#scion 2e

[spectrolitha]

I've been sooooooo artblocked lately, it's awful. So I drew my ttrpg OCs from all over the place in fancy (or not) outfits referenced from Pinterest

And then I proceeded to forget to post it. Yay.

Short overview of folk here, from left to right:

- Claude from Wraith: the Oblivion. He led quite a miserable life and ended up in the Legion of Paupers, but not before spending some time as a thrall. He had only recently caught some semblance of a break. Yeah.

- Ruben, son of Aphrodite from Scion: becoming as gods ttrpg. He is pretty grim, despite his looks and heritage, but not without a reason. He's also aroace.

- Sharla, my Promethean: the Created girlie. Made by her creator to serve as a protector, she still fulfills her role – just in another group of people.

- Adlar, King of Summer in my Changeling: the Lost freehold. He hasn't actually been to Arcadia, but because he is a son of mortal woman and banished Gentry (so-called Charlatan) (a fact Adlar abhors and hides to the best of his ability) he is still technically a Changeling stuck in this whole changeling business

- Arcuvol, my good drow™ from DnD, because whenever I see some sort of evil faction I have to make a non-evil OC for it. (I'm never showing my Warhammer OCs to the world... Okay, they are still kinda evil when they should be). I was trying to make my own setting with DnD mechanics, but it's kinda dead now, so I don't know what to say.

[raiasintended]

Wonder what I’m writing right now? What stage my projects are in? Where you can find my published work? WONDER NO LONGER.

WHAT I’M WORKING ON

(as of 10/20)

Exalted: Abyssals (post-approval development + art direction)

Exalted: Sidereals (art notes prep)

Scion: God (art direction)

Exalted: Essence Companion (art direction)

Scion: Dragon Companion (art notes prep)

Scion: Once and Future (layout)

Exalted: Crucible of Legends (XXs)

Exalted: A Murder in Whitewall (OUT TO BACKERS!!)

Exalted: Essence Abyssals Player Kit (STV, second draft)

The Curse of the Mushroom King: an Adventure for Exalted: Essence (STV, first draft)

More Artifacts for Exalted: Essence (STV, first draft)

More Hearthstones for Exalted: Essence (STV, first draft)

Alternate Ventures Rules for Exalted: Essence (STV, first draft)

Loresheets for Exalted: Essence (STV, first draft)

The Freedom Stone, book 2: Though Demons Remain (outline)

The Freedom Stone, book 3: House of Unbound Water (first draft)

WHAT’S OUT RIGHT NOW

Exalted: Essence, a condensed version of Exalted Third Edition aimed at beginners and Storytellers seeking a rules-lighter experience.

They Came From Beyond the Grave!, a ttrpg for playing hammy actors in B-roll horror movies

Trinity Continuum: Assassins, a ttrpg for playing assassins from underworld secret societies

Scion: A Light Extinguished, a jumpstart for Scion 2nd Edition

Scion: Titanomachy, a collection of antagonists and campaigns for Scion 2nd edition

Scion: Dragon, a supplement for playing the Heirs of dragons in Scion 2nd edition

Scion: Tales of Heroes, an anthology of short stories set in the world of Scion

Vampire: Cults of the Blood Gods, a supplement exploring the faith of vampires, for Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition

Arms of the Chosen: The Fall of Jiara Panoply, a collection of artifacts from the Exalted AP, The Fall of Jiara

The Freedom Stone, book 1: Road to Champoor, a novella set in the world of Exalted 3rd edition

[dice-wizard]

Listen man, I get that the rules are patchy in places but this is a really fucked up thing to say.

Yeah laugh it up it has some holes in its design, sure sure. However it's patently better than 1e. You know, the version that has SA jokes in its powers and ignored the very real mythology practiced by real people is worse than whatever some white guys from Georgia made up? You remember that Scion 1e incorrectly talked about "Voodoo" and literally just fabricated things about the Japanese pantheon, right? I don't mean fictionalized characters from mythology, I mean literally made up.

What a shitty take, to say the version that went out of its way to hire actual people from actual cultures to represent their own mythology and folklore is worse than what six white dudes with Wikipedia could do. What an insult to the tireless efforts of @hiromicota to find authors from criminally underrepresented groups (especially Native folks) and make sure their voices were heard and included.

What a fucking assinine approach, to throw out how UTTERLY FUCKING QUEER AND TRANS the lore and adventures are, because a few systems don't work so well together.

Fuck you.

[theinkedknight]

My 2022 art vs artist with the six games of mine that dropped this year

[hiromicota]

In other Asian-inspired & created TTRPG news, Scion: Realms of Magic & Mystery came out yesterday, featuring this illustration of Nüwa in an auntie visor, taking pictures in Tiān:

Scion 2e is a delight.

There’re more content & cultures in the book, of course, but Nüwa in an auntie visor, with a DSLR camera.

That’s one of the most Scion images ever made.

Also, is Nüwa using a Canon 5d‽

[pjo-campaign]

Man, if anyone’s looking to understand the rules of Scion 2e reeeally quickly, this playlist of videos helped me so much.

He explains the system really well, and in an interesting way at that. Knowing what I know now, Scion definitely feels a lot better for my campaign than D&D. It is in fact PJO as a ttrpg.

[enddaysengine]

Legend and Callings (Scion)

One of the things I love about Scion Second Edition is how flexible the system is. There are A LOT (tm) of concepts the system can represent with a Scion, which is essential for a game that draws on every single mythology as its source.

Scion 2e doesn't have levels like d20 games, but Legend serves a similar role. As the Legend stat goes up, Scions become more powerful and their actions become more engrained in the collective consciousness. They get their Legends to go up through Deeds - feats of heroism that resonate through culture and Fate. For Heroes, Deeds alone are enough to make their Legends grow, but Demigods also require specific milestones to fuel their apotheosis.

If Legend is roughly equivalent to level, then Callings are classes. A Calling describes what a character is capable of as well as the role they play in mythology. Mortal, Origin-tier characters (who are still roughly the equivalent of action heroes) only have a single Calling, but everyone from Hero on up is more dynamic, having three. Callings let characters access Knacks, granting them incredible - and sometimes supernatural - abilities.

Also, while Callings are player-facing mechanics, this is one case where the characters in the game have a sense of them too. While not every pantheon would use the same names for the Callings, these are mythic roles. Heroes may not be savvy enough to recognize the patterns Fate is nudging them into, but the Gods are.

Technically, most antagonists and NPCs in Scion don't have Callings, only player characters and Gods. I like to define them for anyone who gets a speaking role since that's a helpful shorthand for their personalities and how they may react to other characters. Between that and stealing Virtue/Vice from Chronicles of Darkness, you can get a rough sense of who someone is and how they act quickly.

In Scion, deities are defined more by their combination of Legend and Deeds than by what they are Gods of (which is also important! But Legends and Deeds take the top spot). One of the mechanical summations of those Legends and Deeds is their Callings (the other is the Legendary Title). Callings define by how Gods interact with people and the stories those people tell of them. So a Demigod looking to make the leap to big G status had best understand that.

There are no Scions among the Glorious - the secret society is a group of disgruntled individuals who believe the Deeds of Heroes overshadow the accomplishment of mortals. While a few of them are out-and-out maltheists, most respect the Gods, they are just frustrated by how society extolls those with divine lineage. It is common for the Glorious to feel they have lost opportunities because of Heroes meddling or to hear them likening Hero worship to nepotism. The organization aims to show that mortals are as good as Heroes by thwarting Heroic Deeds and denying the Scions their victory. For most Glorious, this means becoming the best in their field to outcompete divine rivals, but more radical member resort to sabotage or even violence to bring Scions down.

Odin wants to change. He's not as big a dick as Zeus (who is?), but he's hurt plenty of people along the way. It is time for him to let go of being a Trickster and embracing the Liminal Calling of a traveler. The problem is that rewriting your mythic archetypes isn't easy to do as a God. The Allfather will need the help of a band of rising Demigods if he wants to pull this off without a hitch.

A Hero has lost her way. Everything changed so fast for Hannah after her Visitation by Re. She was already struggling with her first year of university, and now she's been chosen by the sun God? As a result of her uncertainty, Hannah's become unmoored from all of her Callings - which Aten sees as an opportunity to give her new meaning, reforged in his light!

[kurakurakura99]

Reading through Mask of the Mythos for Scion 2e (Which is. dumb because I'm not running Scion anytime soon sadly) and I know they were just trying to portray that Arkham in (Current year) just looks like any other mid sized town on the outside, but the specific mention of a boba tea place fucking sent me, its just so out of place with. Y'know. all the eldritch horror. why did that have to be mentioned, you fucking yassified the Miskatonic valley

[liznfin]

Oh no! It’s Alex and Paige. Whatever can be done about these two troublemakers as descendants of “not technically gods”?

[thrythlind]

Test of Ability

Scion 2e There are two major ways to bring down the magical barrier. As soon as work goes on the barrier, the entire tower locks down. The two main approaches two the barrier are to try to burst it down through an overpowered burst or to try to take a ritual suggested by the inscriptions. Bursting through immediately can be done in a single try, but is a Difficulty 5 Performing the ritual requires a Difficulty 2 and four milestones. If the first attempt does not clear the barrier then add: Complication 1 - not paying this off causes 1 Bashing health level for each unpaid level due to the magical feed back in the area. Each additional attempt that does not clear the barrier increases that Complication by one. Individuals in the room but not taking on the ritual or barrier must still act to resist this ongoing feedback in someway. Bonus successes on the ritual can be spent to add Enhancement toward brute forcing the barrier itself. The lockdown on the tower will not release until all levels are cleared.

Monster of the Week Test Barrier (Phenomenon - Bubble) Harm: 5 - Only suffers Harm from the ritual or raw magical force (not fire, ice or other element). Magical Feedback: 0 (increase by 1 after each action directly involving the barrier) Weakness: Someone clever may be able to attack the physical elements of the barrier and thus deal harm indirectly via physical weapons and strength. When you try to take down the barrier, roll +Weird then suffer damage from Magical Feedback 10+ Choose 2, 7-9 Choose 1 * Deal the Barrier 1 Harm * Magical Feedback's Harm does not increase by 1 * Reduce the amount of Harm done by Magical Feedback this time by 1 * Grant the next Hunter +1 ongoing to dealing with the barrier. On a miss the strength of Magical Feedback increases by 2 instead of 1.

Sentinels of the Multiverse Challenge: Unlock the Runes Action: The Heroes take actions to approach the barrier with skill and knowledge. Overcome: OO - Decode the runes on the floor OOOO - Deconstructing the Barrier Challenge: Shatter the Barrier Action: The Heroes try to shatter the barrier by main force. Overcome: OOOOO - Shatter the barrier Challenge: Combined Approach Action: The Heroes mesh the arcane knowledge and sheer power to get through the barrier. Overcome: O Decode the runes on the floor OOO Shatter the Barrier Environment - Abandoned Tower of Test Arcane Challenges d8 Lack of Oversight d8 Unstable Enchantments d6 Minor Green Twist - The Hero taking the action takes a Hinder from the Mid die. Minor Green Twist - Tower minions receive a Boost from the Min die Major Green Twist - All Heroes suffer a Hinder from the Min die. Major Green Twist - Spawn 1 Tower minion Minor Yellow Twist - The Hero taking the action takes an Attack from the Mid die Minor Yellow Twist - All Tower minions gain a Defense from the Min die Major Yellow Twist - All Heroes suffer an Attack from the Mid die Major Yellow Twist - Spawn Min die Tower minions Minor Red Twist - All Heroes suffer a Hinder from the Mid die. Minor Red Twist - Spawn Min die Tower Minions Major Red Twist - All Tower minions gain a Boost from the Mid die and a Defense from the Min die Major Red Twist - Spawn 1 Tower lieutenant

Will come back and fill in the other eight games later... this was a lot.

[strayfeathers]

By way of introduction

I suppose I should put something here. My name's Geoffrey, and I'm one of Onyx Path Publishing's vast legion of freelance writers. While not contractually obligated to be queer and disabled, I've lucked out in those departments and so fit in better with the many talented people I work with.

I've been working on various projects for Scion 2nd edition over the past several years, mostly focusing on storytelling techniques to make games feel more like the myths they emulate. It's a useful application of my academic background: a PhD in Religion, with interests in mythologies, the history of magic and witchcraft, and theories of religion. Put those together 45ish years of gaming experience and you can understand why I'm both unemployable and mostly content to continue the work.

Some of my older writing on applying theories of religion to worldbuilding for game design and writing is still online here: https://memory-theatre.blogspot.com/

I also have a small-town Scion setting that I'm chipping away at ever-so-slowly over here: https://ko-fi.com/geoffreym It includes a few pieces that introduce my take on Scion in general, so even if it's not to your taste specifically, you might find something worth borrowing.

Should you decide to subscribe, of course, I will certainly be a happy camper. (The whole "starving" part of "starving artist" is all too literal most months.)

I'm sure I'll remember other things to add at some point, but that should get things started for now.

[spectrolitha]

Folk who like PJO and TTRPG should consider playing "Scion: becoming as gods". It's literally a game tailored for playing children of gods, and it includes deities from many pantheons, so theoretically you may play a child of any deity :D

Anyways. My Scion OCs + 1 (one) pjo gorl.

Starting with my Phobos and Deimos designs for my Scion setting! Deimos is on the left and Phobos is on the right.

Next we have Konstantin (or Kostya for short), the son of Marena, Slavic deity of winter, death, sometimes sicknesses. We have very little information on Slavic paganism thanks to Christianity, so it's actually pretty difficult to conclude if Marena even was a deity, but oh well. I guess I'll have to rely on scraps of info we have alongside with headcannons

And finally, my pjo gorl, as promised. Chloe, somewhat gothic-y daughter of Demeter. She uses the shovel as a weapon and to care for the plants too, but she also jokes about burying people as well. I'm still in the process of finalising her character, but her fatal flaw is definitely her enormous desire to protect her friends. She would gladly fail the quest if it would start getting really, really bad for her team.

[raiasintended]

YES I am in Cults of the Blood Gods! I did the Church of Set writeup, which was by far the most intimidating assignment I’ve ever done!

and yes I got my gay little Greek Mythology Kid hands all over Scion 😩 I think the jumpstart and the work I submitted for Titanomachy are my favorite of what’s been published so far (but only because Once and Future isn’t out yet…)

[theonyxpath]

A year ago today we released VTT token sets for Scion: Dragon https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/429403/Scion-Second-Edition-Dragon-VTT-Assets?affiliate_id=13&src=OPPTumblr

and Scion: Masks of the Mythos https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/429405/Scion-Masks-of-the-Mythos-VTT-Assets?affiliate_id=13&src=OPPTumblr via our partners at DriveThruRPG! There's also a Scion roll20 bundle available at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/443237/Scion-Second-Edition-Bundle--Roll20-VTT--PDF-BUNDLE?affiliate_id=13&src=OPPTumblr including Origin and Hero!

[theinkedknight]

I love holding books with my name in them. You know, this was my first book for @theonyxpath, though a few of my later projects for them have come out before this, and my first project for a "big" publisher.

[thryth-gaming]

How my various campaigns are becoming a multiverse:

Whateley Academy Shared Universe - Fiction - Jay Donohue is a character.

M-Com - Monster of the Week - Violet McNeil is an NPC

Scion 2012 - Scion 1e - Dr. Tom McKay is a PC.

Sydney Scion - Scion 1e - Juri Como, my PC, writes/draws the manga "Combat Hurricane". Ryoko Satomi is the protagonist of Combat Hurricane. Explicitly the same setting as Scion 2012, Kaji Souta, a PC, is explicitly a new alias of Dr. Tom McKay.

Everyday Life of Monsters - Chronicle of Darkness - Bel and Deme are PCs in the homebrew city of Blackmouth.

In Shadow of Black Wings - Chronicles of Darkness - Also set in Blackmouth. I played Emma Terreal. Ames is a PC from this and linked to Jay Donohue as in may be a variant of them.

Tales of Blood and Water - Chronicles of Darkness - Set in Blackmouth, I played Cheyenne Belmont.

Shougnai Mists - City of Mist - Patricia Althius, Hayley Hayami, and Lady Eldred are PCs

Divine Blood Playtest 4 - Divine Blood: Fate - Ryoko Satomi is an NPC cameo

Golden Ticket - Patricia Althius, Hayley Hayami, and Lady Eldred are NPCs, Random with the Hunter's Garden is a PC

East Texas University - MotW - A player stumbled into The Hunter's Garden, Violet McNeil is an NPC, Aetherials and Bloodsworn are antagonists (they're from the Grim Dawn ARPG)

Late Start - Fanfic - Kasumi Tendo is an oni working for the Templars

Turquoise Plains - Scion 2e - Combat Hurricane is in stores, the players may have created the Hunter's Garden, Canopy Research is a major antagonist, Late Start version of Kasumi Tendo does the visitation for Rei Mochizuki

Estonia Divine Blood - Divine Blood: Fate - Bel and Deme appear as NPCs

Ghost Bros - Monster of the Week - Canopy Research is a minor antagonist, Bloodsworn are major element/minor antagonist, Violet McNeil is an NPC

Erika - She has appeared in multiple D&D games, Estonia Divine Blood, Blackmouth, and Shadowrun