A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant is a role playing game supplement published by Onyx Path Publishing for use with Trinity Continuum.

The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $19.99. as a standard colour print on demand hardback for $45, as a premium colour print on demand hardback for $77, as PDF and standard colour for $50 and as PDF and premium colour for $82. It is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. It has 314 pages with two being the front and rear covers, two the front matter, five the Table of Contents, thirteen the Index and two a character sheet. A separate two-page PDF has a copy of the character sheet.

The Preface talks about the writer of the preface’s enthusiasm for superheroes.

This is followed by several pages of comic, and there are more comics in between the chapters throughout.

The Introduction explains that this is a superheroic game set in the near future in the Trinity Continuum. Following the explosion of a satellite above the Earth, novas, people with superpowers, started appearing. A decade later, there are now thousands of novas and they have helped transform the world. It explains that the game follows the “hope, sacrifice, unity” theme of Trinity Continuum, with novas being willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Novas also have quantum powers, which are greater than the Talents of the Core Rulebook or the psychic powers of Trinity Continuum: Æon. There’s a list of inspirational media; comic books, film, television, novels and video games and a glossary. Finally, there are a couple of pages of what might be called an abbreviated timeline.

Chapter One: The Day the World Changed explains that N-Day was the day the world changed, as after the explosion of the space station Galatea, people around the world started displaying superhuman powers. Following this is a timeline covering major events from this to 2017, with sidebars throughout the chapter having details on various notable people. The Nova Age is what the new era is called. This starts looking at what the Æon Society and Project Utopia did, which was create an organisation intended to benefit the world using the new powers of the novas. One nova published a manifesto claiming that all novas were sovereign powers and should put aside human considerations; this has created factions that are outside the nova mainstream. On the whole, though, the world has seen enormous benefits from novas. Finally, the chapter ends with a comic.

Chapter Two: N!Sight gives overviews of the world and various countries in it, with some in-universe reports, articles and communications and details on specific novas mixed in. Far from every country is covered, but those that are tend to be major players, either in their region or globally.

Chapter Three: Reborn in Fire starts by explaining how to create nova characters. A sidebar looks at using Talent and Psiad characters from the Core Rulebook and Æon Æxpansion in Aberrant. Firstly, nova characters need the nova template. All novas possess a Quantum Trait that defines their energy-manipulating abilities and may have various other things as manifestations of those abilities. They are subject to side-effects from their abilities, which can lead to Quantum Flux that can build up and transform the nova’s body and mind. A sidebar has a summary of the character creation process. The section looks at nova traits, Quantum trait, Transformations and baseline traits, referencing later material where necessary. There’s also a section on creating more or less advanced novas than the default ones.

Many novas operate at a Scale far beyond those of baseline humans, and novas themselves don’t all operate on the same Scale, so the Scale rules from the Core Rulebook are important. Novas accumulate Flux from the use of powers which can lead to increasing Transcendence and cause Transformations, both physical and mental. There are different ways that novas can accumulate Flux. What happens at the different levels of Transcendence is looked at. At low-level, transformations result in a clear manifestation of a nova’s otherness, and there are different ways this can manifest. Transformation is divided into three different levels based on Transcendence, each with more severe and more noticeable effects. Grounding is a way for novas to deal with Flux and Transcendence whilst Chrysalis uses them to burn away humanity.

There are new Edges and Gifts available, that follow the normal rules on such, as well as a new class of Edges called Mega-Edges, which are superhuman level abilities, though these last are detailed in Chapter Six. The new Edges of different types are covered in the normal way, as is the Gift, and finally there are some new Paths.

Chapter Four: The Powers That Be starts with a quick overview of the different organisations that play a role in the world of Aberrant. These are then gone into more detail individually. Each is described, with details like history, structure and subsidiary organisations, and the organisation’s Path as well as occasional important NPCs connected to the group. The groups are the Æon Society, Project Utopia, the Teragen, the Directive, Elites and the Daedalus League. Alternative Allegiances has substantially briefer overviews of several more groups, which will need Paths selecting. These groups are Archangel, Alert Status 1, National Office of Emergency Research, Les Fantômes and the Theseus Club.

Chapter Five: New Systems explains that the Core Rulebook showed the limits of human ability and Æon showed how those limits could be surpassed by working together. Aberrant demolishes those limitations. Scale explains that nova powers are off the charts of baseline capabilities and that novas’ powersets are described using Scale, which has seven categories, Durability, Leadership, Mental, Might, Power, Size and Speed. Scales goes past the normal 1-6, all the way up to 10. Things of the Nova Age can also be extremely small, and negative size starts at 0 and goes down to -4, which is under a centimetre. Then they can go down even further, all the way to -9, which is subatomic.

Collateral Damage is how nova conflicts can result in collateral damage, and nova attacks can contribute to something called the Collateral Pool, which can be used to inflict more damage.

The effect the Nova Age has had on space travel is considered, including the possibility of relativistic travel, with the travel times between planets and beyond.

Genre looks at the overall superhero genre, using the Ages of comic books to define them. Tones looks at the broad strokes of settings, based on those ages, and looks at different kinds of setting. Subgenres focus a campaign more tightly within those tones and genres.

Chapter Six: Powers and Abilities has the powers that distinguish novas from baseline humanity. The Quantum Trait is the strength of the connection between novas and the fundamental forces making up the fabric of the universe and a nova’s overall power. Details of this and how points are regained as well as how novas can max out, going beyond their normal powers, and burning out, when they run out of Quantum points, which causes them lethal damage. Overcharging is the reverse of burning out and gaining more than their normal points and when a nova gains a Quantum rating of 10, they transcend into another being and possibly beyond the universe. A sidebar explains the Medusa Protocols, which are scattered throughout the chapter, which are Project Proteus’ approaches for neutralising nova powers.

The powers are divided into Mega-Attributes, which go beyond normal Attributes with carious advantages, Mega-Edges, which are the same concept applied to Edges, and Quantum Powers, which are the abilities of the nova outside the previous two. The last section covers acquiring and using Quantum Powers, as well as various Power Tags that can be applied, and then the various powers.

Chapter Seven: Technology looks at technology in the setting, as novas are changing science and technology by their mere existence. The rules on technology use the Super-Science rules from the Core Rulebook, revised and expanded. It looks at three categories of technology, with examples given in the first two categories. Core-tech is nova-designed but it can be made by baselines. Nova-tech requires novas to be involved in the manufacturing process somewhere. Q-tech, or quantum-tech, will not function without a nova as they need a living quantum field to work. Novas may have a certain amount of core-tech or nova-tech items based on wealth and can attune to Q-tech items.

It then looks at how novas can invent new technologies, even without Mega-Intellect, but those with at least a dot of Mega-Intellect follow different rules for mega-crafting. There are a couple of new power tags for Q-tech. Costs are given for crafting Q-tech and some details on how equipment can be repaired, reverse-engineered and reforged; novas have an advantage when it comes to nova-designs. Novas and their technology also change the world around them by existing.

Quantum technology is then looked at in more detail, with rules on atonement and using items that are not attuned, how Q-tech is activated and used and new flaws for nova-technology.

Chapter Eight: Storyguiding is the GM’s chapter with advice on running the game. First, it looks at the three available Tones, discussed in Chapter Five, which is the first thing to choose. It looks at choosing a Tone and making sure everyone is onboard with it. Next, it looks at choosing a Subgenre, also from Chapter Five, and how these affect the game.

Next it looks at creating scenarios – adventures – how to handle things when they go off the rails and how players handle their characters’ choices. Handling powers in-game is looked at, and what happens if a character’s powers become a problem, whether they are a PC or an NPC. It explains that the world of Aberrant is outlined up to 2028, and from this point on, characters’ actions can change the world, and how this can be handled. Sacrifice is the main theme of Aberrant, and this looks at how to deal with it in different Tones and Subgenres, and whether or not the sacrifice is that of the character; also, sacrifice should neither be over- nor underused.

Finally, characters’ allegiances are looked at. The true power of the setting lies with the factions, and which faction a character belongs to can affect their behaviour; if they decide to ignore the faction’s guidelines, they will probably end up being kicked out. Though all the characters may belong to the same faction, this also looks at handling campaigns where they belong to multiple factions, or none.

Chapter Nine: Opponents and Allies is, for want of a better description, a bestiary of potential foes and potential allies. These are divided into different sections, each of which has different collections of example NPCs or creatures. Baselines are non-novas, and this includes organised crime. Nova cults are the new religions that worship novas. Enhanced baselines are those who, using drugs, cybernetics, exo-suits and biochemical treatments, are better able to face off against novas. Nonhuman antagonists includes robots and creatures, which can be artificially created. Nova antagonists are comparatively ordinary novas that characters could encounter. Talents and psiads are those from the core book and those with psionic powers; psiads have been emulated using the rules from this book, but can be more accurately, if less consistently, converted to use the rules from Trinity Continuum: Æon.

Chapter Ten: Setting Secrets covers the secret history of the Inspired and N-Day, the involvement of major personalities and the Æon Society, several possible alternatives for the São Paulo blast, the future and the Aberrant War covered in Trinity Continuum: Æon.

Appendix: Quick Nova Creation speeds up nova creation by using an archetype to create a character’s nova abilities. There are ten different archetypes, which have options, followed by examples of using the quick method to create characters.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant in Review

The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. The Index is in much more depth, and there are also some internal hyperlinks. Navigation is very good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a variety of colour illustrations, up to full page in size and including some colour comic book sections spanning pages. Presentation is very good.

The first and most important thing to note is that this is not a complete game; it is an expansion to the core rulebook and does require the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook to use. What this supplement does allow is the introduction of superpowered characters in the Trinity Continuum universe. By the nature of that universe, there can be alternative universes, and the different Trinity Continuum books can be used together to create an overall setting spanning multiple centuries. Or not, depending on personal preference.

The rules are based around the same structure as all the Storyteller systems, so anyone familiar with such, and anyone playing it should at least be familiar with Trinity Continuum, will find them familiar. Perhaps the main difference is the power level of the setting; in Trinity Continuum, characters would have abilities beyond the norm whilst in Aberrant they are superpowered and verge on godlike. At least, some novas and some baseline characters do consider novas to be gods. The supplement should allow the creation of almost any type of comic book superhero, given the various options, even with technology that should not work and yet somehow does. Aberrant makes a big change to the setting, as novas change things even when they are not trying. It is still familiar from Trinity Continuum and some organisations are the same, even though their precise activities may have altered; a necessary step, given superpowered individuals. There are also a range of options for playing styles covering different eras of comic book material. Trinity Continuum: Aberrant is an interesting expansion to Trinity Continuum that opens up a lot of new options for characters and it can be found by clicking here.