Trinity RPG - Reading Trinity after Aberrant....

[billy Horrorshow]

I know this is probably boring/old hat for you veterans and what not..but I've always avoided the Trinity books. There was just something about the butt-ugly design that wounded me and I could never really get a good grasp of the game.

This weekend though, I got my hands on the Corebook for the first time.

Surreal. Sure, it's obviously not my kind of game, but just being an Aberrant player reading through the pages was a fun if not bizarre situation. I also like the fact that all the history is "subjective" Of course, reading which Novas are the Important ones during the final days was kind of sad and unsurprising. Still it was a good read.

I enjoyed the connection of Aberrant to Trinity much more than it's connection to Adventure.\

Just had to share, since I've avoided the Trinity books like the plague, for obvious reasons.

[Walker]

I actually got the Trinity books first because I was looking for a Sci-Fi type game to inflict upon my long-suffering players. My main reason for getting Aberrant at first was to make up cool mutant scum as opposition npc's.

[Dreamer]

Well,one thing you should understand is that In Trinity, the real novas are gone. The Aberrants that you see are shell,and husks of what real novas are.

[billy Horrorshow]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dreamer:
Well,one thing you should understand is that In Trinity, the real novas are gone. The Aberrants that you see are shell,and husks of what real novas are.

So is that in Trinity or Aberrant somewhere? Seems to be you might be right or that all novas are on a destructive route to madness and mutantion.

Then again if WW is going to make rules for powers such as "Universe Creation" for Aberrant Player Characters, then obviously the Trinity-age Novas are lacking something.

[Alex Craft]

Really, the general thrust of Trinity-era aberrants is not that they are the remnants of old novas, but rather that they are proto-nova shock troops created by real novas. There's a few major big bad aberrants out there (the Colony and his children) capable of creating super-powered monsters and turning humans into the same. That's where most aberrant opponents seem to come from.

Most of the other aberrants that turn up are cheap, twisted jobs created through exposure to lots of taint or are the second/third generation children of the original novas. In theory, there's also still a whole bunch of classic novas out there somewhere, but they haven't shown themselves much.

I understand that one of developers also mentioned at some point that Divis Mal and his buddies eventually bailed out entirely via Universe Creation. There's a fair number of others that are ruling Eden - a planet colonized by a number of non-psychotic novas and their human followers/worshippers. More probably self-destructed, set up new homes in deep space, or are sitting somewhere out there watching the battle for Earth in true Lovecraftian fashion.

[Walker]

Yeah, I soon discovered that Aberrant was not really suitable for the purpose I originally got it. However I was glad I bought it anyway because I could tell after the first skim through that it was something the people I role-play with would just love playing.

My take on The Colony for my own game is that it's some sort of powerful, old-style Nova with a permanent version of Clone/Homonculus powers (Nova Proxy/Quantum Authority once I got the aberrant players guide). I have most of the trinty-era aberrants as creations/slaves/children of The Colony.

The rest of the mutant-scum types I explain as Humans who have been exposed to taint after the first abberant war plus a few really powerful blind-idiot-god types that survive from the start of the Nova age. In fact if any of my player's characters ever reach taint 10 in Aberrant there is more than a distinct possibility that I will have them turn up in a future Trinity game as the mad-god types.

[Ian Watson]

This has been covered already, but I'll go over it again. 'Cause I can.

Most Aberrants encountered in the Trinity era aren't Aberrants at all, but what are called "sub-Aberrants." They're baselines who have been infused with Taint. They may have a trick or two up their sleeves, but these aren't Quantum powers as much as they are mutations.

First-generation Aberrants are those novas who erupted in the 20th century and are still kicking around somewhere. Obviously, they have the potential to be extremely dangerous.

Third-generation Aberrants are Aberrants which have erupted after the War. They almost invariably erupt severely tainted, both insane and mutated beyond recognition as a human. They're the (true) Aberrants that Trinity-era people encounter most often.

Second-generation Aberrants are only theoretical: they're the children of First-gen Aberrants. They have grown up surrounded by Quantum and may even be able to channel it from birth. Their mental process would be alien, and it may be difficult for them to relate to baselines at all, or even other Aberrants. Their powers would be amazing. Some have proposed that Kali and Yog-Death on KLG may be Second-gen.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

One of the things to keep in mind is that the Trinity psions either don’t know or don’t care to tell the difference between the various quantum wielders. All of them are “pure evil”, an attitude which has caused problems. Trinity seems to draw more of a line between the aberrants and the novas. Novas are on Eden, aberrants are everywhere else. The two groups are not friends. Novas can be tainted but they are not consumed with taint, Aberrants are consumed.

First and second generation aberrants are pretty well named. It is worth noting that to be “second gen” you may need to have both parents be novas. Kali could be the Colony’s kid and still only be first gen, let’s hope so, that planet has enough problems.

Third generation is badly misnamed, and is likely even several different groups.

1) You have recent the recently erupted, who generally speaking erupt “knowing” that all abbies are pure evil so that’s what they become… and being hunted by everyone and his brother very likely forces them to buy lots of stuff tainted just to survive. 30 point novas who are “pure evil” by definition need to be put down before they start destroying cities and devastating countries.

Technically they should be unexperienced first gen novas, but there is evidence/speculation someone with Q8 screwed up the Earth’s quantum field so new eruptions don’t go well. There is also evidence not all novas will turn into abbies, even on the Earth.

2) You also have the previously mentioned, baselines turned into sub-abby shock troops.

In addition there are even two other types of quantum manipulators who are still human (and much less impressive) and not realized to be quantum uses because they don’t get tainted.

[Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ian Watson:

Second-generation Aberrants are only theoretical: they're the children of First-gen Aberrants. They have grown up surrounded by Quantum and may even be able to channel it from birth. Their mental process would be alien, and it may be difficult for them to relate to baselines at all, or even other Aberrants. Their powers would be amazing. Some have proposed that Kali and Yog-Death on KLG may be Second-gen.

Or you could go with the theory that they are in fact less powerful, but way more stable and flexible. They would be more jack of all trades than the normal novas who seem to excel in one area over others.(At least at first)

[Cody]

Since they don't show up in "canon" you can pretty much assume they're whatever you want them to be, Dreamer.

Personally I like Ian's take on it. Quantum rating is about precision. The more precisely you can channel and use it to achieve an effect, the higher your rating and the more you can get done.

[Ian Watson]

Mention of the generations does happen in a couple of places within Trinity. I don't think the definitions do, however.

But I... er... acquired them.

[Tarot]

M'man!

Any other acquisitions you might want to share? We're discreet. Honest.

[Ian Watson]

Most of the acquisitions I have to share will eventually appear in the ebooks I'm working on. Patience. (:

[The Ranger]

Don't forget the last of the official e-books for trinity, think it was the South America one. In it they revealed a new "quantum/sub-quantum" event that basically means you can play a nova, psion, psychomorph or any of the Adventure era stuff in the Trinity setting. Its a little broken but fun. Third explosions the charm as they say

[Siggismund Auerbach aka Firedrake]

Quote:

Yeah, I soon discovered that Aberrant was not really suitable for the purpose I originally got it.

Freak Legion: A Player's Guide to Fomori, is probably your best WW resource for creating Trinity-style Aberrant monstrosities that need killin.'

[Rorschach]

Hurmf.

So the 2008-2061 novas fates in 2120:

1) They are quite the same, but more powerful. They leave Earth for Eden.

2) They become quite inhuman. They leave earth for the new DM universe.

3) They become aberrant freaks (and probably quite impressive ones!)

But what's the ratio?

[Blue Thunder]

I believe the Trinity Player's Guide says that the vast majority of Aberrants are under the command of The Colony and are twisted Taint-mad freaks. The exact number is up to the Storyteller. Yet even so, no world or bases that belong to The Colony have revealed so far, unless you count the Earth colony of Khantze Lu Ge, which has been partially taken over by Aberrants.

The Colony has the ability to inject neutral (baseline) humans with something that makes them into twisted "sub-Aberrants." Not all humans survive this process. Those that do become obedient battle fodder. Neutrals that have been converted this way provide the The Colony's forces with extra power.

The one thing to understand about Aberrants in 2120+ is that their bodies are heavily Tainted from birth (or eruption). They almost always appear inhuman. When the first Aberrants appeared and attacked Vesta station, Earth thought they were invading aliens. Add in the fact that they've been inbreeding and festering in space since the Exodus, and they become even less human than anything the Teragen could ever dream up.

They almost always have Physical Attributes above 5 (Mega-Attributes hadn't been created until the Aberrant book was released), and many also have powers that resemble Quantum Bolt, Poison, Healing (self), Claws, Armor, Force Field, Flight, Domination, Telekinesis, and anything else useful in direct combat. They never have good Social scores; most have Appearance at 0. Most aren't very smart with Mental Attributes either. Aberrant powers almost always have some combat application and lack subtlety and flair.

You won't find many Aberrants that can pass for human either, though some exist. The psi orders and Aeon are constantly hunting down Aberrants that have infiltrated governments and society, and are constantly rooting out Aberrants sympathizers.

And not all sane novas leave for Eden. Eden is just one colony world, but so far it's the only one that has had any contact with Earth since the Aberrant Exodus. It's likely to stay that way. The Eden novas aren't even allowed off the planet either, because Earth fears that they might be playing an elaborate ruse for The Colony.

The only exception is maybe a group of novas that left Earth during the Exodus, and went into space. They found the Chromatic homeworld of Chrome-Prime, and started attacking the Chromatics. This is what first led the Chromatics to believe that all humans were evil. You encounter these Aberrants in the first Alien Encounter book. They aren't associated with The Colony.