In message: [email removed] Mike Metlay writes:
>
>And, my most pet peeve of all, the one thing I have never seen run or
>played well in this game: Psionics
Yup. Tough to run. Not really in and of itself, but more from the
way some players (try to) use (abuse) it.
> (Take your pick: either "Oh, he
>can't sneak up on me, I'm reading his mind"
There's a solution to this one. I've had to deal with it several
times ("I'm just walking along, listening to the mental currents...").
The solution is...Psionic Strength Points. Okay. Joe Munchkin's new
*favorite* character "Biff the Absurdly Over-Muscled" has a PSR of 10.
He wants to walk along using telepathy as a warning device. The Ref
says, "Okay," and, unbeknownst to Joe, strikes off one point *every ten
minutes*. Yes, that's right--he uses up his psi in just over an hour
and a half. Then, later, when he wants to use his psi in, say, an
interrogation, the Ref says, "That's unfortunate--you used up your psi
points hours ago, running continuous telepathy." Needless to say, Joe
will try to "book lawyer" his way out of this (if necessary, he'll
whine) with some (usually quite creative) misinterpretation of the
rules. The Ref's attitude should be, "Tough." Eventually, Joe will
learn the lesson of Traveller Psionics (see below).
> or "You mean this guy I've
>been running with for a game year is a psi? Geez, I really feel bad
>about this, but I blow him away when his back's turned."). Sigh...
I haven't seen this one, since my players tend to take the
pragmatic attitude that *any* extra power in their hands is a good
thing that might come in handy later. Of course, this doesn't mean that
*NPCs* feel the same way... :-) Seriously, though, this kind of
situation is a perfect example of the other half of the Traveller
Psionics Lesson:
Psionics are neat and flashy and can (occasionally) be useful,
but they don't buy you enough to be worth the effort.
Think about it. They're hard to get (Psi institutes are *very*
rare, not to mention difficult to find), by the time you get them,
you're probably old enough that you have a very low strength, and they
provide a source of continuing danger to the possessor.
Once a party figures this out, psionics ceases to be a problem. At
least, that's how it has worked for me so far.
- --
Brent
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