You are a person, living in the present year. You live in a place which will be chosen by player vote. (If played as a solo game, you just choose the starting location.)

You live a life.

But...

You are about to realize that you have a powerful psychic ability (or two lesser psychic abilities-- we'll get to that in a moment).

Here is the list: Please choose an ability no one else has chosen yet.

You may choose one thing from the Major list, or two things from the Minor list.

MAJOR:

--Pyrokinesis: You can (when your ability works properly) psychically make things hot, to the point of starting and controlling fires.

--Telekinesis: You can (when your ability works properly) move things with your mind.

--Precognition: You can (when your ability works properly) tell when things are going to happen, or when they're very probably going to happen.

--Telepathy: You can (when your ability works properly) look into, and affect, the minds of other people.

--Luck: You have (when your ability works properly) good luck. Also, sometimes, good luck for you is bad luck for other people...

--Bio self-control: You have (when your ability works properly) power over the rest of your body. You heal very quickly, can control how tired you feel, you can pull off feats of strength and agility and endurance normal people cannot unless they're Tibetan monks or Indian fakirs or something...

--Healing (energy transfer): You can (when your ability works properly) make others feel better by touching them. (You can also make yourself feel better by taking their energy in the same way, but-- unless done purely to protect others or yourself-- would be an evil act (more on those later).

--Supergenius: The power of your intellect has improved to the point that you are now a supra-genius. When your brain is working properly, you can speed-read a whole book just by flipping through it in a couple of minutes, you notice details no one else might notice, and you can (with the proper tools and sophisticated parts) invent stuff way beyond what modern science is capable of. Way beyond.

--Telesomnesis (dreamscape stuff): When you are asleep, you can (when your ability works properly) visit people's dreams, and even shape and control their dreams. You can learn their secrets this way, communicate with them, and other wild stuff. (You can also give them nightmares, but that-- unless done purely to protect others or yourself-- would be an evil act (more on those later).)

MINOR:

--Empathy: This works (when your ability works properly, that is) like Telepathy, but you can't "hear" actual coherent thoughts, only emotions. You can also, however, try to control their emotions. (Of course, doing this in a way that harms someone else-- unless done purely to protect others or yourself-- would be an evil act (more on those later).)

--Postcognition: You can (when your ability works properly) "read" the past of a person, place, or thing. It's basically seeing/hearing/sensing things that have happened in the past. This can allow you to discover all sorts of useful things. (It could-- if you were lucky-- allow you to do things like walk up to a computer or ATM and learn people's passwords and/or PIN numbers... but that kind of spying could count as an evil act if you use it to harm people or steal more than good people can easily afford to lose. More about evil acts later. (Also, what if you got caught spying/stealing?!?))

--Auras: This (when your ability works properly) is like Empathy. It's harder to manipulate someone else's aura (though it can be done), but in certain circumstances, you can also get more information this way than you can through just Empathy, so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

--Empathic Healing (energy transfer): This is just like the major power Healing (energy transfer), except instead of healing people's bodies, you heal their emotions. (You can also make yourself feel better by taking their energy in the same way, but-- unless done purely to protect others or yourself-- that would be an evil act (more on those later).

--Shielding: If you didn't know that mental abilities exist, this would be a kind of stupid power to choose. But since you DO know that mental abilities exist, it's actually a very useful ability-- it means you have psychic shields that help protect you from:
----1. The fallout of your own psychic mistakes
----2. Anyone else with psychic abilities who might want to mess with you.
It's also a nice ability to have because (when your shields are working properly) it helps normal people have trouble "reading" you. You can lie or bluff and they have trouble telling if you're sincere or not-- the ability can serve as an excellent "poker face."

--Finding Things (Telelocation): This ability (when it works properly) lets you psychically sense one thing: Where people or things are. It's great for finding your keys, or finding people.


You may have noticed that there's a lot of talk, above, about "when it works properly."

Your psychic abilities are new, and you don't have perfect control over them.

When you want to use your psychic abilities, roll 2d6+1.

--10 or higher: It works the way you want it to work. 12 means it works perfectly-- you could hardly ask for a better result. (Higher than 12 means it goes perfectly, and something extra-lucky might happen, too.)

--7 to 9: The power mostly works like you wanted, but with a small complication. A common complication, for example, is that it tires you out a bit.

--6 or lower: It doesn't work at all the way you wanted. That doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't work-- just not the way you wanted at all. This could mean that nothing happens, but it tires you out a LOT... or it could mean a Misfire.

Examples of Misfires:

--Pyrokinesis: Something catches fire that you wouldn't have wanted on fire

--Telekinesis: Something falls and/or breaks that you wouldn't have wanted to fall or break

--Precognition: You have a disturbing vision of something horrible happening (which may or may not come true)

--Telepathy: You get psychic feedback, like a thousand people suddenly screaming at you at once, or worse. (Or WEIRDER, see below.)

--Luck: You have bad luck instead of good

--Bio self-control: You feel sick

--Healing (energy transfer): You feel sick

--Supergenius: You feel lightheaded, dizzy, you might even pass out for a little while. (Or something WEIRDER, see below.)

--Telesomnesis (dreamscape stuff): The dream you're in becomes a nightmare that you can't immediately escape

MINOR:

--Empathy: Their emotions overwhelm you, totally and obviously freaking you out

--Postcognition: You get psychic feedback, like a thousand people suddenly screaming at you at once... or worse

--Auras: Their emotions start leaking over to you, starting to make you feel what they feel-- or maybe even worse than what they're feeling (this ability misfiring is not as bad as when actual Empathy misfires, though)

--Empathic Healing (energy transfer): Misfiring could mean that the energy flows the wrong way, meaning either you accidentally start stealing the emotional health from someone you're trying to help, or you start losing your own emotional health, giving it to someone you're trying to take it from

--Shielding: A shielding misfire can either make your shields too strong, meaning you can't use any other mental abilities for a while, or else it makes you extra-vulnerable for a while-- believe me, that would be bad

--Finding Things (Telelocation): A misfire with this could lead to a wildly incorrect result, or could lead you straight to some kind of danger, or maybe you'd just feel... lost. Where are you? How do you get back to a place that seems familiar? You're not sure...


The most common types of Misfires, though, are:
--wears you out
--you lose access to the ability for a while
--works in the opposite way from how you wanted it to work
--works too well

The most inconvenient version of "works too well" sometimes taking the form of the never-popular "can't turn it off (at least not right away)." (Cough cough pyrokinesis cough.)


( * NOTE: There are 5 abilities, in particular, for which I have VERY WEIRD PLANS for Misfires. Those 5 are: Telepathy, Supergenius, Postcognition, Precognition, and Telesomnesis (Dreamscape stuff). If you want to help me make the game uper-super-duper weird, feel free to choose one of those 5.)


EVIL ACTS:
When your brain is super-powered, your conscience is also super-powered. (And don't tell me "But my PC is totally amoral." I know stuff about your PC's brain about which you have no idea (yet).)

Many things-- chief among them being misusing your mental abilities on purpose-- may sometimes be judged by the GM as an Evil Act.

An Evil Act will give you -1 ongoing to all rolls until the GM decides you've done enough un-evil acts to make up for it.

Examples of Evil Acts would include:

--Pyrokinesis: Intentional arson

--Telekinesis: Causing someone to be hurt

--Telepathy: Mind-controlling someone in a harmful (to them) way

--Healing (energy transfer): stealing someone else's health

--Telesomnesis (dreamscape stuff): Persecuting an innocent person in their dreams

MINOR:

--Empathy: Controlling someone's emotions in a bad way (bad for them, obviously)

--Empathic Healing (energy transfer): Intentionally stealing someone's happiness for yourself etc.

--Postcognition: Stealing someone's credit card and PIN number and stealing more than they can afford to lose

Then there are Really Evil Acts.

A Really Evil Act will give you -2 ongoing to all rolls.

Really Evil Acts involve cold-blooded murder, destroying an innocent person's life, that sort of thing. (Note that Evil Acts and Really Evil Acts (cold-blooded, needless murder, for example) can count against you even if you don't use your psychic abilities at all to do it.)

NOTE: Rape-- sexual activity without the full, non-coerced consent of all participants-- means the GM will both kick you out of the game, and will also find some way to kill your character very, very soon (the PC's head may very likely explode). Murdering someone in cold blood-- well, maybe you had a special reason for doing it, but whether you did it or not, hey, it might make the story more interesting. Rape, on the other hand, will just get you kicked out of the game.

Removing the effects of a Really Evil act requires Atonement Acts-- Acts that are not only very good, but which specifically try to make up for what you did. (For (an extremely obvious) example, Atoning for intentionally trapping someone in an ongoing nightmare would require you going back in there and permanently freeing them from it.)


CAN MY CHARACTER LEVEL UP?

Yes. Every time you get 6 or lower on a roll, you get 1 xp point.

Sacrificing 8 points means you can give one of your PC's mental abilities an extra +1 for all future use (maximum of +3)

or

Sacrificing 10 xp points means you can choose a new ability from the Minor list that no one else has chosen. The cost is 15 xp for a new Major power.

(Also, you can sometimes earn xp by answering questions from the GM (example: "There is someone at work or in your neighborhood whom you just loathe. Who is this person, and why do you feel that way about them?"))


What about other stats, besides just the psychic ability one?

Your other stats are:

--Forceful: doing physical things that involve strength or physical endurance

--Agile: doing physical things that involve agility or hand-eye coordination

--Insightful: doing non-psychic things that involve intelligence

--Charming: doing non-psychic things that involve persuading people or making them like you.

Everyone starts with these stats, assigning them the scores of +2, +1, +0, and -1.

If you spend 8 xp points, you can increase one of these scores, too, instead of one of your psychic abilities (maximum of +3).



Health:

There's physical health, and psychic health.

There are 6 levels of Physical Health:

--Full health

--Somewhat wounded (you could really use a number of stitches, or you bruised a rib, or wrenched something a bit... but you're okay to function for now...)

--Wounded (like the above but worse, and you could use a couple of days of medical care-- but you can push through for now)

--In Bad Shape (you wouldn't mind a week or two of medical care, but you can still see and walk and fight if you absolutely have to, you're not literally about to die)

--Really Bad Shape (you can maybe do a few more things but then seriously you need to rest somewhere very soon)

--Dead



There are 6 levels of Psychic Health:

--Full Psychic Health

--Somewhat Tired (but you're okay to keep functioning for this moment-- and, if you have to, for the immediate short-term future)

--Tired (you are right on the edge of being shaky and/or lightheaded and/or nauseated...  and you could use a good night's sleep-- but you can push through for now)

--Seriously Tired (you wouldn't mind a whole weekend of quiet rest, but you can still function if you have to, you're not literally about to pass out nor anything like that)

--Exhausted (you can maybe do a few more very simple things but then seriously you need to rest somewhere safe very soon, or you are going to lose it)

--Snapped (That's it. You are going to lose it. Right now. This could mean passing out, going berserk, collapsing into a hysterical crying mess, or something else (losing control of your powers maybe?), but whatever it means, you're done. You have no more sanity to give right now.)


The key to both types of lowered health is rest.

That's... not the way it SHOULD work. Breaking a bone shouldn't be able to be all fixed up with just, like, four days of peace and quiet and bedrest-- but it's how it works for YOU, ever since you realized you have a psychic ability. Must be your mind accelerating the healing process. (I guess?)

Restoring your Psychic Health is the same, but takes less rest. Going from Somewhat Wounded to Full Health takes about 12 hours of good solid rest. Going from Somewhat Tired to Full Psychic Health takes at least half an hour of good solid rest (although going from Exhausted to Full Psychic Health does NOT take 4 half-hours, it takes rather more).
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:14, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

SO.

Now that all that's out of the way:

--Choose 1 Major mental power or 2 Minor ones.

--Distribute your scores.

--You start at full health (both kinds).

--Tell me your character's name, what they're like, what they do for money. At the start of the game, you will not realize that you have any psychic abilities yet, but you're about to, REALLY fast.

--Tell me if there's anything in particular you want to do with your character. Possibilities include:

--Acting like a superhero?

--Being a rob-from-the-rich psychic-powered technically-kinda-criminal?

--Overcoming one or more bad things in your character's past?

--Avenging someone or something?

--Defending someone or something that is hard to defend?

--Investigating what the heck is up with you having a psychic ability, anyway...?

--Doing something stupid that gets the attention of the authorities and then working like heck to evade them...?

--Changing the world (somehow)?

You may, of course, want to do more than one of these! Or something else! Let me know!
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:43, Sat 04 Jan 2020.