Sketchpad Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I've never seen it' date=' but does SCANNERS qualify?[/quote'] I would say that'd be a prerequiste to any Psi campaign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted September 20, 2005 Report Share Posted September 20, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I've never seen it' date=' but does SCANNERS qualify?[/quote'] Oh, yeah. Scanners should definitely be a mandatory part of the film- ography of any psi-war campaign. BTW, limit your viewing to the original movie. The subsequent sequels really suck big-time. Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Oh' date=' yeah. [i']Scanners[/i] should definitely be a mandatory part of the film- ography of any psi-war campaign. BTW, limit your viewing to the original movie. The subsequent sequels really suck big-time. Major Tom I dunno ... I liked the 3rd one ... had some neat ideas in it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParitySoul Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Okay a bit more of anime info: Sc-ry-ed - The "alters" are actualy mentaly controled constructs from another dimention. What happened was that years ago an accident happened and the part of Japan called the "Raised Ground" fluxed upwards due to expanding extra dimentional matters entering it. Children born around this time developed a mental defence/reaction that allowed them to summon and adapt to the alien energies. The first Alter users were born. Btw: As the series progresses, the various Alter uses learn to tap more and more into this other world. It's not healthy for human life but they encase themselves in physical manfestions of their mental energy. (Really out there.) Gundam - Universal Centry is a perfect example of highpowered precogs duking it out over long ranges in space. Pilots who just are natruals are 'New Types', due to their evolution to space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Silent Mobius has "Ylpers" (ESP & Esper is obsolete). Ylpers are capable of telekinesis, telepathy, precongition, telekinetic energy blasts and RKAs, teleportation (useable as an attack), and similar anime esper powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Woo-Hoo! One Oldmanship! I tend to think of it as song three' date=' side A, from the album. Got it on Vinyl, baby. My first album.[/quote'] Ha! It was my first wax cylinder! Oh wait, cassette. (Along with a few others.) So when is Blue Oyster Cult Hero coming out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParitySoul Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Locke: The Superman- Basicaly a cosmic scale psion. Babel 3rd- More of the same. But good source. It's all earth local. Giant Robo- OVA not the TV series. The "Defenders of Justice" are a fun mix of super martial artists and psis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThothAmon Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Other fiction worth examining (and I'm surprised it hasn't yet been mentioned given its winning of the Bram Stoker Award) would be Dan Simmons excellent psi-oriented Carrion Comfort, featuring many intriguing uses of Mind Control and Telepathy. A slightly lesser known oldie-but-goodie that provided my teen years with a mind-blowing take on psis and psi-tech is the 50's classic Jack Of Eagles by James Blish. This deals directly with a Psi War and provides intriguing looks at psi powers, power levels and simple methods of countering the same. It's one of the earliest SF examinations of the psi genre and well worth the effort. I'll echo the positive comments for Alfred Bester. Likewise for Brian Lumley but for the first three Necroscope novels only and none of the later ones. Then I'd suggest Lumley's Psychomech / Psychosphere / Psychoamok trilogy which deal directly with a specific Psi Wars genre. Their depictions of machine-augmented psionics are rather vivid. Moviewise I'd suggest Scanners (first one only), The Dead Zone, Firestarter, The Fury, Carrie and I can think of an original Star Trek episode that fits the bill too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Admiral C Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I'll echo the positive comments for Alfred Bester. Likewise for Brian Lumley but for the first three Necroscope novels only and none of the later ones. Then I'd suggest Lumley's Psychomech / Psychosphere / Psychoamok trilogy which deal directly with a specific Psi Wars genre. Their depictions of machine-augmented psionics are rather vivid. I'd second the Psychomech series. Your right about not bothering with Necroscope after the first three novels (for pis abilities) but it is a point a Psi HERO style book should cover. What happens when a psi dies? If he leaves a pyshic loop or imprint on the RW can other pis's sense it? I seem to remember the "Hunters Hunted" book for WoD had a Necropsi background in it that allowed you sense/comunicate/ and finally trap spirits. BTW there is a Necroscope RPG out there somewhere, I think WEG made it for their Masterbook series. If it's a near future setting as well having some far future recomendations could good to. A HERO version of a GHOST (?) from Starcraft, or invading alien intelligences. Maybe samples on how to create "undecipherable alien mind" powers. As for books and movies I'm really suprised nobody's suggested E.E. Doc Smiths "Lenseman" series. Definetly high powered though, and hard to find. And of course a verse from the BOC song at the beginning of at least on chapter. Adm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I've got a volume of the first Lensmen stories, so I'm slightly embarassed that I didn't suggest it myself. The first generation of Lensmen (Virgil Samms, Rod Kinnison, Conway Costigan, etc.) are tough hombres in their own right, but come several centuries later (it's never specified exactly how many centuries in the stories), here comes Kimball Kinnison, a Grey Lensman of such power that not only can he take control of someone else's mind, but he can also kill a criminal with his own guilty conscience. Now, if that isn't an example of a guy not to frell with, I don't know what is. Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParitySoul Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Lensmen was a bit over the top. The Greylensman was the plot breaker who ended the war, etc. But if you work it from say a Triplanetary level, fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Lensmen was a bit over the top. The Greylensman was the plot breaker who ended the war' date=' etc. But if you work it from say a Triplanetary level, fine! [/quote'] They mentioned in GURPS Lensman that the Lensman series was far from being finished at the time of E.E. Smith's death, and that he had shown the story that he had begun work on to Robert Heinlein, but that it wasn't yet ready for publication. From what was said, the plot of this un- finished book was supposed to develop from clues that were in the last couple of stories, and the implication was was that the war wasn't quite over. Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutant for Hire Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Well, the whole framing sequence of Children of the Lens implied that whoever was going through the record capsule was doing it because something had come up and they needed to be briefed on the situation. And the reason the book was unpublishable back then was because it was strongly implied in Children of the Lens that Kit Kinnison would mate with his sisters to produce a new race of Guardians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParitySoul Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars And the reason the book was unpublishable back then was because it was strongly implied in Children of the Lens that Kit Kinnison would mate with his sisters to produce a new race of Guardians. Ah. That old Chestnut eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Well, the whole framing sequence of Children of the Lens implied that whoever was going through the record capsule was doing it because something had come up and they needed to be briefed on the situation. And the reason the book was unpublishable back then was because it was strongly implied in Children of the Lens that Kit Kinnison would mate with his sisters to produce a new race of Guardians. TMI, man. TMI. Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Admiral C Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Something I wanted to ask about PW is how big is it going to be? Is it going to HU: Urban Abyss big or DC: The Animated series big? And is there going be extensive background material like package deals, vehicles, and equipment? The HERO EQ Guide doesn't really cover the in-between tech from DC to Terran Empire. Also will PW come out after the new Ultimate Mentalist book? Adm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted October 15, 2005 Report Share Posted October 15, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I definitely reccomend the non-fiction book Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits - specifically, he has a whole chapter discussing psionics, EXTREMELY well thought out and logically presented. The chapter on the Laws of Magic may give some good ideas about how psi plays, too. Much of the book may not be relevant to what you are interested in here, but I strongly suggest that chapter discussing categories of psi abilities. I know you mentioned wanting to avoid roleplaying sources, but if you can find Authentic Thaumaturgy by the same author, I think it will give you most if not all of the same relevant materiel, and less extraneous matter, specifically written for use in RPGs. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary wants to go look at that puppeteer thread again for some reason..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 15, 2005 Report Share Posted October 15, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I definitely reccomend the non-fiction book Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits - specifically, he has a whole chapter discussing psionics, EXTREMELY well thought out and logically presented. The chapter on the Laws of Magic may give some good ideas about how psi plays, too. Much of the book may not be relevant to what you are interested in here, but I strongly suggest that chapter discussing categories of psi abilities. I know you mentioned wanting to avoid roleplaying sources, but if you can find Authentic Thaumaturgy by the same author, I think it will give you most if not all of the same relevant materiel, and less extraneous matter, specifically written for use in RPGs. I found Authentic Thaumaturgy unreadable and not very useful myself. Hmm... my copy is in my "sale" pile, in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 15, 2005 Report Share Posted October 15, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Oh, it was readable. Aside from Bonewits' annoying sense of humor, it wasn't a bad read, overall. It was absolutely unplayable, however. It looks good with a cursory examination, but completely falls apart the minute you try to actually use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Well, the whole framing sequence of Children of the Lens implied that whoever was going through the record capsule was doing it because something had come up and they needed to be briefed on the situation. And the reason the book was unpublishable back then was because it was strongly implied in Children of the Lens that Kit Kinnison would mate with his sisters to produce a new race of Guardians. Sort of forshadows the whole Heinlein later obsession with incestuous sexual relationships. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I definitely reccomend the non-fiction book Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits - specifically, he has a whole chapter discussing psionics, EXTREMELY well thought out and logically presented. The chapter on the Laws of Magic may give some good ideas about how psi plays, too. Much of the book may not be relevant to what you are interested in here, but I strongly suggest that chapter discussing categories of psi abilities. I know you mentioned wanting to avoid roleplaying sources, but if you can find Authentic Thaumaturgy by the same author, I think it will give you most if not all of the same relevant materiel, and less extraneous matter, specifically written for use in RPGs. I've gotten more gaming use out of Real Magic than Authentic Thaumaturgy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSgeekHero Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Something I wanted to ask about PW is how big is it going to be? Is it going to HU: Urban Abyss big or DC: The Animated series big? And is there going be extensive background material like package deals, vehicles, and equipment? The HERO EQ Guide doesn't really cover the in-between tech from DC to Terran Empire. Also will PW come out after the new Ultimate Mentalist book? Adm I'm hoping its Hudson City size with some near future sci-fi tech. I do recommend all of the Star Wars movies. The main reason to do so is for pitfalls. The importance of not contradicting yourself later in the campaign and the question, "Just how over-the-top do we go with this concept?" When I first heard about Psychic Wars, I thought it might be mildly interesting. Now, however, it has come up in one-shots and I've read through the threads and the cash is just-a-burnin'-a-hole-in-me-pocket! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars I found Authentic Thaumaturgy unreadable and not very useful myself. Hmm... my copy is in my "sale" pile' date=' in fact.[/quote'] So I assume you'll sell it to me cheap? Lucius Alexander How many laws of magick do you see applying to the palindromedary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars So I assume you'll sell it to me cheap? Sure. I'd just have to dig it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted November 13, 2005 Report Share Posted November 13, 2005 Re: Psychic Wars Is Allen still going to work on this? I know that I've been looking foward to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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