Steve Jackson Games Forums - Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

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- - Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice? (https://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=150352)

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by copeab (Post 2103795)

I think a simple mechanic allowing someone to attempt to resist psionic influence -- which CT lacks -- would have been a much cleaner solution to game balance.

That misinterprets the game balance issue.

Traveller had no real mechanic for character advancement. Characters who are young and unseasoned suck, and will always suck for the duration of the campaign. Oh in theory if the campaign goes on for year after year of in-game time you can improve a rookie...slightly...but no faster than the grizzled 50 year old. Comparatively speaking the rookie will always suck provided that the veteran managed to get his anti-aging roll pills. That's the primary driver for a default campaign, the quest to get enough money to arrest the aging of the elderly protagonists.

Except...there's another driver. There's the bit where you wander from planet to planet looking for a psionics institute so the characters who aren't grizzled veterans can suddenly not suck because while they may be lacking actual skills they make up for that by being the only ones who have superpowers.

That's the game balance trade-off. The Psionics Institutes are rare and illegal in the original game's default setting because that gives firstly something to quest for, but more importantly it explains why the grizzled veterans don't have have just as much woo-woo as the kids because like the kids they were tested and trained in high school.

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Johnston2 (Post 2104437)

That's the primary driver for a default campaign, the quest to get enough money to arrest the aging of the elderly protagonists.

I don't remember a single PC in any campaign I ran or played in who showed any interest in antiagathics. No, really. It was NPC motivation only.

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by copeab (Post 2104450)

I don't remember a single PC in any campaign I ran or played in who showed any interest in antiagathics. No, really. It was NPC motivation only.

Adventurers who worry about dying of old age do seem to be a little fuzzy on the concept of "adventure".

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by copeab (Post 2104450)

I don't remember a single PC in any campaign I ran or played in who showed any interest in antiagathics. No, really. It was NPC motivation only.

"Default" doesn't mean "there are no exceptions". In particular among short run games where aging rolls never enter into it and nobody ever ever improves at all except by, again, seeking out a psionics institute.

Quote:

Adventurers who worry about dying of old age do seem to be a little fuzzy on the concept of "adventure"

It has more to do do with worrying about dying of "I'm not as fast as I used to be".

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by copeab (Post 2104334)

Since I started playing Traveller in 1983, precisely what was the "correct" version of psionics for me to use?

Irrelevant, since the OP (me) asked about possible sources or influences for the original, first (1977) edition rules.

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by copeab (Post 2104186)

How psionics were viewed varied by race and culture. Imperials, Zhodani and droyne all viewed psionics differently. That's not a rule, it's a guideline for one culture.

The chances of being lynched are in the core rules for CT, MT, and TNE. They're not in the fluff; they are presented as a specific throw to find the reaction.

Procedural, not setting description.

That the prejudice is the result of a failed psychohistorical manipulation gone seriously wrong, that is setting fluff for the 3I.

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by malloyd (Post 2104302)

8-9 tarred and feathered (Where did the inhabitants of this vacc world find tar and feathers? Nevermind),

The same effect can be had with Vacuum rated slap patches ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by malloyd (Post 2104457)

Adventurers who worry about dying of old age do seem to be a little fuzzy on the concept of "adventure".

I've had players experince more than 4 character years in a campaign played out over one year of player time. They just happened to be going places. And that eats time at prodigious rates.

I've seen a 3 month merchant campaign cover more than 3 years (8 hour weekly sessions, suitable spreadsheet support).

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ak_aramis (Post 2104758)

The chances of being lynched are in the core rules for CT, MT, and TNE. They're not in the fluff; they are presented as a specific throw to find the reaction.
.

Not relevant to the kind of setting I want when I run Traveller, rule section ignored. Please move on, you can't force me to use the section.

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by copeab (Post 2104765)

Not relevant to the kind of setting I want when I run Traveller, rule section ignored. Please move on, you can't force me to use the section.

Perhaps you could move on as well. "The kind of setting you want when you run Traveller" is pretty thoroughly off-topic to this thread.

Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin (Post 2104809)

Perhaps you could move on as well. ".

Yeah, I probably should. GURPS Traveller hasn't had anything to offer me in over a decade, no reason to linger here.