White Wolf Games needs help; and -some would say- only a team of super-powered mercenaries could give it to them. A friend of mine commented that White Wolf doesn't believe in happy endings and -now that "Exalted" has come out- it's clear that they don't believe in happy beginnings, either. "Elites", a supplement for the "Aberrant" game setting, only serves to underscore this problem. But, ironically, it's not a bad supplement. Allow me to explain this dichotomy.
"Elites" is set in the near-future super-powered world of "Aberrant". In this setting, superhuman beings with phenomenal, Quantum powers began appearing publicly around the turn of the millennium ... about the same time that the satellite Galatea exploded in orbit over the Earth. Seemingly at random, people began developing a growth in their brains (dubbed the MR-Node) that allowed them to collect, focus, direct and utilize Quantum energies in various ways. These beings are the Novas of the world; the new humans...
The Elites are the non-allied Novas who usually sell their services to the highest bidder. This allows the player to assume the role of super-assassin, mercenary or corporate shill. The goal of the Elites book, in the absence of a multi-title comic book franchise, is to elaborate upon the world of Aberrant from the perspective of these mercenaries. If a role-player were to play a game based in the D.C. or Marvel Universe, they would have a wealth of background information that goes back for decades. What White Wolf is trying to accomplish is providing this sort of information to their readers through a variety of sourcebooks.
"Aberrant: Elites" is one of those supplements that demonstrates just how well White Wolf can create compelling settings when it sets its mind to it. Rather than being weighed down with typos, errata and the infamous "Page XX", "Elites" is well put together and offers a wide variety of variants for an Aberrant Chronicle.
Very detailed information is given about a variety of mercenary Novas and their organizations. Plots, schemes, conspiracies and adventure seeds are littered throughout the pages of this supplement, providing the Storyteller with plenty of information from which to build. There is also a wealth of data for the average player.
For example, the first chapter deals with the DeVries Agency; the first stop for purchasing the services of professional Novas. In this section, the reader is given a complete top-down assessment of the organization along with statistics and personal data on the core individuals running the show. However, beyond this, the book goes on to address other agencies and even provides the outline for the PCs creating their own.
The best that "Elites" has to offer is -without a doubt- this section. Careful detail work has gone into Chapter Three: The Elite Life. Here, the Storyteller and players are provided with a very intelligent and thorough workup on how a Nova agency can be built and expect to function. Unlike many source books, this "how-to" manual provides insight ranging from the bureaucratic infrastructure to the social ramifications of Nova involvement in world affairs. Money, lifestyle, combat and media are all on display, providing fertile ground for Storytellers. All in all, this is the reason to buy this book: it gives practical examples of how the Novas can function -in many alternate ways- in a mercenary organization.
Also, for those more interested in piles of statistics and neat NPCs, the "Elites" book also offers a good overview of famous Nova mercenaries. Totentanz and Lotus Infinite are just two who have been mentioned in previous game supplements to become outlined here in all their glory. Up until now, much of the Aberrant materials mention NPC Novas in passing but with very little other than a name and some glitzy, superficial descriptions as to who and what they are. Previous books are littered with examples of this. But where are the real statistics and aides for the Storyteller? Nowhere, that's where! But, thankfully, in "Elites", this trend is no where in sight.
In addition, the game designers have presented the technology that such mercenaries may have access to. Here we have solid, concrete examples of what the technology of the Aberrant world is like. Nanosects, high-power munitions, heavy artillery ... this book finally gives us a good, wide range from which the average Storyteller can extrapolate the rest of the world's tech. Much of this information should have been in the basic rules book, in my opinion. The fact that it is finally in print, is laudable.
But, aside from this praise, there are problems elsewhere. Just talking about "Elites" without addressing the remainder of the Aberrant world, would be taking too much out of context.
White Wolf still seems to suffer from a rather intense degree of control anxiety. While their rule books are adamant in saying that what they publish is only a "suggested interpretation" for the worlds they create, the supplements they publish -at the exclusion of other directions or more generic ideas (usable by a wider variety of gamer)- fly in the face of this assertion. If White Wolf were truly committed to different interpretations of their products, their supplements would contain more generic information.
Certainly, "Elites" does include a variety of openings, such as the aforementioned "Create Your Own Agency" section. Players are encouraged to do their best, be creative and to forge their own concepts. Still, amidst these laudable chapters, there are the foundations for future "official" tampering from White Wolf. The DeVries Agency is very well thought out and detailed ... a fact that could provide the basis for later calcification of the game world.
White Wolf tends to pick their favorite plot line and -in subsequent publications- make it the "official" root of their adventures and publications. Many gamers, for example, have stopped buying White Wolf "World of Darkness" products since the inception of the "Red Star" plot line, changing the world background for all the books and instigating the End Times that they'd been hinting at since the original publication of "Vampire". Gone is the pretense that there is hope or that subtle machinations and redemption are possible. Gone are all the variable interpretations that various Storytellers and gamers have come up with for how things would progress. And, worse still, the same thing is starting to happen with Aberrant.
"Elites", to its credit, does not run roughshod over the creativity of Aberrant fans. Rather, to the authors' credit (John Cavallino, Steve Kenson, Suzannah Mandel, James Stewart and editor, John Chambers), this supplement does not take a specific stand. Unlike "Worldwide Phase I" and "Worldwide Phase II", the average Storyteller can pick up Elites and craft their own stories and games of espionage, intrigue or even four-color superheroic adventure without worrying about "official" continuity. If White Wolf is so concerned about creating a coherent plot line, they should probably publish their own line of comic books and leave the concrete writing to that forum. What draws most people to role-playing games is the wide variety and open-ended scope in which they can create their own characters and situations. My advice to them would be to turn their subsequent supplements over to the team that wrote "Elites" ... these people have gotten it right.
Taken strictly on its own, Elites is a fine supplement. It is well-written and provides a good amount of information in a decent layout. My only reservation is over whether or not this will be one of the last supplements from White Wolf done in this fashion. Or, is this doomed to be remembered as one of the last Aberrant publications before White Wolf destroyed the Universe by taking it out of the hands of the players?
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