Aberrant RPG - Canon

[Hugin]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I'm running a TT game and I'm staying fairly close to canon. I've always loved the Aberrant canon and I admit, I tend to look askance at anyone who talks about using Aberrant in non-canonical settings and I think I've figured out why I feel this way. Aberrant is the canon. As far as a pure system for presenting superhumanity I think Aberrant falls drastically short in many ways. MegaDice are too powerful when compared to the dice offered by dots in a power. The utter lack of a sensible gadget system. The emphasis on a player following a theme. Increased dots in powers tend to offer very little in the way of increased ability or effectiveness in that power. Eruption limits many of the ways a hero comes into being. The supposition that a baseline just plain sucks when compared to a Nova.

Now, I'm not complaining. I love this game and I really enjoy running my TT. My major belief I guess, is that if you're going to dump canon, you probably shouldn't be playing Aberrant or Trinity (Adventure is really less canon-bound). If you want to play a supers game, there are systems out there that are much better designed, the new Mutants and Masterminds for example. If you want to play sci-fi, there are better systems out there with better support (Traveller, GURPS, perhaps even Alternity).

I wonder if this extraordinarily strong canon was one of the limiting factors to Aeon's success? There are a lot of people out there who chafe at any suggestion of canon (D&D people by the hundreds who outright freaked when 3rd edition retained it's Forgotten Realms setting) and Aberrat and Trinity are definetly canon strong.

Also coming with this seems to be a strong division. On one side you have me and my homies, the canon freaks. We're the ones who go into frothing rages whenever people bring up ideas on new ways to get rid of taint, or talk about bringing in Vampires, Mages, or what have you. On the other side we have the adaptation freaks. These guys spend all their time talking about ways to design Aberrant rules Authority, X-Men or Gen13 variations. The ones who only want to play pre-Galatea eruptees or feel that Taint is a ripoff and is holding back the game. Makes it kinda hard to get group consensus I think. Makes it kinda hard to get a large audience to play together too.

Just some thoughts.

[Widget]

I lack a reverence for canon but whether I get bent out of shape over something depends on what aspect of canon you're talking about. Are you trying to change the nature of the game world or are you altering an event? "Canon" for my group has always been the default condition but if our characters changed things then they were changed. One thing I've noticed is the number of people that want to see the book, page number and paragraph that specifically gives you authorization to do X. Canon is a nice structure but IMHO has been taken to almost ridiculous levels in Aberrant.

"We only allow canon powers in our games."

But the book says the powers as written are only defaults and are intended to be tailored doesn't it? So what is a "canon" power?

"Many suspect the sterilization conspiracy but no one knows the truth."

Maybe in 2008 when people are only just starting to realize there is a problem but in the coming years a *lot* of people are going to figure it out. Many do know the truth; AEON, Thetis, Ozaki, the researchers that developed it and the novas that recognize they've been infected with a foreign virus. Pretty silly to assume no one is going to figure it out for fifty years.

So canon is great, a really awesome place to start, but I think there is a very simple choice involved here. Either we can have the Aberrant the novel and canon is inviolate, or we can have the Aberrant game and canon is a starting place.

My thoughts on the matter.

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[Hugin]

You make some good points and I would still consider you a canon player. Canon is a starting point and yes of course, players should be given every opportunity to have an effect on their world.

What I consider 'canon' breaking would be adjustments to the basic precepts of the game. Taint being reduced in effect. Changing the origins of who and what Novas are. Eliminating Divas because you find him annoying (Hey, Divas made Novas. He may be annoying, but without him their ain't novas. Downplay his existence, he actually only shows up in two storylines in canon books, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.) Basically things like that. I mean, I understand that every game is different, every gamer has their opinions, I guess this was just be rambling on about how I think that Aberrant is all about it's setting. The system isn't really that great and I don't understand why some people want to play the system but throw out the setting. Using a mediocre system to play a game that could probably be better realized using another one just strikes me as strange.

I'm just kind of talking out to the aether here. Not trying to change any minds, just speaking some opinions. Just getting some reaction.

[Sandy Davis]

Well, the canon is a great setting. The rules are great as well. The point I should set is this. Like everything in the world, it has flaws. But it is has good sides as weld.if not then, why I could I be here?But here it is.in table top games, you take what you want and leave the rest.

Now for the game bored like this. Well, here it is. If I look at this bored,and stick to the canon, there is no new character. I mean by the end of a week,almost all the debates you have are settled. It is a challenge to come with new ideas,and topics to talk of, and most wind up dwindling down to things that may as well be a broken record.So, if the canon was changed you could get new things.

As for Mal,he is not needed.The teragen could be a idealist gruop of people, as the way it started.THe Count could have said the Nul in say 2015.It would change the Canon but not so much that the world or game would be unplayable.

[Widget]

I disagree on some of those points. I see what you're getting at but since the "truth" is determined less by facts and more by interpretation or opinion I don't think "all debates are going to be settled". I've been reading through the back threads in this place and IMHO, the consensus seems to have already been made that novas are not human and that the Zurich accord is a piece of paper. That's all great but with that question out of the way the next set of questions are looming:

- If we're not human then what are we?

- What obligation do we have to baselines?

- What obligation do baselines have to us?

- Where are we going individually and as a people?

- Do we have a direction as a people?

- Do we have the right to change the world?

There are many people that want to believe there is and can be only one answer to all of those questions but that seems unlikely. And no matter what answer you provide to all of the above questions there is going to be one final question with an uncertain answer:

- What happens when your answer conflicts with mine?

Considering that people can't reach a general consensus on something as fundamental as "what is taint", I don't think they're going to reach answers to the above questions that will be universally accepted as true.

Added comment:

To me the game isn't only about what answers you reach. It's about how you reach those answer and what you're willing to do about it. Even if you and I both agree that Utopia is a flawed baseline interest serving organization that doesn't mean we'll agree on what to do about it. Some would destroy them, others would distract them and more we want to subvert the organization. Now what happens when all three groups try to serve their agenda?

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[Walker]

I must admit that I'm a canon fan as a storyteller, I like systems with strong themes and setting now-a-days. I've been RPing for a looong time and I used to always mess around with the backgrounds/timelines of games but the central themes and background of Aberrant and Trinity (the products that I own) sit nicely together IMNSHO so I stick with the canon setting.

Now this isn't to say that the player characters can't change the world. That's a different thing but I don't mess with the backgrounds of gameworlds nearly so much as I used to. I guess that part of that is because over the years game designers have given more and more thought to the background setting of the games they bring out rather than just designing rule systems. I appreciate their effort, a quick flick through the rule book at the setting material before I buy normally tells me if I'm gonna like running it or playing it.

[Arek]

The major problem I have with Aberrant canon is that..there simply is not enough information for the setting. It's well developed from 1998 - 2008, gets fuzzy from 2009 - 2015 and then there's very little information of what happens in the 2020, 2030s..ect..Unless it's covered very well in Trinity, there's almost no information on what started the Aberrant wars and what happened during them.

[Widget]

Aside from WW deciding to discontinue support, I think that might have been intentional and would have continued even if they kept publishing books. In the book/rough drafts that have seen the light of day since the developer went his own way there's a shift in emphasis. Where before there was the Aberrant novel as told by Blackweilder, after there was a shift to the Aberrant game as described by Baugh and Snead.

That seems to be what Baugh means when he talks about Aberrant going in a different direction from Trinity and Adventure!. In an interview he once said something to the effect that rigid background made for very passive gaming. An example he used was that the problem wasn't that the Teragen/Mal were "right", as that they were so totally "right" that all other possibilities were excluded. There was no possibility of exploring other options without being "wrong".

A sentiment I happen to agree with.

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[Sandy Davis]

Well, here is my problem with the Canon. The damned sabat.You may ask why this a problem, it is simple. It went threw the same thing as Vampire went threw. In the first plot line you have two factions. You had the Cam, and the Sab.They acted much like each other, but here is the key. The cam were self loathing. The Sab were not. They saw that they were vampires,and what they did was just a fine as a human eating a steak..

But they both lived by the idea that if humans caught on to what they were doing they would be killed,and hunted. So they both hid themselves. Then the plot line got screwed over to make the Sab into crazy thugs bent on random anarchy for no reason. Then to cover up this they made the Cam powerful enough to control the Media and such to make sure no one noticed the crazy things that the Sab were doing. Witch made the whole idea of the masquerade a joke.

Now let's look into Utopia, and the Trinity world. By the time I read all the book,and saw how much the canon setting screwed up Utopia. Well let's just say that it seems that only reason Utopia should be left standing is that the world is full of morons. Then the Teragen being the good guys.

Excuses me, but the way they set up the Teragen is so full of loop holes it is well, funny. I mean there is no way to justify what they do as being good. Yes they may be doing good things but they are not good. You have the leader of the group,who is contented to playing God. This lead to the fact that he is willing to let other kill and die in his name, but doesn't do much to guide them. TO use a metaphor. He gives people a gun, a cause but no reason. Some how he is a good guy.fighting the good fight.

Then let's look at the in the idea that they fallow. No nova, or law can tell any other nova what do. Only the novas themselves can judge right from wrong. Then how can they say that any nova is doing anything wrong. If whatever you feel, or want to do, is in your right. Then nothing is wrong. If nothing is wrong, then nothing is right,and there is no path,and no cause.

I do enjoy the tearagen,and I love the canon. But I live under standing that it is a game. As a game you take what you want o off a game, and throw away the rest. You can say that I should pick up a new system. But really what do I have to chose from? Champions, some d20 thing?Let's face it.story teller has the best system of any I have seen.I and I am not here to make supper heroes, but gods, with souls.Aberrant to me, has always been, what good would come from owning the world if you lost your soul?Also what if there was middle ground.would you take it,and how far would go?In that case the canon has a lot to good ideas, but not all to them are prefect for all people.

For you, if you find watching paint dring fun, youc an do that. But remeber that there is rarely black and white anwsers to anything you ask.

[MrDaniel]

Question:

In the Rules / Storytelling section there is an alternate game setting called "Fighting Armageddon". In it Novas are not just "quantum aberrations" but are something else.

However, the game remains steeped in Aberrant source material with the same organisations etc etc.

Is that using Aberrant in a non-canonical fashion or not?

Daniel (looking for a definition of "canon")

[Sakurako Hino]

Canon... Even though I play with it (or around with it, even though my 'rents tell me not to) is something I call a pallette. I use what the pallette has and try to paint a picture with it. I pretty much call everything before the "game date" as "happened". The future of the game depends on the players. There is no fate but what we make.

I guess I'm sort of sick of doom and gloom. The Aberrant war does linger over Aberrant like a dark cloud.

But for those who think the word is law, here's something for you to digest.

p.132

Look there on the "Wheels within Wheels" sidebar.

Aberrant is what you make of it, and what you do with it. No two people will run it the same. If they did... it'd be DnD. Or World of Darkness.

Whatever happened to creativity. Sticking to Canon is like closing your mind to the fantastic.

[Kirby1024]

Quote:

Originally posted by Endeavor:
Aberrant is what you make of it, and what you do with it. No two people will run it the same. If they did... it'd be DnD. Or World of Darkness.

Just to point out, I have never seen two people run either D&D or World of Darkness the same way, either. Mage, at the very least, has a very open-ended Canon, and WW, if I recall correctly, recites the Golden Rule in every Storyteller Core Book they write...

[Sakurako Hino]

You know it. What one Storyteller does, won't even fly with another.

I do have early gaming experience with such things.

[Walker]

Quote:

Originally posted by Endeavor:

Whatever happened to creativity. Sticking to Canon is like closing your mind to the fantastic.

There's sticking to canon and sticking to canon. If you use canon as a palete, as you so poetically put it, you can stick to it as a Storyteller as much as you like, you just shouldn't railroad the players. If you say to your players, 'You can't possibly do that because it'll change the timeline...' you're sticking to it in the bad way.

The point myself and, I think, James/Prodg are making is; we like the canon setting, the game designers have done a good job on this one and we thank them for it. What you chose to change is up to you guys, but we personally like it just fine as it is and feel no need to make sweeping changes to the background. There's plenty of creative scope WITHIN the canon material.

That being said the game is about:- one in a million people with world changing powers, so the players can change the world after introduction as much or as little as they like. I don't think anyone's arguing against that.

[Sakurako Hino]

Actually...

You summed up my feelings on this. I guess I wasn't getting everything in my mind out in text. Slight problem of mine.

[Vixen]

The problem being: being a one-in-a-million person who can change the destiny of the world, looses a bit of its kick when the destiny of the world is an inevitable war between baselines and novas.

[Agnelli Celeste]

the proplem I have, that one person said, and I find is true. You have this, Mal is right.You are wrong.In the world of white wolf where it is about the grey, it seems to be so black and white.

As the savoirs,matrys and prophets were the mirrors of..Well you know. It has always been odd, that if a nova can do anything with her node, and all novas are one of a kind.Then by all means why is it that all novas are doomed to turn into taint riden things?

[Sakurako Hino]

Some are...

You haven't seen the stuff on Asia Acendant have you?

There are novas that can control themselves and not gain taint. They're weaker, but they're more connected with the humans they once were.

The novas of Today are unrefined. sort of a progenitor of a better race that will appear down the line.

[Kane Knight]

Hooooooooboy...

I have a feeling this'll be a long post, or I will inadequately explain myself. PLace bets at the window.

I play a semi-canon game. Most of the signature characters are there intact, the Galatea exploded and is acreditted with the beginning of the Nova age by many, Mal is the world's most potent Nova, the ogranisations still exist (With the exception of Proteus as-is).

Why play semi canon? Why not go off and play a Mutants and Masterminds game? Granted, I love that game, but I play Aberrant because I like some of the story elements and the gaming system, the characters, and so on. However, I don't like everything. Not by a longshot.

Most of the reasons I have have already been touched upon. Project Proteus bugs me--The arrogance that an organisation controlling/eliminating Novas in a big conspiracy theory way, but managing to outwit the smartests of Novas overwhelms me. The Teragen Philosophy needs at the very least a facelift. It's holier than swiss cheese at points. And Divis Himself...

Well, Divis remains aloof, not offering guidance, but smacks down Pax for being wrong. The holes in his logic make Proteus look like a machiavellian scheme. He has all the rationale of the man who flaunted him around, Kraigh Blackwelder.

Canon is good, but Aberrant canon is rather heavy handed about it, and several aspects were not well thought out. The latter is problematic, natch, but the former is really hard to deal with especially given the genre and all the hype. I mean, Novas have the power to change the world...If it's not covered by canon rules.

Upon running a game, seeing how capable my starting characters were of altering the world, I had to throw out some canon stuff based on principle, some I just didn't like, and some that didn't mesh well with my gaming style. I liked the concept, but the execution was a little disappointing. I felt confined, and like my players were confined by this confinement, and started Golden Ruling things.

In simple terms, the canon setting felt like Final Fantasy X or something similar to that. Interactive novel that rides on rails and showed off how k3wl the angst ridden and misunderstood Divis Mal was. I dunno, that's just not for me...Not by a longshot.

Throw in the fact that the storyline didn't play well with Trinity, it gets more complex. I worked to reconcile Abbie and Trinity, but it takes quite a bit of work.

And, of course, superscience. What's up with that? I understand the whole "You are not Iron Man" thing, to an extent. But logical progressions of tech, and the capacity for advancements and some decent super science are not bad things. Yes, it's supposed to be about the Novas, not about the technology, but this technology clearly changes the world around them.

And yet, I can deal with most of this. I use Device rules from A!, I altered the teragen and Proteus, I downplay Mal and leave open the notion that he created Novas. I snipped the parts that bugged me, stitched in pieces I like from elsewhere, and came up with a game I and my players were satisfied with.

Blah. I'm also just a bigtime ST system geek. It's not perfect, but it always feels like coming home to mother.

[Widget]

Quote:

Sort of a progenitor of a better race that will appear down the line.

Or an extreme version of the possible taken to ridiculous levels. Or maybe both at the same time.

I wouldn't jump on that asia nova band wagon too quickly though. In one of the background reports of AsAs the nova "Shining Mountain" has entered what they call tertiary singularity and just annexed a planet the Nihonjin intended for colonization. Her reason? She wants to "play a game of civilization" using local uplifted species.

The one truism of taint is that baselines freak in your presence. Lacking taint doesn't mean you aren't a flake.



Now if I could just figure out what Tertiary Singularity means. I would guess it's Q6. or higher, but she doesn't have taint madness so...

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[Sakurako Hino]

Her prickness exceeds her powerlevel. Typical.

[Hugin]

Well, looks like I'm the odd man out. Fine. I like Aberrant quite a bit, I love these forums, but reading some of this here helps me understand why I don't seem to fit in anymore.

I look at Aberrant and I see some pretty concrete givens.

Novas are not human.

Taint isn't inevitable, but nearly irreversible.

Proteus is secret and nearly no one even knows that they have the name 'Proteus'.

Human/Novas are doomed to split. It happens in the canon history of Aberrant and Trinity and as far as I'm concerned, if you take into account Taint and the unbelievable effect the mere existence Novas have on the human psyche, regardless of the history it still strikes me as inevitable.

I don't think people have to play every aspect of the storyline as presented. I don't do it myself. In my TT game Chiraben didn't kill Slider, two of the characters domm'ed by Psyche did. It brought them more into the game, but didn't change much in the big picture.

You don't like Mal? Don't bring him in. I mean, if you play from 2008 forward there are very few 'written in stone' scenarios in which he becomes involved. Me? Four months of sessions and Mal hasn't shown up once. Neither has Pax. It's still canon, we've seen Skew, Alejandra, Count Orzaiz and a baker's dozen of others in addition to my own creations. Hell, this last week I decided to bring Adventure! into it and Whitley Stiles has shown up.

Canon, for the most part isn't tied into the specifics. It's a theme and the broad strokes to communicate that theme. Alienation, the changing world, escalating tensions and Novas being drawn into factions. That's Aberrant, and that is the landscape these forums draw from. No, we don't have moderators, and in the past there have been hiccups, but they've been relatively few and far between.

I really don't know why I've even started this. Honestly, I don't think my opinions with canon have anything to do with my dissatisfaction lately. I've been putting more of my effort into my TT and that leaves less of me for here. But, hell, to be brutally honest, I've been here so long it's seeming repetitive. How did you erupt? What kewl powers do you have? Are we human? Who's involved in some dark and scary plot? Why do the Teragen rule/suck? Why is Utopia the bastian of all good/is the sucky source of all evil? Ad infinitum.

One of the reasons I tried to do the N News Service was to give something new for people to talk about. But it rarely worked. I tried to present instances in which Novas were changing the face of the world in important ways. Mankinds mysteries being solved one by one, reducing our mythology. Judicial decisions affecting the place of Novas in our world. The depths at which a society would go to try to own a piece of anything Nova. Social theories on Nova behavior. At the most, one of the subjects was bantered about a bit, usually only those that could be viewed as fodder for the latest dark 'n gritty interaction.

I've had conversations with a few wonderful people here outside of the forums. I've met a couple people whose opinions and correspondence I value. One of them expressed to me his/her frustration with the boards.

We don't play characters. We play cutouts with titles on them. "I'm a Terat, therefore I believe this because that is what the Teragen believe". "I'm a Utopian, therefore I believe this because that is what Utopia believes." "I'm the independent therefore I shall disagree with everything I'm told to believe." What is this? Hell, I'm guilty of it. I've played some characters I'm downright ashamed of. Ripsaw was a fucking joke. Gerald Haney a pathetic attempt to justify a silly eruption story. RiverHorse Charlie? Despised him so much I can't even speak of him. No, the two characters I've played that I actually enjoyed posting as I realize is because I managed to do what my correspondent lamented was so lacking. They had a personality first, and their allegience/identity/what have you could be based on that. Vile Bill was not violent because he was an Elite. He was an elite because he was a short tempered, foul mouthed, ex-con. He didn't really have much of a choice. I didn't create him because I wanted to play an Elite, I created him because I loved him. Then, when I saw the need for an Elite to show up here to counter an overwhelming lack of Elites, I decided to use him.

I've just seen so often here, someone, pretty much in character, state "I am this type of person, this is how I should be reacted to" rather than roleplaying that type of person and getting people to react to them that way.

Hey, yell at me, curse me, tell me I'm a dick. You wouldn't be the first, you won't be the last. I just love this place, I love it a lot. Chosen, you will have no idea the esteem I hold you in for having spent so much time and energy giving us this playground. It is for that reason, I kind of feel obligated to say that I don't think we are giving it the respect and the effort and the quality that it deserves.

No, this isn't aimed at everyone. Some of you rule. Some, I can abide by. Some, I wish you would simply go away.

Well, that's my two cents.

[Boy Scout]

What's the N News Service?

[Kane Knight]

Quote:

Originally posted by James 'Prodigy' Meehan:
Well, looks like I'm the odd man out. Fine. I like Aberrant quite a bit, I love these forums, but reading some of this here helps me understand why I don't seem to fit in anymore.

Because you are more into canon than other people? Hardly seems grounds to not fit in. To be the odd man out, perhaps, but not irreconcilably so.

Quote:

I look at Aberrant and I see some pretty concrete givens.

Novas are not human.

Taint isn't inevitable, but nearly irreversible.

Proteus is secret and nearly no one even knows that they have the name 'Proteus'.

Is it given that Novas aren't human? I never really saw that as concrete. The Taint bit is a mechanic. Proteus seems a odd thing to accept as concrete and say "that's life."

Quote:

Human/Novas are doomed to split. It happens in the canon history of Aberrant and Trinity and as far as I'm concerned, if you take into account Taint and the unbelievable effect the mere existence Novas have on the human psyche, regardless of the history it still strikes me as inevitable.

A very valid opinion, one I doubt I would ever argue, or want to argue. It's probably very unlikely that Novas will ever be a complete part of human society, human or not.

Quote:

Canon, for the most part isn't tied into the specifics. It's a theme and the broad strokes to communicate that theme. Alienation, the changing world, escalating tensions and Novas being drawn into factions. That's Aberrant, and that is the landscape these forums draw from.

Why is Proteus, such an inane and baffling concept a broad stroke rather than a silly specific to take or leave? IT seems as much or as little a detail as the SLider assassination to me, and perhaps herein lies my confusion.

Quote:

Hey, yell at me, curse me, tell me I'm a dick. You wouldn't be the first, you won't be the last.

Heh. If opinions make you a dick, Mellville could right a book about me. Go for it. Rant, vent, express, seems like it works fine.

[Avatar]

Boy Scout,

N! New Service was a "character" James used to insert background material and story ideas to the board. Personally, I have always loved the little snipits the he posted and I'll miss them greatly.

James,

I understand everything that your saying, I really do. For my part, yes, I'm rehashing some old topics/ideas, but I'm trying go a little deeper. I'm trying to get other people here to explore their creations along with my own exploration of Avatar. It's not just about asking people about what "kewl powerz" they have, but about how having those powers has impacted their lives and changed them. It's also about the why's. So your character can fly. That's neato, but tell me why he can fly. What part of him/her craved soaring through the naked sky so much, that in a moment of planck time, with reality at your character's fingertips, they chose what they chose. This is just my attempt to bring a new level of role-play for me and those who choose to interact with Avatar.

While I understand that you are now involved with a TT game and have less time for the Opnet world, my advice to you is lead by example. If you want to see change for the better here, work at it with those you know will respond to your efforts.

[Sakurako Hino]

Okay, it's time I leveled with you guys.

I do have a problem with WW's style of game plotlines. In EVERY game they have made other than Adventure! and Street Fighter (Remember that one?) that there has been nothing but a my way or the highway approach to their stories. They say time and time again that we aren't beholden to their plotlines but the plots within lead us by the nose.

By introducing the Teragen's ability of Chrystalis, they have single handedly said; "Join the Teragen or be taint ridden monsters." So, everyone came up with every excuse possible to justify why they are terats. Not to mentionhow they were protrayed in the Teragen book made them the romantic rebels for the most part and not the eventual triggers of the Aberrant war.

Then, they take the heroes of the entire Aeoniverse timeline, The Aeon Society, and make them look like genocidal, conspiratorial maniacs in the Aberrant arc. When in the other 2 arcs, Aeon was the light of hope for the world.

Now, take into consideration the fact that in the Asia Acendant book which will now won't see print, there are interesting things that should have played out in the Aberrant storyline. For instance, the purging of "taint prone" novas in Japan and the appearance of novas who are not as prone to gaining taint.

(Actually, when I read the Asia Acendant material, I could have swore that the "Nihonjin" Aberrants don't get taint. WTF?!)

Now, I do have problems with the Aberrant world. I'm from the school of if you got the power, change the world. I started out in roleplaying playing superhero systems for crying out loud. Why is it that people are more willing to just take things as they are, and let things go to hell?

If Novas believed that the time would come that there would be a conflict with Humans, wouldn't there be those Novas and Humans who'd try to stop the madness? Where is the hope? Where is the light of a future that is yet to be forged in the Trinity storyline? Hope, Unity, Sacrifice. Isn't that what it's all about?

I came here to have a good time, and try something different. Yes, there are some that'd ring my neck on a excuse. But I do know there are some here who'd agree with me that there are too many people wearing black trenchcoats and sunglasses. I like going against the grain because that's how variety is made.

Even if it means I take the slings and arrows of contraversy. I may have toned Endeavor down, but I sure as hell won't turn her into a completely different character or even let her slide into the monotony of a "safe character archetype".

When I play Endeavor, I try to play her out, quirks, and eccentricities in full view. Just by you guys reacting to her, I realize that I am playing a character that is not part of the "normal" crowd. I like playing unconventional characters.

Aberrant has that ability for unique characters to shine. Why is it that this game then produces more vanilla than a ice cream factory?

It's your game, guys. If you don't like what's happening, either change it or move over and let someone through that can.

That's how I feel about it. Take from it what you will.

[Sandy Davis]

James, if you take one thing from me.One idea let it be this.Being serious and being wise are not the same thing.Some of the wisest things you will learn are done from being silly,and being light hearted..And some serious things things are out right the most ridicoulus things ever.SO, what if something is silly, not every thing needs to Upton scale.

Now that said, I have a an idea what you think of me,and to tell you the truth.It doesn't offend me, anymore. But if it changes, that may be good..

The canon setting in this form is hard to make new ideas.I would like to think that Sandy has new ideas.Then again, in table top my characters are different than my on line ones.

Now the canon world has problems.But here are some points I see in different light.

One novas could be is seen as as the extreme form of freedom.Complete and and utter freedom.No limits,and free will. The fact that they have powers, well, that is just extra.Sort of a metaphor.

So what is taint? To put it simply, they so free that they no longer relate to other people.

On the flip side psions are the extreme forms of equality.They become one with the world around them.In shortit it seems to be total freedom or total equality.Or just maybe the idea to be you own person or to fallow with others.

Now if no one else has got these two metaphors, then so be it.

Here is the catch, with total freedom one could choice to live as nothing was different.After all what is it be a god, if you can't save yourself?

[MrDaniel]

What I dislike about the canon is that my players are inclined to read the sourcebooks. E.g. It helped to read Project Utopia to play a Utopian.

However, every other page in Project Utopia has something to say about Proteus. How am I as a Storyteller supposed to surprise my players if the secrets are so blatant?

Its the same in the Aberrant rulebook setting material. It's all there! Where are the Storyteller's secrets to twist, surprise and entertain?

NB - Are we talking about Canon in general or Canon on the Nprime forums? (As a newbie, i am thinking I may be misreading stuff)

[MrDaniel]

Quote from Brainwaves (and one I am behind 100%):

Odds are, after reading this book, you'll have your own ideas on how to handle Mega-Mental Attributes in your game and some twists on the game rules and source material. By all means, use them! Maybe you want to make Kuro-Tek and the Directive into puppets of a world-spanning conspiracy, with a Mega-Intelligent nova pulling the strings. Or you want to have the most Mega-Perceptive novas start going mad because they keep sensing something, something too horrible for their minds to cope with, that other people can't see, hiding in the shadow of what we call reality.

Whatever you want to do with your Aberrant chronicle, take it and run with it.

One particular area where you might want to mess around is in the places White Wolf can't. Two major things limit official Aberrant products. First, the need to maintain a certain "baseline" world (no pun intended) that cleaves to the history of the future in Trinity and of the past in Adventure! Just because White Wolf isn't going to have China go to war with the rest of the world or have Earth invaded by a parallel timeline in Aberrant doesn't mean that you can't. Second, White Wolf is limited by copyright in terms of what it can add to the Aberrant mix. Do you want to have a nova who thinks he's a certain Man of Steel (and has the powers to match)? Time-Warner probably wouldn't like it if White Wolf did it, but you can. Want some of H.P. Lovecraft's creations to drop in? Dig out your other books and introduce your novas to what's beyond the quantum level of reality. In short, this game is a tool for your imagination, not the other way around.

[Hugin]

K Knight- I consider the concept and existence of Proteus a concrete given. Some of the specifics as written were poorly done, but any halfway decent ST can overcome that. Just like he/she could deal with Mal's powerlevel and presence.

Avatar-Glad you liked them, but they didn't seem to do a damn bit of good. I wasn't simply writing to see how pretty my words were. I was actually trying to produce something, to do by example as you put it. Didn't work.

Endeavor-First of all, it should be 'join the Teragen and be a taint ridden freak.' Getting rid of Taint using Chrysalis is extraordinarily difficult (10 exp per point and remember, each exp spent during Chrysalis is 1 full week in Chrysalis.) Yes, I'll agree, the Teragen had some specific problems, but honestly, if I was to erupt today, I'd join them a hell of a lot quicker than Utopia. And I am not your average 'oh woe is me' angst ridden, black wearing, baby bat wannabe WW player. Actually a little closer to Santa Clause than Marilyn Manson in appearance.

Second, Aeon is defined by point of view and time period. In Adventure! it was still fresh and new, it didn't have time to get corrupt. In Trinity it is wonderful in comparision to the history that it created. Yeah, when compared to the slavering demons that were Aberrants it is pretty nifty. Still, sounds a whole hell of a lot like a combination of scary fascist governments and corporate monoliths (from what I understand, I never got into Trinity) You know, fact is, a lot of the evil in Utopia we see is simply because we refuse as a group to see anything else. Thats why I had Thetis' last line be what it was in Captured Conversations. She honestly and truly believes she is helping the world. Betcha she could make a pretty good case for it to. Utopia isn't evil, we as a group just have been focusing on that because it makes our characters seem oh so cool to be the 'hip, in-the-know' type of people who can decry all of their dirty little secrets. Everytime someone tries to stand up and say some good things about Utopia everyone shouts them down, bitching about the cloak and dagger shit that, and lets be real honest here, nearly none of the characters here should know a goddamn thing about. But no, we all have to be so clever, so in the thick of things.

Prodigy as a character couldn't give a rat's heinie about a lot of the dark shit Utopia does. They're a powerful organization run by commitees, of course they pull that crap. He disagrees with their core concepts. But every time a newbie shows up here and talks about recently erupting it seems like a baker's dozen of posters jump up "Don't go to Rashoud Clinics! Don't take the drugs! Don't eat the food!" In the Aberrant World, the Rashoud Clinics are nearly the only places in the world where a new nova can go to figure out stuff without blowing up their neighborhood. Telling them not to go there is like telling someone not to go to the doctor when they find a lump in their testicle or their breast. Yes there are rumors, but they are consipiracy theory crap. So what if they're true. Maybe the Gnomes of Zurich actually do run the world, but do you, you right there sitting at your computer, believe that they do? If so, you're in a small minority.

Fine, their are secrets galore out there in the books. Sometimes you have to run your character like they don't know, like they don't even suspect. Not just try and find some excuse as to why they would have figured it out just so you can play someone with all the cards.

[Sakurako Hino]

...

I can see this runs far deeper.

Perhaps my dis-satisfaction over this whole storyline comes from..

a: A lack of material

b: Player Knoledge/Character Knoledge errors

c: My own burnout over roleplaying in general

d: The overwhelming pall of doom hanging over just about everything lately.

There is alot of negative vibes lately all around. I guess I just tend to go with the flow more often that not.

The whole black trenchcoat thing was actually a reaction to a trend on my side of the keyboard when it comes to gaming. I'm truely sorry I brought that up here where things are somewhat different.

As for the rest, I'm sorry that my remarks got you angry. I know you're burned out as well. I can tell by the tone of your voice.

There is nothing more that I can add to this conversation, so, I'll just step aside and let the others chime in.

[Avatar]

I think the main problem here is that people are treating this place like a TT game. Is't not. Start thinking about it as more of a Live Action game instead. Stop worrying about what is or isn't cannon, and what we can or cannot change in the game world. Instead focus on your character's growth. How does Endeavor, or Prodigy, or Avatar, or any of the others grow change and evolve as they interact here. The best additions to the Opnet environment have been either small and "inconsequential" in the grand scheme of things, or have been part of the fiction section. Some examples of good World Building include;

N! News Service: Despite James' perceived lack of interest, NNS has provided us with some nifty little background info on the goings-on in the world around us.

Valor of Heroes: This little, innocuous TV show has been brought up at least a dozen and a half times by a variety of people. Why? It gives everyone some common ground to work with, seeing as many of the characters here come very different games and styles of play.

Existentionalist(?): Shezarahad's column in the fiction section really did a good job of giving the world a touch of plausibility. it added character and depth to a variety of subjects and topics.

The Fiction Section: Some of it is good, some awesome, some of it stinks to high heaven, but all of it gives us a peek into the individual worlds of the characters involved.

That is just a fraction of what we have to play with and none of it is "world shattering" because none of it changes the basic precepts of the game world. Cannon exists to give us all a common frame of reference and when you start to swing too far away from it (like your character coming up with a way to cure taint, or killing off all of the bad boys in Proteus), you remove those reference points. Not only does this make things confusing to the newbies, but also it can really screw up another player's character. Imagine someone says, "I killed Thetus!" in one post and someone in another post says, "No you didn't, I just finish having lunch with her!" Who ends up "being right" in that situation? In my opinion, it should be the “reality” that most preserves the overall cannon world.

Just my two cents, but I hope it helps people understand where I'm coming from.

[Kane Knight]

Quote:

Originally posted by James 'Prodigy' Meehan:
K Knight- I consider the concept and existence of Proteus a concrete given. Some of the specifics as written were poorly done, but any halfway decent ST can overcome that. Just like he/she could deal with Mal's powerlevel and presence.

I look at it as a flavor aspect. Without the Proteus conspiracy, does the overall theme of the game change? Not when most characters shouldn't even know about the supersecret group. In the overall scheme of things, will Project Proteus really change the face of things? Well, it could, or it could not, but it certainly isn't necessary, especially if you're going by the concept that the human/Nova split is inevitable.

I mean, I can understand your point of view, but to mine, it's unecessary, as are many angles, to maintaining the overall flavor of the stew. The same goes for Mal being the progenitor of modern Novas, the deeper meaning of the Teragen, and so on. Can the overall direction of the game be maintained without those items? I believe so, especially as those two are not in the core book, and the feel to the game is intact if you use nothing but that.

I use some standards in my games, for sure, including:

• MAss Nova Eruption happened in 2008
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Galatea explosion is often blamed (Though doesn't have to be)
• Taint, in my game, is irreversible.
• The small number of Novas above the Q5 point
• The inevitable seperation of Novas and humankind as told through Trinity
• The overall Proteus concept, though not the practice. As yet, only one game has involved itself in the conspiracy angle at all though.
• The ratio of Novas to humans
• A relativelly real-feeling game with very sparse four color flavor (And you can't tell me that the XWF doesn't reek of 4 color camp.

Etc. I'm sure there's a ton more I use, but most of that I use because I want to, less because I have to or I feel it instrumental, but because I like the touch it adds, or the spin it puts on.

[Indigo Smith]

It seems to me that canon is whatever you choose it to be.

For instance when playing here canon is pretty close to the source material in most ways. Why? Because thats how the people who started the game wanted it, and since they make it quite clear thats how they wanted it, thats what you agreed to.

This has both good and bad points.

Good Points:

1. Very small learning curve. It's possible to join, play, and be fairly competant only having read the core book.

2. It keeps rules disputes to a minimum.

3. Because "official canon" is often vague it still leaves you with a pretty good bit of wiggle room.

Bad Points:

1. While their is a bit of wiggle room, you aren't free to do anything you want.

2. Because source material is available to anyone with some spare cash it's hard to be surprised (as a player), even if you want to be.

3. By making the major events of the future unchangable you are basically saying yes you will eventually develop the power of a god, but will only be able to use it for selfish things, like getting rich, or getting laid.

4. Some of the canon material is simple poorly thought out crap.

Now having said all of that lets see an example of how one can overcome some of these flaws.

In the game I am currently playing we are in the trinity timeline and are using the asia ascendant rules, and ideas. It is about six months after the project 418 disaster.

We have Novas and Psions. recently it LOOKED as though a crazy abberant had returned to earth and had taken a position as a hitman for hire. However when I took over my turn for storytelling I decided that in fact Doctor Zorbo had been released from the "middle earth" alternate reality that had been closed off after the Hammersmith effect of the 20's had become sufficiently weakened. His mind augmented by the energies of the cave crystals he found there allowed his mind to survive the "apparent" death of his body.

Several months ago Dr zewidler the esclapian proxy went out on a special mission and while investigating a strange geological formation, was "infected" with the Zorbo personality. The Zorbo personality is only dominant some of the time therefor none of the other escalapians have been able to detect any mental abnormalites as of yet.

When the characters finally figure this out they will be quite surprised, even the previous ST, who had left me the thread to work with.

while all of this is a bit far fetched it is completly within canon if you include Asia Ascendant as part of your canon. Which it technically isnt since WW didnt pay to have it done it's rather like me posting something on a web site and saying its canon. Not that I dislike Asia Ascnedant, I like it very much, this just illustrates my point about the flexibility of canon.

Anyway this is only my opinion, and as always remember, this is only a game if your not having fun; why are you here?