Who's heard of Psi Run?

[aabicus]

Hey all, I was wondering how many of you have heard of "Psi Run" (or Psi*Run, or Psi-Run, as I've also seen it).

I got to play a session of it at Strategicon, and it was really fun!

[NX_Phoenix]

I've read bits and pieces about it after it was mentioned in the description of a talk at PAX East, but I've come across comparatively little in my search. I'd really like to hear more about it--it sounds quite interesting.

[aabicus]

It had a really interesting layout. It was a story-oriented RP, with a very simple concept; you are one of a group of amnesiacs who are on the run and don't understand why you're being chased or why you have psychic powers.

At the beginning of the game you get to write down anywhere from 3 to 6 questions that are running through your character's head. Some of the questions from our session was: "Why do I have all these scars on my body?" "Why can I telepathically push people?" "Who is the woman who haunts my dreams?" "Why can't my eyes differentiate yellow and blue?" You aren't supposed to have answers for your question yet; those will be figured out through gameplay.

The character sheet had six categories: Goal, Reveal, Chase/Capture/Disappear, Psi, Hurt, and Harm. Every time a character attempted to do something, they would roll a number of applicable dice, and place numbers in each relevant category. Each category had its own scale, but generally higher numbers meant you succeeded, middle numbers meant you failed without consequence, lower numbers meant you failed with consequence.

For example, at one point one of our characters attempted to telepathically push one of the searchers who were chasing us. To see what happened, she rolled 5 dice: Goal (stop the searcher), Reveal, Capture, Psi, and Hurt (Hurt is like a bonus die for uninjured characters, allowing you to dump your lowest roll). If she had tried to push the searcher with her arms rather than her psi power, she might have rolled for Harm (since he must be in close proximity) but not Psi. The categories she succeeded and failed in determined what happened next in the story.

The 'Reveal' category is always rolled, and merely means that if she rolls a high enough number, she experiences a flashback or realization that answers one of her questions she wrote at the beginning. A really high number (5-6) meant the player got to answer the question, while a medium number (4-3) meant the other players got to choose the reason instead.

For example, at one point, a player had the option of putting a 5 or a 4 in the Reveal category for the question: "What is this strange tattoo on my wrist?" Since they didn't have any good ideas, they used the 4 and threw the question to the rest of us. After some group discussion, we decided upon "Last time you looked, it had been the number 7; right now, you check and it has dropped to 6."

The game goes until one player answers all their questions, then there's an epilogue phase where everybody, in order of how many questions they got answered, gets to tell where their character has ended up, making sure to resolve their remaining questions. My character had been a young woman with several physical deformities and the ability to 'project' her conscience out of her body to temporarily see through the eyes of other people. Throughout the game, it turned out that I had actually been playing the conscience of a psionic alien trapped in a military base, whose conscience escaped his body and latched onto this woman hiker, and the searchers trying to capture her wanted my conscience back. Her physical deformities were caused by my conscience slowly morphing her body to match my old one.

What was really cool about this system was how none of this had been planned beforehand, and no individual person came up with all of the story. We crafted it ourselves roll-by-roll, everything was generated separately, and somehow all molded together to create a really epic and unique storyline no single person could have conceived alone. Every PC turned out really complex with a cool backstory and everything, and this quickly became my favorite story-oriented RP system.

[Comet]

That does sound insanely cool. Definitely something to pick up in the near future.

[Doc Roc]

If you find it, let me know, okay? You've got my attention.

[aabicus]

It's out! Psi*Run has been officially released from Night Sky Games, and can be purchased here (PDF or hardcover): http://nightskygames.com/welcome/game/PsiRun

I already bought my copy, and shelled out a little extra for the hardcover because I like to read books on the train. So if anyone has any questions about the product I can answer them!

[UserClone]

This is why you'd be foolish not to want Psi*Run. (http://story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=15665&page=1#Item_24)