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Aberrant RPG - [stunned silence]


Kirby1024

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It looks like it's this close to being official - The Aeon Continuum is no longer to be supported by WW. Bruce Baugh's Login on the WW boards has been written in this thread, in which the Great Bruce contributes:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19450

Now, before we get all narky (and let's face it, we have good reason), Remember, there's no conspiracy here. It appears to solely be a business decision based upon agreed business plans (ie each line must support itself). We apparently aren't.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to crawl into this corner here and curl up into a foetal position...

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TR: Asia Ascendent.

That's the one that Bruce Baugh provided a sidebar excerpt showing what will really go on with novas in Japan and it ain't what people think is happening in the world of Trinity. More Inspired fun, a genetic sub-distinction to the nova intron genome, cyberware and mention of a colonization project of another world (this is before the Proxies and jump ships) that had to be abandoned because the nova involved decided she wanted to "play a game of civilization" using animals she was apparently uplifting all on her lonesome.

He's dropped comments here and there that make me think there was at least one more book partially developed by WW for AB but I have no idea which one it was. Maybe Cult Of Personality or BrainWaves. Assuming they'll lose more money by not ebooking it than it would cost to finish the development process... Well, we might see one more bona fide AB book.

Reprints? I dunno... White Wolf has provided support on "dead" lines in the past provided they thought they could turn at least a minimal profit.

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Quote:
... I could easily see them going the e-book route again.
Right.

They've already spend some money so the question comes down to whether publishing it (ebook) would cost more than already spent plus the preps for ebooking. If it sits on their computers then the money spent is gone.

Here's hoping for at least a partial book!

And no, I personally don't count AsAs to be an AB book but at least it gives us a little more info on where the AB world is going to run from the 2140's onward. I'm REALLY hoping there was at least a partial development on the mega-socials (Cult Of Personality). The last word out on that, last year, was that it was to be combined with the "manipulative" quantum powers (Brainwaves) as they complement each other. Unfortunately that may have been rumor rather than fact.

I can hope anyway.
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And what exactly do we need white Wolf for anyways? Just about avery game I've ever heard about has diverged so wildly from Cannon that any other books begin to loose their usefulness.

There is nothing that White Wolf has done that we ourselves are not capable of coming up with and in most cases some of the stuff I've read here is betterthan the stuff in the "official" books. Besides, just 'cause they aren't supporting the line any more doesn't mean we have to stop playing, does it?

Screw'em, the only books I've bought from White Wolf in the past 8 years are the Trinityverse books, so they've just lost all my business anyways.

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Just shows how Elitist those people over there are.

If it dosen't have angst ridden bloodsuckers and moping pseudo-anthro shaggy carpets they aren't interested.

Those guys over there have their collective heads firmly implanted in their rectums. They even don't like the players that innocently ack them questions because they think they're yet another rules lawyer or munchkin.

Oh well, if worse comes to worse, Guardians of Order could pick it up and do it RIGHT. It'd be killer to see Aberrant in Tri-Stat d10.

Ahhh... Nice to get that off my chest.

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Quote:
Originally posted by Sakurako 'Endeavor' Hino:
Just shows how Elitist those people over there are. If it dosen't have angst ridden bloodsuckers and moping pseudo-anthro shaggy carpets they aren't interested.
I'm talking about the company Endeavor, not the V:TM or W:TA fan base. Bruce Baugh is right when he says the desicion to no longer support the line is only based on the numbers. This isn't a personal attack on Trinityverse fans and I wasn't trying to imply that it was.

I was only trying to say that it doesn't matter whether or not the game is supported by WW, as long as you still have your books and a group to play with, the game lives on. Too many people whine and cry like the books already printed will fall through some quantum hole in the universe now that the game's printed run has officially ended. Get over it and keep playing people! There are still so many stories to tell!
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*sigh*

You misunderstand me. I'm not taking it like THAT.

WW has a history of supporting only it's core WOD and not ANYTHING else. Even some WOD titles get skewered by V:TM and W:TA. Look at Changeling and Mage.

I'm not saying the universe of Aeon will dissapear. It's jsut I'm lamenting the loss of future material. Although from what I'm hearing, it was so out of canon it's not funny.

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Quote:
Originally posted by Sakurako 'Endeavor' Hino:
It's just I'm lamenting the loss of future material.
Again I ask why? How many of the Trinityverse books do you own? How many times have you said to yourself "If I worked for (insert company name here) that book would have been a lot better?"

Remember that the developers of these games are nothing more than gamers themselves. You want more material for Aberrant, then create it. Organize some people to collaberate with you. It's not that hard and I'm tired of people acting like its the end of the world.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sakurako 'Endeavor' Hino:
*sigh*

You misunderstand me. I'm not taking it like THAT.
WW has a history of supporting only it's core WOD and not ANYTHING else. Even some WOD titles get skewered by V:TM and W:TA. Look at Changeling and Mage.
I'm not saying the universe of Aeon will dissapear. It's jsut I'm lamenting the loss of future material. Although from what I'm hearing, it was so out of canon it's not funny.
Um, Mage is going just fine last time I checked. It was Wraith that was ditched, and that was because, like Aeonverse, it wasn't making enough profit to support itself. Same with Changeling. Although, to be honest, I thought Changeling had some potential, but wasn't really a very "playable" game. It took a lot of effort to wrap your head around. Come to think of it, that was a flaw with Wraith as well, actually.

Also, There are several non-WoD lines that WW are supporting quite well. Exalted is Age of Sorrows, not WoD, and They're supporting that quite well. They also have a d20 line (Ravenloft, I think it was), that they are also supporting quite well.

But anyway, why shouldn't they support their core product if it's selling well? Exact figures are unknown by anyone bar the Higher-ups at WW, but Bruce has pointed out that Aeon product sells maybe 1/3 that of a WoD product, while still costing around the same to produce. Considering how low-profit the RPG industry is, They should focus on what brings in the money.

It makes no sense for them to spend resources on products that don't sell. If they did that, then it's quite possible that they'd go bankrupt. It's not a smart policy. And while I love the Aeonverse, and thank WW for creating such a fantastic world for us to play in, I understand that my support alone isn't going to keep the line running.

I'd rather that WW stays afloat to keep selling all the other games I love to play, rather than throw what little money they have at a line that's not working.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Seven:
Again I ask why? How many of the Trinityverse books do you own? How many times have you said to yourself "If I worked for (insert company name here) that book would have been a lot better?"

Remember that the developers of these games are nothing more than gamers themselves. You want more material for Aberrant, then create it. Organize some people to collaberate with you. It's not that hard and I'm tired of people acting like its the end of the world.
It's not the end of the world. However, I for one enjoyed canon and would have like to have the rest of the story presented. If my game ventured off canon, that's fine. Right now I don't use some aspects of it.

But can't you at least see some reason for regret? It is a game that is no more. Yes, we can create our own, but it is in fact dead as far as being a published game. There are still some people who play Gamma World or classic Marvel, ask them if they would prefer a supported system or not, I suspect they'd prefer the resurrection of their games.

I for one look askance at most fan created material. There seems to be a tendency to focus on one aspect or sub theme in the game and blow it out of proportion.
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No, seriously there was a "metaplot". Bruce has admitted to its existence a couple of times and even mentioned not posting it in the past as there were issues from the AB and TR eras not yet addressed.

From what he and others have said of it I don't think its deeply detailed. At least not on most items. More likely its a timeline of events with a few sentences here and there to give context and scope to the events. Something like the timelines that get published in the core books but with more "behind the scenes" information.

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Quote:
Originally posted by James 'Prodigy' Meehan:
But can't you at least see some reason for regret? It is a game that is no more. Yes, we can create our own, but it is in fact dead as far as being a published game. There are still some people who play Gamma World or classic Marvel, ask them if they would prefer a supported system or not, I suspect they'd prefer the resurrection of their games.

I for one look askance at most fan created material. There seems to be a tendency to focus on one aspect or sub theme in the game and blow it out of proportion.
First off, of course I feel regret about loosing the line, but I'm not about to wallow in it. I don't believe it has to be the end of the game either, but that depends on the fans, on us. We keep the game alive even if it isn't published and like the game says, anything is possible.

Would I like to see the game get continued support? Sure I would, just like a wanted to see the Saga system get further support as well. I just understand that it ain't gonna happen.

You know James, everything here is fan created material. While I agree with you that there is a lot of crap on the net, usually the basic ideas behind the crap have some merit. If you ignore it all, then you never know what you might be passing up.
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There is a bright side though, however dim it may be in comparison to the regret of non-support. With the likelihood of further support dwindling to nil maybe Bruce will ante up and finally give us the entire metaplot.

Personally, I want to know if it was a developer assumption that novas were a failed evolutionary experiment or not. If not then they must have intended to re-integrate novas, psis, and baselines into a galactic culture.

I can spin a story either way, in fact I've been plotting out just such a story about 21st century novas in the 22nd century, but I'd like to know what the developers were foreshadowing.

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Well, I think they hit the wrong market.White wolf, is vampire to most.I eman Half the poeple I knoww of that play vampire don't even know that mage is a diffrent game.What I am saying that people have vampire stuck in there heads.at least when it come to white wolf, you have some poeple that think of the world of darkness, but you do nto have many people thinking of supper heros, and let's face this time on the surrface is ssuper heros.

Now if I were then I would not disscounect the line but set apart by making another publishing house, it dosen't have to be a real one, itt could just be a name , but that name owuld change how poeple look at the product.Just like that Tommy fello,and charge peopel 50 buck for a white shirt with his name on it,,in a blue box.It is offtent the name that sells.

White wolf, sells dark,grim,,and heavens forbid me if i say"ggothy" type games.It does a good job at this, but it dosen''''t do a good job,as I said selling super hero systems.

Now we have this great setting,that has great fallowers,who hppne to be good writers.a cleaver litlte loy that white wolf could do is use the fact that a ther ea re a lot of good writes who plaaaay.THey could set up a small staff,a small site for it, as not a new name of the company, have most the "writers" be fan who vistiit the site,and get paid if they send somethign that get published,this would make it so the cost of maintaining the line is less, then throw intot the fact that you makert threw mainly E-books,again cuting costs,as for the real book, makke small print runs, but more of them cuttign costs in the short run, but that way you can get a lien off it's feet,maybe just send everythign by shiping the books to the costumers, at a slightly lower price than what they would pay moost stores, or one a cd..Well any wya enough of that I am sure that if this would happen,, they would have done it,they after all pay peopel tot hink of this sort of stuff.

Now back to my whinig, damn them, damned them all to hell, and it all that fucking d20's fault, making a genaric styttttem, on the back bone of Dorks,and drunks.the d20 system in no way works as anythign but d&D and it's clone worlds.As soon as you add guns,wll it just goes out the window.

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If you tell someone that the game is about playing vampires then they immediately have a mental image that isn't all that different from some aspect of the game as represented by one of the (too) many "splats".

If you say superhero then you already have two strikes against you since (a) there isn't as large a consensual awareness of the superhero genre, and (B) not everyone wants to play a "hero".

If I win the state lottery where I'm from I'm going to;

  • Buy all the rights to ÆONverse from WW.
  • Hire Bruce Baugh to completely revise the material into a second edition.
  • Market it as something other than a Superhero game. I'd probably slant all the advertising towards the idea of being one of the New Gods, though I may have to license the term from DC Comics.
  • ADVERTISE THE DARN THING!!!!

    Yeah, I know it costs money to buy a page in Wizard or any other speciality mag. I also know that if I send a flyer to my gaming affiliates requesting them to advertise for my contest for original artwork and fiction, the winner of which is to be included in the forthcoming books, I'm going to get a lot of input.

Sherazahde already writes at the professional level in my biased opinion. And some of the other fiction that goes up here just for fun is pretty good stuff too. Can you imagine what these authors could do given the opportunity to put "Writer for White Wolf" on their resume? Or what our new resident artist could do on the graphic side of the house in exchange for the same thing?

I've never ranted about White Wolf's decisions on the game because if I were in their shoes I think I'd have made the same decisions in the same circumstances. What drives me up a wall is the fact that they can't seem to understand why V:tm is a different game and markets differently.

Do you really think the WoD "monster" games have anything that ÆON can't do? Who strikes fear in you more; a bunch of angsty corpses or a bunch of pissed off Terat Harvesters?

Give me the material that was suppose to end up in "BrainWaves" / "Cult Of Personality" and I'll even give you the Aberrant Mage.

Oh... hell... I guess I ranted afterall. End Rant.

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TO be all honest, I could make a game that woulf slip around all the laws.To change the game mechanices so that they may have the same feel, but they would complely diffrent means.Butt then again I am unhapy witht eh say skills, are dealt with in the white wolf system.

Just a naive stattttement, if White wolf stops making AEON products, is it really morally right for them to sue other people?TO me that is liek saying I no longer want this ball, but no one else can have it.

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Actually, depending on the agreement, you do.

WW would be stupid to blindly give the rights to anyone. The contract that they would sign would likely provide them with several sticking points, such as final approval of material, acknoweldgement of original concepts, etc.

Buying the license doesn't always mean complete freedom for the buyer. Besides, despite everything, WW did put a good deal of time into the Aeonverse, more than it's sales probably warranted. They'd be stupid to throw it all out.

Just my opinion, of course, out of my Love of the Game.

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Oh, I don't want the license. I want it all - lock, stock and barrel. I want to buy the rights period. Considering how often they quote the bottom line and reduced sales I think I can get it for the price of a brand new SUV.

And you're right, it would be stupid of them but as we've seen time and again White Wolf is a business first and foremost. Don't worry though; I said I'd get Bruce Baugh to develop it.

I can't think of anyone that could do a better job plus I like the thoughts he's tossed off about Utopia and the Terragen, how he would have chosen to develop it. I mean, if you're going to give freedom to the ST and players its silly make one group so completely right.

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Good point. They've resisted open licensing on the system before haven't they?

Hmm.

Yet another good reason for choosing Bruce for development, I think. His presence should allay some of the fears on their part.

Okay, new dream; buy all the properties associated with the ÆON line and also get them to license the rights to the story tellers system. It might cost me as much as one brand new SUV and a slightly used one.

smile

Hey, its only money when you got a lot of it.

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