Psions?

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I played in a few games back in the day where Psionics were available to players. Mostly we squandered them. I must admit that one of my favorite characters only had a PSI of 4 and only the power of Telepathy. Basically she was limited to Life Detection. It is amazing what you can do with that one little ability though...

IF I were to use Psionics, I think I would use them in the NPC roll, but a character still coming into his/her power might be fun.

 

[SSWarlock]

Sounds like the Challenge(?) article for MT (iirc, fuzzy mind at the moment ). Part of or with an equally good treatment on diseases I think.

I was hoping you'd chime in. I wish I could remember. Your description sounds like what I read. I'm going to search on line and see if I can narrow down.

Was it the "Medicine In Traveller" series by Robert O'Connor? If so, the entire series can be found at http://www.freelancetraveller.com/dtoc.html

Edit: After looking over Robert's work (truly awesome), I believe what you're remembering is actually the article on cold berths in The Traveller's Digest #21, page 40.

But the above has nothing to do with psions, of course.

So...

I've used/allowed psionics quite extensively in two of my Traveller campaigns back in the late 80s after generating a ridiculously powerful Zho-Vilani hybrid as a PC myself (got up to PSI 15 using the GM's dice, no less). I found that psions are just as easy to manage as PCs with a suit of battledress (yes, it is easy). It all comes down to creating adventures where the spotlight is on the psion(s) and then keeping the player(s) guessing as to whether the spotlight means it's time to shine forth or it's merely a visual aid for local law enforcement snipers.

Keep close track of the use of psi points and environmental effects (such as armed angry mobs) and the average psionicist tends to become as circumspect as a wearer of battledress when he/she realizes "battledress" = "high priority target".

As when developing any adventure, consider how the assets available to the PCs could be used to overcome challenges and implement the challenges with those assets in mind.

Admittedly, players can be quite innovative when it comes to overcoming challenges with psionics (I was) but that's part of the fun for the players and part of the learning process in becoming a well-appreciated GM. Every trick the players come up with, the GM can use against them at a later date or use himself in someone else's campaign.

 

[rust]

But if the new object is identical to the old object, because it has identical Information, then how is that different than teleportation?

Imagine you had a cat at point A and a dog at point B, and you could work
some magic to transform the dog at point B into a cat which is identical to
the cat at point A. I am not sure what I would call this, but I would hesitate
to call it teleportation.

 

[BP]

Science has redefined the term teleportation akin to the excellent example rust provides above. (I.e. information instead of matter/energy).

The added caveat - the dog and the cat had to be in prior physical contact at one time and become quantum entangled*

BTW: the dog has to be destroyed, and a transmission of scanned data has to occur (i.e. normal matter/energy has to be moved!) for this to work. Not to mention the cat and dog had to have basically the same particles (mass, etc.) and had to move to the desired location as well.

So it's basically a baby step in the conceptual direction of what Star Trek does - except the critical quantum entanglement part. Again, not really the popular meaning and intent of the word Teleportation - but great fun for the media and arm-chair scientists

[*i.e - the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect]

 

[alex_greene]

Unfortunately, this is what you get when non-forteans attempt to replicate the special effects they see on TV, thinking it to be the real thing.

Teleportation, as a phenomenon, was - as I have pointed out - first coined as a term by Charles Fort. He used the term to describe how anomalous events such as fish rain, bleeding walls and so on could be not there one moment, then - discontinuity - there, in living colour, and an eyeblink later - discontinuity - gone again.

The mythical Jewish legend of the Kefisat Haderach קְפִיצַת הַדֶּרֶךְ refers to this kind of mysterious mode of travel, and so does the Islamic legend of the Tay al-Ard. More contemporary legends tell of the Norfolk Regiment, which disappeared into a "loaf-shaped cloud over Hill 60" at Gallipoli, and Flight 19, among other weird phenomena.

The use of psi in SFRPGs has always been looked down upon as being, well, "more D&D than Star Trek," but the way teleportation has been portrayed in such fantastic fiction - somewhat akin to transportation through some sort of portal in the air, or stepping "into air, into thin air" a la Shakespeare - before the molecular transporter in Star Trek probably bears more relation to the psion version than the modern SF "shimmer of silver sparks" version.

It's akin to the trick in a horror where the teleporter just rounds a corner and, when the protagonist comes along two seconds later, the corridor is empty - and there is no sign of a cut in the movie, or the victim of the serial killer opens the fridge door to get out a carton of milk, and one second later closes it and the killer is just standing there.

Or indeed, like the movement of the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who. "Blink and you're dead!"

There may be a science to it, but the technological version a la Stanford and CERN in 2011 is, well, frankly, rubbish. A scientific dead end does not mean there's no such thing. It means they started with maybe the wrong premise in the first place.

 

[barnest2]

More contemporary legends tell of the Norfolk Regiment, which disappeared into a "loaf-shaped cloud over Hill 60" at Gallipoli

Explain. Now
I do military history, and need to know about this so I can crack out my texts...


EDIT: Ah, it's as I thought. A unit (1/5th battalion of the Norfolk Regiment) attacked a Turkish position in fog, and were all killed or taken prisoner (where they eventually died). Three New Zealand observers thought they vanished, but the truth came out in 1919. Very sad but not very mysterious...

 

[alex_greene]

More contemporary legends tell of the Norfolk Regiment, which disappeared into a "loaf-shaped cloud over Hill 60" at Gallipoli

I do military history, and need to know about this so I can crack out my texts...

EDIT: Ah, it's as I thought. A unit (1/5th battalion of the Norfolk Regiment) attacked a Turkish position in fog, and were all killed or taken prisoner (where they eventually died). Three New Zealand observers thought they vanished, but the truth came out in 1919. Very sad but not very mysterious...

Yeah, but like the Angel of Mons and the stories of fish and frog rains, these things tend to persist as legends long after the truths about them have sadly been uncovered.

I think the reason why psi works in Traveller is because, as we are engaging in a narrative of a form of fiction, we are creating that crucial consensus suspension of disbelief which allows for the existence of psions, as much as we can allow for the existence of grav plating, nuclear dampers and working cold sleep booths.

 

[Emperor Herdan]

Yes… I’ve run Psions in my campaign.

I was fortunate to have a very good mature group of players which made running the campaign much easier.

Basis was a Darrian-centric (Pre-Alien Module 3) troubleshooting team (I wished the Darrians to be more of a territorial expanding polity (into Foreven) using the Zhodani and Imperials as “negative examples”. The players were used as early contact teams to moderate / influence various Foreven states.

Basis for MTU was that the 3rd service of the Darrians (The Special Arms) also was in charge of Psionics in the military. Started off with just one character who had psionics, and a 2nd character joined in the adventure later (actually he was a NPC in a module that got “promoted” into a PC when a player required a character...) and ended up with an integral as well (3 out of 10 PC’s were psionic, 1, of course, entirely ship-based.)

With the root thought of “we’re a rational, intelligent group of people” who see psions as just another group of people with different skills, no better or worse than other people (The Third Way. Not like the Zhodani (Psions are the best to lead) or the 3rd Imperium (Psions are horrible freaks)).

So… How did I “control” their actions?. They actually policed themselves (with a potentially big stick hanging o’er their heads). With the ship being an auxillary of the DC Special Arm (it was armed… and the SA/Navy had 25% ownership of the ship) and a different POV than the 3rd Imperium or Zhodani. (The 3rd way as above). The big stick was that it would be "Exile" and or hunted down by the SA Forces if they did anything too outrageous. The Integral was explained as a "Experimental semi-autonomous AI".

Its not that they couldn’t do illegal things, its just that they really required them to be necessary. Not justified, but required. It was expected that they would use any other means to get the job done, but if they had to, well then they had to. It lead to certain interesting conversations amongst the players, but IMO it seemed to work well. The most obvious example of “overt” talent used was TK’ing a grenade out of a window. It was explained away as being done by a known Zhodani spy they were chasing… (Yes Other PC’s failed to see the point that it was the Zhodani who tossed the grenade, why would he then TK’ it out the window…)

Part of the big stick for the Psions was a yearly “mental” check up via telepathy, along with ones yearly evaluation/physical. On the plus side, it allowed them to heal up on the Psi trauma they may have accumulated along the way.

As an aside, one of my favourite sci-fi authors and source of some of my inspirations is L.E.Modesitt.

Take care

E. Herdan

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Science has redefined the term teleportation akin to the excellent example rust provides above. (I.e. information instead of matter/energy).

The added caveat - the dog and the cat had to be in prior physical contact at one time and become quantum entangled*

BTW: the dog has to be destroyed, and a transmission of scanned data has to occur (i.e. normal matter/energy has to be moved!) for this to work. Not to mention the cat and dog had to have basically the same particles (mass, etc.) and had to move to the desired location as well.

So it's basically a baby step in the conceptual direction of what Star Trek does - except the critical quantum entanglement part. Again, not really the popular meaning and intent of the word Teleportation - but great fun for the media and arm-chair scientists

[*i.e - the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect]

Almost reads like the Law of Contagion for Magic!

 

[Iron Guardian]

I pretty much run psions and psionic activity per the standard OTU though I have let in very small doses of inspiration from Star Wars and Bab5 -- not in terms of power levels, but just in terms of varying philosophies regarding such (scientific methodology, mystic, religious) and how one can acquire such through various "underground" organizations. Unfortunately, some of my players think the psionic abilities are a bit weak. :roll:

I don't really look at whether such things as Psionics, FTL travel, cryo-berths, and such are feasible as I am not a very scientific/tech-oriented person, but I do like to keep an open mind about such things. I just think of how a person from a hundred years ago would view the world of today...land vehicles that can reach speeds of up to 600 mph (IIRC), Jets, Space Shuttles, Moon landings (assuming one is not a true conspiracy theorist :wink: ), Laptops, I-Pads, Nuclear power, WMD's, increasingly coarse culture (sorry, couldn't resist :twisted: ), etc. I mean, just in my lifetime I have seen computers go from filling large rooms and using magnetic tape to today's smart-phones and other hand-held internet stuff. I have seen TV sets go from small black and white screens to todays huge, flat-screen, HD 40"+ screens, now with 3D. Just wondering when Toffler's (I think I got the name right) next wave of Future Shock will become noticeable. :shock:

 

[alex_greene]

Almost reads like the Law of Contagion for Magic!

Yes it does, doesn't it?

 

[Solomani666]

It's kind of hard to leave psionics completely out of the traveller universe since most artifacts of the Ancients are psionic devices.

IMTU there are almost no psionic drugs and I do not use the optional multipliers, so your 01-15 psionic points is the limit.

Also, I do not allow psionic time travel of any type, but I do allow the slowing of speeding up of time for an individual.

In my pocket empire psionics are taught from birth and almost everyone has a limited psionic ability similiar to 'Tapping' from the Psion book. Upon defeating an opponent the victor can draw one or more physical attribute points from the vanquished. Either a physical or electrical contact must be made at the time the person is vanquished in order to make the psychic transfer. This is the primary reason that swords are still used in the Empire.

This also requires a break in the phychie of the vanquished person. For males a simple defeat is usually enough. Knowing that the other person can kill them and is sparing their life, usually temporarly crushes the ego and allows the transfer to take place. Females are tougher, and their phychie only breaks when they feel that death is imminent. Since it is the right of every warrior in the Empire the take phychic energy or 'Kurr' from a vanquished oponent, men tend to duel to first blood with the vanquished acknowledging their defeat, while women tend to duel to the death. This is also the reason that women usually duel on a hospital grounds with a med team standing by. The gains from taking anothers Kurr or life force are temporary and never results in the death (for men) of the vanquished person.

The greatest of warriors also have a talent similiar to Manipulate Aura from the Psion book called "Heart of the Dragon". During the heat of battle some warriors will manifest the Heart of the Dragon. It makes them appear 8 feet tall with flaming eyes and fangs and a roar that can litteraly cause ones heart to stop. There are also attack bonuses.

One of the PC's (a young noble from the Imperium) was having great trouble mastering this, then his 'sword master' asked him about the animal on his family crest (a lion). From that time on he was taught to invoke the 'Heart of the Lion' which he later mastered and who's roar could cause minor earthquakes.

The odd thing about The Heart of the Dragon is that recorded video actually shows an 8 foot tall man-beast with glowing red eyes and a forked tongue. Emperial scholars are still debating about this fenomena even to this day.

There also exists a type of phychic trama that can cause one to become a Vampyr [vam-peer]. In addition to taking Kurr during battle, a vampyr will violently rip the Kurr from a lover during orgasm. A Vampyr has just a few wires crossed (love, lust, bloodlust, and hate) They are also known to be insanely and completely irrationaly jealous with respect to a lover or marriage mate.

In a campaign I ran, the PC's love interest (not that he really had a choice) had previously become a Vampyr during an empathetic phychic link she had with her mother while her mother was accidentally murdered by a love interest. (He was trying to kill the husband)

Durell, the man who accidently killed his love interest (she was fathfull to her husband) became a Shite (a slave), the lowest social status in the Empire without being put to death) Though he has earned his name back a dozen times over he has sworn himself to be the protector and guardian of Adam (the widower) and his family. Durell is Adams (a Duke) most loyal and trusted servant. Every year on the anniversary of her mothers death Vira Salaya Tarkin (Adams vampyr daughter) challenges Durell to single combat while wielding her mothers sword. She has been doing this since she was 6 years old. At the time of play she was 16. Needless to say, Adam is quite worried about losing Durell since Durell has sworn by blood to protect Adams family and thus can not actually harm Vira, who is getting better each year. Adam can not legally do anything to prevent the duels so Durell has resolved himself that his fate is to eventually die at the hands of Vira, the girl he has sworn to protect.

 

[alex_greene]

... Needless to say, Adam is quite worried about losing Durell since Durell has sworn by blood to protect Adams family and thus can not actually harm Vira, who is getting better each year. Adam can not legally do anything to prevent the duels so Durell has resolved himself that his fate is to eventually die at the hands of Vira, the girl he has sworn to protect.

I came into the theatre at this point in the show. Don't have them fall in love. She'll turn out to be his sister, and the show's Big Bad is their Dad.

Or something.

 

[DFW]

It's kind of hard to leave psionics completely out of the traveller universe since most artifacts of the Ancients are psionic devices.

Yes, and no. My players over the years have never seen an ancient artifact, so not really an issue. And, as back round material, it doesn't matter how an artifact operates...

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

At the moment avoiding psions and only using them as NPCs (though haven't, in practice, even used them as that, yet).

At a personal level I feel it is a load of bunk, but it is part of "classic" SF that Trav is built on.

Looking forward to the Zhodani, which might give me a clearer idea on what to do with psionics in the 3I

Egil

 

[Hopeless]

I my view it mostly depends on the personal background. For example,
chemistry is my enemy, I know hardly more than chemistry does exist
and some people consider it important, so no implausible chemistry in a
science fiction setting can damage my suspension of disbelief. Human
biology is a vital part of my profession, so implausible biology in a scien-
ce fiction setting will jump out at me an ruin my suspension of disbelief.
Therefore, no low berths, no psionics (and if you really insist on those
winged pigs, I will just look the other way ...).

Can you expand on that part regarding low berths?

Is it due to the idea of people being frozen and then thawed out later due to the damage done to the blood cells?
Or even ideas such as suspended animation ala Red dwarf?

Your comment caught my interest and I figured finding out what you meant would make an interesting avenue of discussion probably in a new thread mind you!

As for Psions I don't like the details given in the core rule book since I haven't bought the psion expansion i'll wait until I do before going into more detail as to why I dislike the current career skill options.

And of course read the rest of this thread which with my luck might have already answered the question I posed!

 

[rust]

Can you expand on that part regarding low berths?

See the previous page of this thread. :wink:

It is basically the problem that brain cells need a minimum of warmth,
nutrients and oxygen to stay alive.

But this is really something for another thread, I do not want to litter
this one even more than I already did.

 

[Hopeless]

Has anyone been tempted whenever anyone wants to start off with a psion character to just say they take a normal career and replace the one skill they would normally take with basic training for a new career with a specific psion skill rather than use any of the three career skill lists given in the core rulebook?

Its just that I've been (very) slowly developing a traveller game's characters via the players and the one player with a psion character (whose an adept) I can't help feeling they really shouldn't be gaining more than one psion ability per tour not just because it means they lots of low level psion talents and a limited supply of fatigue to use those abilities but wouldn't it make more sense to have them use another normal career path with a single skill change so they have a better skill set to cope with their unusual ability rather than multiple talents and no normal skill set to complement their talents?

Still think i need to pick up the Psion supplement, but wanted to hear your "thoughts" on this!

 

[Matian]

Has anyone been tempted whenever anyone wants to start off with a psion character to just say they take a normal career and replace the one skill they would normally take with basic training for a new career with a specific psion skill rather than use any of the three career skill lists given in the core rulebook?

Its just that I've been (very) slowly developing a traveller game's characters via the players and the one player with a psion character (whose an adept) I can't help feeling they really shouldn't be gaining more than one psion ability per tour not just because it means they lots of low level psion talents and a limited supply of fatigue to use those abilities but wouldn't it make more sense to have them use another normal career path with a single skill change so they have a better skill set to cope with their unusual ability rather than multiple talents and no normal skill set to complement their talents?

Still think i need to pick up the Psion supplement, but wanted to hear your "thoughts" on this!

If you read my comment a few pages ago, this is a variation on how I like to run psions, and it works FANTASTIC. You can do it as a part of background skills - have them gen Psi and then roll on the psi talents to see which they get as a background skill, then pick two normal skills from the list. That way they're not losing out on an important part of basic training and it gives more background for RP. (IMTU psionic powers manifest during puberty. Because it's just not awkward enough!)

I dislike psionics and I think Psion is a great book. The career paths have a lot of options (don't have it on me, can't check) for what it sounds like you're looking for, although a lot of the information and background will require heavy houseruling on what is and isn't allowed unless you're playing a high TL, high psi game. Overall, it's a fantastic resource and I highly recommend it.