A Battle Rages Across the Stars

A century-and-a-ha1f in the future, humanity ventures into space and encounters strange alien races and diverse new worlds. Even as humanity struggles to find its place in this new age, Earth is assaulted by a menace from its past - twisted, once-human creatures called Aberrants.

The world’s greatest defenders against this menace are psions - men and women who possess formidable psychic powers, and who wield unusual biotechnological devices. With guidance from the enigmatic Æon Trinity, psions hope to protect humanity from its own twisted reflection so that Earth's peoples may take their rightful place among the stars.

You Are the Weapon

Take to the stars in Trinity, White Wolfs Storytelling game about a high-tech, psi-powered future! As humanity's next step in evolution, you can venture into the depths of space and uncover all manner of mysteries - or you can scheme among the nations and corporations of Earth as they extend their grasp into our solar system and beyond. Battle the hideous Aberrants, monstrosities that seek to destroy our people and our planet.

Investigate the unearthly Qin, beings at once supremely human and disturbingly alien. Learn the true power of the Æon Trinity, the cryptic organization whose goal is to unify all living things against a malevolent cosmic force. Yet the advanced technology and wondrous psi powers at your disposal go only so far; your wits must be sharp if you are to survive the perils and possibilities of the 22nd century.

From the White Wolf website, which can be found at www.white-wolf.com

“War. War never changes”- Fallout computer RPG

It is the year 2120. Some sixty years ago, a war was waged on planet Earth. It was the greatest war ever. Super-powered monsters, dubbed “Aberrants” and normal humans fought for the right to exist. Finally, China threatened them with the ultimate ultimatum. “Leave or the Earth will be reduced to cinders, and we both lose”. The monstrous Aberrants left the planet, but swore to return. Since then, humanity has worked to rebuild the world, and many once poor nations have risen as economic superpowers, and formerly powerful countries have fallen to a relegated status.

The world had started to show new signs of prosperity, when… the Aberrants returned. But somebody fought back. A new type of human was prepared to make a stand against the monsters. These “evolved” humans, often called “psions” by the media, were a new hope for humanity. They have become the weapon, in these new psychic wars fought to keep the Aberrants at bay, and help humanity along with its continuous growth.

But things are never this simple. Life in the 22nd Century is full of strife, and the psions are no exception. They are mistrusted and feared by many, since Aberrants also begun as “helpers” of humanity. In fact, countries like the FSA (Federated States of America) and Nippon (Japan) actively harbor bigotry against them. However, there is light wherever there is darkness. Æon, a philanthropic organisation that was founded in the 1920s by a Maxwell Anderson Mercer, has taken the task of creating good PR for the psions and their Orders. And, though there are some rotten apples – as there are in any human funded institution, this deal works well for both parties. For the time being at least, the psions have a pretty good reputation indeed.

Trinity was the first RPG from White Wolf that used the Storyteller Revised system (also used in Aberrant, Adventure and Exalted) and it marked a change in White Wolf’s policy. At last, they had changed the genre a bit! Sadly, this game is not one of their bestsellers, so it gets very little of the company’s attention. I don’t know many Sci-Fi RPG’s, but from the few I do know, this is the best. It keeps White Wolf’s typical “factions”, in this case, called “Orders”. It also maintains the notion of superhuman player characters, but the atmosphere of the game’s setting is less bleak, less dark.

Trinity is not set in the World of Darkness and there are no vampires, werewolves, et al. The supernatural is handled more as “mutations” in humans rather than “God cast Caine out of Eden”. There are certainly some groups with hidden agendas (as the very first Trinity sourcebook suggests with its title), but they are most likely not the type of “Tuesday: Taking over the world”. In fact, when Andrew Bates started to design the line, he wanted it to avoid most White Wolf conventions. They obviously didn’t let him get away with that…

Another interesting thing in this setting are the aliens. Humans have stumbled into three alien groups: The Qin, the Chromatics, and the Coalition. The Qin seem benevolent to the human race, and have helped humanity to achieve great advancements in technology, especially in what’s called Biotech. The Chromatics are a warlike race, that has made several attacks on human outposts. Future will tell what will happen to them and humans. And at last, there’s the Coalition. Imagine Star Trek’s Federation… now imagine it's commited to evil… There’s the Coalition. It’s a group of alien races that come, slowly but steadily to take down humanity. Are any of these alien races related to each other? Are they related to the Aberrants? That’s another interesting question.

So, what’s in this game for you? There are two big things worth playing for (only of course, if those two big things appeal to you): spaceships and star exploring, and playing a psychic in a quasi-cyberpunk world. As I like both of these ideas for their multiple ramifications, I loved the game from its start. You can turn it into whatever you want, like hiding a little nasty Abbie in a lonely spaceship and play “Alien 5”, or you can set up a bizarre murder investigation only a “gifted” detective could solve. Or some “Starship Trooper” – like hack and slash in some desolate planet full to the core of bloodthirsty Abbies, who somehow resemble gigantic bugs. You can play diplomat in an alien world and help bring peace and prosperity to both races. Whatever you desire!

One very interesting thing on Trinity are its adventure series’ books, that take the player characters to shape the setting. Around them, things change forever, and they can build the form of Trinity’s universe. This series: Darkness Revealed, and Alien Encounter, make very good adventures. In my opinion, most White Wolf adventure books are not very interesting, but Trinity’s are something else. Give them a try if you get the chance.

Æon & Trinity: the story of a title: before I leave you to your own devices, I’ll tell you a last piece of interesting info. Originally, Trinity was called Æon, but, since MTV Networks held the rights for a cartoon series called Æon Flux, which was also in the sci-fi genre, they felt their rights to be challenged, and White Wolf was requested to change the game’s name. So, Æon turned into Trinity. Why Æon and why Trinity? Easy. Max Mercer’s organization is called Æon, but it’s made of a “trinity” of sub-organizations: Neptune, Proteus and Triton. Also, the Trinity Universe, called Æon Continuum or Æonverse by fans, has three major eras and games: Trinity (Æon), Aberrant (where you play the Novas from the early 21st century) and Adventure! (a pulp action game in the Trinity world) Check the other two out, too! They’re worth it!

Reviewed by Matías Timm