Events

Eclipse Phase: Sunward is up for the Origins Award for Best RPG Supplement this weekend at the Origins game fair. We're up against some stiff competition this year. And yet based on some posts I've read in various online gaming communities over the last few years, there are probably people out there asking, "So what?"

There's a perception that because the Origins game fair has declined in attendance since its heyday, the awards presented there are somehow less momentous than others in the gaming community. And then there's the fact that some important publishers in the industry have skipped submitting their products in recent years.

I'm not personally obsessed with winning awards. I write because I love doing it. However, for better or worse, awards are a boon to us in terms of keeping the business end going. So here's why I think Origins still matters:

1. GAMA's role in nominations. GAMA remains the primary industry group for hobby games, despite some publishers not participating in it. GAMA's role in the awards give the nominations a particular flavor. They're comparable in some ways to the World Fantasy Awards in the science fiction community. Fans get to participate in the voting, but the nominations are driven by people who've been publishing games themselves. This is neither better nor worse than the entirely fan driven process of the ENnies -- but it's different, and that makes it interesting.
2. New players have entered the arena! Some of the nominations this year went to exciting new contenders. Others went to established companies who didn't have games in the field last year. Either way, Sunward is in a run for its money.
3. The history of the Origins awards provides a benchmark for present day efforts. It really meant a lot coming home with a few ENnies last year. The competition was fierce, and the fan community takes the ENnies very seriously. But the Origins Awards have some history on their sides. Winning Best RPG last year put EP on a list that includes greats like Call of Cthulhu (1981) and Paranoia (1984). That doesn't mean EP has the stature of CoC -- but it does mean we're looking at some big shoes, and the gaming community is encouraging us to fill them.

So if you're at Origins this year, please vote (preferably for us!), and if you have friends who are there, encourage them to vote as well. If you think our efforts have been worth it, let the rest of the gaming community know.

Thanks again for all of your support the last few years!

I doubt this post is likely to generate much controversy, but just to be clear, these are my own views, not those of Posthuman Studios.

Calling all Eclipse Phase players and supporters—we need your help!

If you have ever game mastered an Eclipse Phase game you may be able to help us out. We have three major events coming up where we’d like the help of our GMs.

Gen Con
First we need GMs for Gen Con (August 4-7, Indianapolis, Indiana). This means that if you are going to Gen Con and would be interested in helping us out by running games please email Brian Cross, who’s coordinating our convention presence, at brian@posthumanstudios.com as soon as possible. For Gen Con we have already committed to running 20 games, a significant increase over last year. And Gen Con is really a place where we’d like to show off Eclipse Phase and provide an excellent experience for people who are new to the game.

GMs who sign up to help us out at Gen Con will be compensated by both Gen Con (see the official site for details) and Posthuman Studios willadditionally compensate our GMs with either PS+ products or cash payment at a rate dependent upon the number of games run.

Actual Play Contest
Next we want to hear about your actual play of Eclipse Phase for our blog. To that end we will be running a contest. Send us your accounts of your campaigns and the major player characters in 2000 words or less. We will review all of the entries and post the top four entries on the website which will then be voted upon by you, the community. All entries must be submitted to info@posthumanstudios.com by midnight August 1, 2011. The winner will receive a fabulous prize (TBD!) and will also get their campaign and characters written in to an upcoming Eclipse Phase book.

Other Conventions
Finally we want to know if you are running any of your own games at Origins, Gen Con, PAX or any other cons please let us know so that we can make an announcement here on the website and through our other venues. While we can only run a small number of games ourselves, we want to support other GMs running our games as well!

If you have any questions please contact Brian Cross at brian@posthumanstudios.com, via the site's message system, or leave comment in this blog post.

Below is a list of Eclipse Phase games scheduled for PAX East. This second incarnation of PAX in New England will take place at the Seaport Convention Center just outside downtown Boston on March 11-13, 2011. I'll be running all three sessions.

All games will take place in the RPG Sandbox area hosted by PAX's amazing Tabletop team.

Eclipse Phase Games (and a Panel!):

Friday, 3/11
2pm-4pm	Xenovore	2 hour intermediate game
Saturday, 3/12
2pm-4pm	Hypnogogia	2 hour beginner game
Sunday, 3/13
12pm-2pm	Xenovore	2 hour intermediate game
4:30pm-5:30pm	Getting What You Want Out of Your Gamemaster	1 hour panel, Merman Theater

Hypnagogia (beginner game): Your Firewall team's been shot into the lightless void at the edge of the Solar System to reconnoiter the interdimensional gate at Eris, a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt. But en route, your ship's AI wakes you from cryo sleep to investigate a ship -- drifting lifelessly away from the location you've been sent to investigate. The only people out here are xenophobic Exhumans and equally unfriendly Ultimate mercenaries, so boarding the drifting hulk could get interesting -- if anyone's still alive.

Xenovore (intermediate game, but will teach rules to beginners): Gatecrashing -- exploration of xenoplanets via Pandora gates -- can be both fabulously rewarding and unspeakably dangerous. The Iktomi ruins on Vishnu IV looked like the find of your careers. With a little luck, you won't end up another layer of dust atop this dead civilization. 'Xenovore' is the first EP scenario to be based on material from the newest EP book, Gatecrashing and features PCs generated from an open design call to EP fans.

Getting What You Want Out of Your Gamemaster (panel): Gaming books are full of sage advice for GMs on why players play and how to keep them happy, but what do GMs want? Why do they spend so much time preparing games for us? And most importantly, how can players use this to get what they want out of their RPG campaign? Award winning game designers Luke Crane (Burning Wheel), Jack Graham (Eclipse Phase), and Joshua A.C. Newman (Shock: Social Science Fiction) talk about why we play games, why we run games, and how we design them to make them engaging for everyone involved. This event takes place in the Merman Theater.

Update (12/13): It looks like I'll also be running this scenario as an event on Infrno.net (so you non-North Americans will have a chance to jump in) some time in February or March. I'll announce the date when I know for sure.

Have your 2 @-rep on the pregens for Xenovore, the scenario I'm writing to run at TempleCon this spring in New England. Here's the scenario description:

'Xenovore.' Four hour slot. Gatecrashing -- exploration of xenoplanets via Pandora gates -- can be both fabulously rewarding and unspeakably dangerous. The Iktomi ruins on Vishnu IV looked like the find of your careers... at first. But now you're going to need some luck if you don't want to end up another layer of dust atop this dead civilization.

Help me put together the perfect Gatecrashing team. 'Xenovore' is being written for a team of six gatecrashers. If you were at the table, who would you want to play? Two of the PCs will be developed by me using material from the forthcoming Gatecrashing book. The other four are up to you! Here's how it'll work:

• Submit no more than one character description in the comment thread on our blog by 12/16/2010.
• Character descriptions should contain only the following:

• Name (optional, and I might or might not use it)
• Faction
• Background
• Morph
• Concept (in 50 words or less)

• I'll ignore any suggestions that go beyond the information specified above.
• If your suggestion is used, I'll give credit. If Posthuman ends up releasing Xenovore, I'll request that they include credit, as well.
• You assign all rights to your character description to me (Jack Graham) upon submission. I agree that they will be used only for Eclipse Phase products, or for Eclipse Phase material released independently by me under Creative Commons licensing.
• If you're reading this on Facebook, please click through to the actual comment thread on eclipsephase.com so that I only have to look in one place. Thanks.

Please note that Xenovore isn't an official EP project; it's just an adventure that I'll be taking to cons. I will be offering it to Posthuman. If they decline, I'll put it out for free on my web site.