Well in the end I decided to go with Eclipse Phase. I was initially somewhat leery of going with it because it’s transhumanist setting is so far removed from common sci-fi tropes and fiction that it seems like it would be hard to get into and hard to convey to the players. I was certainlly wrong about the first part of that. The book is very well written and presents the setting in a manner which is both enthralling and easy to grasp.
In terms of fiction it’s probably the coolest rpg sci-fi setting I’ve come across and it’s certainly revitalised my interest in running a game. Hopefully I’ll be able to convey the setting to the players and, assuming the one off goes well, keep a campaign running till at least September (when I’ll hopefully be able to round up enough people to play the newly released Dark Sun).
At the moment I’m around a third of the way through the main Eclipse Phase book, I’ve finished the main “fluff” chapters and I’m about to move on to the “crunch”. Hopefully the mechanics maintain the excellent quality of the rest of the book. Hell, even if they don’t I’d be happy to convert the setting to either Diaspora’s or Starblazer’s version of FATE.
Listening to: Stiltskin - Inside