ronin Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 Normally I wouldn't even repeat what could pass as gossip, let alone post it.However, since the information was received from a reliable old friend in the position to possess this knowledge and since there are probably still a few who'd like to know, I'll make a small exception.Doubtless, many of you remember Blackwelder's disappearance from the Aberrant forum on WW and the subsequent mass-bannings that followed, along with the uproar about there being no Developer. Most credit Blackwelder with the murder of the game, as for whatever reason he went AWOL at a bad time.The truth, or so I've heard, is a little different. Apparently, Blackwelder was fired very shortly after the Player's Guide went to print. Reasons cited were that he drove the game line into the dirt and made the Teragen the central figures of the game -- they weren't supposed to be. Poor management of the line as a whole came to a head around the time the PG came out (as evidenced by the fact that the PG was only about a year late) and Blackwelder was let go. The most disgusting thing about all that is that they couldn't find anybody to fill his shoes. It is for chiefly this reason, along with the additional weight of poor sales upon it's throat, that Aberrant was eventually Arthaused, never to see the light of day again.I know a little more, but I probably shouldn't have said this much. I just thought some of you who have played for so very long might like to know..ronin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jager Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 Was he one of those "Sabbat are Kewl" kind of guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerald Haney Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 I've read a couple things Bruce Baugh has written about his opinions on the game and I have to agree with a few of them. One of the things he said was that the set up had too much conspiracy. Utopia was presented as too much an irredeamable, evil entity hellbent totally ruled by Proteus. A flip side of the coin to Blackwelder's pro-Terat stance methinks. What we perceive as good must be evil and what we perceive as evil we just really don't understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Davis Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 THe sabat are cool, they make great straw men!DAMN that asshole, I am goign to have to hunt him down and give hima peaice of my mind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David 'Dr. Troll' Smith Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 Whould of, could of, should of.I have mixed feeling towards the Teragen. They were right in many ways, they were wrong in some ways, and their implimentation was terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortune's Son Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 More than anything else the organizations suffered from an inference by the developer that the groups were "right" or "wrong". You know how it is, too many players want to say one group is right because the developer sez so but they lack the ability to articulate why they believe it's so. And in light of the philosophical implications the truth doesn't seem so clearly cut. "Novas are not human."Umm... unless the node is going to grow and the power expand regardless of the conscious then a nova possesses the potential to be other than human. If that potential remains unrealized then what are they?"Proteus is evil!"Are they? And if they are, then are they selfishly evil or do they serve a purpose in greater scheme of things. A purpose that may even be beneficial to novas as well as the baselines."Utopia serves only to oppress novas by harnessing their power to achieving an unrealistic 'dream'."Possibly but Utopia is going to have an effect on the world and therefore the future regardless of what their proclaimed agenda is. Here on the boards we constantly argue out interpretations of events, some of which are profound in nature and not touched upon in the books. One character on the boards has consistently argued that Utopia serves a purpose for the future, it's simply not what Utopia believes is it's purpose.Anyway, I just think anybody that would want to develop the game would do well to examine some of the discussions that have taken place here. There have been valid arguments here for the "failures" of the Teragen and the "correctness" of of Utopia. Heck, the only reason we don't take a close look at Proteus and really examine the motivations is that the organizations nature precludes all of the characters knowing enough about them and their operations to make an assessment.RoninThanks for the insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 So, to put a long story short, The reasoning behind the AEoniverse's demise was because a power hungry author wanted to break canon and follow his own tail into the dirt. Sigh There are so many egos over there at WW. I've gotten to the point where if I ever run a game (which may be very soon), I'll probably say everything that happened before 2008/2012 happened, and everything after is up to the players. Lesser headaches trying to fit Trinity into the whole thing. NOt to mention my lack of books won't be exploited by canon lawyers and rules lawyers. In my universe, my word is law! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixen Posted December 10, 2002 Share Posted December 10, 2002 I'm actually running a game Tuesday nights on OpenRPG that casts the main characters into the role of Team Tomorrow members in the months before the Slider scandal. In this game, the main characters will probably wind up as insiders working for the Aberrants, saving the world by day and saving the world from Utopia by night. I have my own ideas for the metaplot that possibly DO tie into Trinity - just not in the way anyone expects.We're all full up - but anyone who wants to lurk may do so. Just send me an ICQ and I'll forward the room's name and number.Endeavor, let me know when you start running a game. I'd definitely be interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 I've been thinking of TT (TT=Tabletop) gaming. But, perhaps in a short while, I may unleash some creativity. This is the reason why I didn't join "To Be Gods". I got plans. Big old uber plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronin Posted December 11, 2002 Author Share Posted December 11, 2002 Jager.No, but like Gerald said, there was an issue about making the Teragen the 'heroes' of the game. Blackwelder favored the Teragen and becuse the Teragen book sold so well, decided to play up the group as the embittered heroes of the AEoniverse, at the same time increasing the scope of AEon's dirty dealings and making the organization as a whole more sinister than it was ever intended to be. That was a large part of why he was let go, I've heard. And watch what you say about the Sabbat, big guy. With six Cam clans left, the Sabbat is lookin' better every day. Best damn TT Vamp game I ever played was a Sabbat game ran around Montreal by Night. Not all Sabbat games degenerate into murder-dramas and wanton slaughter.But then, you know that.Dr. Troll.Agreed. Much like Dante, wonderful ideas, poor execution.Jack.Word, my brother. Word, indeed. Anyone Else.The truly fucked part is that -- to hear it told -- everyone at the office really likes Aberrant and are sad to see it have failed. And at the same time, they're unwilling to put it into capable hands and give it another shot because they feel it has lost momentum and it's sales were never that great to begin with.Oh, dig this. I'm working on getting a copy of the Bible right now. The Bible, for those of you that don't know, is a compiled volume of essential texts and pieces of information written about a game before even the core book comes out. Essentially, it involves information about the game world, the canon characters and the game continuity. Writers and artists are given a copy of the Bible so they know what they should be working into and what they absolutely cannot deviate from.Among other things, the Bible also has something resembling an "end" and apparently, in the case of Aberrant, stretches on with information a little further than what was ever published.An artist friend of mine who did some work for Aberrant isn't too attached to it, so when they find it, it's all mine..ronin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 I sorta feel like Indiana Jones. You mean you found the master code?!?! The holy grail?!?! The AEoniverse Bible?!?!You mean there is some sort of tome out there for every WW game describing the whole path of things from start to finish? Scary. And they said they didn't have such things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronin Posted December 11, 2002 Author Share Posted December 11, 2002 Endeavor.No shit, huh? It's actually not the Bible for the entire AEoniverse, though I'm sure there's information about the connected games in there. My friend only has the Bible for the game they worked on, namely Aberrant.And this isn't the only mention I've heard of Bibles, so it's not joke. A friend of mine interned for them some time back, and they flipped through all of them. I asked for photocopies, but no dice..ronin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 O_OHoly f**king s**t. Talk about having the world drop on your lap then. Can you imagine, holding the fate of the universe in your very hands?!?... Just Joking. I do believe ya.I'd say, scan that bad boy, convert it to PDF, and put it up on Soulseek or IMesh.You get info like that, share it. It's the hacker way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Davis Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 Eneavor..it's not the hacker way..It is the way of the hacker.And I say this, HACK THE PLANET! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 3@x0r +#3 p1@n3+!Ahem... I wanted to say that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronin Posted December 12, 2002 Author Share Posted December 12, 2002 No worries, chums. If I get that hot little book in my grubby little mitts, I'll be sure to share. I may be no 1337 #@x0r, but one thing I do believe in is the free dissemination of information.And since Aberrant is dead, it's not like I'd be ruining anything..ronin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 *drooling with baited breath* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Davis Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 -cleans up the drooling one and puts a sailor moon bib on her..- much beter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakurako Hino Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 Sandy:(Takes bib off) I'm quite alright, thank you. And the joke ain't funny. And BTW, this is an OOC board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronin Posted December 12, 2002 Author Share Posted December 12, 2002 Well, I want you all to know it will legitimately be a little while before I see it. My artist friend stored it when it became apparent that they wouldn't be working on Aberrant EVER AGAIN, and so it's hiding somewhere in the deepest recesses of their home. They're moving soon, though, so hopefull it'll turn up in the packing or unpacking that's coming soon..ronin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Knight Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 Hmmmm...Well, I'm not much for rumour mongering, but I do have my own opinions based on what I experienced of Blackwelder on the forum and that which has been said of him...His attitude was abysmal in every sense of the word, and I wouldn't exactly be surprised if he took Abbie down with him. While we all salivated for a Player's Guide and the entailling goodies, it festered away with many slapped on pieces. Meanwhile, we get rants about how "We don't get it" and "This isn't superfriends."I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the above statements about KB were true. I'm not ready to break out the torches, mind, just a statement of opinions and whatnot. A! Was awesome. Trinity was awesome. Aberrant was not all that it could have been, and Blackwelder seemed more content in getting on his soapbox rather than making a game that was as cool as the others.The conspiracy, the demonisation of everything potentially good, the absolutes of right and wrong, what WAS up with that, anyways? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now