Great references for psionic campaigns

[Thealtruistorc]

as you may have gleaned, I happen to really like psionics. However, I often find it difficult to obtain really good examples of where they have been used effectively in fiction.

To my knowledge, the three greatest examples of psionics in fiction are the Akira comics, the Dune novels, and the Chaos Walking trilogy of books. All three display interesting uses of power and explore the methods and consequences of the characters' abilities in engaging ways.

If ye have any others to suggest, send them to me. My hope is to compile as many as possible.

[Psyren]

Wheel of Time is effectively a (very detailed) psionics system.

Comics also have lots of psionics, particularly X-Men with Professor X, Jean Grey and Emma Frost.

If you'd like a Japanese example, the manga that my username comes from has a very detailed psionics system as well. The protagonists even fall fairly squarely into the primary psionics-using classes.

[DrMotives]

Stephen King also loves psionics, pretty much everything magical is really psionic in his books. The Shining, Dr Sleep, Carrie, The Dead Zone, & Insomnia are blatantly all about psionic power, but it shows up to a lesser degree in many of his other books too. The monsters in Dream Catcher are intestinal parasites that can spread when one host telepathically contacts someone else.

[KillingAScarab]

Comics also have lots of psionics, particularly X-Men with Professor X, Jean Grey and Emma Frost.I would argue every Marvel comics mutant is actually psionic, even the wholly physical mutations like Beak's. This belief is only strengthened by the Phoenix force being split up across Earth and seeding the next generation of mutants/undoing M-Day.

[dysprosium]

Katherine Kurtz's various novels with the Deryni would fall into this category as well. The Deryni use psionic abilities and the various stories explore their interactions with the humans that fear/loathe/admire them.

[Psyren]

I would argue every Marvel comics mutant is actually psionic, even the wholly physical mutations like Beak's. This belief is only strengthened by the Phoenix force being split up across Earth and seeding the next generation of mutants/undoing M-Day.

And not just mutants - I remember one storyline where Psylocke was fighting the Shadow King on the Astral Plane and the backlash affected every remotely psychic character in the MU - including Spiderman and Doctor Strange among others.

[KillingAScarab]

And not just mutants - I remember one storyline where Psylocke was fighting the Shadow King on the Astral Plane and the backlash affected every remotely psychic character in the MU - including Spiderman and Doctor Strange among others.Spiderman is easily my favorite precognitive super hero.

Star Wars has a psionic inluence on it, particularly the (now Legends) stories featuring the Jedi Praxeum. Quinlan Vos was a character in the prequel material who had psychometry.

[Prime32]

If you'd like a Japanese example, the manga that my username comes from has a very detailed psionics system as well. The protagonists even fall fairly squarely into the primary psionics-using classes.

I would argue every Marvel comics mutant is actually psionic, even the wholly physical mutations like Beak's. This belief is only strengthened by the Phoenix force being split up across Earth and seeding the next generation of mutants/undoing M-Day.
Japanese has a neutral term for "person with an innate superpower of some kind" - nouryokusha (ability user) or chou-nouryoukusha (superability user). It's most commonly translated as "ESPer" (e.g. in the official localizations of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and A Certain Magical Index).

Psionics in the D&D sense is just a power that comes from your own inner energies, rather than tapping outside forces. So most superheroes would be psionic by definition.
Also, X-Men tie in to the "next step in human evolution" theme which psychic powers are often connected to.


Though one of the closest things to a D&D-style psion I've seen was the manga version of Inazuman. Both the heroes and villains were psychics with a wide range of abilities and the potential to learn new ones. The protagonist himself had some signature abilities which worked sort of like DSP's aegis class - because he was introduced to his psychic powers through a "butterfly emerging from its cocoon" metaphor, he subconsciously developed the ability to transform into different forms to focus his powers (a cocoon-man with a healing factor, and a butterfly-man with electric blasts).

EDIT:

And not just mutants - I remember one storyline where Psylocke was fighting the Shadow King on the Astral Plane and the backlash affected every remotely psychic character in the MU - including Spiderman and Doctor Strange among others.Speaking of the Shadow King...

There's a scene where he and Professor X have a mental duel on the astral plane which was represented by them generating avatars to beat each other up. This was the inspiration for the Stands in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - psychic powers that manifest as a guardian entity which can only be seen or harmed by other Stand users, and reflect any damage they take back onto the user.

[raygun goth]

The Rigveda (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda), for one. Especially Shiva's super powers.

Journey to the West, for another. Check out every Chinese myth or novel you can find, they're great sources. If you can find text information on Roman numena (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numen) or emperor cults, do that, too.

The writings and beliefs of most animistic cultures can easily be folded into psionics (from the Dreamscarred Press material) and psychics (as presented in Paizo's Occult Adventures) - most of what we'd call spellcasters from non-European cultures get their powers by being awesome, inner control of outer forces, or being composed partially of that force in general.

This transfers even into American folklore - you'll never catch Glooscap or Pecos Bill or Whiskey Jack chanting and waving their hands and eating a honeycomb, but you'll still see them conjure up or capture tornados, control the weather, ride what ain't supposed to be ridden, and use their sheer willpower to cow even the mightiest of mountains.

[erok0809]

The Psionic Pentalogy by Adrian Howell is a reasonable series. Not the best thing I've ever read, but certainly not bad.

[KillingAScarab]

Somehow I forgot to mention Alex Proyas' Dark City, which makes me a little ashamed. After you watch it, watch a Marvel movie with William Hurt playing Thadeous "Thunderbolt" Ross to find out if you picture that character playing the accordion.

[Grim Reader]

as you may have gleaned, I happen to really like psionics. However, I often find it difficult to obtain really good examples of where they have been used effectively in fiction.

To my knowledge, the three greatest examples of psionics in fiction are the Akira comics, the Dune novels, and the Chaos Walking trilogy of books. All three display interesting uses of power and explore the methods and consequences of the characters' abilities in engaging ways.

If ye have any others to suggest, send them to me. My hope is to compile as many as possible.

Alan dean Fosters "Flinx" stories are good. Julian Mays "Intervention" and Joan D. Vinges "Cat" series. Anne McCafferys "Pegasus" series, at least the first book. James H. Schmits Telzey Amberdon series.

George R.R. Matins "Wild Cards"

But still... Julian Mays "Saga of the Pliocene Exiles" is head and shoulders above everything else, I feel.

[Grim Reader]

Oh, and Marion Zimmer Bradleys "Darkover" books.

George R.R Martin: Nightflyers
Larry Niven: World of Ptavvs
Robin Hobbs: The Royal Assassin series
Alfred Bester: The Stars my Destination, and The Demolished Man
John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos

Some Mercedes Lackey stuff I've heard.

[BWR]

How is WoT channeling psionics? Channeling is accessing an external power source whereas psionics are internal. Just because they don't wave their hands about or chant words doesn't make Channeling any less magic.
If you can make a meaningful difference between magic and psionics, that is.

Anyway, A.E. van Vogt has a lot of psionics in his works. The Null-A stories, Slan, The Empire of the Atom/the Wizard of Linn, The Man with a Thousand Names, to name a few.
The Force in Star Wars. Various Star Trek races.

If you are willing the brave the depths of TV Tropes, here (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PsychicPowers)'s a pretty solid list of psionic-y stories.

[Psyren]

Another film example set in a more modern day is the movie Push, which has a fairly detailed psionics system as well.


How is WoT channeling psionics? Channeling is accessing an external power source whereas psionics are internal. Just because they don't wave their hands about or chant words doesn't make Channeling any less magic.
If you can make a meaningful difference between magic and psionics, that is.

The power source is external but it still has a psionic feel to it. The chief one of course is that it's purely mental with no VSM components, but there's also Overchanneling (you can kill yourself by overclocking), Metaconcert (complete with conductor) and a great deal of the dream-related stuff. WoT channeling focuses more around Psychokinesis and Telepathy, but there's limited Clairsentience from Foretelling and Dreaming as well, and limited Psychoportation from Gateways and Skimming.

[Flickerdart]

Robin Hobbs: The Royal Assassin series

The Farseer books aren't a great fit for psionics. The Skill grants telepathy over vast distances as its primary ability, which is pretty hard to do with psionics (or for that matter, magic). The ability to influence emotion is a little more relevant. Only the most powerful Skilled are capable of anything like illusion or mind control. The Wit is more like druidic magic than anything psionic.

[ExLibrisMortis]

The Farseer books aren't a great fit for psionics. The Skill grants telepathy over vast distances as its primary ability, which is pretty hard to do with psionics (or for that matter, magic). The ability to influence emotion is a little more relevant. Only the most powerful Skilled are capable of anything like illusion or mind control. The Wit is more like druidic magic than anything psionic.
Only the really advanced elderling magic would be a proper fit for D&D magic, in any case, as the whole Six Duchies doesn't even have one person capable of casting magic missile. What the Skilled in the Farseer line do, is more akin to a few PLAs and Magic (or Psionics) in the Blood + Hidden Talent + a few psionic feats.

The memory storage and the resulting illusions in the elderling cities are pretty on-target for psionics, as they appear to be entirely in the mind of the beholder. In addition, I can't help but notice the possible fit between quintessence and Silver.

[AslanCross]

Something not Western:
-The Newtypes in the Gundam universe are not explicitly psionic, but they have dramatically increased empathy and spatial awareness explained as the result of divergent evolution due to living in space. While their abilities are typically amplified by their mecha, NT powers include:

Telepathic understanding not only of cognitive processes but emotions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUNw1d_nq7o)
Control of multiple remote weapons (https://youtu.be/gB89HFPsbDw?t=41s)
Telekinetically stopping an asteroid from falling onto Earth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kT8hdAwh6Y)


The Psychodrivers from the Super Robot Taisen series are similar to Gundam's NTs, though their abilities are far more psychokinetic than empathic.

A telekinetically-amplified punch (https://youtu.be/drqwk49Qqpk?t=1m57s)
A psionic manifestation of a blade (https://youtu.be/drqwk49Qqpk?t=2m21s)

Probably the most completely thought-out magic/psionics dichotomy I've seen is from A Certain Magical Index/A Certain Scientific Railgun.
1. Psionics is the innate ability of a user (called an ESPer) to manifest one's Personal Reality into the physical world around oneself. They have no real precognition, and usually have a single ability they can use, which varies from person to person, and whose level of control allows for more varied applications. The ability was almost always a single violation of the laws of physics.
There's a really weak ESPer who can keep touched objects at a constant temperature. The protagonist of Railgun was a user of electricity. She could shock people, or create an electromagnetic field to launch projectiles (like a railgun), or even hack electronic security systems.
The strongest guy could manipulate any vector quantity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhqEqPoXfq8), so he could deflect any impacts, or even redirect Newton's Third Law of Motion. Generally unfair.

2. Magic was actually invented and studied by non-ESPers to allow them to affect the world around them. Depending on the mage, this could take many different forms. One character could perform magic with a piece of chalk. Another guy was a pyromancer.