The Inside Scoop on Gaming

This supplement provides background material for 14 cities, circa 2008, in the Aberrant campaign world. Each city receives a history, current status (esp. concerning Novas), important data, features and one or more luminaries (usually Novas).

The last 40 pages review the various technologies that have developed to date. Biology, computers, entertainment, transportation, weapons, robotics and smaller subjects are covered. Rules for their use, expansion, game stats and story ideas are provided for every entry.

The writing style is like White Wolf's other Aberrant/Trinity supplements, a lot of in character background novelization and minimum stats or rules. Although it makes the product more fun to read, White Wolf over uses it and is therefore less successful with it than Dream Pod 9 has been with their Jovian Chronicles supplements. Specifically, while they provide background, they only go as far as one could using any novel. There are no diagrams, maps and few tables for the players to reference in this book, for example.

My only other criticism lies in the quantity of material provided. 14 urban centers appear to have been too many to keep their feel or descriptions unique even when extremes are used. Too many postmodern clichés exist in multiple cities to make any of them truly original. Of those detailed, I found the following most original and exciting for adventure: New York City, Montreal, Lagos, Moscow and Venice. The rest were good but were just different mixes of the conditions described in the formerly listed cities. Less cities and more depth, or lower price, would have been better.

In general this supplement left me with the impression that the Aberrant campaign world is a saner, brighter version of MGI's Underground. Novas replace boosted vets and the four-color virtual world boosted vets use to acclimate to their implants, is the reality the Novas have built.

Too expensive to experiment with, even Aberrant players may want to find a used copy. I imagine it is probably worth the price to real fans though.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Aberrant, Year One
Author: Jim Moore, Dean Shomshak, John R. Snead Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Aberrant Cost: $14.95 Page count: 112 ISBN: 1-56504-629-3 SKU: WW8502 Caspule Review by Papyrus on 07/27/00. Genre tags: Science fiction Superhero	This supplement provides background material for 14 cities, circa 2008, in the Aberrant campaign world. Each city receives a history, current status (esp. concerning Novas), important data, features and one or more luminaries (usually Novas). The last 40 pages review the various technologies that have developed to date. Biology, computers, entertainment, transportation, weapons, robotics and smaller subjects are covered. Rules for their use, expansion, game stats and story ideas are provided for every entry. The writing style is like White Wolf's other Aberrant/Trinity supplements, a lot of in character background novelization and minimum stats or rules. Although it makes the product more fun to read, White Wolf over uses it and is therefore less successful with it than Dream Pod 9 has been with their Jovian Chronicles supplements. Specifically, while they provide background, they only go as far as one could using any novel. There are no diagrams, maps and few tables for the players to reference in this book, for example. My only other criticism lies in the quantity of material provided. 14 urban centers appear to have been too many to keep their feel or descriptions unique even when extremes are used. Too many postmodern clichés exist in multiple cities to make any of them truly original. Of those detailed, I found the following most original and exciting for adventure: New York City, Montreal, Lagos, Moscow and Venice. The rest were good but were just different mixes of the conditions described in the formerly listed cities. Less cities and more depth, or lower price, would have been better. In general this supplement left me with the impression that the Aberrant campaign world is a saner, brighter version of MGI's Underground. Novas replace boosted vets and the four-color virtual world boosted vets use to acclimate to their implants, is the reality the Novas have built. Too expensive to experiment with, even Aberrant players may want to find a used copy. I imagine it is probably worth the price to real fans though. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

Aberrant, Year One