Frukathka said:
All right my interest in Aberrant D20 is piqued. I dont know that much about it, heck I dont know anything about it, except that it has a non D20 predecessor. Tell me about the world,
On March 23, 1998, a small number of people around the world started to "erupt" and display abilities far beyond those of normal humans; they would soon be called "Novas". Ten years later, in 2008, the world is a far different place. The source of Nova power is at least somewhat understood, and Novas have had wide-ranging effects on the world - applying superhuman levels of intelligence to some of the world's problems, setting trends in culture and entertainment, and sparking lots of political and ideological differences. Several organizations seek to study Novas and/or apply their powers for the good of humanity (or at least for themselves), chief among them Project Utopia, a UN-sponsored effort. But of course, there are always rumours about hidden agendas and secret plots, and a few Novas have come to suspect that all is not what it seems at Utopia.
a bit about character creation,
Nova characters (it's basically assumed that all PCs will be Novas) have the Superhuman template, which allows them access to a wide range of abilities. While it's a d20 game, you don't use the D&D core classes; instead, the available classes are Entertainer, Investigator, Scholar, Scoundrel, and Warrior.
Each superhuman has a score called "Quantum" which affects how strong their powers are. Quantum increases as you gain levels. The powers are divided into three levels, starting characters have access to 1st level powers. Superhumans also have access to superhuman feats, which are slightly weaker than 1st-level powers.
Generally, 3rd level powers are either fairly unique (like Homonculus, where you can detach parts of your body and have them function independently) or fairly wide-ranging (like Weather Control). 2nd level powers include non-standard attacks and defences (Mental Blast, for example), most movement powers, and some rare-but-not-too-weird abilities like Quantum Vampire (basically what Rogue from the X-Men does). 1st level powers are fairly straightforward superpowers like Quantum Bolt (an energy blast), Claws, Telepathy, and so on.
In addition to class levels, Superhumans can take racial levels in "Superhuman", which is how they gain access to 2nd and 3rd level powers. They may also have levels in "Aberrant", which you get from overtaxing your powers and channelling more Quantum energy than humans can normally handle and can turn you into a monster (in appearance, anyway).
combat and how it generally differs from Mutants and Masterminds.
Combat is normal d20. The vehicle combat system is taken from Spycraft instead of d20 Modern.
As compared to M&M, the default setting is very different since M&M tends to be a silver age type of game. Aberrant draws from more modern comic book inspirations - there aren't really superheroes and supervillains, but instead different factions each with their own agenda. You might fight a particular "bad guy" one day, and find yourself allies against some other threat a few weeks later. Setting-wise, Aberrant tries to look at what might reasonably (or at least plausibly) happen if superbeings did suddenly appear in our modern world, so a lot of comic book tropes get turned on their heads; you don't see many supervillains robbing banks, because anybody with superpowers can cash in on their powers in far more lucrative (and mostly legal) ways. The incredible breakthroughs of the super-genius types are applied on a wide scale to solve problems and/or make a profit.
Because it was originally a Storyteller game (White Wolf's system), a big part of the game is supposed to be the exploration of what it means to be a Nova in a world full of normal humans who often worship and sometimes fear you. A lot of the background emphasizes this in different ways; the metaphor of Novas to mythical beings is pretty strong, but so is the undercurrent of mistrust.
Mechanically it isn't very well balanced, and it's not a great choice for grafting superpowers onto other d20 games (which is why I bought it). I'd only recommend it if you want to play in the Aberrant setting, which is actually pretty cool (IMHO). Even then, it might be better to look for the Storyteller version in used game sales.
It's also part of a trilogy of settings - Adventure! predates the Aberrant setting, and Trinity is the future version, both are also available in d20. You don't need the other games to run Aberrant, but they provide some background on what's going on in the metaplot.
Now I feel inclined to pick up all three, just for the potential time-spanning adventures!
