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Yeah, I know.
Just want to take stock of all the examples of psionics folks have seen in fantasy literature, film, games, comics, etc. Examples that show psionics existing and fitting into a fantasy setting just fine.
I know Mercedes Lackey has had quite a bit of this in her writing, going so far as having psychic powers being a path of power in the Blue Rose RPG alongside magic while being something distinct. But surely there's far more.
Any explicit examples from "pulp lit" treatments of Indian and/or Asian cultures? Stuff that would fit right at home in Vudra? (particularly if said lit was written around the time when spiritualism was in full force)
Do not bring your drama here.[/swampthing]
How much of these examples would be considered "mainstream", though? Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels can have an example of pretty much anything... but none of the really well known stuff like Conan or LotR tends to have psionics in them. I think that's why it seems kinda alien to a lot of folks.
Not that I'm knocking people's tastes, mind you. :-)
How much of these examples would be considered "mainstream", though?I don't believe that there such a thing as mainstream. The Fantasy/SF market is a lot bigger than it used to be, when the number of active authors could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
"Mainstream" is what your average gamer has heard of or read. I consider myself a fairly average example of a gamer and I hadn't heard of any of the examples in the first few posts, for example.
In fact, the sheer number of fantasy and sci-fi authors makes it even less likely that any given author will be recognized by an average someone.
I will now sum up this thread and all future posts.
Rabbit Season!
Duck Season!
Rabbit Season!
Duck Season!
Rabbit Season!
Rabbit Season!
Duck Season, Fire!
If we count the power point system as being connected to psionics, then just about every fantasy style magician in books, movies, games, etc, uses it.
Beyond that, the core assumptions behind magic and psionics? Fantasy media favors psionics. What's more common - a character who uses their inner strength, will, power, and intelligence to reach into the world and change it, or someone carting around three or four magical books, throwing bat poop at people and doing a little dance as they do so?
The Valdemar series of books by Mercedes Lackey could fit into the psionics in fantasy category.
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How much of these examples would be considered "mainstream", though? Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels can have an example of pretty much anything... but none of the really well known stuff like Conan or LotR tends to have psionics in them. I think that's why it seems kinda alien to a lot of folks.
Not that I'm knocking people's tastes, mind you. :-)
My first experience with Psionics was Katheryn Kurtz's Deryni cycle, which I read back in the early 1990's. I believe they were originally published in the late 70's. I lent them to my friend, which led him to buying the 2nd edition psionics handbook, and creating a psionic character for my home campaign at the time.
Which is what led to my lifelong hatred of psionics in DnD :)
Now i DO think psionics fits well in Sci-Fi or superhero type games, and even in some fantasy gaming worlds IF they have been tailor made around psionics.
On that note, I find the best examples of psionics in literature stemming from the old sci-fi and fantasy novels of the 1950's and 1960's. Try reading Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation trilogy for starters. Ray Bradbury dabbles as well. Robert Asprin's Bug wars have a psionic flare if i remember correctly, and some of the alternate beings in his Myth Adventure's series may also fit the bill.
Examples in popular fantasy? Thats a bit more difficult. Steve Erikson's Malazan series is really popular right now, and the magic system in it seems to be more akin to sorcery or psionics. No hand waving, spellbooks, or mystic rituals. Magic in that world is all about force of personality and will.
Oh and David Eddings classic Belgariad/Malloreon series use a magic system based on the "Will and the Word" Which is perhaps the best adaptation of Psionics as Magic" i've ever come across in heroic fantasy style literature.
Hmm..I will think on this some more. I'm sure i'm forgetting some really obvious examples.
Sterling Lanier, Hiero's Journey.
The Vahnatai from the Avernum/Exile series is the best portrayal of fantasy crystals and psionic Shapers I can think of off the top of my head
Both Denethor and Faramir had abilities that could be described as low-end telepathy or clairvoyanceHow much of these examples would be considered "mainstream", though? Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels can have an example of pretty much anything... but none of the really well known stuff like Conan or LotR tends to have psionics in them. I think that's why it seems kinda alien to a lot of folks.
Not that I'm knocking people's tastes, mind you. :-)
Really? They didn't talk about that at all in the movies. *Has not read the books... tried to, but Tolkien was not a very good writer imo*
((*Waits to get jumped on and flambasted*))
How much of these examples would be considered "mainstream", though? Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels can have an example of pretty much anything... but none of the really well known stuff like Conan or LotR tends to have psionics in them. I think that's why it seems kinda alien to a lot of folks.
Not that I'm knocking people's tastes, mind you. :-)
I rember a couple of Conan stories from Robert E Howard or the edited series with L Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter where Conan was locked or paralyzed using the the sorceror's psionics. I think one of them was Conan the Avenger where an eastern sorceror kidnaps his wife, Zenobia and the lovable barbarian dude has to go to Far East.
It always goes something like this: had he the mind of a civilized man, then surely it would have driven him mad. But the wild calling of the primordial barbarian soul, that echoed through generations upon generations, by ancestors founded in the grim hills of Cimmeria, that could never be tamed, urged him to fight on. Little by little he could feel the sorceror's grasp slipping, and he gnashed his teeth with strain and fury.
Had he the mind of a civilized man, then surely it would have driven him mad. But the wild calling of the primordial barbarian soul, that echoed through generations upon generations, by ancestors founded in the grim hills of Cimmeria, that could never be tamed, urged him to fight on. Little by little he could feel the sorceror's grasp slipping, and he gnashed his teeth with strain and fury.
((Flavor Text a canny DM uses to explain a +1 to Will Saves. *Chuckles*))