What are some good scifi ttrpgs aside from anything Warhammer 40k or Star Wars related that have psionics and psychic powers as a major feature? Having psionics tied to the FTL would be a plus. Recently tried Stars Without Number and that wasn't quite what I was looking for.
>>98364388https://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/psi/
>>98364403Thanks. dunno much about GURPS so i'll go diggingAny other suggestions? tryna give myself as many options as I can
>>98364388Traveller, although it'd depend on what it was about SWN that didn't appeal to you
>>98364388Mass Effect
>>98365309Since when is there is a Mass Effect TTRPG?
>>98365556Try https://masseffectd6.blogspot.com/
>>98366523Vector is so fucking funny as an ability. Just physics them to death.
>>98365879None of the links seem to work. Do you have a link to it?
>>98365879>>98365556NTA, I vouch for Mass Effect D6, it was so well done it won an Ennie I think, even when infringing copyrights.
>>98367920NTA again, I think this is the last version of it, 2.35:gofile.io/d/y0iSi2
I played lots of FATE psionics, cold war psionics, cyberpunk psionics, space opera psionics, post-apocalyptic psionics...
>>98364388Traveller has Psionics and they can be used pretty heavily if one wishes
Traveller
>>98371985>>98372473Fair bit of houseruling required. Most powers are expensive and difficult, most psions don't have more than 12 points. A battery is a rare implant, but possible.
>>98373033agreed. it would be nice to find something like traveller but where psionics feel more impactful and where telekinesis can be used effectively in combat rather than the piddly 'Punch' traveller gives you.SWN does have the TK stuff, but the OSR side of the rules turn me away.
>>98364388What are your favorite psychic abilities besides the basic telekinesis, telepathy, and empathy? I’m a teleportation fan.
>>98375498Astral Projection and Bilocation are pretty dope
>>98375498I dislike teleportation without considerable thought put into how it works in universe.That said, I've been a big fan of telepathy and using psychic powers to manipulate the body (inspired by Dune) and wanting to find ways to heavily incorporate it into the settings technology.
>>98365309Could I use Mass Effect D6 to play Earthbound?I don't want to run Earthbound in 5e again, that was awful.
>>98375701>spoilerI bet it fuckin was
>>98375707>Humane Face Breaking Fist
>>98375710better than the Inhumane Face Breaking Fist
>>98375728>SoutherI forget what that dudes deal was aside from all his pressure points being reversed.That said, you just described the regular Face Breaking Fist.
>>98375707Who woulda thought that TWO playtest and homebrew characters would have broke the game???Early UA Psion which was broken as frickAnd a homebrew Artificer which... just didn't work.It was fun when the Psion used Cloud Step to have the fighter jump into a helicopter, but that was the most fun part of that entire campaign. I would rather have played Fate, and that's definitely saying something.
>>98375766The Psion didn't have psionic dice did it? Of all the things made in 5e I unironically like the psionic dice system.
>>98375816Nah, this was pre-Tasha's like... 2017 or 2018.I never tried the official psion classes, just UA jank and homebrew.
>>98375701No idea. What's Earthbound like?
>>98376941Basically the movie E.T. if the alien was out to kill the kid, but the setting is still wholesome, because friendship and growing up.It's that 1970-90s genre of found-families vs aliens (and the aliens are either destroyed or also become part of the family, or they just have a weird dance number.)
>>98377185Why the fuck would you want to play an RPG about kids? Pedo shit.
>>98377261Cuz I have repressed childhood memories of being anally raped as a child anon.
>>98377261Why did you immediately assume someone you don’t know wants to fuck kids? Are you projecting?
>>98377387Yes.
>>98375745>SoutherThat's Raoh.
How do you fellas like to handle the vibe of psionics in your games?Do you prefer a mostly pseudo-scientific approach or a more mystical/spiritual vibe?
>>98377830I try to incorporate both but definitely lean hard on the latter.The idea being that the mystical aspect of it is (sorta) made up with Humans putting their spin on the how and why while the physical aspect is very apparent with the technology and the new physical rules of the universe Humanity has to learn and abide by.
>>98377830This is honestly the only time that I actually quite like how movies and tv shows handle it. The superpower mental strain deal, bloody noses, and screaming.To me, psionics should feel terrifying. So I guess more supernatural or eldritch horror.
>>98377830I get psionics and psychic stuff slots well with the sci-fi asthetic but I can't get over how and why people freak out when you port it to fantasy as if psionics isn't just another aspect of the magic that is being used.Why wouldn't a wizard know how to use telepathy to communicate with people, levitate things with his mind and all that jazz on top of jazz handing fireballs, demons, and angels and forcing them to have lesbian sex with each other for his amusement?
>>98380759I think it's mostly because for some reason people have this thought of "that's sci-fi not fantasy" and we didn't make that distinction before.But for some reason there was a divide, and people get weird about mind flayers and think "what's that alien doing in my setting??" and... sure there's definitely influences but, that doesn't mean that you have to say no.But also there's a line between true fantasy, and kitchen sink. I think Ravenloft is perfectly fine as fantasy, but Draw Steel is definitely kitchen sink. And I can't exactly explain why.
>>98380841For all it's faults, the one thing I liked about 4e was that it gave the psychic aspect a very prominent place front and center.Yeah, it was a weird decision to make the monk psionic but we had a whole ass race and monsters, and parts of a setting that supported it and didn't treat it as a side thing
I think it is interesting in D&D Psionic powers seem to manifest themselves with a big ol halo around the user's head.
>>98375498Manga has convinced me that psychometry is absolutely nuts if someone is good enough at it. My personal favorite is hypercognition though.
>>98380737Big Scanners fan huhhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYEOuBWVFvk
>>98364388the dystopia rising books have psi powers. it's an unusual zombie dystopia in that all of humanity is infected with a fungal zombie virus that grants them psychic abilitiesthe trinity continuum has psychic powers, with the setting most centered on them being aeon, where humanity is undergoing a psychic renaissance in the future after dragging themselves out of a superhero apocalypse
>>98377571guess we know what YOU'D do with psychic powers eh?
>>98381078I typically associate the halo with the use of Ioun stones. You see it alot with other pieces of art like the Abolisher from Lords of Madness whose strutting off sword drawn after dropping two Grell
When playing "Modern Fantasy" is there a limit to how far you keep it Modern? I'm cool with a modern era right before cellphones, and I think it's because I don't want Psionics to be compared to cell phones.
>>98382816fuck off with the AI slop
This is a D&D centric question but what are your thoughts on psionic powers affecting Undead or being used by the undead? I'm firmly in the camp now of classifying spells as "psionic magic" rather than just creating powers that are re-worded existing spells. There was a whole type of lich created that centered around eating power points but I would rather something like that gets rolled into standard lich as an option to make a specific and unique kind of lich rather than walling off flavorful stuff.
>>98373160There's a star wars conversion as well as knights of solaris for Mongoose traveller. Or you could use the older powers instead. A common houserule, I think, is that psi costs drop by your psi dm to a minimum of 1 and that psi points exist separately so they don't drop your stat and dm.
>>98377830Unironically yes.It's like magic - you have people scrambling to explain how it works but, ultimately, it isn't something that can be understood, categorized, systematized, and bogged down by any rules. At least not by those incapable of it.It's why I was always confused why psionics and magic were treated as oil & water and had to have separate systems that did essentially the same thing, and practically the same way too at that.In case of Dullards & Dipshits, there was the "tiered slots vs versatile points" difference, but it's still rubbish imo.One tidbit I could offer is perhaps treating magic as power from the outside that you're reaching out to, whereas psionics is power from within.Former could be easier to cut off, but greater in reach (at first), while the latter would be difficult to suppress, but would put a greater stain on the caster.Either way, it's all magic, and you ain't gotta 'splain shit.
>>98377830>>98393135In a spacegoing sci-fantasy game, I like psionics to have fragments that are understood (FTL navigation, simple telepathy/telekinesis/precognition) but it's the tip of a much larger and weirder iceberg (teleportation, psionic necromancy, dark energy demon summoning, etc)
Have a psychic space shipfor the hell of it
Thread got me thinking about how much I enjoyed Psychonauts and wanting to run a game with a similar tone to it. Not sure the system but I could probably throw together something together and use Mini d6.
>>98397446I love Mini Six, but why would you use Mini Six over others for a Psychonauts game? I think Psychonauts would benefit from some other more cartoony systems, like Toon, or Risus. Or even some fiction-focused systems like Fate or Fudge, something that would let the players modify the narrative/setting, etc. All these I mention are on the same tier of crunchyness than Mini Six, or less, they all use D6 dice, so no gimmick dice nor other polyhedra. Also, if you want to use something like Mini Six but cartoony and with player-faced narrative contributing, try WEG Ghostbusters o a retroclone of it like Spectral Exterminators (which is PWYW) or Awfully Cheerful Engine! (ACE).
>>98377830My preference is the exact point where people are having this argument in-universe. The wizard purists say it's science and not magic, the adventurous wizards say it's manifesting Platonic forms into reality, the hardline clerics say it's fake but demons take advantage to step in and create misleading miracles, the universalist clerics say it's the inborn spark of divinity within all life learning to manifest itself, the deterministic scientists say it's a natural phenomenon, and the theoretical scientists hold that thought precedes matters anyways.Nobody actually knows what it is, and it's possible they're all right, but nobody's got a wide enough lens to put it all together.
>>98397780>Why Mini SixSimple reason is that I don't know those other games. I can take a look, but my friends and I know Mini Six well enough that we could get something started pretty quickly and I wouldn't have to teach them anything.
>>98387017I got the knights of solaris book, thanks. Which older powers do you mean? From a previous edition of traveller i assume, but which book[s]?
>>98398780No prob. Mini Six is great, the most it is played the better.
>>98400652Yeah. Mongoose 1 works. It's not enormously more powerful, but telekinetic punch is less of a joke there. You could also expand it - say punch for d6 rounds gives AP to unarmed attacks equal to psi. Or range equal to psi.There's some extra powers in core adventure.. 3? Counterpsi, botany and shapeshifting. But they're either absurd or weak. And the zhodani talents which I think are frankly better off given at a rate of 1 power for every point above 1 in a school. So if you had telepathy 2, you could add the mimic power to your talent power list. Etc.
>>98375498Precognition, but it's hard to make it work in an ttrpg.
Recently read Ubik and loved the first half about corporate psychic espionage. I wish there was a TTRPG of only that. Second half of the novel was good too but didn't caprivate my imagination as much.A dystopic future where corporations control everything and spy themselves through the use of psychic powers and counter psychics is such a brilliant setting idea I would love to play in.
>>98406711Yeah, there's not many "psychic" focused ttrpgs, but plenty of good homebrew ideas out there.There's a Philip K. Dick inspired TTRPG called PKD: Phiction-Knosis-Deth. But maybe it is not what you re looking for.Also, what's your style of gaming? If you want to emulate fiction, FATE is pretty neat at it and has a mid level of crunchyness, some even say it is lite. I use a homebrew called FatePsionics from Scanners: The lost files. scanners.obsidianportal.com/wikis/fatepsionicsIt says its' based on the psionics in Interface Zero 2.0 (which has cool psionics too)On the other hand, there's the official "Psychic Powers" supplement from evil hat and it is pretty simple: evilhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Psychic-Powers.pdfI always add a depletion/effort/strain system on top of it, kind of emulating Cronenberg's scanners.Another thing I've done for a custom psychic spies game is Mini Six with custom psychic quasi skills, and each time a psychic ability is used, it lowers the pool -1 pip until long rest, you want to make it x3 more hardcore? lower -1d every time is used despite the outcome.For another example, Breachworld has another implementation of psionics with a Mini Six core.Another one I've tried is SWN and AWN, having psychic character options, I guess you can combine them with CWN for spying on corpos a-la cyberpunk.
>>98407209I imagine there's not many ttrpgs focused only on that, probably the best would be to make an addon which adds psyonic powers and a small setting to an existing system.Thanks for the suggestions! I will look them up.Honestly, i've always been a fan of OSR and sandbox exploration, did you know that the first advanced edition of d&d had rules for psionic combat? The rules were famously terrible and undercooked though, but I still like the idea. Heck, the mindflayer was originally a monster who used those same psychic powers as main weapon and could appear if your group used them. It was always a cool concept that was there from the beginning.I will check out stars without number, didn't know it had psychic character options, will for sure check it out.
>>98407245Personally I prefer the psychic mechanics in Ashes Without Number, they are less convoluted than in Stars Without Number, more straightfoward, but also Kevin made them less powerful. For example, there is no teleportation in Ashes Without Number, etc.
>>98364388D&D
>>98409504But OP said "good".
>>98406711Spycraft's Shadowforce Archer is d20, and has psionics.Also mentioning d20 modern and d20 future.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics_(role-playing_games)
>>98409658wow man thanksI never would've thought to look at wikipedia without thisbig fucking help
>>98412355No prob fren, also I'm checking your doubles!
>>98386365Seeing this image gave me an epiphany that I should just view my setting through the lens of Cyber City 808 and drop a lot of the pretense I was building up to it especially since I do want my sci-fi werewolves, vampires, and ghosts.
>>98414782>sci-fi werewolves, vampires, and ghosts.Cyber City Oedo is great, go for it anon; get the Kawajiri aesthetic into your game.
>>98414912Fuck me sideways. I just had a flashback to Anime Saturdays on Sci-fi channel where I watched all of these (except for Wicked City which came on Cinemax).
>>98414934Good times.
>>98396508I just realized how awesome it would be to have a Guild Navigator with a trucker hat. Obviously this isn't a navigator with a trucker hat.
>>98364388GURPS Psionics.>>98364403Correct.>>98364784GURPS Psionics.
>>98377261Telling on yourself, there, anon.
>>98393135I actually liked Tales Of Maj'Eyal's hint about psionics. That Solipsists seriously believe they are the only sapient entities in existence and that they're dreaming / hallucinating everything they experience, which allows them to directly influence their perceived reality. That they have very real power and that there are multiple such people does have disturbing implications.I'd lean hard on that kind of thing.
What are good portrayals of psychics? Any setting even if not /tg/, I just need inspiration.>>98415295>Solipsist as a kind of psychicDamn.
>>98415308
>>98364403>>98364784>>98415273No.
>>98397446>PsychonautsI really do enjoy how psychonauts handles the "mindscape" thing with it's whimsical art style.That said, The Evil Within lives rent free in my mind as an inspiration for the shared lucid dream/VR mindscape especially since the villian of the first game was made into a literal brain in jar.
Psionics, the next station of human evolution is actually pretty good for exploring psionic stuff. Mind you the game line is dead and I think it was an indie project but it was actually alright I feel. Even if seem like it was that one PS2 psychic game in a nutshell
>>98415308Bits and pieces from Babylon 5 could work, after a fashion. Push, a movie about psychics with various powers, from telekinesis to precognition.Akira for what happens when great power grows out of control and high power level in general, while not quite reaching 40k level of reality-fuckery.
>>98364388Don't know about "good", I have played it a grand total of one times for a quarter of a campaign, but Trinity Continuum: Æon is out there.
>>98381138>>98380737Honestly really considering running something like this with Paranoia XP and the Mutant Experience in a Straight/Classic style. Maybe less backstabby, but it's intriguing how close Paranoia XP's mechanics are to the setting I want. I just am wary to reskin one of the TTRPGs where the setting is basically half of the system.
>>98419531Yeah, but the backstabbyness of it (and the paranoia, pun intended) would ramp up exponentially between psychics, sounds like fun, right? I wonder how a GM and the players would handle it.
>>98364388Where do psychic powers come from in your setting? That is, both “where did they originate from” and “where do psychics get the energy they need to do things like telekinetically move objects”? Like how in 40k the answer to both is the Warp for instance.
>>98422070in trinity, the galaxy and it's organisms tend to develop either noetic powers (the psychic powers, not limited by quantum physics but somewhat narrow), quantum powers (wide and broad array of many powers limited by quantum physics) or flux powers (probability affecting abilities that tend to be subtle but can alter reality/time in extreme circumstances), though weirder power manifestations exist in rarified and irreproducible conditions. the history of galactic conflict tends to be that species have specific genetic power aptitudes, and the various powers and side effects of the different power sets set them in an endless cycle of war and self-destruction involving these powers, with truly long-lived species creating, manipulating or destroying others to prevent another side's prominence. humanity has been subject to a number of influencers and happenstances throughout it's history and even in the space age has yet to understand just how affected their history has been, but humanity's true value has yet to be realized by even it's enemies: they are the only species as of yet to have the potential to use all three powers, and if they or anyone else learns this, the sheer value of this knowledge will immediately put a target on their backs for everyone in the galaxy
>>98422070Psionics in my setting come from the Ethereal Veil which is "what if The Warp had good days and bad days, what if that shifting of energies flowed through it like weather or tides?" [Side note i really need a better name for the Ethereal Veil but it's all I've fucking got for now]During a "good day" (aka a "calm phase") psionics are more stable and reliable. During "bad days" (aka a "storm phase") they're riskier, but potentially much stronger. This also affects the speed and safety of space travel. Different regions of space have different phase patterns. These can be predicted to a degree, but as in real life it's harder the further ahead you want to predict. And even then, the Ethereal Veil can always surprise you.As for how psionics got their powers, everyone has the potential to learn psionics with enough time and effort plus the right training and materials, but some people have an innate talent for shaping Ethereal energies. These people were the first psions, and most of them were killed by Storm Phases. Those few who learned to survive the storms taught others, forming their own Psionic schools and traditions and techniques.
>>98364388Two that haven't been mentioned and which I usually browse again when looking for inspiration regarding psi are Spacemaster and The World of Necroscope. YMMV ofc.
>>98422070Consciousness is an integral part of existence, a necessity for quantum realityPsychics have developed a new neural structure, small mutations in the brains basic makeup that allow them to interact with the other fundamental forces to create changes in their environment As these mutations are not entirely uniform psychics are often aspected towards more narrow applications of their power like telepathy or telekinesis but others can develop truly outrageous abilities like pyro or cryo kinesis, teleportation, precognition and so on
>>98422070It's a natural aspect of the universe in the same way gravity and electricity are and something most intelligent species would eventually discover in the same way you discover fire or it's naturally apart of their physiology.Humanity is unique only that our position in the universe prevented the barest interaction with these natural forces until an event violently exposed Humanity in the lightning stroke that created fire
>>98422070I'm picturing a triggering event, either big bad shows up or something equally spooky, and then millions of people have psionic powers.Something something, "humanity has always had the potential but it wasn't until this happened that our evolutionary instincts kicked in."
>>98364388Please post more art of psychic characters, especially if they’re using their powers.
>>98427147
Should teleportation be a psionic power? Or is it too broken?
>>98435217No more broken than any other power
>>98435217Objectively, I think its whatever.Subjectively, I'm not sure if I like stuff like that or pyrokinesis. Doesn't feel like it should be a mind power.
>>98435315Pyro-, cryo-, electrokinesis and etc. can be thought of as using TK to excite, or halt atomic vibrations, or move electrons.Ergo, it falls under the TK umbrella and is no more broken than TK itself, which depends on one's power and the ability to focus it.If a weak psi can compress what power he has into a thin blade of telekinetic force, he could wield that as a weapon.Reason I'm not suggesting clamping someone's carotid artery shut, or mincing their brains, is that it would be tricky to pull off in combat.You have to focus on a moving target that actively tries to stay out of sight to make killing them more difficult.It's why strength is often very useful for a combat psi - area attacks don't need such great focus and are easier when you need to hit multiple targets.But if you're weak? Use something you can focus on with relative ease, such as a sword, or a flying blade, and enhance that instead.>>98435217Depends on how it works, I guess? Some examples:>folding space a-la spacing guild navigators>restructuring space on quantum level to mimic another point in space>taking a shortcut through psychic dimensionEach has it's own far-reaching hue implications:>navigator essentially manipulates space and, to an extent, gravity; something something JJK reference>quantum field manipulator could pull off cold fusion, erode things via nuclear decay, or create (volatile) matter out of virtual particles>dimension-hopper having pocket storage space, use dimension's energies offensively, or phase in and out of it to dodge thingsThis usually implies that it is a VERY strong power that can and will break any semblance of balance.…unless, of course, you limit it to that specific application, with subsequent power growth broadening it's potential applications.To put it another way, first you learn that you can hammer in nails with your microscope. Then, as you grow, you learn you can burning things with it's lens, and so on.
>>98380888>, it was a weird decision to make the monk psionicIs it? It's always made the most sense to me. It's mind over matter. Through training the mind I will myself to be super healthy and super fast.It makes more sense than "okay it's literally magic, but it's not like, magic magic you know? Like yes it's explicitly magic but it doesn't turn off in an AMF."
>>98435315Agreed. If you have psionics in a setting, it should not be about (overtly) physical phenomenon at all. Mind reading, precognition, psychometry, astral projection, clairvoyance, aura reading, remote viewing, retrocognition, this is real psionics. Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, teleportation, throwing lightning bolts, that's magic for fags who want every setting to be fantasy.
>>98438688Boring, lame, and your opinion sucks.
>>98438720Wow great argument fagtron you sure convinced me with those hot opinions.
>>98435217I solve this by the idea that you need a machine to help you use certain powers to a certain level. Teleportation would still be a power but it's personal application would be extremely limited outside of certain uses.
>>98438575For me personally I want all the classes to have the flavors of every power source (except Warlock, it can go fuck itself). Even with Divine there would be some cool interactions if they didn't squander the potential considering that gods of magic and god of psionic shit exist in cannon lore let alone just having those things be a part of the setting like Demons who use psionic powers.TL:DR - I don't want to lock down a specific flavor to a class and want all of them to mix and match seemlessly.
>>98364388If a setting has both magic and psychic powers, how do they interact? Can someone have both?
>>98364388Give it a year to fully release, but Neon Odyssey is a space game that has a scionic class that so far sounds like it's at least got some good ideas going.
>>98445489Its questions like this that make me think Warhammer 40k psykers are undercooked, because there are people who have people who can do both magic and psychic powers and the results amount to a lore blurb.
>>98364388Wasn’t there some superhero setting where all powers were expressions of psychic abilities? Can’t place the name though.
>>98364388Traveller?
>>98364388What are some ways to keep psychics powerful but not too OP, especially if there are other powers in the setting? And how can you tell if your psychics are too powerful?
>>98453740The same way you'd go about it for any other subsystem/powerset like that? The specifics will then depend a lot on what kind of game you're aiming for it to be.
>>98375701I think you could definitely use d6 to run Earthbound.You would need to decide what magic system is closest to the way you want to run the psychic stuff though.>>98346494You could ask our thread here.
>>98406711>corporationsHey anon, you should check "Corporation", it is about a dystopic future where corporations control everything and spy on themselves (sometimes even) with psychic agents. It uses a d20 roll under Stat + Skill check as main resolution mechanic.
>>98445489Anima has that and they're two fundamentally different power systems with different premises and mechanics. Can be pretty swanky if you don't mind spreading yourself thin because magick is consistent but resource-intensive and Mentalism is risky but resource-lite..But they also don't directly interact with each other. Magick is the manipulation of the sea of souls, Mentalism is the imposition of your mind upon reality. The ability to see one doesn't extend to seeing the other, your magickal resistance is separate from psychic resistance, your resources for both are independent, and you can't use one to directly boost the other. You could have a Wizard and Mentalist trying to mind control each other at the same time and have neither even realize it's not one-sided.
>>98364388What do you think of technology that can replicate psychic abilities?
>>98465988That's entirely dependent on the angle you're going for. Are you trying to do like FF8 where the "magic" isn't real magic and only a Sorceress can actually do magic while the Ultima spell you cast is just a pale imitation of the real thing invented with technology?Granted its a throw away factoid of the setting all things considered but it's a thing.
Anyone tried Everywhen or Neonpunk Crysis psionics?
