The Alexandrian

Posts tagged ‘aeon trinity’

Tagline: An excellent story which, unfortunately, has some flaws as a module, which are further compounded by some truly baffling design decisions.

Running the Darkness Revealed trilogy in its entirety is on my bucket list. I’ve tried on three occasions, but have never managed to actually make a campaign congeal. Some day…

(In other words, if you’re potentially one of my players you shouldn’t read this review!)

Note: This product is a module. In the following review there will quite likely be spoilers of various sorts. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Trinity: Darkness Revealed 1 - Descent Into DarknessDescent into Darkness is the first of a three-part adventure series for White Wolf’s Trinity. It contains three separate adventures which are joined thematically, thrusting the PCs into the heart of a major development in the Trinity universe. At $15.95, its a great deal in this age of $20 single-sheet modules and $25-$35 sourcebooks.

That being said, this product possesses some serious – although not irreparable – flaws.

GOOD STORY, WEAK MODULE

The adventure is based on some rock-solid material. The vast conspiracy plot being described in this adventure is nefarious, wicked, and cleverly conceived – my mouth was practically salivating thinking of running players through this puppy and having them slowly piece the puzzle together. Unfortunately I discovered that, having this rock-solid material in place, the writers then fell down flat in presenting it. In two of the adventures the full picture has absolutely no chance of being revealed until the very end – where we are instructed to have the PCs discover what’s been going on by looking at the minicomps possessed by the NPC conspirators. In the third you might be able to discover some of what’s going on, but only if you possess a specific psi power and make a specific die roll which will send you down the right path. Otherwise you have to wait until the end and disseminate the data files. The writers here wanted a mystery, but apparently didn’t have either the skill or the patience to see it carried out properly – so instead the PCs are onslaughted by forces they don’t understand in a series of segues they can’t comprehend, until the end where the GM is apparently supposed to lecture them for several minutes explaining the really excellent story they didn’t understand while experiencing it.

COLORED SECTIONS

This problem is further compounded by the three glossy color sections found in the book. These are designed to be given to the players as briefing files from the Aeon Trinity organization. Besides the obvious problem that these three sections are spread throughout the book so that you are faced with a decision of (a) ripping them out and completely destroying the product; or (b) xeroxing them (and thereby removing the entire reason for having them in color to begin with), these sections also successfully serve to completely destroy the plots of the adventures and suspension of disbelief.

For example, in the first adventure the PCs are supposed to be investigating shady activities of the Aesculapian Order on Luna. Eventually they will discover that this secret “biorg project” is being conducted under the supervision of Dr. Jerzy Grabowski, that it is using Aberrant taint to genetically alter psions in order to greatly increase their power, and that these new bioapp-enhanced psions were field tested in destroying Freak Alley while fighting Aberrants at a Lunar Base; and, finally, that a Dr. Malachi Ross was tested with these bioapps, escaped, and is now hunting Dr. Grabowski.

Reading the color briefing section for this adventure (to be disseminated to the players before the adventure starts) we are given the following pieces of documentation: (1) A transcript describing the attack on the Lunar Base in great detail; (2) An autopsy report of a John Doe found at the site of the attack who died of bioapp-feedback and then subsequently had all the bioapps removed from his body before the docs arrrived at the scene; (3) a hand-written note at the bottom of this autopsy report saying (essentially), “Jerzy—this guy knows too much, we need to transfer him to a place where he’ll never bother us again”); (4) excerpts from the diary of Dr. Malachi Ross which not only tells us his name, but also that he’s involved in the “Huang-Marr” bioapp project.

Do we see a pattern of similarity here? By the time the players finish reading their mission briefings they already know everything they need to know; they just have to go through the motions. Not only that, but the material found in these Aeon Trinity briefings pretty much invalidates the PCs actions: If you are wondering whether or not Jerzy Grabowski is involved in something fishy, is it really necessary to have the PCs look for that something if you’ve already got a memo with an incriminating note on the bottom of it?

BREVITY

The other major problem I was having with the adventures as described is that they are awfully brief and light on character activity. The first adventure, for example, has the players go to the clinic where Grabowski works and accomplish very little. Then they go to the site of the Aberrant attack, look around, and find nothing of much interest. Then they go to Freak Alley and find (you guessed it) little of interest. Then they go back to the clinic and, for some reason, they are now supposed to have enough evidence to arrest Grabowski (despite the fact they have uncovered NO evidence that wasn’t already in the briefing report, unless they randomly decied to hack into the clinic’s computers and discover the completely non-incriminating evidence that Grabowski is scheduled to go to Earth soon). Assuming they do this, Ross breaks into his cell and Grabowski is killed. Once Grabowski’s dead they hack into his minicomp and find out the details.

At no point (as a result of the color inserts) do the PCs really learn anything, nor do they really accomplish anything (the real work is done by the people they’re supposed to call in to arrest Grabowski), nor is it really ever explained to us what drives them along the course they’re supposed to take. However, the module does imply that they are supposed to waste great quantities of time (for example, when going to Freak Alley it is apparently assumed that they will spend great amounts of time talking with those who saw the accident… but no one will know anything of any interest).

The second adventure is the strongest of the three, but still suffers from unsubstantiated leaps of “logic” which the PCs are supposed to be making. In my experience, this type of module design inevitably leads to a necessity of dropping “subtle GM hints” in order to prod the players along the railroad.

PLOTTING BY LOCATION

No, the book doesn’t have location-coded maps, but one of the more egregious plotting stupidities they pull takes place in the third episode. The PCs arrive at Summit Center, a giant complex which literally circles the peak of Olympus Mons on Mars on a rail. Once there they are apparently supposed to wander around the place accomplishing absolutely nothing until such time as they end up standing in front of the power core (which, for some idiotic reason, is located at the very center of the complex and is highly visible to the public). At this point a would-be assassin launches a grenade at them.

Why? Because it’s necessary to blow up the power core so that Summit Center will collapse and go rolling down the side of Olympus Mons. Huh? The number of things ignored in this railroaded plot (what if the PCs split up? what if the PCs never go anywhere near the required location?) is mind-boggling.

INVOLVEMENT

One nice touch is the way in which the designers don’t simply gloss over PC involvement. Throughout the work several different methods are mentioned as to different ways PCs can become involved (fresh starts, skipping certain episodes, etc.) and then these are actually followed up later on, with pointers on how various PC involvement strategies will affect the way certain sequences play out.

This is a nice touch, especially in comparison to many other adventure products out there (which either leave the work up to the GM entirely or gloss over a few weakly inspired ideas and then drop them – as if why the PCs are involved in an adventure has no impact on how they will approach the events which envelop them).

ARTWORK AND TEXT

The quality of the artwork is quite excellent in some cases, and never worse than average. However, in several cases little connection between what the art is representing and the text can be made (although often you will realize that the art was depicting something that would be discussed later in the text), and is often recycled several times through the work (confirming that no connection is actual, although often it is implied).

The text is very readable, full of information, and nicely laid out on the page. Even the sidebars are placed in such a way that they are informative and easily digested (too many products just stick the sidebars in any old place, and it becomes difficult to assimilate what they are trying to tell you).

CONCLUSION

Having said all these negative things about the plotting and construction of these adventures I’m going to do a rather surprising thing: I’m going to suggest that you buy this product.

No, White Wolf isn’t paying me sizable amounts of cash to say this (or even insignificant amounts of cash). I say it because the background-material on which these adventures are based is, as I said at the beginning of this review, rock-solid and highly worthy of your consideration. Naturally they need a bit of work. Here’s what you’ll need to do to make this product worth your while:

(1) Don’t hand out those color sections.

(2) Redesign the flow of the adventures so that they operate like true mysteries. Only a hack designs a mystery where everything is discovered at the last minute: Have the PCs gather clues slowly throughout the process, and then have them put it together before the big finale (not in the aftermath by finding a handy minicomp).

(3) Seriously work at the connective material. Right now the modules are driven along a railroad; find a reason for the PCs to progress. Better yet, find many possible reasons, and many possible routes. Your players will probably still thwart you, but at least you’ll be better prepared to deal with them.

So I guess that’s my conclusion: The adventures are crummy, but they rest on such a fascinating, rock-solid set of background information that the product is still worth picking up (particularly at $15.95 – great price!). Just be aware you’re going to have to put a little bit of elbow grease into making this one serviceable.

Style: 4
Substance: 3

Author: Bruce Baugh and Richard E. Dansky
Company/Publisher: White Wolf
Cost: $15.95
Page count: 120
ISBN: 1-56504-751-6
Originally Posted: 1998/12/11

For several years after writing this review, Bruce Baugh would publicly cite me as his favorite reviewer and credit the useful critiques of this specific review for greatly improving the second and third volumes of the series. (And they were, in fact, very much improved, as you’ll see in later reviews.) I enjoyed Baugh’s work before, but after that I respected him greatly. Not because he was praising me (although that was nice), but because he was willing to take a critique that wasn’t sugar-coated and grow from it.

I wrote this a few years before formulating the Three Clue Rule, but you can already see some of its roots here. I’ve had a long dislike for the “mysterious shit happens and the PCs have no way of figuring it out” method of adventure design, though. It goes all the way back to reading the Touch of Death module in junior high, as I describe here: Stop playing poker with your players!

I’m also faintly amused by the quaintness of my complaints vis-a-vis xeroxing the color sections of the modules. These days, of course, I’d just pop open the PDF and use my color printer to crank out as many copies as I thought might be useful. (I wouldn’t in this case, of course, because they really do suck as handouts. Although it should be noted that a few pages can probably be salvaged.)

Read the review of Darkness Revealed 2: Passage Through Shadow

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

After posting my review of The Paxton Gambit, this was the first review I wrote explicitly for RPGNet in 1998.

White Wolf had been trying to get a science fiction game published for awhile. Mark Rein*Hagen had spent a couple of years developing Exile, and when Aeon was first announced there was wide speculation that it was going to be a heavily retooled version of the same. It wasn’t.

Adding to the confusion, the owners of Aeon Flux sent a cease and desist order to White Wolf — apparently claiming a wide ownership of the name “Aeon” when used to describe any science fiction setting. So the game was retitled Trinity, but not before the initial, limited edition of the game had already shipped.

This edition of the game featured a hard shell of black plastic protecting a ring-bound document. This was controversial, but even years later I’m a fan. Unlike normal ring-binding, this was attractive and durable. But like normal ring-binding, it allowed the book to easily lay flat for easy reference during game sessions.

(What isn’t controversial is that the replacement edition — using a cheap cardboard shell and titled Trinity — was dreadful. Several years later, however, a great little softcover edition of the game was issued.)

Aeon TrinityI picked up the limited edition of the Aeon game (now known as Trinity) for four reasons:

(1) I had been hearing about it and I knew it was going to be a major release. I try to stay on top of major releases so that I have my finger on the pulse of the gaming industry.

(2) Whatever else might be said about White Wolf games, I have always been able to rely on them for fantastic settings.

(3) I heard they had done some fix-up work on their Storyteller system — since I’ve always felt the system to be a good one at heart, despite some serious flaws, I wanted to see if they had finally fixed the problems with it.

(4) That black folder-flap design was just so sexy, you had to buy it.

So how does it stand up after my first read-through?

First, Trinity (the Game Formerly Known As Aeon) is definitely a major release and — with the recent death of the new Traveller game — has every chance of being the science fiction game for the next few years to come. I have no confidence in what I’ve seen of the Alternity game coming from TSR in the near future, and the only other strong contenders in the market right now would be Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles from Dream Pod 9 — both games which I feel fit better into the genre of “mecha games” than the genre of “science fiction games”. The graphical lay-out of the piece is the best I’ve seen from White Wolf, which is saying quite a bit given White Wolf’s history of strong graphical releases.

The setting, as is typical for White Wolf games, comes first — before the rules. It is told in the form of a “press release” or “official history” told from the perspective of the Aeon Trinity organization. The Aeon Trinity is a benign conspiracy of sorts which got its start in the early 20th century with a mission statement of helping guide humanity towards Unity (the first of three words which you’ll see on all of the Trinity ads). In the near future humans with bizarre psychic powers appear — these Aberrants get their powers from a tumorous growth in their brains referred to as the Mazarin-Rashoud node (after the scientists who discovered and explored it). Unfortunately this node also had the effect of slowly, over time, driving all of the Aberrants malevolently insane. The Aberrant War which ensued tore the world apart — destroying much of North America and Europe — until China threatened to destroy the planet from orbital nuclear stations unless the Aberrants left. Members of the Aeon Trinity left with them, in a supreme Sacrifice (the second of those three words) to help preserve mankind. China then, for reasons unknown, relinquished the incredible amount of power they had over the world.

The world then proceeded to rebuild itself. A few years ago people known only as Proxies appeared, and through an electrochemical process awakened the latent psi powers of mankind a second time. With the aid of the Aeon Trinity they revealed themselves to the world as benevolent helpers. The in the pseudo-science of the game, psi powers work by the manipulation of a previously undiscovered sub-atomic force particle named a “psion”. Due to the idiocy of the public the name of the force particle was extended to the psychic humans themselves and, along with several other nicknames, psions become the moniker of these new psychics.

With the aid of the psions specializing in teleportation mankind began to reach out into deep space — and made contact with their first alien species, the Qin.

A sidenote here: The treatment of aliens in Trinity is some of the best in RPGs to date. They aren’t just humans in fancy costumes, they think and behave differently than we do.

Then the Aberrants came back — and in a particularly vicious assault on an orbiting Earth station sent it crashing into France, destroying much of that country. Simultaneously with this assault the teleporters disappeared, cutting Earth off from its deep space settlements.

Now, a few years later, the first in a line of jumpships capable of interstellar travel without the aid of the teleporters is coming on-line. It’s time to take the fight back to the Aberrants with the aid of the psions — more limited in their power than the Aberrants, but capable of teamwork. The psions have given mankind Hope (and there’s the last of the three words).

Add to this the Chromatics, an apparently hostile race who appeared on the edges of human explored space just before the teleporters appeared, and the Coalition — a group of aliens who mysteriously attacked an Earth ship just as the game begins — and you’ve got an action packed game. And we haven’t even gotten into all the Earthside conflicts in the setting.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems. First, the book tells us almost nothing about what the Aberrants have been up to since their disappearance. This is all right since we can just have a few periphereal attacks until supplements telling us more come out so that we can take the fight to their own worlds, but far more egregious is the oversight of telling us what happened to the colony worlds in our years of absence. When a major plot of the game is supposedly “taking the fight back out there” it’s a little difficult to do that when we don’t know what it’s like out there — have our colonies all been destroyed? Are only some of them destroyed? Which ones?

Then we come to the Coalition. Literally the only thing we are told about them is that there has been contact between them and one of our ships, our ship was destroyed, and we don’t know anything else about them. Well, I guess I won’t be using them in any games until I’ve spent another $20 on a supplement to find out who the hell they are.

Nor are we told who the Proxies really are — which wouldn’t be so bad, but we aren’t told what their plans are. We are told again and agian of the “great plans” of the Proxies, yet we are never told what they are or given enough information about the Proxies to guess what they might be.

Only the Chromatics are usable as-is, but we don’t know much about them — so don’t use them too much.

Also, the psion “orders” are organized by both function and the predominant type of psion power found in them. This makes little sense — since one of the main things touted over and over again is the way different psions cooperate, the orders should be defined purely as functions, not functions and powers. The function of one order, for example, is to take the fight out to the Aberrants — yet there is only one type of psi power present in the order? This makes little sense.

So the setting is good, there’s just some fairly major holes left in it. Cliffhangers are good in fiction, and they can also be good in RPGs (witness the Heavy Gear game) — however, when everything important to the game is an unexplained cliffhanger I have some problems.

Which brings us to the system. If you’ve never had any problems with the Storyteller system before, this game will pose no problem. The Psi powers are nicely built into the game, although you may find them a little limiting in places due to the fact that you are railroaded along once you’ve selected your development paths.

If you’ve had problems with previous versions of the Storyteller system, this might be a good time to revisit it. In the original Storyteller system the most egregious problem was the fact that, above certain difficulty levels, the chance for you to botch on any given roll began to increase as your skill increased. To changes have been instituted in this new system to eliminate this problem. First, the target number is no longer variable and remains a stationary 7. Second, the “Rule of One” has been altered.

Another significant changes comes in the combat system, where a system of “Lethal damage” has been added — damage which cannot be soaked. This makes guns far more deadly in Trinity than they have been previously.

While both these changes fix a few problems which have been raised about Storyteller systems in the past, they do not fix them all (the probability curve is still more difficult to predict than your more traditional sytems). Nor do they change the basic aesthetic feel of the game. If you have a problem adding an attribute and a stat together based on the situation in question — or with rolling a fistful of d10s and counting successes — then you’re still not going to like the Storyteller system.

And what about that black cover? Well, it’s sexy and it’s cool. I don’t know if that still holds true for the new cover on the regular version of the game though.

So, to sum up:

The setting is great — if you don’t mind buying supplements. Otherwise you’re going to be left creating a lot of stuff from scratch and — worse yet — finding yourself incompatible with future releases when they do come out. About the only serious problem is the dual-definition of orders as both power-type and function — I would suggest GMs just quietly ignore one or the other and move on.

The system — while fixing many problems — is still the Storyteller system. If you’ve played the World of Darkness games you’re learning curve will not be steep, nor do I think you’ll find any of the changes to the rules harmful (although if you like non-deadly combat you might want to take those lethal damage rules back out again). If you simply dislike the idea of rolling many dice and counting successes — or the idea of finding both the most appropriate skill and attribute — you’re going to have to find something else to play the game with, or simply pass it over.

Overall, I would suggest buying this game. It’s a strong product. It does have its weak points however, and you might be advised to hold off for awhile until White Wolf’s supplements fill in some of those gaps.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Author: Andrew Bates and Ken Cliffe (Developers)
Category: game
Company/Publisher: White Wolf
Cost: $30.00
Page count: 320
ISBN: 1-56504-757-5
Originally Posted: 04/18/98

This review was cited by White Wolf developers as one of the factors that led to them revising the rulebook when it was re-released to include the key setting information necessary to run the game.

On a personal level, it played a major role in shaping my own personal theories on how roleplaying game lines could be effectively structured. I was accused of being “anti-supplement”, but that’s not the case: I just feel that supplements should be supplementary. An RPG’s core gameplay needs to be playable out of the rulebook.

I was also accused of being “anti-creative”, but obviously that’s not true, either. I do, however, feel that the point of buying an RPG product is that you don’t have to do the work for yourself. Saying that leaving out chunks of key information necessary for playing the game is OK because the GM can just “make it up for themselves” is just a variation on the Rule 0 Fallacy. You can make up your own rules, but the point of buying a rulebook is to save you the time, take advantage of someone else’s expertise, to try something new, or all of the above. And the same holds true for game settings and adventures.

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