D&D General Questions Regarding the History of the Term "Psionics."

[JeffB]

Wow! We got back on topic - nice work Jeff!

Purely luck due to my impatience in perusing entire threads

 

[JeffB]

Wow! We got back on topic - nice work Jeff!

The History and reason for D&D Psionics- Skip to 15:19 (and if you want to hear the original intent behind HP and Level Drain, keep listening after the Psionics bit)

 

[Anoth]

T

Funny you should say that. I was reading a review of the new Colour Out of Space film and I realised that Annilhilation (Netflix) is pretty much the same plot.

And if you distil it down to Alien meteorite has strange influence on people, Quatermass, Doctor Who and a bunch of 50s B movies have done that.

That sounds like fun!!!

 

[HarbingerX]

T

That sounds like fun!!!

Don't forget The Blob.

 

[HarbingerX]

Regarding the dumbing down of language, I think there's a sampling bias in claiming that people 100 years ago were better educated and more erudite than they are today. You're reading the letters and books of the highest educated people in society, who's primary means of communication at distance was written. Of course they would have expended far more time and energy making their written words as eloquent as possible. Go into London 100 years ago and talk to someone at a public house and you're going to get a far different impression of the quality of education.

Edit: 200 years is probably a better checkpoint. 100 years ago the impacts of more universal education would have meant that your local pub-goer would have a better base-level of education.