Unofficial "Compleat Psion" Sourcebook: Teasers

Currently working on a completely unofficial psion supplement for Traveller. Because, as you may have guessed, I love the whole idea of psionics in the game.

At the moment, it is still a WIP - I need art for the pages - but the text practically writes itself, and so that is not a problem for me.

The one problem, for me, is wondering whether the thing would capture the interest of the audience as much as, say, John Brazier Enterprises' efforts.

In that regard, let me tease you with a few small tidbits ...

Less Conventional Lifestyles
Psions undergo many changes due to their acquisition of psionic abilities. Psionic potential often sends psions down career paths not available to characters who follow what the Traveller Core Rulebook calls "more conventional lifestyles."
This chapter expands upon the many career paths and choices available to characters possessed of psionic abilities ...
All of these careers exist solely at the Referee's discretion ...

Initiations
Initiation is similar to a commission in a military career. Only two careers – Mystic and Warrior – have this option. A character who succeeds at an Initiation roll becomes a Rank 1 Initiate in that career, and uses the Initiate Rank table from then on. A character may attempt an Initiation once per term, and the Initiation is optional.
If that character obtains an Initiation after having already advanced several ranks, the character becomes a Rank 1 Initiate as normal but may add his two final ranks together for the purpose of determining benefits and pensions. Initiates also gain access to the Initiate Skills table.
Some events give a bonus to advancement rolls, or give automatic advancement. The character can apply these DMs to Initiation rolls, or grant automatic Initiation ...

Advocate
The character strove to overcome prejudices and overthrow unfair laws standing between the peaceful integration of the psion and mundane communities.
Qualification: Psionic Strength 6+; -1 for every prior psion career.
Assignments: Choose one of the following:-
Activist: You speak out for the rights of psions.
Advocate: You lobby for changes to the law while defending psion clients in court.
Face: You are the liaison with the underground psion community ...

The Labyrinth
Psions call the tortuous process of locating a Psionics Institute and submitting one's candidacy "The Labyrinth." Even in the most open and Psion-tolerant societies, Institutes have to keep all but the genuine candidates from finding out who and where they are.
Frequently, an Institute will run quiet background checks and place carefully-calibrated tests before an unwitting candidate to determine their suitability for entry to the Institute. The first inkling of the Labyrinth to come, however, comes from within the candidate.

First Awareness
The player roleplays the emergence of the candidate's latent Psionic abilities, and the beginning of his search for the Institute.
Strange recurring dreams and vivid waking hallucinations featuring the same motif – a stranger, an unknown building – will plague the character. The player rolls Int 8+; if he succeeds, he realises that these strange sensations mean that he is an emerging Psion and that he needs to seek out a Psionics Institute. If not, he remains aware of the need to seek out the Institute, though only on an unconscious level.

Approaching The Labyrinth
The Monitor
Whether aware of his emerging psionic abilities or simply dream-plagued, the Institute will send someone to look after the candidate and guide him to the Institute's door. That person is called a Monitor.
The Monitor's task is to assess the candidate's viability, among other qualities. Monitors rarely approach candidates directly, but observe psionically at a distance. Often, Monitors will take over from one another in shifts to maintain complete surveillance. They also use the willing cooperation of the local area's psions to keep their eye on the candidate.
Nothing a character does will escape a competent Monitor ...

Well? This is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I'd appreciate some feedback.
 
The Classic Traveller system always stated that the only way a character could determine and develop their psion talent was through an Institute...

...which always struck me as an 'egg and chicken' paradox. Who set up the first Institute if they couldn't develop their own talents without Institute training? :roll:

I'd like to see more of this thread - the Third Imperium's witch-burning 'McCarthyism' towards telepaths notwithstanding.
 
Some more hints, in the form of some rather evocative words from the equipment section.

Geller crystals.

Neurofibre.

Orgone.

PBD.

Still interested?
 
Hopefully this book will move beyond the OTU and concentrate on the various ways a society could/would deal with real Psionics.

There are several types in literature from the Psionarchy to the Psionic Guild like Babylon 5 or the Psionic Institutions of Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man" where psions are an accepted part of society and not feared at all.

Are you going to discuss the possibility that a society might develop an Augment that would provide the equivalent of certain psionic abilities?

I am interested.
 
Rikki Tikki Traveller said:
Hopefully this book will move beyond the OTU and concentrate on the various ways a society could/would deal with real Psionics.

The Zhodani?

Personally I am one of those who is pretty dubious about psionic powers, and so wasn't sure how to bring them into MTU, however, as we are using 3I Spinward Marches, sooner of later psionics would have to appear. Recently introduced a psionic NPC, and have found the MgT rules work very well, the psionic (well, barbarian wizard) (psi strength of 7) is not over powering.

Really looking forward to the Zhodani book.

Egil
 
I want the Zho book too, but what I meant about the OTU is that you have TWO (and only two) options for how psionics are treated:

1. Outlaw them and Kill all the Witches
2. Welcome our Psionic Overlords

Babylon 5 addressed how societies treated psions differently for each race. The Minbari treated their psions quite differently than Humans did.

Combining those two (since they are both compatible with MGT) gives us FOUR societies (but the Minbari isn't defined well in the MGT B5 book). Science Fiction gives us several more up to "everyone has psionics" like in "The Stars My Destination".

I am looking for some logical ways that psions would be treated.
 
I'm interested in it too, already done a lot of my own, but within the Imperium, and in relation to fighting the Zhodani with fire. I would definitely be interested in an in depth, and more general look at using psionics.
 
Treebore said:
I'm interested in it too, already done a lot of my own, but within the Imperium, and in relation to fighting the Zhodani with fire. I would definitely be interested in an in depth, and more general look at using psionics.

So the Zhodani fight back with water.
 
AndrewW said:
Treebore said:
I'm interested in it too, already done a lot of my own, but within the Imperium, and in relation to fighting the Zhodani with fire. I would definitely be interested in an in depth, and more general look at using psionics.

So the Zhodani fight back with water.

No, I was inferring the old saying of "fight fire with fire".
 
AndrewW said:
Treebore said:
I'm interested in it too, already done a lot of my own, but within the Imperium, and in relation to fighting the Zhodani with fire. I would definitely be interested in an in depth, and more general look at using psionics.

So the Zhodani fight back with water.
"Water is patient ... Water just waits. It wears down the clifftops, the mountains, the whole of the world. Water always wins."
-- The Doctor, The Waters of Mars
 
Treebore said:
So the Zhodani fight back with water.

No, I was inferring the old saying of "fight fire with fire".[/quote]

Oh figured as much, wasn't serious.

Of course the material can be useful for the Zhodani as well.
 
I'm aiming the book at a broader audience than just the Zhodani fans. Their psionic development has progressed along a very specific direction: and this has to cover ATUs not set in the 3I as well, where psionic development may proceed in other directions.

Not all psionocracies progress along the same lines as the Zhodani Consulate, you know ...
 
alex_greene said:
Not all psionocracies progress along the same lines as the Zhodani Consulate, you know ...

Of course not but I would imagine the material would also be useful to the Zhodani as well.
 
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