Worldbuilding

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magic and psionics how to make the two feel distinct (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm working on making my own ttrpg, a mystery action game where you play as a Psyker , think a combination of Call of Cthulhu and earthbound. The setting is suppose to be sort of a kitchen sink encompassing almost every type of supernatural entity or phenomenon and I'm struggling to come up with an origin and general vibe surrounding magic and witchcraft. I want it to be distinct from psionics with the two not encompassing the same abilities while at the same time making magic useful and interesting in case players want to interact with a potential magic system.

As of right now, most abilities i can think of can easily be done with psionics in some way so what would you say are some distinctly "magic" like abilities that you generally don't expect psionics to be able to do.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Psionics are fast, magic is slow. Have magic require rituals and concentration to enact whereas psionics are instant actions.

You could make magic defy the laws of physics, whereas psionics cannot, e.g. magic can create something from nothing, stop time, etc

If your setting supports it you could make magic bound to supernatural entities, where all users make bargains with demons or whatever else to do magic. These bargains could be 1 time (i.e. you make a 1 time bargain to cast 1 spell) or could be long term/permanent contracts.