Firewall

Running a Firewall campaign is an extremely rewarding way to approach Eclipse Phase. Firewall presents the GM with a ready-made framework to explore multiple aspects of the game’s setting and involve your PCs in all manner of trouble, from low-stakes missions to galaxy-shaking apocalypses.

Designing the Server

Your first step is to sketch out some notes on the server the PCs will be working with. What is the server’s focus? Hypercorp espionage, tracking TITAN activity, gatecrashing ops, countering exhumans, or monitoring Earth or the TQZ? These are just a few of the interests that can provide fertile ground to launch a campaign. Decide on the server’s goals and then choose which of Firewall factions and philosophies it leans towards. Are they risk-taking pragmatists or stodgy conservatives? Is there an internal split within the server?

These answers will help establish how well your PCs fit with the server. Do they share motivations? Or will they bristle when they receive instructions they disagree with? Will the PCs be asked to do things they find personally objectionable? The more you understand your server, the better prepared you’ll be when your players surprise you with their actions.

Initially, it’s likely the PCs will only deal with a handful of other Firewall members. Take the opportunity to establish some details about the key proxies the team will interact with: a router, a vector, and maybe a register. Give each a motivation relating to the PCs. Even better, have these goals be modestly conflicting. Ask yourself a few questions about these proxies to establish more characterization. Do they withhold information from the PCs and, if so, why? Are they a control freak or lax about their duties? What transhuman factions do they align with? How were they recruited by Firewall, and what have they seen?

It may also be helpful to pick an ally and enemy for the server. Do they work closely with the Argonauts? Do they have a rival server or an unseen benefactor? Is there an exhuman they have foiled multiple times that has sworn vengeance? Finally, don’t forget to give the server a cool name!

Joining Firewall

How you introduce the PCs to Firewall will have a profound effect on your campaign. If your players are fresh to Eclipse Phase, it may be best to start them as civilians who run afoul of something strange and get recruited by Firewall in the aftermath. This allows you to slowly introduce the conspiracy and wha they face over time.

Experienced players may prefer to jump in as fresh recruits or established sentinels, allowing you to jump deeper into the conspiracy. Consider running brief one-on-one scenes with each of them to detail their recruitment. Were they approached after they dealt with an unexpected threat? Did Firewall rescue them? Perhaps Firewall had them under long-term surveillance to determine their suitability because they possess a skill set of use to the network.

A campaign with experienced Eclipse Phase players may benefit from one or more players taking on a proxy role. This type of campaign can explore the internal politics and deepest secrets of Firewall. Groups with a mix of new and experienced players may benefit from having the experienced player portray the cell’s proxy or a proxy vector who activates alongside the cell. This can be particularly effective as fresh players will feel less overwhelmed by the setting, but as the GM you’ll want to make sure the experienced player doesn’t ride roughshod over the newer players. Firewall cells sometimes have a hierarchy, but these are rarely strict ones.

Talk to your players about how they envision their relationships to Firewall. Not everyone joins without reservations and even the most gung-ho member is likely to have some doubts. This may provide you with ideas for future plot hooks.

Cases and Operations

Firewall has a number of ongoing cases (research and response-planning projects) and operations, including:

  • Operation AXON VULGAR investigates asyncs and their infection.
  • Operation CENOTAPH monitors Earth and its interdiction zone.
  • Operation ERRANT ECCENTRIC researches other ASIs.
  • Operation FUMIGANT pursues exsurgent sleeper cells on Luna.
  • Operation GEHENNA FORTY tracks lost exoplanet colonies.
  • Operation GLASS LICH infiltrates oligarch activities.
  • Operation ICE NINE investigates advanced physics x-risks.
  • Case NEGATIVE GEOMETRY attempts to understand the pandora gates and their wormholes.
  • Operation SOLAR STORM is hot on the tail of a suspected TITAN.
  • Operation VINEGAR gathers intel on the Factors.
  • Case YELLOW KING studies recovered TITAN technology.

The Eye

Be sure to introduce the PCs to Firewall’s internal social network, the Eye. Every sentinel and proxy has a unique, encrypted identity on the Eye and it will be the primary way your PCs interact with the organization. It is also the basis of their i-rep. Their ability to advance within Firewall and learn more of its secrets will be influenced by their conduct here. For the GM, the Eye is an important tool to introduce plot hooks and important NPCs. You can offer hints and red herrings through postings on the Eye and create memorable NPCs who may never do more than post wild speculations.

Firewall Interactions

Firewall offers much to your PCs. The MP and GP provided for morphs and gear on Firewall ops are covered by the organization, but it’s important not to turn it into a deus ex machina. PCs can and should expect some level of support, but Firewall’s resources are finite and it expects a level of self sufficiency from its sentinels and proxies. Preferred morphs may be unavailable, lines of credit insufficient for the needs of ongoing operations, or intelligence may be incorrect or even compromised. PCs will routinely carry out operations at a breakneck speed without time for planning or contingency, and Firewall expects them to be up to the task. Sentinels who become overly reliant on outside support may find themselves given fewer operations, or tasks that match the increasingly low expectation of their server. Firewall as a whole won’t seek to make life more difficult for any of its members but individual proxies may withhold non-critical support of troublesome sentinels. The more critical the mission, the greater the resources that will be made available for sentinels. Smart PCs — and players — may come to realize that when Firewall provides a huge cache of armaments, credits, and top-end morphs. it means that they are in for some hard times.

Firewall is not always your characters’ friend. It is an illegal, unauthorized, and unsanctioned conspiracy that demands tremendous sacrifices while withholding information from its operatives. The organization’s deepest secrets are known only to a handful of proxies, and it is rife with factions, cliques, small conspiracies, infiltrators, and even traitors. While Firewall as a whole is capable of functioning, and even thriving, in the presence of these internal challenges and threats, individual cells and servers may be compromised or destroyed as a result. The organization’s stated goals are noble, but its deeds are sometimes desperate. PCs may find themselves negotiating complex situations on Firewall’s behalf. They might also be sacrificed to protect the greater good of the network. Depending on their server and proxies, they may be viewed as trusted allies or assets to be exploited. Most of the time they will fall somewhere in between. Be careful not to create a feeling of ongoing animosity between the network and your PC’s cell. Some friction is common, but by and large Firewall treats its members with respect and care.

PCs recently inducted into Firewall may find themselves assigned to operations with very limited intel and pushed into morally dubious situations with a high probability of mission failure. These might in fact be loyalty tests, an uncommon but not unheard of technique by which the network ensures its sentinels — and even proxies — are both loyal and philosophically compliant with the broad ethics of Firewall. PCs may even find their cell tasked with conducting loyalty tests on other members, an experience likely to be unpleasant for all involved.

Depending on their talents and the needs of their server, PCs may be assigned to discreet, unrelated missions. More often, though, a cell works on missions with related goals or as part of an ongoing operation. Firewall servers may be dedicated to relatively specific goals and their constituent cells devoted to related tasks. A server’s overall goals may be well known across the Eye, but their actual operations are typically highly classified and coded.