Psi: What's the inner astral for?

[Gef]

At great penalty, and a slight fatigue cost, you can go there. The same penalty applies when coming back, and if you fail, you die. Or you can be killed by the bizarre denizens, which may come from your own head. So why would you want to go in the first place?

Sure, it's a cool place to have weird adventures, but the PC needs to have motivation. Am I missing something? Psi-Tech gives one reason, to get around astral barriers, which sounds practical, and Psionic Powers gives another, a vague hope of finding answers to questions, with no particular mechanic. Are there other benefits? Can you enter the inner astral from Idaho, emerge in the outer astral vicinity of Los Angeles? If the answer depends on what the GM does with it, I'd be interesting in hearing what other GMs have done.

Thank you,

GEF

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Gef

At great penalty, and a slight fatigue cost, you can go there. The same penalty applies when coming back, and if you fail, you die. Or you can be killed by the bizarre denizens, which may come from your own head. So why would you want to go in the first place?

Sure, it's a cool place to have weird adventures, but the PC needs to have motivation. Am I missing something? Psi-Tech gives one reason, to get around astral barriers, which sounds practical, and Psionic Powers gives another, a vague hope of finding answers to questions, with no particular mechanic. Are there other benefits? Can you enter the inner astral from Idaho, emerge in the outer astral vicinity of Los Angeles? If the answer depends on what the GM does with it, I'd be interesting in hearing what other GMs have done.

You can go to places in the Inner Plane for the any of the reasons why you'd go anywhere:
a) The McGuffin is there.
b) Some clue is there.
c) Some person that you need to speak with is there.
d) The fortress of the big bad is there.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Gef

At great penalty, and a slight fatigue cost, you can go there. The same penalty applies when coming back, and if you fail, you die. Or you can be killed by the bizarre denizens, which may come from your own head. So why would you want to go in the first place?

Time passes there at 1/10 the rate it does in the real world or the outer plane. Therefore you can study ten times as fast. Your astral form can not be blocked or detected in the physical or the outer plane if it is in the inner plane. The astral plane also contains every bit of knowledge any human ever knew.

Then of course there's the other reason to go there. Because the problem whatever it is, is coming from there.

However it inherently has the Netrunner problem.

[PK]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Then of course there's the other reason to go there. Because the problem whatever it is, is coming from there.

Or (more often in my games), a source of information about the problem is there:

• Spirits are attacking the living world, and we don't know why! None of these "shock troops" are talking, but if we could interrogate a few "civilian" spirits on their home ground, we could learn something!

• The Cabal's fortress is too heavily fortified for a frontal assault, and we can't find a way to sneak in. But wait, what if we found the ritual phrases needed to get in . . . by breaking into one of the cabalist's Memory Palaces?

• Diplomacy has failed. It looks like the Voudun houngan that rules this tribe is absolutely opposed to listening to us, even though we really are trying to save them. Wait, what if he heard it from one of the loa? Now, let's figure out which one is likely to listen to reason . . .

The ability to travel into the home of spirits, the anchor point for rituals, the place where weird psychic stuff is the norm -- that's a powerful tool, if the GM wants it to be. If the GM thinks the inner astral plane is silly, then don't waste points on it, because he'll probably never involve it.

However it inherently has the Netrunner problem.

That's what the Piggyback technique is for. If I know the astral plane is going to be an important part of my games, I heavily encourage astral travelers to max it out -- and even introduce psychotronics to make piggybacking much easier.

[Gef]

Thanks for the responses. Sir Pudding, you've reminded me of several ways I can coerce PCs to go there, but my question is really toward routine utility. RPK's answers likewise go to reasons of plot, and the specific examples fit a fantasy idiom more than scifi, even soft scifi. Looks like the utility depends solely on how the GM develops it. Alas, I was hoping to avoid having to map a world that's bigger than the world. -GEF

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Gef

Thanks for the responses. Sir Pudding, you've reminded me of several ways I can coerce PCs to go there, but my question is really toward routine utility.

It's not different from the "routine utility" of having to go anywhere that's difficult to get to. What's the routine utility of going to Antarctica or diving into the ocean in the same campaign?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Gef

Thanks for the responses. Sir Pudding, you've reminded me of several ways I can coerce PCs to go there, but my question is really toward routine utility. F

The Inner Astral is still a great way to pile up training in a hurry.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The Inner Astral is still a great way to pile up training in a hurry.

Likewise, it's a good place to learn exotic skills, if the GM is willing to put someone able to teach them, there - it's an alternative to the Ancient Hermit on the Mountain, or the Hidden Temple of Mysterious Mystic Monks.

In my games, Faerieland and various fictional realms exist there, allowing campaignes where you might have tea with Harry Potter in one adventure, and run away from Klingons the next, all the while trying to track down the over-arching villain, who might be a psi from the real world, a spirit from myth, or an escaped fictional character (haven't run one of those, but it's an option for the Five Earths setting in my signature). In other words, it's an alternative to or specific variant of an Infinite Worlds setting.

Such games aren't for everyone, though. OTOH, they can make for a fun break from a more serious game.