Doing away with Psionics

[MaxTac Transfer]

The one aspect of Traveller I never liked was the magic system aka Psioniks. So - I dropped it. The Zhodani are just the USSR in space with lots of space KGB goons and snitches. Droynes and Chirpers get ignored (they are not on the playable list anyway) and done. Removes a lot of problems but no fun for me

 

[Limpin Legin]

Fair enough. The great thing is that you can make that choice and still get a game.

Having said that, psionics is different to the commonly found fantasy magic systems, in that psionics is mind over matter; rather than some kind of divine or elemental intervention.

To me, the significant question for a sci-fi setting is whether any life form can evolve such capabilities through either being adept or by genetic modification. But, if you don't want to play at that sort of thing, then fair enough

 

[Sigtrygg]

If you don't like the Zhodani having psionics but want to retain a "different" human society:

have them be one that has full embraced biological engineering, they don't just bioengineer colonists as the Imperial does, but actually enhance all those with the most potential to use the enhancements for good

have them be one that has full embraced cybernetic engineering, they don't just cyborg as a medical treatment as the Imperial does, but actually enhance all those with the most potential to use the enhancements for good

 

[Condottiere]

Or confine it to non player characters.

Then, it would be more narrative, than game mechanics.

 

[actionman]

The one aspect of Traveller I never liked was the magic system aka Psioniks. So - I dropped it. The Zhodani are just the USSR in space with lots of space KGB goons and snitches. Droynes and Chirpers get ignored (they are not on the playable list anyway) and done. Removes a lot of problems but no fun for me

I've always ignored psionics in Traveller.

 

[To Tha Moon!]

The one aspect of Traveller I never liked was the magic system aka Psioniks. So - I dropped it. The Zhodani are just the USSR in space with lots of space KGB goons and snitches. Droynes and Chirpers get ignored (they are not on the playable list anyway) and done. Removes a lot of problems but no fun for me

It's all good. Everybody has their own version of Traveller. It's called In My Traveller Universe or IMTU.

D&D even separates Psionics from Magic, tho. And I think Mr. Spock would be offended if his Vulcan Mind-Meld was called magic.

 

[ottarrus]

The easiest way to avoid psionics is to put your game on another frontier.
You got four to choose from insofar as Mongoose Traveller is concerned, each already published:
- Reaver's Deep
- Solomani Rim
- Ley Sector
- Core Sector

 

[Sigtrygg]

Psionics still exists in those sectors of the OTU... Terra even has a known psionic institute.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[MaxTac Transfer]

The easiest way to avoid psionics is to put your game on another frontier.
You got four to choose from insofar as Mongoose Traveller is concerned, each already published:
- Reaver's Deep
- Solomani Rim
- Ley Sector
- Core Sector

The Problem is that of the published settings the "Spinward" part has the most material. Ley has some (and adding T20 a bit more but still falls short. And SolRim has the Solomani that I tend to avoid.

 

[MaxTac Transfer]

It's all good. Everybody has their own version of Traveller. It's called In My Traveller Universe or IMTU.

D&D even separates Psionics from Magic, tho. And I think Mr. Spock would be offended if his Vulcan Mind-Meld was called magic.

The Vulcans where offended half of the time. The other half they used human males as "study objects" (T'Pol) or ways to get out of a marriage

 

[ottarrus]

The Problem is that of the published settings the "Spinward" part has the most material. Ley has some (and adding T20 a bit more but still falls short. And SolRim has the Solomani that I tend to avoid.

Mongoose has published
- The Trailing Frontier [Ley and Gateway]
- Solomani Front [the Rim and Alpha Crucis]
- The Deep and the Dark [Reavers Deep and Dark Nebula]
- The Third Imperium [Core Sector]
- The Great Rift [with the Islands subsectors]
Now, there's older material and apocrypha for all these areas, but you have the essentials to run full campaigns in all these areas and not have psionics present at all.
The thing is that every region of the Third Imperium, or even all of Charted Space, has it's own local hassles.
- Ley Sector has incompetent nobles and Cows with Guns.
- The Solomani Rim has the racist Sollies.
- The Deep has the Sollies, adds an impending race war with the Aslan and a faux-Scotland every single bit as fake as Mel Gibson in a plastic kilt. Every single sector of the Imperium has a threat or inconvenience within it, just as every one of them has a large dollop of nonsense in it. I mean, if psionics gets on your nerves, there's always the Hivers to make it even weirder.

 

[Sigtrygg]

You miss the point. Psionics exist in all those sectors unless you decide your ATU setting doesn't have it.

I don't recall many CT adventures involving psionics, with a couple of notable exceptions.

 

[MaxTac Transfer]

It's all good. Everybody has their own version of Traveller. It's called In My Traveller Universe or IMTU.

D&D even separates Psionics from Magic, tho. And I think Mr. Spock would be offended if his Vulcan Mind-Meld was called magic.

The Vulcans where offended half of the time. The other half they used human males as "study objects" (T'Pol) or ways to get out of a marriage

Mongoose has published
- The Trailing Frontier [Ley and Gateway]
- Solomani Front [the Rim and Alpha Crucis]
- The Deep and the Dark [Reavers Deep and Dark Nebula]
- The Third Imperium [Core Sector]
- The Great Rift [with the Islands subsectors]
Now, there's older material and apocrypha for all these areas, but you have the essentials to run full campaigns in all these areas and not have psionics present at all.
The thing is that every region of the Third Imperium, or even all of Charted Space, has it's own local hassles.
- Ley Sector has incompetent nobles and Cows with Guns.
- The Solomani Rim has the racist Sollies.
- The Deep has the Sollies, adds an impending race war with the Aslan and a faux-Scotland every single bit as fake as Mel Gibson in a plastic kilt. Every single sector of the Imperium has a threat or inconvenience within it, just as every one of them has a large dollop of nonsense in it. I mean, if psionics gets on your nerves, there's always the Hivers to make it even weirder.

Still when I look Spinward I get

Spinward Marches
Gvurrdon
Trojan Reach
The Beyond
Vanguard Reaches
Deneb
Reft
Corridor
Touchstone
Riftspan

As one huge area of continous space and with a variety of play options. That is the largest continous blob of MgT 1e/2e material.

A lot more than the two sectors in Trailing or the others. And dropping PSI is easy since it only affects the Zhos and those are a minor plot element at the adventure class level and their psikers are an even smaller there. So I go with the largest sandbox and drop one element I generally dislike in SciFi (reason I do not watch that movies with the old guy in a robe ordering a young male "toy")

 

[actionman]

Mel Gibson in a plastic kilt

Creepiest cosplay visual ever.

 

[actionman]

Or confine it to non player characters.

Then, it would be more narrative, than game mechanics.

If I include it, it's a plot device.

 

[ottarrus]

The Vulcans where offended half of the time. The other half they used human males as "study objects" (T'Pol) or ways to get out of a marriage

Still when I look Spinward I get

Spinward Marches
Gvurrdon
Trojan Reach
The Beyond
Vanguard Reaches
Deneb
Reft
Corridor
Touchstone
Riftspan

As one huge area of continous space and with a variety of play options. That is the largest continous blob of MgT 1e/2e material.

A lot more than the two sectors in Trailing or the others. And dropping PSI is easy since it only affects the Zhos and those are a minor plot element at the adventure class level and their psikers are an even smaller there. So I go with the largest sandbox and drop one element I generally dislike in SciFi (reason I do not watch that movies with the old guy in a robe ordering a young male "toy")

Granted, but what campaign other than Deepnight is gonna need all that?
I've been a fan of Traveller since 1978 and I don't know anybody who ever finished Adv 0: The Imperial Fringe, which requires the PCs to visit all 300 some-odd worlds in the Spinward Marches. Most Traveller campaigns don't leave the subsector sandbox.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Research Station Gamma, Twilight's Peak, Leviathan, Expedition to Zhodane, Broadsword, Secret of the Ancients, The Traveller Adventure - remove psionics and you have to change those adventures or not use them.

If you play in the Third Imperium but remove psionics then you are in ATU/MTU territory.

 

[-Daniel-]

The one aspect of Traveller I never liked was the magic system aka Psioniks. So - I dropped it. [SNIP] Removes a lot of problems but no fun for me

I can respect the choice. I am curious, do many players want and then get the rolls to have psionics or is the deletion a preemptive deletion?

I have had one character over the time I have played, and two players want to roll for it and one failed the roll. The other player had psionics but not very powerful and was less game impacting than I thought.

 

[MaxTac Transfer]

I can respect the choice. I am curious, do many players want and then get the rolls to have psionics or is the deletion a preemptive deletion?

I have had one character over the time I have played, and two players want to roll for it and one failed the roll. The other player had psionics but not very powerful and was less game impacting than I thought.

Good question. One I can not answer since I never had the option on the table (We play an ATU and use a chargen aid that does not have psi rules integrated)