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Old 09-21-2022, 03:51 PM   #1
Arith Winterfell
 
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Default Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

So, I’m working on a sci-fi space travelling setting, but trying to hammer out the details and could use some suggestions, ideas, and feedback about the setting in general. The setting still feels like its in its infancy, but I’m hoping to build it into something interesting and unique.

The general first design principles of the setting are that the setting is a star-faring civilization set in the future. Humanity has spread out enough and enough time has passed that national identities from back on Earth have largely been replaced by billions of localities on different planets/space stations. There are numerous interplanetary polities (trade federations, democracies, petty dictators, etc.).

In this universe the laws of physics are somewhat different allowing for individuals to develop psychic powers. Originally these existed latently for much of human history (and their timeline matches ours in the past) with psychic powers only being directly developed in the past century. Figuring out how these powers work with underlying physics, and what factors (both genetically and environmentally) allow for the development is a new frontier in science.

Especially of note is that I really liked the idea that the setting’s answer to FTL is a Frankenstein mixture of mechanical engine and vat grown brain tissue from some poor teleporting individual whose tissues are enhanced by the engine technology. This means ships literally warp space and jump to distant locations. Perhaps not even needing to “take off” from a planet, but instead just teleporting into orbit and then further out, etc. This also means the engines are quasi-self-aware and can be talked with in basic terms by a telepath.

There are no known living sapient intelligent alien species (though there are mysterious ruins). Humanity, however, has diversified through genetic engineering that various human groups fill the same roles as aliens might in for example Star Trek.

The Psychic powers in the setting (using the list in Psionic Powers book) include: Anti-psi, ESP, Probability Alteration, Psychokinesis, Telepathy, and Teleportation. Reasons for the one’s I dropped are: Astral Projection (just felt too mystical in style for what I wanted), Cyberpsi (Interesting, but felt like it would shift things too much into cyberpunk rather than keep the flavor I wanted), Psychic Healing (didn’t want the whole “faith healing” angle, and besides advanced bio-medicine basically fills this niche), Psychic Vampirism (again not really sure if it fit).

Generally the central image in my mind is one where there is a certain level of darkness/horror where technology meets psychic powers. Otherwise, the general slant of the setting is like Space Opera.
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Old 09-21-2022, 05:04 PM   #2
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

For inspiration, you could check out Mailanka's Psi Wars.
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Old 09-22-2022, 03:09 PM   #3
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

Julian May had a lively Sci Fi setting with lots of Psi. I'll go look it up.

I'm back it's The Saga of the Pliocene Exile . You can skim out some tech, the Torcs, and some interesting varient terminology.
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Old 09-23-2022, 02:46 PM   #4
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
Julian May had a lively Sci Fi setting with lots of Psi. I'll go look it up.

I'm back it's The Saga of the Pliocene Exile . You can skim out some tech, the Torcs, and some interesting varient terminology.
Her Galactic Milieu series is connected to the Pliocene Exile one, and consists of four books as well: Intervention (also published in two parts as Surveillance and Metaconcert), Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, and Magnificat.
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Old 09-25-2022, 06:11 AM   #5
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

I'll just go ahead and ask what the literary agent within me is asking:

"Where's the main conflict? Is it the bright-and-hopeful space operatic vibe of millions of cultures dancing the galactic dance versus the atrocities that those cultures had to rely upon to get there? Is it the tension of living in an otherwise harmonious society while trying to hide the screaming psychic monster within you and keep the populace around you from seeing all the other screaming psychic monsters around them? (I'll admit that one has a certain Æon vibe to it; let's pin it and keep going.)"
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Old 09-25-2022, 06:35 AM   #6
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

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Originally Posted by Territan View Post
I'll just go ahead and ask what the literary agent within me is asking:

"Where's the main conflict? Is it the bright-and-hopeful space operatic vibe of millions of cultures dancing the galactic dance versus the atrocities that those cultures had to rely upon to get there? Is it the tension of living in an otherwise harmonious society while trying to hide the screaming psychic monster within you and keep the populace around you from seeing all the other screaming psychic monsters around them? (I'll admit that one has a certain Æon vibe to it; let's pin it and keep going.)"
The Saga of the Pliocene Exile is what it says on the tin: criminals, including some very high powered psychics, get exiled to the Pliocene with a surprising twist. Julian May is a good writer.

I'm having trouble remembering the other set (it's been 30+ years): Family saga about exiling those very high powered psychics? Maybe?
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Old 09-25-2022, 07:31 AM   #7
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

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Originally Posted by Balor Patch View Post
The Saga of the Pliocene Exile is what it says on the tin: criminals, including some very high powered psychics, get exiled to the Pliocene with a surprising twist. Julian May is a good writer.

I'm having trouble remembering the other set (it's been 30+ years): Family saga about exiling those very high powered psychics? Maybe?
The "literary agent" questions were more directed at the original thread rather than the books, but those are very good to know about too. I'll want to look up at least one of those to read up on that twist.
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Old 09-25-2022, 05:27 PM   #8
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

What is the template adventure for player characters in RPG campaigns set in this universe?

That is: what adventures do PCs usually have? What do they do on those adventures?
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Old 09-26-2022, 01:00 PM   #9
Arith Winterfell
 
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

Some really great thoughts and questions. Indeed, I've actually wondered if I should have started with questions rather than statements. XD

I've been thinking about two broad angles in terms of general setup for characters.

1) PC's work for for a patron, The Whitesun Institute which researches and works to protect psionically gifted individuals. This also involves exploration of psionically interesting locales (alien ruins, secrets held by a corporation, etc).

2) Alternatively, PC's are outlaws due to their actions, abilities, or just for being from a society where their gifts were feared. So they deal with fleeing or fighting bounty hunters, etc.

Or combine both to a degree.

The conflict being those gifted with psionic abilities are often sought after by others, sometimes this is valid employment, problem is its often outlawed in many societies (telepaths invading privacy, etc) and this makes them outlaws in many societies. That said even tyrants seek them as they are useful for ferreting out rebellions or traitors, and they are often sought after as part of spy vs. spy conflicts.

So things get multi-layers with one groups outlaws being another groups patriots.

Also blend in body-horror of gruesome experiments by ruthless corporations, and resulting insanity for poor victims.
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Old 09-26-2022, 03:11 PM   #10
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Default Re: Sci-fi, Psychic Powers, and Setting Design

It sounds as though the adventures you have in mind are going to involve fairly small stakes, with the lives and safety of only a few people involved in each one. You want local social and political conditions to be important, with only weak overall authority and only a very basic interstellar culture, with a lot of local differences. You don’t want a lot of important stuff happening at high level and on an large interstellar scope that will distract players’ attention, make them feel that their adventures are unimportant, and take up much mind-share in describing and learning about your setting. You probably want worlds to be numerous enough that you can slip new ones in with strange exotic cultures and politics with it remaining plausible that that PCs haven’t heard about them before.

My solution for a similar specification turned out to be to have about a thousand inhabited worlds, and for that I needed a sphere of settlement 170 light-years in radius. I made interstellar travel cheap-ish (so that there would be people travelling for low-stakes purposes, and passenger liners for them to travel on) but slow (so that there wouldn’t be a lot of tourists and expatriate workers spreading culture). A speed of 1,000 c worked out right for me (1 parsec per day would have done as well), and the costs and capacities of starships built using GURPS Spaceships with no FTL fuel requirement worked out about right. I ended up with the economics of travel being about like ocean-liner travel in late Victorian times and before air travel in the early 20th century. I needed cheap travel between planetary surfaces and orbit. TL 10 winged shuttles with limited-superscience fusion torch drives using water for their propellent worked out to be well and truly cheap enough, and let me keep the superscience limited (which might not be an objective for you). I decided to have no FTL detection or signalling, partly to make interstellar administration impractical, partly so that PCs would not have HQ riding their backs, and partly to limit the culturally-homogenising effects of mass media.

That doesn’t get you space opera, though. It gets you intrigue and adventure on planets, with small stakes and local scope. Not starship operations in space, with the fate of planets and whole civilisations at stake, and significant interstellar travel during adventures. It puts the emphasis on (the stats of) concealable body armour and smallarms suitable for everyday carry, not on spaceships and their weapon mounts.
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