Titanic Tales

The gods have always fought against the generations of gods that came before them. In Greek myth, the Olympians—the gods with which we are most familiar from Greek and Roman mythology—fought a decade-long battle to see who would have dominion over the world. This is the ‘Titanomachy’, or War of the Titans. It is this war and this intergenerational conflict of young gods rebelling against and ultimately defeating their parents which is a major influence for Scion, the roleplaying game in which players roleplay the mortal descendants of gods—or Scions—who grow to become both the agents and the active presence of their parents in The World, the mortal realms as we know them. Of course, such tales of intergenerational godly conflict are not confined to Greek and Roman mythology, and neither are the Scions. Thus, in Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero, they include not just the Theoi or Greco-Roman pantheon, but also the Aesir or Norse Gods, the Manitou or Algonquian pantheon, Netjer or Egyptian pantheon, the Kami or Japanese Gods, the Tuatha Dé Danann or Irish Gods, the Óríshá or Yórúba pantheon, the Devá or Gods of South Asia, the Shén or Chinese pantheon, and Teōtl or Aztec pantheon. And each pantheon has its own set of Titans, older deities more archetypal embodiments of a particular purview whose pursuit of their primal urges tend to have destructive effects, especially on the mortal realms. Consequently, the Gods, many of them children of the Titans, imprisoned the Titans, who have rattled their chains ever since, more recently weakening them and allowing their more monstrous offspring to enter The World and threaten humanity. However, the relationships between the Gods and their Titans varies from one Pantheon to the next, and it is these relationships which are explored in Titanomachy, a supplement for both Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero which brings the second War against the Gods one step closer.

Published by Onyx Path Publishing, Titanomachy can be divided into three large chapters. The first of these is devoted to ‘The Titans’ and details the various Titans of Scion’s ten pantheons—or rather it does not. In each case, the Titan is fully detailed, including aliases, callings and purviews, relationships and agendas, view of other pantheons, and current priorities. There are typically three or four entries per pantheon, plus the Birthrights for the Scions of the Titans of that pantheon. These include creatures, followers, guides, and relics.

For example, the Titans for the Aesir are Jörð, Nidhoggr, Surtur, and Ymir. Jörð is described as the most beautiful of Aesir, an Earth Mother and creator of the Dwarves, whose father was killed by Asgardians and who was in turn abandoned by Odin, and ultimately, their son, Thor. Although she misses her son, her heart has grown bitter at the treatment by both him and his father. Jörð’s Callings are Guardian, Lover, and Primaeval,  and her Purviews are Beauty, Earth, Epic Stamina, Fertility, and Passion (Love). Her relationships and agendas primarily involve looking for companionship beyond the confines of the Pantheon, having grown bored of their repetitive behaviour, but as intelligent and skilled as she is, her own behaviour is often smothering and repetitive. Jörð holds the other Aesir in contempt, but is beginning beyond its confines for ideas and companionship, and her current priorities include protecting endangered species, and protecting and loving those Scions she creates—and of course, expecting much love in return. Automatically, Jörð makes for a great—or is that terrible mother figure?—especially if the Scion Player Character is related to Thor or Odin, or even simply red-headed. She could even be supporting radical eco-activists in their efforts to protect endangered species.

The other Titans of the Aesir—and of course, those of the other pantheons, are given a similar treatment. Thus for the rest of the Aesir, Nidhoggr is either the ‘Corpse-Chewer’ or ‘The Pretender’, who might be the serpent who gnaws the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, or who might be the nemesis or simply a trick of Niõhöggr, who also gnaws the roots of Yggdrasil. It is intentionally confusing, but Scions of either are bent on the destruction of the other. As for Surtur, he is only concerned with his duty—fiery destruction and causing natural disasters for regrowth, and lastly, Ymir, the father-of-himself and all of the Aesir, plots to take Asgard as is his right, but his head-in-clouds mind and drive to micro-manage his fellow Titans and his own Scions means that he is rarely successful.

In terms of Birthrights, the Scions of the Titans of the Aesir might have access to creatures such as the cows sacred to Ymir, which he uses to send messages—whether in the slaughterhouse house or on the dairy farm, whilst Jörð uses her Followers the Dvergar, as her Messengers and Guides. An unaligned Guide and Messenger is Ratatoskr, the squirrel of the World Tree, who when not annoying Nidhoggr (or Niõhöggr) carries news and spreads lies, surely a great role model for a scurrilous gossip mongering Titan Scion! Then for relics, the ‘Brains in a Bottle’ provides a means of very limited communication with Ymir, ‘Jörð’s Bracelets’ allow the wearer to draw power directly from earth, ‘Nidhoggr’s Tooth’ is a dagger carved from a tooth capable of piercing any armour and holding any poison, and ‘Ymir’s Skull Fragment’ enables the user to view anywhere visible from the sky.

Titanomachy does this in turn for each of the Titans for almost all of the Pantheons, giving the Storyguide a wide range of options and foes to bring into her campaign. Where this diversity gets really interesting though, is how each of the various pantheons relates to its Titans. The Devá or Gods of South Asia loathe not only their own Titans, but those of other pantheons and take exception to pantheons who are more forgiving of them. The Titans and the Kami or Japanese Gods simply hate each other over a betrayal which happened centuries before, whilst those of the Manitou or Algonquian pantheon are simply seen as troublesome members of the same family. Similarly, the Titans of the Netjer or Egyptian pantheon are also accepted, but more as a balancing counterparts to their corresponding gods who defeat them over and over. The Titans facing the Shén of the Chinese pantheon are mired and quantified into the celestial bureaucracy, whilst those of the Teōtl or Aztec pantheon work to destroy the world completely, just as they have four times before. Of course, the gods of the Theoi or Greco-Roman pantheon hate their Titans, whilst the Tuatha Dé Domnann are only Titans because they lost their battle against the Tuatha Dé Danann or Irish Gods. Lastly, the exceptions are the gods of the Óríshá or Yórúba pantheon, which lacks Titans and dismisses the concept, fundamentally because of the divisive and delegitimizing nature of the categorisation.

Having presented the Storyguide with such a diverse range of mythological creatures, would be gods, former gods, and more, the second chapter to Titanomachy delves into ‘Storyguiding’. This highlights the questions a Storyguide needs to address before bringing Titans into her campaign—how big a role, which pantheons, has the Cold War between the gods and the Titans turned ‘hot’, and so on. What level are the Player Characters involved in the war—hot or cold—at street level, globetrotting across The World, or delving in and out of Terra Incognita, increasing the mythic stakes at each level? Along with numerous plot hooks covering numerous Titans presented in the previous chapter, there is also good advice on how to use the Titans. As NPCs, they might range free, come to the Player Characters for help (or vice versa), languish in prison (which is traditional) and thus requiring a visit, and even serve as allies. One interesting option covered is as Titan Scions, that is as Player Characters, having a Titan Calling instead of a Scion Calling. This lends itself to some great roleplaying challenges and storytelling possibilities as Titans are often prone to inhuman behaviour due to their parentage (whether actual or adopted). However, this may not be welcome in every playing group, and the authors suggest that for this reason, the inclusion of Titan Scions as Player Characters be discussed first.

The various levels of play—street level, globetrotting around The World, and into Terra Incognita are supported with three extended scenario outlines, each three acts long and accompanied by stats for the Storyguide characters. The street level scenario is  ‘Diaspora’, a locked room type mystery where the room is actually a whole airport in which the Scion must find some stolen relics, uncover imposters, solve a murder, and survive an apocalyptic boss fight in the course of an afternoon. The World scenario, ‘Lunar New Year’ is more open and can either start a campaign or be dropped into it as the Scions investigate the disruptive activities of a chaotic Titan Scion in New York. ‘Bring Forth a Greater Thunder’ is the Terra Incognito scenario and is far more open in its structure, consisting of key scenes and various subplots. All three scenarios involve the three areas of play intrinsic to Storypath games—action-adventure, intrigue, and procedural, and all nicely show what a Scion scenario can involve.

Lastly, the chapter on ‘Storyguiding’ discusses another type of entity key to many pantheons and mythologies—dragons! Dragons claim to have existed before the creation of The World and to have been the first in The World, which many Titans find objectionable. This is exacerbated by there being some overlap between Titans and Dragons, so that there may be two beings of the same name, but be different all together and be the same at the same time. As with the earlier Nidhoggr (or Niõhöggr), this is intended to be slightly confusing. Potentially though, Dragons represent a threat that Scions and Titans can both agree on.

The third and final chapter in Titanomachy consists of ‘Antagonists’, a wide range of enemies, potential allies, and other Storyguide characters. There is a guide to adjusting adversaries up and down to match the Scions and building archetypes adding Qualities and Flairs like ‘Bringing the House Down’, ‘Entrap’, and ‘Miasma’ to  base Spawn or Titanic minions, before listing over eighty examples. These include the familiar creatures of myth and legend, from Banshee, Fomorians, Gremlins to Internet Trolls (Lesser and Greater), Phouka, and Wendigo, alongside the unfamiliar and the individual. The former are drawn from mythologies less familiar to a Western audience, for example, the Harionago, female monsters who stalk the streets strangling with their hair anyone who returns their smiles or the Tikoloshe, creatures of polluted water and spite born to make the lives of others miserable. The latter are individual Titan Scions, such as Ed and Edie Jackson, sweet old pensioners adopted by Prometheus who setting fire to buildings and even Timothy Allgood, a tireless advocate for the release of Titans everywhere, who may be simply a good talk show guest or an actual Titan Scion.

Lastly, an appendix provides a raft of new rules. These include Collateral, a means of handling damage or events  to the environment around them when the Scions face Titan Scions or creatures of legendary size, and numerous Birthrights, from Cyclops, Dragon Secretary, and Grigori Rasputin to Cursed Copper Goods, Silk Spider Shawls, and Sinister Hands. The appendix is rounded off with a wide selection of Knacks that any Storyguide character or Player Character Titan Scion can have, depending upon their Titan Calling.

Physically, Titanomachy is well written and well presented. The artwork varies a little in quality, but otherwise, this is a decent looking book.

Titanomachy could simply have just been a book of monsters and their stats. Fortunately, it is much more than that. Many of the Titans and creatures and Titan Scions are monsters and are likely to serve as enemies to the Player Character Scions, but Titanomachy provides and discusses options to make them much more—frenemies, potential and/or temporary allies, and thus more interesting. In doing so, it builds on the thoroughly enjoyable descriptions of the Titans given for each of the pantheons that in turn lend themselves to great story hooks, interesting relationships with the Player Character Scions, and good roleplaying. All that and the descriptions also serve as more great introductions to the stories and myths of each pantheon such that the reader wants to find out more. Plus there are the detailed scenario outlines and plot hooks and actual monster, creature, and Titan Scion descriptions and stats which all together almost feel like a bonus!

Titanomachy is not just a great read for the Storyguide, but an indispensable guide to both the obvious foes of the Player Character Scions and how to turn a few of them into something more than just foes. Once the Storyguide has her Player Character Scions on their paths to divinity, Titanomachy is a next-step purchase for both Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero.

Young Gods

“Good evening, and once upon a time…” What if these were the opening words of the six o’clock news? What if the news was not only of the latest government initiative, a war in a faraway country, threat of famine in another, a new economic report, a celebrity’s scandalous activities, and all you would expect, but also of Gods walking the Earth, their cults proudly and joyously celebrating festivals dedicated to them, of myths being enacted and reinforced? What if corporations and celebrities and politicians purposefully align their brands with the Gods in the hope gaining their patronage, the love affairs and scandals of the Gods are the subject of the magazines at the supermarket checkout, Valkyries and Amazons work as mercenaries, Satyrs make for the greatest party hosts and revellers, and victorious sports teams give praise to Nike? And not millennia ago, but yesterday, last week, and tomorrow? This is The World, which is just like ours except that the Gods are real, their faiths accepted alongside the more modern monotheistic faiths of ours, and the supernatural is real, but occluded rather than hidden.

The World is one with multiple pantheons—the Aesir, Manitou, Theoi, Netjer, Kami, Tuatha Dé Danann, Óríshá, Devá, Shén, and Teōtl pantheons—often rivals and competitors for the same myths, legends, artefacts, and aspects of The World. As much as they are idolised, it is rare for any one of the Gods to walk the Earth or directly intervene in the affairs of mortals, primarily because they need to maintain a balance between the human belief and worship in them which forms both their personalities and their roles and the danger that the fickle nature of that belief and worship will drastically change their personalities and their roles. Instead, they reside in Overworlds and Underworlds from which they project Terra Incognita, lands of myth once removed from The World, but accessed via Gates such as Bifrost or Fengdu Ghost City, or Axes Mundi, like travelling the aether or sailing the ocean to reach the River Styx. Many of these Terra Incognita parallel real-world locations in The World. For example, Boston’s Catholic churches double as Tuatha sancta, whilst its city parks are strewn with fairy mounds from which lead stray paths where tolls must be paid or riddles answered to again access dreamlike gardens. Sailors carrying a piece of wood or stone from Ireland may find themselves voyaging into Tir na nÓg rather than docking in Boston Harbour. The shining metropolis of Memphis in Egypt with its skyscrapers and maglev mass transit is contrasted with the ancient and macabre necropolis of Saqqara next door, where with the right spells, entry into the Duat, the realm of the dead, may be found.

The feuds and rivalries between the Gods are not the only sources of conflict in The World. The primary conflict is between the Gods and the Titans. The Titans are also deities, but are archetypal embodiments of a particular purview whose pursuit of their primal urges tend to have destructive effects, especially on the mortal realms. Consequently, the Gods, many of them children of the Titans, imprisoned the Titans, who have rattled their chains ever since, more recently weakening them and allowing their more monstrous offspring to enter The World and threaten humanity. Into this conflict step the Scions. Each is the half-divine child of one the Gods and humanity. Many do not know the true nature of their parentage and so explain their amazing abilities and skills as being due natural talents, others have undergone the Visitation, the moment when their true nature and divine lineage is revealed and they are granted their Birthright, gifts from their godly parent.

This is the set-up for Scion: Second Edition, published by Onyx Path Publishing. Inspired by The Wicked + The Divine by Keiron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the television series Carnivàle, and others, this is a contemporary roleplaying game of modern myth and epic heroism in which not only do the gods walk amongst us, they often have children too. These children, the Scions of the gods, born to the magic of yesterday and the promise of tomorrow, are caught up in a war with the Titans, elder beings who rage against the human world and its wayward gods. As children of the gods, the Player Characters protect the interests of their parents on Earth whilst protecting humanity against the ravages of the Titans. It is explored through not one book, but four, each book representing a different Tier. These are Scion: Origin, Scion: Hero, Scion: Demi-God, and Scion: God, which explore the Scions’ growing ties to their own myths and legends and to the mortal world, the latter weakening as the former strengthens, as they become increasingly involved in divine conflicts.

Scion: Origin is the starting point. The Player Characters are mortals, not yet aware of their true nature, even though divine ichor flows through their veins. They might be a faith healer whose powers are truly divine in nature, a stuntman whose physical prowess enables him to throw himself into any situation, a gambler whose luck truly shines, a mercenary for hire always able to get the job done, but part of that will be their unknown divine mature. Alternatively, a Scion may not be the son or daughter of a God, but a Supernatural being. These include Saints, Kitsune, Satyrs, Therianthropes, Wolf-Warriors, and Cu Sith, who may in turn achieve true divinity like the sons and daughters of the Gods.

A Player Character in Scion: Origin is first defined by a Concept and three Deeds—short-term, long term, and band-term—which combine the Scion’s aims and what his player wants. He has three Paths, one each connected to his Origin, Role, and Society/Pantheon, representing decisions the Scion has made or experiences made, the Origin his background, the Role his occupation or area of expertise, and Society/Pantheon his connection to an organisation, cult, or pantheon. Origin Paths include Adventurer, Life of Privilege, Military Brat, or Child of the Street; Role Paths include Charismatic Leader, Detective, and Technology Expert; and Society/Pantheon the Aesir, Manitou, Theoi, Netjer, Kami, Tuatha Dé Danann, Óríshá, Devá, Shén, and Teōtl pantheons and one of its Gods. In the long term, a Path also provides a route along which a player can develop his character, and will be rewarded in doing so with slightly reduced Experience Point costs. He also has Skills and Attributes, and lastly, a Calling and Knacks. The Calling is an archetype such as Creator, Guardian, Hunter, Lover, and so on, each of which has several associated natural or supernatural benefits, or Knacks. For example, ‘The Bare Minimum’ for the Healer Calling, enables a Scion to tend someone safely even without the right tools and ‘Experienced Traveler’ for the Liminal Calling lets a Scion quickly pick up social cues and language even in the remotest of locations, and is unlikely to be seen as out of place. Some Knacks require the expenditure of Momentum—acquired from failed dice rolls, and whilst a Scion can know multiple Knacks, at the Tier of Scion: Origin, he can only have the one active.

Creating a Scion is a matter of making choices building upon the Concept and selected Pantheon, the player deciding which of his Scion’s Paths is primary, secondary, and tertiary and assigning dots to skills based on each Path’s skills. Attributes are divided into three arenas—mental, physical, social, and are assigned dots based whether they are primary, secondary, or tertiary. The Scion’s Approach, how he prefers to act, whether through Force, Finesse, or Resilience, grants further dots in the three associated attributes. The process is not complex, and whilst it is supported by a solid example, it could have been eased with a clearer summary at the start of the process.

Our sample Scion is the Pre-Visitation Elias Castro who made it big as a successful lawyer defending even bigger-name clients, some of whom were guilty and he managed to get off. He made himself rich and famous—even infamous—and then his conscience got to him. Elias began to drink and gamble, putting himself in debt, leading to a vicious circle of terrible clients, drinking, and gambling. Part of him wants to be off the rollercoaster, part of him continues to enjoy the ride.

Name: Elias Castro
Concept: Off-the-deep-end Gambler
Parent: Hermes
Origin Path: Surburbia – Everybody’s gotta grow up somewhere
Role Path: Charismatic Leader – Honey tongued lawyer
Pantheon Path: Hermes – Caught between two worlds
Calling: Trickster (1)

DEEDS
Short-Term Deed: To take one more risk (Courage)
Long-Term Deed: To get sober (Conviction)
Band-Term Deed:

SKILLS
Culture 3 (Rough & the Smooth), Empathy 5 (I can see through you), Integrity 3 (I stand by everything I say), Leadership 2, Persuasion 5 (Would I lie to you?), Subterfuge 4 (God of Gamblers), Technology 1

ATTRIBUTES
Intellect 3 Might 1 Presence 3
Cunning* 4 Dexterity* 2 Manipulation* 5
Resolve 2 Stamina 1 Composure 3

Movement: 2
Defence: 1

KNACKS
Aura of Greatness, Rumour Miller, Wasn’t Me

Mechanically, Scion: Origin employs the Storypath system, which can be best described as a distillation of the Storyteller system—the mechanics of which date all of the way back to Vampire: The Masquerade—and certainly anyone familiar with the Storyteller system will find that it has a lot in common with the Storypath system, except that the Storypath system is simpler and streamlined, designed for slightly cinematic, effect driven play. The core mechanic uses dice pools of ten-sided dice, typically formed from the combination of a skill and an attribute, for example Pilot and Dexterity to fly a helicopter, Survival and Stamina to cross a wilderness, and Persuasion and Manipulation to unobtrusively get someone to do what a character wants. These skill and attribute combinations are designed to be flexible, the aim being any situation is to score one or more Successes, a Success being a result of eight or more (this can be lowered as Scions become more powerful). Rolls of ten are added to the total and a player can roll them again.

To succeed, a player needs to roll at least one Success, and may need to roll more depending upon the Difficulty of the task. Should a Scion succeed, he can increase the number of Successes with an Enhancement, such as having a fast car in a race or the favour of a particular God, but he needs to succeed in order to use the Enhancement. Any Successes generated beyond the Difficulty become Threshold Success and represent how well the character has succeeded. These can be spent by the player to buy off Complications, for example, not attracting the attention of the Police in a car chase, or to purchase Stunts. These can cost nothing, for example, the Inflict Damage Stunt, whereas the Disarm Stunt costs two and the Critical Hit Stunt costs four. Characters in Scion: Second Edition often have Stunts due to their Birthright, such as Loki, which grants the ability to positively influence someone, but only when the character lies, but Birthrights are outside the scope of Scion: Origin.

Under the Storypath system, and thus in Scion: Origin, failure is never complete. Rather, if a player does not roll any Successes, then he receives a Consolation. This can be a ‘Twist of Fate’, which reveals an alternative approach or new information; a ‘Chance Meeting’ introduces a new helpful NPC; or an ‘Unlooked-for Advantage’, an Enhancement which can be used in a future challenge. Alternatively, a character gains Momentum which goes into a collective pot and which can be spent to add extra dice to a dice pool or used to fuel various Knacks possessed by the Scions. Scion: Origin focuses on three areas of action—Action-Adventure, Procedurals, and Intrigue. The first covers combat and is fairly straightforward. The second handles information gathering, which is divided into two categories. Leads start or continue the plot and so do not have to be rolled for by the players, whereas Clues provide extra information, are more challenging to find, and do require a roll. Intrigue covers social interaction and the reading and shifting of the attitudes of both NPCs and player characters.

Scion: Origin is a roleplaying game of supernatural and divine beings, many of varying power and scope. The mechanics cover this with Scale, both Narrative and Dramatic. Narrative Scale covers minor characters and story elements, whilst Dramatic Scale covers situations when it applies to the Player Characters. When Scale comes into play, it adds a number of Enhancements equal to the difference between the two sides involved in the scene. As with the rest of the Storypath system, Enhancements come into play as effects if successes are generated as part of a test.

The advice for Storyguide includes the general and the specific. The general is the fairly standard and includes ignoring or modifying rules she does not like, ensuring that everyone around the table is comfortable with the tone and content of the game being played, and so on. This does feel underwritten and could have included further advice and safety tools such as the X-Card. The specific discusses how to set up a campaign through steps of what it calls the Plot Engine—the seed, the pitch, and deeds and arcs. Naturally, it emphasis how to bring the myth into the game, but keep it subtle because the Scions are not truly divine, so will not be enacting the Saga of Argonauts, the search for the Golden Fleece, or penetrating the maze of the Minotaur—at least not literally. Instead, they might be enacting them with the myth alluded to, but underlying the mundane. So at the Myth Level of Scion: Origin, set at Iron Level—with the divine present in the mundane world as signs and omens which may or may not be real, bordering on Heroic Level—in which the supernatural has begun to become apparent, the search for the Golden Fleece might turn into a road trip to get a fleece jacket back , whilst penetrating the maze might mean a bureaucracy rather a labyrinth. This can be as subtle or not as the story warrants, the Storyguide advised to play with and enforce mythic tropes such as the Rule of Three, Hometown Advantage, Beauty is Only Skin Deep, and so on. To do this, the Storyguide will need to research and adapt myth upon myth, and depending upon the choices made by her players, the mythos of pantheons she is not familiar with. She is also advised to keep it dramatic, including repeating a call to adventure over and over if a Scion ignores it, slightly changing the nature of the call each time. This is delightfully unsubtle and whilst you might not do it in another roleplaying game, it is perfectly in keeping with the Urban Fantasy genre and thus Scion: Origin.

The setting to Scion: Origin is explored in several ways. This includes several pieces of fiction, all by Kieron Gillen—author of The Wicked + Divine—telling the story of Scion discovering the true nature of the world around and her place in it. Along with the sample pre-generated Scions, these a holdover from the roleplaying game’s first edition, they bring a personal perspective to the setting. One of these examples includes a God not given in the list pantheons to show other deities can be included. As well as exploring the nature of The World and its differences with ours, several cities are described, including their links to the Terra Incognito and the Axis Mundi. They include Boston and New York, Kyoto and Memphis, Mexico City and Varanasi, and more. Not all in the same detail, but they do suggest how other cities might be explored in a similar fashion. There is also a good chapter of antagonists, including archetypes, using qualities, flairs (one-shot abilities which require a cool-down period to use again), and utilities to build important NPCs, advice on creating them, and numerous ready-to-play examples. The latter are accompanied by design notes which explore the principles of each mythic creature, suggesting how they can be used and adapted from one pantheon to another.

Rounding out Scion: Origin is a set of appendices. The first explores six Supernatural Paths. These include Saints, Kitsune, Satyrs, Therianthropes, Wolf-Warriors, and Cu Sith. Of these, Therianthropes are lycanthropes, Wolf-Warriors are berserkers, and Cu Sith are fey canines. Guidelines are given on how to adjust them to model other mythical figures, such as adapting the Wolf-Warrior to be a classical Amazon, a Dahomey Amazon, and a Shieldmaiden. These shift Scion: Origin away from being a roleplaying game about the divine, and more to encompass the Urban Fantasy genre, as well as pleasingly demonstrating the flexibility of these archetypes. That said, more of them included in the book would have been nice. The second lists all of the major Gods and their Callings and Purviews for all ten pantheons presented in Scion: Origin. They include the Aesir or Norse Gods, the Manitou or Algonquian pantheon, the Theoi or Greco-Roman pantheon, Netjer or Egyptian pantheon, the Kami or Japanese Gods, the Tuatha Dé Danann or Irish Gods, the Óríshá or Yórúba pantheon, the Devá or Gods of South Asia, the Shén or Chinese pantheon, and Teōtl or Aztec pantheon. These are lists only, and whilst useful, further research upon the part of the Storyguide and her players will be needed beyond this. The third and last appendix provides a conversion guide from the first edition to the second edition of Scion: Origin.

Physically, Scion: Origin is well-written, the full colour artwork throughout is excellent, and the whole affair is attractive. Perhaps in places it feels a little too concise, especially in the examples of the rules. What Scion: Origin is lacking though, is a beginning scenario, which would suggest some idea as to how the designers intend the roleplaying game to be played. However, there is the quick-start for it, A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition, which could be played with the full rules using Scions of the players’ own design, rather than the pre-generated ones provided in the quick-start. More of a problem is the lack of story hooks or campaign suggestions which might have helped spur the Storyguide’s imagination. Similarly, it would have been interesting to see myths taken from the different pantheons and worked through to see how they could work in Scion: Origin. Doing so would also have been a chance for the designers to showcase some of the less familiar pantheons. Elsewhere an example of play and a full example of combat would both have been helpful.

Scion: Origin is a roleplaying game about playing Gods to be, so it is almost as if Scion: Origin is wanting to pull the Scions onto the step in their Paths to divinity, which technically would be Scion: Hero, but it never goes as far as pulling the setting of The World and the Scions over that threshold. There is a sense of the liminal to Scion: Origin which is not helped by the lack of examples and the Storyguide being left to research, adapt, and develop myths of the pantheons to really get started. This is not to say that the tools are not there for the Storyguide to get started—the Storypath system is suitably cinematic, the advice is solid, and the background is good, but Scion: Origin does not help the Storyguide make that first step into The World easy. However, Scion: Origin is a roleplaying game full of great potential and a roleplaying game in which the Player Characters are also full of great potential. For the Storyguide willing to work myths, Scion: Origin will turn into some potentially mythic stories and adventures.

A Scion Starter

A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition is a quick-start for Scion: Second Edition, the contemporary roleplaying game of modern myth and epic heroism in which not only do the gods walk amongst us, they often have children too. These children, the Scions of the gods, born to the magic of yesterday and the promise of tomorrow, are caught up in a war with the Titans, elder beings who rage against the human world and its wayward gods. As children of the gods, the player characters protect the interests of their parents on Earth whilst protecting humanity against the ravages of the Titans. Like other Jumpstarts from Onyx Path Publishing, A Light Extinguished is designed as an introduction to the setting and the mechanics. It includes an overview of the Storypath system, a three-act scenario, and five pre-generated player characters—or scions.

The Storypath system can be best described as a distillation of the Storyteller system—the mechanics of which date all of the way back to Vampire: The Masquerade—and certainly anyone familiar with the Storyteller system will find that it has a lot in common with the Storypath system, except that the Storypath system is simpler and streamlined, designed for slightly cinematic, effect driven play. The core mechanic uses dice pools of ten-sided dice, typically formed from the combination of a skill and an attribute, for example Pilot and Dexterity to fly a helicopter, Survival and Stamina to cross a wilderness, and Persuasion and Manipulation to unobtrusively get someone to do what a character wants. These skill and attribute combinations are designed to be flexible, the aim being any situation is to score one or more Successes, a Success being a result of eight or more. Rolls of ten are added to the total and a player can roll them again. 

To succeed, a player needs to roll at least one Success, and may need to roll more depending upon the Difficulty of the task. Should a character succeed, he can increase the number of Successes with an Enhancement, such as having a fast car in a race or the favour of a particular god or goddess, but he needs to succeed in order to use the Enhancement. Any Successes generated beyond the Difficulty become Threshold Success and represent how well the character has succeeded. These can be spent by the player to buy off Complications, for example, not attracting the attention of the Police in a car chase, or to purchase Stunts. These can cost nothing, for example, the Inflict Damage Stunt, whereas the Disarm Stunt costs two and the Critical Hit Stunt costs four. Characters in Scion: Second Edition often have Stunts due to their birthright, such as Loki, which grants the ability to positively influence someone, but only when the character lies.

Under the Storypath system, and thus in A Light Extinguished, failure is never complete. Rather, if a player does not roll any Successes, then he receives a Consolation. This can be a ‘Twist of Fate’, which reveals an alternative approach or new information; a ‘Chance Meeting’ introduces a new helpful NPC; or an ‘’Unlooked-for Advantage’, an Enhancement which can be used in a future challenge. Alternatively, a character gains Momentum which goes into a collective pot and which can be spent to add extra dice to a dice pool or used to fuel various Knack that the pre-generated characters possess (other options are available in the full rules). 

A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition focuses on three areas of action—Action-Adventure, Procedurals, and Intrigue. The first covers combat and is fairly straightforward. The second handles information gathering, which is divided into two categories. Leads start or continue the plot and so do not have to be rolled for by the players, whereas Clues provide extra information, are more challenging to find, and do require a roll. Intrigue covers social interaction and the reading and shifting of the attitudes of both NPCs and player characters.

The scenario in the Jumpstart is ‘A Light Extinguished’. It is a three act investigative scenario structured around the three areas of action—first Procedurals, then Intrigue, and lastly, Action-Adventure. In the first act, the player characters will investigate the crime scene, in the second they interrogate the witnesses, and in the third, they confront the culprit. It opens with the news of the murder of Bai Amari, the Luminary, the beloved Scion of Ra. Although the mortals are already investigating via the Supernatural Crimes Unit, the various parents of the player characters want to know more and send them to aid the detectives already on the case. Someone very powerful—or with powerful backing—must have carried out the deed and the gods are concerned that the unfortunate death is another omen hinting at the rise of the Titans and the coming war. 

The three acts are neatly organised and presented for ease of play and very much to showcase the three areas of action. There is advice for helping new players too, such as using the NPCs to help with the investigation, and the set-up scenes for each of the pre-generated characters are nicely personalised. If there is an issue with the scenario it is that as written the Storyteller learns the truth of the plot at the same time as the players and their characters. There is no explanation as to who or why until the third act and the confrontation. Essentially, there is no real overview of what is going on, and this lack of overview is a problem throughout the Jumpstart.

A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition comes with five pre-generated Scions. They include a gifted surgeon, the son of Loki, who works as a cab driver; a resilient huntress and archer, also the daughter of Loki; a scientist who is also a crack shot, the daughter of Agni; a tough firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician, the daughter of Brigid; and a rich wheeler dealer who prefers to talk rather than fight, the son of Xiuhtechutli. All come with backgrounds, playing tips, knacks, boons, and birthrights. Although each of these is explained individually, again there is no overview of how these works, which really leaves the Storyteller and his players to muddle through to some extent.

Physically, A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition is nicely presented. Everything is in full colour, the artwork is decent, and the layout neat and tidy. Unfortunately, there is a sense that it has been put together from parts rather than written from beginning to end, so there is a slightly rushed feeling to it and a lack of explanations in certain places. So not every aspect of the character is covered, the plot is not fully explained without the Storyteller reading through the whole thing, and the rules do feel out of order in places. What this means is that the Storyteller will need to thoroughly prepare ‘A Light Extinguished’ before she runs it, not only to grasp the plot, but also the rules so that she can explain them to her players. Since she will probably need to prepare separate sheets for each player character to explain their knacks, boons, and birthrights, an explanation of the rules would also be useful.

A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition should provide sufficient roleplaying and action for the group of five pre-generated Scions for a single long session or two or three shorter ones. It is not the easiest of jumpstarts to run or set-up, primarily because it does not give enough of an overview—in terms of the rules and the plot—to really help either the Storyteller or her players. This does not mean that the Storyteller cannot run ‘A Light Extinguished’, but some preparation is required and having access to Scion: Second Edition may prove useful. Once past these issues and with a little effort, A Light Extinguished: A Jumpstart For Scion Second Edition is a serviceable introduction to the roleplaying game demigods and mythic action in a contemporary setting.