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Brainstorming a “Kitchen Sink“ Sci-Fi campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Nobby-W" data-source="post: 8093038" data-attributes="member: 7017291"><p>Making telepathic capabilities detectable and shieldable is definitely a start. You could also have critters like the Yoli that makes an appearance in Schmitz's <a href="https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/books/pages/s/JamesHSchmitz.htm" target="_blank">Company Planet</a> that can act as a psionic guard. You can make capabilities like reading thoughts not 100% reliable. It might only get stuff like "I really want a kebab right now." A deep-probe capability should be felt by the target or have some other obvious drawback, so it can't just be used casually to get their deepest secrets willy-nilly. That's the biggest loophole you need to plug with telepathy.</p><p></p><p>A psi attack can be mechanically as powerful as a mundane weapon without being an issue - after all, the effect can be replicated by having a character armed with a weapon. I don't think theres's any need to overly nerf psi attacks, but having them tire the character out or use some limited resource pool is a good idea. This applies to pretty much any psi-attack, whether it's telepathic, telekinetic or some sort of pyrokinetic or energy blast attack.</p><p></p><p>Buildings or vehicles could be psi shielded. That's certainly a tech that should exist in the setting. That capability should be available to pretty much any NPC faction so you can trot it out from time to time, but it shouldn't be universal and it shouldn't be something too elite.</p><p></p><p>If you've ever seen <em>The Greatest American Hero,</em> the clairvoyance powers of the suit might make a good start. It gave the protagonist the ability to hold an object and see some imagery about its owner, from the past or present. A 'See through walls' type ability can be replicated with mundane tech like a backscatter imaging system; you could possibly have some sort of psi-jammer device that distorts or reduces the resolution of these abilities.</p><p></p><p>Mind control is another one you need to be careful with. In the Amberdon-verse it was very powerful and pretty much given against non-psi targets, probably too powerful for a role playing game. Something like the Jedi mind trick from Star Wars is OK, because a similar effect could be achieved by a good forgery or a character with good crap artistry skills. Think of the effects of something like Charm Person from D&D or Befuddle from Runequest.</p><p></p><p>Space Master used a Rolemaster style spell list system for its psionics, so there are some large lists of psi abilities if you can dig up a PDF of Future Law. You might also look at the Mentalism realm from Spell Law, even if you don't want to use the Rolemaster mechanics.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nobby-W, post: 8093038, member: 7017291"] Making telepathic capabilities detectable and shieldable is definitely a start. You could also have critters like the Yoli that makes an appearance in Schmitz's [URL='https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/books/pages/s/JamesHSchmitz.htm']Company Planet[/URL] that can act as a psionic guard. You can make capabilities like reading thoughts not 100% reliable. It might only get stuff like "I really want a kebab right now." A deep-probe capability should be felt by the target or have some other obvious drawback, so it can't just be used casually to get their deepest secrets willy-nilly. That's the biggest loophole you need to plug with telepathy. A psi attack can be mechanically as powerful as a mundane weapon without being an issue - after all, the effect can be replicated by having a character armed with a weapon. I don't think theres's any need to overly nerf psi attacks, but having them tire the character out or use some limited resource pool is a good idea. This applies to pretty much any psi-attack, whether it's telepathic, telekinetic or some sort of pyrokinetic or energy blast attack. Buildings or vehicles could be psi shielded. That's certainly a tech that should exist in the setting. That capability should be available to pretty much any NPC faction so you can trot it out from time to time, but it shouldn't be universal and it shouldn't be something too elite. If you've ever seen [I]The Greatest American Hero,[/I] the clairvoyance powers of the suit might make a good start. It gave the protagonist the ability to hold an object and see some imagery about its owner, from the past or present. A 'See through walls' type ability can be replicated with mundane tech like a backscatter imaging system; you could possibly have some sort of psi-jammer device that distorts or reduces the resolution of these abilities. Mind control is another one you need to be careful with. In the Amberdon-verse it was very powerful and pretty much given against non-psi targets, probably too powerful for a role playing game. Something like the Jedi mind trick from Star Wars is OK, because a similar effect could be achieved by a good forgery or a character with good crap artistry skills. Think of the effects of something like Charm Person from D&D or Befuddle from Runequest. Space Master used a Rolemaster style spell list system for its psionics, so there are some large lists of psi abilities if you can dig up a PDF of Future Law. You might also look at the Mentalism realm from Spell Law, even if you don't want to use the Rolemaster mechanics. [/QUOTE]
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