Psionics and Alchemy: Any help appreciated!

[Joe]

Originally Posted by kdarc

Sure! I'd love to know what other people think of it. Basic campaign sketch: ....

Happily continuing the thread drift: this sounds great. If I'm getting it right, it's basically a medieval middle-east/byzantine fantasy world threatened by Lovecraftian horrors from the Astral plane. Nice!

I guess the next thing I want to know is: where does the psi come in, thematically? Often Psi seems to come in as a result of Lovecraftian horrors arriving, disturbing the universe, etc etc - but from your description it sounds as if in this game world Psi powers were already an accepted part of society before the coming of the Lovecraftian stuff: is that right?

If so, how do you envision psionics fitting into the normal operations of medieval society? Just wondering.

[kdarc]

Originally Posted by Joe

Happily continuing the thread drift: this sounds great. If I'm getting it right, it's basically a medieval middle-east/byzantine fantasy world threatened by Lovecraftian horrors from the Astral plane. Nice!

Yup, that's the gist of it! Just add Renaissance level technology in the making, and it's getting there!

I guess the next thing I want to know is: where does the psi come in, thematically? Often Psi seems to come in as a result of Lovecraftian horrors arriving, disturbing the universe, etc etc - but from your description it sounds as if in this game world Psi powers were already an accepted part of society before the coming of the Lovecraftian stuff: is that right?

If so, how do you envision psionics fitting into the normal operations of medieval society? Just wondering.

Correct, psionics existed before the arrival of the Lovecraftian horrors. The basic outline is this: Psionic powers begin to manifest around puberty, and anyone showing such talent can be "claimed" by the government and sent to a psion-academy, or by one of the organizations licensed to recruit and train psions. These organizations vary in nature, some being classic academies, some being tied to religion, others paramilitary, etc. Psions usually then follow the traditions of their given organizations, most of which doesn't concern themselves very much with day-to-day affairs of ordinary people - though some do. Psions are therefore judged very much upon what tradition they belong to, and by different people for different reasons. Some have a reputation for being stuck-up scholars, other for being benevolent healers, etc.

I hope that made sense. :)

[Edman]

Originally Posted by kdarc

Yup, that's the gist of it! Just add Renaissance level technology in the making, and it's getting there!



Correct, psionics existed before the arrival of the Lovecraftian horrors. The basic outline is this: Psionic powers begin to manifest around puberty, and anyone showing such talent can be "claimed" by the government and sent to a psion-academy, or by one of the organizations licensed to recruit and train psions. These organizations vary in nature, some being classic academies, some being tied to religion, others paramilitary, etc. Psions usually then follow the traditions of their given organizations, most of which doesn't concern themselves very much with day-to-day affairs of ordinary people - though some do. Psions are therefore judged very much upon what tradition they belong to, and by different people for different reasons. Some have a reputation for being stuck-up scholars, other for being benevolent healers, etc.

I hope that made sense. :)

So psionics is essentially magic? Why not simply give it that name to avoid a genre clash? To me, it seems as if that's what it would look like, though a fancy word like Supernal or Spectral Sciences might work even better.

[kdarc]

Originally Posted by Edman

So psionics is essentially magic? Why not simply give it that name to avoid a genre clash? To me, it seems as if that's what it would look like, though a fancy word like Supernal or Spectral Sciences might work even better.

In some ways, yeah - and in retrospect, I probably might have done so. But my players and I all like the concept of psi. Plus, I wanted to check out the various GURPS supplements for it. So it's really just cause me and my group like psionics. :)

[Edman]

Originally Posted by kdarc

In some ways, yeah - and in retrospect, I probably might have done so. But my players and I all like the concept of psi. Plus, I wanted to check out the various GURPS supplements for it. So it's really just cause me and my group like psionics. :)

As someone who has spent way too long building various magic-as-powers-systems, I can totally sympathize with wanting to look at the rules for psionics, and if the group doesn't mind it, by all means, go for it. I, as a player, would be a little baffled with psionic academies in a renaissance setting, but, other than the name, it is an awesome idea, that actually reminds me a little of the setting of my current campaign. Would you like my intro vignette by PM?

[kdarc]

Originally Posted by Edman

As someone who has spent way too long building various magic-as-powers-systems, I can totally sympathize with wanting to look at the rules for psionics, and if the group doesn't mind it, by all means, go for it. I, as a player, would be a little baffled with psionic academies in a renaissance setting, but, other than the name, it is an awesome idea, that actually reminds me a little of the setting of my current campaign. Would you like my intro vignette by PM?

Sure, that would be great!

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by kdarc

Psionic powers begin to manifest around puberty, and anyone showing such talent can be "claimed" by the government and sent to a psion-academy, or by one of the organizations licensed to recruit and train psions. These organizations vary in nature, some being classic academies, some being tied to religion, others paramilitary, etc.

Governments at this TL don't tend to have centralised administration. Could you live with:

"anyone showing such talent is normally claimed by one of the organisations with the right to recruit and train psions. These tend to be either religious orders, or sponsored by local rulers, whose organisations may be military, or academies in a classical form."

And at this point, you can use GURPS Locations: Worminghall as a outline for such an organisation, though it will need a bit of work.

[kdarc]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Governments at this TL don't tend to have centralised administration. Could you live with:

"anyone showing such talent is normally claimed by one of the organisations with the right to recruit and train psions. These tend to be either religious orders, or sponsored by local rulers, whose organisations may be military, or academies in a classical form."

And at this point, you can use GURPS Locations: Worminghall as a outline for such an organisation, though it will need a bit of work.

I had actually wondered about the same thing, and wondered if I had overdone the draconian policies of the Empire a bit. I think your approach sounds more plausible. I imagine still, however, that the government keeps a strict eye on unusual psion activity. And punishment for being involved in disciplines considered unethical, invasion of privacy using telepath, etc. would still be quite severe.

[Edman]

Governments at that TL don't usually have the communication possibilities that Telepaths offer. I would be very careful in thinking that real world Renaissance governments would look similar to a government where you could literally communicate at the speed of thought no matter where you were.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Edman

So psionics is essentially magic? Why not simply give it that name to avoid a genre clash?

See the Camber of Culdi books by Katherine Kurtz, where the "magic" in setting is pretty much psi. (Not very true of the earlier Kelson books -- and I never made it through all of the later run.)