Aberrant RPG - New/Altered powers

[Sidious]

ok, so I was bored the other nightwhen it hit me, the disciplines in Kindred of the east could easily be modified for use in Aberrant.

I know the use a different damage system but that's easily overcome, and the levels are simply dispatched with in favor of selecting techniques.

You can get a ton of easy to create level 3s, and a few level 2s.

and tell me you didn't think Bone shinti was cool when you read it. Or Yin mastery. Iron mountain is just another version of invulnerability Imho, but black wind would rock. Dunno how you'd work the demon one though.

anyway think I'll get my books out of storage this weekend and work on it.

[The Ranger]

Hmmm. Never read kindred of the east. I always disliked the concept of mixing the occult into a strictly high tech scientific genre. As long as the powers had a scientific base I'd say cool. Ghosts, occult and horror aren't really in genre of Aberrant.

[Guest]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Ranger:
Ghosts, occult and horror aren't really in genre of Aberrant.

Not really in the genre of Aberrant? Man you should talk to some of my players! Planetary meets Buffy, that was my game. There is nothing scarier than coming face to face with something that can kick your ass and can't be explained away with an M-R Node.

[Coriolis]

Ranger, how many people did you meet in our campaign that fitted the "true" aberrant stereotype?

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Bast protect us all.

[Wizard]

Quote:

Originally posted by Atwight:
Not really in the genre of Aberrant?

I have to agree with Atwight on this one. I mean, pick an effect like raising the dead as undead, talking to ghosts, shambling monsters, etc... Now, assume that these things actually happen in your game and figure out how it was done.

Zombies?
A really screwed up nova using any of the following?:

1. Quantum construct (weakness: requires dead organics)

2. Molecular control: Animate dead flesh (inorganic being defined as lifeless vice containing carbon).

3. I forget the power name out of A:TT, but a nova that's been bleeding their taint into baselines in what they thought was a harmless manner. After the people die their bodies are reanimating as zombies (low taint) or vampires (high taint and not WoD types).

Hmm... number three strikes as a really cool possibility to incorporate into a story or game.

Speaking with the dead?

1. Wizard does this. Scientifically, it's perceiving energy flucuations in the quantum fields of the planet. The actual powers involved can be intuition, the various forms of 'cog, or even quantum awareness. None of that changes the fact that, from her point of view, ghosts speak to her. I think I remarked elsewhere that she tends to be a weirdness magnetic for all the really strange stuff.

2. Telepathy. Use a rational similiar to the above.

Shambling monsters?

1. Use numbers 1-3 from the zombie examples and add;

2. Really high taint critters not necessary as self aware or actualized as we normally perceive our characters to be.

3. Sub-aberrants. A variation of number 3 from the Zombie examples. Trinity knows these for what they are but Aberrant hasn't even considered the possiblities yet.

We tend to think of the quantum and sub-quantum as forces beyond the ken of baseline humans and not really important in day to day life. But consider, all potentials (i.e. possibilities) are in the nature of quantum and sub-quantum.

We assume it takes an application of quantum or sub-quantum to make these possibilities more than just theoretical but this may be ignorance on the part of the novas.

Maybe, those possiblities are all equally as real as our own reality, merely seperate. In that case, there may be other creatures out there looking in on us. Other creature will the ability to make changes. Creatures whose attitudes range from disinterest, to distaste, to curiosity, to horror at what happens in our world. This one is slippery and lead to serious divergence in the game but it is compatible with the cosmology described by canon.

Atwight:
I saw your email and I'll send you a reply this evening after I get off work.

[This message has been edited by Wizard (edited 06-06-2001).]

[Jager]

Ran across the undead thing in an early adventure. It was a nanotech plague. Seemed the nanite factory would duplicate the bodies various chemical functions and would perserve the brain. In novas, it would "harvest" the MR node and spread the quantum out among the other zombies. To power the nanites, they would break down various organic matter for fuel. Yep, flesh-eating zombies (otherwise, the nanites would cannabalize their host body). Breaking out the few survivors in the middle of a raging blizzard was a trip. That and finding a way to contain the plague before it found a way out of the valley.

[The Ranger]

There is an option in GURPS:Robots to fit the robot with a biomatter energy converter. This means that the robot needs organic matter to keep powered such as grass or flesh. How about a robot in Aberrant which eats its creator and goes on the rampage? Could be handled in many ways from a giant robo-godzilla game (Silly but fun) to a nasty Terminator 2 style game.

[Sidious]

ooo...I like it... Raccoon City here I come. probably have to take it down to a street level campaign. should be fun.

I can see batmen comming out from everywhere.

[Guest]

ehh I dunno, mixing occult with high sciene usually don't work...not the word usually. The whole resident evil-eque idea is pretty cool through...I might have to borrow that idea I'll give you full credit of course.

:-)

[Apep]

I really love storys that deal with occult and all that junk, I never really got into the high-science thing.

Atwight,

I'm curious about your campaign. What sort of stuff have you brought into the world?

[Guest]

If I were to run my world again, the players would be confronted with several mysterious crimes. At first, they would seem like normal things that would be encountered in a world that had super humans. Slowly, unusual cases would be investigated that seemed to be nova related, but actually had nothing to do with novas at all. I have incorporated vampires, werewolves, ghosts, magic, Cuthulian mythology, other dimensional/temporal travellers, and psychics into the fabric of my world. Not to overwhelm the focus of Novas mind you, just to keep the players interested.

My supernaturals had verry little in common with the World of Darkness though. The statistics work remarkably well, but I wanted more "traditional" origins for my monsters. No Shapeshifting Eco-Warriors for Gaia here!

[Hugin]

Cthulhu! OOOOOOOOO-RAH!!!!

Bring on da Shoggoths baby!!!!

That's right, make those Nova's take insanity checks and everything.

[Sidious]

actually converted the vamps and garou into those types. I hate whiney, cry baby supernatural monsters.

give me a good slash em, gut em , eat em monster anyday.

[Guest]

This is totally off-topic, but what is A:TT and what power is Wizard referring to? I've never heard of it.

[Kirby1024]

Quote:

Originally posted by Broblawsky:
This is totally off-topic, but what is A:TT and what power is Wizard referring to? I've never heard of it.

Aberrant: The Teragen (possibly, I've not committed all the titles to name)

As for the power, with a little imagination, I assume it's Aberration Transfer, yes? I don't have the book, but it sounds about what I'd expect such a power to do (slightly off, but close enough)

[Guest]

So Sideous, we haven't heard anything from you on this, how goes the translation?

[Sidious]

honestly? haven't been able to get to the storage locker, something keeps comming up. I'm going over today so i should have some stuff by tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the shinti powers are gonna be an easy translation though.

[Sidious]

I was right. wow, new powers to play with. easist to convert are gonna be the demon arts.

Black Wind you can pretty use as is.

Demon Shintai, now this is a fun one.figure a level 2 quantum 3 power. for each dot add 1 to a physical attribute (chosen at creation). Then split the dots among powers much like Bodymorph, actually make this a new sub-catagory for that power. Now think Monsterous, make the other form look as non-human as you want. also a good power for simulating Lycanthropy.

Blood Shintai is kinda like everyone's favorite EM - Blood. 1 technique per dot, substitute Nova for vampire & Cathayan and Quantum for Chi, Agg damage becomes Lethal. Dice rules for the powers becomes the standard Aberrant (dif 7 becomes +1, etc) Permanent Chi attribute would equate to a Nova's quantum.

Bone Shintai, same as above but I'll go a little indepth. Level 3 quantum:4

- Corpse Skin: 1 quantum for 2 extra health levels, max 3 quantum per scene. duration: 1 scene.

- White Tiger Corpse: Same as invisibilty but costs 3 quantum to activate

- Bone Obedience: fun time. Weapons made by this power add +3 to damage and it's lethal. Armor; 3 soak per quantum spent.

- Poison Cloud: only change is damage. Power rating X 3 with the cloud extra for effect.

- Ch'ing Shih: don't change a damn thing. substitute nova and quantum in the right places. cool power. Not available until 5th level.(no twinking.)

ok think that'll be it for now. I'll be back with more whne I finish going over them.

PS: if you're getting angry over the fact that WoD is supernatural and Aberrant isn't, don't worry. In doing the conversions I've completly ignored the spirit stuff. Just take it from the cool powers perspective.

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

[Guest]

Seriously... Vampire is THE best game WW has ever published. The sad thing of it is that they realized that they hit jackpot and began massproducing supplements that destroyed a good concept. And after a campain the game was over as far interresting styles of RPG was concerned. The angst that was the backbone of Vapire was played to its fullest.

They set a new ground for RPG's all over... They just proved that fact by publishing Trinity and Aberrant.

And as for the powers; Vampires Disciplines rule! Big time! They progress and developes as the character gets better. Something they used in Trinity but lost in Aberrant. In Aberrant, when you get better you don't get more insight in how youre power works, you just get better blowing things up (and the like). That is the sad part of Aberrants powers, but as they said so eloquently themselves: It's a personal game, not a hack&slash game (my interpritation...). Think "spiderman" not "superman"...

But, 'nugh rambling from me...

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Love & Kisses

Reaver

[Sidious]

uh-huh.

sorry but I have an allergic reation when WoD is brought up. I tend to retch then whine constantly about how I lost something (humanity, sanity, other sock, my lunch).

Right about now, I'm sorry but I tend to disaggree on the Vampire is a great game. Yes, I've played it and my characters are more often quoted as saying "so you're a bloodsucking monster of legend now. quit yer bitchin." that tends to shut up the whiners.

[Apep]

It all comes down to how you roleplay your own characters. Vampire is a great game, the whinning is damn irritating, so like Sidious does, tell them to shut the hell up. End of problem, and you're back to having a great game.

But really, Why can't you get more insight into your powers as you progress? That completely comes down to how you roleplay your character in any system. Aberrant isn't any different just because you aren't so limited to specific disciplines. The more dots you get in aberrant, the more likely you can actually succed in doing some truly creative things.

It's all a matter of perspective. Too many people are rules lawyers and you lose way to much when you get caught up in the rules.

[Guest]

Yes. I agree, Apep... I guess all of us here agree that you have to step outside the rules in order to get good roleplaying. I'm sorry if I wasn't making myself clear, but a lot of beer tend to get to you after a while

What I was trying to say was that vampires system was great because one developed as a character in youre powers too. In Aberrant one don't develope the same way... If one want to progress one have to find new powers and incorperate them in the characters story line.

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Love & Kisses

Reaver

[Sidious]

Quote:

Originally posted by Reaver:
What I was trying to say was that vampires system was great because one developed as a character in youre powers too. In Aberrant one don't develope the same way... If one want to progress one have to find new powers and incorperate them in the characters story line.

umm..says who? lots of times I've limited my players to just the powers they start with and develop the characters themselves.

Remember to be most enoyable, for most people I play with anyway, a character should be more than just the sum of his dots and what cool stuff he/she can do. powers are nice but if the person is just a 2d cardboard cut out it's not going to be fun and people are going to become dissatisfied quickly.

But like Apep said it all comes down to how you play. You want tp play a hack `n' slash fime, you want to have more depth and possibly a longer lasting game great. it's your world. build it how you want.

[Simbiot]

hate those people who wants all of WoD happens in the Aeon Continuumm..

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-=¡WASSUP!=-

........ Warp!

[Kirby1024]

Quote:

Originally posted by Simbiot:
hate those people who wants all of WoD happens in the Aeon Continuumm..

Oh, I dunno. There's a lot to be said for mixing and matching your RPGs. I mean, when your group thinks they've seen the worst short of Divis Mal, and come up upon an antedeluvian, it's gonna shock them, and there's the added bonus of not going to need too much in conversion!

[Wizard]

Not to knock other people's games of choice but do you really think an antedeluvian means jack in an Aberrant world? Andies are the BAMFs of the vampire world but even against a few angsty teenage furballs they can get their butts handed to them pretty quickly.

On topic, I think you can mix and match pretty handily and most of the resistance to the idea seems to be from that need to feel comfortable within the cosmology provided in in Aberrant. I just annoy people by pointing out that the cosmology doesn't account for every possible permutation of reality and that anything is theoretically possible in a quantum world.

The idea of vamps, furballs and other assorted WoD slackers existing in Abberant isn't the problem as they can all be explained as (ocassionally) pre-galatea taint monkeys or nova's of limited ability. The problem is the underlying paradigm of the WoD itself that requires losing even when you win. Just my opinion of course.

[Sidious]

just was going over some old games from the infamous storage shed and found a true gem, Mutazoids by whitman games.

now I'm not saying this little baby is the be all and end all of rpgs, far from it. it had some serious problems but theres a few table in it that make tainting out a true horrow for people. The detail they went to to make the PC's seems more monsterous is great for tormenting players with random taint effects.

Some of the taint monkeys you could do even do Lovecraft justice. all in all something definitly worth looking into.

[Eddie Cyclone]

Once, I ran the pcs through a plot where there was a highly tainted nova running around with an aberrated homonculus/shapeshift mixed power.. He could only use it by physically infecting some sort of critter with his quantum signature/DNA sludge, and the thing would mutate ALA Parasite Eve style into something he could control. I had a fun time with that one.

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Welcome to Ohio. If you don't like the weather, wait twenty minutes.

[Guest]

All this talk of the supernatural reminded me of a test character I created based on a guy I met in college, who was (distantly) related to Romanian nobility(Specifically Transylvanian Nobility), and was considering trying to reclaim 'his throne' as he called it. I imagined him Erupting in the attempt to shovel through the red tape of trying to prove his lineage and taking the area by force of arms(And enthralled townsfolk).

Here is what I came up with for Prince Gregorius Trevore, Leader of the Nation-State of Transylvania:

Attributes:

Strength 2

Dexterity 2

Stamina 2

Perception 2

Intelligence 3

Wits 3

Appearance 3

Manipulation 4

Charisma 3

Abilities [Abil Pool]:

Brawl 1 [3]

Drive 1 [3]

Melee 1 [3]

Stealth 1 [3]

Endurance 3 [6]

Resistance 3 [6]

Awareness 2 [4]

Academics 2 [6]

Computer 2 [6]

Linguistics 1 [5]

Science 1 [5]

Intimidation 3 [6]

Style 3 [6]

Subterfuge 4 [9]

Command 3 [7]

Etiquette 2 [6]

Backgrounds:

Node 4

Resources 3

Backing 3

Followers 4

Willpower 6

Quantum 4

Taint 8

Quantum pool 36

Mega Attributes:

Mega Strength 1 (Lifter)

Mega Stamina 1 (Adaptability, Regeneration)

Mega Manipulation 1 (The Voice)

Mega Intelligence 1 (Speed Reading)

Mega Wits 1 (Quickness)

Mega Charisma 1 (Dreadful mein)

Powers:

Quantum Vampire 2 (Mega Strength)

Quantum Vampire 2 (Health Levels)

Domination 1 (Telepathic)

Claws 1

Claws 1 (fangs)

Aberrations:

Feeding Requirement - Human blood

Chalk white skin

Allergic Reaction - Sunlight

Mental Disorder - Paranoia

Permanent Fangs and Claws

Appearance:

A Dreadful Mein, indeed. Standing a majestic 6 feet tall, His chalk white flesh and obvious fangs and claws stand out. He looks like the classic vampire, complete with black clothing and cloak.

RP Notes:

Prince Gregorius Trevore never lets anyone with an M-R node closer than 10 yards from him. He is arrogant and snobbish and suspects everyone. Occasionally he will enjoy a baseline snack, it's the least they can do for their lord and master...

(Yes, I made him as an NPC, but I think I made him on only 30 points.... Just Lookit that 8 taint... Whoo!)

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