Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Rules & Game World Discussion

[jameson (ST)]

Thread for discussion of rules questions and questins regarding the game world.

[BlueNinja]

Question:

With the given errata for the Mega-Intelligence Enhancement "Taint Resistant," for your game does it still reduce the permanent Taint gained from the Node background?

[BlueNinja]

Two more questions:

If (as seems likely) Buendia is dead, how and where are we still getting Eufiber, or is it no longer available?

Since we get one aberration per point of Taint, do the first three aberrations gained remain minor ones, or do we start developing medium and high level aberrations earlier?

[jameson (ST)]

Errata? I am only aware of the clarification in the Player's Guide. But unless the power was changed from the Core Rules (in which case can you point me in the right direction?) it will still reduce the Taint from Node.

[jameson (ST)]

Hmm I hadn't thought about Eufiber - let me think about it overnight and I'll get back to you in the morning (eastern time)

As for Aberrations they will remain minor, you will just have more of them.

[jameson (ST)]

No free points, I'm nowhere near that generous

There are plenty of Novas who have erupted but do not have any more natural resistance to radiation than a normal human.

As I said in the setting section all Cannon events up to 2061 are in effect and thus the OpNet Was wiped when Backlash died, all this is a matter of historical note only as there would be little infrastructure left after the nuclear strike anyways.

For Eufiber I'll allow it on a case reviewed basis, I want people having a good reason in their background for it and not just for the extra Soak and Quantum storage

[jameson (ST)]

Quote:

Originally posted by BlueNinja:

Quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Raphael Bradford:
Errata? I am only aware of the clarification in the Player's Guide. But unless the power was changed from the Core Rules (in which case can you point me in the right direction?) it will still reduce the Taint from Node.

I am asking because ST ruling from the tabletop Ab game I play was that *only* the Errata text functioned. I am glad to hear you are keeping that first paragraph from the core book.

The only core rules or updated rules from the Player's Guide I am changing are outlined in the Ghar Gen Rules thread. If you are concerned feel free to ask, no such thing as a stupid question.

Please also understand people that this game will be as much Character driven as it is stroy driven. I will throw hooks your way but just as often I will run with what you give me.

[Buzzkill]

Was there a time after the attack that no Novas were around? In other words are the Novas the newest tning (again)?

[jameson (ST)]

Nope there have always been some Novas and Aberrants since after "the Burn" (colloquial <sp> term for the nuclear bombardment)

Some of these were individuals who were lucky enough to possess high end defensive powers or where in the right place at the right time. The former were mostly Aberrants while the latter were mostly Novas. Any Novas/Aberrants who were powerful enough to survive the Burn were likely possessed of very specialized immunities or regeneration powers (or both).

This is what your characters know anyways. So it may be innacurate or there may be truth which is ommited. In the northeast there are no known survivors from that time remaining, even a nova can only absorb so much radiation or take some much trauma before they die or are crippled.

[jameson (ST)]

Quote:

Originally posted by Fox:
Feel like giving us one point of free Mega-Stamina given the setting, so that we can have Adaptablility?

Additional note regarding this. Since all Novas possess a bare minimum of 3 dots of Endurance and resistance this combined with a Nova's naturally superior physique will be enough to overcome low levels of radiation for short periods of time with minimal effects.

I would not reccomend these characters visit New York or Washington without additional protection but there's not much there to see anyways

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

So standard char-gen rules? Who is left around to have Backing from? Is the USArmy a force?

...Since all Novas possess a bare minimum of 3 dots of Endurance and resistance this combined with a Nova's naturally superior physique will be enough to overcome low levels of radiation for short periods of time with minimal effects...

On a side note, all novas also have the "nova healing package" i.e. everything heals eventually, even aggravated damage.

Also on a side note, what year did Wycroft explode?

[jameson (ST)]

Please refer to the CHar Gen Rules topic for the specifics of character creation.

Wycoff popped sometime around 2055-2060 I think sometime just before the war ended.

,,

Quote:

On a side note, all novas also have the "nova healing package" i.e. everything heals eventually, even aggravated damage

There are some things which even a nova cannot recover from, while I would agree that the above statement holds for normal damage and disease I reserve the right to have hyper aggresive quantum cancers, radition sickness so bad that even a nova cannot survive, and similar for storytelling reasons.

Backing:

Very little has survived and the world has been largely reduced to small population centers. If it is central to your background to have backing by military or other org. PM me with the details and we can work it out. The US Military may not be appropriate but the 501st Mass. Regulars might be.

The game world is not yet set in stone so I can easily work elements of your characters backgrounds into it.

[Mr Fox]

Along those lines, if a character has 5 resources, does that really mean anything? Or I should say, what does that mean? Has he horded valuable item/comodities, or is there still a swiss bank somewhere holding something that still means something to people? I kinda like the idea of the hording valuable stuff.

I'm gonna send you a pm of what I had in mind.

[jameson (ST)]

While I'm sure that buried under some mountain in the charred remains of Switzerland there is probably a healthy amount of gold and artwork I doubt it would be worth much to the average person.

Resources indicates tradeable and usable goods. A character with technical skills and a high amount of resources might have a set of shop tools which allows him to repair items other cannot which in turn allows him to barter his services for food or other goods more easily.

Similarly a scavenger character might just have a well hidden stockpile of stuff which he can use to trade for what he needs (assuming that what he needs isn't somewhere in there amonst the other junk).

While actual money does not trade hands the resource DOTS will works the same (though some goods may be more expensive than in the book)

BTW I just want to thank you all for patiently bearing with me as we bring this world together. I hope to post a few more items into the setting section between now and the game start and I will answer questions as quickly as I am able.

[jameson (ST)]

Ride for Animals, Athletics for bikes, boards, and skates.

Actually I'm going to take a page from Adventure! and replace Ride with Animal Handling which will also cover breeding, and using draft animals and horse & carriage. I don't think anybody took the skill so it shouldn't matter but just so you all know.

[Courier]

On the subject of what skill does what: Which skill covers the creation of Spearheads? Melee seems pretty close, I think that's what you use to sharpen knives.

[jameson (ST)]

Engineering normally.

IN a pinch survival would allow for the creation of crude weapons.

[jameson (ST)]

Melee and Firearms both include proper maintenance but not the construction of their respective weapons. I would allow survival to provide for the crude construction which would prevent a man from starving, but hardly what the engineer skill could make.

[BlueNinja]

I'm sorry I didn't ask this with my earlier questions about aberrations, but:

Since we start gaining aberrations at 1 Taint, do we also suffer from the +1 Social difficulty at 1 Taint, or does that not kick in until 4 Taint?

[jameson (ST)]

Kicks in at 4 as normal, while the first 3 aberrations will make baselines unwary I'm not treating it as strong enough to affect the game mechanics.

My whole approach to the rule mods regarding taint was that I feel that Taint is too easy to ignore, or to buy a couple of dots at char gen and have it amount to "free points". I think that maxing should inherently cause taint as you are pushign beyond what you're capable of; like attempting to lift more than you are able when you max you are going to "pull a muscle" in this case you garner a point of taint. If you are carefull you can let the injury heal, if not you go bonkers

[jameson (ST)]

After char gen the only two ways to get taint are buying further tainted powers or to botch Power Max rolls. The problem with the first is that it is 100% volentary, the problem with the second is that as with any botch the more dice you roll the less likely the roll is to generate a botch.

Since we know in the cannon that as time went by more and more novas accurued mass amounts of taint this seems to me to be a case of bad mechanics. By forcing a point of taint for every max roll and whenever the character burns health levels for power I think taint will occur more often but will still be manageable.

[Courier]

Two other ways.

Node spark.

Rapid q recovery with a failed roll.