Hey look, it's the beginnings of Psychic Storm!

[Jason Richards]

Right there on today's blog post at http://www.jasonrichards.net

Read my cryptic hints and tidbits and dream of what they could mean.

[keir451]

Right there on today's blog post at http://www.jasonrichards.net

Read my cryptic hints and tidbits and dream of what they could mean.

Boo, Hisss! How dare you tease us like that? This is one Rifter that I'll most assuredly pick up and probably use for my Chaos Earth campaigns, and I can't wait until Psychic storm comes out. But one question, much like the cool magic in Rise of Magic and the concept of new psionics, what happens /happened to these "new" psychic skills by the time of 101 P.A.? I like to think they still exist, but there in lies the problem w/Rifts coming out first and CE later. those spells/psionic abilities seem to have totally disappeared off the radar of the Magic users/Psionics of 101 + P.A.. I'd think that they'd fit well into a Burbs type setting.

[Jason Richards]

I've actually written the new O.C.C.s such that they can be used in Rifts. I could have pumped them full of a bunch of extra I.S.P. and stuff like that due to the raised magic levels, but I kept them on par with Rifts standards so that they can be ported. The main difference is that the new classes don't conform to the "select X powers from the Psychic categories of..." that you see elsewhere. Each class has a ton, and I mean a TON of abilities that are unique to that particular O.C.C.

So... go read about it on the blog.

[johnkretzer]

Sounds great can't wait....one question though...do non-CE psychics get a little love?

[jaymz]

Jason - I look forward to this article. I loved the psychics that were presented in earlier Rifters (TK master, Telepath, Freezer, Soaker et al) and if these you are doing are anythign like those I have no doubt I will love them. Also looking forward to first responders too

[Jason Richards]

Jason - I look forward to this article. I loved the psychics that were presented in earlier Rifters (TK master, Telepath, Freezer, Soaker et al) and if these you are doing are anythign like those I have no doubt I will love them. Also looking forward to first responders too

I assume we're talking about the article in Rifter 25. I'm sure there are other such articles, though. Now that I'm done I'll check them out again. Levi is a hell of an author and a great GM, so certainly have no qualms about stealing from him for Psychic Storm. I deliberately didn't read them while I was writing so that I could stay fresh. I'm guessing that they are substantially different, simply because I took a pretty out-of-the-box approach.

[Jason Richards]

Sounds great can't wait....one question though...do non-CE psychics get a little love?

I'm not sure I understand the question. These classes can easily be used outside of Chaos Earth, if that's what you mean.

[jaymz]

Jason - I look forward to this article. I loved the psychics that were presented in earlier Rifters (TK master, Telepath, Freezer, Soaker et al) and if these you are doing are anythign like those I have no doubt I will love them. Also looking forward to first responders too

I assume we're talking about the article in Rifter 25. I'm sure there are other such articles, though. Now that I'm done I'll check them out again. Levi is a hell of an author and a great GM, so certainly have no qualms about stealing from him for Psychic Storm. I deliberately didn't read them while I was writing so that I could stay fresh. I'm guessing that they are substantially different, simply because I took a pretty out-of-the-box approach.

I think 25 is the one with the TK master, Telepath (gotta love someone who can actually break thru a mind block) the natural combat genius and I cant rember the other one who is literally a mind controller......there was an earlier rifter, dont recall teh issue number, that had three psychic classes. The Freezer (an ice version of the burster), the soaker (hydrokinetic) and the blaster (blows thigns up by looking at them sort of) My stuff is packed for the next couple of weeks so icant get at them. I allow all of those clases because teh kick ass

[johnkretzer]

Sounds great can't wait....one question though...do non-CE psychics get a little love?

I'm not sure I understand the question. These classes can easily be used outside of Chaos Earth, if that's what you mean.

Sorry for not being clear. What I meant will there be any option like additional powers open to non-CE psychics in either the article or the Psychic Storm. It seems that the lay out is very self contained and the book won't add much to already existing psychic characters.

My question boils down to...will there be anything new for my existing Mind Melter?

[Jason Richards]

Jason - I look forward to this article. I loved the psychics that were presented in earlier Rifters (TK master, Telepath, Freezer, Soaker et al) and if these you are doing are anythign like those I have no doubt I will love them. Also looking forward to first responders too

I assume we're talking about the article in Rifter 25. I'm sure there are other such articles, though. Now that I'm done I'll check them out again. Levi is a hell of an author and a great GM, so certainly have no qualms about stealing from him for Psychic Storm. I deliberately didn't read them while I was writing so that I could stay fresh. I'm guessing that they are substantially different, simply because I took a pretty out-of-the-box approach.

I think 25 is the one with the TK master, Telepath (gotta love someone who can actually break thru a mind block) the natural combat genius and I cant rember the other one who is literally a mind controller......there was an earlier rifter, dont recall teh issue number, that had three psychic classes. The Freezer (an ice version of the burster), the soaker (hydrokinetic) and the blaster (blows thigns up by looking at them sort of) My stuff is packed for the next couple of weeks so icant get at them. I allow all of those clases because teh kick ass

Scanned back through 25 earlier, and there are a few common points between my new classes and some of those that Levi did, though we sort of went about it differently. I haven't taken on things like cryokenisis or hydrokenisis yet, though I considered it.

[Jason Richards]

Sounds great can't wait....one question though...do non-CE psychics get a little love?

I'm not sure I understand the question. These classes can easily be used outside of Chaos Earth, if that's what you mean.

Sorry for not being clear. What I meant will there be any option like additional powers open to non-CE psychics in either the article or the Psychic Storm. It seems that the lay out is very self contained and the book won't add much to already existing psychic characters.

My question boils down to...will there be anything new for my existing Mind Melter?

Ah, gotcha. Not in this article, and likely not in Psychic Storm. To tell you the truth, while magic levels are at an all-time high and massive amounts of P.P.E. available to mages, it doesn't make that much difference for psychics, so a Mind Melter would still more or less be a Mind Melter. The main difference is that with Blue Zones so much larger than normal Ley Lines, psychics get their advantages (increased duration, range, etc.) in a higher percentage of locations.

Of course, many of these new classes have special abilities that you could borrow and adapt for your Mind Melter. When I say that I don't play to include extra material for Mind Melters or other existing psychics, what I really mean is that I will not be explicitly stating this material as such. In any case, by the time I'm through, you're not gonna want to play that boring ol' Mind Melter, anyway. Check out my blog from yesterday and see what we're dealing with. http://www.jasonrichards.net

My basic outlook on Chaos Earth is that it is an entirely new setting and isn't directly connected to anything in Rifts except where Rifts canon specifically says it is. I feel like it's a cop-out to just do a CE version of the Mind Melter or the Burster or whatever. And, I'm not inclined to add notes about additional powers or abilities for classes like the Mind Melter because 1) I refuse to include rehashed source material from other books, as it cheapens the value that the consumer gets for their dollar and 2) I don't want to include a tidbit of material or "additional information" so that a player or Game Master has to pull a Rifts book off the shelf to play the game. If I were to write extra material for adapting the Burster or Mind Melter or Zapper or other classes, I'd do it in a download or something like that.

Backtracking a little bit, I have pulled a number of skills from RUE and other books and included them in First Responders, because the original RPG didn't include the sorts of skills that ordinary people would have as part of their professional skill set in the Golden Age (Psychology, Genetics, Vet Medicine, Construction, Business & Finance, Politics, etc.), or because they are instrumental in future supplements and I want to get them into the canon now rather than later (Undercover Ops, ID Undercover Agent). A very few pieces of tech are included as well, because it fits with the source material. However, even things that I have pulled from other sources have been reworked, updated, and improved to be more than window dressing and have an actual impact on the game. I mean, really, shouldn't the use of medical equipment, especially intelligent medical equipment, provide bonuses to medical skill rolls?

Right now the case is such that gamers pretty much have to pull their Rifts books off the shelf to play Chaos Earth, but that will not be the case after First Responders, Psychic Storm, and Brothers in Arms are released. That's the plan, anyway.

[keir451]

I've actually written the new O.C.C.s such that they can be used in Rifts. I could have pumped them full of a bunch of extra I.S.P. and stuff like that due to the raised magic levels, but I kept them on par with Rifts standards so that they can be ported. The main difference is that the new classes don't conform to the "select X powers from the Psychic categories of..." that you see elsewhere. Each class has a ton, and I mean a TON of abilities that are unique to that particular O.C.C.

So... go read about it on the blog.

I did that, thus my Booing and Hissing. Thus why I can't wait for the release of it (subject to Lord Kevins approval of course ). Thanks for amswering the question regarding Pyschics from CE. What's your opinion on the Magic of CE vs the Magic of Rifts? What I mean is, Can CE magic still exist/be used in Rifts Earth (RE?)?

[Jason Richards]

I've actually written the new O.C.C.s such that they can be used in Rifts. I could have pumped them full of a bunch of extra I.S.P. and stuff like that due to the raised magic levels, but I kept them on par with Rifts standards so that they can be ported. The main difference is that the new classes don't conform to the "select X powers from the Psychic categories of..." that you see elsewhere. Each class has a ton, and I mean a TON of abilities that are unique to that particular O.C.C.

So... go read about it on the blog.

I did that, thus my Booing and Hissing. Thus why I can't wait for the release of it (subject to Lord Kevins approval of course ). Thanks for amswering the question regarding Pyschics from CE. What's your opinion on the Magic of CE vs the Magic of Rifts? What I mean is, Can CE magic still exist/be used in Rifts Earth (RE?)?

The depiction of Magic in Chaos Earth and its massive levels is spot on, in my opinion. As for the use of CE spells in Rifts, I think it's a mixed bag. They are certainly able to be used in Rifts, but would be pretty rare. I think I'd limit them to the Chaos Wizard and just make that class a rarity.

Here's the issue. Chaos Magic aren't really invocations, so how could they be learned by a Ley Line Walker or some other class? They're pretty much all more instinctive powers. I could see continuing to use them on a limited basis amongst young, instinctive wizards in small communities out in the wilds of the world.

[keir451]

I've actually written the new O.C.C.s such that they can be used in Rifts. I could have pumped them full of a bunch of extra I.S.P. and stuff like that due to the raised magic levels, but I kept them on par with Rifts standards so that they can be ported. The main difference is that the new classes don't conform to the "select X powers from the Psychic categories of..." that you see elsewhere. Each class has a ton, and I mean a TON of abilities that are unique to that particular O.C.C.

So... go read about it on the blog.

I did that, thus my Booing and Hissing. Thus why I can't wait for the release of it (subject to Lord Kevins approval of course ). Thanks for amswering the question regarding Pyschics from CE. What's your opinion on the Magic of CE vs the Magic of Rifts? What I mean is, Can CE magic still exist/be used in Rifts Earth (RE?)?

The depiction of Magic in Chaos Earth and its massive levels is spot on, in my opinion. As for the use of CE spells in Rifts, I think it's a mixed bag. They are certainly able to be used in Rifts, but would be pretty rare. I think I'd limit them to the Chaos Wizard and just make that class a rarity.

Here's the issue. Chaos Magic aren't really invocations, so how could they be learned by a Ley Line Walker or some other class? They're pretty much all more instinctive powers. I could see continuing to use them on a limited basis amongst young, instinctive wizards in small communities out in the wilds of the world.

Kevin gave the impression that the Chaos Wizards eventually became the Mystics and Let Line walkers of Rifts Era, but I could still see some kid or group of kids "wishing" something back, y'know like the restore food spells. In CE magic is very raw and (IMO) seems to react more to individuals desires/needs of the moment; if your hugry and there's half eate burger, you wish (really hard) that it was whole and LO and Behold IT IS!! WOOOW!!! So a little later you try and repeat the process and WOOOOW!!! IT WORKED!!! At least that's kinda how I imagined it. Then maybe later they learn to store the energy or they learn from "established" Elven or other type of mages and the thought process behind the "Chaos" is lost due to instruction. Bu that's the joy of the game, doing the unusual.

[Jason Richards]

Yep, that's basically it.

[keir451]

Yep, that's basically it.

Which part? I'll take it as all the above. I now have a concept of a gang of Street Kids running around the Chi-town burbs causing minor trouble for CS soldiers, but also keeping the Burbs "clean" of monsters like Boogeymen, and other low level creatures/monsters and leading the CS to the larger Demons. Thanks a bunch for your answers!

[The Galactus Kid]

This article is going to be awesome!!! I can't wait to roll some of these characters up for my games.

[Jason Richards]

And it shipped today! POWPOW!

[The Galactus Kid]

I'm so stoked. What a good early Birthday present!!! If I have them before the 14th, I'll be stoked.