History TabletopGame / PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution

** [[spoiler: Rose in ''Captured''. After being detained, put on constant P.P.I.C.s, and subjected to cruel experiments and indoctrination attempts by the Shop for at least six weeks an agent tells her that her friends were killed in an escape attempt. She snaps and mangles the agent in question. Details are left out but she notes that the agent isn't pretty anymore and may not ever walk again. She doesn't even know what she did or how she did it.]]
** [[spoiler: Harry in ''Broken Things''. Kept in a position similar, although seemingly even crueler, to Rose, he eventually gains enough power to overcome his captors and goes on a rampage throughout the facility. When his rescuers show up, they find him killing the nurses and doctors that tortured him.]]

** Abraxis is officially an investment company.
** Eschaton is fronted by the major monotheistic religions.

* PsychicPowers: Duh.

** The Shop doctors in ''Broken Things'' do what they do to improve espers...just not necessarily the ones that serve as their test subjects.

* WhamLine: Harry gets one in ''Broken Things''. The scene starts off with the head doctor mentioning that they've adjusted his meds again, so Harry's uncharacteristic nonchalance will likely be chalked up to him just being high, until:
-> [[spoiler: "No. I changed my mind. You should call me sir. And you should probably beg, too.”]]

** Popping espers are a deadly threat to everyone in their overload radius.

* DeadlyNosebleed: Espers who overuse their powers often get these. It’s also depicted in some of the book’s artwork.

* PsychicNosebleed: Depicted in some of the book’s artwork. Damage incurred from using psitalents often manifests as bleeding from the nose, eyes, or ears, and headaches.

* Gaslighting: The doctor attempts to do this in ''Broken Things'' by altering the lights in the facility to throw off Harry' perception of time, but he figures it out. The doctor is not pleased.

** In ''Tomorrow’s Starlight'' [[spoiler: Tim uses psychokinesis to get a Green from Mama Bear, which he gives to Callie. Keep in mind, he doesn’t know about the drug’s potential side effects, doesn’t bother to check to see if there are any, and doesn’t take the hint that if Mama Bear, a drug dealer, won’t part with it without the use of powerful psychokinetic talents that maybe it’s kind of a dangerous drug.]]

* WindsOfDestinyChange: The synchronicity talents allow espers to affect luck.

** Dodging automatically succeeds against TK Grab and Improved TK Grab.

* {{Cap}}: Stats for humans and espers are capped at 10, though the maximum possible stat for real-world humans would be 6. Somakinetics, however, can bust this cap and raise their physical stats permanently up to a maximum of 14 and a temporary maximum of 18. To put this in perspective, a somakinetic with maxed out Speed can run three times as fast as the fastest human who ever lived.

* MamaBear: Rose is this to her friends, hence the nickname. A Shop agent in ''Captured'' learns this the hard way. This is made extra scary by the fact that, if you pay attention, ''Captured'' reveals that Rose is a level two somakinetic and master of telekinesis.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Several techniques allow the player and enemies to have this. A character with Trick Shot and Long Shot can shoot a gun out of an opponent's hands at 400 yards, if they're using a rifle to attack. It doesn't even have to be a sniper rifle.

* GovernmentConspiracy: The Shop. They abduct and indoctrinate espers, have absolute authority in the US, and control the government and media, with the goal of ensuring that America stays the world’s only superpower.

* TooAwesomeToUse:
** Touch of Death, Improved Tough of Death, Gaze of Death, and Wave of Death can instantly kill opponents, but these talents are more expensive than normal and they inflict lethal damage on the user.
** TK Blast is amazingly powerful but the user and their allies aren't immune to its damage and it affects such a large area that you can only use it under certain circumstances.

* {{Cap}}:
** Stats for normal humans are capped at 6.
** Stats for espers and certain special humans are capped at 10.
** Espers with somakinesis have a base stat cap of 10, like any other esper, however, the passive bonus to speed and strength they receive means that their passive maximum speed and strength can go up to 14 and they can temporarily boost them up to 18. To put that in perspective, a boosting, max level somakinetic with a base speed of 10 can run three times faster than the fastest human to ever live.

** This goes double for somakinetics with high wits scores.

* PunkPunk: The game dubs itself as "Psychopunk," adopts a self-consciously "punk" aesthetic, and the "good guy" organization is expressly tailored to appeal to Millenial punks through a punk-rock band and a hipsterish new religion.

** Mama Bear is a jerk to the Bridgewater Four, but does her best to make sure that they're safe from the Shop and expresses a surprising amount of remorse, vulnerability, loyalty, and affection at various points in ''Captured''. For her, anyway.

* NoodleIncident: In ''Captured'', Mama Bear expresses remorse for an incident in Germany. She doesn’t go into detail, but says that she “didn’t mean to hurt all those people” and wonders if she's been abandoned for it.

** Agents of The Shop fit this image to a t, probably intentionally. Ian even notes that they looked exactly like the ones he'd seen in movies and on tv.

* ManOnFire: If a person is hit with Ignite or Conflagration, they have to succeed a speed check or they'll catch fire.

* LuckManipulationMechanic: