Aberrant RPG - Help and Advise for running aberrant.

[jamescukd]

Hi everyone

Haven’t posted for a long time, but need help and advice on running aberrant, ok here’s the run down…

I think they want to play something similar to Heroes TV show with the conspiracies and just gritty place that it is.

So what I want to do is still keep the emphasis on Humans with powers rather than super powered heroes, from what I see of heroes its a lot less powered that aberrant, but I still want the aberrant power level.

Also we are from the uk, and I would rather set it in the uk as we know it better than the states.

I know the directive is quite big in the uk, but where do I find more on the uk for aberrant the books I own are…

Storyteller Screen

Year One

Worldwide

Worldwide Phase II

Project Utopia

Elites

Underworld

Just won on ebay

The Directive.

A lot of my problem is knowing where to start where the hell do I start in creating a game?

If any of you were to do this or have done how would you handle it?

Any help would be appreciated.

James

[Alex Green]

If you're going to go with "Heroes" then I assume the basic abby background is out(?) and you're more dealing with the Directive, i.e. all novas are in the closet?

I suggest you have an "older and wiser" nova contact each of them after they erupt and let them know that there are "others" out there.... and bring them together.

Alternatively... the Directive (ish) might contact them and make them a job offer... or else.

Alternatively... run each of them individually. They've erupted, *no* *one* knows what they can do... and let's see how they react to suddenly being the only supers.

Or if you're running with standard abby... either World Wide 1 or 2 had an UK game. There was a woman in it who was basically a lower powered version of Geshia. If someone with 9 dots in social megas asks them to form a UK team... it'd be hard to say no. Especially with power and fame and everything else thrown in there. Of course her boss is basically nuts since he wants to re-run World War 2 with the correct ending, but that's basically what you want anyway.

And don't forget London Fog from Year One.

[SkyLion]

Hey!

Next time save yourself some bidding money and download the PDF from Drviethrurpg.com.

(Not a plug btw and I am not an affiliate by any means but its a great way to get alot of those hard to find books..and for Trinity stuff it's baragin-basement-dirt-cheap!)

[BlueNinja]

Aberrant is largely a US-centric game, but there is some on the UK. In general, though, make up whatever you need to - if you want a more Heroes style game, you certainly don't need to stick to canon.

As for power level, Heroes itself is rather schitzo about it - Hiro and Peter are clearly above the rest of the group when it comes to powers. In general though, I'd say 20-25 NP is about the right level for Heroes, with the emphasis more on powers and less on mega-attributes.

As for running the game, you might want to check out the Trans-D sub-forum and look at my list of house rules; also there's a lot of discussion in this forum and a number of places where people have pointed out rules problems and inconsistancies.

One book I notice you don't have is the Abby Player's Guide, which has quite a bit of world-building stuff, and the Merits and Flaws section is highly worth it. I don't recommend letting your players use the power strengths/weaknesses though, because it was obviously not play-tested.

[jamescukd]

Aberrant is largely a US-centric game, but there is some on the UK. In general, though, make up whatever you need to - if you want a more Heroes style game, you certainly don't need to stick to canon.

As for power level, Heroes itself is rather schitzo about it - Hiro and Peter are clearly above the rest of the group when it comes to powers. In general though, I'd say 20-25 NP is about the right level for Heroes, with the emphasis more on powers and less on mega-attributes.

As for running the game, you might want to check out the Trans-D sub-forum and look at my list of house rules; also there's a lot of discussion in this forum and a number of places where people have pointed out rules problems and inconsistancies.

One book I notice you don't have is the Abby Player's Guide, which has quite a bit of world-building stuff, and the Merits and Flaws section is highly worth it. I don't recommend letting your players use the power strengths/weaknesses though, because it was obviously not play-tested.

Oh i do have the players guide as well i thought i put that on there.

What i mean by Heroes type, is the sort of setting, which i personally think is the default aberrant universe, The Directive is defiantly the company Noah works for, Syler is an Teragen.

[SkyLion]

Run Homestar Runner, Run!

[BlueNinja]

Oh i do have the players guide as well i thought i put that on there.

The big difference between Heroes (what I've seen, anyway) and Aberrant is that in Aberrant people with powers are public and accepted, while in Heroes they are all trying (more or less) to keep their abilities secret from the general public. Also, I can't remember seeing anyone in Heroes with physical or quantum aberrations.

[jamescukd]

The big difference between Heroes (what I've seen, anyway) and Aberrant is that in Aberrant people with powers are public and accepted, while in Heroes they are all trying (more or less) to keep their abilities secret from the general public. Also, I can't remember seeing anyone in Heroes with physical or quantum aberrations.

Yes that is true, but the feel of the conspiracy that underpins the story with the company. also the who realism of it thats what i want to aim for.

Also any one know of good aberrant character sheets?

[BlueNinja]

Also any one know of good aberrant character sheets?

If you are at least marginally familiar with Excel, my Trans-D folder (follow this link) has a character sheet I've used almost since I started playing Aberrant. All you really need to do is copy/paste dots into the rights spots, and fill in things like Enhancements, backgrounds, merits/flaws, etc. It's easy to print out and fill out by pencil as well. It's a double-sided character sheet, but it also includes most of the Abilities added in the PG and Directive.

[Anon]

The links lead to dead GeoCities webpages. Would it be possible for you to re-upload them?

[BlueNinja]

The links lead to dead GeoCities webpages. Would it be possible for you to re-upload them?

The Excel character sheet is attached to the second post in the topic, but the other stuff I would have to find a new host somewhere. I didn't even think about Geocities vanishing and taking my files with it.