Scion General

Conversations relating to the White Wolf game, Scion. This is the place to seek help for Character concepts, discuss the war against the titans, and stat new titanspawn, deities, and pantheons. Also, if somebody could link to a good resource for info on more obscure historical pantheons, that would be awesome.

I was considering making a topic for this, but I'm glad to see someone did before me.

I've pretty much fallen in love with Scion. Hell, I'm even starting a PBP game of it.

I've never cracked open a Scion rulebook, as they don't exist around here.

I really, really want to play it though. It seems pure awesome. D:

edited 19th May '11 5:45:01 AM by Diamonnes

I almost got into a Scion PBP game. My char was the lone Norse, a son of Heimdall, and a blatantly obvious rip-off of Dean Winchester.

The world seems cool. I've flipped through most of the books; the Celtic gods seem to suck, I haven't looked at the Hindu or Chinese ones; the Persian pantheon power rocks so if I ever get the chance to play again I'm going with Persian ancestry instead.

the Celtic gods seem to suck

I sincerely hope this is not true.

If White Wolf doesn't honour the most badass mythology ever, as well as the first to have a goddamn cyborg, I'll be severely miffed.

What order are the books in? I'm about to acquire them.

edited 19th May '11 7:10:24 AM by Diamonnes

Hero, Demigod, God, Ragnarok and "compendium" the latter of which has the Celtic, Chinese and WW 2 pantheons.

edited 19th May '11 7:26:19 AM by JosefBugman

I forget the exact title of the book with the Persian gods, but their pantheon power is basically time control.

The Celtic gods pantheon power is the Geas - and I read it that they basically geas themselves for certain bonuses, but breaking the geas royally screws them up. Not to say that the individual gods weren't good, they seemed pretty decent, and they did make sure to throw in the various badguys of Celtic myth (like Fomorians). Just IMO the powers for them suck in comparison.

Of course, then there's the "modern" pantheon with "gods" like Uncle Sam.

Err, no. Stars is an all-purpose purview and is available to everyone. The Yazata pantheon specific purview is called Asha and combines a weaker version of Jotunblut with a bonus to rolls when using Boons from specific Purviews. Which is... Not terrible, but not that great.

Geas (or rather, Enech, which Geas is just a part of), on the other hand, while it can certainly screw you over if you break it, can give you effective bonuses greater than Asha and Arete COMBINED while being much cheaper. And it gives access to some rather strong buffs and debuffs, the ability to use Boons without actually having to buy them and complete immunity to any purview you choose.

TL;DR: The Irish gods actually have one of the strongest purviews, the Persian one isn't all that great and the Norse one is still crap.

@Josef Bugman: The Compendium also has the Devas, AKA Hindu, deities.

And even if their pantheon-specific purview isn't that great, the Persian gods still rock.

One of my best friends is a big ol' Scion fanboy. And I admit, it's a rather fun game.

We're playing a campaign right now. Our party consists of a slightly amoral Investigative Journalist(me!), a Domon Kasshu Expy, a sociopathic "respectable delivery company" worker, and a slightly deranged man who thinks he is the Green Lantern.

We're quite the strange bunch, really.

We've had some fun times so far. For example, the Journalist and the (fake) Green Lantern decided to tie up a drug thug using arts and craft supplies on the deadliest street of a rather corrupt town after extracting all the necessary information from him.

Also, a fairly epic battle against a battle stripper. But that's a story for another time.

edited 19th May '11 6:29:51 PM by Deathonabun

They must have forgotten that anyone slain by the Dagda's club is instantly resurrected as a zombie slave.

The club can bring people back to life, but not ensl... Oh, you're talking in-game.

Geas (or rather, Enech, which Geas is just a part of), on the other hand, while it can certainly screw you over if you break it, can give you effective bonuses greater than Asha and Arete COMBINED while being much cheaper. And it gives access to some rather strong buffs and debuffs, the ability to use Boons without actually having to buy them and complete immunity to any purview you choose.

Care to explain exactly how that is described/works for the newbie without that book? :3

^Seconded. I saw the books at my local indie shop,and playing demigods...

Playing demigods fighting Titanspawn and other demigods....

Wow, I was trying find a game for this all over the internet (even though I don't know how to roll a character.)

@ Xeniph: Stars was the one I was thinking of, though I thought it was their pantheon purview. Ah well, then. As I said, I haven't had opportunity to actually play Scion, I've just flipped through several of the rulebooks and think it looks pretty damn .

Trust me.

It is pretty damn

I absolutely adore the stunt system. I was really fucking disappointed when I played my first non-Scion non-Exalted RPG. It was just so different...and totally not

@Diamonnes: Basically there are three tiers of Geasa, each providing more powerful bonuses and greater penalties if the Geas is broken.

• One of the possible effect a first tier Geas can provide is a dice bonus to all rolls using a specified Ability. The bonus scales with Legend and is equal to a maxed-out Arete in that Ability.
• The second tier can grant bonus SUCCESSES to all rolls with the specified Ability OR Boon, making it about twice as powerful as Arete. It can also grant the first tier bonus all rolls using specified Relic.
• The third tier can grant the obove bonus to ALL boons from a specified Purview.

(There are other possible effects a Geas can provide, such as faster healing, Willpower/Legend regeneration, damage reduction etc., all split between the three tiers.)

Each Geas also has a requirement that must be fulfilled for it to work. The manual contains a long list of those, including things like caring fora specific type of person/animal/place, acting in particular fashion, avoiding certain foods or substances... Breaking the Geas turns the associated bonuses into panelties until the character atones, which takes the longer nad is more difficult the more powerful the Geas is.

@Blue Ninja 0: An easy mistake to make considering they're right next to each other in the Book. And Scion IS pretty damn

Fucking brilliant.

Bravo, White Wolf, you little geniuses.

edited 31st May '11 8:50:58 AM by Diamonnes

Bumping an epic thread.

So, favourite pantheons?

Mine, in order:

• Tuatha De Danann
• Dodekathion
• Aesir

edited 31st May '11 9:31:21 AM by Diamonnes

x3 - well, maybe if I get a chance to play in a game, my opinion will change. Admittedly I'm more drawn to the Norse, though the Japanese and Voodoo gods also intrigue me, as did the Zoroastrian ones. I cannot see myself ever playing an Aztec godling, however.

Yeah... the Aztec gods are just creepy. I mean, come one? LAWL HUMAN SACRIFICE!!!!1111 Pass. It's a wonder all the non-psychotic Aztec Scions don't just say "Fuck you" to their parents and ask Quetzelcoatl to adopt them. <_<

edited 31st May '11 10:54:36 AM by Diamonnes

...And then there's the literal goddess of crap. No. Just... No.

I honestly really like the Loa.

Baron Samedi is a pretty cool guy.

The Loa are pretty badass individually, but I dislike their Purview Cheval.

Also, question about Geasa, specifically, the Boon and Purview Geasa.

Does taking one grant you the ability to use what it's associated with? For example:

• I take a Boon Geas for War 2. I have access to the War purview because of my Relic spear, and Legend 3. However I did not take War 2. Can I use War 2 or do I have to purchase it?
  • Same situation minus access to the Purview.
    • Same thing, applied to the Purview as a whole; IE I have no spear, but I purchase War 1 and 2 can I use them?)

In addition, do Geasa stack? For instance, say I have a Boon Geas and and Purview Geas for the Purview the Boon falls under. Do I get twice the Legend bonus?

Text desciptions, they are really weirdly worded.