Aberrant: Exile
MJ12-run potential Aberrant game.
General Notes
This game uses the Aberrant 2.0 rules changes to improve character survivability, combat playability, and increase character power. Read the errata and changes to powers while doing chargen.
Background
The launch of the ISV Unity in 2030 was the highlight of the Nova age, an age few remember, and those who do remember it with dread and loathing. It was crewed by a mixed group of Novas and humans, a testament to Utopian cooperation, the Daedalus League's research and development, and named after the emotion it was supposed to engender. Few participating in the launch realized what would happen merely 25 years down the line.
Intended to establish observation posts and enact a year-long exploration mission around a faraway star, a series of unfortunate accidents stranded it in space and forced it to return to Earth via slower-than-light travel. Its crew of brave astronauts pointed the vessel towards Earth, stepped into their stasis chambers, and waited for the century long journey to end. Estimated time of arrival was to be the year 2150. Arrival was successful, but the Earth and humanity they came back to was one different indeed, one which remembered the old golden age with horror and fear, and those who call the Novas something other than Novas...
They call them Aberrants.
ISV Unity: Statistics
Length: 95.4 m
Width: 13.8 m
Height: 13.8 m
Mass: 9,250 metric tons
Crew: Up to 50 (launched with 6 Novas, 44 baselines), Indefinite life support duration
Drive System: Antimatter Breeder Drive**
Life Support Systems: Hydroponic garden* (geneboosted flora), Oxygen Scrubbers, Stasis Chambers* (50)
Amenities: Food Synthesizer*, Entertainment System with 500TB capacity, mini-gym, microbrewery, ship-based local network (for gaming or chatting)
Support Craft: 3 parasite small craft, surface-crawling repair drones with limited AI.
Sensor Array: Foldable optical and radar scan arrays.
Defenses: Micrometeroid and Radiation shielding, antimeteoroid lasers.
A (*) represents a superscience system while a (**) represents a full on Gadget which was built for indefinite (or at least arbitrarily long) lifespan.
Inventory
Spacesuits, 15: Soak 6B/4L, Penalty -2, Mass 20
- The ISV Unity carried several semi-hard shell spacesuits for exoplanet exploration operations. Designed with memory-metal shells, these suits could expand and contract to fit most members of the crew.
Maneuvering Packs, 10: Soak 6B/4L, HLs -0 x 1, -1 x 1, -2 x 1, Disabled, Acceleration 0.1 G, Mass 60
- Surprisingly primitive binary-propellant maneuvering packs were supplied for extravehicular activity as well as operations in very-low-gravity areas such as large asteroids. These maneuvering packs had roughly 12 hours of powered endurance if used sparingly.
Vacuum Suits, 50: Soak 2B/3L, Penalty -0, Mass 5
- Designed for emergency and short-term vacuum use, all crewmembers were issued lightweight counterpressure vacuum suits. Designed for short-term use, these suits had approximately 2 hours of endurance due to their integrated oxygen scrubbers and small oxygen supply.
Rapid Prototyping Systems, 3
- A few rapid prototyping systems were installed onboard in the event that simple components (such as nuts, bolts, and hull plates) needed replacement.
Personal Effects
- All crewmembers were allotted 15 kg of mass budget for personal effects of any sort, with a few exceptions: Weapons, addictive drugs, explosives or incendiaries, or other objects potentially harmful to crew unity or the ship itself, were not allowed under any circumstances.
Dramatis Personae
Mallory Gibbs: Comm officer.
Marie Clements: Secondary (baseline) helmswoman and pilot of one of the two landers.
Special Rules
Aberrant 2.0 Psion Rules
Aberrant 2.0 Trinity Gear
Characters start with 50 rather than 45 NP.
Due to the circumstances, characters may not take the backgrounds listed below and must buy them with XP during downtime or earn them in play:
- Allies
- Backing
- Cipher (everyone gets this free at 4 instead due to the OpNet crash)
- Contacts
- Followers
- Influence
- Mentor
- Resources
These backgrounds (and some social merits/flaws) require the characters to be known, and as they are not known besides for "Aberrant Invasion!" headlines, that's a current problem.
Similarly, the characters in question were chosen to psychological suitability, and should not have any egregious mental flaws, a Taint higher than 3-4, or significant physical flaws. Utopia selected for stability rather than raw power, and also suitability for the mission. That is to say, all Nova characters should be able to survive (and possibly maneuver) in space, and have gotten training to do so, granting them a few abilities and specialties for free. Characters should buy up relevant or related skills to the
Training Package
All characters gain these abilities and specialties for free, which can be bought up as normal.
- Microgravity Ops 1
- Engineering 1 + Engineering (Spacesuit Maintenance) +1
- Science 1: Choose a valid field for exploring a new and potentially Earthlike planet. Examples of valid fields are Geology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, or Biology. This is not an inclusive list.
New Skills
- Helmsman (Guide to the Technocracy, page 147): A must for flying starships.
- Microgravity Ops (Guide to the Technocracy, page 150): Note that instead of capping the number of die a character has in physical skills, this reduces the difficulty penalty microgravity inflicts instead, by 1 point per dot. It is also used to fly around using a MMU or other sort of Zero-G personal propulsion, and completely replaces Athletics for movement in Zero-G.
- Science (Xenology) (Trinity Player's Guide, page 111): An entirely theoretical field!
Characters
Format: Name (Player): Role. e.g. Shen-Ji Yang (The Computer): Chairman of the Human Hive.
Quasar (Andronicus): Ships Daedalus League Warper and Emergency Situations Advisor.
Starlance (Exhack): Ship's Helmsman and Weapons Expert
Custodian(Bossmuff): Ship's Morale Officer and Alien Relations Expert
Alexander Vincent (Norseman): Ship's mechanic and technician
Dr. McAllister (OmegaPaladin): Ship's Medical Officer and Scientist
Scarlet (FBH): Captain.