''Eclipse Phase'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

with transhumanist themes. Originally published by Catalyst Game Labs, ''Eclipse Phase'' is now published by the game's creators,

Posthuman Studios Posthuman Studios is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements. History Catalyst Game Labs's fourth roleplaying line was ''Eclipse Phase'' (2009), the product of Posthuman Studios, a new game design studio cre ...

, and is released under a

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

license.

Setting

''Eclipse Phase'' is a

game based on transhumanism, and the themes of post-apocalyptic, conspiracy, and horror. It takes place after a

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical World war, worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use ...

project to create

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

known as TITANs has gone rogue, resulting in the deaths of over 90% of the inhabitants of Earth. Earth is subsequently abandoned, and existing colonies throughout the Solar System are expanded to accommodate the refugees. The setting explores a spectrum of socioeconomic systems in each of these colonies: *A

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

/ republican system exists in the Inner System (Mars, the Moon, and Mercury), under the Planetary Consortium, a corporate body which allows the election of representatives but whose shareholders are nominally most powerful. *An

Extropian Extropianism, also referred to as the philosophy of extropy, is an "evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition". Extropians believe that advances in science and technology will some day let people l ...

Propertarian Propertarianism, or proprietarianism, is a political philosophy that reduces all questions of ethics to the right to own property. On property rights, it advocates private property based on Lockean sticky property norms, where an owner keeps ...

system is established in the Asteroid Belt. The Extropians are split into two subfactions, an anarcho-capitalist group, more closely related to the Hypercapitalists and a mutualist group, related closely to the Anarchists. *A military oligarchy rules the moons around Jupiter. *An alliance of Scandinavia-style

social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

and

Collectivist anarchism Collectivist anarchism, also called anarchist collectivism and anarcho-collectivism, Buckley, A. M. (2011). ''Anarchism''. Essential Libraryp. 97 "Collectivist anarchism, also called anarcho-collectivism, arose after mutualism." . is an anarchis ...

are dominant in the Outer System. From there, the setting explores various scientific advances, extrapolated far into the future.

Nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

, terraforming, Zero-G living, upgrading animal sapience, and

reputation system Reputation systems are programs or algorithms that allow users to rate each other in online communities in order to build trust through reputation. Some common uses of these systems can be found on E-commerce websites such as eBay, Amazon.com, and ...

s are all used as plot points and background. With all of this, the game encourages players to confront existential threats like aliens, weapons of mass destruction, Exsurgent Virus outbreaks, and political unrest.

Mechanics

''Eclipse Phase'' uses a simple roll-under

percentile die Dice notation (also known as dice algebra, common dice notation, RPG dice notation, and several other titles) is a system to represent different combinations of dice in wargames and tabletop role-playing games using simple algebra-like notation such ...

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 failure. For damage resolution (whether physical damage caused by

injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

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.

Books

Released

*''Eclipse Phase (Core Rulebook)'' (2009) *''Sunward'', *''Gatecrashing'' *''Panopticon'' (2011) *''Rimward'' (2012) *''Transhuman'' (2013) *''Firewall'' (2015) *''X-Risks'' (2016) *''Eclipse Phase (Core Rulebook, Second Edition)'' (2019)

Nano Ops

*''Nano Op: Grinder'' *''Nano Op: All That Glitters'' *''Nano Op: Better on the Inside'' *''Nano Op: Binge'' *''Nano Op: Body Count''

Upcoming

* Lifepath Character Creation (Second Edition) - In Layout * Morph Recognition Guide, Revised (Title TBD) - Layout * Your Whispering Muse (EP2 KS Stretch Goal) - Dev * Blackvein's Underworld Guide - Drafts * System Gazetteer - Outline * Space Combat (Final Title TBD) - Outline/Drafts

Creative Commons License

The ''Eclipse Phase'' roleplaying game was released under a

Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license, and newer printings have updated to the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 license ; the text found on the ''Eclipse Phase'' website is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. As stated on their website, the publishers encourage players and gamemasters to recreate, alter, and "remix" the material for non-commercial purposes as long as Posthuman Studios is attributed, and any derivatives are licensed under the same Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Further, copying and sharing the game's electronic versions non-commercially is legal.

Reception

In 2010, it won the 36th Annual Origins award for Best Roleplaying Game of 2009. It also won three 2010

ENnie awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

: Gold for Best Writing, Silver for Best Cover Art, and Silver for Product of the Year.

References

External links

*
''Eclipse Phase'' page at Geekdo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eclipse Phase (Role-Playing Game) Creative Commons-licensed books Creative Commons-licensed games ENnies winners Games about extraterrestrial life Malware in fiction Origins Award winners Post-apocalyptic role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 2009 Science fiction horror Science fiction role-playing games Social reputation in fiction Dystopian fiction Fiction about consciousness transfer Fiction about the Solar System Transhumanism in fiction Cybernetted society in fiction Brain–computer interfacing in fiction Genetic engineering in fiction Biorobotics in fiction Artificial intelligence in fiction Artificial wormholes in fiction Cyborgs in fiction