Pyramid Review
Aberrant: Worldwide Phase II
Published by White Wolf Games
Written by Deid're Brooks, Steven Michael DiPesa, Lucien Soulban
160 pages; $19.95
Since its inception, the Aberrant line has been unabashedly metaplotted, exploring the interactions between Novas and society over the course of many years. However, the advancement of the metaplot has been handled in a uniquely well-coordinated manner, as the job of advancing the timeline has been confined primarily to the Aberrant Worldwide series of adventure anthologies, each of which promises to place the PCs in the midst of the major events of a given period--in the case of Phase II, 2010-2015. The very consciousness with which the metaplot is being advanced means that the series is also written with an eye towards how it might unfold differently in the an individual campaign, and earns high marks for flexibility -- a quality which adds to the ease with which many of these adventures could be ported over to a non-Aberrant Supers campaign.
(SPOILER ALERT!)
The adventure design allows a GM to involve PCs from the most loyal Utopian to the most radical Terat to take roughly the same course through the adventure (and to desire roughly the same outcome), maximizing utility to all gaming groups while keeping the complexity from being unwieldy. For better or worse, this generally means that Aberrant Worldwide Phase II drags the setting even further into the realm of conspiracy gaming. Three of the four adventures feature some minor . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 6, 2001
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