I’m really psyched about the new Kickstarter for Eclipse Phase Second Edition, and if you are a fan of the game you are probably psyched too. If you aren’t, though, you might want to check out Renegade Octopus’s blog for some reasons to give it a look. For my two cents, just keep reading!

EP2 as the book is (inevitably) called, promises a few different things that sound pretty great. First of all, they are making the package system introduced in Transhuman the default option for character creation. This is pretty great for the game itself but I’m also hoping that they are keeping the point-buy system in some fashion since that allows for some fine-detail character creation for veteran players.

They are also doing a lot to encourage faster gameplay as well as faster chargen: reduced number of skills so you aren’t always searching through your sheet, a change to gear costs so that people will actually use the rep favor system, and streamlined systems for combat and hacking among others. If you’ve ever tried to hack something in Eclipse Phase you probably realized quickly that it needed a whole flowchart to keep the steps and conditions straight.

This is all awesome, but in a sense they are playing with fire. Was the old system perfect? No, not nearly. But was it fun and gritty? Yes. Hopefully the new systems involve all the detail-oriented gameplay that is integral to the complex setting and world of Eclipse Phase and we don’t end up with a watery, sloshy version instead.

The thing that has me most excited, though, is the list of stretch goals. We already have two unlocked, the freelancer bonus and NPC File Volume 2. I think it’s awesome that Posthuman Studios includes a freelancer bonus in all of their Kickstarters: it shows that they care and it speaks to me as a customer that there are people being actively motivated to make the best product they can. As for NPC File Vol. 2, I’ve been waiting years for this puppy and I’m practically salivating for it.

Next up is The Whispering Muse series that promises to feature topics “off the beaten path” in the Eclipse Phase universe. Examples they list include more information on Meathab, trends in Zero-G fashion, and the Ten Most Beautiful Sights in the Solar System. My predictions for other topics include sports, food, and birth… Which reminds me, I should wrap up my own thoughts on being born in Eclipse Phase.

After this is another freelancer bonus and then a Player’s Guide which promises to provide a lot of the new and interesting bits that we saw in Transhuman for the first edition. After that, your guess is as good as mine. Based on their stretch goals for Transhuman, I’m thinking these will include a few adventures (since they asked Caleb Stokes to write something because of Know Evil, maybe they’ll be tapping Ross Payton because of Duality) as well as another mini-book like Argonauts or Zone Stalkers (which both came out of the Transhuman Kickstarter).

In short, this is a great time to get into Eclipse Phase, not least because some of the stretch goals allow you to grab everything in the series at a cut-rate price. So hopefully I’ll see you among the backers!