How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

[SimComm]

Hi All,

I will post in my other threads, but I had a question first, that's been brewing for a bit, hope you don't mind

Just wanted to know how other people hand Magic and Psionics.

Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi, as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight.

They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society.

The world, however, is pretty standard Super-fare, with four-color heroes and such.

The main hedge of the game runs around a group of heroes with magical abilities, who are (I hate to use the word, as it has certain connotations ) masquerading as four-color heroes with public identities, working out of a private investigation-style office to try and help out the city (which is New York City).

I know this is a bit unusual for standard Champions fare, but I've been having a LOT of fun with it, especially since it forces the PCs to deal with the more "flamboyant" four-color world as well as having the standard secrets (tho not SI) and magical things that they have to try and keep quiet.

Please let me know what you think of my world, and also let me know how you handle these sorts of things in yours.

 

Thanks

-SC

[Doug McCrae]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

I guess my world is much like the Marvel/DC universe. The general public know superheroes, super-science, aliens, other dimensions and weird terrestrial species like the moloids (mine are called the Sub-Men) exist, but don't believe in ancient gods, ghosts and magic. The PCs defeated a J-horror ghost early on in my campaign. They didn't call it a ghost at the press conference though, I think they termed it an 'extra-dimensional entity'.

 

You have an interesting idea there, of a secret world within the standard superhero universe, it does look quite V:tM-y. Ultimately though aren't capabilities much more important than sources? If a crazed loon is flying thru Manhattan destroying buildings with his energy blasts, then does it really matter whether his power source is magic or genetic engineering? Either way the authorities will try to stop him.

[CourtFool]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

I am currently running a multi-dimension hoping campaign. I have never specifically stated it was magical, psionic, what-have-you. With people poping in and out of dimensions, it just does not really come up.

 

I find it unusual that supers are publicly and known, but magic and psionics are not. Maybe all of the 'super powers' have scientific explanations. Magic, by definition, is mysterious and secretive. Ultimate power…and it can be taught. We certainly do not want that to get out. And Psionics? I do not want anyone reading my mind. Best to keep them on a tight leash too.

 

How long have supers been on the scene? Are they a recent development? I could see that magic and psionics have been around for a while but hidden away from the public. Then, Wham, here come super powers that people gain overnight without no formal training in how to control. Buch of damn upstarts.

 

Magical and psionic societies want to keep their secrets, well…secret. Otherwise, they have to sign up on the Federal Mutant Registration List too. We do not want that. Best we just keep our puppets out front and let these 'supers' take the heat.

[Certified]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

In the Metahumans Rising setting Magic is something that has always existed. A popular modern belief is that magic and supernatural creatures were earlier Metahumans before science fully uncovered these genetic differences. However, this theory would be wrong. There are those people out there who are able to tap into magical forces without being genetically different. These mages are often secretive some belong to arcane orders while others study alone.

 

As for Psionics, this category of powers is seen as little different than normal Metahumans. Psychics are often considered dangerous due to fears mind reading and control but beyond that there is little more than the normal stigma.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi' date=' as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight.[/quote']

That sounds reasonable, but could you give us some examples.

They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society.

Make sense, especially give the Nature of Magic. Not to mention the price. No known Magician or Telepath would be trusted by the majority of society and the Government would rather keep it a secret, especially about a group they cannot control, locate, or counter.

The world' date=' however, is pretty standard Super-fare, with four-color heroes and such.[/quote']

My favourite.

The main hedge of the game runs around a group of heroes with magical abilities' date=' who are (I hate to use the word, as it has certain connotations ) masquerading as four-color heroes with public identities, working out of a private investigation-style office to try and help out the city (which is New York City).[/quote']

More more more...

I know this is a bit unusual for standard Champions fare' date=' but I've been having a LOT of fun with it, especially since it forces the PCs to deal with the more "flamboyant" four-color world as well as having the standard secrets (tho not SI) and magical things that they have to try and keep quiet.[/quote']

If you are having fun and the players are having fun, don't stop.

Please let me know what you think of my world' date=' and also let me know how you handle these sorts of things in yours.[/quote']

I like the concept, but I want to know more.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

QM

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

In my game world, magic practitioners are generally more subtle than other superpowered types, but it's not an active, secret-society type thing. Going on CourtFool's point that magic can be taught, and is therefore more accessible to normal people than other superpowers, however, I can easily see a secret society acting to keep things more hushed.

 

Psionics are a bit more troublesome, mainly due to the general perception of them. Even supers fear psis (put just one psi on a villain team, and watch who gets trashed first!), so it's understandable that the general populace has major paranoia/fear/hatred/distrust of them. So most psis try and work quietly if at all possible. In my game world, I completely re-did PSI, partly with this in mind. If anything, in my world PSI is the closest to a psionic secret society (though not with the same goals and principles as SimComm stated).

[SimComm]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Wow, thanks for all of the great replies!

 

And, um, I'm glad people are interested in my setting, I'll try and explain things more.

 

In my setting, Magic and Psi have been around MUCH longer than Super-Powers, back to the dawn of humanity sort of thing.

 

Magic, though it can be taught to many, runs heavily through families for the really powerful abilities. A long time ago (sometime during the Renaissance Era), a group of really powerful wizards got together and basically toned down the magic of the entire world so that normals couldn't get access to spells, magic creatures would fade of existance, and make the world a bit safer. Thus entered the Age of "Science."

However, magic is still there, just in limited amounts, and the Council of Eldars (as the Immortal wizards are now calling themselves) have always sent out agents to try and find out if there's anything dangerous wandering around. There aren't that many wizards, so they've usually been quiet.

 

Hellraiser (Harry) sort of threw this on its ear, when the PC decided that he'd go public and make himself into a "super-hero."

Super-Heroes, being sort of a new phenomenon (I mean, they've only been around for less than a century ), made the Council worry (and gave Harry ANOTHER Hunted), but gave Harry and his crew an excuse to be doing weird things out in the open.

They just can't truthfully explain why things happen the way they do.

It's fun, especially when they run into all of the really weird 4-color aspects.

My most recent fun memory with them (actually yesterday) was when the Mayor decided to throw a "welcome back" party for one of the new heroines (actually a hero/heroine... it's complicated...), and the heroes were forced to deal with a "Super-Party." Large, muscular swaggering guys talking about who can bend the most steel, fly the highest, etc.

 

Psionics are done a bit differently, as they decided fairly recently (about 1950 or so) to pull themselves COMPLETELY out of the normal world. Basically, they all got together with their agents and mindwiped the entire planet so that nobody would remember anything about psychic powers. Their agents did their best cleaning up the more "physical" aspects and capturing anyone who showed any psi ability (which, since it is pretty much genetic, is kind of rare). They all live in camoflaged convents in secluded parts of the world, and really just don't want to deal with the real world. Their agents (many of who have "mild" psychic abilities) aren't so lucky, and have to be on the lookout for anything "unusual."

 

The Council of Eldars and the Psi-Mind (the name for the "universal hive mind" that is the psychics) know of each other and reluctantly work together.

 

I hope this explains more!

 

-SC

[Stone]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Hi All,

I will post in my other threads, but I had a question first, that's been brewing for a bit, hope you don't mind

Just wanted to know how other people hand Magic and Psionics.

Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi, as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight.

They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society.

The world, however, is pretty standard Super-fare, with four-color heroes and such.

The main hedge of the game runs around a group of heroes with magical abilities, who are (I hate to use the word, as it has certain connotations ) masquerading as four-color heroes with public identities, working out of a private investigation-style office to try and help out the city (which is New York City).

I know this is a bit unusual for standard Champions fare, but I've been having a LOT of fun with it, especially since it forces the PCs to deal with the more "flamboyant" four-color world as well as having the standard secrets (tho not SI) and magical things that they have to try and keep quiet.

Please let me know what you think of my world, and also let me know how you handle these sorts of things in yours.

 

Thanks

-SC

 

Sounds interesting, but are the PC's part of a secret society scooping up magic/psionic items/people, or are they operating on their own? If they are operating on their own, then you could use said secret society to begin to watch, track, interfere, recruit, or even hunt/capture the PC's.

 

I agree with what has been said. Psionics would breed suspicion & fear amongst the populace far greater than magic would. You have an interesting game setting.

[CourtFool]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

I like it. When do the PCs get to head off an out-right war between the Council and Hive? You know…'cause that is just waiting to explode.

[SimComm]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Stone:

They are technically agents. (In the loosest meaning of the word )

As Harry's put it many a time, "Don't let little things like death threats from insanely powerful beings keep you from doing what's right."

So if there's a vulnerable character who seems to do magic, but might be best NOT scooped up, they won't, and they'll excuse it (though it'll be frowned on with consequences, but the group will gladly take it).

Their cover is that they're "metahuman independant contractors"/PIs, and thus get called by the police if anything unusual pops up. (They're much more available than the 4-colors who are out saving the world on a constant basis.)

They also do umm... "side jobs" to make ends meet. (The Council doesn't believe in money as a concept, but refuse to let anyone use their magic to conjure gold or whatnot. Likewise, the Psi-Mind refuse to send anything that will let it be traced back to them)

 

CourtFool:

Actually, Dreamy was introduced to the cast after an adventure was done just to PREVENT an outright war. She's the "bargaining chip" that keeps both sides happy. Sort of. (Ok, not really, but less seething than otherwise )

 

-SC

[Tasha]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

I brought this up in another thread. In a world where folk can generate blasts of energy from their bodies, Magic won't be seen as that unusual. It kind of blends into the other 4 Color heroes doing their 4 Color thing. Anyone who is exposed to magic, will mentally write it off as what ever the current explanation for Superpowers.

 

Psi being so buried would be different. It would be like how the PsiCorp is handled in B5. A bunch of telepaths who join an organization because they really have no other choice, but are still treated like dirt for what they can do. Any mental ability would cause a lot of mistrust by the public (the whole, I wonder of so and so is reading my mind right now? OMG they might find out my deep secret!)

 

I had once wanted to run something that was similar to this. A genre crossing UrbanFantasy+Champions game. I realized that adding Urban Fantasy to Champions wouldn't cause a ripple. Magic isn't that much different from having superpowers. What I ended up doing instead was running a high power Urban Fantasy game.

 

BTW your campaign sounds quite interesting

[Guest steamteck]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Just wanted to know how other people hand Magic and Psionics.

Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi, as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight.

They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society.

-SC

 

I run a multiverse campaign with 3 linked universes. They are linked by certain gate points and certain individuals who can travel between with passangers.

 

The Steamteck universe has both magic and psionics commonly accepted but only the educated or in the know notice psionics is different from magic.

 

The si fi universe has psionics as a known fact and utilized by many agencies but generally mistrusted by the general public.

 

The superhero universe has both but general society and most heroes treat magic as undiscovered science wrapped in superstition. The mages themselves operate under a code to make magic seem at the very least something not everyone can learn and hopefully explainable by science. The world was almost destroyed eons ago by legions of mages when man kind went magic crazy and they don't want a repeat. They mostly confine their efforts to supernatural problems.

 

Psionics are generally mistrusted because they can "get into your mind" but otherwise are just another superhuman ability.

[Odraude]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Funny I see this because I am running a game specifically about this.

 

In my game, magic has been around for centuries and there have been three types; Theurgy (divine magic of priests, clerics, the Vatican, etc.), Arcane (wizardry, alchemy, etc), and Infernal (pacts with horrific extra-dimensional beings like Cthulu or the Kings of Edom). Magic has the same history as in the real world only now the modern world has magic. There are few mages in the world (no Harry Potter-esque school) and each practice different magics. Alchemists, necromancers, shamans, mediums, etc. Mages are separate from the government and their main council has no want in being affiliated with governments.

 

As for psions, there are various reactions to them. The general reaction is more positive and organizations trying to help society accept them. There are government groups that fund schools in helping psions use their powers and teaching ethics and such. There are of course some governments that want to exploit them and their powers, some people that are afraid of the psions, and some psions that believe they are the next evolution of mankind and should be its rightful rulers. There are various amounts of psychic powers, from classic telepathy and telekinesis to more exotic powers like teleportation, mind over matter, and energy discharge.

 

The main organization in helping psions is known as the National Association for Psychic Advancement and Acceptance (NAPAA). The main government branch that uses psychics for military intelligence and espionage are called the Special Covert Operations of Psychic Espionage (SCOPE).

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

Od

 

Mind bullets!!

[CoreBrute]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

After seeing all these great ideas, it got me thinking if I could apply this to my series of games.

 

Golden age: It is a time of war, so Magic is taken as a necessary sacrifice of war. Super soldiers with magic carpets, enchanted rings are all there doing the good fight. To the general public they believe it's just a trick (like Harry houdini and all the Occult Detectives of the Pulp Era) or a meta human power.

In Germany however, Magic is utilised far more and many soldiers are sent out everyday to find more artifacts that could be used for the glory of the Third Reich. The Leader of the Thule Society has acutally created 2 Ubermensch via mystic artifacts and deals with the devil. He is working on his greatest project, summoning a demon from hell itself.

 

Psionics are a rare and misunderstood concept. If you asked people what a psionic was they would shrug. The only real psionics for most of the Allied side are the few hypnotists and mediums who take up the masked mantle. Same with the Germans, Italians and Japanese.

 

But Russia...Ever Since the death of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, the Russians were enchanted by the idea of the mind's power. Once Vladimir Lenin took powers he sought out all the psionics of Russia and brought them together under a special unit Дети разума (Children of the Mind), where their abilites were trained and studied.

In 1925, Joeseph Stalin took the Unit in a whole new direction. He had them experimented on and took hundreds of prisoners so they could be experimented on and develop abilities. His methods, however brutal worked. By 1939 he had 54 Psionics of varying abilities, all brainwashed to love him.

 

He kept the 10 strongest with him as his special guard and thought police but sent the rest to serve the war as spies.

 

Silver Age: After the War, Joeseph McCarthy held his McCarthy Trials to arrest hundreds of supposed Communists. However he also arrested hundreds of Psionics, for the war had revealed the horror of these creatures the Russians grew.

 

Even those who served loyally in the War, like Dr Hypnowatch and Lady Trick whose illusions helped save hundreds of lives, were arrested and put on mock trials. They weren't even allowed in the trials to speak up for themselves, for fear of corrupting the mind of the judges. Superheroes of all sorts had to be careful not to give any hint of being psychic and some had to emigrate to Canada to avoid being found.

 

In 1950s, an outcry at the evils of magic which corrputed the soul rang out from the populace. The Dark Arts were evil and against God and hundreds of magicians and sorcerers were assulted in their homes the PSU (Purity of Souls Union).

 

It didn't help when the organisation DEMON released a plot to summon a creature of chaos to destroy New York. The American Government made it the goal of all sanctioned heroes to hunt all suspected members of DEMON and made them Public Enemy No 1. Innocent mystic super heroes, or those whose mutations made them look demonic were caught in the purge.

 

Don't know about the Bronze Age.

 

What do you think of this? Good or should I change/add something?

[Clonus]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Well I ran one game where "magic" existed as far as people were concerned but wasn't a separate special effect from psionics. Magic was just a particular way to develop and apply psionic potential.

[Odraude]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

After seeing all these great ideas, it got me thinking if I could apply this to my series of games.

 

Golden age: It is a time of war, so Magic is taken as a necessary sacrifice of war. Super soldiers with magic carpets, enchanted rings are all there doing the good fight. To the general public they believe it's just a trick (like Harry houdini and all the Occult Detectives of the Pulp Era) or a meta human power.

In Germany however, Magic is utilised far more and many soldiers are sent out everyday to find more artifacts that could be used for the glory of the Third Reich. The Leader of the Thule Society has acutally created 2 Ubermensch via mystic artifacts and deals with the devil. He is working on his greatest project, summoning a demon from hell itself.

 

Psionics are a rare and misunderstood concept. If you asked people what a psionic was they would shrug. The only real psionics for most of the Allied side are the few hypnotists and mediums who take up the masked mantle. Same with the Germans, Italians and Japanese.

 

But Russia...Ever Since the death of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, the Russians were enchanted by the idea of the mind's power. Once Vladimir Lenin took powers he sought out all the psionics of Russia and brought them together under a special unit Дети разума (Children of the Mind), where their abilites were trained and studied.

In 1925, Joeseph Stalin took the Unit in a whole new direction. He had them experimented on and took hundreds of prisoners so they could be experimented on and develop abilities. His methods, however brutal worked. By 1939 he had 54 Psionics of varying abilities, all brainwashed to love him.

 

He kept the 10 strongest with him as his special guard and thought police but sent the rest to serve the war as spies.

 

Silver Age: After the War, Joeseph McCarthy held his McCarthy Trials to arrest hundreds of supposed Communists. However he also arrested hundreds of Psionics, for the war had revealed the horror of these creatures the Russians grew.

 

Even those who served loyally in the War, like Dr Hypnowatch and Lady Trick whose illusions helped save hundreds of lives, were arrested and put on mock trials. They weren't even allowed in the trials to speak up for themselves, for fear of corrupting the mind of the judges. Superheroes of all sorts had to be careful not to give any hint of being psychic and some had to emigrate to Canada to avoid being found.

 

In 1950s, an outcry at the evils of magic which corrputed the soul rang out from the populace. The Dark Arts were evil and against God and hundreds of magicians and sorcerers were assulted in their homes the PSU (Purity of Souls Union).

 

It didn't help when the organisation DEMON released a plot to summon a creature of chaos to destroy New York. The American Government made it the goal of all sanctioned heroes to hunt all suspected members of DEMON and made them Public Enemy No 1. Innocent mystic super heroes, or those whose mutations made them look demonic were caught in the purge.

 

Don't know about the Bronze Age.

 

What do you think of this? Good or should I change/add something?

 

I had a similar history for mine for the psions, though there was a huge psychic arms race between the USA, Russia, China, and Europe that ended in a massive psion civil rights movement in the 80's followed by my main psychic villain, Holocaust, trying to rule the would and all the psion leaders and heroes joining together to beat him. From then on, psions were seen in more of a positive light.

[Stone]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

I must admit as a GM, I am not a fan of most mental powers. IMO its way too easy for mental powers to be story killers. Yes I know there are steps an Arch-Villain can take, but not every villain will smart enough to take these precautions. In my game world PSI exists, but has made a great effort to hide itself from the world. Mental abilities spark a great deal of fear in humanity. PSI prefers to stay in the shadows and influence outcomes rather than announce its presence. PSI also is constantly searching for those with mental abilities. Their goal is to train these people how to use their abilities, and of course to earn their loyalty. If the person has significant mental abilities, PSI is less gentle in its approach with the person. You have two options; 1) Join us, 2) Pick where you want to be buried.

 

I know this sounds harsh, but it does make things interesting for any PC's who are mental based.

[bubba smith]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Hi All,

I will post in my other threads, but I had a question first, that's been brewing for a bit, hope you don't mind

Just wanted to know how other people hand Magic and Psionics.

Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi, as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight.

They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society.

The world, however, is pretty standard Super-fare, with four-color heroes and such.

The main hedge of the game runs around a group of heroes with magical abilities, who are (I hate to use the word, as it has certain connotations ) masquerading as four-color heroes with public identities, working out of a private investigation-style office to try and help out the city (which is New York City).

I know this is a bit unusual for standard Champions fare, but I've been having a LOT of fun with it, especially since it forces the PCs to deal with the more "flamboyant" four-color world as well as having the standard secrets (tho not SI) and magical things that they have to try and keep quiet.

Please let me know what you think of my world, and also let me know how you handle these sorts of things in yours.

 

Thanks

-SC

good idea the reptonfa has swung[dont worry thats a good thing]

[CourtFool]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

[dont worry thats a good thing]

 

No it isn't!

[bubba smith]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

why ?thats what i usually say when i tell someone i've given them rep

[CourtFool]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

why ?thats what i usually say when i tell someone i've given them rep

 

 

Your paradigm is flawed.

[bubba smith]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

how so?

[pinecone]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Hi All,

I will post in my other threads, but I had a question first, that's been brewing for a bit, hope you don't mind

Just wanted to know how other people hand Magic and Psionics.

Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi, as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight.

They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society.

The world, however, is pretty standard Super-fare, with four-color heroes and such.

The main hedge of the game runs around a group of heroes with magical abilities, who are (I hate to use the word, as it has certain connotations ) masquerading as four-color heroes with public identities, working out of a private investigation-style office to try and help out the city (which is New York City).

I know this is a bit unusual for standard Champions fare, but I've been having a LOT of fun with it, especially since it forces the PCs to deal with the more "flamboyant" four-color world as well as having the standard secrets (tho not SI) and magical things that they have to try and keep quiet.

Please let me know what you think of my world, and also let me know how you handle these sorts of things in yours.

 

Thanks

-SC

 

Sounds cool! In my games "Magic" is secret and hidden, most folks simply do not listen to such nonsense. Psionics is considered "real" but normal folk hate and fear telepaths, so Telepathy is "hush-hush"( Both the government and Viper help keep the Telepaths= evil privacy invading psycho freak meme going) I find it adds a little extra fun to things...

 

of course most adventuring mages claim to be psionics..

[Doug McCrae]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

If you asked people what a psionic was they would shrug.

Maybe because John W Campbell coined the term in 1956.

[SimComm]

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi?

 

Thank you all for the replies!

I'm glad to see how magic is done all over!

I've actually been thinking about adding in alternate dimensions that are close to the original one (My robot ninja is from one, for example, but it's a really divergent future), so it would be interesting to see if I could change how magic/psi is handled.

 

After thinking about things, I must admit that my first real game experience was in World of Darkness, and I had a great time with a campaign that kind of has echos to this one. I'm not sure if I should write about that, as this is the Champions board. If you all like, I can, but I don't want to fill up things if people aren't familiar with the system/don't like it. I know there's a lot of VtM dislikers out there... (Can't say I blame some of them either, I tried a few other games that were... not so great...)

 

-SC