Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - The FAQ

[jameson (ST)]

OK guys, we're basically done with the story I wanted to tell. It went off the rails in spots and ended in a way I didn't predict but I'm proud of the sum total of what we've done. As I promised I'll answer any questions here about the game. Fire away!

[Courier]

Questions:

1) Taint Bomb. Who did it & why?

2) Was Mr. Yellow's somewhat predictive statements an accident?

3) Raider's Dad. How'd he get that blaster?

[jameson (ST)]

1) Johnny did it. Gregory was right about that from the get go. The why is, it was an accident. He was trying to expand the radius of his null-zone but he didn't understand how it worked. The process killed him and set off a tidal wave of not-quite right energy.

2) It depends on which statements you mean. I'll admit that I did make one fuck up but in terms of the character of the moonies it fit and worked. In general the truth/lies issue is a matter of who spoke what and when. I can respond to specific statements if you want to quote them back.

3) Raider's father was a moonie, exiled to earth for something (I left the reason open for me to determine when/if it became an issue. The weapon was something scavenged here on earth however; the product of pre-burn Mega-Int tech.

[Courier]

Hmm... one wonders how Mr. Yellow's people treated him after he nearly dragged them into a war.

Would the nuke have done the job? I.e. cracked the dome, destroyed their culture?

[jameson (ST)]

Mr. Yellow was stripped of his position and as fitting all criminals in their society he was rehabilitated. The nature of his crimes and lack of remorse resulted in a "death of personality", i.e. he was mind wiped and a new "person" was built up to replace the old.

Yes, the nuke would have been sufficient to have destroyed the moon base.

[Mr Fox]

Ha, go psicorp!

I've got 'death of personality' in one of my stories as well, though it hasn't made it onto paper yet.

Are there nova or even non-nova colonies out there somewhere?

What was up with the Mars fake colony?

Was there a defense build into the city or in place to protect the city?

Is there anything left on the moon for raider to find?

[Courier]

The moonies claimed that they were unaware of us until we nuked the rock, and that they were aware of us and were discussing whether to do something about the rock. Which was it?

Further, why was the original trio chosen to meet with us? Mr. Yellow in particular seems to have been a stunningly bad choice.

[Joani]

Can I give feedback instead of asking questions?

[jameson (ST)]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Are there nova or even non-nova colonies out there somewhere?

What was up with the Mars fake colony?

Was there a defense build into the city or in place to protect the city?

Is there anything left on the moon for raider to find?

I had no plans to introduce or have extra solar colonies as part of the game but yes there are likely some populated by Novas and their followers who left prior to the burn.

The Mars colony was just a story. The original intent for the course alteration of Haley's comet was to try and terraform Mars to make a colony viable. Anything that the US setup there prior to that was dismantled to avoid international SNAFU.

Th Chinese City? No. It was expected that burn would eliminate the need.

The moon colony was stripped of any high end tech but the greenhouses, and life support systems were left intact. Its livable but there's no fun stuff left behind.

Originally Posted By: Courier

The moonies claimed that they were unaware of us until we nuked the rock, and that they were aware of us and were discussing whether to do something about the rock. Which was it?

Further, why was the original trio chosen to meet with us? Mr. Yellow in particular seems to have been a stunningly bad choice.

The trio are the elected leaders of their people. As Xenophobes they didn't have need for diplomats.

Both were true. Mr. Yellow was aware of more than was being made aware to the other two. When Ms. Red/Rebekah answered that question the first time she was telling the truth, the second time she was also telling the truth as she now knew what had been going on.

Originally Posted By: Joani

Can I give feedback instead of asking questions?

That was a question, and yes, if you like.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: jameson (ST)

The trio are the elected leaders of their people. As Xenophobes they didn't have need for diplomats.

Just the opposite.

[Joani]

I kinda got lost when the story took to the stars (moonies), I felt that most of my options were very limited and that my PC had next to nothing in terms of knowledge and ability to do something about it. The plot was interesting from my pov up until we infiltrated the Aberrant infested New York (or whatever was left of it). That was a very nice and captivating plot line.

Somewhere between that plot and the Rock from the stars I got seriously lost. Maybe I missed some very important details/posts or simply didn't understand them (languagewise) but the game took a turn I had much trouble dealing with and finding my place in. Unfortunately I felt very stupid (both ICly and OOCly) most of the time since I failed to understand what the story was about. I then decided to focus on my PC alone and how she perceived things without trying to understand what was really going on. At least that way I found a way back to post more regularly and just go with it. It made the whole experience more believable for me but I'm still feeling like I should've known better as a player and I didn't. Maybe it's a wrong way to see this but that's basically how I felt.

Aside from that I always thought that PR was a very compelling set up - I pictured it more to be like a MadMax-like world, maybe that's why I was kinda disappointed when the moonies got introduced. What should be taken into account is that I joined relatively late - maybe most of my critizism would be void if I had the chance to experience the game from its very beginning.

Anyway - I thank you for being part of this epic tale and in the end I got one of the best PC-development/ends I could've ever dreamed of. Anna has come full cycle - one of the very few PCs I call my own who have accomplished anything like that. I wanted to thank you personally for this awesome opportunity.

[Mr Fox]

Yay two plus year games!!! Congrats to Jameson and everyone. I think we were a little lost in places and could have used a few clues from the sky, but other than that I enjoyed the game. Great job!

[jameson (ST)]

The idea of the moonies was always in my plans though perhaps I bit off more than I could chew in having so much going on. Sorry I wasn't able to make their inclusion work better for you Joani. I am glad that you enjoyed everything to the end though. I enjoyed watching her story unfold as well.

Three years and six months. Longer than I had any idea it would last. Apologies for any perceived lack of direction or those times when I didn't provide enough clues. Blame it on my first PBP STing experience. Hopefully it got better as time went by rather than worse.

As for this point I'm going to leave the current thread open for any final RPing you guys want to do, including with Gregory now that I've got his future back story squared away. I'm going to write an epilogue at some point (hopefully soon) and if you guys want to write more stories in this world feel free.

[Mr Fox]

One thing that would be helpful as far as writing fics set in the future would be to know at what rate they are gaining power. That would go a long ways toward knowing when Raider would do certain things.

[SalmonMax]

For all its ups and downs, Phoenix Rising accomplished something that very few PBP games ever do: It finished. And that it did so after so long, enduring more than one crisis along the way, is a remarkable, incredible thing.

In the end, I don't feel like I wound up contributing very much to the game's story. That's really my own fault, and even with that feeling I'm glad to have been a part of it.

Thanks very much to everyone, but most especially to Jameson, who put up with more of my crap than anyone should ever have to.

Well done, to one and all. Well done.

[Courier]

RE: High Hopes

Good song, I've got the Division Bell in my car.

Originally Posted By: jameson (ST)

Blame it on my first PBP STing experience.

Now that didn't show. Very well done.

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

In the end, I don't feel like I wound up contributing very much to the game's story.

Ha! Without you Doug & Raider would have nuked the moon. It was a close shave as is. Hopefully the moonies learned something from the experience and realized how close they came.

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Well done, to one and all. Well done.

I'll second that.

[jameson (ST)]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

One thing that would be helpful as far as writing fics set in the future would be to know at what rate they are gaining power. That would go a long ways toward knowing when Raider would do certain things.

It would depend largely how hard he was pushing himself. TBH I'm perfectly fine with you doing whatever you like. If you have a story feel free to tell it. If you want to tell a story of how Raider and Doug wipe out the Moonies once and for all I'm fine with that. Likewise if Anna wanted to tell about how humanity eventually developed psi powers and biotech I'd be fine with that.

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Well done, to one and all. Well done.

Thank you, and the same back to all of you.

Originally Posted By: Courier

Originally Posted By: jameson (ST)

Blame it on my first PBP STing experience.

Now that didn't show. Very well done.

Thank you. I'm just happy to have manage ti get to the end, especially despite the occasional stumble.

Originally Posted By: Courier

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

In the end, I don't feel like I wound up contributing very much to the game's story.

Ha! Without you Doug & Raider would have nuked the moon. It was a close shave as is. Hopefully the moonies learned something from the experience and realized how close they came.

Seconded, I think Ashley had a bigger influence than you might realize.

[Courier]

Oh yeah, Did Doug kill the right guy?

I.e. we found that dead & tortured guy in Abby City, then we found his twin and Doug jumped to the conclusion that it was the same shapeshifter who'd skinned the Doctor alive... so Doug ripped him in half.

[jameson (ST)]

Nope. I'd thought about having that resolve in game but the ambiguous nature of Doug's actions seemed more interesting than knowing for certain.