What role does Psionics play in your TU?
- Thread starter BP
- Start date
BP said:
I'm half-way between "Limited PC and Major", simply because I have a couple of Psionic PCs and the party has been doing a combination of both Twilight's Peak and Secrets of the Ancients.
I've also tossed in an adventure from an old Challenge Magazine about a derelict ship from the days of the Psionic Suppresion.
What is fun is having them dealing with planets that don't like Psionics, and have things like "are you a telepath" as part of their commercial papers.
Depends on the Campaign for me, Normally it's a fairly minor thing, but from time to time I go for the "Strange Powers" or a Joe's or Drone campaign and PSI is kind of key to Joe's and Drone.
One Strange Powers Campaign I played in I had an Irklan (Minor Human Race From JTAS #23), she was fairly good with "Control" (a Skill that replicated PSI Awareness) as well as an Expert at Unarmed Combat, after some time as an Irklan Sect Member she went Army where she ended up a Commando Officer with a pass through Intell School and before ending up a Bounty Hunter she wandered the Spinward Marches Hunting those with Strange Powers (Psions, Other Irklan, Aslan Assassins with Meditation) she learned DewClaw, Traditional Weapons and "Meditation" (Control for Aslan, that for her was just an excuse to increase her Control)from some Aslan Mercs she ventured as far as Answerin/Parsi/Vland and back to the Marches again where she infiltrated the Consulate to go after a Rouge INI Psion. As well as possessing the Control Ability she was a Psion, but wile on the Hunt she would forgo Psionics and other Disciplines (Even the use of her Control) hunting with just her bare hands and Non Firearm weapons (although she was a fair Small Arms Marksman) of a TL of 3 or less.
One Strange Powers Campaign I played in I had an Irklan (Minor Human Race From JTAS #23), she was fairly good with "Control" (a Skill that replicated PSI Awareness) as well as an Expert at Unarmed Combat, after some time as an Irklan Sect Member she went Army where she ended up a Commando Officer with a pass through Intell School and before ending up a Bounty Hunter she wandered the Spinward Marches Hunting those with Strange Powers (Psions, Other Irklan, Aslan Assassins with Meditation) she learned DewClaw, Traditional Weapons and "Meditation" (Control for Aslan, that for her was just an excuse to increase her Control)from some Aslan Mercs she ventured as far as Answerin/Parsi/Vland and back to the Marches again where she infiltrated the Consulate to go after a Rouge INI Psion. As well as possessing the Control Ability she was a Psion, but wile on the Hunt she would forgo Psionics and other Disciplines (Even the use of her Control) hunting with just her bare hands and Non Firearm weapons (although she was a fair Small Arms Marksman) of a TL of 3 or less.
Back in the Day most GDW Campaigns had an opportunity for Psionic training (in fact in "The Traveller Adventure" it was a major arc, as did enough Stand Alone Adventures and "Amber Zones" in JTAS (and later Challenge) and elsewhere. Plenty of Opportunities for a GM to include Psionics without having to Wright their own encounters or leave it to random chance, that's if they want to include it.
But as I said it depends on the Campaign, but normally limited PC & NPC.
But as I said it depends on the Campaign, but normally limited PC & NPC.
GamerDude
Cosmic Mongoose
Nice poll... I would have voted "limited PC" but that is still so wide open to interpretation ( which is a like ugly ugly problem with gamers here in my area).
I would have voted "possible but normally almost no PC"
Here's a question, not to criticize but to inquire... What is the fascination/attraction with Psionics? Even in 3rd ed D&D... there was always for me that one player who got pissed if I wouldn't allow psionics. I've seen them totally misused, abused, etc and they've never excited me personally.
Thanks!
I would have voted "possible but normally almost no PC"
Here's a question, not to criticize but to inquire... What is the fascination/attraction with Psionics? Even in 3rd ed D&D... there was always for me that one player who got pissed if I wouldn't allow psionics. I've seen them totally misused, abused, etc and they've never excited me personally.
Thanks!
Sorry - I was trying to be terse - since I tend to over-analyze... (as anybody reading my posts - assuming any get all the way through them - surely knowsGamerDude said:
) .. probably over-analyzed that!Personnally, I never played with psionics in Traveller - hence I'm interested after reading forum posts what other peoples views are...GamerDude said:
For me - it was there and I allowed it, but I only remember one player going for it - and then not really using it (maybe I made it hard).
But, then I encouraged more of a firefly (long, long before firefly) feel to my games - no big grand campaigns or universe spanning adventures - no great big pot of gold - no superheros... just some cool home spun tech and they could be big **** heros if they wanted to be - or not.
Course my players also played AD&D - so maybe they just got our full of mystical powers in that way.
I also encouraged new PCs for most adventures - and even played quite a few expendable crewman senarios - where players get multiple, low power PCs so they can take risks without being tied to their characters - more the game and the adventure - we had started this in D&D after getting level umpteen characters with their own island castles and such and realizing how dull that actually could get. Slash and dash games became real popular. I think this made players more content with doing crazy things with Joe Blow characters - who could bleed and die horribly - or miraculously succeed - without having to be special with special powers and royalty, etc.
GamerDude
Cosmic Mongoose
No problem. That's why I made my comments. It is very hard to craft the 'perfect poll'BP said:Sorry - I was trying to be terse - since I tend to over-analyze... (as anybody reading my posts - assuming any get all the way through them - surely knows
Right now none, I am running Belt Strike as a closed system.
In the past its played very major roles, where the whole PC party was Psionic and being used to infiltrate Zhodani Society.
I think people are justifiably leery of using Psionics, because a fully Psionic PC, or NPC, versus non Psionics is scary. The movie Firestarter is a good start for seeing how scary.
So unless you make them very psionically weak, or run a game where lots of people have Psionics, you are probably wise to keep them out of your game, or at least PC hands.
In the past its played very major roles, where the whole PC party was Psionic and being used to infiltrate Zhodani Society.
I think people are justifiably leery of using Psionics, because a fully Psionic PC, or NPC, versus non Psionics is scary. The movie Firestarter is a good start for seeing how scary.
So unless you make them very psionically weak, or run a game where lots of people have Psionics, you are probably wise to keep them out of your game, or at least PC hands.
alex_greene
Guest
It is a good idea for newbie Referees to make psionics exotic, at least at first, with psionically - gifted NPCs capable of some pretty strange things, at least from the viewpoint of the player characters.
I like to muddy up things and screw around with stereotypes somewhat, too, by throwing in a non-psion NPC whose "powers" stem from some highly advanced biotech / nanotech augments. That way, they can never be certain of what it is they are facing.
It is a good idea to make psionics rare at first; something scary and frightening. The NPCs could come to view psion characters as having Q-like powers, reading minds, grasping at objects across the room with telekinesis, even teleporting in and out of existence before their eyes.
To this end, make psionic - themed stories comparatively rare. Run them through plenty of normal scenarios, the usual trade, roguery and violence, and then once every three or four stories have someone turn up that they know is an active psion. The Bester, as it were, to their Garibaldi.
My favourite NPC is a Zhodani Noble who happens to be an exceptionally beautiful woman, in addition to being psionically gifted. Her presence usually means that the adventure to follow will involve a mixture of diplomacy, psionics and - naturally - violence.
Never let the players get into the mindset that only a psion can defeat another psion, though. In the end, the final happy/profitable resolution of all the scenarios lies in the player characters' hands, and even if all the NPCs are psionically capable little Darth Vaders and Yodas, it's the player characters who walk away with the loot at the end of the game, not them.
I like to muddy up things and screw around with stereotypes somewhat, too, by throwing in a non-psion NPC whose "powers" stem from some highly advanced biotech / nanotech augments. That way, they can never be certain of what it is they are facing.
It is a good idea to make psionics rare at first; something scary and frightening. The NPCs could come to view psion characters as having Q-like powers, reading minds, grasping at objects across the room with telekinesis, even teleporting in and out of existence before their eyes.
To this end, make psionic - themed stories comparatively rare. Run them through plenty of normal scenarios, the usual trade, roguery and violence, and then once every three or four stories have someone turn up that they know is an active psion. The Bester, as it were, to their Garibaldi.
My favourite NPC is a Zhodani Noble who happens to be an exceptionally beautiful woman, in addition to being psionically gifted. Her presence usually means that the adventure to follow will involve a mixture of diplomacy, psionics and - naturally - violence.
Never let the players get into the mindset that only a psion can defeat another psion, though. In the end, the final happy/profitable resolution of all the scenarios lies in the player characters' hands, and even if all the NPCs are psionically capable little Darth Vaders and Yodas, it's the player characters who walk away with the loot at the end of the game, not them.
I have yet to really look hard at Mongoose Psionics, but one thing I want to see if its still possible is for a Psionic Pyrotechnic to still detonate the Hydrogen Fuel storage tanks of the Jump engines of the ship they are fighting.
Granted, they had to get pretty close...
That is a terrifying power.
Granted, they had to get pretty close...
That is a terrifying power.
An other Favourite Psion Character of mine is Davis Bennett a MoJ Agent, he started as a weak Psion (he picked up the training after bring down a Psionic Institute) , but quickly in game play became a powerful Telepath and Ciairsentant (both useful for a Cop), anyway he was caught on the wroung side of the Frontier at the end of the 5th FW. he maintained himself as a very Noir detective, handling all the Crime that the Tavrchedl' are incapable of dealing with in his words "with their Storm Troopers and Social Workers", I should make him up again using MGT.
Treebore said:
You couldn't make a Hydrogen Fuel tank explode. There's no oxygen to support combustion. You could knock a hole in the tank and ignite the jet, or heat up the tank enough that it ruptures, but you can't make it explode unless you are heating it up to fusion temperatures.
alex_greene
Guest
Conduits are better weak spots than fuel tank containment walls.
Between one length of a conduit and another, whether there is an elbow bend, junction or whatever, there are bound to be seals, gaskets and so on. Any of those locations could potentially leak due to poor maintenance, allowing a buildup of gases to occur.
And it wouldn't take much effort to cause a flashpoint in an oxygen environment. You wouldn't need much heat at all, if you had a little platinum ...
Between one length of a conduit and another, whether there is an elbow bend, junction or whatever, there are bound to be seals, gaskets and so on. Any of those locations could potentially leak due to poor maintenance, allowing a buildup of gases to occur.
And it wouldn't take much effort to cause a flashpoint in an oxygen environment. You wouldn't need much heat at all, if you had a little platinum ...
