Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9636719" data-attributes="member: 42582">In both the 1977 and 1981 editions, the following text opens the chapter of Book 3 dealing with Psionics:The powers of the mind are incredible; and some day the study of these powers will enable every individual to use them as an active part of his life. At the time in which Traveller occurs, however, universal psionic training does not exist; accurate information and quality training are available only through branches of the Psionics Institute, which is wholly devoted to the study of mental powers.They are powers of the mind. They are studied by an institute. And, in principle, everyone is able to learn these powers via training. To me it has always been clear that this is describing a type of scientifically-studied and comprehensible phenomenon, not supernatural ritual.I don't really follow.I mean, I know that in the Marvel Universe science and magic are different phenomena. But there isn't a difference that I'm aware of between magic and the supernatural.And your example also blends together flavour text and build elements in a particular way. I mean, in Hero/Champions (or some imaginable version thereof), I would build Hawkeye by combining the "accurate shot* and "rapid shot" options, with a limit of "gear - bow and arrows"; would build Iron Man by combining the "flying" and "energy blast" options, with a limit of "gear - hi-tech suit of armour"; etc.Somewhat similarly, in Rolemaster, which is an example of psionics/mentalism that has already been mentioned in this thread, there is no mechanical difference between a Mentalist and a Magician except for some spell parameters, and the rules for being in different "realms" of magic, which mostly determine how armour, helmets and a lack of available hands penalise their casting, I don't really subscribe to the position that difference of flavour (ie psionics is distinct from tome-of-magic-style wizardry) has to mean a difference in how a PC is built, or how the actions declared for them are resolved.</blockquote>

Verification