Aberrant RPG - Resource Dots

[Titan]

Hi, This is my first post to this forum, though I've been hard-core lurking for about a week. I have a question. I've looked everywhere, and I've read and re-read the rules, but I do not get how resource dots are supposed to work.

Example: according to the core rules, a sample handgun costs 1 dot in resources. Ok, at first I thought "geez, 2500 dollars for a gun is a little pricy", but then one of my players indicated that b/c he had 5 dots, it would actually cost him 9 million dollars for a handgun. (i.e. dropping from 5 dots to 4)

Also, is there income? If so, do I mete it out in dots or money? And why is the maximum 5 dots $10 million) which is half of Ben Affleck's paycheck for 1 of the 3 movies he will make this year?

No matter how I try to look at it, I just don't get it. Help, please?

[Hugin]

When I ran my game I never bothered with having characters roll for resources or dinged them for basic stuff. They all had resources 4 or 5 so it was understood that if they wanted to purchase something basic, like a car, it was fine. A plane and I'd have their spending curtailed for awhile during which they finagled their finances. More than that would require group effort and cooperation.

Basically, my suggestion for attitudes towards your players would be:

1 dot:Character has to struggle constantly. Any expenses outside of 3 hots and a cot are going to hurt.

2 dots: Character can afford the very occasional luxury, say a gun (they can be expensive) or a medium level night on the town. Going to the Amp Room is nearly out of the question. Replacing the house that gets blown up or the cars that get damaged when the character misjudges a QBolt can break them.

3 dots: Character is comfortable. Purchases, like the afortmention gun, are not a ding to the pocketbook, but things like the also aforementioned night on the town in the Amp Room is going to pinch the pocketbook. Might be able to financially survive the results of one poorly planned Quantum interaction. ONE.

4 dots: Amp Room? No problem. Replacing those few cars that got blowed up when your HyperInfernoDeathPunch went astray? Ouch, but not AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Purchasing your very own jet plane to ferry you about? Hope you like eating Mac and Cheese while staying at home for the next several months.

5 dots: No, you don't get to buy the Amp Room.AND STOP ASKING!!!!!!!

[Blue Cherry]

Quote:

Originally posted by James 'Prodigy' Meehan:
5 dots: No, you don't get to buy the Amp Room.AND STOP ASKING!!!!!!!

Can I rent it?

[Titan]

ok, yeah, thanks for the input and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but that is a ST judgement call on how to deal with it, and (incidentally) exactly what I do. However, I'm wondering if anyone knows how it is *supposed* to work, or if the Creators were just hung over one day and said, "*burp* ummm, sure, resources....it's a background..uhhh, one to five just like everything else....oh, they'll figure it out...anybody got some Milk of Magnesia?"

the reason I'm wondering is because I keep seeing references (in the books and in e-books written by players, presumably) to "spending dots" and one of them talks about spending a certain number of dots a month on the construction of a gizmo. Which makes me wonder if you are all keeping a secret from me!

Thanks again for the reply, I really, really, don't mean to sound ungrateful. But, I'm still sort of baffled.

[Titan]

BTW...I just caught the part about "roll for resources"...so, I look up the Backgrounds section in the book, and yes, it says to "roll to see if he can afford a piece of equipment"...WTF? A. I can't believe I never saw that before, and B. I still don't get it, and now I'm MORE confused. So, if you get enough successes, then you can afford something? Then, is the "cost" listed in the Appendix, just a Resources minimum? Do you ever lose those dots? And, I still don't get why the maximum is so low...

Also, wasn't whatshername trying to SELL the AmpRoom? So what's the big deal?

[Zima]

I'm not exactly sure if the rules were properly explained in Aberrant, but Trinity handles it this way (in theory, the two games use the same systems):

If your Resources exceeds the Resources rating of the object, you can buy it with no problem.

If the two scores are equal, you roll Resources. If you succeed, you can buy it.

If your Resources is less than the Resources rating of the object, you roll Resources and must get a number of extra successes equal to the difference between the two scores. (If you have Resources 2 and you are trying to get something that is rated for Resources 4, you must roll three successes total.)

Further, you can only try to buy something 'outside your means' every now and then. You can try to buy something rated equal to your Resources once every day. You can try for something that is one more once a week. Two more, once a month. Three more, once every six months. Higher than that, you're screwed.

You can also use money outside your normal income to buy things (if you happen to find two million dollars in a suitcase or something).

The table of actual prices to dot ratings is as follows:

• $1-$50

•• $51-$200

••• 201-1000

•••• 1001-5000

••••• 5001-50,000

••••• • 50,001-500,000

••••• •• 500,001-3,000,000

••••• ••• 3,000,001-25,000,000

••••• •••• 25,000,001-75,000,000

••••• ••••• 75,000,001-500,000,000

So, say you have Resources 3 and you want to buy a Resources 4 yacht. You can roll Resources and get at least two successes. Whether you succeed or not, you can't try to buy a yacht or any other Resources 4 object for a week. Alternately, you can go to Vegas, win between $1,000 and $5,000 (exact cost set by GM) and the blow it all on a yacht.

Honestly, I think this system is unneccessarily complicated and I generally use a system similar to Prodigy's.

[Matt]

Titan, I just read through the Aberrant pages and they did a terrible job of explaining it, so I can completely understand your confusion. So let me try to esplain how resources work. I don't have the books in front of me, so I may not be 100% accurate, but I can at least get you on the right track.

To purchase something, first you look up it's cost, or as the ST you base it's cost on something you think is comparable. You compare the cost rating to the players resources.

• If the player's resources are higher than the cost of the item, they can buy it automatically.
• If they are the same, then they player must roll for it. If they get one success, they have enough funds available to purchase it.
• If the cost is higher than the players resources, then they must get enough extra successes to equal the cost.

,,

At no point in time does your resources go down by purchasing things. However,

Examples and Guides

If your player has 5 dots in resources, they can buy anything that is 4 dots or less automatically. They don't ever need to roll anything unless they are trying to purchase a 5 dot item. If they have 4 dots, they can get anything 3 dots or less and so on. At 5 dots you can purchase Helicopters as toys.

If your character has 3 dots in resources and wants to purchase a large car (a 3 dot item), they must roll 3 d10s. If they get 1 success on the roll, then they have enough money available to purchase it.

If your character has 3 dots in resources and wants to purchase sports car (a 4 dot item), they must get one extra success to cover the increased cost, for a total of 2 success. They roll 3 d10s and must get 2 out of the 3 to afford it.

With the same character's 3 dots in resources, if they haveIf they want to purchase a jet (a 5 dot item) they must get 2 extra success to cover the difference (5 cost - their 3 resources = 2 extra success needed), so they will need to roll 3 success on their 3 resource rolls.

The difference between the characters resources and the cost of an item determine how often a player can attempt to acquire the item.

• You can purchase an unlimited amount of items that are below your Resource rating.
• You can attempt to purchase something that is your Resource rating once per day.
• You can attempt to purchase something that is 1 dot higher than your Resource rating once per week.
• You can attempt to purchase something that is 2 dots higher than your Resource rating once per month.
• You can attempt to purchase something that is 3 or more dot higher than your Resource rating once every 6 months.

I hope that helps out. Feel free to ask any questions that you have. And welcome to the forums.

[Matt]

Curse my slow typing.

[Titan]

Thank you. I have been beating my brains about this since I started playing Aberrant almost 5 years ago. Your explanation is logical, and makes perfect sense to me. There is also no way I will ever use that system. But it is a load off of my mind.

It reminds me of a time when I complained to an old school role playing buddy of mine that I couldn't make sense of the Aberrant rules. He said, "Don't feel too bad. The reason is that they don't make sense. But if you're all having fun, who cares?"

That is exactly how I feel about this game...and my only hesitation about the upcoming d20 release. Maybe the rules *shouldn't* make too much sense.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to explain it to me. I appreciate it.

[Titan]

heh...thank you as well, Chosen.

[Speed]

justcheckingsomething....

[Speed]

*sigh*didntworkdammit

[Speed Angel]

Youjustneedtogetalittlefaster.

[Charlie]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ryan 'Titan' Bass:

It reminds me of a time when I complained to an old school role playing buddy of mine that I couldn't make sense of the Aberrant rules. He said, "Don't feel too bad. The reason is that they don't make sense. But if you're all having fun, who cares?"

That is exactly how I feel about this game...and my only hesitation about the upcoming d20 release. Maybe the rules *shouldn't* make too much sense.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to explain it to me. I appreciate it.

I have 2 questions:
1. How can you have fun if you are frustrated by the rules? WW keeps stating that the story telling is more important than the rules. I would say to that, Why bother buying their books then? I know what I can do in real life, rules give us a feel for what our characters can do in game life. The randomness allows for when we are having a good or bad day.

2. This is the first I have heard of a d20 version of the game. How do I get more details?

Thanks,

[Speed]

2 answers: (yes, it's the same guy, I just don't feel like logging out/in)

1. I have more fun with the ST system than I ever really have had with d20 because I, a. don't have any rules lawyers who know better than I do what it says in such-and-so book, b. can confidently make judgement calls on what I know of the creators intent, and c. realized that the rules were essentially a set of general guidelines that could not possibly cover every scenario, and I quit being frustrated.

2.(taken from the Sword and Sorcery press release, found at their web site, and for general dissemination...BTW, Adventure is slated for release in May '04, Aberrant in June, Trinity in July)

Sword & Sorcery Studios™ ANNOUNCES d20® versions of

FAN-FAVORITE adventure!™, aberrant™ and trinity™ games

Atlanta, GA, September 25, 2003 — Fans of innovative and dynamic roleplaying games can look forward to new hardcover editions of the acclaimed Trinity, Aberrant, and Adventure! game settings, to be published under the popular d20 System.

“We wanted to make these exciting games available to the large audience of gamers who use the d20 rules,” said Mike Tinney, President of White Wolf.

“The three game settings of the Trinity Universe have long had loyal followings,” added Andrew Bates, Managing Editor of Sword & Sorcery Studios and a designer for all three games. “By launching them under the d20 System, we hope to bring them to an even larger group of fans.”

The Trinity Universe games will release in 2004, starting in April with the pulp-themed Adventure!, winner of the 2002 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game. The superpower-themed Aberrant follows in June, and the science fiction setting Trinity launches in July.

“These are new editions of the games fans know and love,” Bates observed, “with changes primarily to the rules, but also to clean up and reinforce the continuity between the three settings.”

Each book will be hardcover in the standard 8-1/2 by 11-inch format, and will be compatible with the d20 System, requiring the Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5 Player’s Handbook. Each is otherwise complete unto itself. In addition, the three together tell a generational saga the likes of which is seen rarely in roleplaying.

Each game is set in a different time period in the same reality, known as the Trinity Universe. This reality is similar to our own, save for the presence of superhumanly powerful people. Adventure! is set in the pulp era of the early 20th century, where players take the roles of amazing individuals — fearless daredevils, mysterious mesmerists and uncanny stalwarts — who explore wondrous and bizarre happenings around the globe. Aberrant is set in the early 21st century, where the focus is on the stalwarts’ genetic descendants, called novas, and how such superhuman beings impact every aspect of society. Trinity is set in the early 22nd century, in a universe transformed by technology, war, contact with alien species and the rise of the distant genetic cousins of pulp-era mesmerists, now called psions.

Dragon Magazine called Trinity “smart, intense space-opera… high-IQ roleplaying,” while RPG.net lauded Aberrant’s “excellent setting” and Adventure! as “imaginative, innovative and fun.”