Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Astral Travel and Party division in a Fantasy Setting

Arith Winterfell · 01-09-2023, 08:18 PM

I'm working on a fantasy setting game where part of key themes of the game is all magic in the setting is psionics (along with Dream Horrors, literally things out of nightmares haunting the world, think tentacles monsters and shapeshifting horrors).

One of my players (character named Isabella) has decided to go in for Astral Travel as his characters main thing. Which leads me to some questions on designing adventures that I could use some help in.

We are all new to GURPS, so I'm pondering how to figure out an approach to designing the adventures for when part way through a dungeon crawl Isabella is off in her trance going about doing Astral spying, what should the rest of the party be doing? Its partly a "how to manage splitting up the party" issue as the rest of the party might not have Astral Travel powers like she does.

One option I pondered was having her do Astral Travel, while the rest of the party has to defend against attacks. Which could make for an interesting siege situation which might be interesting some of the time, but it would get boring doing it over and over.

So I suppose part of the issue is party division, another is how to make the Astral Travelling character useful with the rest of the party in normal reality.

For reference Isabella currently has:
Astral Armor 4
Astral Celerity 1
Astral Projection Talent 3
Astral Sight 1
Astral Sword 1
Astral Travel 2
Combat Reflexes
High Pain Threshold

I can see her in the normal world using Astral Sight and Astral Sword/Armor to fight insubstantial Astral threat. But I want to set things up to make sure she (the character) stays useful in dungeon crawl situations. I'm making a fantasy setting a bit outside the box, so I have limited help from the templates in Dungeon Fantasy. I do have the Psi book in that series, but a some of its advice doesn't apply as psionics it taking up all the roles magic might fill in a fantasy setting.

I'm still working on the setting too, so I need to figure out character archetypes that will act as templates to frame the setting's uniqueness well. I think I will also make a setting post on here and add a link here to this post for readers convivence. Thank you for your help! :D

Setting link is Here

01-09-2023, 08:18 PM	#1
Arith Winterfell Join Date: May 2014 Location: Indiana, United States	Astral Travel and Party division in a Fantasy Setting I'm working on a fantasy setting game where part of key themes of the game is all magic in the setting is psionics (along with Dream Horrors, literally things out of nightmares haunting the world, think tentacles monsters and shapeshifting horrors). One of my players (character named Isabella) has decided to go in for Astral Travel as his characters main thing. Which leads me to some questions on designing adventures that I could use some help in. We are all new to GURPS, so I'm pondering how to figure out an approach to designing the adventures for when part way through a dungeon crawl Isabella is off in her trance going about doing Astral spying, what should the rest of the party be doing? Its partly a "how to manage splitting up the party" issue as the rest of the party might not have Astral Travel powers like she does. One option I pondered was having her do Astral Travel, while the rest of the party has to defend against attacks. Which could make for an interesting siege situation which might be interesting some of the time, but it would get boring doing it over and over. So I suppose part of the issue is party division, another is how to make the Astral Travelling character useful with the rest of the party in normal reality. For reference Isabella currently has: Astral Armor 4 Astral Celerity 1 Astral Projection Talent 3 Astral Sight 1 Astral Sword 1 Astral Travel 2 Combat Reflexes High Pain Threshold I can see her in the normal world using Astral Sight and Astral Sword/Armor to fight insubstantial Astral threat. But I want to set things up to make sure she (the character) stays useful in dungeon crawl situations. I'm making a fantasy setting a bit outside the box, so I have limited help from the templates in Dungeon Fantasy. I do have the Psi book in that series, but a some of its advice doesn't apply as psionics it taking up all the roles magic might fill in a fantasy setting. I'm still working on the setting too, so I need to figure out character archetypes that will act as templates to frame the setting's uniqueness well. I think I will also make a setting post on here and add a link here to this post for readers convivence. Thank you for your help! :D Setting link is Here __________________ "To handle a language skillfully is to practice a kind of evocative sorcery." ~ Charles Baudelaire Last edited by Arith Winterfell; 01-09-2023 at 09:11 PM.