Here's the second in a series on running Eclipse Phase. Advice here is based on our experience running our own EP campaigns and shouldn't be taken as a canonical interpretation of the rules. Hopefully it will be helpful to GMs feeling their way around situations that the rules don't yet cover in detail.

Someone on the forums asked how one identifies TITAN technology. How difficult you want to make it to identify and work with TITAN technology will depend a lot upon your players. Some TITAN tech might look quite innocuous to someone who doesn't know what they're dealing with -- part of the reason it can be so dangerous.

Here are some ideas to try on, though:

• Appearance. Can be weirdly designed, mindbendingly difficult just to look at (a la the Pandora gates), or other wise alien-looking.
• Composition. Unusual chemical composition, advanced materials, novel crystalline structures, etc. can clue science-oriented characters in to the fact that they're dealing with something beyond H+ technology.
• Freaky When Activated. Some TITAN tech doesn't look like much until it's active and releasing swarms of femtobots or liquid metal hunter-killers.
• Hostile Device. Most devices are self-documenting to some extent and have a device AI to which you can talk. Ones that don't might be trouble.
• Infectious. The tech has some ability to infect unfortunate victims with a strain of the Exsurgent virus.
• Infosec Attacks. Some TITAN tech will actively make Infosec attacks on nearby devices -- including PCs' headware! Jamming them with Interfacing or isolating them behind RF shields can contain this problem, but if a device starts attacking people over the Mesh, odds are it isn't friendly.
• Not in Databases. Read the description of Repair Spray, a very common item. Computing power is so vast in EP that for a can of repair spray to maintain a massive database of device schematics used to repair common objects is no problem. Unique/novel devices don't show up in any database, making them suspect.
• Possession is 9/10ths. If the freakish exsurgent monster your sentinels just took out has something on them that looked like a cross between a Mi-Go brain cylinder and an IR-spectrum glow stick, it warrants suspicion.
• Psychically Active. Some TITAN techs are nothing to write home about physically but reveal their secrets to characters with sleights like Grok. One of the reasons we included psychic PCs in the game was because their powers provide another channel for GMs to give PCs info about the bizarre alien & TITAN techs they might come across.

Check out the skill sets on some of the characters like the Xenoarcheologist who have both async powers and lots of science skills for an idea of how PCs might go about analyzing and identifying TITAN tech.

Dealing with TITAN tech is a challenge for your players. If you have a group that wants to shoot at stuff and not think too hard, make it easy (although in this case, I'm not sure why they're playing EP, as it doesn't reward gun bunnies much). If you've got a group that will enjoy performing nanodetector scans and chemical analysis from a distance while a servitor bot remotely prods at the thing for them, trying to unlock its secrets, make it harder and dish out clues slowly based on successful Academics, Interest, and/or Profession tests.

Finally, the game gives you many opportunities to throw out some red herrings. Could be the potentially dangerous object they're investigating isn't TITAN tech at all, but Factor tech, or a relic of the Iktomi. Keep the players guessing; paranoia is an important part of the game.

Just a quick update: The EP Gamemaster Pack is off to the printers! As usual, we won't announce a street date until it's confirmed, but expect it to be a couple of months. We'll make it available for pre-order a bit beforehand. The PDF version of the screen and accompanying adventure will be available before the print release too.

In other news, the first print run of the EP core rulebook has nearly sold through, which means we'll be taking it in for a reprint soon. Thanks to everyone for the fantastic support and making this game a success!

We'll be updating the second printing with errata, of course (which will also be incorporated into a new version of the core book PDF), so we're putting out a last call for errata items here. If you've found something that needs to be fixed, post it in our errata thread by the end of this week (Friday January 22nd). We'll be going through these and compiling changes as necessary.

Effective as of last week, Catalyst Game Labs has lowered the prices for its core rulebook PDFs for all game lines. This includes:

SHADOWRUN

Shadowrun 20^th Anniversary Edition: $15
Runner’s Companion: $12
Arsenal: $12
Augmentation: $12
Unwired: $12
Street Magic: $12

BATTLETECH

Total Warfare: $15
TechManual: $15
Tactical Operation: $15
Strategic Operations: $15

CTHULHUTECH

CthulhuTech Core Rulebook: $15

Catalyst Game Labs has embraced electronic publishing as a vital medium for expanding a community’s enjoyment of a game line. This is readily apparent with the launch of Eclipse Phase under the Creative Commons license and at a $15 price point, simultaneously with the release of the print rulebook into standard distribution. Catalyst Game Labs continues to follow this pattern with the recent publication of Leviathans’ Lieutenant’s Manual, the first major miniatures game release also utilizing the Creative Commons license, embracing the open-minded nature of the electronic medium.

At the same time Catalyst Game Labs is dedicated to supporting brick-and-mortar hobby stores, still the life’s blood of our hobby and the greatest avenue for new players to be exposed to new games. The Catalyst RED (Retailer Electronic Distribution) combines Catalyst embracing of electronic distribution and retailer support into a single system that allows retailers to sell our PDFs directly to customers.

The release of both Eclipse Phase Core Rulebook and Leviathans’ Lieutenant’s Manual PDFs at a reduced price showcased the willingness of gamers to “check out a new game” if the price is reasonable; especially combined with the willingness of a publisher to stand by the quality and strength of their game line. With two of the most icon universes in our industry (and a fabulous up-and-coming game line) Catalyst Game Labs is standing by the strength and quality of its game lines, lowering the price of its introductory products for the entire gaming community.

If you’ve always wanted to check out Shadowrun or BattleTech (or would like to return after a long hiatus), there’s never been a better chance to grab a PDF and see what the excitement is all about! Our PDFs are available from our own BattleShop or DriveThruRPG.

The folks over at RPG Blog II posted up their Best and Worst of Gaming in 2009, and they selected Eclipse Phase as the best sci-fi product of the year:

Best Sci-Fi Product

Gold: Eclipse Phase

I don't usually do Transhuman sci-fi, but Eclipse Phase mixes it with horror and a bit of investigative conspiracy and comes up with a nice shot in the arm for the sci-fi RPG genre. Oh, and did I mention it was published under a Creative Commons license? Total bonus points there.

That's an awesome compliment, thanks guys!