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Scion

Sheets:

Scion Character Keeper⁠

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Asahi Asahina

Scion of Susanoo

Honman

Rosa Mars

Scion of Bast

Ikram

Hector Nikolaidis

Scion of Hephaestus

Dev

Jasmine Zhou

Scion of Chang'e

Jamie

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CATS

Now I’m going to do CATS. CATS is an acronym that stands for Concept, Aim, Tone, and Subject Matter. The purpose of CATS is to establish some basic expectations for what this game is about and what we’re going to be doing during this first session.

Concept: Scion is a game that blends mythology and modern-day action, allowing players to take on the roles of demigods who are the offspring of gods from various mythologies. The concept of the game is to explore the tension between the divine and mortal realms as the Scions navigate their complex relationships with their godly parents and deal with the consequences of their divine heritage.

Aim: The primary aim of Scion is to tell exciting stories of epic adventure, where the players' characters use their unique abilities and connections to the divine to overcome challenges and save the world from various threats. The game also aims to provide players with a sense of empowerment and agency, as they are the children of powerful gods and have the potential to become heroes in their own right.

Tone: The tone of Scion is generally one of action, adventure, and drama, with a focus on larger-than-life characters and epic conflicts.

Subject Matter: The subject matter of Scion is steeped in mythology and explores themes of identity, heritage, power, and responsibility. The game also touches on broader societal issues, such as the consequences of divine intervention in mortal affairs and the struggle between tradition and progress.

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No game is more important than the people playing it. We’re going to aim to tell the best story we can, but we’re going to do it in a way that respects everyone’s boundaries of safety and consent. We’ll be using three safety tools today: the Open Door Policy, the X-card, and Lines & Veils.

The Open Door Policy is very simple: you can leave the game for any reason and you don’t have to explain yourself. Just let us know you have to go; no one here will ask any questions about it.

The X-card is here in case something in the game makes you feel uncomfortable in an un-fun way. Just tap or hold up the X-card and we will stop play in order to change whatever just happened in the game. As the Keeper, I may ask for clarification on what is being X-carded, but I will never ask why. We’ll resume play once the change is made.

Finally, we’ll be using Lines & Veils. Lines are things that we are not going to have in the game, period. Veils are things that we’re ok with being in the game but we prefer not to roleplay them, or we simply want to keep them offscreen. Importantly, even though I earlier listed a number of dark subject matters that come up in our games, you can still include one or more

of those things as part of Lines & Veils. As I said before, no game is more important than the people playing it.

I will start by sharing my personal Lines & Veils right now. You can tell me your own Lines & Veils privately during a break and I will then convey them to the group anonymously when we’re back together.

Rules Reference

Character Creation

Put 3 dots in a single action. This is what you’re best at, your bread and butter.

Put 2 dots in two other actions. These are dependable and used often.

Put 1 dot in two other actions. You’ve had a little practice with these.

Taking Action

Detail your intention. What you want to accomplish

Describe your approach. Choose an appropriate action

GM okays the roll or position and effect.

You can also modify your roll:

Assist: Give +Effect, but open to consequence

Go Hard: Trade +Effect for -Position

Team Up: Take the highest result, but each PC with a mixed or failure takes stress.

Tough Choice: Trade +1d for a consequence

Spend Fate: Spend Fate to take +1d on a roll.

Decide to roll or call it off.

Roll Results:

Failure: You suffer a consequence.

Mixed: You do it and suffer a consequence.

Success: You do it.

Critical: Also, get +Effect or a bonus.

Results

Failure: 0

Mixed: 1

Success: 2

Critical: 3+

Modifiers: Strong → +1; Weak → -1 (except on failure)

Consequences

Reduced effect: This action isn’t as effective as desired.

Worse position: You are put into greater danger.

Shock: A temporary mental or physical condition. Take -1d to the next roll with an action under the attribute.

Bloodied / Death: A severe injury, giving shock to all attributes.

Complication: A new problem, mounting danger, or a new threat.

Pay Cost: The GM allows the player to decide their own consequence.

Consequence Diagram

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Resistance Rolls

Roll the chosen resistance attribute.

Failure: Partially negate, take 3 stress.

Mixed: Partially negate, take 2 stress.

Success: Fully negate, take 1 stress.

Critical: Fully negate, clear 1 stress.

Flashbacks

Spend stress to flashback to a scene between now and the last recovery, rolling 1 or 2 actions.

Can pay cost to perform a downtime action.

Conjuring Divine Power (Magic)

Spell magic is based on what a spell can accomplish compared to what can be accomplished with another action.

Tier 1: Equal to a normal action.

Tier 2: Equal to a quick team effort or a solo effort over time.

Tier 3: Equal to a team effort over time or normally impossible.

Essential Rules

Tier 1: Can be cast by anyone with a proper magic focus.

Tier 2: Take -1d on Invoke.

Tier 3: Take -2d on Invoke.

Each character has unique limitations that should be discussed between GM and Player.

Confer Action Rating: Spell tier equals the new action rating.

Confer Ability: Requires a tier 3 spell.

Conjuration

Tier 1: A minion that performs a single task, disappearing, falling apart, or dying afterwards.

Tier 2: A minion pack with no upgrades that lasts a scene.

Tier 3: A minion pack with either a single upgrade or an extra 3d action that lasts a scene.

Unleashing (Process)

When you unleash, the entire table can give input on what form that takes. It’s sure to be something bad that sends the plan off the rails, so it’s good to hear from everyone before you jump in.

Play stops and a discussion begins. “Okay, what’s the most impulsive thing I can do right now?” Replace impulsive with your driving impulse. This is a brainstorming session where everyone throws out one idea.

Make a decision. Take in all the ideas and choose one or go with your own. The player always makes the final call on the action they take.

Act immediately. You take the spotlight and act on your impulse. You can use abilities without spending stress on this action.

Take a dark heart. It feels good to give in, even when you fail.