General Psionics testing and training

[Spinward Scout]

"Will those who believe in Telekinesis, please raise my hand?"

How have you handled Psionics testing and training in your games?

"Help wanted: telepath.
You know where to apply."

Do you roleplay it out? Or just say that it happened?

Talking is such a waste of time.
You know we could communicate telepathically...
if we put our minds to it.

Have you ever played out the Psionic Olympics or whatever it was called in the T4 Psionics Institutes book?

I'm curious to read what people have done with Psionics in their games.

 

[mike wightman]

Can't read the colour you chose - please take pity on people with eyesight issues.

The Traveller Adventure includes a scenario for finding a psi institute and getting help/tested.

It is good fun role playing the testing process.

 

[casquilho]

Can't read the colour you chose - please take pity on people with eyesight issues.

The Traveller Adventure includes a scenario for finding a psi institute and getting help/tested.

It is good fun role playing the testing process.

The three yellow sections are:

"Will those who believe in Telekinesis, please raise my hand?"

"Help wanted: telepath.
You know where to apply."

Talking is such a waste of time.
You know we could communicate telepathically...
if we put our minds to it

 

[atpollard]

How have you handled Psionics testing and training in your games?

I took a two tiered approach in my current game (where players expressed an interest in Psionics and searching for Psi Training.) First I pulled ALL the information behind the GM curtain so players have no access to it in advance. You have no clue if you are an untapped powerhouse or a Psi featherweight.

1. The FIRST way to "unlock" your potential is to almost get killed. I tracked Chargen for anyone that passed a survival roll by EXACTLY the number needed and noted that term as the START for their Psionic career. I then related to the Player information about an inexplicable event where they were in grave danger and something STRANGE happened that they cannot quite understand or explain. A HINT that they are a Psion and the nature of their "gift". This extends to PLAY in any roll of a natural 12 [boxcars] being an opportunity for me (REF) to employ their gift towards the skill/task that they were attempting. "I swear that shot was going to miss and somehow the bullet just literally curved at the last moment and hit exactly where I was aiming. I have a headache."
2. The second path to unlock the gift is to locate a Psion to Train you. That means either an individual (natural 12 on 2D6 in any community) or an institute (10+ on 2D6 in a city of POP over a million). Those are the chances it EXISTS. They do not advertise. You are looking for a secret society that does not want to be found.

Do you roleplay it out? Or just say that it happened?

Roleplay the locating. Training probably just happens, but is not an INSTANT thing. One will need to return periodically for more training or claw your way through secret knowledge alone.

Have you ever played out the Psionic Olympics or whatever it was called in the T4 Psionics Institutes book?

Nope. Nor does it appeal to me. I view it more like MUTANTS in the Marvel-verse. Feared and in danger and best kept in the shadows unless you want to be dissected in a Government lab.

I'm curious to read what people have done with Psionics in their games.

Starting out slow. Some things “in game” are: a Player/Character probably KNOWS he is special but cannot control it. He is looking for someone that can help. There are some yet undiscovered things that characters have rushed past chasing the pot of credits. A reclusive lady that brews herbal concoctions that can boost psi strength for short periods of time ... if you can get past the protective CLANNISH community that shields her from outsiders.

Then, of course, what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. NPCs have the same opportunities.

 

[Quint]

I run Space Opera, multiple dueling timelines, Gods, etc. so YMMV....

I also run on the borders of, or just outside of Imperial space pretty regularly, so that changes the vibe a fair amount.

The easy version is to just include it in chargen. I have a Freemason equivalent in my setting, and there's a secret "inner order" that does psionic training (all in service to the Imperium and it's illegal but tolerated if you're "the right kind of person" ala a noble in Imperial service) so one character is telepath who was/is a Navy Commander. It's not their primary skill, but has helped pull them out of a jam - honestly the Freemason thing has probably been more helpful, lol. There's another character that isn't an Imperial, and in their culture psionics are embraced as a gift - so while they get some side-eye from various Imperial Authorities, but as long as they're not out there actively mucking with people they'll generally get ignored (especially since they are travelling with "the right kind of person")

Another character, whose backstory was that they a failed bioengineering attempt by a cult to create a Messiah (cue some stuff RE The Orchard from the old Starhunter TV show). The player just thought it was kind of a fun story and had no intention for the character to have psionics or anything like that (he's basically playing a computer hacker). I, in turn, thought this was a great idea, and it has been subsequently revealed he actually is a psychic (an oracle actually), but blacks out when he has visions, and his self-programmed AI companion (his Daimones) has interpreted his instructions to "take care of him" rather liberally and has been actively keeping this information secret from him because the character "is not as sane as he thinks he is" - incidentally he's also now found out that he is actually a clone of the original character because he's died at least once and started play one time with his Daimones doing a fidelity check...

Still a third character is a field researcher for the Ancient's Foundation, from a minor human race with strong psychic powers and was directly recruited into working for that institution as the Ancients and other Precursors were often known to utilize psionics. Outside of Intelligence circles, the Ancient's Foundation (or related Megacorp versions of it) is probably the primary repository for psionics in direct Imperial service. After that many of the big noble houses have at least some interest in having a psychic or two on staff as well.

My campaign style is that psionics are a tolerated and even an actively embraced skill/talent with certain echelons of the Imperium, but is treated much the same as a technology of mass destruction. Study (let alone use) is highly regulated, carefully controlled, and greatly feared. I also have things like disposable telepathic shields for the military (think of like the equivalent of a gas mask) and a lot more truly terrifying psionic threats outside of the Imperium that drives both the fear of psionics but the need to harness it.

D.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Can't read the colour you chose - please take pity on people with eyesight issues.

Hope that is a better color.

The three yellow sections are:

Thank you!

Then, of course, what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. NPCs have the same opportunities.

I always forget that part.

This stuff is gold.

My campaign style is that psionics are a tolerated and even an actively embraced skill/talent with certain echelons of the Imperium, but is treated much the same as a technology of mass destruction.

I like this.

 

[kilemall]

I disestablished the concept of a Paionics Institute one stop testing training org. Instead each talent is split up between governments, cults, megacorps, mad scientists etc and just do their one thing.

Each one generally expects loyalty and service to whatever the cause is and will not be pleased if a player takes on another org’s talent and obligations.