Grim Tales and Psionics

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I've thinking about running a game at the next MD/DC/VA Gameday in October. It's months off, but I am a chronic procrastinator and if I start working some on the crunch now, I can concentrate on the fluff later. No matter what I run, I'd like to use Grim Tales and nothing but, partly to show off how cool and flexible I think it is, partly to minimize the amount of rules everyone has to remember.

So, the first idea, based on one of my Ceramic DM stories. Cold-war setting, Eastern Europe, Western spies recruited because they had low-level psychic abilities and then cast off. Pre-gen characters, each with a smattering of related abilities (eg, a telekinetic, a clairvoyant, etc). All abilities have to be culled from existing spell-lists.

I want them to be spies with can on occasion use a bit of psychic ability to supplement their tradecraft, not uber-commandos mindblasting their way through the scenario.

I'd like to balance things such that each character will have a range of abilities, some trivial and fairly low risk, some high-level that could result in death or serious disability. My preference would be that most of the burn damage would go to non-lethal, but some to ability damage -- enough to keep them scared.


Ideas/suggestions for mechanics or spell lists?

 

[Fenris]

RI,
Keep it all ability damage, but make them all adepts so it goes to strength, very appopriate for psionics. To moderate things if you want give them an extra burn resitance for one particular effect only, their specialty if you will. Other than that, the standard spell list gives you plenty to work from:
Telekinesis
Inivisilibity (ala The Shadow)
Illusions
True Strike
Disguise Self (again The Shadow)
Locate Object
Augury (precognition)
Shatter
Water Walk/leviate/fly

I mean the list goes on. Any many aren't high level so doing it once or twice isn't killer.

Sounds like a blast.

Fenris

 

[Henry]

It sounds funny, but I would use renamed versions of the Star Wars Force skills, and tweak the vitality loss. In fact, you might take a token from Black Company, and make the drain = 1d8 + the result of the skill check divided by 5, or at least 1d8 + DC of lower result desired / 5. Alternately, for every X nonlethal damage taken, you take so much STR or CON damage. If you want to make it REALLY lethal, make it lethal instead of nonlethal damage, and make it 1 CON damage per 1 points. Call it the result of brain damage when using the abilities, or nose bleeds, etc.