History TabletopGame / Aberrant

* BlessedWithSuck: Some eruptions do ''not'' turn out well for the nova. Teragen member "Sloppy Joe" basically had his eruption ''dissolve his entire body'', reducing him to [[{{Squick}} a soup of acidic sludge and free-floating organs bobbing around inside a vaguely human-shaped forcefield]].

* NeverGetsDrunk: It's noted in an interview in the first ed that in order for Novas to even get Mildly Buzzed, they need alcohol that's basically near 100% alcohol. The nova in said interview points out that it sucks.

* LighterAndSofter: 1e was, with its metaplot, pointed directly at the Aberrant War with no way for players to stop it. 2e, on the other hand, scraps several of the more depressing aspects (key characters being murdered, [[spoiler:the sterilization plot]], the inevitably of the war) and creates a world balanced on a knife's edge but capable of being drawn back from destruction.

''Aberrant'' is a role-playing game created by Creator/WhiteWolf in 1999, set in 2008 in a world where super-powered humans started appearing one day in 1998. It is the middle setting in the greater TabletopGame/TrinityUniverseWhiteWolf timeline, chronologically situated about 90 years after ''TabletopGame/{{Adventure}}!'', White Wolf's Pulp era game, and over a century before the psionic escapades of ''Trinity[=/=]TabletopGame/{{Aeon}}''. The game deals with how the players' meta-human characters (called "novas") fit into a mundane world when they most definitely are not mundane, as well as how the mundane populace react to the sudden emergence of novas. The original ''Aberrant'' product line was discontinued in 2002, though a d20 System version was released in 2004. A new edition was announced in 2012 from Onyx Path Publishing, who'd bought the rights to the Trinity Universe games, eventually given the name ''Trinity Continuum: Aberrant''. A successful Kickstarter ran in 2019, and has been released to the public as of June 2021.

* AtrociousAlias: ''Aberrant'', being a deconstruction of superheroics, touches on this: the rise of superpowered Novas, many of whom think they're now required to don costumes and take up aliases, have spawned a budding fashion industry dedicated to not only making non-stupid costumes, but also to come up with fitting and stylish names a Nova can use without feeling silly or raise UnfortunateImplications. A few sucky names still crop up, though.

''Aberrant'' is a role-playing game created by Creator/WhiteWolf in 1999, set in 2008 in a world where super-powered humans started appearing one day in 1998. It is the middle setting in the greater TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse timeline, chronologically situated about 90 years after ''TabletopGame/{{Adventure}}!'', White Wolf's Pulp era game, and over a century before the psionic escapades of ''Trinity[=/=]TabletopGame/{{Aeon}}''. The game deals with how the players' meta-human characters (called "novas") fit into a mundane world when they most definitely are not mundane, as well as how the mundane populace react to the sudden emergence of novas. The original ''Aberrant'' product line was discontinued in 2002, though a d20 System version was released in 2004. A new edition was announced in 2012 from Onyx Path Publishing, who'd bought the rights to the Trinity Universe games, eventually given the name ''Trinity Continuum: Aberrant''. A successful Kickstarter ran in 2019, and has been released to the public as of June 2021.

* BareYourMidriff: A male example with Divis Mal, whose nova powers make him very buff for somebody who's over 100 years old.

* TheExtremistWasRight: On both sides of the racial division. [[spoiler: In first edition, the baseliners fearing novas as potentially deadly to human existence were right, since the canon of the metaplot is that they nearly destroy the world, leading to the Aeon setting. The novas fearing baseliners were right as well, as novas who sign up with Project Utopia are sterilised as part of it, and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy the discovery of this is part of what sets off the Aberrant War in the first place]].]] In second edition, nova fear of baselines was justified with the discovery that baseline humanity had never really trusted novas.

* HotScientist: Dr. Rachel Alinsky, [=DeVries=] Agency's scientific genius, looks like a grad student despite nearing her forties.

* CantGetDrunk: It's noted in an interview in the first ed that in order for Novas to even get Mildly Buzzed, they need alcohol that's basically near 100% alcohol. The nova in said interview points out that it sucks.

* AdaptationalJobChange: In the first edition, Andre Corbin, Sophia Rousseau and several others were founding members of the Aberrants. In second edition, due to Slider not being assassinated, Corbin not being framed for it and the Aberrant name taken by a faction of the Teragen, they are members of Team Tonight, Team Tomorrow's BlackOps division.

* AndADietCoke: A character being interviewed about the nova's increased metabolism mentions ordering fifty Whoppers and a small Diet Coke at Burger King.

* BareYourMidriff: A male example with Divis Mal, who nova powers make him very buff for somebody who's over 100 years old.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Teras, the philosophy of the Teragen, is about the nova's Taint-driven development away from humanity and into an [[EldritchAbomination alien god]]. A Terat is not a human, instead interacting with humans as a [[PhysicalGod Marvel]], [[BewareTheSuperman Monster]], or [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers Portent]].
** This is how they channel Taint into Chrysalis, as any Taint gained when following Teras can turn it in Chrysalis, which can be used as a form of evolution when a Nova accumulates enough Chrysalis.

* ElementalPowers: Since humans can't fully grasp how quantum energy works, this is how quantum powers usually work, which the exact form of the novas powers take usually depends on the circumstances of the novas eruption. However the form the powers can take can be anything, from traditional elements to more exotic variants to even outright full on BizarroElements.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: Canonically, one of the two primary seeds of the Aberrant War. [[spoiler: Divis Mal screwed up. He triggered a mass awakening of novas with the intention of leading humanity to enlightenment, but most novas did ''not'' adopt his philosophy of Teras or even employ their powers with any kind of moderation, leading to out-of-control Transcendence, mad gods fighting over the Earth and humanity counterattacking.]]

* LongLived: All Novas are this to some extend, with the lifespan of a Nova starting out at above 150 years. Mega-Stamia increases this, rising to 250 years with Mega-Stamina 5 and 8,000 years at Mega-Stamina 10.
** The Adaptabality enhancement for Mega-Stamina increases the Novas lifespan by centuries, although the D20 rules for Aberrant change this to ages one year a decade.

** The second edition, however, is not written towards that end. Partly this is because Aberrant no longer has an advancing timeline, and partly it's because one principle of the reboot is that games earlier in the timeline (in Aberrant's case, Adventure! and the new modern-day setting) are established history, while games later in the timeline (Aeon) are possible futures rather than foregone conclusions.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: A lot of them exist, but Totentanz comes to mind most readily. Translated from German, his alias means "''The Dance of Death''". Fitting, considering he's a Nova mercenary with absolutely ''monstrous'' fighting abilities.

** Divis Mal believing that Novas aren't human, and should follow their own laws and customs if their isn't a Nova governing body to do so for them.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: A problem that started once Divis Mal introduced Chrysalis to the Teragen and the first Terats had undergone their first Chrysalis, some members started to get SuperSupremacist mindsets along with their {{Transhuman}} nature. As the Teragen grew, an increasing number of members focused less (or not at all) on evolution and more on anti-baseline sentiment/actions. This gets progressivly worse as time goes on, partly because an increasing number of novas joining care more for violence against baselines and Project Utopia and less about living separate from baseline society and transhumanism that Divis Mal hoped for, as well as Divis Mal sitting back and allowing the Teragen to become so divided, rather than culling any Novas who became too much of a risk to his vision.

* WeirdScience: Nova-based Weird Science comes in three flavors, but they work somewhat differently from the corebook's three.

* MainliningTheMonster: There are several illegal drugs (most of which will temporarily give a baseline superpowers) made out of the organs of novas.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: A problem that started once Divis Mal introduced Chrysalis to the Teragen and the first Terats had undergone their first Chrysalis, some members started to get SuperSupremacist mindsets along with their {{Transhuman}} nature. As the Teragen grew, an increasing number of members focused less (or not at all) on evolution and more on anti-baseline sentiment/actions. This gets progressive worse as time goes on, partly because an increasing number of novas joining care more for violence against baselines and Projcet Utopia and less about living separate from baseline society and transhumanism that Divis Mal hoped for, as well as Divis Mal sitting back and allowing the Teragen to become so divided, rather than culling any Novas who became too much of a risk to his vision.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: A problem that started once Divis Mal introduced Chrysalis to the Teragen and the first Terats had undergone their first Chrysalis, some members started to get SuperSupremacist mindsets along with their {{Transhuman}} nature. As the Teragen grew, an increasing number of members focused less (or not at all) on evolution and more on anti-baseline sentiment/actions.

* FantasticTerrorists: The Teragen (Greek > "Monster / Marvel race"), a diverse group of Novas who share a common philosophy called Teras (Greek > "Monster"). A direct result of this philosophy is that the group willingly embraces its evolved status, and therefore claim biological superiority to humans. While the outside world view the Teragen as a single group, it is actually a coalition of different interests united by philosophy and their enigmatic inspiration, Divis Mal. In his ''Null Manifesto'', he declared, essentially, that novas could only be governed by their peers, freeing its members from the obligations of human law. The more extreme members actually undertake terrorist attacks on baselines and novas workingagainst Divas Mal's goals.

* AdaptionalJobChange: In the first edition, Andre Corbin, Sophia Rousseau and several others were founding members of the Aberrants. In second edition, due to Slider not being assassinated, Corbin not being framed for it and the Aberrant name taken by a faction of the Teragen, they are members of Team Tonight, Team Tomorrow's BlackOps division.

* AnimalWrongsGroup: Greenwar.

* ElementalPowers: Since humans can't fully grasp how quantum energy works, this is how quantum powers usually work, which the exact form of the novas powers take usually depends on the circumstances of the novas eruption. However the form the powers can take can be anything, from traditional elements to more exotic variants to eve outright full on BizarroElements.