NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ciaran" data-source="post: 708661" data-attributes="member: 756">Time to beat on a dead horse some more...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Psionics is neither magic nor technology.The concept of "psionics" originated in early 20th century science fiction.  Parapsychology held out the hope that powers such as telepathy and clairvoyance might be scientifically explained, and science fiction authors of all stripes, from pulp authors like E.E. "Doc" Smith to hard-science types like Asimov and Clarke, introduced mental powers into their stories.In the 60s and 70s, a new subgenre of fantasy developed out of science fiction: a sort of "future fantasy" in which the setting was a future world, either Earth or a distant world settled by humanity, that had fallen into barbarism and decay and whose "magic" was actually the relics of a lost scientific age.  Pioneered by such authors as Andre Norton, C.J. Cherryh and Marion Zimmer Bradley, this genre made liberal use of "psionic" powers as a substitute or underpinning for magic.  But this was not in addition to "real" magic; in this sort of pseudo-scientific setting, magic and psionics were the same thing.Then came D&D.  Back in the old days, gamers threw any old thing together to create their worlds.  Being fans of classic fantasy and futuristic fantasy, Gary Gygax and the other founders of D&D had no compunctions about combining magic and psionics.  Then again, they also threw in machine guns and spaceships, neither of which can reasonably be called "fantasy" elements of a game.As far as I'm concerned, psionics have even less place in a fantasy game as, say, laser guns.  And at least lasers are in the core rules!  (DMG, p. 164)  Psionics are a substitute or alternate explanation for magic, and IMO the two have no place in the same setting.- EricPS: RangerWickett, where are you?  We need ya!</blockquote>

Verification