attaining Multimillionaire wealth. Inequality in anarcho-capitalist and libertarian societies tends proportionally to the size of the community. There are smaller communities numbering in the low thousands or less - usually near abundant natural resources - where everyone can be Comfortable, but Extropia is one of the most unequal places in the Solar System, putting even the Planetary Consortium to shame.

Status
Most anarchist communities are classless, and neither Wealth nor Rank bestow social benefits. Anarchists do not believe in rank (except as temporarily bestowed by a community upon an individual for administrative purposes), and rather than being the cause of social status, above-average Wealth is an effect of being held in high regard by one’s community. Anarchist societies allow at most Status 1 (reflecting that people like you really well), which should be accompanied by a corresponding 1-level increase in wealth relative to the society (Comfortable in Average communes, Struggling in Poor communes, etc.) You can choose to forgo this increase in wealth, representing a vow to not consume more than your fair share even if the community lets you. Most anarchist communities are small and far apart, so most anarchists reply on their Reputation when outside their home communities, rather than Status. Anarchists often perceive statist with high Status, Rank or Wealth higher than the anarchists’ as generally suspect and, in particular, as exploitative parasites upon society; for such anarchists, apply the imputed Status from Wealth as a negative Reaction modifer.

The Planetary Consortium, Morningstar Constellation, Lunar-Lagrange Alliance and other large state-capitalist societies are for most purposes “classless meritocracies”. In these societies, you can buy Status 1-2, representing the qualities mentioned in the “Classless Meritocracies” sidebar on p. B28. Negative Status is appropriate for indentured servants. Most habitats are minisocieties (p. SE11, SE14), where civil servants hold Administrative Rank (which imputes Status), and managers in corporate towns have Merchant Rank that replaces Status. Larger societies are governed by people with Administrative and/or Political Rank, which imputes Status. The LLA are loosely governed by a Council led by a President; representatives to the Council have Political Rank, and the President holds Political Rank 7; these impute Status. The Morningstar Constellation are governed by the Star Council, whose members hold Political Rank imputing Status. In the Planetary Consortium, the elected officials of the Planetary Congress hold Political Rank, but true power rests in the hand of the Ministry and the Hypercorp Council, where Merchant Rank is synonymous with Political Rank, Administrative Rank, and Status. However, outside of members of the Ministry and Hypercorp Council, Merchant Rank only replaces Status among other hypercorps and in corporate towns.

The Titanian Commonwealth, the Jovian Republic, and other representative democracies are “Classless Meritocracies”. In the Jovian Republic, Status -1 represents being a member of the Poor immigrant worker class. In both the Republic and the Commonwealth Status 1-2 generally comes from the qualities mentioned on p. B28, or more specifically in the Jovian Republic, being a member of one of the Wealthy founding Original Colonists. Both polities are ruled by heads-of-state with high Political Rank (which imputes Status) and Wealth imputes Status. In the Jovian Republic, the military are closely aligned with the government, and Military Rank imputes Status. The federal police force of the Jovian Republic are part of the military, and Military Rank replaces Police Rank in the federal police. Only the largest cities in the Jovian system are large enough to have local police forces with the full range of Rank; most cities are minisocieties where Police Rank tops out at 4.

In Extropian societies, Merchant Rank replaces Status (for most purposes) and almost all forms of Rank. Wealth is heavily respected and imputes Status. The employed will have Merchant Rank 0, while the self-employed have Merchant Rank 1. (Owners of large businesses are, obviously, “self-employed” but usually have higher Merchant Rank.) Indentured workers and the Dead Broke (who soon become indentured workers) have Status -2 and Merchant Rank 0.

[Eukie]

Skills are an excellent opportunity to develop the minor details of the setting:

Crewman/TL
Crews of crafts have been steadily reduced from the large crews of TL8 crafts to smaller and smaller crews managing smarter and smarter autonomous systems. While crews are always trained in emergency repair and damage control, the TL9 and TL10 crew is increasingly specialized and highly educated in technical areas and the control of autonomous systems. At TL9, this includes managing AI systems, networks and teleoperation, and the use of advanced expert systems. At TL10, almost all physical jobs are automated, and the crewmember manages the AIs and robots that control the craft.

Due to the predominant fears of rampant AIs after the Fall, characters with this skill at TL9, or even TL8, may be employed as crew in favour of heavy dependence upon advanced AI systems and autonomous robots.

There are four main classes of crafts, each with their own skill:
Airshipman/TL: This skill is uncommon at TL8, as very few large airships even existed in this period. Airships are well suited for heavy cargo lifting on Venus, making this skill much more common at TL9 and TL10. It can also be used for lighter-than-air crafts on Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, though extremely strong winds on Saturn and Neptune make lighter-than-air craft very uncommon there. This skill is also used for serving as a crew on Venusian, Uranian and Neptunian aerostats.
Seamanship/TL: As with Boating, the lack of open waters in the Solar System makes this skill extremely rare at TL10. The skill is usually either a relic from before the Fall, or used by the crews of ships that sail on Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes.
Spacer/TL: This skill is very rare at TL8, but significantly more common at TL9 and TL10. It can especially be found among inhabitants of small to medium-sized space stations, who are trained and employed to manage the day-to-day operation of their home.
Submariner/TL: This skill is very uncommon at TL8 outside of the military or certain scientific organizations. At TL9 this skill become more common as Earth’s seas were more heavily colonized, and at TL10 it is very common among the inhabitants of Ceres, Europa, and Iapetus, and may be found among the Jovian Republic’s military and research groups on Callisto.

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I've also tried to piece together some morphs. I decide to not hassle with inventing completely new attributes, so bonuses to "attributes*" are instead your pick of ST/DX/IQ!/HT/Per/Will/a level of Charisma

Splicer
Maximum Attribute Level: five attributes at 19 and one at 25
Attribute Modifiers: +3 to one attribute*
Advantages: Fit Advantage [5]
Mods: Cortical Stack (Extra Life, Requires Body -20%) [20]
Basic Biomods (Less Sleep 4) [8], (Improved G Tolerance 3, low gravities only -50%) [8], (Regrowth) [40], (Regeneration Slow) [10], (Unaging) [15], (No Degeneration in Zero G) [1], (Taboo Trait: Genetic Defects), (Immunity to Disease) [10]
Basic Mesh Inserts (Accessory - Computer) [1], (Radio Telecommunication, Secure +20%, Sensie +80%) [20]