Sprocket Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 By now, most of you folks have likely read the interview piece I did with Matt for the release of Aberrant: Nexus. In that piece, I stated that there would be the possibility for new fanbooks to be released *IF* there was an audience for them. I also stated that I had another potential Aberrant fanbook project on my back burner. So here's the thing; back when I was wrapping up work on Aberrant: A Breed Apart over at the now-defunct EON Online site, several people asked whether that fanbook would also be covering the subjects of sex & pornography. Several posters began providing relevant & interesting ideas for Storytellers to introduce sexual/pornography related matters into their Aberrant chronicles. I said "no" to that idea at the time, due to the prevalent political & social climate back then. EON Online was also in a rather precarious state back then as well, & I didn't want to rock an already leaky boat. I denied that I had plans for such a book, and joked that someone might release a hoaxbook of that nature as a .TXT file. While I had written up some homebrew sex-related enhancements, bodymods, aberrations, abilities, merits & flaws strictly for amusement at the time, but that file went into long-term storage & was soon forgotten about as work resumed on Aberrant: The New Flesh. Flash forward to the present. Many of us are adults here, and a lucky few are parents. Would there be a large enough audience for a mature-themed Aberrant fanbook to be considered a worthwhile project? This hypothetical "Aberrant: Sex" fanbook should be short compared to Aberrant: Nexus (which was 190 pages, not counting the covers). Are there any Aberrant fans here on RPG Post that are interested in doing some gamebook writing and willing to contribute spare time & material to this fanbook? Matt has told me that he'd be fine with a mature-themed fanbook, provided there was enough of an audience for it & that it would be labelled appropriately for mature audiences only. He also that it should have no objectification of teens & children, a requirement with which I agree wholeheartedly. It will also have the necessary "common sense" waiver gray sidebars on that & other sex-related matters - "Safe, Sane And Consensual", "This Fanbook Is Not A Sex Manual", "Rape & Other Sick Stuff Is Evil", "BDSM 'Sadism' Vs. Real Sadism", "Beware Trigger Issues" and so on. Finally, this project should not be about writing pornography; it should be about allowing mature Aberrant gaming groups to add a missing facet of the human/nova experience to their chronicles. Also, I'm not looking to produce a pure parody book like "Exalted - The Scroll Of Swallowed Darkness". That's not to say there can't be some humor in it; the book as a whole just needs to be about all facets of Sex in the Nova Age - funny, exciting, terrifying and just plain evil. One good question is this: Why bother with writing these fanbooks when Onyx Path will be rebooting all three gamelines? My answer is that I certainly DO hope that all goes well with Onyx Path's reboot, but I'm far too cynical to bet money on it. I've seen way too many efforts (speaking in general terms) that I liked get flushed down the metaphorical toilet to trust that the folks at Onyx Path will 100% be able to deliver on their promise. And so, I'm still writing fanbooks at the moment. All that said, there's absolutely NO WAY that I will take on this project by myself, for several reasons listed as follows: 1: Single-writer projects - which around 90% of Aberrant: Nexus was - are horrendously exhausting ordeals to have to go through. I started that project partially for fun at first, but the unshared workload quickly quelled that. I have NO intention of going through all that on my own a second time. 2: As a topic, human (and therefore nova) sexuality is a complex one that requires multiple writers to provide a sufficiently wide range of viewpoints to do it justice. Otherwise I could've just adapted material from some of the sex-related RPG books, but the majority of those seem to be written solely from the male heterosexual (if not outright "frat brother") perspective. Can we do better than that here? Female & non-heteronormative viewpoints ought to be addressed as well. 3: Many (good) writers makes for light and relatively speedy work, especially on short books. I'm thinking *maybe* 50 pages as an upper limit, not counting the covers? We'd also have pieces of interior art here & there to pad things out. Since many reproduction-relevant topics were addressed in Aberrant: A Breed Apart, the overlap should cut down on some of the topics (pregnancy, fertility, etc.) that would otherwise be addressed in this hypothetical fanbook. So, that's my spiel about this project. If anyone's seriously interested in helping to write this fanbook, please either reply to this thread or PM me. I've got a rough outline laid out, but there's a lot of blank subject space in Chapters 1 (Sex In The Nova Age), 2 (Mechanics) & 3 (Storytelling) to be filled. Chapter 4 (New Items) also has space for additions, though since sex is such a small portion of the spectrum of nova capabilities I may have covered most of the possible ideas already. I don't think there will be any Appendices this time, unless someone wants to submit sex-related material for Trinity and/or Adventure! If there's no serious interest in the project, I'll just release the material I've written as a ZIP file for anyone of age who might be interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Story Guide Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I would love to help with ideas and mechanics/items writing. I could do some fiction/fluff writing, but probably only if Carver also gets involved. I'll talk to her about it. We love writing smut (if you browse the archives, you'll see), so she might be willing to take a smallish project on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 I'm glad to have you on board, Malachite. That goes for your accomplice Carver as well, if she accepts. Will certainly br browsing the archives for yours & her content. PM me if you want to see what I've written up so far. Nothing in the current material has been set in stone, everything will be up for peer review. Hopefully we'll get a lockable forum to work in fairly soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 An interesting notion. I don't think I could challenge Carver and Mala in terms of smut, but if you want some fake-science discussions, perhaps in sidebars, I could do a good job of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 4 hours ago, SalmonMax said: An interesting notion. I don't think I could challenge Carver and Mala in terms of smut, but if you want some fake-science discussions, perhaps in sidebars, I could do a good job of that. There would be some call for fake-science discussions, though not as gray sidebars. Aside from the possibility of new "toys" for Chapter Four - enhancements, bodymods etc. - the only other application for such would be the sex-related combat maneuvers (most of which are hideously brutal) and figuring out the plausibility of the effects of the advanced sexual techniques. The latter are basically the bedroom equivalents of the advanced techniques of the combat styles presented in Aberrant: The New Flesh. Baselines could learn & use them, so there would have to be some realism involved, if only to the degree of "cinematic realism". And yes, that's a horrible contradiction in terms, but I don't have a better way of putting it at the moment. If you want in on this, just PM me & I'll send you a ZIP file w/ my material so far. Something else we will really need are overviews on the topic of "Sex In The Nova Age" in all of its facets, good and bad. Could you help with that too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Sure! Sounds like an entertaining and unusual exploration of the superheroic genre to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heru Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 I just want to say that the fact that new fan projects for Aberrant is being conceived and designed and written is brilliant and amazing. I don't know how much help I could be, but I do want to say that its awesome that you are attempting this. I will definitely keep this forum in my mind to see how things progress and develop, because its just really cool that Aberrant is still being worked on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor OOC Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 This is intriguing, but I'll be honest I got nothing to add (or would wanna admit publically) so, I'll see what comes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 Well, there are the other projects that I mentioned in the Aberrant: Nexus Developer Interview. Perhaps one of those would be more your speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRain Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I'd be willing to get involved. What sort of thing would you need? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I'd probably be better off working on some of those other projects like the First Aberrant War or the Adventure Player's Guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 7 hours ago, WhiteRain said: I'd be willing to get involved. What sort of thing would you need? Well, Chapter 1 (Sex In The Nova Age) is wide open for anything & everything that's not verboten by the guidelines Matt imposed & I approved. (See my first post on this thread.) I'd much rather see other people's ideas on what's out there instead of anything that I could dream up. My Muse is just too erratic & flighty sometimes. Chapter 2 (Mechanics) needs listings for a few select sexual styles - like Combat Styles in AB:TNF, but less complex.They could really use writeups by those knowledgeable about them. We also have a rather large "Anti-Idiot" section to write, as a few gray sidebars simply are not going to cut it in this book. We also need to establish mechnaics for arousal, inhibition & mate-bonding. An explanation of the differences between lust & romantic love needs at least a gray sidebar. We've got two prototype systems for determining how sexual activity is portrayed in a chronicle that need work. I'm currently working on some advanced sexual techniques for the Sexual Styles. Chapter 3 (Storytelling) is just as wide-open to writers as is Chapter 1. Themes, Moods, Conflicts, Story Seeds... it's just waiting for someone to start writing. All it's got now are some relevant new combat maneuvers at the moment. Chapter 4 (The Toybox) has the following: New Enhancements, Relevant Enhancements, New Body Modifications, Relevant Body Modifications, New Aberrations, Relevant Aberrations, New Merits & Flaws, New Abilities and Relevant Abilities. I've covered a lot of bases AFAICT, but I know I haven't covered them all. Malachite Drake has also posted about expanding on the "Sexual Aberrations" listing from the Aberrant Players Guide. We also have an Introduction, Lexicon, and Opening Fiction piece to write. There's also the opportunity to add an Appendix for sex in the Trinity & Adventure! settings. We already have pretty good front cover art, but we lack any text blurbs for the back cover. I've pointed out to Matt (he's in charge of all the art) a few appropriate interior art pieces from the canon Aberrant books and a few from the cWoD Kindred Of The East books. It's good art, but sadly most of it( save one) is also geared to straight male tastes. Hope that helps! If you're truly interested & willing to put in the time & effort, ask Matt to add you to the Project Group. 6 hours ago, Jeremy Noctis said: I'd probably be better off working on some of those other projects like the First Aberrant War or the Adventure Player's Guide. Feel free to take either of those projects on; we could surely use them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Adventure Player's Guide seems like a good option. What I am roughly visualizing is as follows... Chapter One (Age of Adventure!): This is more of an expansion on the setting itself, various villains, heroes, organizations, etc. Also I'd incorporate the storytelling themes, seeds, and such as well. Chapter Two (Mechanics): New rules, Knacks of all stripes, those sapient gorillas. Modern era knacks included (see below). Chapter Three (Time Marches On): This is the looming fates we know will come. Discussing the death of Crackshot, the corruption of Primoris and the downfall of the Aeon Society, World War 2, and the Telluric Dampening. How everyone is ushered off the stage, until the Galatea incident. Chapter Four (21st Century Adventure!): Adventure re-imagined for the modern day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 3 hours ago, Jeremy Noctis said: Adventure Player's Guide seems like a good option. What I am roughly visualizing is as follows... Looks like you've got the start of a bare-bones outline to work with. IIRC, Enkidu was modeled as a Stalwart to reflect both his sapience and his natural gorilla capabilities. Hope that tidbit helps! Now all you need are some other Adventure! fans to help you write the material. AFAICT, what you're planning is way too big to tackle as a solo job. Best of luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRain Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Who's Matt? And how do I contact him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 16 minutes ago, WhiteRain said: Who's Matt? And how do I contact him? Aka, Chosen, the Site Admin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor OOC Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 On 5/23/2016 at 0:02 AM, Sprocket said: Well, there are the other projects that I mentioned in the Aberrant: Nexus Developer Interview. Perhaps one of those would be more your speed? I'll have to take a look. This weekend around errands I could take a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viktor1995 Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 If this pdf were to be written i would be thrilled. ps could you send me that zip you mentioned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 36 minutes ago, Viktor1995 said: If this pdf were to be written i would be thrilled. ps could you send me that zip you mentioned? Which one are you referring to again? I've already got a crew for the "Sex" book. Have you ever done any fanbooks before? I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want to avoid giving away material prematurely to unfamiliar folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viktor1995 Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Just wanted to comment that i would be happy if those books were made .Sorry for the confussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 10 hours ago, Viktor1995 said: Just wanted to comment that i would be happy if those books were made .Sorry for the confussion. OK. The other projects are open to anyone wishing to tackle them. AFA the ZIP, it's not for open distribution. It was only intended for the writers to gain an idea of what the book could cover in terms of new enhancements, bodymods, aberrations etc. Sorry about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowtankerous Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 wish i could help, but i am unsure if i have enough time i certainly would have some good ideas to implement. avid follower though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.