Friday, April 17, 2009

Magic vs. Psi

For my Elfshot setting, I'm thinking of going with the supernatural as psionics approach to fit in with a more contemporary, pseudo-scientific feel of the modern setting. This was a fairly common approach in the 1970s and 1980s planetary romance genre of fantasy/science fiction.

Looking through some different material from various games that have handled the topic, I find a breakdown that appeals to me:

Telepathy, the power of direct mental contact, covering everything from communication to illusion-casting to mind control to mind probing.
ESP, the power of moving one's senses beyond the physical body or material world, covering remote sensing, super-sensory perception, postcognition, precognition, and astral projection.
Materiakinesis, the power of controlling the movement of the molecules in inanimate matter, covering cyrokinesis, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, and the shaping of things like fire, water, earth, and air
(?)kinesis, the power to control the electromagnetic spectrum, covering light, electricity, magnetism, radiowaves, and so forth
Biokinesis, the specialized fusion of controlling living matter and the bioelectric energy and vital essence that infuses it, covering healing, regeneration, transmorphing, curing illness, longevity, and wounding
Antipsi, the power to neutralize or shut down psionic activity

I think that if I require various talismans, "sacred" languages, and rituals as methods of gathering, focusing, and channeling an individual's psychic energy (as well as making group efforts possible), in addition to implementing certain physical modifications (such as the Tap, a cranial implant that helps bleed off the waste heat generating by psionic activity, thus protecting delicate brain tissue from overheating and hermorraghing), I'll have a form of magic very similar to what I've already envisioned and grouped into categories that my mind can easily grasp.

I think this can work. I probably need to work on the names a bit, however. ESP and Telepathy are basic. The various kineses need some work. Gotta give everything some flavor.

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