The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I have to admit, Aberrant gave me something of a surprise. To be perfectly honest, I have never been a White Wolf fan. Something about the legions of depressed vampires and sullen werewolves who inhabit the World of Darkness just doesn't do it for me. Never-the-less, I like the dot-based D10 system White Wolf uses, because it keeps roleplaying up front, and rules in the background, where they belong. It was because I liked the rules that I gave Aberrant a try, and I am very glad I did. The game takes place in the near future, a future in which Earth has been saturated with radiation, causing strange mutations in a small node in the brain. This mutation enables certain individuals, known as Novas, to channel quantum energy, allowing them to do, in many ways, anything.

The book itself is divided into a color section detailing background, and a black and white section dealing with rules. The color section is made to look like the browser of a near-future TV/Web appliance, tuned to the N! Network (All Novas, all the time). Novas are extremely popular, much more so than athletes or move stars are now. People look up to them, imitate them, even dress like them. Novas dominate athletics, business, and the media. Novas scientists have cured AIDS, and defeated pollution; Nova stock analysts have made fortunes and redefined economics; Nova mercenaries (Elites) have changed international politics and warfare. Since anyone can "erupt" into a Nova, rags-to-riches stories are not uncommon. It's touches like these that make the world of Aberrant (note: it is not the World of Darkness) a convincing and believable one. Reading the background, one plainly sees the impact of novas on society.

The color section also contains several comic strips which are used to further detail the game world. One explains why Novas are so special, another deals with an important conspiracy sub-plot, and so on. I liked the idea of using a comic for background in a super hero game, but the ideas the authors try to express are weighty, necessarily making the word balloons in the comics gigantic, and in many cases obscuring the characters who are speaking. Other than this point, I thought the comics did what they set out to do by clarifying some of the more difficult concepts.

Also included in the color section are an assortment of e-mails, letters, phone conversations, and surveillance images. Media saturation is a major theme of the game, and I liked the varied touch. My only problem was that sprinkled into many of the e-mails and letters were slight to moderate spoilers. On the other hand, there is a huge amount of info in the color section, and one has to be familiar with the secrets of the background to tell the difference between a spoiler and a red herring...I suppose it isn't a big deal.

As the colored background section ends, the black and white rules section begins. Separating the two is genius, and it makes finding just what you are looking for a snap. The rules are basically your typical White Wolf rules concerning combat, skills, endurance, etc. If you have played any of the White Wolf World of Darkness games, you will feel right at home. The only exception is that now, instead of raising the number on a D10 needed to succeed at a tougher task, one simply needs more successes on a roll of seven or better. Also, the counter-intuitive botch rules have been tweaked, and they now work just fine.

Finally, we get to character creation, Aberrant's main strength. Players do not create a ready-made super hero straight out of the mold. Instead, they first use White Wolf's rules for creating a normal, every-day human. Once the initial creation process is complete, the player places his new character in an extremely stressful situation, causing him to erupt into a Nova. A Nova's powers are often tied into the situation in which they erupted. For example, one of my players created a construction worker who was nearly crushed to death by a falling girder. At the last second before the girder hit, the character's node kicked in, and he used a new-found control of magnetism to save himself. All of this is handled in a sort of short flashback, that can be roleplayed out. The Nova creation process gives the players 30 Nova points to buy all sorts of powers like Growth, Quantum Bolt, and Clone. A player can also purchase Mega Attributes, which are powered-up attributes that correspond to the normal attributes that everyone has, Intelligence, Manipulate, Strength, etc... Someone with two dots in Mega Strength could toss around cars, for instance. Obviously, the better the power, the more points it costs for each dot. Characters can buy some of their powers at a reduced cost, but doing so forces them to take Taint. Taint at low levels can turn a Nova's skin green, make him sweat white light, or go bald. At higher levels, Taint can make the Nova emit hard radiation, or go insane.

I liked Aberrant. I liked the game rules, I liked the character creation process, and I liked the decision to keep the background and rules in separate sections. Some complaints about Aberrant deal with the power level of the PCs, alleging (rightly) that a starting PC can be extremely powerful. This is the idea, of course, and the challenges these powerful PCs face are equally powerful, if not more so. I think the power level and scope of Aberrant is one of its most impressive qualities. PCs can change the world, and they are expected to. The artwork ranged from fair to top-notch, but was, overall, well done. Each of the powers is illustrated, a touch that I enjoyed. I was shocked to find that the book had a comprehensive index, bravo! The book I have is a well-done hardcover that has so-far stood up to abuse quite well. I hear the hardcover is now out of print, but the graphic-novel style replacement is supposedly quite nice too. There are a few minor typos, but nothing serious. The biggest problem I could anticipate from Aberrant is that it is not compatible with generic super hero games because of all the White Wolf plot-specific powers and backgrounds. Even so, this can be fixed with a little work, and White Wolf's vision of a world touched by demigods is so interesting, I can't see why anyone would want to take the rules anywhere else. If you have any interest in intelligently-handled super hero games, or the Storyteller system, check this game out!

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Aberrant
Author: Justin Achilli, Andrew Bates, Robert Hatch, et al Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Aberrant Cost: $29.95 Page count: 286 ISBN: 1-56504-625-0 Playtest Review by Jonathan Witt on 12/16/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Conspiracy Superhero	I have to admit, Aberrant gave me something of a surprise. To be perfectly honest, I have never been a White Wolf fan. Something about the legions of depressed vampires and sullen werewolves who inhabit the World of Darkness just doesn't do it for me. Never-the-less, I like the dot-based D10 system White Wolf uses, because it keeps roleplaying up front, and rules in the background, where they belong. It was because I liked the rules that I gave Aberrant a try, and I am very glad I did. The game takes place in the near future, a future in which Earth has been saturated with radiation, causing strange mutations in a small node in the brain. This mutation enables certain individuals, known as Novas, to channel quantum energy, allowing them to do, in many ways, anything. The book itself is divided into a color section detailing background, and a black and white section dealing with rules. The color section is made to look like the browser of a near-future TV/Web appliance, tuned to the N! Network (All Novas, all the time). Novas are extremely popular, much more so than athletes or move stars are now. People look up to them, imitate them, even dress like them. Novas dominate athletics, business, and the media. Novas scientists have cured AIDS, and defeated pollution; Nova stock analysts have made fortunes and redefined economics; Nova mercenaries (Elites) have changed international politics and warfare. Since anyone can "erupt" into a Nova, rags-to-riches stories are not uncommon. It's touches like these that make the world of Aberrant (note: it is not the World of Darkness) a convincing and believable one. Reading the background, one plainly sees the impact of novas on society. The color section also contains several comic strips which are used to further detail the game world. One explains why Novas are so special, another deals with an important conspiracy sub-plot, and so on. I liked the idea of using a comic for background in a super hero game, but the ideas the authors try to express are weighty, necessarily making the word balloons in the comics gigantic, and in many cases obscuring the characters who are speaking. Other than this point, I thought the comics did what they set out to do by clarifying some of the more difficult concepts. Also included in the color section are an assortment of e-mails, letters, phone conversations, and surveillance images. Media saturation is a major theme of the game, and I liked the varied touch. My only problem was that sprinkled into many of the e-mails and letters were slight to moderate spoilers. On the other hand, there is a huge amount of info in the color section, and one has to be familiar with the secrets of the background to tell the difference between a spoiler and a red herring...I suppose it isn't a big deal. As the colored background section ends, the black and white rules section begins. Separating the two is genius, and it makes finding just what you are looking for a snap. The rules are basically your typical White Wolf rules concerning combat, skills, endurance, etc. If you have played any of the White Wolf World of Darkness games, you will feel right at home. The only exception is that now, instead of raising the number on a D10 needed to succeed at a tougher task, one simply needs more successes on a roll of seven or better. Also, the counter-intuitive botch rules have been tweaked, and they now work just fine. Finally, we get to character creation, Aberrant's main strength. Players do not create a ready-made super hero straight out of the mold. Instead, they first use White Wolf's rules for creating a normal, every-day human. Once the initial creation process is complete, the player places his new character in an extremely stressful situation, causing him to erupt into a Nova. A Nova's powers are often tied into the situation in which they erupted. For example, one of my players created a construction worker who was nearly crushed to death by a falling girder. At the last second before the girder hit, the character's node kicked in, and he used a new-found control of magnetism to save himself. All of this is handled in a sort of short flashback, that can be roleplayed out. The Nova creation process gives the players 30 Nova points to buy all sorts of powers like Growth, Quantum Bolt, and Clone. A player can also purchase Mega Attributes, which are powered-up attributes that correspond to the normal attributes that everyone has, Intelligence, Manipulate, Strength, etc... Someone with two dots in Mega Strength could toss around cars, for instance. Obviously, the better the power, the more points it costs for each dot. Characters can buy some of their powers at a reduced cost, but doing so forces them to take Taint. Taint at low levels can turn a Nova's skin green, make him sweat white light, or go bald. At higher levels, Taint can make the Nova emit hard radiation, or go insane. I liked Aberrant. I liked the game rules, I liked the character creation process, and I liked the decision to keep the background and rules in separate sections. Some complaints about Aberrant deal with the power level of the PCs, alleging (rightly) that a starting PC can be extremely powerful. This is the idea, of course, and the challenges these powerful PCs face are equally powerful, if not more so. I think the power level and scope of Aberrant is one of its most impressive qualities. PCs can change the world, and they are expected to. The artwork ranged from fair to top-notch, but was, overall, well done. Each of the powers is illustrated, a touch that I enjoyed. I was shocked to find that the book had a comprehensive index, bravo! The book I have is a well-done hardcover that has so-far stood up to abuse quite well. I hear the hardcover is now out of print, but the graphic-novel style replacement is supposedly quite nice too. There are a few minor typos, but nothing serious. The biggest problem I could anticipate from Aberrant is that it is not compatible with generic super hero games because of all the White Wolf plot-specific powers and backgrounds. Even so, this can be fixed with a little work, and White Wolf's vision of a world touched by demigods is so interesting, I can't see why anyone would want to take the rules anywhere else. If you have any interest in intelligently-handled super hero games, or the Storyteller system, check this game out! Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)