[UA] Weird E.S.P.

[Luke Pendo]

Oracular OCD

Ever hear the phrase? "As above, so below." A few people have become aware
of this correspondence. They know that the patterns and flow of history that
shape the global stage has synergistic effects on everyday events all around
us. Anything from the number of green cars you saw today to the shape and
feel of every lamppost on your street. They all are shaped, and thus
communicate, the shape of history.

The human mind can become aware of these patterns, aware of events that
would normally be far beyond their ken. But to absorb these patterns is
somewhat toxic. Ever see the movie "Pi"? After Max Cohen figured out his
stock market prediction thing, his mind started to collapse under the weight
of the insight. Eventually he practiced self-lobotomy to drive the thoughts
from his brain.

Humans are deluged with information everyday, but humans have evolved the
capacity to filter most of this out. Those few who open their minds tend to
find their brains twisted and changed in someway.

For some people, this mental warping manifests as OCD. Their ritualistic
actions allow them to create a socionumerical kinesthetic picture of the
world. Through their touching and counting and rituals, they're able to
extract information from the world in manner that doesn't spell the end of
their brains. It likely, however, does spell the end of normal interactions
with society.

-Luke

On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 3:53 PM, Eslington ~ <eslington at gmail.com> wrote:

> So I'm still working on getting some new players into UA, and all I've
> really got nailed down so far is that one of my players wants to play
> some kind of "sensitive" character.
> (Aside from that, we're probably going more for a street level game,
> with relatively mundane characters.)
>
> When I asked her to expand on it, she turned it around on me and asked
> me what sort of ESP type stuff she could choose from.
> I kind of flubbed it and suggested stuff like the ability to sense the
> prescence of supernatural creatures or, um, stuff like that you know,
> right?
>
> So I think what I need is some unusual and interesting suggestions to
> give her. (Either to pick one or to build from it.)
>
> One idea I think I'll give her next time we discuss it:
>
> ----
> Object reading:
> By touching an object, you can feel the emotions associated with it by
> it's bearer. With a sucessful roll, you can tell whether a murderer
> felt fear or anger as he stabbed his victim, or you could sense the
> sweaty teenage excitement of reaching second base from the back seat
> of a Honda.
>
> Generally the reading is clearer if the emotions are more recent, but
> strong emotions last longer and can override lesser feelings. When you
> pick up an antique World War I rifle you may feel a collector's
> admiration and respect or a young Tommy's panic and confusion.
>
> You normally can't pin down exactly who has touched an object, though
> a matched sucess on your roll may help you narrow it down if you had
> other items associated with the bearer, and a critical sucess might
> yield extremely clear readings.
>
> For some reason this power doesn't work on buildings, roads and other
> structures that are more places than things. It would seem there's a
> difference between a space and an object. (Interestingly, you can read
> caravans and trailers from the outside but not the inside.)
> ----
>
> So, any more ideas?
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