Magneto vs Divis Mal

[MichaelC]

Magneto

vs

Divis Mal: https://www.writeups.org/divis-mal-aberrant-rpg/

[Pendaran]

That writeup downplays his power level honestly. That he is, himself, the ultimate source of novas in Aberrant benchmarks him on a planetary scale of effing around.

Anyway, going by the Aberrant Player's Guide as far as what the ability to slap mastery 2 on all your powers gives you...

Basically this fight is Magneto screaming "Maaaaaagneeeeets!" as Divis Mal screams "Quantuuuuuuum!" at each other until reality collapses ;p

I would suppose the decider here would be that with mega dexterity and wits, Mal has actual superspeed reaction time to Magneto's not. He can just AoE vapourize Erik before he can get any defenses or attacks of his own going.

[Powerboy]

Magneto

vs

Divis Mal: https://www.writeups.org/divis-mal-aberrant-rpg/

I've done writeups for that site so I'm fond of it but Divas Mal is one of the ultimate deus ex machinas. There is kind of a running joke that any character in White Wolf who is a representation of the opinions and political ideals of the writer is invincible.

[Pendaran]

I've done writeups for that site so I'm fond of it but Divas Mal is one of the ultimate deus ex machinas. There is kind of a running joke that any character in White Wolf who is a representation of the opinions and political ideals of the writer is invincible.

Eh, the whole point of the Aberrant player's guide is to give games the mechanics to build people on his par (there's a lot of hilariously wacky stuff in that book). Book explicitly notes that eventually as the timeline progresses, other novas will reach his level of power. It was a rare example for white wolf of "and so can you!" instead of "npc is untouchable and you will never be as good"

He's untouchable in Into the Arms of the Angel of Wrath, but that's pre player's guide stuff.

[Pendaran]

I mean I've run a few Quantum 6+ games here and there (one of them having the players reach that place from starting no less, it was a years long game). A player once transmuted the moon into basically a laser cannon. Stuff gets insane.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

I mean I've run a few Quantum 6+ games here and there (one of them having the players reach that place from starting no less, it was a years long game). A player once transmuted the moon into basically a laser cannon. Stuff gets insane.

Did they then use the Moon to slay a super dragon, while standing atop their sick nasty spaceboat ?

[Pendaran]

Did they then use the Moon to slay a super dragon, while standing atop their sick nasty spaceboat ?

No one wants to get sued by Earendil for copyright infringement, he'll shoot Silmaril lasers at you.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

No one wants to get sued by Earendil for copyright infringement, he'll shoot Silmaril lasers at you.

I mean it's arguably worth the risk. Especially if he rolls up in the van he got to replace the boat.

[Pendaran]

That's even worse. You'll be too busy being mesmerized by the sweet airbrushed scenes on the van to dodge the lasers. Your only comfort being that your last words will be "so... metal..."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

That's even worse. You'll be too busy being mesmerized by the sweet airbrushed scenes on the van to dodge the lasers. Your only comfort being that your last words will be "so... metal..."

I accept this fate.

[MichaelC]

Eh, the whole point of the Aberrant player's guide is to give games the mechanics to build people on his par (there's a lot of hilariously wacky stuff in that book). Book explicitly notes that eventually as the timeline progresses, other novas will reach his level of power. It was a rare example for white wolf of "and so can you!" instead of "npc is untouchable and you will never be as good"

He's untouchable in Into the Arms of the Angel of Wrath, but that's pre player's guide stuff.

Well most White Wolf games are basically Call of Chthulhu vs horror movie monsters. You're a vampire! But the oldest vampires are pretty much Chthulhu and they like to eat young vampires. You're a werewolf! But cosmic Chthulhu and his degenerate Chthulhu-Cultist werewolves want to destroy you and everything you love.

So naturally the biggest enemies are designed to be truly untouchable. Chthulhu eats 1D6 investigators per turn language.

[Pendaran]

Sure, I'm just saying, Aberrant was not one of those.

[MichaelC]

What do you think of Aberrant 2nd edition?

[Pendaran]

What do you think of Aberrant 2nd edition?

It's a gameline that exists for a guy who admits in interviews he pretty seriously disliked Aberrant to let him more or less take revenge on it and it shows.

As a game of itself it's petty crap and breathtakingly punitive on the very idea of novas (I backed it to eyeball the preview manuscript), but as an exercise in watching a guy publish an entire game to get the last word in internet arguments, it's deeply fascinating.

[MichaelC]

Well that's disapointing. I backed it as well, but I didn't look deeply into the mechanics. Can you explain in detail your problems with the design? Like, what do you mean by "punitive"?