GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers

Chorpa · 10-08-2016, 04:01 AM

I have a recently got a GURPS Space game up and running. The backstory is an extension of the timeline in the Reign of Steel book. Where a bunch of colony ships where sent out to a distant part of the galaxy to start over away from the AI oppression. The campaign have many similarities with the backstory for the computer game Freelancer. The campaign is fairly Hard Sci-Fi with no Superscience except some carefully choosen ones like Artificial Gravity, Reactionless Thrusters and Hyperdrives. I was originally gonna use regular Reaction Drives but after some discussion with the players we decided to go with Reactionless Thrusters and instead making the Hyperdrives require fuel. This made them very similar to how the Jump Drives in Traveller works which where fine by me. Otherwise it is TL 10 with the Safe Tech switch from page 10-11 in Ultra Tech (because of the fear of AIs and Robots). The year we started in is 2842 A.D. The Colony ships launched during the Final War between 2034-2037 A.D. as written in Reign of Steel.

Either way I decided early on to allow Psionics (minus the Teleportation Power) in our campaign. So far we have only use the Psionic chapter in GURPS Basic Set. I have been thinking to expand the Psionics with the modules GURPS Psionic Powers, GURPS Psis and GURPS Psionic Campaigns.

Would they be useful for my campaign or is the chapter in Basic Set enough? Psionics doesn't have a big focus in our campaign but felt it was a nice addition and since it is a staple of Sci-Fi these days I figured why not. I guess what I am really asking is more info on what these books/pdfs add to the rules in Basic Set so I know if I should add them to my collection or not. I am afraid the modules would only add unnecessary fluff that I don't really need and would just wasting my money better spent on other stuff to enhance our game.

Christopher R. Rice · 10-08-2016, 05:09 AM

If you are willing to invest in the three books, yes. Full stop. Campaigns in particular is one of the more useful books for GMs, while Psis allows you to quick-start a psi-based game REALLY fast. I use all three books generally as well and they are worth the price IMHO.

Chorpa · 10-08-2016, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

If you are willing to invest in the three books, yes. Full stop. Campaigns in particular is one of the more useful books for GMs, while Psis allows you to quick-start a psi-based game REALLY fast. I use all three books generally as well and they are worth the price IMHO.

Thanks. I might save the Psionic Powers book for a later order since I would love to get the softcover book over the PDF and want to save on shipping. No good local store where I live so limited to W23. But the PDFs of the other documents I am gonna get right away. Anything to make the life easier for my players and me is a nice addition.

johndallman · 10-08-2016, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chorpa

I guess what I am really asking is more info on what these books/pdfs add to the rules in Basic Set so I know if I should add them to my collection or not. I am afraid the modules would only add unnecessary fluff that I don't really need and would just wasting my money better spent on other stuff to enhance our game.

I'm familiar with Psionic Powers, having been a player in a campaign that used it extensively.

The abilities in it are built on the Basic Set psionics framework. The author put a lot of effort into breaking abilities down into levels to allow gradual increases in power as characters gain experience, added enhancements and limitations especially suitable for psionics, and clarified the rules considerably. It's a book of worked examples in designing powers.

Christopher R. Rice · 10-08-2016, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chorpa

Thanks. I might save the Psionic Powers book for a later order since I would love to get the softcover book over the PDF and want to save on shipping. No good local store where I live so limited to W23. But the PDFs of the other documents I am gonna get right away. Anything to make the life easier for my players and me is a nice addition.

They are both super useful. Psionic Powers in PDF is quite useful too - if only for the search function. :-)

Phantasm · 10-08-2016, 05:49 AM

I heartily recommend getting Psionic Powers as it provides players ready-to-use powers rather than having to make them yourself. A lot of stuff in Psionic Powers is built using GURPS Powers, but the latter book isn't necessary as all the necessary crunch is provided for you.

I'm not sure if the other two books you mentioned would be of use to you if you're not going for a heavy psionic focus game.

Chorpa · 10-08-2016, 07:07 AM

Well I did get GURPS Psis and GURPS Psionic Campaigns. GURPS Psis I saw was instantly useful especially for inexperienced players who sometimes don't really know where to start so that was a pdf I really liked and got my thumbs up straight away. Psionic Campaigns where mostly redundant for me since most of the stuff it covered I had already established for my campaign without it. But despite that it did contain some good advice I hadn't thought about and information useful for future games so it was not a complete loss and a good buy. Funny enough I found that Psionic Campaigns explained quite well how Psionic Powers expanded on the Powers from the Basic Set book so I will get that one as soon as possible. I do have GURPS Powers and probably could expand the powers in Basic Set on my own but from what I got from Psionic Campaigns, Psionic Powers will already had done the heavy lifting, saving me a lot of work.

Christopher R. Rice · 10-08-2016, 08:31 AM

Excellent! Glad they are of use to you. I find them useful in just about any setting where you have powers of any form.

Shameless self-promoting in the spoiler below

Spoiler:

Anaraxes · 10-08-2016, 08:38 AM

I recommend Psi Powers to people interested in building Powers-style abilities even if they don't care about psi per se, simply because it shows its work. You can learn a lot simply by studying how the author went about building powers. Certainly, you could largely duplicate the work just with the Basic Set and Powers -- but PK's pretty good at this kind of thing, so it's valuable to study the work of the old masters even if you want to do your own thing.

Sorcery has some similar value, but it has a more limited range of examples and a single basis (Modular Ability plus Alternative Abilities). Ritual Path Magic is also interesting, but in a different way, as there's more innovation, rules-bending, and creative mashup going on there than strictly building with the existing parts. So RPM is more an example of how to get the effect you need for your setting even if the rules don't quite get you there than it is an example of of how to build individual abilities.

PK's website (MyGURPS) also has some popular and interesting houserules and other resources.

Also of value for Powers-building are Power Ups 4, Enhancements, and PU8, Limitations. More rules, including a compilation of some of the good bits that appeared in other places like Psi Powers.

Kilmore · 10-08-2016, 11:06 AM

Remember that Psionic Powers don't have any limitations built into the powers. If you want to ratchet down the power level (and save a few points) you should add a limitation. I personally cost 1 FP per 10 points of power used.

10-08-2016, 04:01 AM	#1
Chorpa Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Boden, Sweden	GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers I have a recently got a GURPS Space game up and running. The backstory is an extension of the timeline in the Reign of Steel book. Where a bunch of colony ships where sent out to a distant part of the galaxy to start over away from the AI oppression. The campaign have many similarities with the backstory for the computer game Freelancer. The campaign is fairly Hard Sci-Fi with no Superscience except some carefully choosen ones like Artificial Gravity, Reactionless Thrusters and Hyperdrives. I was originally gonna use regular Reaction Drives but after some discussion with the players we decided to go with Reactionless Thrusters and instead making the Hyperdrives require fuel. This made them very similar to how the Jump Drives in Traveller works which where fine by me. Otherwise it is TL 10 with the Safe Tech switch from page 10-11 in Ultra Tech (because of the fear of AIs and Robots). The year we started in is 2842 A.D. The Colony ships launched during the Final War between 2034-2037 A.D. as written in Reign of Steel. Either way I decided early on to allow Psionics (minus the Teleportation Power) in our campaign. So far we have only use the Psionic chapter in GURPS Basic Set. I have been thinking to expand the Psionics with the modules GURPS Psionic Powers, GURPS Psis and GURPS Psionic Campaigns. Would they be useful for my campaign or is the chapter in Basic Set enough? Psionics doesn't have a big focus in our campaign but felt it was a nice addition and since it is a staple of Sci-Fi these days I figured why not. I guess what I am really asking is more info on what these books/pdfs add to the rules in Basic Set so I know if I should add them to my collection or not. I am afraid the modules would only add unnecessary fluff that I don't really need and would just wasting my money better spent on other stuff to enhance our game. __________________ "When the wicked stand confounded, Call me with thy saints surrounded." Last edited by Chorpa; 10-08-2016 at 05:44 AM. Reason: Misspelled a word

10-08-2016, 05:09 AM	#2
Christopher R. Rice Raven and a Writing Desk Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Portsmouth, VA, USA	Re: GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers If you are willing to invest in the three books, yes. Full stop. Campaigns in particular is one of the more useful books for GMs, while Psis allows you to quick-start a psi-based game REALLY fast. I use all three books generally as well and they are worth the price IMHO. __________________ My Twitter My w23 Stuff My Blog Latest GURPS Book: Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves Latest TFT Book: The Sunken Library Become a Patron!

10-08-2016, 05:49 AM	#6
Phantasm Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: On the road again...	Re: GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers I heartily recommend getting Psionic Powers as it provides players ready-to-use powers rather than having to make them yourself. A lot of stuff in Psionic Powers is built using GURPS Powers, but the latter book isn't necessary as all the necessary crunch is provided for you. I'm not sure if the other two books you mentioned would be of use to you if you're not going for a heavy psionic focus game. __________________ "Life ... is an Oreo cookie." - J'onn J'onzz, 1991 "But mom, I don't wanna go back in the dungeon!" The GURPS Marvel Universe Reboot Project A-G, H-R, and S-Z, and its not-a-wiki-really web adaptation. Ranoc, a Muskets-and-Magery Renaissance Fantasy Setting

10-08-2016, 07:07 AM	#7
Chorpa Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Boden, Sweden	Re: GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers Well I did get GURPS Psis and GURPS Psionic Campaigns. GURPS Psis I saw was instantly useful especially for inexperienced players who sometimes don't really know where to start so that was a pdf I really liked and got my thumbs up straight away. Psionic Campaigns where mostly redundant for me since most of the stuff it covered I had already established for my campaign without it. But despite that it did contain some good advice I hadn't thought about and information useful for future games so it was not a complete loss and a good buy. Funny enough I found that Psionic Campaigns explained quite well how Psionic Powers expanded on the Powers from the Basic Set book so I will get that one as soon as possible. I do have GURPS Powers and probably could expand the powers in Basic Set on my own but from what I got from Psionic Campaigns, Psionic Powers will already had done the heavy lifting, saving me a lot of work. __________________ "When the wicked stand confounded, Call me with thy saints surrounded."

10-08-2016, 08:31 AM	#8
Christopher R. Rice Raven and a Writing Desk Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Portsmouth, VA, USA	Re: GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers Excellent! Glad they are of use to you. I find them useful in just about any setting where you have powers of any form. Shameless self-promoting in the spoiler below Spoiler: I'm offering some material on my Patreon too for Psionic Powers here coming up (well, more) __________________ My Twitter My w23 Stuff My Blog Latest GURPS Book: Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves Latest TFT Book: The Sunken Library Become a Patron!

10-08-2016, 08:38 AM	#9
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers I recommend Psi Powers to people interested in building Powers-style abilities even if they don't care about psi per se, simply because it shows its work. You can learn a lot simply by studying how the author went about building powers. Certainly, you could largely duplicate the work just with the Basic Set and Powers -- but PK's pretty good at this kind of thing, so it's valuable to study the work of the old masters even if you want to do your own thing. Sorcery has some similar value, but it has a more limited range of examples and a single basis (Modular Ability plus Alternative Abilities). Ritual Path Magic is also interesting, but in a different way, as there's more innovation, rules-bending, and creative mashup going on there than strictly building with the existing parts. So RPM is more an example of how to get the effect you need for your setting even if the rules don't quite get you there than it is an example of of how to build individual abilities. PK's website (MyGURPS) also has some popular and interesting houserules and other resources. Also of value for Powers-building are Power Ups 4, Enhancements, and PU8, Limitations. More rules, including a compilation of some of the good bits that appeared in other places like Psi Powers. Last edited by Anaraxes; 10-08-2016 at 08:41 AM.

10-08-2016, 11:06 AM	#10
Kilmore Join Date: Aug 2007	Re: GURPC Basic Set Psionics vs. GURPS Psionic Powers Remember that Psionic Powers don't have any limitations built into the powers. If you want to ratchet down the power level (and save a few points) you should add a limitation. I personally cost 1 FP per 10 points of power used.