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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Actually, I kinda regretted that one. They were supposed to be, well, uplifted orcas and killer whales, and then I found out that Eclipse Phase had already done that in a different book, so I did a quick fiddle to make this an alternative uplift procedure. In hindsight, I should have made them uplifted manatees or something.
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Post by fectin »

It's not bad; I'm mostly confused at the appeal of playing a hyper-intelligent bullette.

096: Break Bread
It's space Iron Rations. Cool. You were eating this stuff anyway; now there's some flavor to go with it (story-flavor, not flavor-flavor).
A-
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

The first of the foodie entries. EP actually doesn't go much into what you're eating.
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Post by fectin »

97: Cicada
It's Llolth as an activist lawyer. This one is better than it sounds. It's someone who is vocally transhumanist, is already alien, and has grand long-term plans. She could be a very good introduction to a group new to Eclipse Phase, as she is both believable and could do a good job of showing what the game is about (I think, anyway). Also, between her hobbies and her professions, there are many, many easy ways to drop her in.
Overall A+
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

98: Crystalmites
Nanite builders. Mostly encountered because they bodymod parts of you into mineral jewelry or tattoos. They also build armor that seems fairly unimpressive.
Decent hooks include corporate mustache-twirling, kickstarting a retrieval op, and a puzzle without obvious solutions where you need to free miners.
B+
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

99: Lunar Deep Delve

It's a 10km-deep, 10m-diameter hole, as a giant, pseudo-public-works project, funded by an uncharacteristically-generous corp. As a setting, the LDD is not especially compelling. With the "someone was pushed from the top" hook, it's a great backdrop for a murder mystery.
Overall, B. Easy A if developed into an adventure.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

100a: Cousin Program
It's a social matchmaking service. In some places, it's mandatory. Suggested uses include foisting an NPC on the party, or imposing an arbitrary stressful situation.
Not inherently bad, but the railroadiness sets my teeth on edge. C+

100b: CommServ
I am deeply amused that this entry opens by declaring "there is no place for debtor’s prisons," and goes directly to describing an institution exactly like debtors' prison.
That aside, it's quality mind-caulk. B+
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

100 was a double-up because I'd written two entries that seemed too similar. Also, big round numbers.
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Post by fectin »

101: Prisoner of Youth
It's a perpetual six-year-old.
Workmanlike, but not compelling. B.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

Someone had asked me to create an NPC of one of those morphs.
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Post by fectin »

Fair 'nuff.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

I should spend time on other things. But I have a BLTini and I'm going to knock out a few more of these.

102: Voodoo Puffs
Drugs that simulate possession. It's well considered, evocative, and well written. I have three problems: why do I care (i.e. why would I drop this into a game), why would PCs ever indulge, and the "Sweets" section has silly mechanical effects.
So, A material, brought down to a B by lack of external links.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

103: FORBIDDEN REACH
It's a decades-away existential crisis for the entire Milky Way. Someone has physically photoshopped the stars into a giant basilisk hack, but the light from that won't arrive for another 50 years or so. Astronomers have pieced it together early though.
Overall, somewhat underwhelming. This is a plenty good motivation for a coverup, but it's not like anyone can destroy the threat (even if you did, presumably you'd still have a couple years of light inbound), so at best PCs will be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
B-
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

Yeah, 103 was supposed to be "The Stars Are Right" in Eclipse Phase. I dunno, I thought it was funny.
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Post by fectin »

104: Maya Undo
Maya is rolled up from someone else's bad memories. Neat character, and could be a compelling protagonist or supporting character in a novel. As an RPG NPC though, she may be a rough fit. Normally, I like easy drop-ins with an interesting backstory, especially when that backstory ties so closely to setting conceits. Unfortunately, Maya's is all internal: she might acta little weird, but there aren't any external clues to describe.
Overall: B+ for a good NPC, penalized to B- for hiding all the interesting.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

105: Blazespiders

Fantastic excuse for spiders in space, and for glowing spiderwebs.
B for the ambiance benefits, boosted to A- for having three solid hooks, and again to an A for the last hook in particular.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

Spider-Man reference for the win.
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Post by fectin »

Ancient History wrote:Yeah, 103 was supposed to be "The Stars Are Right" in Eclipse Phase. I dunno, I thought it was funny.
I'm genuinely impressed at how well you executed something that's basically a complicated pun. It would still be rough to actually play.

106: Modular Ganges
It's a sacred river, built from 100 meter segments. Compelling setting, interesting backdrop to all sorts of things with or without explanation, and comes with some simple (but interesting and plausible) hooks.

My rubric so far has been roughly that the B range is splat-quality. I'd expect to see this in a splat, but am giving it an A- anyway, for execution.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

107: Nietzi
It's non-violent cultural terrorists. Honestly, it's deeply reminiscent of early 20th century suffragette tactics, though with less clear motives.
Confession: I haven't read Nietzsche. Like, at all.
That makes evaluating this harder. I can't tell if the Nietzi are an Andromeda-style Nietzschean pseudo-stereotype, a caricature, a send-up, or a completely-unrelated "fuck-you" to players who hear the name and have certain expectations. Because they are non-violent, I'm moderately confident that they are not a straight take, but beyond that I'm floundering.

Inherently, they are decent but not especially compelling. I give them a B-, but suspect that there's a good part which has gone over my head.
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Post by fectin »

108: Kentotis Masamiliano
He's a renegade psycho-surgeon who treats or "treats" religiosity.

Solid; good drop-in, especially as a specific resource; plausible and compelling background. B+
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

A quick note: there aren't a lot of comments on this blog (generally 1-2 per entry, plus AH's responses), and most are editing catches. Most of the rest are praise, so it's quick and easy to read through them. So far though, the ones that don't fit into either of those two categories have been worthwhile, especially with Bobby's responses. You can find a copy of this blog up on Scribd, nicely formatted; I recommend reading the original though, just for the marginalia.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by fectin »

109: Apsych

It's a variant exsurgent virus that destroys ego only.
Bobby does as well here as it's possible to do, but ultimately this inevitably runs into neuroscience, and will not age well. Straight B today; let's not think of tomorrow.

BLTini is over, and so are reviews for now.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

Yeah, not a lot of comments. A few more later on near the end, though. I felt bad about the editorial ones, but I was pushing these out pretty quick. Stuff happens.
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Post by fectin »

Don't feel bad about them. Your baseline quality was > WW, and you fixed what people caught.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Post by Ancient History »

For anybody that's been following...or read Farcast at all...I've been debating doing something like this again for 2015. A yearblog, this time for Call of Cthulhu, but sort of more ambitious. The thing is I sort of want to bring forward "lessons learned" from Farcast, as far as what works/what doesn't, what people would like to see but didn't, what people would like to see more of, formatting, etc. If I want to do the 2015 thing I sort of have to start soon - these things weren't all written the day-before-they-were-posted - so, any thoughts?
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