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I returned home from my run to the game store with the refund money in my hand from that abomination,Brave New world, and decided to run by the local chain bookstore.

To my unending surprise they had Aberrant on the shelf.

Now let me preface the rest of this review with this :I gravely dislike White Wolf's games, they seem to lose something to me, they leave a hideous taste in my mouth, and strike me as bereft of soul. Don't ask me to explain this; if I could I probably could resolve exactly why I don't like the Storyteller system.

Yet for some reason I purchased Aberrant anyway. Perhaps it is the desire in me for all things Super heroic or may haps it is just an addiction. Yet I was compelled to buy Aberrant. I tucked my purchase under my arm and headed home. Once there I opened up the book, and began reading. I didn't stop till I had read the lasted thing from cover to cover.

I was dutifully overwhelmed there is so much in this book I am still reading and re-reading it to get a clearer sense of the game.

Rules As usual in a book by White Wolf, we find the Storyteller system. This is of course a bad thing--at least when one adds in superpowers: I was terrified of 20d10 STR, 18d10 Intelligence. It was delightful to find that the Storyteller system had resolved super-high attributes differently than I had expected that is by tacking on more dice of effect, instead they have mega attributes: even 1 dot/die of a mega-attribute greatly expands the effect of the normal attribute die pool.

Flaw: The 7/5/3 system for attributes, which was all but dropped in Trinity, rears its ugly head. This has always been one of my major complaints with White Wolf's system: In the real world some people ARE Smarter and Stronger and Prettier than others, and not in a balanced proportion. Some are strong and smart! Some are beautiful and agile; some are stupid, ugly, and weak. No mystical and or divine providence keeps things proportioned equally. In Trinity the option was given to just split the 15 points anyway one wished, which should have been carried into Aberrant, I understand why it wasn't, but that doesn't change the fact that the option should have been offered.

As usual in a White Wolf game we find the "mechanic that we change the name of in every game." in this case Quantum and Quantum Pools, which replaces Paradox/Gnosis/Blood pools etc. It works well, all arguments I could throw at it are merely my personal taste, I don't like games that have no mechanics for Fatigue, but give you a mechanic for tiring out one' "special abilities". Villains and Vigilantes over 15 years ago covered both nicely with its power pool; it's a shame that too often such ideas are overlooked today.

Powers Ultimately the reason to buy Aberrant is to play a super-powered person and get the smackdown(p.247) on someone with eye-beams, or to practice juggling with a VW Bug. Regardless of why you want to play with the spandex-clad, caped, cowled, or other strangely dressed denizen, Aberrant will let you, easily enough. Each Power has a minimum level of power one must have to possess it (Quantum Minimum) and then it has a cost to purchase each level of it, in fact the powers work a lot like skills--add the purchased power rating to Skill and that's the number of dice you roll to wield that power. Then you have to actually spend Quantum from the Quantum pool.

Easy enough, except some powers have very poor descriptions: CLONE is the primary one, and as written is pretty useless. Clone states that it allows a pc to create and exact duplicate of himself/herself. Of course that's a grand idea but the power then slams a limit on there that makes it pointless: -1 to every Skill, attribute, power etc. So in effect the clones are weaker than the pc, less intelligent than the pc, and less beautiful. Don't you love the redefinition of 'exact'?

Claws is another power which I find troublesome primarily it has an added bonus one can gain that lets one do more damage with Guns because one has claws. Huh? Go look I promise it is there. The problem is the name of the power it shouldn't be 'claws' it should be Enhanced Attack/Enhanced Melee Attack. Naming seems to be a big problem with Aberrant: Clone doesn't really let one create a clone, and Claws doesn't really mean just sharp point things on the end of one's digits.

Setting

Not a lot to go on but considering the print size they used, the sheer volume of other information I cannot fault them in anyway for being sparse with setting info. It has as much setting info as any other White Wolf book take that for what it's worth.

Binding Well pure and simple rule of thumb and White Wolf flubbed it: NEVER mix page types in a book if one can help it. It always weakens the bindings. I don't care how special it is to have comic book style pages and normal paper pages together just say no to mixed page types.

Playability

Yes it is very playable, I am unlikely to run a campaign in it, but that is because even as interesting as I find the game it just cannot beat my systems of choice for Superheroes, especially since they being generic do adapt to whatever campaigns I choose to run. However, with luck I will play in Aberrant, and considering I have avoided playing in a White Wolf game for five years that should tell you just how worthwhile I find this game.

Overall

This is the first White Wolf book in the last Eight years that I am really pleased with, it is worth the price I paid for it, which cannot be said of a lot of games these days. It is interesting enough to draw me in, hold me, and inspire me to throw out some character concepts--which no other White Wolf game has ever done.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Aberrant (Softcover)
Author: Robert Hatch and Associates Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Trinityverse Cost: 24.95 Page count: 286 ISBN: 1-56504-626-9 Capsule Review by Tim Kirk on 10/14/99. Genre tags: Superhero	I returned home from my run to the game store with the refund money in my hand from that abomination,Brave New world, and decided to run by the local chain bookstore. To my unending surprise they had Aberrant on the shelf. Now let me preface the rest of this review with this :I gravely dislike White Wolf's games, they seem to lose something to me, they leave a hideous taste in my mouth, and strike me as bereft of soul. Don't ask me to explain this; if I could I probably could resolve exactly why I don't like the Storyteller system. Yet for some reason I purchased Aberrant anyway. Perhaps it is the desire in me for all things Super heroic or may haps it is just an addiction. Yet I was compelled to buy Aberrant. I tucked my purchase under my arm and headed home. Once there I opened up the book, and began reading. I didn't stop till I had read the lasted thing from cover to cover. I was dutifully overwhelmed there is so much in this book I am still reading and re-reading it to get a clearer sense of the game. Rules As usual in a book by White Wolf, we find the Storyteller system. This is of course a bad thing--at least when one adds in superpowers: I was terrified of 20d10 STR, 18d10 Intelligence. It was delightful to find that the Storyteller system had resolved super-high attributes differently than I had expected that is by tacking on more dice of effect, instead they have mega attributes: even 1 dot/die of a mega-attribute greatly expands the effect of the normal attribute die pool. Flaw: The 7/5/3 system for attributes, which was all but dropped in Trinity, rears its ugly head. This has always been one of my major complaints with White Wolf's system: In the real world some people ARE Smarter and Stronger and Prettier than others, and not in a balanced proportion. Some are strong and smart! Some are beautiful and agile; some are stupid, ugly, and weak. No mystical and or divine providence keeps things proportioned equally. In Trinity the option was given to just split the 15 points anyway one wished, which should have been carried into Aberrant, I understand why it wasn't, but that doesn't change the fact that the option should have been offered. As usual in a White Wolf game we find the "mechanic that we change the name of in every game." in this case Quantum and Quantum Pools, which replaces Paradox/Gnosis/Blood pools etc. It works well, all arguments I could throw at it are merely my personal taste, I don't like games that have no mechanics for Fatigue, but give you a mechanic for tiring out one' "special abilities". Villains and Vigilantes over 15 years ago covered both nicely with its power pool; it's a shame that too often such ideas are overlooked today. Powers Ultimately the reason to buy Aberrant is to play a super-powered person and get the smackdown(p.247) on someone with eye-beams, or to practice juggling with a VW Bug. Regardless of why you want to play with the spandex-clad, caped, cowled, or other strangely dressed denizen, Aberrant will let you, easily enough. Each Power has a minimum level of power one must have to possess it (Quantum Minimum) and then it has a cost to purchase each level of it, in fact the powers work a lot like skills--add the purchased power rating to Skill and that's the number of dice you roll to wield that power. Then you have to actually spend Quantum from the Quantum pool. Easy enough, except some powers have very poor descriptions: CLONE is the primary one, and as written is pretty useless. Clone states that it allows a pc to create and exact duplicate of himself/herself. Of course that's a grand idea but the power then slams a limit on there that makes it pointless: -1 to every Skill, attribute, power etc. So in effect the clones are weaker than the pc, less intelligent than the pc, and less beautiful. Don't you love the redefinition of 'exact'? Claws is another power which I find troublesome primarily it has an added bonus one can gain that lets one do more damage with Guns because one has claws. Huh? Go look I promise it is there. The problem is the name of the power it shouldn't be 'claws' it should be Enhanced Attack/Enhanced Melee Attack. Naming seems to be a big problem with Aberrant: Clone doesn't really let one create a clone, and Claws doesn't really mean just sharp point things on the end of one's digits. Setting Not a lot to go on but considering the print size they used, the sheer volume of other information I cannot fault them in anyway for being sparse with setting info. It has as much setting info as any other White Wolf book take that for what it's worth. Binding Well pure and simple rule of thumb and White Wolf flubbed it: NEVER mix page types in a book if one can help it. It always weakens the bindings. I don't care how special it is to have comic book style pages and normal paper pages together just say no to mixed page types. Playability Yes it is very playable, I am unlikely to run a campaign in it, but that is because even as interesting as I find the game it just cannot beat my systems of choice for Superheroes, especially since they being generic do adapt to whatever campaigns I choose to run. However, with luck I will play in Aberrant, and considering I have avoided playing in a White Wolf game for five years that should tell you just how worthwhile I find this game. Overall This is the first White Wolf book in the last Eight years that I am really pleased with, it is worth the price I paid for it, which cannot be said of a lot of games these days. It is interesting enough to draw me in, hold me, and inspire me to throw out some character concepts--which no other White Wolf game has ever done. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Aberrant (Softcover)