Psis vs Weirdness Magnet?

[smurf]

Oh and the time the cargo plane they were flying in was shot down by missiles where the WM lost its eyes by landing in the water rather hard. Followed by the homeless army of meat puppets out to get them.

Then had them trekking across Russia where they were diverted to a city and almost run over by a truck that had a driver in it. Luckily they made their escape from the Vampire kill team by jumping through office blocks and escaped by rickshaws.

I would say they get hosed down enough by me. :)

[The Benj]

Originally Posted by smurf

In most of GURPS psi books there has been the clear statement that psis should not be allowed to circumvent adventures by using their abilities to do all the foot work.

So I have this 'evil' NPC only known as 'Mr Prediction' by default he has precognitive powers.

However a PC has Weirdness Magnet and I was thinking that could allow the precog to not get an accurate reading on them due to a 'fuzzy reading' because of the WM.

It sort of fits but I wonder if it is not in the correct use/

PCs should not be able to short circuit plots with the use of powers, NPCs have no such limit, as they're under GM control

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by The Benj

PCs should not be able to short circuit plots with the use of powers, NPCs have no such limit, as they're under GM control

Of course the advice still basically applies to Precognition. Don't hand out too much information to players who have it and don't have your NPCs act like they know everything either. This requires no more explanation than the inherent limits of Precognition. Precogs aren't infallible, and they don't get to see everything. They don't get to see what the GM doesn't want them to see.

Of course a Weirdness Magnet could mess up someone's Precognition if the results actually made things more difficult for the WM or were just strange and unhelpful or the magnet. LIke for example provoking murder attempts based on false or self-fulfilling prophecies, or locking both of them into a shared dream of the future that leaves the WM helpless, or of course the ever popular the Magnet wakes up in the body of the precog in the past while the precog is now in the Magnet's body in the present.

[The Benj]

Or what if the future is uncertain around the Weirdness Magnet and that's a GOOD THING for the villain?

[Jürgen Hubert]

"That person has a strange aura! I must kidnap that person for my harem^h^h^h^h^h lab for further study!"

So, yes, maybe that NPC can't predict the Weirdness Magnet. But that makes the Weirdness Magnet interesting and worth of further study. Where does the "fuzziness" end? How much does it affect the predictions for people around the Weirdness Magnet?

Time to do some scientific testing! And by "testing" I mean subjecting the Weirdness Magnet to a series of highly bizarre and embarrassing events that will hopefully reveal some insights into the "powers" and limitations of the Weirdness Magnet. There are quite a few mangas/anime which could serve as inspiration here...


While Weirdness Magnet might seem to offer some advantage here (immunity from precognition), how it actually works out in practice should be so embarrassing that the character will not see it as worth it (hopefully, the player will still be entertained, though...).

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

While Weirdness Magnet might seem to offer some advantage here (immunity from precognition)

The definition of "fuzzy" here is fuzzy :) I agree that even immunity might still work out to a net disad. But it's also possible that while the villain may not have the full, accustomed use of his precog, it still has some effect even on the WM. Perhaps it just adds a little uncertainty, or causes a -1 TDM for the villain. Enough to attract his attention, but not enough to make the WM immune. The GM can rain down the full disadvantageousness of the -15 points and still make the WM a precog attention magnet. Adjust to taste.

[GodBeastX]

I tend to pick weirdness magnet people for random occurrences when picking a PC. And those are usually always bad.

"Huh, this has never happened before, we lost your rent check. It was right here on the desk!"

[smurf]

Another way to do it is when the WM kicks in and the craziness begins the Precog has difficulty to follow it.

The idea is to have the WM caught on top of the South Bank tower of the Golden Gate Bridge trying to hold up the US flag. That's before all the other craziness it had to get there.

Previously they had to prevent a robot invasion arriving at Moose Jaw. But that was a diversion to the invasion in Ulan Bator that had to be stopped with a roller derby skate off.

Then trying to stop the Boing when Nasty Bob gets in the way and accidentally slices up one of the players holding on for life on a back of a bus. Nasty Bob has huge talons. But is also very good golf.

[Phantasm]

I'm the guy that tends to just say "no" to anyone taking Weirdness Magnet, so I don't think I'll be able to give any good advice here.

I find saying "no" to traits that are going to mess up the campaign solves a lot of problems.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Ji ji

Your article is right but this is a different issue.

How is it different? PK is saying that it is a disadvantage and should be treated as one. You should not let that trait be the reason an enemy Precog can't get accurate visions of the character. That would be something different, maybe a minor advantage or a Perk.