Mailanka's Musings -- GURPS Content Post

[Mailanka]

As Communion and Psionic Powers are essentially complete, I take a break this week to look at whether or not it actually works. We can't know for sure until we have a few playtests under our belt, but I wanted to stop and take a look at the system the same way I did with Starfighter Combat.

Today, I kick off the process of Evaluating the New Power Framework with a discussion of the theory behind what I'm doing.

[Mailanka]

Alright, having discussed what I'm doing, I look at Psionic powers in the Psi-Wars Framework, including how they tend to break down into niches, the difference between an open and closed power, and whether or not psionics break down when players go absolutely nuts with them.

[Mailanka]

Moving past psionics, I return to Communion, discuss its design goals and whether or not I think my rules met them in Meditations on Communion. Includes alternate petition rules!

[Mailanka]

Happy GURPS day! I round off my evaluation of my power framework with a discussion of the paths in Walking the Paths of Communion.

[Mailanka]

This week, I wind up my discussion of Psionic Powers and Communion, starting with Psionic Character Considerations

[Mailanka]

At long last, the whole point of all this Psionic discussion: Psionic Power Sets.

[Mailanka]

Putting the psionic character considerations together, we get the first of our psionic templates, the Mystic.

[Tallor]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Putting the psionic character considerations together, we get the first of our psionic templates, the Mystic.

Just wanted to post that although I don't comment a lot, I do read these!

The stats are thorough and well-formatted, though if I may make one suggestion--add a little more story time. Personal experiences as players and game masters really helps the audience connect with the blog post and cement the concepts they've learned. Which also means repeat readers!

I hope my suggestions don't sound condescending. My writing is less energetic at 1 AM. =.=

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Tallor

Just wanted to post that although I don't comment a lot, I do read these!

The stats are thorough and well-formatted, though if I may make one suggestion--add a little more story time. Personal experiences as players and game masters really helps the audience connect with the blog post and cement the concepts they've learned. Which also means repeat readers!

I hope my suggestions don't sound condescending. My writing is less energetic at 1 AM. =.=

To do that, I'd have to be running a game. Psi-Wars isn't up and running yet, I'm afraid. Also, as a general rule, I try not to tell you your story, but give you the tools to construct your own. That philosophy has its drawbacks, of course. As you rightly point out, some people like to read stories and they tend to come back to keep reading. But here, at least, that's not what I'm doing. I do understand that people need context, need to see how all of these things come together. I suspect that will become clearer as we get closer to the final setting.

That said, I'll keep my ears open. Comments like yours suggest that there might be readership for more story. I do notice that I get far more response from playtests and sample characters than I do from rules and templates (though rules and templates get quite some silent views, and the most popular by far seem to be general RPG theory)

[Mailanka]

Alright, winding up Psi-Wars and Psionics, I introduce yet another new template, the dreaded Psi-Hunter.