Eclipse Phase

While I haven't been playing games lately (other than a round of Tiny Epic Galaxies), I've been trying to normalize my sleep cycles by reading. In particular, I've been trying to read through the Eclipse Phase RPG corebook. Overall, the game has a lot of interesting ideas, and makes a darker counterpart to GURPS Transhuman Space's realism. However, there are some flaws in the setting as written:

1. It doesn't deal with the implications of the transfer of human minds as data. Just like with transporters in Star Trek, whether the original mind is Cut-and-Pasted or Copied-and-Pasted is never dealt with in the setting book. This is a more detailed discussion of the problem.
2. The setting seems a little too much of a kitchen sink. The addition of psionic abilities and extra-solar planetary exploration (or "Gatecrashing") sort of seem tacked on to me. Come to think of it, EP is maybe another case study of SciFi writers' compulsion to have FTL or "Stargate" technology in their setting. 

The above is not to say I dislike the game. However, were I to run a game of it (unlikely in the foreseeable future), I'd probably make a few changes:

1. No Gatecrashing - unless it's a campaign focused on extrasolar colonization. The solar system, even without Earth as a population center, (Did I mention Eclipse Phase is post-apocalyptic horror?) has more than enough interesting stuff for player characters to explore. Some truly alien environments can be found on Europa, Titan, or in areas contaminated by the apocalypse/singularity
2. No psionics, or possibly lessened psionics. I need to think about this one. It is possible that psionics was added to the game by developers in order to make biological bodies a more interesting option than they otherwise would have been. Unsurprisingly, robot bodies have quite a bit more utility in combat and space exploration than fleshy bodies; adding psionics (Eclipse Phase calls them "sleights") gives biological characters more options. However, this line of reasoning is suspect because sleights cannot be used against digital entities, despite the fact that the nano-virus origin of Psi can also affect them.  
3. Less casual resleeving (transferring consciousness into a new body). This is probably the biggest change to the setting, as a lot of it is predicated on a fairly loose relationship between mind and body that is incomprehensible to modern humans without severe dysphoria. Resleeving can be replaced, at least in part, with brain-in-a-tank deliveries. I've read some of the game fiction, and resleeving is pretty casual in them. It's honestly a little bit of a turn-off, as discussed above. 

LEGOs for tabletop games

Why should I buy minis when I can use LEGO or similar toys? Much more customization options and you can actually behead a minifig with a vorpal sword.

I used to have a lot of LEGO pieces lying around, and still have some collecting dust at my parents' house. At some point, I will be using them for my hobby gaming again.

BrickQuest is a particularly clever way of doing so, as even the adventurer's character sheet is elegantly communicated in the form of ABS plastic.

LEGO bricks also hold together a lot better that a lot of miniatures, as a the studs will simply click together. Objects on inclines will be a lot less...inclined to fall over, which is a perennial problem with miniatures at more than a slight angle.

From free brik-focused games like BrickQuest or BrikWars to fan-made accessories like BrickArms (also made of ABS plastic), there are plenty of options for converting a game into equivalent pieces.

Another brik-based game of note is Mechaton, which although not longer available, developed into Mobile Frame Zero, which, like BrickQuest, actually makes use of the studly nature of the playing pieces with little-bitty custom-built doom robots. Sadly, I haven't had the opportunity to play it yet. Maybe when I can actually move with my LEGO collection?

Admittedly, the actual LEGO company isn't selling a huge number of sets that are particularly relevant to my past gaming interests right now. If I were in a Star Wars game, that would naturally be a different story. I suppose it's just as well that I'm too absorbed in homework to worry about LEGO right now, anyway.