tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post4673204057509555165..comments2024-03-18T20:22:06.331-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: The Articles of Dragon: "And Now, The Psionicist"James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11097347136097986842011-12-29T07:50:46.123-05:002011-12-29T07:50:46.123-05:00generally speaking,
psionics as an concept in a fa...generally speaking,<br />psionics as an concept in a fantasy game is great. theres no reason to really differentiate them from arcane magic. whats the difference between using the mind to harness forces, or using your "mind" by reading texts, or your mind to do a complex movement, or your mind to spew words out of your mouth to harness/trigger "external" energies flowing through "wherever"? just because the mechanics of it were rushed/botched/whatever, doesnt mean the concept is.<br /><br />and arguing about what is fantasy and what isnt for a game based on imagination building and fiction is pretty lame. why frown on potential ideas for imaginative storytelling? and how do you run any mindflayer encounter without any attempt at psionics? hopefully their XP is cut in half if so.<br /><br />pretty sure i rememeber re-reading this article a couple years back to play in a skype game.Karlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06816975649174987528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-6565048573946268942011-12-23T11:26:21.959-05:002011-12-23T11:26:21.959-05:00I just stumbled upon your site today, after spendi...<i>I just stumbled upon your site today, after spending some time on EBay with my 10-yr old son looking for Ral Partha figures. In homage to all-night campaigns from the late 70's early 80's, I may spend the next 10 hours looking through your archives. What a wonderful discovery.</i><br /><br>Thanks for sharing this!James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-88946025578016564082011-12-21T20:05:41.723-05:002011-12-21T20:05:41.723-05:00http://www.manta.com/g/mm03ck1/arthur-collins
Per...http://www.manta.com/g/mm03ck1/arthur-collins<br /><br />Perhaps?freebfrosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01851863049585101395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-41621101758222486532011-12-21T13:29:18.436-05:002011-12-21T13:29:18.436-05:00Arthur Collins, as I recall, lives in Indiana. He&...Arthur Collins, as I recall, lives in Indiana. He's a Methodist minister and I've tried a couple of times to hunt him down without any success.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70371941985487050082011-12-21T13:27:32.110-05:002011-12-21T13:27:32.110-05:00Does anyone know where Collins is now? I've a...Does anyone know where Collins is now? I've asked about, but can't find any information. I started wondering when I was beginning to work on <i>Under the Dying Sun</i> and immediately went and reread this article in prep for a nothing-but-psionics setting. I didn't actually use much from the article, but it was still valuable.<br /><br />I agree that he was an excellent writer and, as someone else who is less prolific, I sort of appreciate that quality in him. :) <br /><br />IIRC, he wrote one about setting up his long-term campaign that I always enjoyed (with Morgan LeFay as the Big Bad).Matthew Slepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04056247825064943944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-88836823838087337762011-12-20T22:26:34.876-05:002011-12-20T22:26:34.876-05:00I played one of these for a while in a campaign an...I played one of these for a while in a campaign and had a really good time with it. He met his demise when encountering a Mind Flayer while very low on power, which was a wonderfully horrific death. I still fondly remember that character and how impressed I was with the innovation in the class design.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17116795932377593506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69406949538947661282011-12-20T21:58:14.615-05:002011-12-20T21:58:14.615-05:00James- I just stumbled upon your site today, after...James- I just stumbled upon your site today, after spending some time on EBay with my 10-yr old son looking for Ral Partha figures. In homage to all-night campaigns from the late 70's early 80's, I may spend the next 10 hours looking through your archives. What a wonderful discovery. -NBNorwegian Bluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07589654915075623652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55078226643145056232011-12-20T21:48:32.271-05:002011-12-20T21:48:32.271-05:00I did contemplate hacking the Eldritch Wizardry ps...I did contemplate hacking the <i>Eldritch Wizardry</i> psionics rules into something useful for a world where there was no magic.<br /><br />If I remember aright, your base Psychic Potential was equal to the sum of Int + Wis + Cha, and it increased by the inverse of your class hit die (so a d4 hit die gave you an extra d10 psychic potential).<br /><br />Didn't think it would work and never used the system, although I did use the world once where I used it as a parallel world where sorcery was unknown.Reverance Pavanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01217657347160811310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87538056787675643292011-12-20T18:59:42.499-05:002011-12-20T18:59:42.499-05:00I used psionics in my early AD&D games, becaus...I used psionics in my early AD&D games, because it was in the book, it was mysterious - and more mysterious even for a non-native english reader becasue it was sometimes so hard to grasp how to run that thing. I got some evry nice remebers about total munchkin games involving pisonices and high-levl magic with translation misunderstandings. But after I played far much more D&D than AD&D, so I didn't really bothered too long about psionics.Nicolas Dessauxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03010015806129652185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-90538851080569561142011-12-20T17:47:42.631-05:002011-12-20T17:47:42.631-05:00As a teenager I read The Deryni Chronicles, so I w...As a teenager I read The Deryni Chronicles, so I was always somewhat fascinated by psionics in fantasy roleplaying. The awkward implementation of such in AD&D lessened that.<br /><br />Psionics were basically magic in the Deryni books. When I encountered pseudo-scientific versions in would be science fiction I was less enamoured. The least satisfying part of Star Wars. (I now run for cover.)Talliferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08541684895097153972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-77677951050637334872011-12-20T16:25:23.730-05:002011-12-20T16:25:23.730-05:00psionics are verboten.
There was once a psionist,...psionics are verboten.<br /><br />There was once a psionist, but we don't talk about it. Eight years later, we don't talk about it. To say it was bad, is like referring to the Hindenberg as a blimp accident.joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12351926278188565029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-91451483822086846262011-12-20T13:40:46.609-05:002011-12-20T13:40:46.609-05:00@Jason:
By various sources, I of course mean the ...@Jason:<br /><br />By various sources, I of course mean the PHB, DMG, and Dragon Magazine #78. <br /><br />Then I added magic items, back ground training, kits, and more.-Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02331863932906631618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63243192569362512122011-12-20T12:24:52.662-05:002011-12-20T12:24:52.662-05:00I have to admit, I have a reaction to psionics in ...I have to admit, I have a reaction to psionics in my fantasy game similar to the way some (but not me) react to firearms in theirs: no thanks.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01254215329246851683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-77541041812616568942011-12-20T10:50:56.961-05:002011-12-20T10:50:56.961-05:00I never cared for psionics, but I think your artic...I never cared for psionics, but I think your article finally has clarified why. It wasn't the messy rules text or that they were 'science fiction'. It was the implementation of them as add-on to existing classes. For example, psionic fighting men seemed to spoil the class, or create a subclass that confused things in a way that a multi-class character or a specialized class such as Ranger did not. Psionics did not seem related to level, if I recall correctly, like other class abilities.Rob Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01251228298836736535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-36610881884473774682011-12-20T10:40:17.931-05:002011-12-20T10:40:17.931-05:00Let's not forget "The Deryni" (with ...Let's not forget "The Deryni" (with actual author conversion approval!) and "Heroes and Villains of the Deryni" articles. All-in-all, a nice gaming supplement of a Dragon mag. <br /><br />Ciao!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53010742390608144202011-12-20T10:31:25.772-05:002011-12-20T10:31:25.772-05:00I agree. This was a really good article.I agree. This was a really good article.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11036971758993527102011-12-20T10:23:42.216-05:002011-12-20T10:23:42.216-05:00The real problem with Psionics in AD&D is that...The real problem with Psionics in AD&D is that the rules are split between the PHB and the DMG, and not in any logical way. The DMG explains much of the meat of how psionics work, and they're not nearly as arcane as they have a reputation for being. I've written an exegesis on psionics from the DMG perspective, which will (eventually) be posted on my blog. The PHB version will follow if I ever finish my close reading of the DMG and get to it. Heh.The Grey Elfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14696474020129732936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-13715615782380314972011-12-20T09:58:12.639-05:002011-12-20T09:58:12.639-05:00This is my cue to share that I've written an e...This is my cue to share that I've written an extensive treatment on this topic, including the material from this issue - it collates all the information on Psionics from various sources and collects it in one area. It even includes a good deal of original art.<br /><br />If you use psionics in your game and you haven't looked at this, you're doing your campaign a disservice. <br /><br /><a href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2010/09/psionics.html" rel="nofollow">Psionics</a>-Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02331863932906631618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-89474393837732197552011-12-20T09:49:59.589-05:002011-12-20T09:49:59.589-05:00I loved this article when it came out. It made se...I loved this article when it came out. It made sense out of something that never had a lick of sense prior. I'll need to look up my digital copy of the issue now (my originals are all packed away)Tenkarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05159289652051155824noreply@blogger.com