Psionics: Good, Bad, or Ignored?

Omega · September 10, 2015, 06:56:30 PM

Speaking of psionics. I hated the introduction of psi powers to Star Frontiers. It just felt so out of place in the setting.

nijineko · September 13, 2015, 12:53:27 PM

Quote from: Omega;855111Speaking of psionics. I hated the introduction of psi powers to Star Frontiers. It just felt so out of place in the setting.

and isn't that odd, considering that sci-fi is the most commonly accepted setting for psychic phenomena? i recall playing star frontiers - i enjoyed it quite a bit, despite the clunkiness of the system, it was one of my first rpgs ever.

Omega · September 13, 2015, 03:58:57 PM

Very true. But there are many sci-fi where psi is not present. It just did not fit the setting. Albedo kept it down to three people in the comic. Two with an invisibility power and one with a sort of low level precog ability. The rest of the setting didnt. Simmilar to the problem of introducing psi into Battletech. It just feels a little off. Or adding aliens to Battletech. Which the Clans are pretty much. And would have really been had things gone differently.

Or more aptly. Psi shoehorned in after the fact is one problem. O and BX D&D do not have it and it would feel odd to have it introduced out of the blue. AD&D on the other hand has psi right out the gate.

When did Traveller introduce psi? At the start or later?

Kuroth · September 13, 2015, 04:02:33 PM

Immediately in book III. 1977

Omega · September 13, 2015, 09:35:21 PM

Really? I will have to look that up. Thanks!

addendum:
Found it. Supplement 3. Eldritch Wizardry. huh, looks a-lot like AD&D's psi system.

Kuroth · September 14, 2015, 07:58:34 AM

Quote from: Omega;855673Really? I will have to look that up. Thanks!

addendum:
Found it. Supplement 3. Eldritch Wizardry. huh, looks a-lot like AD&D's psi system.

Just to be sure, I was answering the Traveller psionics question. Book III Worlds and Adventures. You are probably addressing two separate questions here, but just making sure, being the internet.

Willie the Duck · September 14, 2015, 08:25:54 AM

Quote from: Kuroth;855746Just to be sure, I was answering the Traveller psionics question. Book III Worlds and Adventures. You are probably addressing two separate questions here, but just making sure, being the internet.

Yep. We got it. Traveller: psi introduced in core rulebook 3:worlds and adventures. D&D: psi introduced in OD&D supplement 3: Edlrtich Wizardry

Omega · September 14, 2015, 08:29:53 AM

They also came out around the same time.

nijineko · September 15, 2015, 09:21:55 AM

Quote from: nijineko;853697From the beginning editions of D&D psionics was made available to players where it tended to be seriously randomized and occasionally extreme (i recall one character of mine that randomly rolled disintegration at first level in the 2e system....) If you don't believe me, check out the supplement 'eldritch wizardry' for the original boxed set which gave rules for psionics for all classes of characters. Amusingly enough, that supplement was released partly to 'fix' the ongoing rules creep, and to issue a rallying call of not relying upon the rules so much and using your imagination more.

That was just mentioned a page back......

Omega · September 15, 2015, 03:58:28 PM

Quote from: nijineko;855926That was just mentioned a page back......

Which totally missed in a page jump from a replay.

nijineko · September 15, 2015, 10:35:24 PM

Quote from: Omega;855960Which totally missed in a page jump from a replay.

I was time-travel-ninja'd!

RPGPundit · September 22, 2015, 03:21:38 AM

I don't mind psionics in Traveller. Mostly because it's random and rare.

Elfdart · October 25, 2015, 10:17:29 PM

In both D&D and Traveller, psionics come up very rarely. I can think of maybe five or six PCs that have had the ability when I was DM/GM, and maybe three when I was a player -only one of whom had much use for them. I do remember a thief in our group who had clairaudience, clairvoyance, telepathy and a couple of other abilities -and had very little luck or success with his standard thieving abilities. The psionics worked well enough that the rest of our PCs didn't want the thief doing anything but reading psychic impressions, etc. He was a crystal ball and wand of enemy detection rolled into one.

Omega · October 26, 2015, 12:00:23 AM

Weird. Just an hour ago was reading the Eldritch Wizardry version of psionics and thinking of this thread. ESP!

I think they should have kept the system used in OD&D and carried it over to A.
Psionics came at a notable cost to the class to acquire and advance. Fighters lost from their total possible retainers and eventually STR, magic users and clerics lost spells. Clerics found it increasingly harder to turn undead as well. Thieves lost STR and DEX the more psi they accumulated.

Simlasa · October 26, 2015, 12:57:39 AM

Quote from: Omega;861855Thieves lost STR and DEX the more psi they accumulated.

Eventually becoming nothing but an enormous floating brain!!!