Recap Eclipse Phase: Ego Hunter

Since I moved to Brisbane in September I have been trying to gather interested parties in participating in Role Playing Games (RPGs). Recently, I have been working in conjunction the Brisbane Geek Social Club through Meet Up and offering an avenue for people interested in RPGs to come and have a go. The focus of the group is to show case a number of systems through one shot scenarios that can be wrapped up in 1-3 sessions. Giving people the opportunity to try a number of systems, try out performing the role of Game Master (GM), and allowing people to jump into a new game without having to commit to a long term campaign.

In the past I have run two sessions Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space [Knight of the Comet], and Dread [Beneath Metallic Skies]. This time round I ran Eclipse Phase [Ego Hunter]. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Eclipse Phase it is a post-scarcity, trans-human, post-apocalyptic setting, where death is not final, where one can download their mind (ego) to another body (morph). The setting has very strong horror and intrigue investigatory themes. One of the largest benefits of Eclipse Phase is how accessible the source material is being shared for free through Rob Boyle.

Ego Hunter is a one shot scenario that is interesting because the majority of the Player Characters (PCs) play the same beta fork (a copy of one mind with prunes memories and experiences). After receiving a strange message the PCs are on the hunt for their original self, expecting the worse. This scenario was written as a convention play with pre-generated PCs which all have their own private messages and motivations.

Ego Hunter was written with the intention of being a standalone adventure for convention atmospheres, to be completed in 4-5 hours with up to 8 players. I ended having to split the adventure over two sessions which totalled about 7 hours in gaming time. In our first session this included 3 players and the subsequent session having 4. I would love to see how it the scenario runs with 8 players and fitting it into a 4-5 hour slot, even with pre-gen characters and people familiar with the setting I reckon it might be tough.

Going against the recommendations in the scenario I decided initially with three players that I would have three PCs:

• Achjima beta 1, I handed all the secret messages of Achjima 1-4 to this character.
• Nkeka, secretly posing as one of the Achjima beta forks (suggested by the Alexandrian).
• Roque, was played as intended.
• Park, entered the game in the second session wanting to help her friend Achjima out.

Overall, I enjoyed running this scenario, especially with characters with slightly different motivations and goals and watching the mischief unfold. With three characters nearly completely fulfilling their goals and the fourth going out in a blaze of glory. Feedback from the players was also quite positive. The scenario has ample clues and information nodes to get the players to where they need to go. I could not suggest utilising The Alexandrian’s prep notes for Ego Hunter more. The prep notes give a very concise illustration of all the clues and hooks in the adventure, they also provide a revised map for the final encounter in the air processing plant.