eddyfate

I'm starting up a Scion cycle for some friends, which I'm currently calling "For the Free." [1] In the process of reading through the book and thinking about the kinds of problems that always seem to crop up in more traditional role-playing games (not necessarily in those fancy-pants "indie" games, mind), I worked up a few rules for character creation in my cycle.

Legend: All PCs start at Legend 2. Legend cannot be increased by experience points or bonus points. Each session, after experience points are handed out, the entire group gets a number of Legendary experience points equal to whomever has earned the most regular experience points that session. When there's enough Legendary experience points in the bank to increase to the next dot of Legend, every PC does so at a story-appropriate moment.

Why? Because Scion seems to be essentially level-based (lots of effects and abilities depend on how many dots of Legend you have). In level-based games, it sucks to be the guy that's higher or lower level than the rest of the group. This system allows everyone to progress at the same rate as the most efficient player (at least in terms of Legend), and save their experience points for buying cool shit for their characters instead of having to dump it into a resource just to keep up with everyone else.

Ties of Fate: Players should pick two other PCs to have a tie to. This can be a past, present or future tie. For example, Jane and John may agree that their characters were roommates before their Visitations, started working together in the same company right before the cycle starts, or are Fated to become lovers at some point in the future. Characters with future ties can already start to feel that they are important to each other in some way when they first meet.

Why? Because I would like people to have reasons for their characters to hang out together other than "Well, the Gods told us to work together." Since Scion is all about the inevitability of Fate, I wanted to play with the idea that characters can grow into their links instead of having them all pre-determined at the start.

Rival: Each PC will have a rival Scion. You can choose the God of the rival (the list of rivals for your God is a good place to start), as well as any additional details about the rival Scion that you like -- anything from "he was my brother" to working up a full background and character sheet. You are not required to pick a rival; you can leave the decision to me instead.

Why? Because if you have to fight reoccurring bad guys, I want to make sure that they're bad guys you find interesting. What better way to do that then to let you make them yourself?

Pantheons: Once everyone had made their characters, each player can choose one to three Gods listed in the books that they want dead, and an equal number of Gods that they want to live. None of the Gods that the players made Scions of can be chosen -- those Gods are assumed to be alive unless that player and I work out a specific story need. The Gods of rivals can be chosen, however, but not your rival. (Also, I might have to tweak your choice for purposes of story.) If one player chooses a God to live and another player chooses the same God to die, that God's state is uncertain; they may be alive only to die during the course of the cycle, or they may be dead but other believe them to still be alive. You don't have to choose any Gods either way. The fate of the remaining Gods is up to me, and will probably be determined whenever it becomes relevant to the story.

Why? Honestly, having 60+ Gods around is excessive. The idea of the game as I understand it is that the Gods are getting their asses handed to them, and there's no better way to represent that then to take out a handful of them before the game even begins. By letting y'all have some say in which Gods live and die, you'll already have some interest and investment in finding out why certain ones are around while other ones aren't, and it also keeps me from focusing on Gods you find boring.

[1] The title comes from a quote from the poem "Marco Bozzaris" by Fitz-Greene Halleck:

But to the hero, when his sword
Has won the battle for the free,
Thy voice sounds like a prophet’s word;
And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be.

I suck at titles, so I steal from dead people.