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ABERRANT WORLDWIDE:PHASE ONE

Aberrant Worldwide is a book of four loosely linked adventures that create a mini-campaign for the significant events of the Aberrant world from 2008-2010. Given that previous products had focused on the setting and characters, this book is the answer to most Aberrant GM's prayers as it gives both a direction and an example of Aberrant adventures that have long been needed. (The problem for those unfamiliar with the game is that Aberrant lacks supervillians. All Novas can earn millions with their powers just by doing the rounds of talk shows. There is no economic incentive for crime, and so apart from some sociopaths, nationalist mercenaries and philosophical terrorists, the heroes have very little to do. Most world problems are being solved by Project Utopia, so the traditional bent of the game has been exploring the various conspiracies and plots of the movers and shakers a la X-files. This was first explored in the Storytellers Screen book with its 3 introductory adventures. However, they were not very good in my opinion.)

(Players look away now, or the surprise and suspense will be ruined for you. I am firmly of the belief that GM's need to know exactly what they might be buying, and what are the important metaplot developments in the product, but this WILL ruin it for Players. )

The first adventure is rather innovative, as it concerns the 2008 American Presidential elections. This rather loose adventure depends mainly upon the GM to provide details and work timings as the players support Randell 'the Fireman' Portman as the first Nova to be the Democratic Presidential Candidate. Even more exciting is the option to allow one of the players to play the candidate, and one that I'd strongly recommend. This is because, as written, Portman is a bit of a loon who fears that hyper-intelligent novas will take over the world. Not only does this present an immediate problem for any smart PC's, but it also means some hyper-intelligent novas start behaving very stupidly and send assassins after Portman.

The other candidates and their resources, positions, plots and secrets are quite good and the list of Primary's is useful. However, the omission of possible policy areas of conflict and 'standard' political dirty tricks means that the GM had better take some notes from the current Presidential fight.

The implications of this adventure are quite momentous as the players will now have either an ally or firm enemy as the leader of the free world. That might become very relevant to the 3rd adventure. Finally the effects of a Pro-Utopia Nova (as Portman is) on the Directive will be very interesting, and I hope that is addressed in the upcoming Directive source book. Unfortunately, they don't make much of an appearance which is either an oversight, or a very subtle part of the meta-plot. Overall, its an original idea which is poorly executed, but is salvageable.

The second adventure, termed 'The Apostacy' concentrates on Utopia's efforts to terraform the Sahara. The PC's nose around a bit, fight a taint maddened Utopian and then hear that ecological mastermind and 'Swamp Thing' look alike Antaeus has left Utopia and is looking to discuss the meaning of life and novahood with whatever faction the PC's represent. This adventure is perhaps the weakest of the four as its very staged and although the players get to meet Aberrant, Team tomorrow and Teragen luminaries, far too much depends on the GM's portrayal of Antaeus. Unfortunately his motivations are not really made clear beyond a general level of dissatisfaction. (Which presumably explains his desire to let others motivate him with their experiences.)

Perhaps the reason this adventure was included is to give the PC's a chance to learn how to interact with a 'supernova' (Quantum 6+) because they'll be doing a whole lot more of that before long. Antaeus after all cerishes life, so he wont kill them like a bug as their soon to be new acquantices might.

The third adventure concerns Gabriel Melchior, a plague bearing David Koresh-like supernova who has just escaped from Bahrain and Utopia's experiments. The characters start by tracking him across the world, following the trail of sick and dying baselines who he unintentionally infects with plagues and diseases. (This provides a perfect opportunity for GM's to dig out Richard Prestons 'The Hot Zone' and describe exactly how Ebola kills and how contagious it is.)

Then comes the siege element of the adventure. Melchior holes up in his compound with the true believers and threatens to destroy the world by using his biomanipulation powers to create incurable plagues unless his demands are met...... Except, it never clearly states what his demands are, other than a ranting "Leave me alone, its all a conspiracy, God told me to do it" sort of thing. And all the factions (including the Teragen!) scramble to diffuse and situation and so make it more volatile. Proteus wants to kill him, the Directive and Utopia want to capture him while the Aberrants and Teragen want to recruit him. And the players get put in the middle of this, along with a paranoid baseline US general who has a nuke and isn't afraid to use it.

Needless to say, this adventure is full of tension, intrigue, desperation and trouble. It also has the ability to completely wreck your campaign if your players mess up in the slightest as anywhere between 10 million to 1 billion human lives stand to die. There may even be a point where the players get on the phone to their friend the US President and request permission to nuke Las Vegas before the plagues spread. In short, its is one of the most high-stakes situations that a group of PC's could experience.

The final episode concerns the long-awaited fate of Andre 'The Fugitive' Corbin and the Slider murder. Details are provided on Sliders death, so PC's can investigate (if they haven't been doing so already) and then, in 2010 Corbin gets tired of running and announces to the world that he is handing himself over to the UN in order to clear his name.

The major conflict comes not at the trial, but before it when Corbin is collected by Team Tomorrow. Novas from all around gather at Bahrain to watch Corbins surrender, when the Teragen crash the party and Team Tomorrow try to take them as well. A big fight ensues between Mr Supernova Quantum 6 Caestus Pax and Even More Super Nova Divis Mal (with his appalling Quantum 8). Suffice to say, the PC's get to join the melee, but otherwise steer well clear of the two titans battling it out. All in all, the description of their fight and the powers they throw around are the most comic-book munchkinly excessive I've ever seen in a White Wolf product. But it is exciting, and it becomes part of Aberrants history. (I can see the characters in future games gathering together with other novas and telling tales of where they were when Pax met Mal.)

As an anticlimax to the fireworks comes Slider trial itself, where the Hague judges consider the evidence. This part seems a bit rushed over and basically comes down to whether the PC's have collected evidence to prove Corbins innocence, or whether they sell out or otherwise frame him. Once again the outcomes of this adventure will change the face of your campaign. If your PC's have been good little Aberrants then the Nova Golden Age and Utopias spotless reputation comes to an end (roughly in line with Trinity) and the world begins to reconsider their opinion of Novas, while if your PC's are Proteus plants, they can restore confidence in Utopia and pave the way for another decade of trust between Novas and baselines.

In conclusion, Aberrant Worldwide is a fairly good campaign book that draws back some of the veils of the metaplot and empower the PC's to change their game world. The other side of this coin is that it also allows them to destroy the world if they mess up. The adventures are a mix of originality, excitement and intrigue, with only the Apostacy feeling like a space-filler. Overall, I'd recommend this book to all Aberrant GM's who want a coherent direction to the game.

All comments welcome.

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

Aberrant Worldwide Phase One
Author: White wolfers Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Aberrant Cost: $21.50 or £13:00 Page count: ? ISBN: 1-56504-684-6 SKU: 8530 Capsule Review by Stephen Joseph Ellis on 04/15/00. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Conspiracy Superhero	ABERRANT WORLDWIDE:PHASE ONE Aberrant Worldwide is a book of four loosely linked adventures that create a mini-campaign for the significant events of the Aberrant world from 2008-2010. Given that previous products had focused on the setting and characters, this book is the answer to most Aberrant GM's prayers as it gives both a direction and an example of Aberrant adventures that have long been needed. (The problem for those unfamiliar with the game is that Aberrant lacks supervillians. All Novas can earn millions with their powers just by doing the rounds of talk shows. There is no economic incentive for crime, and so apart from some sociopaths, nationalist mercenaries and philosophical terrorists, the heroes have very little to do. Most world problems are being solved by Project Utopia, so the traditional bent of the game has been exploring the various conspiracies and plots of the movers and shakers a la X-files. This was first explored in the Storytellers Screen book with its 3 introductory adventures. However, they were not very good in my opinion.) (Players look away now, or the surprise and suspense will be ruined for you. I am firmly of the belief that GM's need to know exactly what they might be buying, and what are the important metaplot developments in the product, but this WILL ruin it for Players. ) The first adventure is rather innovative, as it concerns the 2008 American Presidential elections. This rather loose adventure depends mainly upon the GM to provide details and work timings as the players support Randell 'the Fireman' Portman as the first Nova to be the Democratic Presidential Candidate. Even more exciting is the option to allow one of the players to play the candidate, and one that I'd strongly recommend. This is because, as written, Portman is a bit of a loon who fears that hyper-intelligent novas will take over the world. Not only does this present an immediate problem for any smart PC's, but it also means some hyper-intelligent novas start behaving very stupidly and send assassins after Portman. The other candidates and their resources, positions, plots and secrets are quite good and the list of Primary's is useful. However, the omission of possible policy areas of conflict and 'standard' political dirty tricks means that the GM had better take some notes from the current Presidential fight. The implications of this adventure are quite momentous as the players will now have either an ally or firm enemy as the leader of the free world. That might become very relevant to the 3rd adventure. Finally the effects of a Pro-Utopia Nova (as Portman is) on the Directive will be very interesting, and I hope that is addressed in the upcoming Directive source book. Unfortunately, they don't make much of an appearance which is either an oversight, or a very subtle part of the meta-plot. Overall, its an original idea which is poorly executed, but is salvageable. The second adventure, termed 'The Apostacy' concentrates on Utopia's efforts to terraform the Sahara. The PC's nose around a bit, fight a taint maddened Utopian and then hear that ecological mastermind and 'Swamp Thing' look alike Antaeus has left Utopia and is looking to discuss the meaning of life and novahood with whatever faction the PC's represent. This adventure is perhaps the weakest of the four as its very staged and although the players get to meet Aberrant, Team tomorrow and Teragen luminaries, far too much depends on the GM's portrayal of Antaeus. Unfortunately his motivations are not really made clear beyond a general level of dissatisfaction. (Which presumably explains his desire to let others motivate him with their experiences.) Perhaps the reason this adventure was included is to give the PC's a chance to learn how to interact with a 'supernova' (Quantum 6+) because they'll be doing a whole lot more of that before long. Antaeus after all cerishes life, so he wont kill them like a bug as their soon to be new acquantices might. The third adventure concerns Gabriel Melchior, a plague bearing David Koresh-like supernova who has just escaped from Bahrain and Utopia's experiments. The characters start by tracking him across the world, following the trail of sick and dying baselines who he unintentionally infects with plagues and diseases. (This provides a perfect opportunity for GM's to dig out Richard Prestons 'The Hot Zone' and describe exactly how Ebola kills and how contagious it is.) Then comes the siege element of the adventure. Melchior holes up in his compound with the true believers and threatens to destroy the world by using his biomanipulation powers to create incurable plagues unless his demands are met...... Except, it never clearly states what his demands are, other than a ranting "Leave me alone, its all a conspiracy, God told me to do it" sort of thing. And all the factions (including the Teragen!) scramble to diffuse and situation and so make it more volatile. Proteus wants to kill him, the Directive and Utopia want to capture him while the Aberrants and Teragen want to recruit him. And the players get put in the middle of this, along with a paranoid baseline US general who has a nuke and isn't afraid to use it. Needless to say, this adventure is full of tension, intrigue, desperation and trouble. It also has the ability to completely wreck your campaign if your players mess up in the slightest as anywhere between 10 million to 1 billion human lives stand to die. There may even be a point where the players get on the phone to their friend the US President and request permission to nuke Las Vegas before the plagues spread. In short, its is one of the most high-stakes situations that a group of PC's could experience. The final episode concerns the long-awaited fate of Andre 'The Fugitive' Corbin and the Slider murder. Details are provided on Sliders death, so PC's can investigate (if they haven't been doing so already) and then, in 2010 Corbin gets tired of running and announces to the world that he is handing himself over to the UN in order to clear his name. The major conflict comes not at the trial, but before it when Corbin is collected by Team Tomorrow. Novas from all around gather at Bahrain to watch Corbins surrender, when the Teragen crash the party and Team Tomorrow try to take them as well. A big fight ensues between Mr Supernova Quantum 6 Caestus Pax and Even More Super Nova Divis Mal (with his appalling Quantum 8). Suffice to say, the PC's get to join the melee, but otherwise steer well clear of the two titans battling it out. All in all, the description of their fight and the powers they throw around are the most comic-book munchkinly excessive I've ever seen in a White Wolf product. But it is exciting, and it becomes part of Aberrants history. (I can see the characters in future games gathering together with other novas and telling tales of where they were when Pax met Mal.) As an anticlimax to the fireworks comes Slider trial itself, where the Hague judges consider the evidence. This part seems a bit rushed over and basically comes down to whether the PC's have collected evidence to prove Corbins innocence, or whether they sell out or otherwise frame him. Once again the outcomes of this adventure will change the face of your campaign. If your PC's have been good little Aberrants then the Nova Golden Age and Utopias spotless reputation comes to an end (roughly in line with Trinity) and the world begins to reconsider their opinion of Novas, while if your PC's are Proteus plants, they can restore confidence in Utopia and pave the way for another decade of trust between Novas and baselines. In conclusion, Aberrant Worldwide is a fairly good campaign book that draws back some of the veils of the metaplot and empower the PC's to change their game world. The other side of this coin is that it also allows them to destroy the world if they mess up. The adventures are a mix of originality, excitement and intrigue, with only the Apostacy feeling like a space-filler. Overall, I'd recommend this book to all Aberrant GM's who want a coherent direction to the game. All comments welcome. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Aberrant Worldwide Phase One