RPG Blog Alliance
- [Online Dungeon Master] D&D Next -- First playtest report May 28, 2012I had the pleasure of having my gaming group over to the house on Sunday for our first playtest of D&D Next. We played for about 4 hours, with the first 30 minutes being about character selection and rules discussion and the last 30 minutes for talking about the session and providing feedback. First, I want to give a big shout-out to the Weem, who provid […]
- [Grognardling] Mike Mearls Interview at Kobold Quarterly May 28, 2012Over at Kobold Quarterly, there's an interview with Mike Mearls. He specifically addresses some of the questions I've seen floating around the OSR blogs and it's just generally an interesting interview.
- [The Other Side] More Free Downloads May 28, 2012In the interest of providing you, the reader of the Other Side, only the finest in gaming accessories I give you a couple more more character sheets I have used in the past.Willow & Tara RPG SheetWillow & RPG Character JournalThese were designed for my "Willow & Tara RPG", which was a mix of Eden's Buffy, WitchCraft and Ghosts of A […]
- [Greyhawk Grognard] Games I Love: Core Worlds May 28, 2012A bit of a departure this time; this is a review of a game that came out this year rather than one that I bought back in the 1970's or 80's, but which has quickly vaulted into the ranks of my favorites. I had the opportunity this weekend to spend a few pleasant days with old friends playing board games. This is something of a ritual that my college […]
- [Roving Band of Misfits] Weekly Roundup: D&D Next Playtest Is Here Edition May 28, 2012So, the D&D Next playtest is here, and that’s what everyone is excited about. We’ve tried it out as well, and will save our thoughts for a podcast or article or something. Also, we thought we’d evidence our receipt to the Wayne Foundation for the RPG Charity Pack Match we did: Speaking of the playtest, a lot of people have blogged about it (predictably), […]
- [Strange Magic] Get $50 of Extra Miniatures May 28, 2012We're only 4 days until the end of our IndieGoGo campaign to raise startup funds to create our first set of 28mm metal miniatures. We're [...]
- [Take On Rules] Stomping Through "A Few Acres of Snow" on a Hot as Hell Day May 28, 2012This afternoon my son and I broke out my copy of Martin Wallace’s “A Few Acres of Snow” -- I wrote about it previouslywhen I first got it in January. It is a resource management wargame withasymmetricforces and numerous potential paths to victory.We worked our way through the rulebook with my son sneezing and sniffling due to allergies. There are about 20 di […]
- [Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer] [D&D Next] Background Features as Opportunities for Roleplay May 28, 2012One of the most puzzling comments I have ever heard from people after they’ve read the D&D Next Playtest Packet materials is that Background Features do nothing except provide skill bonuses. It’s a strange sort of opinion to have, as the Backgrounds are perhaps one of the brightest spots of hope in D&D Next for me. For those unfamiliar with them, Cha […]
- [A Walk in the Dark] May of the Dead: Death's Edge May 28, 2012As part of the May of the Dead blog carnival, I decided to do something similar to what I did with the Winter is Coming carnival: create yet another adventure module! This adventure is significantly smaller in scope than my earlier publications, but it's just getting started. It's a very short (5 scenes) level 0 adventure for Dungeon and Dragons 4t […]
- [frothsof4e] 'savages' and tegel manor May 28, 2012so i felt compelled to post bc i had such a great session this week. as kind of a side-quest in my gloomwraught game, they end up in a recreation of the judge's guild classic 'tegel manor'. my 'savage' monster types were a big reason it was so successful.with optimized pcs at level 12, the combat and pace of the game has the potentia […]
I’ve been hunting for a good OSR psionic system. I’d love to see what you’ve come up with. Do you intend to share it at some point?
The problem is that it is definitively not an real old school system. The whole system makes the psion into something akin to a magic user, just with a definitive psionic bent. And of coursse my players steered clear of it so far, so I don’t really know if it works yet.
But yes, when it’s in a usable form I will put it up here.
Let me clarify… I’ve been hunting for a system that [i]works[/i] with old school games. I don’t care really if it hews closely to the original psionics system or not. I’m certainly not concerned over whether it contains any psychic attack modes versus defense modes!
Anyway, good luck with the system, and I hope to see it at some point!
Have you looked at Green Ronin’s psychic system? You can find it in the Psychic’s Handbook and updated in the Advanced Player’s Manual. It’s rather more modeled on feats and skills than slots and points.
well, the problem is: i have to find a balance between stylistically appropriate and simplicity. I am not really going for a old school game here, instead I try to make a game that suits me. And at least some parts of 3rd ed. were not so bad. The Psionics system for example mmight be too close to a magic user, but it is so damn simple it hopefully will work out right.
But I guess I will have to look at the Advanced player’s manual. Maybe the ideas in there are helpful.
Summary: each psychic ability is a skill (buy up with ranks, etc) that may require a feat to be buyable. For instance, ‘Telepathy’ opens up the telepathy-based skills. They’re still crossclass for almost everyone, but there are psychic classes that allow them to be bought up as class skills. Using them causes strain (temporary hit point damage), depending what you do — force lifting a stick is less expensive than force lifting an X-Wing, and throwing either as a weapon will be more expensive than just lifting it. Sort of thing. Skill checks may be required in order to do the thing you are trying to do.
If you want to simplify it — personally, I am done with skill points and skill ranks — you can probably get by with a level check (level + ability modifier? Possibly different modifiers for different psychic abilities?) to use the various psychic abilities. You could keep the ‘build as you go’ effect construction or just can up some standard effects and stop there.
The latter choice might feel a little too much like spells though, so you might want to keep the effect construction… I don’t remember how fiddly it was to apply, it’s been quite a while since I looked at it closely.
You might constrain the effects by level or ability score (“anyone can learn telepathy, but you must be (10th level and/or Int 17) to do this“). You might instead (or also) have each ability learned independently, if you want to limit how many things each character can do. Different psychics might have different psychic powers available, and you might see them at varying degree of training even if they have the same class and level. You might have different psychic classes, if you really wanted.
I’m sure there are other simplifications that can be made. I’m pretty sure I know how I’d fit it to Echelon, but didn’t want to make this comment even longer.
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