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REIGN OF EVIL.COM MINIBOOK

£2.99 or £5.00 for 24 Pages written by Phil Brucato.

This short book concerns itself with the Satanic drop outs that belong to the church of Astaroth. Originally nothing more than a one-page throwaway reference in the main Aberrant rulebook, these were always thought of as the ultimate poser-wannabe, sad case, Goth munchkins whose pointless angst represented the minor failure of the golden age of Novas!

Except that these wasters with their mishmash of satanic-rock lyrics, drug use and Chaos magic theory have a few novas of their own! And that is what makes the book come alive. One highly determined Norwegian Satanist erupts, and embarks on a drug-fuelled unholy crusade to raise the devil in a world that's more enchanted with the new nova demigods than the old Adversary. And Astaroth is one tough nova. In his demon form he is a tough foe for anyone under the Quantum 6 barrier. Furthermore he recruits 3 other novas to his cause, creating a ready-made supervillian group for your PC's to battle.

But they are not just daft supervillians, waiting to be taken down by the characters. They hide behind the laws of religious freedom and the actions of their baseline followers. And Aberrant is a game where the PC's cannot legally get away with killing other novas, even if said novas have a half-baked plan to destroy the world.

But what else is there in this book? Well there is more information on the church's beliefs, their interests and recruitment policies. I was even amused by their on-line store selling comic-satanic T-shirts and the self-referential White Wolf reference in the music reviews where the angry on-line nova reviewer demands the death of "vampire posers who play RPG's and record lame chips (CD's) based on their fucking characters! No torture in Hell could atone for this tripe! DIE"

Clearly longtime White wolf developer Phil Brucato was getting a few things off his chest in this book, but I find that this is worth it for the humour potential alone. (And there is the another reference to a games designer with "an online 'tude" whose belittling of one satanic nova gets him beaten up)

But, the single best thing about this book is that of all the 5 Aberrant minibooks, this one is the only one to give full stats and write ups for the NPC's. No longer need I make it up on the spot, because I can instantly use these pre-balanced, reasonably original villains without messing about with character sheets or points. For the busy GM this is a godsend! I'm not sure what the consensus view is with gamers, but personally I've always been slightly disappointed when developers create an interesting, original character with special powers but then fails to provide game stats. I think that's akin to only doing half the job, so I congratulate Mr Brucato on his thoroughness.

CONCLUSION.

What can I say about this book in summary? Its well written, gives a good picture of a previously unknown group and inspires me to use them in my game. Its written with style and energy and doesn't take itself too seriously, much to its credit. The villains are reasonably credible and original (and given the randomness of nova eruptions, its inevitable some Goths would become Uber-goths) and thoroughly detailed.

In fact my only complaint is that this book gives a static snap shot of the situation in 2008. I'd like an idea fo what the future has in hold for these amusing psychotic losers. Dammit, the brevity of the book leaves me wanting more! I do hope that well see the Church of Astaroth in a future Aberrant Worldwide adventure.

P.S.
I liked this book so much that I developed some of the religious themes present in Aberrant. You can find it in

http://www.nprime.net/altsettings/FA/famain.html

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

Topics	Author	Date	Latest Reply
Strangely enough... (3) new	Jared A. Sorensen	12-14-2000 13:14	04-19-2001 19:40 new

Reign of Evil.com
Author: Phil Brucato Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Aberrant Cost: £2.99 Page count: 24 Capsule Review by Stephen Joseph Ellis on 12/13/00. Genre tags: Superhero	REIGN OF EVIL.COM MINIBOOK £2.99 or £5.00 for 24 Pages written by Phil Brucato. This short book concerns itself with the Satanic drop outs that belong to the church of Astaroth. Originally nothing more than a one-page throwaway reference in the main Aberrant rulebook, these were always thought of as the ultimate poser-wannabe, sad case, Goth munchkins whose pointless angst represented the minor failure of the golden age of Novas! Except that these wasters with their mishmash of satanic-rock lyrics, drug use and Chaos magic theory have a few novas of their own! And that is what makes the book come alive. One highly determined Norwegian Satanist erupts, and embarks on a drug-fuelled unholy crusade to raise the devil in a world that's more enchanted with the new nova demigods than the old Adversary. And Astaroth is one tough nova. In his demon form he is a tough foe for anyone under the Quantum 6 barrier. Furthermore he recruits 3 other novas to his cause, creating a ready-made supervillian group for your PC's to battle. But they are not just daft supervillians, waiting to be taken down by the characters. They hide behind the laws of religious freedom and the actions of their baseline followers. And Aberrant is a game where the PC's cannot legally get away with killing other novas, even if said novas have a half-baked plan to destroy the world. But what else is there in this book? Well there is more information on the church's beliefs, their interests and recruitment policies. I was even amused by their on-line store selling comic-satanic T-shirts and the self-referential White Wolf reference in the music reviews where the angry on-line nova reviewer demands the death of "vampire posers who play RPG's and record lame chips (CD's) based on their fucking characters! No torture in Hell could atone for this tripe! DIE" Clearly longtime White wolf developer Phil Brucato was getting a few things off his chest in this book, but I find that this is worth it for the humour potential alone. (And there is the another reference to a games designer with "an online 'tude" whose belittling of one satanic nova gets him beaten up) But, the single best thing about this book is that of all the 5 Aberrant minibooks, this one is the only one to give full stats and write ups for the NPC's. No longer need I make it up on the spot, because I can instantly use these pre-balanced, reasonably original villains without messing about with character sheets or points. For the busy GM this is a godsend! I'm not sure what the consensus view is with gamers, but personally I've always been slightly disappointed when developers create an interesting, original character with special powers but then fails to provide game stats. I think that's akin to only doing half the job, so I congratulate Mr Brucato on his thoroughness. CONCLUSION. What can I say about this book in summary? Its well written, gives a good picture of a previously unknown group and inspires me to use them in my game. Its written with style and energy and doesn't take itself too seriously, much to its credit. The villains are reasonably credible and original (and given the randomness of nova eruptions, its inevitable some Goths would become Uber-goths) and thoroughly detailed. In fact my only complaint is that this book gives a static snap shot of the situation in 2008. I'd like an idea fo what the future has in hold for these amusing psychotic losers. Dammit, the brevity of the book leaves me wanting more! I do hope that well see the Church of Astaroth in a future Aberrant Worldwide adventure. P.S. I liked this book so much that I developed some of the religious themes present in Aberrant. You can find it in http://www.nprime.net/altsettings/FA/famain.html Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Reign of Evil.com