This article originally appeared in Pyramid #23

Pyramid Pick

The E-branch Guide to Psionics

Published by West End Games
Written by Miranda Horner and George R. Strayton
$18.00

Maybe I'm a bit prejudiced, having been a die-hard Lumley fan from way back, but I am excited to see that the Necroscope license wasn't just a one-shot deal. West End's World of Necroscope, for their Masterbook system, does justice to Lumley's world of savage and lustful vampirism and psychic espionage. As if this weren't good enough, they've planned a full line of supplements. Their first installment: The E-branch Guide to Psionics.

While the cover may not clearly imply the contents of the book (being the vampiric skull originally used as the cover to the first Necroscope novel), the introduction quickly dispels all doubts. The book begins with what is seemingly a file folder containing the document "Re: Transcript of E-branch Indoctrination Session 1131a/86," which helps set the mood for a budding agent within the most secret of secret agencies in the British government. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the novels, E-branch, a.k.a. INTESP, is the arm of the government dealing with psychic espionage and is one of the central foci of the series.

The book then proceeds with a comprehensive list of psychic powers and all of their specific rules. The list supplements rather than reprints all of the powers from the main game book, and covers (at least to this reviewer's eyes) all of the powers detailed in Lumley's series. It even goes so . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: January 1, 1997

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