Scion: Difference between revisions

[[File:Scion.jpg|frame|Meet the children of the gods, someday to be gods unto themselves.]]

 

 

Player characters are the offspring of such unions, making them technically demigods, though in game terms they are referred to as Scions. They grew up unaware of their nonhuman heritage, until one day they received a visitation from their divine parent, and were told the truth about their origins.

Being a demigod sounds cool, but there is a catch: the Titans, ancient powerful entities, and your grandparents on the important side of the family, once vanquished and imprisoned by the gods, are breaking free, and a cosmic war has begun between the two. The characters must join the fight, and in the process grow in power until they too become gods in their own right.

 

 

The rulebook includes six possible pantheons to choose from, using the time-tested White Wolf concept of [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|making members of different groups team up into a motley crew]]. They are: the Pesedjet (Egyptian), Dodekatheon (Greek), Aesir (Norse), Amatsukami (Japanese), Atzlanti (Aztec), and Loa (Voodoo). Game extensions include the Tuatha De Danann (Irish), the Celestial Bureaucracy (Chinese), and the Devas (Hindu) from ''Scion: Companion'', as well as nationalistic pantheons of America and the Allies in the same sourcebook for running games during [[World War Two]], and it's implied that yet more pantheons exist as well (indeed, there's a PDF covering the Yazata, the Persian pantheon (''Yazata: The Persian Gods''), as well as a supplement not available in English detailing the Gaulish pantheon; several fan-made pantheons can be found on the net as well). There is also the Atlantean pantheon, although they are canonically dead after having been corrupted by the Titans; details on the actual Pantheon and their Cosmology are in ''Demigod'', while the Pantheon's original Virtues (Duty, Intellect, Order, Piety) and Purview (Scire) are in the Scion ''Companion''.

* [[Army of the Ages]]: The [[wikipedia:Einherjar|Einherjar]] warriors that show up in modern times come from the 18th century through the mid-1970s, outfitted in whatever gear they had on them when they "died".

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: Vidar is described in ''Hero'' as "obsessive" "paranoid" and "methodical".

* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: Hitler's Spear of Destiny was actually Odin's spear Gungnir, given him by [[Magnificent Bastard|Loki]] in the alternate setting set out in chapter six of Scion Companion. Lady Liberty, Br'er Rabbit, Uncle Sam, Robin Hood, Britannia, d'Artagnan, Baba Yaga and sundry others are all gods. The French, Russian and British ones work together out of the need to fight the Germans whereas the American ones are a different Pantheon.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: The Greek pantheon's purview of Arete just grants bonus dice instead of awesome abilities, but damn if those dice don't come in handy.

* [[Mythology Upgrade]]: Isn't it amusing how advanced technology can improve already deadly Nemeans? Examples include Centaurs as half-human and half-Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Scylla has machines replace its monster heads and Surtr's main fortress in Muspelheim can transform into a [[Humongous Mecha]].

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: The main villain is named Kane? His right-hand man is named ''Seth''?! His con man associate is named '''Sly Guiler'''?!? [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|His girlfriend is named]] '''[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|ORLANDA]]'''?!?!?

* [[No Honour Among Thieves]]: Two Titans have serious internal conflict amongst their Avatars. Every avatar of Muspelheim except Prometheus will turn against Surtr, once he fulfills his role in Ragnarok. In Drowned Road, Ran will attack Mami Wata once their plan to drown the Earth is complete. Nu, meanwhile, is hiding, waiting for its opportunity to strike at other avatars.

* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: Explicitly defined as part of the core rules-normal Virtues define a code of behavior, while the Titanic Dark Virtues are [[Social Darwinist|raw survivalism, with a side of selfishness]].

* [[Our Monsters Are Different]]: Pretty much all of the attached subtropes can be found in Scion to one degree or another, with various monsters showing different levels of alteration from their mythological origins. Different kinds of [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]] range from [[Horror Hunger|heart-eating]], [[Bat Out of Hell|bat-like]] Camazotz through to [[Lookslike Orlock|bald-headed, pointy-eared]] Vrykolakas. [[Our Werebeasts Are Different|Therianthropy]] consists of a three-stage infection which sees a were-beast gain greater control over their transformations in exchange for becoming increasingly enslaved to the Titans. [[Our Monsters Are Weird|Numerous other examples]] abound.

** It is implemented in the rules too. If you are around a person who is Fate Bound to you, you get bonus dice if you act in the way they expect you to act and penalties if you defy their expectations. So if several people watching are convinced that you are a sociopath and are going to murder the mentally disturbed hostage taker rather than talk him down and get him medical treatment, that may soon become your only viable option!

** This is a major plot point in ''Ragnarok''-sparing Hod (Baldur's accidental killer) ''really'' derails the prophecy (he trades his life for Baldur's, Loki is never imprisoned, Thokk is revealed to be {{spoiler|Baldur's [[Yandere]] wife}}..). And that's only ''one'' of the things that can be done; it's quite possible to kill Garm before he gets Tyr (which is actually rather easy for a God, he being a Demigod-level adversary), or convince Fenris to sit out the battle in return for allowing him to live in [[Lost Woods|the Dark Forest]].

* [[Semi-Divine]]: The basic premise is that you play one of these.

* [[Shout-Out]]: "When your character is incapable of taking action, because he is unconscious, paralyzed, ''[[Star Wars|frozen in carbonite]]'' or whatever . . ."

* [[Take That]]: In ''Ragnarok'', the game discusses alternate ways to cue Fimbulwinter rather than the default meteor strike. The title of the sidebar is "But ''[[Armageddon]]'' Sucked".

** Only Demigods with Epic Stamina are capable of surviving by drinking virtually any liquid and treating it as water, "even such distasteful liquids as gasoline, blood, pine-scented disinfectant or [[Take That|diet cola]]."

* [[The Gods Must Be Lazy]]: They do tend to leave their children to sort things out on their own.

** And justified, it's stated in the God book the Gods have their hands full holding the Titans at bay in the Overworld and just performing the Visitations for their new Scions is both risky because the Gods have to power down and become weaker to enter the World without incurring Fate's unwanted and undivided attention making them vulnerable to Titanspawn and takes them away from the main front of the war that is implied not to be going well.

** *Ahem* And Odin.

** As if that weren't enough, ''God'' adds '''Coyote'''.

* [[True Companions]]: A Band can be these. The signature-character "protagonist" Band in the core trilogy seems to be -- in ''God's'' opening fiction, when they are settling into godhood in their pantheon's homelands, most of them genuinely miss each other.

* [[Two-Faced]]: Hel. She's stunningly beautiful on one side, and very obviously a corpse on the other.