tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1594366276257555817.post910029487417116114..comments2015-01-12T14:06:57.325-08:00Comments on All RPGs Considered: The trickiness inherent in Powers/AdvantagesZero Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12988649216900024880noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1594366276257555817.post-1709094736186119652012-08-10T05:22:19.854-07:002012-08-10T05:22:19.854-07:00You described the difference between Magic and Psi...You described the difference between Magic and Psionics pretty well. I've gotta remember that for the game I'm designing...Shannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00456068019298922261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1594366276257555817.post-59530063974808592492010-09-28T10:03:31.041-07:002010-09-28T10:03:31.041-07:00While never having played it, Shadowrun 4e seems l...While never having played it, Shadowrun 4e seems like a sound, solid system. The math(while I still suck ass at crunch in general), seems more graspable to me, and things like luck or whatever it's called, and cybernetics lowering magic potential make it feel balanced between magic and tech in a way that say, RIFTS totally isn't.Zero Ninjahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12988649216900024880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1594366276257555817.post-2877175796671126542010-09-19T10:47:39.216-07:002010-09-19T10:47:39.216-07:00What are your thoughts on a system such as Shadowr...What are your thoughts on a system such as Shadowrun?Bebop Colahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06664405178950630369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1594366276257555817.post-74895782636012944122010-09-11T16:52:21.104-07:002010-09-11T16:52:21.104-07:00Different power sources have different advantages ...Different power sources have different advantages and disadvantages, as the late N Robin Crossby once pointed out.<br /><br />Magic can be taught to others, but it is a long, laborious process and mages rightly feel that their arcane, hard-won knowledge is a professional secret worth killing to protect.<br /><br />Psionics is inherent to each psion - a mutation which can be trained, but only in the same way that an athlete can learn to make record-breaking jumps or a writer can tap into his muse to produce a novel that defines a generation.<br /><br />Technology, on the other hand, requires little training - just the basic knowledge of reading and writing, and the ability to read a user manual. Making the technology requires a vast industrial base, but the essential knowledge behind that industrial base is freely available, from basic textbooks on chemistry to detailed engineering documents outlining the processes required on an industrial scale.<br /><br />Psionics has very little documentation, and little to pass on from one psion to the other: the best one psion can do is to awaken the abilities of the other.<br /><br />Magic has a lot of documentation, but without the essential understanding of how to accomplish the necessary Gnosis, it looks like so much gibberish.<br /><br />When the creator of a technology dies, or is somehow separated from that technology, the technology exists and can be studied and used by just about everyone.<br /><br />When a mage dies or somehow leaves the world, he takes a vast body of secrets with him or her. All that remains has no meaning without the key to understanding that knowledge that the mage possesses. In effect, the mage takes his industrial base with him when he goes.<br /><br />And when a psion dies or leaves, that's it. All that he has was locked into his mind and body - and when that is gone, there is nothing secret left behind for others to study.Alex Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15770416521939518665noreply@blogger.com