Sigh. Normally I'd be all "My class finished two hours early, WOOO FAE TIME," but instead I'm going to get my car towed as soon as my ride gets here.

What happened?

The gear shift handgrip came off in my hand.

... huh.

Mmm.

Was there a high speed pursuit involved, at least?

My car went through the "leak every fluid it could find, one after the other" phase, and is now in the "how many ways can a gear shift break?" mode.

Nope. I was parking.

... high speed parking? (he asked hopefully)

The previous gearshift had the button snap off, so I had to stick it back in every time I shifted.

I left it in the shop while I was in Israel, and they gave me a new aftermarket shifter... which came off in my hand this morning. Nothing seems to have broken, it just... fell apart.

No, I'm not very daring.

@BESW [facepalm]

So I'm sitting at work on my laptop watching the Equestria Girls trailer drama.

You should read the Eclipse Phase sourcebook so I have someone to geek out about it with.

I would amuse you with my "Lyra's alternate universe" theories, but they would probably be meaningless to you.

Yeah, sorry. Not familiar.

Mm. Candy-colored pony lore.

Win.

There's a Friendship is Magic film in the works, and it's about one of the ponies traveling to a human alternate universe, turning into a highschool girl, and having the kind of hijinks one would expect in a film about a candy-colored pony who turned into a human highschool student.

Naturally, the bronies are splitting at the seams. [bemused]

...these EP quickstart rules are 40+ pages long.

Yes. Yes they are.

Take Shadowrun, replace magic with rampant biotechnology, put it in spaaaaace, and replace the wtfcomplexity of the rules with something simpler... that's what Eclipse Phase seems like to me.

Mm.

I'm having trouble giving credit to the claim that information processing and transmission technology has outpaced user demand.

But it's in spaaaace!

I think the potential for really gritty horror is what's most appealing to me.

Ah.

I'm not especially interested in that genre in... any medium, really.

Some of my players are.

Well, the IP is interesting enough without the horror elements, anyway.

Okay, a guy from work helped get the gearshift back on enough for me to drive it home. I'll take it into the shop in the morning.

I think Zemenar needs a levelup or three, if he's going to be a recurring and valid threat.

Clever +5, Flashy +4, and an extra stunt. Hmm.

Who's afraid of the big bad 16 year old? ;) (I agree, actually)

I'm trying to decide what his stunt should be.

Something Flashy, I think.

Sounds appropriate

If I had more experience with stunts I would try to help

He can become invisible in a whirlwind of fire?

he is the master of gandalfs fireworks?

I would try to gain a +2 to flashy somehow

That, or give him a 1/session Flashy ability.

Because he's a wizard, he gets a plus two when he flashily try to create advantages/distractions against humanness targets

Or, as you say, some super flashy trick once per session

A get out of jail free card comes to mind. [grin]

A self immolating teleport?

Sounds good

I've updated Zemenar. He's a good bit stronger now, and I'm okay with that. He's not the kind of guy you defeat in head-on combat (which the party has generally indicated they don't want a lot of), and I made that pretty clear with his stunts.

I gave him three significant milestones (+1 approach per) and one major milestone (+1 approach, 1 additional refresh), and had him spend two refresh on stunts.

Because I'm using a general pool for NPC fate points, this means he reduces that pool by one when he's around.

(My FP purse for GM compels is bottomless, but FP used by NPCs will start each session as a communal pool with one FP in it per player in the session.)

@Problematic Thoughts?

I really like the flashy defense stunt

He looks like a challenge befitting the title "villain" now.

Yeah, I wasn't originally sure and didn't want Cat's first session to be overpowering.

But now that he's established and all, villain ahoy!

Bad at: creative thinking

I like it.

Glad you like it.

Mooks are fun to make.

Seems like it would be fun to balance their skills and deficiencies with the character they're supporting.

Aye.

So I stayed up way too late reading the Eclipse Phase sourcebooks, then had really weird dreams about being a robot, and having my consciousness split into parts and sent around the solar system.

@Cat howdy

Heya!