1968 presidential election - plus psionics

[David Johnston2]

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

[Michael Cule]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

Although North Vietnam was a Russian client (which made relationships with the Chinese interesting I'll bet) I'm not sure what sort of direct investment the Soviets had in the country. They may have supplied arms but direct training and 'military advisors' in country never seemed to come up in the Real World(tim). They would very likely want to keep their psionic resources and knowledge close to their chests. No Fraternal Socialist Psionic Co-operation Program seems likely.

And if the psis were strong enough the subordinates might be there cheering the leaders on.

If you wanted to be really nasty and blacken LBJ's character rather more than I think is justified you could have him risk an experimental procedure to transfer his mind to the body of the more popular RFK...

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Nixon's own psi-friends would probably have been working on trying to implement an effective telepathic shield - Nixon was notoriously paranoid about his perceived "enemies", and would likely have have loathed the idea that someone could read his mind. Expect him to keep a low profile until that happens. (In fact, if the method by which psi powers are induced is known, expect Nixon to try that, because it might give him an edge over his opponents. Tricky Dick was not one to pass up an advantage...)

President Nixon, if in office at the time it was discovered, would likely have ordered NASA to send him up along with the director. His paranoia would lead him to take that one risk in order to be able to assess all his associates (and enemies) readily.

Based upon some of his transcripts, President Johnson was quite possibly even MORE dangerously off his rocker than Nixon. Certainly far more "Alpha-male" in his approach. And not at all popular in his own right.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

Changing loyalties on a "whim" was a staple of Soviet history... usually subordinates realizing that their families were in grave risk from the madmen in power. Stalin was absolutely a sociopath, and well known to be colder than Siberian winters. Kruschev wasn't much better, but appears to have had a shadow of a sliver of a conscience. Brezhnev was a little bit saner still. Changing stance upon a change of the balance of power is certainly not something that would be out of character for any but Stalin.

But, yes, they'd have their own Psi-program. And would likely massively ramp up the space program as fast as possible to get as many psi-spies as possible... then encourage the church back into the open, and mind-read the priest-confessors....

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Depending on exactly what "early" March means you're either just before or just after LBJ;s humiliation in the New Hampshire primary.

Well, campaign-now is 2 March, and things have been going strange in Vietnam for over two weeks. Whether that's enough is not at all clear...

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but the Soviets have reasons for not sending their own psi-operators (KGB 8th Chief Directorate, "Horsemen") to Vietnam, even covertly.

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Based upon some of his transcripts, President Johnson was quite possibly even MORE dangerously off his rocker than Nixon. Certainly far more "Alpha-male" in his approach. And not at all popular in his own right.

And he had a mission - the Great Society - which he hadn't been able to accomplish because of Vietnam.

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

But, yes, they'd have their own Psi-program. And would likely massively ramp up the space program as fast as possible to get as many psi-spies as possible... then encourage the church back into the open, and mind-read the priest-confessors....

Part of the problem is that everybody's trying to be a bit covert about how psis are made. It's not clear whether the Soviets know about the spacewalk route, for example, nor whether they know that the Americans know...

It's not too technically demanding at this tech level to get someone up out of the atmosphere and back again if you don't need to get them into orbit as well - and animal experiments suggest that this is sufficient.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

...

It's not too technically demanding at this tech level to get someone up out of the atmosphere and back again if you don't need to get them into orbit as well - and animal experiments suggest that this is sufficient.

That gives you the whole X-15 program.

Come to think of it there are the lifting body protoypes too and it casts a certain explantory light on the Shuttlle design.

[tantric]

It's a bit off topic, but I've always wanted a version of Technomancer where the Event awoke psychic powers rather than magical ones. I had a campaign outline for this, but lost it long ago. It seems like the OP is developing something like this. I'd love to see the details.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by tantric

It's a bit off topic, but I've always wanted a version of Technomancer where the Event awoke psychic powers rather than magical ones. I had a campaign outline for this, but lost it long ago. It seems like the OP is developing something like this. I'd love to see the details.

I'm developing it through play rather than as a fait accompli; I have no idea how the world is going to end up. For example, it appears that Scientology (with a somewhat high-wastage approach to induced psi powers) has taken over the Greek government (the colonels' regime)... maybe the PCs will try to do something about that at some point, and maybe they won't.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That gives you the whole X-15 program.

The X-15 doesn't get high enough - threshold seems to be something over 100 miles up. Also, being sealed inside a capsule doesn't seem to be enough exposure - so far it's only affected the actual spacewalkers.

(An early hint of something weird - to the players, though not of course to the PCs - was a report of the Apollo 1 fire, when Roger Chaffee died, and Grissom and White just barely survived.)