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The Thank You


Avenger

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You know, it's been so long since anybody thanked me for anything...

Sometimes, I just like to post so that the computer will say it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

--@venger

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Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

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Avenger,

Thank you for the riotously humorous post of your offer to take over as line developer for Aberrant that you posted on the WW forums. While the reaction from Conrad was unfortunate, it left me rolling on the floor amid gales of laughter and tears of mirth. You should think about reposting it here and giving everyone an idea of what one of the key events to the purge was.

Thank you for your counter-arguments concerning your reasons for not using 'supernatural' forces in the game. I disagree, seeing the Aberrant universe as not unlike the Wildcard anthology universe, but it provide me an opportunity to clarify my thoughts on the matter. That also would make an interesting discussion here on NPrime.

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Wizard --

Golly, man, I wasn't fishing for compliments, but thanks for the thanks. The idea was that I was bored and just wanted to say something quasi-funny.

As for your request, I genuinely wish I could repost the "Hey Kraig..." post, but quite honestly, other than some vague idea, I don't remember what I wrote in there. Not word for word, anyway, In retrospect, I wish I'd copied it into a file for myself, but then I never expected it to get wiped in the first place. Truth be told, you may remember it even more than I.

As for 'supernatural' forces in Aberrant, I hate to ask, but what exactly are you speaking of? D'you mean the WW forum thread about Necromancy in Aberrant? If so, I'd just like to point out that I like to make things logical, seeing as how I run around with a bunch of students. Everything has to have a scientific explanation, lest I run the risk of their analytic wrath. As such, the idea of reaching into the memories of a skeletal husk just didn't jibe with me. My friend Mike and I have a simple way of working things like this out; try and do it with another power. It doesn't make sense to standardize something that should be rare, and I don't think it makes a great deal of sense to make new powers when old ones will do the trick, with a little modification. The key is versatility, not variety.

Anyone who wants to follow this up can go ahead. What do you all think of things like AD&D-style 'magic' in AB?

--@venger

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Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

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"Anyone who wants to follow this up can go ahead. What do you all think of things like AD&D-style 'magic' in AB?"

Stomp on its head until it goes "POP". I hate the idea of crossing genres when its not already incorporated into the setting.

[This message has been edited by The Ranger (edited 07-09-2001).]

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Avenger,

I agree with your take on the cosmology of Aberrant but that's why I drew the Wildcard Anthology parallel. While eveything must be rooted in the scientific, no one is entitled to that information and explanation merely by virtue of their desire to possess it.

Because the game is rooted in a scientific background I think Abby players and ST's miss the possibilities inherent in the game and instead spend too much time diagraming the quantum flow. As in Wildcards, a quantum bolt isn't a quantum bolt. It's:

- Lightning

- Freezing Flames of Faltine

- Essence of Primordial Darkness

- Razor Edged Ribbons of R'lyth

- Fiery Disks of Solar Energy

... ect.

Yes it's quantum power, the four groups of force subconsciously manipulated by it's wielder. That's the mechanic. What it actually is can only be determined by the wielder of the power. That's the game and the roleplaying aspect.

For instance. Wizard talks with the dead. Or more accurately they talk to her. It's uncontrolled retrocognition with a funky appearance. This does not change the fact that (in the game) Jennifer Landers woke her up in the middle of the night and, for hours, alternately cried about the terrible things Proteus was doing and ranted about how they killed her coldly. You try consoling a ghost. Anyway, how does it work? Well, how does retrocognition work? Once you accept one, accepting the other is quite easy.

The fact that Wizard sees this quantum power as, in a sense, supernatural is completely irrelevant to the rest of the universe. Retrocognition still works the way it worked before this is only about how she sees the experience. Heck, She herself doesn't believe in ghosts for that matter or even in an immortal 'self' as most religions dictate. She still deals with the apparitions on the basis of what they seem to be and that works for her. Is she slightly wacked? Well, maybe...

All of this comes down to presentation and what something seems to be. On two (vaguely) related notes:

1. My troupe took out Pax on our third adventure. Correction, for those canonites spinning in their graves, we neutralized Pax for a period of several hours. Not by power, he would have slaughtered us in a straight one-on-one melee. Not even with stealth, 'cuz what does it matter if you sneak up on a mobile nuclear reactor like that? You still can't do much to him. Our mentalist used his telepathy and domination, not to mention a healthy dose of straight manipulation based con, in an extended roll and convinced Pax his node had been deactivated by a surge of counter-synchronized quantum energy. After that his node was deactivated simply because he believed it was. The player, a truly cunning bastard if ever there was one, simply exploited the human inclination to rationalize our beliefs. Once that belief was implanted firmly, Pax took care of maintaining and rationlizing it on his own.

2. We live in a world rooted in the scientific method. Observable, reproducable results. And yet we still have religions, superstitions, legends and myths. Someone threw out a 'supernatural' plothook in a forum that presupposed a particular taint effect caused by bleeding taint off into the environment. The dead rose. It doesn't matter that this is actually caused by an algeal bloom. All that matters is that corpses are getting up out of the grave and walking the earth.

Magic, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. In this game were doing magic constantly. We simply call it quantum physics.

[This message has been edited by Wizard (edited 07-09-2001).]

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and on the other hand you can look at magic as just another form of quantum manipulation that people may learn to do after long arduous traing and ritual.

I'm actually using both versions of magic in my current game. The Mage Sphere magic with some pumping up and limiting (no reality alteration in the traditional sense, think comic book magic) and Hedge magic (the only kind a being that already posses quantum power may posses, think Loki and you're on the right track)

for the Mage magic I used DR.'s Strange and Fate as my primary models. yep they know spells, yep they can jump dimensions, yep they're mortal humans (more or less). Do they realize that they're manipulating quantum? heck no. that wouldn't be the paradigm they work in, they work in MAGIC (I refuse to use a K).

For the hedge think Constaine and for more power think Loki. Less powerful practioners and you have a great Lovecraft game. High power and you're re-making the Absobing Man.

One of these days I'll finish my Magic piece and submit it here, but it still needs some work even though I basically have it done in my head.

But yeah magic can be in the Aberrant game world/worlds, after all it's just manipulation of Quanta. It's how you define it that matters.

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Oh my goodness! Does this mean Wizard put a spell on me?

Seriously, we are talking about manipulating the fundamental energy of creation. Call it what you will; what works, works.

Why am I suddenly reminded of the aged wizard walking through the village, spotting some young child and realizing that the child has 'the gift'. The blood of dragons or fey or whatever versus the quantum sensing. Is their a difference?

Aren't rote spells and other techniques just ways of focusing the mind for a task?

Novas tend to call it re-channeling power through their node or somesuch, but isn't it basically the same thing?

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Quote:
Originally posted by Jager:
Aren't rote spells and other techniques just ways of focusing the mind for a task?
Novas tend to call it re-channeling power through their node or somesuch, but isn't it basically the same thing?


Now there is an interesting questioning! Earlier today I was asked the question of how to convert a Mage character to Aberrant. Dunno, why... I am certainly no expert in Abbey though it's general knowledge that I like the weird 'impossible' stuff. Anyway, after spending a good hour of having the premise of Mage explained, I had to honestly admit that I saw only one problem. The concept itself didn't fit the paradigm of Aberrant.

This initally disillusioned the Mage PC until I hastened to point out that it wasn't in and of itself an impossible obstacle. It just didn't fit the norm of the Abberant world. The character beliefs, the eruption which his beliefs culminated in, and why he could ignore the weight of consensual belief in how eruptions occured and what led to them as well as what novas are 'capable' of doing had to be explained but otherwise it seems reasonable.

Not sure why anyone would choose a character concept which, despite the obvious versatility, ends up being more vulnerable than most and is tied directly into the human belief/disbelief system to the degree that it can kill him but that's roleplaying.

It got me thinking though, always a dangerous pastime, and I began to wonder about the nature of belief. Abberant gives us the possibility of superheroes and the game is structured to support those assumptions necessary to create these beings. What would a nova erupt into a thousand years ago? Not a superhero per se, though a hero is possible. A mage would be another possiblity.

It is often assumed that an 'old' nova would be more limited in abilities since they lack the knowledge of the universe to exploit specific types of energy manipulations easily. Yes, I can see that, however I have to wonder if there aren't some manipulations which would come easier to them simply because they don't know any better. Or others that would be possible simply because this 'old' nova doesn't see it as being impossible.

For example; The old wizard wandering the village and meeting the child. This could be important because at this stage the elder could shape the child's worldview and development. If the child erupted on their own then they would be limited to the beliefs which they already had. Prior to the eruption it is conceivable that those beliefs could be manipulated and the child groomed to erupt in a manner befitting the carrying on of magical tradition.

Such a nova might erupt into a state wherein all things are possible with the correct application of the 'power'. Such a nova would have quantum and a quantum pool, perhaps an inclination towards certain effects but not powers per se. Rather, they would have the belief that with the correct spells, carefully followed, any effect could be achieved. I say any effect guardedly however since a being this milieu might carry some baggage concerning religion which influences their abilities and the consequences of using them.

The PG states to the effect; at the moment of eruption all things are possible and the first action taken is to artifically limit one's abilities. In this case the limit would be the belief in spells (focusing regimes and perhaps coded means of visualizing energy flows or effects), the danger of acting against the consenual belief of the population (usurping the divine in some societies), and the impossiblity of some tasks.

In some society the mage may believe even the raising of the dead are possible although they have an arduous personal ritual (hours upon hours of prayer to ensure the divine power is inclined towards the endeavor) and knowing the correct 'formula' which has been passed through the church for millennia waiting for those of proper holiness to use it.

Aside from the obvious daring of a ST to run a campaign like this, and the legwork of adapting the system to characters like this, can anyone point out logical holes in the possibility?

Hmmm... this might be a good time to ask Chosen to move this entire thread back into the RPG forums under ST stuff.
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Wizard, all I can say is "wow". That is quite possibly the most brilliant idea for a Mage/Aberrant Crossover I have ever heard. Frankly, I've been thinking of doing a Mage/Aberrant Crossover (although I was going to transport the Novas to the WoD), but your idea actually sounds pretty damn plausible to me...

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