Aberrant: Mutant High - Ultimate Aberrant: OOC Thread

[Jordan]

Hey guys, just though I'd pop in and say hello since I've decided to join the game and have submitted a character to Dave for approval. If he gets accepted then I will be playing Marco Moreno; mutant mentalist.

[Justin OOC]

did you end with that much alliteration on purpose?

[Marco Moreno]

How could I not? And Marco is approved!

[z-The Morrigan]

Dave, thanks for your generosity. It is veeeeeeeeeeeeeery appreciated.

[Doryoku]

You know, deep down, Papa Dave loves us mutant kids.

[Dave ST]

A quick word about the time line moving forward:

I know some of you a re serious continuity buffs, honestly, I am too. I'm a stickler for knowing when exactly in a universe such-and-such took place. That said, the comic bookish nature of Ultimate Aberrant suggests that the timeline be more in turn with the plot threads, while the player fictions sort of help build the personal stories of the PCs around those plots. I know, this can get confusing, and I apologize. I'm open to suggestions, but frankly I've not the time nor the energy (I'd rather spend it organizing plot stuff) to tackle a time line task.

So, a quick explination of how my mind works is in order, out of all fairness, and to help you understand. The game started in Fall of 2009 and then we hit a snag and posting died, so it was rebooted a year later in the Winter. All fictions and current plot threads (unfinished or finished) are assumed to have happened in the Winter of 2009. Once The Lion, Wench and the Warzone is complete it will mark the end of the plot threads for the Winter of 2009.

All PCs are assumed to have invited into the Advanced Aptitude Development courses (power training!) that will prep you for your invitation into the Sentinels, later in the spring which we'll get to, I promise. Instead of bumping time forward in the typical linear day-by-day, week-by-week mode we've done in the past (which can get taxing if a group fic is weeks old), I decided it'd be easier to just bump it along in seasons. So instead of saying a fic happened on December 11th, 2009... you can just say 'Winter of 09', or '--Holiday Here-- 12' and be done with it. This, IMO, grasps the gneral mood of how they are never really clear with the date in comic books, which is why Storm's tits are still torpedoing out of her sweater despite her being in her late 20's since her first appearance in 1975.

Does that make sense?

[Locomotive]

Yes it does. or if not, i'm on your bandwidth of insanity.

[Doryoku]

I can dig it. But why be so linear? Time isn't a straight line... it's like a ball of wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey... stuff.

Sorry I had to go there.

Also, are we doing training threads first?

Addendum: Actually I think I'll wait and see on the answer for that.

[Doryoku]

Sorry to double post, but I had two ideas for threads. I thought I'd offer this up because I would like to open it to everyone that wants to come along.

One would be a "Girl's Day Out" in April. I'm just wondering who would suggest it to Sakurako to head out and actually do some shopping or at the very least have lunch together.

The other was a thread in May that would be a Memorial Day weekend yachting trip. This I would even be open to have anything happen in it from Dave, or if anyone in the group wanted to suggest things.

I thought I'd bring these two ideas up, and see what sort of interest is there.

Note, the months are "in game" not RL months.

[Doryoku]

Okay, Triple-post... I want to start next week the posting for a "Girl's Day Out" trip. As for the Yacht trip, I am willing to talk with Dave in making it plot, or to make that a thread for everyone (everyone is invited on that... Saku's treat).

So who among the girls at the school is interested in shopping, lunch, and shenanigans?

[SkyLion]

I really miss playing Aberrant. Possibly room for one more?

[Doryoku]

Well... If ya want...

We're good clean fun.

[Dawn OOC]

Ask Dave, it's his baby. He's on day 2 of a 4-day run of 12-hour shifts so it might be a bit before you get an answer, just FYI.

[Doryoku]

Yeah. But, feel free to share your concept.

[Dave ST]

I really miss playing Aberrant. Possibly room for one more?

You are welcome to play Sky, submit a character to me, following the guidelines that are posted, and I'll review it. A few things to remember:

1. Don't try and beat me. Create a fun and believable, themed PC. Don't min/max or gather the best of all worlds to prepare for every situation, trust me, I'll still win.

2. Do not argue with me. If I say something, it's for a reason.

3. Don't ask 'why'. The answer is always 'because I said so'.

I'm a pretty cool ST IMO, but my first rule is that: I do not follow the rules. Roughly what this means is that I'm here to write awesome stories with an awesome group of people and sometimes, well, most of the time, the story takes precedence over dots on a character sheet. If I break one of Sonja's legs in a fight, I have my reasons but all I wanna hear from Sonja's player is "Okay, I can cope with this." If I strip Morri of her powers rather suddenly, I have a reason for it and all I wanna hear from Carver is "Okay, where do we go from here?"

My point is simple Sky, and that is you've had an issue with going with the flow. I've witnessed you ignore skills used against you, argue with STs, and generally be a pain in the ass. If I post that you suddenly have an asshole where your lips used to be, I have my reasons, but the only dialogue I want to see in your next post is farting noises. That's an extreme example, but you're smart enough to get the point, I'm sure. I will make a few calls from time to time that you may not like, or that piss you off, that's a part of gaming. I will not just sit here and do it for the sole reason of fucking with you however. Trust me that it's my game and I need it to flow.

This game belongs to everyone who makes the effort to contribute to it. You will follow the rules and biggest rule is: respect. Respect me, and the other players (and you will, in turn, be respected).

If conflict arises, my word is final. If anyone doesn't like how I do things, they know where the door is.

[SkyLion]

hey thanks Dave! Nice to see you and V still around.

I'd need to read up a bit more on the setting you guys have (I do love me some Ultimates). My first thought is to resurrect one of my favorite characters of yore and revamp them for this game (since we start at the standard 30 point level), such as Titan Omega or Tora, though I am not sure if they fit or not yet.

In this version of the setting can Novas/mutants still essentially "do anything" or are there limits around themes and such?

[Doryoku]

Here's old Mouse being helpful here.

The Rules -

House Rules -

Rev can fill you in on the finer points like he did with me when I first generated Sakurako.

[SkyLion]

I have skimmed both threads, just need to take a closer look.

Interestingly both of those two characters are very close to each other mechanically but how it comes across in game is totally opposite.

Both are essentially "power armor" types. Tita Omega is a pastiche of the Ultraverse character Prime (Bodymorph: flesh) and Tora is inspired by Bubblegum Crisis, being a Cyborg who summons/creates a "sentient" AI/motoslave/mecha (Bodymorph: Technology) that wraps around him. Almost the same power set but completely different in feel and execution.

Would either of those fit into this setting? Since this is a high school game they both fit well. TO was a teenager to begin with and actually had 3-5 different identities sort of built into him by nature of his power structure. Tora was originally a character for a Japanese Anime style nova-high school academy (Nippontai High) game back on the old EON boards by ProfPotts. It's still in the archives actually.

Both characters have seen various revisions and such so rebooting them here could make sense. If not, I have a veritable backlog of character concepts and builds that could be adapted.

It;s about what fits.

Also, and I know this is probably da breaks, but is it problematic brining in a noobie character with no xp with what (I assume since this has been ongoing for awhile) seasoned xp-ladden (N)PCs???

[Dave ST]

Bodymorph: Flesh is redundant. You're already flesh. That's like a snowman saying: "I turn into snow!". Others might see it differently but it doesn't sit with me very well. Keep in mind that Bodymorph is you, it's not a casing or a suit that you wear. If you wanted to make the BM: Technology I'd not be opposed to it, but I'll need to see the hard copy in my in box and review him before I'll accept it as viable.

Just keep in mind, like when Colossus becomes living steel (Bodymorph: Organic Steel), your PC will literally become a cybernetic version of himself. It's not armor that plasters over his skin, or a super suit he 'summons', it's literally him changing his composition from man to machine.

Also you won't need to worry about the EXP curve. Your PC will always be facing a challenge that scales to his capabilities, well, sometimes.

[Jordan]

If you want to model a super suit being summoned around him, you could probably use Force Field as the base power and just state that he can only use his other powers/mega physicals when the force field is active...

[SkyLion]

Bodymorph: Flesh is redundant. You're already flesh. That's like a snowman saying: "I turn into snow!". Others might see it differently but it doesn't sit with me very well. Keep in mind that Bodymorph is you, it's not a casing or a suit that you wear. If you wanted to make the BM: Technology I'd not be opposed to it, but I'll need to see the hard copy in my in box and review him before I'll accept it as viable.

Just keep in mind, like when Colossus becomes living steel (Bodymorph: Organic Steel), your PC will literally become a cybernetic version of himself. It's not armor that plasters over his skin, or a super suit he 'summons', it's literally him changing his composition from man to machine.

Also you won't need to worry about the EXP curve. Your PC will always be facing a challenge that scales to his capabilities, well, sometimes.

Okay, I'm not sure if I am being understood properly so I am going to attempt to explain more of my thought process here. This isn't meant to be argumentative, but by way of elaboration. Because I have a history here I have to go out of my way to say this because I don't want to generate a knee-jerk reaction. I am going to explain my thinking and if it still doesn't fly then that is that, but I would like to try.

Re: Unconventional uses of Bodymorph: I would like to quote the section in the book that calls for what to do if you have an idea that the rules don't cover. It is said that what you can do (with the ST of course) is to see if any of the existing powers cover the mechanics of the flavor you are trying to achieve. The example is the book is about someone who wants to summon a sword. There is no "summon sword" power. After a closer look, the player wants to have a quantum powered way of generating lethal hand to hand damage. And so claws is defined as a sword. This is at the heart of the system when it talks about player defined powers. The body armor power could be defined as a force field. The force field power could be defined as an ablative body armor. And so on and so forth. The point is that the crunch and the fluff are completely disconnected in this system, and what I hope to demonstrate now is how and why I am using the crunch mechanics of bodymorph that is *not* actually a bodymorph...and why it fits so well.

So with that said, let's take a closer look at my thought process and what I am trying to achieve...

Let's take Titan Omega First.

This character is a pastiche of the character Prime. Prime is a kid who generates an exo-body around him made of goo (Titan Omega's "origin" is actually "psychic" and so he creates it out of "ectoplasm" which is really just a construct of quantum (or whatever meta-explanation you guys are using in this setting). He creates a temporary super body around him that gives him powers (though in TOs case he has powers in addition to generating this body).

Next let's look at Tora. His power set is to summon an anime "super-cycle" mech a that can change forms between a motorcycle, and a suit of power armor (for those who don't know what a motoslave is you might know of Robotech Cyclone suits...not exactly what Tora is but very close in concept). I won't be able to do this with the 30 np version, but the 50 np version from 200x, his cycle had a third form where it could become a robot tiger.

Okay so we have the fluff worked out but what about the crunch? Their are no "exoskeleton" powers in the game but I put forth that bodymorph is the closest thing crunch wise to refluff for my purposes...

Titan Omega: He needs to transform into a bigger form (that isn't a result of Dormancy or the Alternate Form Aberration), this form needs to have a set of powers that the untransformed form does not have and it needs to have them all at once. While I have made different versions of these characters, this looks like a dot in growth, a dot of flight, a dot of density increase (fixed), a dot of force field (rolled), and extra health levels.

Tora: Similar. When he summons his motorcycle it is defined as hyper running. Why? Because the power is basically the ability to move extra fast on the ground. This might also be weakened in such a way to represent that a big-ass motorcycle is not going to be able to run up a stairwell the way a nova who is *actually* hyper-running would be able to (though with Adhesion, he can drive up the side of buildings). This can be fomralized with Strengths and Weakness or it could just be an in-story but not mechanically understood fact that his power is defined in such a way that gives it some built in limitations.

When the motorcycle transforms into armor that surrounds him it is very similar to TO. It adds a dot of body armor, a dot of flight, a couple dots of armor and a couple dots of psychic shield (since when it surrounds him it has built in "psychic dampeners."

In both TO's and Tora's case, they have a non-Dormancy related alternate or combat mode, that needs to happen all at once.

My case is that Bodymorph is the perfect crunch for this. Neither one should be considered from a fluff perspective to be an actual morphing of the body, in the same way that a summoned sword should not be considered growing claws on your hands.

Does that make any sense? It makes perfect sense to me.

Then one of the fan-books came out, I can't recall which one, that gave the option for bodymorph flesh or technology. In the flesh one, IIRC correctly it was stated that this was specifically intended for people who want to have an organic alternate form without dormancy or such, for example simulating the Hulk, or someone who has a "demon form." I had already had this idea before that book and option came out, but it was nice because one of the freebies for flesh was extra body mods (for example a guy who turns into a demon form having digitigrade legs when transformed). Same thing with tech.

My point is...whether a character turns into a machine, or whether a machine wraps around him is completely irrelevant. From a crunch perspective bodymorph does what I want my character be able to do...have a single action, single quantum point expenditure power that gives my character a different "mode" with a bunch of built in powers. In other words, I am using bodymorph crunch but using the "player defined" power rule to make up my own power, that for all game purposes is mechanically the same power as bodymorph....but not in the originally intended sense of Colossus. Yes this is not the original intent of the power, but the rules as written allow for this kind of reinterpretation.

i hope I have been clear and concise and not argumentative (in the negative sene; I realize I am putting forth an argument) . I played TO with Titan and Tora was approved for 200x by Ein (and was played originally in an off site PBEM game), and all of those STs understood what I was trying to achieve and approved it.

That said, you are not them, and I know you have your own ideas, so it is ultimately up to you, but I think I have put forward a decent case. Thank you for your consideration. I would really like to resurrect one of these characters, as they are two of my all time favorites, but if it is really a non starter I can always go back to the drawing board. One might make a case for inventing a whole new power to do what I would like, but as per the player defined powers section, if there is already a power that does what you want it says just to use that (with the STs approval).

With respect to the court, I rest my case, and await your reply. Thank you for considering my ideas.

[SkyLion]

If you want to model a super suit being summoned around him, you could probably use Force Field as the base power and just state that he can only use his other powers/mega physicals when the force field is active...

Sorry for the double post; I missed this earlier when I stepped away from composing. Your way would get into complicated and unwieldly strengths and weaknesses. I think the way I described in the above post is a much more elegant way of using the system. it really is simple and straightforward and does everything I want it to do, simply by redefining the fluff.

For example the suit wraps around him making him bigger and stronger. A dot of growth does this. When not in combat mode his strength is lower. It would be overly complicated to try and link all of his powers together, as well as more expensive. Bodymorph does it all for 2 quantum in a single action.

[Dawn OOC]

This entire discussion makes me want to only play M&M...

Mostly because everything that Sky described above could be easily done under the M&M system without having to 'reinterpret' the rules in any way.

/anti-Aberrant rant

[Curtis Shane]

Sky: To save you from being a target of Dave....

Just keep in mind, like when Colossus becomes living steel (Bodymorph: Organic Steel), your PC will literally become a cybernetic version of himself. It's not armor that plasters over his skin, or a super suit he 'summons', it's literally him changing his composition from man to machine.

What Dave is saying here is that he specifically considers Bodymorph to represent changing one's bodily form.

Titan Omega... creates a temporary super body around him

When the motorcycle transforms into armor

These are not changing Omega or Mecha-Guy's physical form. So it doesn't work.

Edit: Sorry, I'm not Reven... I'm just trying to offer my two bits.

[SkyLion]

I understand that. But did you understand me? What I was trying to explain as thoroughly as I could is to take the word "Bodymorph" and erase it from your mind. I could call the power something different...let's call it "Exo-Body" that just happens to use the same mechanics of Bodymorph, because those are the mechanics that most elegantly fit what I want to accomplish. No fuss. No muss. But you can't cling to the semantics of what the powers in Aberrant are called...that is the *whole point* of player defined powers.

Is that clear? Because that is what the player defined powers sidebar says to do. It literally says "you don't write 'Q-bolt' on your sheet. You write 'flame'blast' or 'ice shards' or even 'create a kinetic slug out of thin air." According to the rules the q bolt doesn't even need to be defined as energy. It can be reflavored to whatever you like.

By your logic the claws as a summoned sword wouldn't work either as you aren't really creating a sword (a la matter creation).

...except it is given as a concrete example and encouragement to do the same. Really the Player should write "Sword Summon" on his sheet and not claws, but we need to know which rules set to reference so for practical reasons one would write Claws ("Sword Summoning") on the sheet.

It shouldn't really be a point of contention at all really. It is straight up in the rules. Players define their powers, the end. The ST can veto it of course, but I feel my logic is sound and well within the scope of the rules as written and intended to rename Bodymorph "Exo-Body" while keeping the crunch intact.

If Dave really does not understand, or understands and doesn't like it, I will defer to his fiat prerogative, but again, I feel I have a solid enough case to at least put forward for consideration. Again I have had several STs who had no problem with it, so it can't hurt to ask or explain myself.

I hope to not be the target of anyone. I'm trying to walk on eggshells a bit which I why I'm being so long winded in my examples.

[Marco Moreno]

Yes Sky we all get what you are trying to do and say. We also know from experience that Rev will most likely veto it as too extreme a re-interpretation of the specific power in question. I know from personal experience about this with Rev when we debated about using Bodymorph to allow for wolfman (or other beastmen) type characters. He disagreed with it then and I doubt he's changed his mind, although I cannot actually speak for him. Also note that he is not allowing the non official splat books of Brainwaves, New Flesh or the social one (can't remember what it is called) and the the Bodymorph-Flesh you mention is specifically in the New Flesh book.

That is why I suggested the Force Field. And I am not suggesting using the strengths/weaknesses system. There is nothing stopping you from saying, as the author and player of the character, that some of his powers can only be used when the force field is active. it's simply a limitation you choose to impose on yourself. Its not the most elegant solution, but it is no less elegant than twisting Bodymorph to do something it technically doesn't do.

Also be aware that these concepts just might not fit into the Aberrant system. Lets face i, the Aberrant power rules are not a toolbox by any stretch of the means. They are designed to create a decent spectrum of super powered people, but not to mimic any power that might cross your fancy or seen in any given comic book/manga/anime/cartoon. While they do have that sidebar about mucking about with powers, remember that is entirely up to the Storyteller on whether he allows such mucking about.

So you've made your case to Rev and we'll wait and see what he has to say but if I were you I'd keep a backup idea in the back of your mind in case the answer is still no.

EDIT: Oh and Carver? I agree with you 100%

[SkyLion]

Okay. With these two concepts in particular I am kind of attached to how they look and the feel of the crunch (i.e. bodymorph).

If there is one mistake I have learned from here though is that most of my troubles have happened when I got too attached to a character or build.

Thank you for letting me know about Rev/Dave's precedent and the disallowing of the fan made stuff.

It may be best for me to let go of the idea/take it to a different venue/come up with something else. I do have plenty of characters that I could reinvent. Brayden, Frag, Dana, Jon (on second thought lets leave Jon dead and save us all the squick...no more squick from Skylion!)

[Doryoku]

How about you try something new? Perfect opportunity for it.

[SkyLion]

I shall consider. My first choice tends to be to play my old favorites that sadly I never got enough of. We all have our go-to's.

[Dave ST]

Bodymorph: Flesh is redundant. You're already flesh. That's like a snowman saying: "I turn into snow!". Others might see it differently but it doesn't sit with me very well.

I understand how Prime works, Sky, I do. See above quote. Again, it would be like Jordan having Bodymorph: Gay. He already is and we love him just that way... no special gimmicks needed.

Just keep in mind, like when Colossus becomes living steel (Bodymorph: Organic Steel), your PC will literally become a cybernetic version of himself. It's not armor that plasters over his skin, or a super suit he 'summons', it's literally him changing his composition from man to machine.

I get what you're saying Sky, I do. See above quote.

Everyone has managed to make characters who are not super special snowflakes and do not require special powers or reinterpretations of existing rules. I know you have your heart set on making something the way you want and I have a vision of the way I want the game to play out. I'm not saying you can't play either of those characters but you have to find a way to make them work within the parameters of the game. This is not an anime where cyber cycles are summoned from nowhere or where goo makes you a super god. If you want a 'prime' effect, take dormancy and give him a human form and a super mutant form, I'd be okay with that.

[SkyLion]

okay yeah, I've been looking for a home for those two ideas for a long time so they are always my top two choices.

I can let it go though (see I have made progress!).

One thing that would help me (because gods there are a lot of topics to sort through) is a primer on how super powers work in this setting. What are the possible "origin" options since we aren't going the route of "brain cancer makes you Neo" route.

[Doryoku]

While this is Dave's setting, what I am guessing is the genetic code of the body somehow becomes the node and MR Coils in this universe. No magical wonder-tumor here. Just really freaky genes.

Midichlorians if you must. I prefer X-Genes.

[Marco Moreno]

You are a mutant, a la Marvel comics mutants. At least that is my mentality and it's seemed to work for me so far (although I only just joined myself). Although I don't know if we are actually in the the X-Universe.

We are hated and we are teens at a school specifically for mutants...

[Dave ST]

Nail on the head guys. The characters do not have nodes, you simply have, for lack of a better term, an X-gene. This additional gene allows you to do things others can't, like read minds or fly or heal incredibly quick.

Down side... the powers tend to follow a theme. Unlike Aberrant you can not just learn every power just because you wanna. This also applies to your enhancements and Mega-Atts... people just can't load up on Regeneration because they hate having to heal naturally.

[SkyLion]

Oh I'm totally into cohesive themes, and I have a few ideas in mind already.

If I might ask for one more indulgence:

Could someone please post a crib sheet of currently active player characters, what their theme/schtick is, and perhaps even their high school archetype (i.e. jock with a heart of gold, awkward stoner outsider, popular honer student chick, etc.)?

There's just so many threads and they seem all randomly distributed...could we compile all the character sheet threads into a Roster sub-forum?

[Doryoku]

That is actually a good idea, having a Student Directory sub-forum.

[Cirque]

Okay, I know I've been out of the loop for a bit. I'm caught up on the thread Aradia is in, but there's a lot of backlogged OOC stuff that I appear to have missed. Just to make it brief, it looks like we got 108XP, and Aradia and Alex are knocked out for now. Dave, any word on how long that'll last, or are we just along for the ride right now?

[Curtis Shane]

This entire discussion makes me want to only play M&M...

Mostly because everything that Sky described above could be easily done under the M&M system without having to 'reinterpret' the rules in any way.

/anti-Aberrant rant

The same can be said for the FATE system, particularly the FATE Core stuff... and I'm working on a rough conversion for playing Aberrant using the FATE Core rules. I think you guys would love it.

[Doryoku]

Taking this game and sending it to FATE? Would be interesting if we get tired of Aberrant.

The mind ponders...

Also, are there any thoughts on my thread proposals?

[SalmonMax]

If we? If?