Farcast "review"

[virgil]

262: Grandmaster of Mars

I was trying to give a mechanical and in-universe justification for conservation of ninjitsu.

The mechanics for that are kind of lacking (in a literal sense), which given the flaws of the system itself, isn't really a problem. The goal is certainly laudable, and this is a justification I've not really seen before, so props for that. I myself would've likely aimed for a distributed ego hive-mind that runs into parallel processing limitations, better able to micromanage the individual ninjas the fewer there are...and I can't tell if my idea is actually any better (stupid bias).

[virgil]

268: Void Sisters

• As noted in the "Using the" section, the conspiracy-laden sisterhood society is a fun trope to use, and I really like the tie-in with the Lost. It's got elements of seriousness and campy with the use of psychic-space-geisha-ninja in the story seed.

269: Quo Valis

• I could've sworn I've seen this concept before, a corporation run by autonomous software that responds to employee input in a manner that would be described as a hive-mind. This is a good constructive piece on how it would be viewed in the setting and the inclusion of such a viewpoint to the game itself.

270: Group Psi

• A good entry discussing the aesthetic hurdles of group psi and guidelines for their use in spite of this. The Rule of Pi posits an interesting consequence with linearly increasing mental stress on the target.

271: Mutant

• It's good to see the issue of isolated biomorph communities running into a genetic bottle necking being brought up along with the fact new biomorphs haven't actually been extant long for long-term predictions to be verified. The debate is quite nice, and the morph trait itself is neutral. A natural expression of this debate and balanced with the rest of the system's.

272: Jun ibn Shiloh

• A corporate 'outsider' that skirts labour laws and is touchy about his sex tape being leaked. The 'mundane' attributes are well done and I like the setup on the whole for his use.

273: Peelbacks

• Farming for organic-related items is more difficult when the massive Earth ecosystem died out, so people are renting out their body to have glands implanted to secrete money if they eat right. A rather neat concept and I appreciate the example glands. I don't even need a story seed to come up with less ethical uses for this practice.

274: Crashlandia

• As you've stated, Eclipse Phase doesn't have enough 'weird' places. And this place is quite flavourful, being a crashed colony ship where the handful of non-organic survivors made a campy mini-utopia, with a bar. I particularly like the variety of interpretations of using this mini-society.

275: Poison Kisses

• An Eclipse Phase version of Poison Ivy made a space lair, enslaved former sex workers, implanted them with poison oak saliva, then died (probably due to some rash decision). Some are still out there, stuck with the 'gifts', the mechanics are decent enough and imply a rather painful existence considering how long the irritant remains potent. The story seeds are good and appreciated.

276: Stoneburner

• As I haven't read Dune Messiah, I didn't recognize the inspiration, but the character itself is quite cool, even if he can't see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (or the kids, or the cereal...). I am curious as to whether microbugs could function as non-invasive cybereyes, which would fix a lot of his visual deficiencies.

277: Pressure Ships

• Like the reference in the Futurama episode, spaceships can handle external pressure between zero and one atmosphere, making aquatic ventures problematic for vehicles. Three specialized vehicles are detailed in broad strokes, enough to give a sense of the environments they're optimal for and rough idea of their 'physics'. The paydata rescue mission story seed is cool and sufficiently actiony to look fun for a game.

[Ancient History]

276: Stoneburner

The "stoneburner" was a quasi-nuclear weapon that emits J-rays that cause eyeballs to degenerate.

[/edit]I was wearing a lot of my influences on my sleeve at this point.

[virgil]

278: Psiwire

• A confidential Firewall experiment to control async powers, by throwing their hands in the air, shoving half a dozen psychics into one body, and making them think there's only one person. A clever way to create a 'single' entity with a substantial 'suite' of powers, and a rather neat origin story for a monstrosity of science from messing with things beyond mortal ken.

279: Blackguard

• Obsessive bounty hunter brought into servitude in exchange for bringing her back from the dead. An alright back story, but even the reminder that such characters don't have to be one-note, just focused, doesn't really ring with me. The lack of anything about her use in game other than getting the next kill is part of it.

280: Data Is Not Forever

• A well-written, yet depressing, bit on the reminder of even information being 'mortal' in the long run. The first two seeds are good, but it's hard to tell whether the third is actually a seed rather than "and then you find a noble corpse." I'm also disappointed in the lack of mention on the loss of cultural memes that aren't cartoons.

281: Europan Quarry #1

• Marble formed on the Europan sea bed, and its associated industry, along with a very good reminder that this entry can be extrapolated to other non-terran geology. I really, really like these story seeds. They show off quotidian concerns and legitimate grievances that add another fathom to the setting, and even an appropriate and full-on Scooby-Do mystery.

282: Macronauts & Micromorphs

• An interesting colony of people who opted to be sleeved into Barbie-sized biomorphs. The story seeds are alright, dipping into the classic shrink tropes.

283: Eggman

• An ornithologist who's so dedicated, he ended up getting an egg pouch implant, for reasons subject to rumour and hearsay. I'll be honest, I was expecting either a roboticist or hedgehog enthusiast, but was pleasantly surprised with an interesting hook to hang the two themed story seeds.

284: Transprimitivism

• A subculture of people, including sci-fi Boy Scouts, who 'rough' it in rather interesting ways. Thoroughly believable social meme to engage in, and I like the imagery provided. The Eagle Scout murder mystery is alright and workable, but feels oddly "by the book" compared to others.

285: The Mortal Diamonds

• Another Fall monument, this time in the form of diamonds made from the corpses of the tragedy. I really like these story seeds, as they run the gamut of MacGuffin to superweapon to religious miracles.

286: Echo Zelazny

• A med student that didn't like what they saw when they checked their privilege, running straight into indentured servitude as a criminal medtech. An interesting concept, and I like the down-to-space motivations for this background character and how there might be conflict that matters to the PCs.

287: Spigipede

• For those that miss [insert preferred meat here] (phrasing!) since the Fall, there is now a kind of giant maggot gene-spliced to do nothing but eat and be made of meat. I really like this entry, and honestly wouldn't mind having my own plush Spigipede. The first story seed is decent, and the second is downright weird; both superficially usable and good for setting a kind of silly tone.

[virgil]

288: Liangamish

• A penis temple that becomes progressive more HR Geiger inspired the deeper you plum its depths, its origins shrouded in horror movie mystery. Appropriate horror that's not quite vulgar enough to upset my sensibilities. A good piece and would certainly consider using it.

289: Monadarchy

• A corporate that generates a kind of collective unconsciousness to strengthen social networks without falling into a hive mind, essentially by using an app that does a 'survey' of its population to create a cultural background. An intriguing thought experiment with good description of the 'real world' applications of the program. The story seed is a particularly good paranoia mystery.

290: Rocket Rhosa

• Comes off as a kind of Rosie the Riveter, but with ship combat instead of industrial rivets, and has since become an alcoholic armorer. This is a good set of flavour and backstory, adding the right kind of colour to the campaign that I can get behind.

291: Blind Tigers

• A nifty enough term for describing how transhumanity handles disabilities attached to egos rather than morphs. This seems like a general piece covering the various people that undoubtedly go "why not just resleeve or add a camera to your network?" The story seed is alright, but could use some more colour or something.

292: Oxo Light

• Tanning bed technology applied to handle humanity's biological assumption of ready access to UV radiation. A nice world building piece that highlights a change in culture with space-living, showing a slow adoption rate that seems quite appropriate through the vitamin D deficiencies. The story seeds are decent, though I'm surprised at how low-security the Factor is.

293: Voice of One

• A kind of Spider Jerusalem, but with less drugs, less swearing, and probably fewer phalluses. I like the aesthetic and the uses for her are good, which is kind of expected with a journalist's attack womb.

294: AF Slurs

• A good thought piece on the evolution and uses of colorful vocabularies, such as "nerf herder." I strongly appreciate details on flaws w/fictional slurs in an RPG, which is something I don't see/hear often, as well as concerns with getting too close to home with their design.

295: Candee Apple Island

• A borderline science-fantasy world, where the atmosphere and fauna are analagous to Earth for humans such that flats can just walk in and inhabit, with the catch being a present population of near-sentient lizard apes. The Simpsons reference is slight, which is good, and I like the reminder of how this works with typical Prime Directive storylines. The story seed is good, and I was half-expecting it to be the Statue of Liberty.

296: Sweeps Squad

• An overview on the explosion of media available for consumption, with details on a form of flash mob that is more technologically advanced. I'm having a fridge moment on the idea of media production actually being all that significant compared to now, since Eclipse Phase has experienced a system-wide population comparable to contemporary United States. Otherwise, I like the temporal update to flash mobs and the suggestions given for their use in stories.

297: Jane Starware

• An orphan adopted & raised by a corporation, evidently with actual red tape for a scheduled teenage rebellion. The logistics and ramifications are explored in her story seeds and work well for including the PCs.

[virgil]

My apologies for not being done with the reviews by now. I want to be able to finish the remaining 68 within the week.

[Ancient History]

287: Spigipede

Some of these entries are just asking a really silly "What If?" and going from there to see how realistically I could conceive of a way to realize it. In this case, I was wondering "What if spam wasn't a processed meat product, but harvested directly from an animal?"

292: Oxo Light

This one is an example of how I couldn't get the original idea to work. I was trying to do one of those Breatharian things where people could subsist just on light, but couldn't find a plausible way to overcome the second law of thermodynamics/make it not batshit insane/silly.

291: Blind Tigers

Ghost, people bitched about that one.

My apologies for not being done with the reviews by now. I want to be able to finish the remaining 68 within the week.

No worries. I'm still worried about which reward you'll claim.

[virgil]

291: Blind Tigers

Ghost, people bitched about that one.

I found Diploraptor's complaint to be oddly short-sighted myself, and I'm guessing that was the theme of the gripes you got over that entry. I thought it was good, and the 'solution' Diploraptor posited seems kind of obviously non-trivial.

No worries. I'm still worried about which reward you'll claim.

I honestly forget what the reward options even are, as a good chunk of my motivation with reviewing it has been to make me read the entire thing; likely giving me the motivation to actually run a one-shot for a friend who loves the game. Not that I won't take you up on the reward offered, but I'm not planning on pulling a Shylock on you.

298: Gold Ballast

• I completely forgot about potential presence of inert mass for ballast to adjust a ship's center of gravity, and the idea of using gold is clever and I like this entry, especially in its use for the gravity tractor. The commentary on gold's obsolescence is a little hollow because it is actually quite useful for electronics and its non-corrosive properties. I am quite amused by Randtopia, and the story seed around them has just the right hint of verisimilitude to work. The second story seed, Men with the Golden Gun as I call it, is also quite good.

299: Corporate Totem

• A hypercorp takes the mascot concept into a more extreme form. As mentioned in the entry, it's a really nice way to put a face to the a hypercorp, down to the rather nice view that it can interface with its parent corp the way Captain America interacts with his country. I like the story seeds, and the Gatekeeper one is particularly compelling to me.

300: Su Bede

• Fashion in a 'world' of such variable morphs has changed and adapted, and Su Bede is a trendsetter in high fashion by focusing on the 'walk' part of the runway to show off the clothing rather than the metal corpus that it hangs on. I really, really like the details here and the background for Su Bede. She makes a perfect figure to 'hang' stories on, and the metaphor leaves me a twitter.

301: Bonus Point Bank

• An in-setting method of transferring rep between networks in a form of currency laundering. As stated in the entry, it makes for a good method of allowing PCs to use their rep without hitting a narrative brick wall. I like the story seed as a way for the bank to have more character to it instead of just being a "favors for cash" button.

302: Vanth

• Grey goo and other nano-WMDs are tested on this ultra-remote moon, with rather impressive containment procedures. I freakin' love this entry as both a general concept and the specific implementation described. Just the passing mentions in the "Using" section are fistfuls of story seeds, and the specific story seed is an excellent prison break scenario.

303: Hyperia Light Mining Co.

• The asteroid belt is rich with resources, yet still subject to claim jumpers and similar conflict. This posits a surveyor wiki with a corp attempting to monetize its use. A decent entry, and I like the story seeds, especially the idea of the PCs being hired to get involved with intra-system mining guilds and going through rather severe hazing rituals.

304: Lightminute Prisoner

• A transhuman, for an undisclosed crime, is sentenced to being farcast for two years in realtime. The text in the second half of the entry is blacked out, which I'm not sure is intentional, but is essentially a single large story seed. It's a good one, and I like the list of potential truths on the nature of his rather esoteric imprisonment.

305: The Itch

• An exsurgent virus that initially poses as a mundane, psychosomatic ailment too minor to be given serious attention, eventually morphing into mental derangement and some other more notable exsurgent virus. An interesting vector, though I think Stage 2 seems a bit too unsubtle to evade regular detection; outside of NPCs who don't have the access to proper medical attention (which I would've liked a mention of).

306: Shiprot

• A good explanation on why the future might not look all shiny and bright in spaceships, giving it a more Firefly feel rather than Enterprise. The story seeds are good and give good character to the setting.

307: Feather

• A stripper goose furry and her use in a campaign. I like the idea of her job being mainly educational and consider it a really clever idea for such an NPC, and the character herself comes off as more than a Rule 34 given stats. I like the story seeds, mainly the first one because it's got the right amount of noir to it.

[momothefiddler]

No worries. I'm still worried about which reward you'll claim.

I honestly forget what the reward options even are, as a good chunk of my motivation with reviewing it has been to make me read the entire thing; likely giving me the motivation to actually run a one-shot for a friend who loves the game. Not that I won't take you up on the reward offered, but I'm not planning on pulling a Shylock on you.

Easy. Just claim all of them. None of them (afaik) exclude any others, so, by RAW, *ducks*

[Ancient History]

307: Feather

• A stripper goose furry and her use in a campaign. I like the idea of her job being mainly educational and consider it a really clever idea for such an NPC, and the character herself comes off as more than a Rule 34 given stats. I like the story seeds, mainly the first one because it's got the right amount of noir to it.

Inspired by Mike Resnick's classic Tales of the Galactic Midway, where he notes both that humans are unique in inventing stripping, and also that human stripping by itself is not marketable to aliens because, as one character put it, "Would you pay to watch a bird molt?" The eventually get around this small issue through a surgical procedure that produces the first three-legged lapdancer. Ghost I love those silly little books.

[virgil]

308: Glowstick Fungus

• A new species of fungus has been discovered, a contaminant from Earth that shows no sign of being artificially designed, and is the focus of preservationists, skeptics, and more. Particularly evocative for such an unassuming specimen, and the story seeds are very believable and look fun to build on for a full-on adventure.

309: Macroforge

• An industrial scale 3-D printer orbiting Mercury to develop structures compensating for something truly tiny. This is pretty much nothing but dressing to help give a sense of scale for players in regards to what. I'm disappointed in the lack of seeds and similar little things, ironically.

310: Ishnigarrab

• A community/philosophy of affection given without compensation. The opening is downright heartwarming and the later description of its issues from misunderstandings is understandable. I like the feel of this entry and the hints of uses are decent. While I disagree with the need to incorporate a level of inherent corruption, I am glad you added it, since it's an obvious hook and is likely to be considered anyway; and thus a good thing to include.

311: Corrupted Chrysanthemum

• A face to associate with the Ishnigarrab, this is an abuse survivor that looks like the Bride of Frankenstein with the offer of free love and strong opinions toward autonomy. A complex NPC with an interesting web of contacts and potential story hooks to invade one's personal space.

312: Transchthonic Land Bank

• Ponzi scheme of realty speculation, the bank is a logical conclusion of capitalist marketing, and is a clever concept. A few more details on potential story seeds would've been preferred, as it's a bit light in potential uses (and obviously few PCs would appreciate being given the deed to Iowa as payment), but otherwise this is a decent entry.

313: The Broken One

• An alien scout crashed and was captured on Venus before its species made first contact with humanity, and is very heavily classified because of a host of concerns with regards to current diplomatic relations with the Factors. I really like the questions brought up by its presence. The story seeds are obvious applications of its use, and I think I prefer the last one the most as the first two seem kind of derivative.

314: Master Chemist

• Blackmarket drug manufacturer, with an interesting aesthetic of typical evil doctor. The potential uses are good and I like the ruthlessness for such an individual that isn't the usual high-ranking criminal kingpin and is also a good reminder of how traditional drugs aren't obsolete.

315: Egotaph

• A collection of data produced by someone in a rather inclusive format. The concept is intriguing, though there's a lack of veracity confirmation in the event of conflicting uploads. I really like the first story seed and the whole concept of using it for "dead drops." The second seed is also a good hook and mystery.

316: Venuvius

• A large, independent ore processing station in the Belt. I really like the little details in regards to culture and sub-industry attached to the station. The first story seed feels like something Jon Peters made you do, but conceptually interesting. The second story seed is cool and something I was highly unlikely to think of as something that could be used. The third seed is also good and for some reason I like the reward; possibly good flavour and adds to the world-building?

317: Programmers Without Borders

• A group of altruistic programmers/hackers that probably better deserve the title of Firewall, acting as interplanetary tech support. An interesting concept of a more broad and public version of humanitarian aid, and feels a bit redundant. The biggest flaw with this entry is the fact it will heavily focus on what I feel to be the absolute worst part of the Eclipse Phase system.

[Ancient History]

317: Programmers Without Borders

That one was mistaken for a real group like Doctors Without Borders or Engineers Without Borders by somebody that didn't actually read the full entry.

[virgil]

318: Greysmith

• A non-transitioned transgendered man who specializes in low-tech craft made from high-tech materials and spending money on a Companion. Certainly a rather detailed and eclectic tech-smith, his value is of limited use since the only skill he offers is Armorer, but this is certainly a character with details so I can't exactly fault it.

319: Dragoons

• Borrowing terminology from Final Fantasy, these are Eclipse Phase paratroopers (I think 'chuters' works as well) for use in Mercury, Mars, and sometimes Venus. As a physics major, I will say this; I'm not pissing myself, but I am grinding my teeth. I like the story seed, as it's got a cinematic level of spitefulness for graverobbers.

320: Ego Keys

• A variation on biometric pass-codes, tied to specific memories within an ego. Certainly an intriguing concept and aesthetically works well, and I really like the world-building surrounding its use. The story seed is interesting and plays on the concept of memory-editing that utilizes ego keys, so kudos there.

321: Squire Maize

• A shady booze seller in communities where water rationing is particularly tight. This is another entry with an annoying text colored to match the background. An amusing character with some nice story seeds that focus on his schemes.

322: Soulless

• A super rough introduction to the potential religious questions that might rise from resleeving and forks, specifically bringing up the psychological crisis brought about by a resleeved Catholic who believes the soul is attached to the body. A comparatively deep subject and challenges the reader to consider its place in a campaign as a medium to introduce such concepts to your players.

323: Uno

• An interesting gatecrashing incident where killing a tiny creature was killed during an excursion, resulting in violently disrupting the ecosystem into self-destruction, and so the person has been sentenced to their name being retroactively changed to an expletive for the next 35 years. I'm honestly more interested in the story seeds surrounding the engineered ecosystem and its recovery effort than I am in the NPC who wants to get around their punishment, as their story seed is a little too scant.

324: Nuit Academy

• A school for the blind using specialized echolocation ware adapts its business model in the changing society of Eclipse Phase to produce specialized skillwires that cover tiny skills like toilet use or programming a VCR. A totally 'realistic' application of the skillware technology and good world-building surrounding it. The story seed is short and sweet, and feels like it could be run as a mini-session.

325: Marin Buskovic

• Frank Castle (or maybe Rorschach?) is stuck in a hibernation-focused morph before the Fall and is released for good behavior, now acting as a time-lost private eye. I like this method of introducing people from before the Fall and the little details for how societal mores have changed.

326: Soma Fruit

• Thanks to the glory of easy genesplicing, there is the potential to splice hard drugs into fruit. I like the flavour of this entry, and appreciate its societal uses without the need for mechanical updates, its use being an aesthetic that would naturally be cared about despite the fact a hit coke is just as good in powder as it is in a cherry.

327: The Maas Gate

• A tiny and seemingly ancient gate that spits out random stuff whenever it's poked. I like the posited uses surrounding this gate that would otherwise just be a random matter generator, and equally appreciate the fact people are concerned about essentially using it as a toy (like a PC undoubtedly would if presented with such a device).

[Ancient History]

Dammit, I thought I fixed all the black text. Ah, well.

319: Dragoons
Borrowing terminology from Final Fantasy,

Not really.

[virgil]

319: Dragoons
Borrowing terminology from Final Fantasy,

Not really.

I knew about the RL term, but I wasn't seeing the "parachute = horse" analogy.

[Ancient History]

Think of the term as "highly mobile infantry" in its current sense.

[virgil]

Think of the term as "highly mobile infantry" in its current sense.

That helps contextualize, thanks.
328: Heracles

• Another black text entry. This is an NPC who had an identity crisis and went on a quixotic bender of believing himself to be the son of Zeus, which is made all the easier with a custom biomorph. Kind of a tragic and broken figure, but has a Som greater than *any* other morph, which kind of brings to point my general confusion with aptitudes. The Fenrir is marginally weaker than a Remade, despite one being a literal tank and the other being a tall dude. The story seeds are mildly depressing on the whole, though the lion hide is amusing. The second seed seems a bit short, because if the party puts in the effort to listen to his request for euthanasia, they can easily pull a string and just pop him into a simple healing tank.

329: Shiftmorph

• For people who want to be a Transformer, this is a synthmorph that shifts between humanoid and vehicle form. Not much to say in terms of opinion, because it's a one sentence conceit that permits the audience to instantly tell whether they're in favor of it or not. The goal is reached in terms of mechanics, which itself is laudable.

330: Mundihof

• An asteroid colony that consists of one thousand 'families' that interact with their neighbors like neighboring city states...that happen to also be nuclear powers (only just enough to ensure MAD). This comes off as a variation on Libertarian utopia, and the fact it's not completely mocked in the entry is a testament to your self-control. The story seed mystery feels like one of those mysteries where the butler did it..

331: Revaunchists

• Guerrilla 'terrorists' that want to reclaim Earth by force, thinking they can outfight whatever the TITANs left behind to occupy the planet. A group with a very understandable goal, even when everyone else believes them to be violently fighting the tide, with obvious story hooks with such a group. A simple and natural entry, this is.

332: Jimbot

• An NPC who responded to being resleeved with the belief they are wholly artificial and behaves in a manner they think a robot would act. A little quirky and a believable delusion to have, and makes for a good social contact.

333: Private Mode

• A Jovian app that creates a legal scapegoat from your own psyche and also creates the classic amnesia heist plan. To be honest, I thought this was something the system already permitted and assumed as a potential plot hook, which goes to show how flaky my own memory can be.

334: Filtermouth

• A bioware equivalent of the respirator for use in habitats with overtaxed air filtration systems. I think it and its societal impetus/impact is fascinating, including the story seed that focuses even more on such. One flaw is that I'm having trouble visualizing the implant, because it's evidently a hindrance to speech but not eating regular food.

335: Emilia Bickerdyke

• A social justice warrior with a wonderfully colourful set of accomplishments that really build on the world and show the myriad of ways that the Jovian Republic can be jerks. While I really like the basic structure of the story seed, my personal hangups will make running it difficult (I don't verbally swear, essentially ever).

336: The Seeds

• A longterm project for the existential survival of transhumanity, essentially serving as one of those MacGuffin artifacts an apocalypse survivor can use to rebuild. Truly one of the classic grail items for survivors, with a breadth of examples and I like the idea of being on the prequel side of such an artifact. The story seed is intellectually plausible, but I really doubt I can see players siding with the Aggies, since they're essentially being violently against contingency plans.

337: Earthcon

• Another Earth memorial entry, this time in the form of a big convention to reminisce the lost planet. The ushers and reminder of some attendees viewing the whole event as more of a museum make the whole thing feel like something out of Doctor Who, which I give a hearty thumbs up for.

[RelentlessImp]

317: Programmers Without Borders

That one was mistaken for a real group like Doctors Without Borders or Engineers Without Borders by somebody that didn't actually read the full entry.

Someone needs to share a story.

[virgil]

338: The Immix

• A detailed summary on how Jovians are more than caricatures of jingoistic fascism, which I recall happening before, but still find it nice to see for adding depth to the setting. Of course, this sets the stage for the Immix, which comes off as a kind of Jovian Anonymous.

339: Mater

• A professional teacher/nanny woman from Jupiter who left for greener pastures where her work can do more good. An interesting idea, though she doesn't come off as all that useful in a game even as a background NPC (adventures don't commonly happen at a daycare); and even her story seed is a little too vague to be terribly useful.

340: AF Torture

• I strongly appreciate what I feel to be an eloquent discussion on the nature of torture in Eclipse Phase, both in-universe application (culturally and logistically) and metagame considerations. An important entry and can readily be adapted for use in virtually any RPG. It feels like the commentator for this entry didn't fully grok your explanation on what fork interrogation is; either that, or they like to reiterate.

341: Technomysticism

• A setting-specific explanation for how pseudoscience & superstition persists in the future due to the black box problem and flaws in veracity confirmation. I read up on rationalism in several formats, so I'm at least tangentially aware of the phenomenon and don't see why it would go away in the Eclipse Phase future. I like how in-character you describe it directly manifests, and the metagame uses of it.

342: Smile, Akira

• Customer service has taken its emotional toll on Akira, turning him into a horror-movie killer because he didn't have enough pieces of flair. I find this one kind of cool, just the right amount of pathos to not be a slapstick monster, and the rough ideas given for his use in a campaign are evocative.

343: Space Lightning Strikes

• An adventure(s) intro where Gatecrashers are stranded on another planet due to lightning, explicitly called out as an homage to Stargate. Fairly clever, and I think this is the first entry I've seen that's an entire story seed in and of itself.

344: Third Run

• Abusing the nature of complex substances, a xenophobic habitat maintains a monopoly on the production of several herbs and spices, and pretty much screams to be espionaged in a dark alley. I am exceedingly impressed by the twist you've added to this already flavourful location piece, and it comes with an extra story seed on top of it all.

345: Kinaara

• The younger generations face being eternally at the bottom of the economic (whether it be rep or credit) totem pole due to retirement and death being phased out of society. This is essentially a kind of social experiment to work around such, and is a decent enough entry on its usage and place in the setting.

346: Mr. Attercop

• A transhuman who's topper to their hierarchy of needs is to be a spider otherkin, realized through the awesome power of Eclipse Phase technology. Certainly an NPC with character, and a blissfully cheerful spider is amusing. I also like the story seed that goes with it.

347: AF Healthcare

• A well-done thought piece on the nature of healthcare in the setting, with very nice world-building touches scattered about. Nothing mechanical or story seed to comment upon, but a good entry nonetheless.

[virgil]

348: Ymir

• Giant flying jellyfish aliens that live in a gas giant, or at least I'm assuming they look like ice-covered jellyfish, as your entry doesn't paint a very detailed picture. The story seeds are the main things to hang on this otherwise simple piece, and are well-considered while also fitting their application; I like the 'twist' on the second seed that keeps it from being predictable.

349: Grey Boy

• Kind of reminds me a little of Transmetropolitan, but that's only an aesthetic. This is essentially a space hipster, being as different from the rest of transhumanity as possibly but close enough to be able to tell them he did it before it was cool. Much like your other entries, I like the little details that help give the whole thing a sense of scale, and the story seeds are good for the most part. I will say the first seed is a little too vague on what he can bring to the table for Firewall, as "unique perspective" isn't exactly something that can be imagined by us flats.

350: Charge Craters

• A theorized hazard for travel on the Lunar surface, extraterrestrial static shock. A downright mundane hazard for rather nice story seeds, especially the third one. The second one feels implausibly petty as wetwork goes.

351: Comet For Sale

• A comet was partially settled, abandoned, and the AGI left behind claims squatter's rights and attempted to renovate the place only for the place to be abandoned financially a second time. Now the AGI is avoiding the sunk cost fallacy and dumping the place. I appreciate the incorporation of scale when it comes to its three year orbit and expensive 'landing' requirements, which adds a good bit of verisimilitude. In regard to the first story seed, Lionel is supposed to be seen as mad, right? Because I strongly doubt normal people would need proof that comets are weaponizable.

352: Operation Orphan

• A protocol concerning the search for the transhuman faction that worked with the TITANs, showing signs of being a full-on HYDRA translated into the Eclipse Phase setting. I like the set-up for this, the general tone given for its use in a game, and the story seed as a good opening hook for the whole concept.

353: Junyo

• A very believable insight on the nature of cannibalism in the setting, followed up by an NPC that makes me think of a chef that's half-shark, half-Hannibal. I strongly appreciate the detail on what makes cannibalism remain proper fare (pun intended) for horror and the suggestion to use the NPC as an excuse to bring out the table snacks.

354: Bioreactor 12

• A surviving TITAN superweapon that mass produces async soldiers. I like how it's a MacGuffin that's not just another piece of Clarke Tech, and its existence speaks of potential cold wars by transhumanity. The story seed, while simple, is well described and evocative.

355: K-Mach

• A combat synthmorph the size of a truck, this essentially fills the niche of the Jaeger, and I appreciate the fact it's essentially an outdated piece of military hardware, especially because that means we can have the grizzled veteran pulling it out of their garage like something from an action movie.

356: The Mind Parasitoids

• A psychic brain slug, checking all the boxes for campy sci-fi adventure. Not sure what else to say, because it fills the goal of translating the classic trope to Eclipse Phase terminology/application, which is good if you like that sort of thing. Fortunately, I do.

357: Cupella

• An autistic 'cat-lady' assassin that specializes in directing its mark into unfortunate 'accidents', along with a pack of intelligent cats that may or may not be the true caretakers. I'm usually not a big fan of autistic NPCs, but the application here seems to be toward just making Cupella non-communicative, so the character is easier to swallow. Otherwise, a pretty nice aesthetic for an antagonist.

358: Honour Stitch

• Heirloom organs, serving as markers of respect with an illustrious history. This is really evocative and I will very likely use in the hypothetical EP game I plan on running, especially since it's more or less just window dressing and I will totally get a kick out of using it. The story seed is rather basic and obvious, but it gives more names and such, so it's not useless.

359: Frontier

• Another Firewall 'failsafe', which judging by the nature of its job, isn't a big surprise. This is a post-apocalyptic alien world being set up for relocation in the event of another threat to transhumanity. The description is classically cool. The story seed feels kind of forced, and is conceptually similar to the Space Lightning entry, but this is otherwise a decent entry.

360: AF Anabaptists

• Religious sects that have adapted to life in a post-Fall reality, including space Amish (isn't there Amish Space Vampire porn?), religious space ghettos, and religious infomorphs that work as NPCs in space Farmville (we get it, they're in space!). As stated, this is a thought experiment entry, and I feel it fills that goal well while also giving some decent world-building. A reminder of what Rumspringa is would've been nice, as I had to Google it to get proper context for the seed. It's otherwise a nice reminder of where you can actually use the Space Anabaptists in your game.

361: Jayne Joyce

• A good list of how orphans are handled in the setting, followed up with what looks to be space Annie (I'm on a 'space' prefix kick, apparently), including a decent rundown for how she can be used. Downright heartwarming in concept, though the story seed feels off for reasons I'm having trouble putting to words.

362: Ghost Planet

• An Iktomi graveyard, filled with fungal chest bursters in appropriately evocative horror style. I really like this entry.

363: The Cloud Entelechy

• An Eclipse Phase version of becoming one with the life stream, permitting one's ego to disperse into the Mesh as some kind of massively distributed 'thing'. Very evocative words and hints of good ways to describe its presence, but it lacks much details on what the Cloud does that might intersect with the PCs.

364: Gilgamikael

• Classified exsurgent terrorist that works as a low-tech basilisk hack, bringing eloquent arguments to the table to convert people to want the exsurgent virus. This comes off as one of those Faustian mastermind villains (being a worm that walks helps) that aims for the long game without bothering with plots to thwart, and I love it.

365: Greetings from the Future

• A potential time machine is detected on Earth, discovered by strange case of deja vu transmission. The basic conceits of introducing time travel in Eclipse Phase are well described, though I feel it could stand to include other considerations. The story seed is basic, but it's good to have placeholders and names.

[virgil]

Bloody finally! I have reviewed the last 60% of Farcast. On the whole, this is truly an excellent resource for anyone who wants/needs inspiration for their Eclipse Phase campaign, even if it's just to add little background material. More than a few have value in other games, which is all the cooler for the yearblog. The main flaws that come up is that occasionally they stray into being too niche to actually see use even as window-dressing, let alone be of legitimate use in an adventure.

[momothefiddler]

Nice work! I'm impressed that you did it and glad it got done.

[Chamomile]

It took 18 months pretty much on the dot to see this done. I'm a little bit disappointed to see it happen. It was halfway to becoming our Half-Life 3.

[Ancient History]

Yay! Thank you virgil and all the rest. I live for feedback.

So...I think I promised rewards for such dedication, including but not limited to:

* OSSR on a book I truly loathe, like Gehenna or World of Darkness: Gypsies or Wraeththu.

* Running a play-by-post erotically-charged sexventure on the forum

* Creating an rpg with any three keywords you provide

So virgil, what, if any of those do you want?

[Omegonthesane]

Virgil, I feel I should request that you spend it on reviewing Gehenna, since the reasons why the other two examples are terribad are more widely known - I suspect WoD Gypsies can even be mocked on the Big Purple.