[Various Projects] 40k TTRPG, Alternate

[Kage2020]

Partially motivated by @Karak Norn Clansman, here's me just putting some thoughts down on paper, as it were, about something that I did and something that I might get back into doing. All while getting back into the wargame and painting some minis, because why the heck not.

 

The Prelude...

 

Back in the day, there was a kid played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP), which was in 1e in those days. Then another kid, with some other kids, played some more and someone decided to introduce what was then a Spirit Warrior ("Tuisich Novasmair") into the fantasy game, and 40k and WFRP were crossed over. Or over-crossed. Something like that. 

 

The point is, that I wanted to use a TTRPG to play in the 40k universe from that point. And, a little bit later, the wish was to come true and a fellow called "Andrew" (Fawcett, IIRC) would create a version of this using WFRP on a site called "Critical Hit". It was a little funky because, well WFRP is a bit funky mechanically speaking, but it gave you the tools that you needed to do a TTRPG in the 40k universe.

 

Advance some years and preferences change. "Critical Hit" disappeared (though I still have a copy of the site) and I was no longer a fan of the system anyway. After playing a TTRPG at a frenetic pace of at least a system a week (sometimes more), I got tired of learning a new system and turned to a generic system with a silly name: GURPS.

 

The Days of Yon (Portent)...

 

So, back in the Dark Ages there was a site called Portent that ended up being a hangout place for people that really liked the 40k setting. Some of those, like myself, really liked the premise of either using it for a TTRPG or, related to that, filling in the blanks of the setting because that was fun to chat about and also kind of necessary to make a functional RPG setting. There were a ton of fan theories generated out of this time. Things like Brusilov's "Emperor's Daemons", astrological affinities with Primarchs, and even grand (and abortive) fan projects that aimed to create a whole Imperial sector containing around 21,000 star systems in detail*. Crazy times.

 

(* More so than you see in the Calixis and Askellon sectors in the Dark Heresy RPG.)

 

During that time, and Portent's lesser descendant, Warseer, I put together some working documents for GURPS covering some interesting parts of the setting but mostly necessary ones (can you do 40k without Marines?). 

 

Which brings us to...

 

Now...

 

After a hiatus from 40k for the past all-but decade-and-a-half, I was just getting over the hump in another TTRPG project (the Earthdawn/Shadowrun/Equinox meta-setting, again in GURPS) and just happened to take a look at the old 40k stuff. This was after I had bought some 40k minis in an attempt to persuade my son (yeah, that happened between then and now) and gotten bit by the bug again. A 3d resin printer later, some 40k adjacent fantastic sculpts and... Yeah.

 

My general approach was to take the oldest materials as "true" and then layer on the latter explanations so that they integrated and 

 

So, digging out the 'ole fan materials to get back to writing (and to rewrite with new ideas and new background materials): 

 

• Powers of the Mind. Psykers are everywhere, thus a key part of developing other setting materials. The system that I had created was, instead of the "random explosions" approach of Dark Heresy, based on the ideas presented in Ian Watson's Inquisitor (now Draco) where each psyker had a "psyker light" that grew brighter the more powerful they were and the more they used their powers. This was the slippery road to the City at the End and to damnation.
  • I'm still working on the details, in particular the differentiation between the different Psyker Grades of The Assignment. That and trying to work out the the details on the Left- and Right-Handed Paths of Sorcery, Enuncia, and, of course, Eldar magic-tech.
• The Inquisition. An inescapable part of dealing with the release of Dark Heresy. This is pretty easy, with the only major difference being the inclusion of an "hidden order" to replace the Ordo Malleus after it was outed by Gav Thorpe (to the weakness of the setting IMO).
  • Trying to figure this out is still a little bit messy given the nature of the Ordo Malleus. Otherwise it's all fairly simple and drawing information from other products in the line (e.g., GURPS Action 2 that deals with the kind of stuff that Inquisitorial retinues and retainers get up to).
• The Adeptus Astartes. Another inescapable thing. Plenty of work done on this, though it needs to be updated because of the "new" introduction of the Primaris. And, of course, new fan theories (I was intrigued by the Primarch "Tarot" that I saw somewhere on the board).
• The Adeptus Mechanicus. A slightly more progressive, less Canticles of Leibowitz, approach to the Cult Mechanicus based primarily out of the original Rogue Trader and information from Mechanicum and Titanicus. 
  • There's lots of fun to be had here balancing what used to be called the "Adeptus Me-Can't-icus" (they didn't know what was going on with respect to tech) and the "Adeptus Me-Can-icus" (they did know). Plus, figuring out The Mysteries and the Admonitions as they are generally known, and then the more secretive Prime Mystery and Admonition and the First Order Derivatives. From there to the Binary Dogma of Factionalism, the Paradigms of the Cult, and the hierarchy of what is, at its heart, a mystery cult.
• The Craftworld Eldar. Or perhaps just the Eldar in general. My favourite. A little bit of a different take on what GW has produced. Drawing inspiration from trinities across the different aspects of society and mythology...
  • Governance divided into Ancestor (Past), Clan (Present), and Seer (Future) Councils. 
  • Limited number of Paths, but innumerable Ways...
  • Etc.
• The Warp (untitled). A description of traversing the warp and its nature. A shorter piece, but one that goes into detail on Imperial space travel across the various editions and bringing it together into a (fairly) cohesive whole while also bringing in older materials (e.g. natural Warp Gates and how these relate to Warp Zones etc.).

 

I'll be posting bits 'n' bobs here and there, but ultimately asking for perspectives and ideas for those willing to contribute them. Things generally become better when there are more eyes on the product (as it were). :)

Edited February 14 by Kage2020

[Kage2020]

The first topic out of that melee of topics is that of the psyker as well as the various supernatural powers of the universe. It shows up in almost every single (if not every single) other bit of fan work, and getting them right is hard---as witnessed in Dark Heresy and the 40k RPGs where they were made "gamey", I feel, and not beholden to the literature.

 

Here I've taken the approach, as noted above, motivated by some of the initial descriptions of Ian Watson in the Inquisitor novel (now Draco). He was the first to go into a more abstract detailing of the psyker to the warp---mention of "psyker lights" etc.---that was highly evocative. The idea there being that psykers had a "light" that would shine forth in the warp and, over time, would become tarnish and, likely from Lovecraftian overtones, green-tainted. (Draco is unusual in that he still has a pure "psyker light", which in background terms makes him of Primary/Primaris Psyker Grade.)

 

There are two basic design intents that I have here. First, is to make the approach predicated upon being seductive rather than punitive. You, the player, should be encouraged to use your players safely without fear that you're going to randomly explode, or whatever, but the use of power should be associated with a consequence. That consequence shouldn't be necessarily seeing your innards, or those of people standing near to you, over the wall but something more intrinsic. Use too much, or too powerfully, and you begin to accrue corruption and the attention of the warp---your "psyker light" glows more strongly. The gribblies begin to circle, the malefic whispers slip into your dreams and begin to subtly change you.

 

How to mechanically handle this is relatively easy using something called "Threshold-limited Magic" (from GURPS Thaumatology) where you have a "Threshold" (doh!) that, once you go beyond, things begin to... happen; you accrue taint and corruption (these may be two things?).

 

The challenge here is to figure out the level of safety for the different Psyker Grades (Beta, Gamma etc. all the way down to Iota). Here there would be two axes: 

1. Too much use, or where you continue to use your abilities until you pass the Threshold; and 
2. Too powerful a use, or where you "burn" through your natural limitations and augment it with 'warp power'.

* * *

So, the questions that I have relate to the background demonstration of the following: 

• The power exhibited by pyskers of different Grades; 
• The consequences of using psyker powers; and
• Different, but possibly related, warp powers such as Sorcery and Enuncia (and anything else that I've missed while being away).

School me.

I can also post specific examples of how mechanically these work to inform the narrative/story. :)

(And if this is too esoteric a subject, I can just leave this how it exists now and move on to more interesting materials. )

[Kage2020]

So, this is a quick example of Thresholds mapped to each Pysker Grade that I came up with years ago and is in clear need of being looked at again.

 

Psyker Grade	Threshold Rating	Points
Iota	5	10
Theta	8	16
Eta	12	24
Zeta	17	34
Epsilon	24	48
Delta	32	64
Gamma	41	82
Beta	51	102
Alpha	*	*
Alpha Plus	*	*

 

There's really no rhyme no reason to that; it's fairly arbitrary.

 

Each "psi power" would have a cost in "Threshold" depending on the relative points cost of the ability. Using your abilities within the range of the Threshold is "safe". Going beyond that leads to Taint/Corruption. One feature that I didn't mention, and that is commonly referenced in the novels and descriptive pieces throughout the background, is that you can "buy off" this Taint/Corruption with so-called "Taint Flaws" ("mutations" by another name?). One of the most common, and one that happens not to get you on the wrong end of a stabby-stabby or shooty-shooty, is premature ageing. Thus, Vitali Googol over-using their abilities leads to premature ageing, the continual references to frail Astropaths etc.

 

If you have any other examples that you can think of from the background, that would be awesome. I liberally pilfered from inspirational materials like the lore in European witchcraft (as expressed through the highly accurate document, Warlock O.o ) on lingering effects of Taint, e.g. flames burning blue, horses sweating in the  night (not!), hoarforst, overbleed power arcs etc. Things that can make it real awkward for the 'ole psyker. (These, too, would be up for reconsideration given new background materials.)

 

I'll post some example psi powers cribbed from... somewhere. I have some old versions for Astrotelepathy, but is there one that would be more useful to use as a metric?

 

[apologist]

On 2/14/2024 at 12:27 PM, Kage2020 said:

[...]There are two basic design intents that I have here. First, is to make the approach predicated upon being seductive rather than punitive. You, the player, should be encouraged to use your players safely without fear that you're going to randomly explode, or whatever, but the use of power should be associated with a consequence. That consequence shouldn't be necessarily seeing your innards, or those of people standing near to you, over the wall but something more intrinsic. Use too much, or too powerfully, and you begin to accrue corruption and the attention of the warp---your "psyker light" glows more strongly. The gribblies begin to circle, the malefic whispers slip into your dreams and begin to subtly change you.

[...]

The challenge here is to figure out the level of safety for the different Psyker Grades (Beta, Gamma etc. all the way down to Iota). Here there would be two axes: 

1. Too much use, or where you continue to use your abilities until you pass the Threshold; and 
2. Too powerful a use, or where you "burn" through your natural limitations and augment it with 'warp power'.

* * *

So, the questions that I have relate to the background demonstration of the following: 

• The power exhibited by pyskers of different Grades; 
• The consequences of using psyker powers; and
• Different, but possibly related, warp powers such as Sorcery and Enuncia (and anything else that I've missed while being away).

 

Lovely concept, and the idea of using psychic powers being something the player wants to do, rather than fears to do, (or as mere ammunition to be expended) sounds a great plan. Focussing on the specifics, I've thrown down a few notes on the first question. I've looked back over some old books to give some specific references, but a lot of this is half-remembered, so take cum grano salis. Where quotes are given, emphases are mine.

 

As a starting point, I've taken the following fairly recent disciplines to help give examples to illustrate my thinking:

• Biomancy: Manipulation of biological energy and processes.
• Divination: Predicting the future.
• Pyromancy: Manipulation of fire.
• Telekinesis: Converting psychic energy into physical force.
• Telepathy: Contacting and controlling the minds of others.

These are explicitly things people are trained in, so not really applicable to the low grades, but serve well to illustrate things.

 

(...and you might consider using one of the B&C's blogs as the vehicle for this project – I haven't experimented much with them myself, but it strikes me that having individual blog threads might allow you to better jump between areas as the msue takes you.)

 

+++

 

The power exhibited by pyskers of different Grades; 

We're told that anything below Iota is not a 'true psyker'. So for individuals around Kappa or below, the following fields are what I'd consider the limit of their (unconscious) abilities. In short, these powers are so minor as to be largely explicable by luck/happenstance, and virtually impossible to measure using regular physical equipment.

• Biomancy: Pushing a muscle beyond human capabiliity for a fraction of a second, allowing them to lift around a kilo/couple of pounds more than their musculo-skeletal ability should allow.
• Divination: Preternatural skill at cards – this sort of thing is attested in the Necromunda background.
• Pyromancy: Ability to resist burning for a fraction of a second, ability to do tricks with a match, tinderbox or lighter.
• Telekinesis: Perhaps causing a dropped piece of toast to land butter side up.
• Telepathy: Picking up surface thoughts of people within touching distance; probably written off as being particular intuitive.

+++

 

Iota, Theta and Eta are 'true psykers', and represent the lowest levels taken by the Black Ships. We're told in Rogue Trader that:

Quote

For this reason, the forces of the lmperium ensure that psykers are tracked down by whatever means are necessary. Once detected they must be protected. Those strong enough to stand alone will be recruited into the Adeptus Terra, the army or other Imperial service. Of the remainder the most able will receive the protection of the Emperor and join the ranks of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the rest are doomed to serve their fellow man as members of the Adeptus Astronomica or as nourishment for the Emperor himself.[/quote]

Quote

 

I'd make the assumption that Iota level-psykers make up the bulk of those who join the Adeptus Astronomica; and Wyrds in Necromunda – that might be another research route?

 

 

 

• Biomancy: Detectable ability to stem bleeding, raise or lower the body temperature of others by a small degree.
• Divination: Conscious ability to foresee the future – but only a few seconds or so.
• Pyromancy: Ability to manipulate existing flames or fire; allowing them to move through a burning building, for example.
• Telekinesis: Ability to move small objects within a room, such as cutlery, or throw a switch/turn a key on the other side of a door.
• Telepathy: Surface thoughts of others within a few yards detectable by the psyker, understandable to an extent if in close proximity. Messages can be sent or received across a continent.

 

 

There's a character called in the Gaunt's Ghosts series: 

 

Sergeant Soric appears in Necropolis, Straight Silver and Sabbat Martyr who is a good candidate for this level. An unconscious psyker, he is taken by the Black Ships and later returns as part of a battle Psyker choir.

 

+++

 

Theta and Eta are at the lowest end of stable, trainable psykers, and are probably the sort of psykers who are used as Sanctioned or Wyrdvane Psykers in the Imperial Guard.

Quote

Sanctioned Psykers are most often divided into Psyker Battle Squads, consisting of groups of individuals who are barely able to control their awesome power. Ever-vigilant overseer Psykers accompany these more amateurish squad members into battle, helping them attune to each other so that the squad functions as a cohesive psychic unit. Whilst one psyker may start a sentence another shall finish it, several members of the unit chorusing and echoing the words in unison. In battle, they pool their energies to release a psychic blast far greater then the sum of their individual parts. The sonorous chanting of a Psyker battle squad continuously rises as they draw ever deeper into the powers of the Warp, eventually releasing a surge of psychic energy that can create deadly thunderstorms to engulf the psykers foe or send out energy that ruptures organs or rips bodies apart.

 

Their abilities as a choir are listed above, but individually I'd suggest something akin to:

• Biomancy: Ability to disrupt breathing or bloodflow, or raise or lower others' body temperature to an injurious degree.
• Divination: Conscious ability to foresee the future or past for a period around an hour ahead or behind.
• Pyromancy: Ability to conjure flames from nothing, manipulate existing fires to move extensively, or extinguish burning.
• Telekinesis: Larger or heavier objects, up to human-sized, can be moved with effort; smaller objects can be thrown a considerable distance or steered around.
• Telepathy: Surface and deeper thoughts of others can be read; the psyker's voice or intent can be pushed into a recipients' mind to affect their actions. Communication between large areas – from the surface of a planet to a ship in orbit, for example – is possible.

 

The Adeptus Powers in the 2nd ed. expansion Dark Millennium are noted as 

'a broad range of common psychic abilities which are relatively easy to master. This is why so many different psykers can draw upon the discipline of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica as a secondary discipline.'

 

They include some fun descriptions:

 

 



 


 

 

+++

 

Zeta and Epsilon show a 'very high level of mental psychic activity' (Inquisition sourcebook). These are the sort of psykers who become individual Primaris Psykers in the Imperial Guard. 'They are capable of hurling bolts of ether-energy at their opponents, burning the foes' synapses and searing their flesh from their bones.' (Codex: Imperial Guard).

 

These sorts of powers are the ones I'd suggest are given in the Dark Millennium (DM) supplement:

Quote

The souls of mortal creatures stir currents and waves in the energies of the warp. A few, the very strongest. can draw energy from the warp and into the material universe. With experience they can give form and purpose to the raw power of the warp. reading minds. sending mental images or messages, locating people or objects. seeing into the future or the past and so on. These psykers are often trained by the lmperium to serve mankind in a myriad of ways. Some become Astropaths who speak between the stars, others fuel the great beacon of the Astronomican, others are granted the honour of sacrificing their souls to the Emperor.

 

 

With further training or greater experience. the strongest psykers can wield the energy of the warp in ever more potent ways. They can transport creatures at will, summon raging infernos of fire or cast ravening bolts of raw power. They can assail the minds of the enemy or overwhelm their consciousness with false images. Psykers such as these serve the military forces [...]

 

 

• Biomancy: Ability to tear enemies apart at range, manipulate another's body against their will, or enhance their own strength to tear apart metal with their bare hands.
• Divination: Conscious ability to foresee the future or past for a period around a month ahead. With physical prompts (e.g. a personal item belonging to the target), able to detect people from a great distance.
• Pyromancy: Ability to throw fireballs, create an aura of flames (e.g. 'Aura of Fire' psychic power, DM).
• Telekinesis: Can move substantial areas or earth, atmosphere or water, creating damaging effects (e.g. 'Storm of Wrath' psychic power DM). 
• Telepathy: Short messages can be sent between interplanetary distances, ability to read and influence the minds of others without detection, ability to damage or destroy an enemy with psychic means.

Some specific examples of Primaris Psyker feats:

The Primaris Psyker Lunst Cataboldine from the boardgame Assassinorum did the following:

Quote

Lunst launched a brutal psychic attack on [Chaos Space Marine] Drask that allowed him to pull his plan [...] from his mind. Lunst then launched the information throughout the Warp, where it was picked up by nearby Astropaths. Lunst died in the process

 

Aradia Madellan is from Blackstone Fortress. She:

Quote

serves as a psychic attache to the Rogue Trader Neyam Shai Murad. The Psyker's precognitive visions have guided Murad in her quests through the uncharted reaches of the galaxy. She receives glimpses of the future as well, which help dictate which allies Aradia should align herself with and which foes she should eradicate. Aradia also seeks to use her powers to steer the fate of the Imperium as it battles against the horrors that abound in the stars. After receiving a vision of untold destruction caused by a Blackstone Fortress, Aradia now seeks out the ancient vessel to claim it for the Imperium.

 

I'd also suggest that the bulk of Space Marine Librarians are approximately at this level. DM says of them:

Quote

The bulk of Librarian powers concentrate on the enhancement and protection of the Librarian himself or those about him. This reflects the Librarians vocation as a warrior monk and how they have learned to perform super-human feats with the aid of energy siphoned off from the warp. Space Marine Librarians are at their best in the thick of the action where their extraordinary abilities can take immediate effect. Even Greater Daemons have reason to fear the attentions of the high level Space Marine Librarian!

 

+++

 

Delta, Gamma, Beta psykers are vanishingly rare. We're told Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor is a low Gamma or Delta level, and his abilities are extensive. 

Quote

Ravenor's psychic abilities are most potent in three areas: telepathy, telekinesis and divination. He can mindskim whole hive cities in a search for specific persons, crush individual enemies with his mind and, with great difficulty, see faint images of possible futures.

• Biomancy: Ability to lift and overturn armoured vehicles, break through concrete, tear power armour apart or jump over buildings.
• Divination: Conscious ability to foresee the future or past for a period of many months, even years. With physical prompts (e.g. a personal item belonging to the target), able to detect people from interplanetary distances.
• Pyromancy: Unleash a sustained and 'mighty conflagaration of flames' (e.g. 'Holocaust' psychic powers, DM) from nothing, with no fuel source.
• Telekinesis: Large objects and items – cars etc. – can be hurled a substantial distance; very large objects – armoured vehicles, trains etc. – can be damaged or moved. 
• Telepathy: Sustained messages can be sent interplanetary distances, ability to read and overtly influence the minds of others without detection, ability to easily destroy an enemy with psychic means.

+++

 

Alpha and Alpha+ psykers are vanishingly rare in the lore, but their abilities are alluded to quite extensively – particularly in the Ravenor . In essence, these psyker's abilities are unlimited, thought they do seem to still have particular specialisms.

 

The Apex Twins (ho ho) took over a whole Black Ship, even crewed by the Silent Sisterhood; others are noted as 'snapping Titans in two with a thought'; mind-controlling entire city populations etc.

 

The best source by far for the capabilities of Alpha plus psykers, I would suggest, is the Thracian Prime atrocity detailed in Malleus, where thirty or so of them escape and start wreaking havoc.

+++

 

I hope that gives you some ground for the basic levels of psykers within The Assignment, though it doesn't extend to aliens or even non-Imperials. The examples above are also constrained a bit by the military-level framework of the game mechanics, but that's mostly what we've got quotes/evidence for. The old Deathwing anthology had a short called Warped Stars by Ian Watson which was a great example of a description of a less military-angled psyker, and one that is a bit more 'magical' feeling, as it's a very early 40k story, and thus not influenced by all that's come since.

 

The Adeptus Astronomica Is the section of the priesthood responsible for maintaining the psychic beacon known as the Astronomlcan. It is this psychic signal that allows navigators to guide their ships through warp space at immense speed. The organisation comprises an administrative elite and a vast pool of young trainees who will one day join the ten-thousand strong corps that actually powers the Astronomican. Trainees are taught how to release their psychic potential by mental exercise, a process which takes but a few months. From that time onwards they are ready to join the ranks of the psychic battery in the Hall of the Astronomican, and can be called , upon at any time, as old members fail and die.

 

Edited February 16 by apologist
+ Blast; [SCRAPSHuNT]ed the quote formatting. +

[Kage2020]

Heh. I thought that I would be talking to myself. :)

 

As noted above, however, while I know this might be the least fun section it is one that happens to touch on a whole bunch of other stuff.

 

13 hours ago, apologist said:

Lovely concept, and the idea of using psychic powers being something the player wants to do, rather than fears to do, (or as mere ammunition to be expended) sounds a great plan

 

I know the "grimdark" mantra is to make everything a terrible experience, but one imagines that if psykers are going to be used effectively---even on scale---than the advantages have to outweigh the disadvantages. If the Imperium is to have survived for ten millennia, one imagines that they have to get something right, be that figuring out historical, legal etc. archives, keeping the lights on, and, among other things, maintaining communications going on between its borders (more or less).

 

In the novels, too, psykers aren't constantly fearing that the next use of their powers is going to summon a daemon or open a warp portal to summon forth the Hordes of Chaos. No, they seem to be pretty fine most of the time until something else happens.

 

As I'm seeing it, the "punitive" model of psyker use leans more towards Dark Heresy 1e than 2e, with the latter creating systems where it's usually fairly safe (except under exceptional circumstances) unless you're (a) doing too much, or (b) pushing too far.

 

With the idea of Threshold, other than evoking Chronicles of Riddick, is that psykers can keep on using their abilities as much as they want until they begin to get a sense that they're beginning to come up against the Rubicon---the barrier at which it becomes unsafe to use their abilities (even if specific). Now, I imagine that the powers-that-be in the Imperium don't give a flying fig as to this---not really. Hence the escorts and the euthanasia blades (I forget their name).

 

The hard bit is setting the Threshold low enough that it doesn't cripple the psyker in a given period of time compared to how rapidly it refreshes/regenerates, and making it high enough so that the decision to exceed the Threshold rarely happens.

 

13 hours ago, apologist said:

I've looked back over some old books to give some specific references, but a lot of this is half-remembered, so take cum grano salis. Where quotes are given, emphases are mine.

 

You and I, both. Quite a bit of the background material is currently in the category of "IIRC". 

 

13 hours ago, apologist said:

• Biomancy: Pushing a muscle beyond human capabiliity for a fraction of a second, allowing them to lift around a kilo/couple of pounds more than their musculo-skeletal ability should allow.
• Divination: Preternatural skill at cards – this sort of thing is attested in the Necromunda background.
• Pyromancy: Ability to resist burning for a fraction of a second, ability to do tricks with a match, tinderbox or lighter.
• Telekinesis: Perhaps causing a dropped piece of toast to land butter side up.
• Telepathy: Picking up surface thoughts of people within touching distance; probably written off as being particular intuitive.

 

Okay, yes. These are the abilities that are defined in various materials, including the Dark Heresy (etc.) TTRPGs.

 

I will say that I'm generally not interested at this juncture in dealing with Kappa Grade and below at this juncture. In TTRPG terms, these can all be explained in various ways that are outside of the realm of psychic abilities. 

 

One thing to define off the bat, therefore, will be Psyker Class: 

• Primary. Resistant to the influence of Chaos; 
• Secondary. Not resistant to the influence of Chaos. All Imperial secondary psykers are Astropaths (Soul Bound); and 
• Tertiary. The Tainted---those already impacted by the corruption and taint of the Warp.

Of these, only Primary Psykers would be considered to have an advantage over the others. But what is it? Clearly they're not resistant to the influence of daemons, nor that of the warp on their physical or mental beings. Their "resistance" seems to be something different---either the ability to be able to stop using their abilities or a resistance to the "whispers" of the warp.

 

(Note: "Hiding" the "psyker light", as described of Jaq Draco in Inquisitor / Draco seems like a separate and likely rare ability. It would need to be a separate advantage/power.)

 

Primary Class Psyker. "Resistant" to "Warp Whispers" or some such is about the only thing that jumps out to me (and is what I had in my original notes), or basically a Will(power) bonus to avoid the seduction and influences of daemonic forces.

 

Secondary Class Psyker. This is more a "template" than a power, because it will include Blind, possibly the loss of other senses, a heft Duty etc.

 

Tertiary Class Psyker. Represented by Corruption, Taint, and Taint Flaws. [Broadly, disadvantages.]

 

Work meeting. Will have to edit later...

Edited February 17 by Kage2020

[apologist]

Flipping things on their heads, you might look at the warp entities that are able to detect/overcome particular grades of psyker – in short, just as the Imperium classifies psykers into (largely arbitrary) different ‘levels’, so you might decide that X warp form(s) are able to feed on certain qualities.

 

Thus you get the warp equivalent of krill – ever-present, essentially harmless, browsing on everyone equally – along with more predatory creatures. No-one need fear the krill, but likewise can’t avoid them. 
 

Conversely, the ‘warp light’ of a material creature might be like a flame for a moth – all are attracted, but unless you’re tough enough, you’ll be consumed. A powerful psyker need fear no krill, as his/her light will consume them – but if it attracts warp-wolves, they’re in trouble.

 

With that borne in mind, the Primary/Secondary/Tertiary split might translate to ability to shroud one’s light – a capability quite untethered to one’s psychic puissance.

 

An Alpha-Plus might have no ability to shroud, but its sheer power might prevent any daemon from devouring it. Conversely, a low-grade psyker might be relatively weak, but have a fantastic ‘shroud’; and thus able to push his/her luck.

[Kage2020]

4 hours ago, apologist said:

Thus you get the warp equivalent of krill – ever-present, essentially harmless, browsing on everyone equally – along with more predatory creatures. No-one need fear the krill, but likewise can’t avoid them. 

 

Well, there are critters that exist in the warp that are distinct from Chaos/daemons. The obvious example are the Enslavers, but even things like the "Warp Spiders" given some hints at an ecosystem that, while small, does exist.

 

4 hours ago, apologist said:

Conversely, the ‘warp light’ of a material creature might be like a flame for a moth – all are attracted, but unless you’re tough enough, you’ll be consumed. A powerful psyker need fear no krill, as his/her light will consume them – but if it attracts warp-wolves, they’re in trouble.

 

Definitely something to keep in mind.

 

4 hours ago, apologist said:

With that borne in mind, the Primary/Secondary/Tertiary split might translate to ability to shroud one’s light – a capability quite untethered to one’s psychic puissance.

 

Alas, the background is quite clear on the distinction and nature of the Psyker Grade. While you're certainly correct (in my mind) that the "hide a psyker light" is not related to the Psyker Grade, the basic distinction is such that practically all PC psykers in a game are going to be Primaris. (Of course, they can also be Astropaths but... I'll leave that one for the moment.)

 

4 hours ago, apologist said:

An Alpha-Plus might have no ability to shroud, but its sheer power might prevent any daemon from devouring it. Conversely, a low-grade psyker might be relatively weak, but have a fantastic ‘shroud’; and thus able to push his/her luck.

 

While the "shroud" is definitely a part of the background, I think that it might be acting as a red herring of form---the exception that obfuscates the rule, as it were.

 

Still, great ideas.

 

* * * 

 

Maybe that's the question for you. How do you think the special quality of the Primaris could be represented from a background-focused perspective? 

 

Otherwise I'm just left with something along the lines of: 

 

Primaris Psyker. Will 3 (Accessibility, Warp Influence, -30%) [11].

 

It seems a bit... dry, though. (Which, admittedly, people quite often say about GURPS!)

 

What say you?

 

Edited February 17 by Kage2020

[Kage2020]

One little thing that has struck me recently but which may be old-hat to many here is the difference, and yet inter-relationship, between psykers and their (psychic) powers and the power of sorcery. Now, for the most part, the impression that you get with "lesser dabblers" is that Sorcery is something almost hidden and nefarious, done on the side. "Warp dabblers", or people that use ritualism to cross the Veil between the matterium and the immaterium to achieve their goals. I had previously mentioned this as the "Left" and "Right" Hand of Sorcery.

 

On the other hand, as a psykers abilities grow, thematically (and from the background?) they seem to move away from being "psychics" into people that do things like control reality with grand abilities that verge on the miraculous / sorcerous. 

 

So, yeah. Something else to include in there to ensure that the flavour of the setting is maintained without it being inherently punitive.

[Kage2020]

@Karak Norn Clansman --- Clearly we need more things to discuss. 

I always come to the 40k universe with the notion of making it better for TTRPG purposes, so that's where I focused. But what are your driving and burning interests? Maybe we can find something collaborative? :)

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Very interesting discussion and ideas, @Kage2020 & @apologist! I read it with interest, taking note of your bright new takes on psykers and so on. You are probably on the right path of enticing people to want to use psykic powers instead of always punishing them to do so with an inherent risk of something going wrong even with minor usage of powers.

 

I will attempt to paint a picture of limitations and hobby passions, in case it would be of use for seeking a collaborative course:

 

Spoiler

I'm one of those silly enjoyers of random chance that will heartily laugh at the bonkers results of one of those insane Chaos or psychic-related tables that so often show up in Warhammer 40k wargames and roleplaying games alike, but then again I will often drive a character by the motto "live hard, die fast" and make a new one when a memorable demise occurs. I am infamous as "Captain Chaos" in RPGs among my friends, although I have sometimes played more nuanced and long-lived characters that were so appreciated that certain on-the-spot performances during scenes caused standing ovations to occur. For a flavour of the havoc and disinformation involved, see these post-apocalyptic comics of mine, based on actual play on a Swedish live-action RPG event, in case of curiosity. They mirror the short-lived 40k characters.

 

I wish I had something of substance to contribute to the good discussion about psykers here, but alas two obstacles naturally arise: On the one hand, my inherently grounded nature when worldbuilding and writing stories . As mentioned elsewhere, a good friend of mine came up with almost all new takes and revisions to magic and the otherworldly dimension in a fictive setting of our own; one made for book-writing, but which is currently in fallow because of mojo-sapping work failures on my part 10-12 years ago (hopefully we can eventually make a return, and make use of all the drawings and written material for publications in the future).

 

On the other hand, I am infamous as Sweden's worst Warhammer player, and there are long-running tournament statistics to claim this treasured title! Several aspects play into this: To be the worst of the worst, you need to be both bad at writing army lists, inherently poor at eye-measurement and angles, and have an inherently poor grasp on rule sets. While I still enjoy myself royally among other Warhammer hobbyists, I am so damnably bad on the gaming side of things that nowadays my little brother and a friend has forbidden me from writing my own army lists for tournaments.

 

You see, coming into the Warhammer hobby in 2003, I was immediately intrigued by the Lotr models my brother bought, and then his High Elves. I soon got hooked on Dwarfs, and when we were given our first White Dwarf with its wealth of 40k background, we were stuck for life in the rich milieu that is this hobby: Modelling, sculpting, painting, writing stories, doodling artworks, playing games, you name it. To me, the wargame side of things was a very nice bonus. Not only could you build and tweak and paint all these neat models, but there were also rules for using them in gameplay! And the rules have always looked inspiring and fun on paper (although 7th edition 40k looked messy like hell on paper even to me, which says something).

 

But I have never been good at rules and games. This is true of all kinds of games throughout life: Boardgames, video games (I'm known to be infamously bad at most among my childhood friends, although I have discovered an almost Soviet knack for ramping of a macro economy in strategy games), wargames and roleplaying games. All the rules sets are intriguing and the games are fun, but so often they are opaque mysteries to me. Egyptian Senet and the Royal Game of Ur are probably not above my level of incompetence at playing games. I have seldom written my own rules (Path of Glory example and Chaos Starcage boardgame example), and you can count on these attempts not being play tested. I can learn the rules of games with some difficulty, sure, but the rules and the play of the game will very rarely dance to me on a level where I truly gets them. Roleplaying games with their mass of intricate rules is doubly so, and I would be lost without knowledgeable game masters.

 

Ergo my silent reading in this thread without input to the topic on hand.

 

As to driving and burning interests, all life long I have been passionate about learning and creativity, and in stimulating learning and creativity in others. Come to think of it, I am basically doing the same things I did at age 7: I sculpted a legless Tyrannosaurus Rex out of clay back then, and I am sculpting miniatures for casting now. I drew a great lot then, and I draw a lot nowadays (back then I drew everything in colour, however; I'm mostly doing black and white nowadays because it is quicker, but I always think and imagine things in vivid colours, as you may see in my sporadic acrylic paintings). I wrote stories then and have everything saved (I am still proud of how much attention to detail and boring logistics with baggage trains I would put in at age 9-10 when I reread the stories, as well as the grimdark themes learnt from the wonderful Swedish author of historical novels, Olov Svedelid), and I write stories nowadays. I read a lot then, and I read a lot now. Both fact and fiction. And of course, I have stayed just as wildly imaginative and humoristic as I've always been, only growing more jovial and imaginative with the years due to practice and increased learning making it even easier to take imaginative leaps by drawing upon experience and greater reservoir of knowledge.

 

So essentially I'm still a child at heart, and more concretely I'm doing just the same things I loved to do then. Me and my brother got into building airplanes and warship kits, and casting Carolean tin soldiers when I was about age 11, and two years later it was a natural next step to get into Warhammer when he discovered it in the local video store. The rest is history: A history of freewheeling creativity and boundless brainstorming heavily based on historical references to all periods and regions of the world. Online I have found creative communities for Warhammer, first stumbling across Warseer in 2005 and the creative hotbed that is Chaos Dwarfs Online in late 2011, and then trying to teach others the creative ways of CDO on the Ninth Age from 2018 forward, including a spree of historically based fantasy cultures.

 

The name of the game for me is to do things that I would enjoy to see myself, and never stay confined inside a mainstream-appealing box. If I like to see grimdark bonkers essays based heavily upon the language in the 40k intro crawl, then I'll write endless numbers of them. If I like to see CD fables and philosophical writings and songs and legends, then I'll write them in large numbers. Quality has always been central to me, as can be expected of a Dwarf enthusiast: Polish it and don't rush it.

 

My flavour of creativity can be summed up in Tacitus meets Donald Duck, and I love to joke around. Hyperbole with Warhammer's strong exaggerations have never come naturally to me, but I have trained myself over the years to embrace the exaggerations by grinning while writing and asking myself "How can we make this even more bonkers?" And the many dozens of compliments received that revolve around "you truly get grimdark" seem to be proof of the method working.

 

I was fortunate enough to be asked by the wonderfully talented master behind @A Vox in the Void, and so a few of my writings are out on Youtube, read by a sterling narrator. That is one peak of achievement thanks to another creative's work for which I am ever grateful. I have a mind to show him choice gems from other 40k enthusiasts, including SpecialIssue's wonderful Adeptus Astartes take. Vox is a master at turning the best of community creative works into brilliant audioworks.

 

So I love art and miniatures and writing and background and stories. I like the extra flavour afforded by games and rules, but I can't dance with them as I can with the other creative side of things.

 

And I've always taken care to compliment others when they do a good job. When I read my first Olov Svedelid novel at age 9 or 10, I wrote the old author a letter with compliments and questions. Nowadays it is much easier to tell people directly online that they've excelled at this or that. I keep an eye out for quality and talent, and make sure to encourage others, especially the brilliant ones with oodles of promise. And I've always participated in communal creative projects (drawing lots of city maps and collaborative Dinosaur things with friends as a child, and dabbling in all manner of community projects these days).

 

So yeah. I'm game for collaborations for sure! I'm busy nowadays, but smaller works can always be slotted in between bigger must-do projects. And I hope to clear the commissions and keep my schedule freer from perhaps next year onward, so as to be less bound and more free to jump on whatever fun crops up.

 

One thing I might be able to help out with, is the new Leagues of Votann. I've got my own particular vision for them, and have participated in very fruitful lengthy discussions about the Squats' stellar new background over on DakkaDakka, so I could lay out my interpretations and those of others if you fancy an intriguing space dwarf tapestry to work with for TTRPG purposes (the Codex itself is however a most sweet read, especially the first 20 or so pages). Oh, and Demiurg is not less mysterious and full of flavour these days if you ask me, but more accessible for community projects to grab and run with.

 

I have also collected vast amounts of historical and contemporary references as regard dysfunctionality and cruelty to draw upon for worldbuilding the everyday aspects of the Imperium in bonkers fashion. Some of these have already been turned into finished writings and artworks, but the raw concept document keeps growing faster than I can churn out finished products.

 

So I should be some use for anything grounded having to do with the Imperium as well. If you want a measure of how willing I am to plunge the most mundane and boring details, then check out Scrip in Fuse Box.

 

My focus has lain on humanity. Something which I have not yet dabbled in these last years is my love for minor Xenos in 40k and xenobiology in general in science fiction. At age 17-18 me and two friends worked flat-out in the final school years on our project work, namely a xenobiological sweep of alien fauna on a planet called Gorkhan. Last time we worked on it, we had agreed to turn it into a 40k book, so I might actually have to dig out the folder, scan everything and upload here. But you won't find as outlandish takes as in Xenology; my own creations were all veering toward the tame science side, and less to the wild fiction side. I have a lifelong interest in all things history, geography, natural science and suchlike.

 

I am a fish out of water when it comes to uppity-hands godhood power fantasies that GW likes to bake into background. Grounded and down-to-earth is my jam. If I can make something bonkers while keeping it believable, then all is well.

 

Cheers

 

Edited March 20 by Karak Norn Clansman