EP2: Open Source Blueprint Hack

Resource/Bluperint Rules Hacks

Acquiring Ware

These rules assume that any 'good' has a digital version, file or license associated with it, as the primary means of delivery, sale or distribution. It is cheaper to store and transmit a file than it is to move a physical good around a hab or transhuman space. These digital goods are called 'Wares', much in the same way that there is Meshware, Synthware, Bioware, Nanofabrication Blueprint and so on.

Acquiring any digital Ware is a Research test in locations with access to the Mesh. The parameters of this test encompass everything from search criteria (Looking for burner apps, ALI updates, etc), to local mesh integrity to traffic and search engine manipulation. Unless the local Mesh is completely isolated from the rest of transhumanity, these rules assume that almost all licensed and open-source blueprints are accessible. Local mesh conditions such as traffic filters and banned networks can limit accessibility, but not completely- such effects are modifiers on the roll. This is to articulate how in say [Faction] habs, it's difficult to find the kind of ware that a rival faction would provide.

Basic acquisition uses the Rep Modifier table, expanded here for reference. The player chooses how much time they wish to spend on the search with the appropriate modifier, and then the quality or complexity of the Ware they wish to acquire. Combine both factors to determine the final modifier before rolling. The GM can assign additional bonuses or penalties based on local conditions, but no combination of penalties should exceed more 60 after all calculation.

The player chooses the strictness of their criteria first, and then the GM assigns additional modifiers based on local accessibility. Complexity reflects how difficult this Ware would be to acquire as a Favor via Rep test, which is intended to be an alternate method of acquisition. All ware-acquisition research rolls are Task Actions based on the Mesh, which benefit from Digital Speed and other modifiers. Unless the ware in question is contained within a simmulspace environment, one cannot use relative time dilation to 'search' faster, as the archives and hosting platforms change too quickly. In addition, the desired file or license may have a Complexity modifier, which stacks with the Speed Modifier.

Research Speed Modifier Complexity Modifier Description
Less than an hour -30 Trivial +30 This Ware will do what you want, but will be quirky or have flaws. In essence, you're accepting a certain number of quirks in exchange for an inexpensive patch.
4 hours +0 Minor +10 This Ware is no frills, with unobtrusive flaws with no mechanical impact. Think shareware and nagware.
8 hours +10 Moderate +0 This Ware has top shelf reviews, up to date specs and no critical vulnerabilities. Consumer or 'power user' grade.
24 hours +30 Major -30 The absolute top shelf of software and nanofabrication design. Made by professionals or enthusiasts for the same with attention to detail that borders on the artistic.

These rules assume that all attempts to find a Ware do so with intent to succeed and find the best and cheapest option possible. As such, all BPs are assumed to have a GP cost of zero unless otherwise noted.

Success on the Research Test secures either a legitimate copy of the Ware in question or it's open-source equivalent. By default, the rules assume the Ware has the most appropriate license for it's function, or 'Single Use' at no additional cost.

The player at this point has the option of upgrading it or it's attached sub-wares, ALIs and so on for additional GP as detailed below. Any Degree of Success counts as +1GP worth of 'free' upgrade, while a Critical counts as an additional +2. Therefore a character who gets a 1-degree Critical has a phenomenal +3GP budget on their 'choice find'.

Failure on this test still secures the Ware in question, but the GM may add 1 quirk per Degree of Failure, and +2 per Critical. The player may of course spend GP at the same rate to 'buy down' these flaws. Alternatively, diagnosing and removing these flaws can be attempted with appropriate Active and Know Skills. The same applies to cracking license restrictions.

Digital delivery of the goods occurs within approximately 1 minute of acquisition or purchase, depending on local Mesh conditions. Fabrication and installation take longer, usually based on the Complexity of the Ware in question, and can have their own material and reputation costs.

Ware Quirks

  • Add +1 Quirk per Degree of Failure (Every 33/66/99 on the roll)
  • Add +2 Quirks on a Critical Failure.
  • Modular Quirks such as Awkward UX count as 1 quirk per -10 modifier.

** Alternate Rule **
An alternate method to determine the number of quirks is as follows: For every Degree of Failure (with a Critical counting as 2 degrees), the GM rolls 1d100. For every +20 on the result (rounded down), the Ware has that many quirks.
EX. A roll of 63 rounds down to 60, becoming 3 quirks. A critical failure with 2 base degrees would roll 4d100.
A roll of 20 or less confers 1 quirk.

  • DRM: As App-Lock (pg 326).
  • Authenticated: Requires constant Mesh access.
  • Awkward UX: -10 to -30 to tests with the ware or tool.
  • Skill Minimum: Requires 30/60/90 minimum skill to use, install, fabricate.
  • Demanding: The ware requires a skill test with some regularity- every month, week, day, hour, use.
  • Hobbled ALI: Reduce ALIs skill points, primarily those related to help functions and autonomous utility.
  • Missing ALI: The ware has no assigned ALI, which must be acquired separately or programmed by the end user.
  • Unsupported: The ware is an old version, meaning it has compatibility issues with contemporary products.
  • Vulnerable: -10 to -30 on Hacking actions made against the Ware if applicable.
  • Trojan: The ware is engineered with security holes or similar that allow for illicit access. Hacking attempts made through a Trojan Ware vulnerability count as one degree of covert better than without.
  • Restricted: The ware is on a white or blacklist with nanofabrication, other meshware, and so on. Installation or fabrication requires administrator permission or appropriate hacking/hardware tests.

Open Source versus Licensed Ware

A license exists to protect proprietary technologies, secure against deleterious proliferation (Such as weapons of mass destruction, nanohazards, and so on), and maintain the grip on the market. Implicitly along with a license, the end user is guaranteed a number of privileges such as technical support, refund and similar professional courtesies.

Open-source ware, by contrast, is the domain of passionate leaders of industry, academics, students and anarchists. They range from the utilitarian hobby wares and indepenedent VR games to large multi-hab affairs such as the Argonaut PlantLib project.

The functional difference is that Open Source ware relies primarily on Rep Networks to maintain themselves, both in terms of 'payment' and in terms of curating content. Licensed ware also must contend with rep networks, as a bad DRM or poor customer service can lead to terrible, crippling loses for the license-issuer.

Most legitimate users automatically instruct their muses to give Rep to ware providers, be they licensed or open source, and will downvote bad service or poor experiences. The downside of Open Source rep networking is that doing so tends to reveal to outsiders what you're buying and where- leaving a digital trail as well.

Cost modifiers and License Types

Eclipse Phase assumes that GP is acquired either via Mission Packs, Resource Trait, or Favors via Rep Tests. All goods are priced based on how expensive it is to get their File or License, not the actual physical item.

Cost Description
-XGP A traditionally more powerful license is deliberately downgraded to a lesser version. For every level of downgrade, the cost is reduced by 1.
+XGP Upgrading a lower level license to a higher level one costs 1GP per upgrade.
+1GP Additional spawns or holders for a Consumable or Floating License; Make a Rep Test and get [DoS x2] extra instances. Can be bought repeatedly.
+0GP The license is free, either released by the owner that way, or as Open-Source
+Rep The license does not cost anything other than a Rep test or similar action describing the 'buyer' as saying 'I bought this from that provider and they do good work!' Leaves evidence.
Favor The License is Exclusive or proprietary, and can only be acquired via a Rep Test.
+0GP Basic ALI
+1GP Specialized ALI [Security, Kaos, Sentry, etc], this ALI is bound to the attached Ware.
+XGP Unshackled ALI: The ALI has it's own license or was acquired independently, and can be migrated or copied across multiple devices.
+3GP Custom ALI [tbd]
+1-3GP Proprietary - The ware is for a singular IP or similar.
+5GP Restricted - The Ware is Rare, potentially dangerous or otherwise restricted.
  • Consumable License: Once the file loaded into a morph, device or fabber, it is consumed in the process of installation or fabrication. Consumable Licenses can for a minor surcharge allow additional installations or instances, but they consume a finite stock of 'spawns' determined at time of acquisition- usually no more than five per license.
  • Floating License: This license uses a secure* method of instance tracking; essentially the user may make, destroy and remake the same item over and over again, but they cannot make multiple copies.
  • Shared License: Like a floating License, this file can be shared among a set number* of end users, usually determined at time of purchase. Commonly used when groups must be equipped with standardized gear or when manpower fluctuates.
  • Unlimited License: Distinct from Open-Source, an Unlimited License is an offically supported product that you can instance as many times as you can afford to. These are commensurately rare, and have commensurately strict EULAs that most people still ignore. Unlimited licenses use a similar instance-tracking* method as Floating Licenses, to ensure that the license-owner and their castoffs can be tracked, much like the serial number on a weapon.
  • Restricted License: A variant that can be attached to any other License Type, a Restricted License is the 'Rare Goods' modifier for Ware. It adds numerous security features to prevent copying, such as Copylock, and similar. Think 'Nuclear weapons' or 'Nanoplagues'. Things you want tracked and tracable. Most nanofabbricators are hard-coded to refuse Restricted Licenses without admin approval.

Entries marked with * can be cracked with a Programming or similar test as appropriate. Doing so is considered illegal in several habs and juristictions if noticed. Once a Ware is hacked, it is considered Open Source, though additional effort to obfuscate the code is recommended as to prevent legal or extralegal investigation.

Modification

TL;DR

Licensed ware can't be modified without being cracked, doing so voids most of it's 'Warranty features'. Fucking up a licensed ware can 'brick' the file. Smart hackers and crackers save copies before fucking with them.
Open Source ware loves being modified.

Gear Via Rep

This supplements the rules on pages 312 and 308 of the EP2 core rulebook.

Spending a favor via a Rep Test is primarily intended to secure an item or tool first, with it's executable or license as a secondary concern. Essentially Rep is used when a character wishes to borrow (indefinitely) an item someone else in their rep network has on-hand or comparatively easy access to.

As a general rule, increase the complexity of the Favor by 1 if the asker desires both the Item and the relevant Ware.

Note that a character with sufficient Hardware, Programming or similar Active/Know Skills can reverse engineer anything, which is an implicit factor in any exchange of Favors.

Delivery and Fabrication

All of the above rules assume that the primary means of acquiring gear is via Blueprints for physical goods, or data files for meshware. The action of Eclipse Phase however does not always allow players the time to fabricate these goods. Or the game tone is such that you are given gear packs on site by firewall agents, gatecrashing support staff, and so on. Instead, often times goods are procured via favors, rep-trading, or the simple expedient of cash. Delivery is an optional surcharge. The expectation is that even assuming no delivery fee is paid, the item (be it Ware or a physical instance) will arrive- eventually.

Think of the 'Delivery phase as paying for shipping and handling, except you're also paying for someone who already had one available to let you borrow theirs. Most people, especially @-rep and similar, expect a commensurate reputation boost in exchange for the indefinite or permanent loan of the item in question.

Favors may be spent at the appropriate ratio instead of Resources/GP. Ex a Minor Favor = 1 GP = 12 hour delivery.

+0GP The item will be available within 24 hours
+1GP The item will be available within 12 hours
+2GP The item will be available within 8 hours
+3GP The item will be available within 4 hours
+4GP The item will be available within 2 hours
+5GP The item is immediately available, and will be in your morphs possession or accessible at mission start.

Character Generation Gear and License

EP2 assumes that a character has at minimum a Floating License for every piece of gear they can acquire with the starting Mission GP (By default 20).
Starting gear also comes with the most basic examples of ALI as appropriate, with Kaos, Security, Sentry and other specialized ALIs costing additional GP.

notes/overview

- Everything should be balanced around digital media, licensing and open-source BPs.

- Piracy and cracking should be a common thing and PC-attainable, as is writing one's own Ware and BPs.

Open Source:

Research + Rep Modifiers (as per EP2 core)
- Open Source Ware and BPs are Quirky, they do not follow standardized principles of design
— On a Fail, Ware/BP is acquired with either
— a -10 usage penalty
— A Quirk (TBD)
— A minimum skill qualifier (Must have [Skill 30/60/90+] due to how slipshod or awkawrd the design is.
— Requires Skill-test per use.

Pros
Free: Open Source BPs never cost anything except for Feedstock if they require exotic materials
Self-Regulated: Communities will aggressively curate and update open source BPs and archives of BPs.
Repeatable: Very few OSBPs are instance-limited.

Cons:
Quirky: Open Source BPs run the risk of having odd quirks or usability problems.
Unregulated: Malicious actors may attempt to use OSBPs as vectors for expliots and similar- this is a constant struggle, new attacks are being developed nearly as fast as they're being downvoted and removed. Important: The game assumes you will get a Sincere Copy most of the time.
Unsupported: OSBPs do not have fully featured ALIs- their Know: [Self] skill is capped at 30, reflecting poor or outdated documentation.
Alternately: OSBPs do not come with ALIs at all, if applicable. You have to write your own!
Illegal: Several OSBPs are either cracks of legitimate IPs, or obvious knockoffs. Alternatively, malicious IP-holders attempt to limit the spread of competitor products.

Professiona/Official Ware/BP
Convenient: In a healthy environment, official ware is the easiest and safest thing to buy.
Functional: Works out of the box, every time.
Supported: Updates are posted with regularity and with official fanfare.

- Cost: They must be bought with GP or Rep
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