Notes -- Psychic Powers in the 'Verse: A Fan Supplement for the Serenity Role-Playing Game

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(Things Roland said in replies on the thread)

Yep. Of course, 'trained' is a relative term when it comes to psychic powers. Let's just say that they can control their abilities, as opposed to River's apparently instinctive talents.

Also, 'training' has the potential for all manner of unpleasantness, from dirty little secrets to Allergy side-effects to some pretty leaky brainpans, but that's up to the player and GM.

I am actually thinking about the power levels involved (the GM's guide is coming, folks, honest), but there really are some simple ways to deal with that.

1) If you've got psychic good guys, you've got psychic bad guys. Period. I picture the Hands of Blue as agents (or even Agents ;^) of the Black Ops unit that created River in the first place. Also, with this many talents in the mix, you can bet that River's not the only escapee/rescuee. (Just try holding a Jumper against her will.) Nothin' says they're all as nice as River "he looks better in red" Tam, either.

2) IMO, at least one psi-related Complication should be a requirement. You don't have to have a Leaky Brainpan (or even a fatal Allergy) to qualify for this, either. Deadly Enemy is almost guaranteed -- there's them in the Alliance that want you back, or dead, even if you did fix your ticket with the Powers That Be. (Remember, there's always the Powers That Wannabe.) You could have been programmed as River was, or your powers may not be as completely in your control as you like.

3) Even if a player doesn't take a big psi Complication, botches are deliberately designed to be a clever GM's playground. Want your heroes on Londinium and the Jumper just botched? Who cares if they're on Athena? Need to call attention to that sneaky Mover who Tweaks everything that's not nailed down? Oops, botch, now half the bar's floatin' in mid-air and the whole place is a maze. A moving maze.

I'm a bit like Nathan, in that I don't think I'll be using such full-bore psionics in my campaign.However, from a game mechanic's interest, Z&W, can you please clear up how you get the "specialities" under each Asset? Here's my current understanding (for you to correct where necessary):- The "powers" are specialities of the Discipline General Skill-The 2, 6 or 10 skill points extra to the normal skill points a character gets (so a greenhorn gets 62 normal skill points and 2 psi skill points)-So a greenhorn can only get d8 in one "power", and a BDH can have d8 in all five powers or higher dice in fewer powers -- Willpower would be used as the Attribute for almost all checks
Thanks,Don

No problem! As it happens, you need no clarification, since you're exactly right. Obviously, all of this (being non-canon and non-official roles) is subject to the GM doing what s/he damn well pleases, but that's the rules as I wrote 'em. (GMs who think that's too much oomph can require psychics to buy Discipline specialties out of their regular pool, but for psi-heavy concepts that seemed excessive, especially for Big Damn Heroes.)

Well, considering the response of the town of hillfolk in Safe, I would guess people wouldn't like the idea of a psychic. However, considering that River is the only canonically confirmed Reader to not be in a bug-house, I would have to say that the general stance, in both the Core and on the Rim, would be that they don't believe in psychics AT ALL.
Blessed be,~Nathan

Yeah, pretty much. Remember Wash's reaction to the concept in the last Firefly episode, and IMO it's safe to assume that Wash is a fairly well-educated individual.

OTOH, the existence of psychics could range anywhere from hotly-debated to an open secret among conspiracy theorists and those in the know (think Mr. Universe). Certainly, the Hands of Blue indicate that psychic technology, if nothing else, is a major blacktech priority for the Alliance, which in turn indicates a huge investment in the project. That's why I posited the existence of enough psychics to justify the option as/for PCs.

Finally, having just watched the Shadow (a much underrated movie, though Shadow purists may object), I find the notion of such a character in the 'Verse, trained by an ancient Chinese sect, appealing. (And Shiwan Khan was just nasty. Psychic bad guys can really mess your heroes up. *eg*) Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Reader knows...

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