Character Creation: Scion: Origin

 Sure, why not, gotta do it eventually. 

The Game: Scion: Origin
The Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: Not much. I played it one year at Metatopia in the Before Times
Books Required: Just the one

Ah, Scion. It's a game where you play the children of incarnate gods. (You mean like American Gods? Yes, exactly like that.) 

The first edition of Scion was released waaaaaay back in 2007. I was originally going to work on it, and then I didn't because I was (in theory) working on a game independently that was too similar in concept, and then that never happened, obviously, and then Scion changed developers (Mike Lee to John Chambers) and eventually was published. And like...it was OK. Conceptually fun, but the fun stuff was buried under in-character prose going on and on, and the mechanics were late-stage Storyteller/Exalted 1st ed, so like, not great, but serviceable. 

And then we got this 2nd Ed, and I have to say, in terms of read- and playability, it's a vast improvement. The setting chapter is as long as it needs to be and it's not written in-character, so I can follow it without close reading, and it's followed immediately by a whole chapter explaining the mechanics, which is structurally a good idea. 

However, reading the mechanics, I do wonder if it'd be too much for my groups. That's no indictment of the game, just that I think there might be too many moving parts. Also, I worry that it might fall into the same pit as 7th Sea, that is, every roll is a heavy narrative load on someone, usually the GM. All of that said, I love the progression from Origin to Hero to Demigod to God (although I only own the first two books and unless they blow me away or my players are really keen to play it I'm not real likely to give Onyx Path more money). Well, anyway, let's make a character and see what happens. 

So, in Origin, we're making pre-Visitation Scions. That is, children of divine beings who haven't gotten the memo yet, as it were. The book also refers to other things you can play, but does it really support that? I don't know and I don't feel like sussing it out right now; I'm making a baby Scion anyway. 

Right, so, Concept. Erm. You know, I think it might be easier for me to pick my parent first, so let's look at the pantheons. Oh, I think I'll be a child of Persephone. There's a lot I like about her myth, and about the way it's been reinterpreted over the years, but for purposes of this character I want to play someone who's been split between two worlds most of his life. I'll say that his parents divorced when he was very small and he lived with dad for half the year, and mom for the other half. I don't know exactly where each of them live yet, but I know I want the environments to be very different, both physically and socially. 

That's backstory, though, where's this guy now? I think he runs a foster home in [city]. He's not the only adult there, of course (I'll figure out who else in a bit, here, maybe a spouse or a partner), but he's made basically a full-time job of taking care of kids who aren't steady. His goal isn't necessarily to give them stability forever, as much as teach them to cope with the chaos.

Now I need Deeds: Short-term and long-term. There's also a group Deed, but as I ain't got no group, I'll skip it. For my short-term, it should be something I could achieve in a session. I'll say there's a kiddo at the foster home named Jaxson who doesn't talk. He can, but he had a really rough go of it before coming to the house. Short-term: Help Jaxson regain his voice. 

Long-term...hmm. I think "find a home" is probably a little too vague. How about "Bring my parents together?" I'll say that his parents, in addition to separating, have kind of lost track of him and so bringing them together would require finding them and then convincing them to meet up. 

Now I get three Paths: Origin, Role, and Society/Pantheon. These remind me a lot of Aspects. My Origin Path needs to be about formative events, and clearly the biggest is that my guy was Split Between His Parents. Role Path refers to kinda what he's doing now, so how about Full-Time Foster Dad. And then his Pantheon is the Theoi, but he doesn't know that yet. His last Path will be All Roads Lead to the Underworld, because he's gonna wind up getting in touch with the death-y stuff eventually. 

I get three Skills as "asset Skills" for each Path. Let's see. For Origin, I take Culture (had to learn about two different cultures), Integrity, and Subterfuge. For his Role, Leadership seems obvious. I'll also take Academics to reflect learning about various legal issues involved with fostering, and Athletics because looking after this many kids will keep you moving. And then for Pantheon, I get Empathy and Persuasion, but then one more of my choice. Hmm. As much as I'd like to take a combat skill, I think Occult is most indicative of that Path's place in his life. 

Well, I was hoping to get through chargen without everything coming to a grinding halt, but lol no. Each path gives you connections (groups or people you can call in for help). There's a system for it, but I'm not sure how much is defined at chargen because the six helpful starting characters don't have connections filled in and the example of chargen running through the section doesn't do that bit. Wtf, guys. 

OK, I'm gonna skip it. I can't tell what if anything I'd need to decide now and it looks like maybe it's something that would change session by session? Moving on. Skills.

I need to prioritize my Paths, much like the Physical/Social/Mental split that WW/OPP games typically have. Ok, I think the Origin is probably the most important, followed by Role, then Pantheon. I get three dots in each of my Origin Skills, two in Role, one in Pantheon. Okey-doke. I also get Specialties in my three Skills with three dots, so um, I'll take Code-Switching in Culture, Smile & Nod in Integrity, and Hidden Motives in Subterfuge. 

Attributes! More prioritization. Physical/Mental/Social, but then also approaches (Force, Finesse, Resilience). Well, I think his split is Mental/Social/Physical (he's very in his own head most of the time). I get a 6/4/2 split, but then 2 free dots in each one in my Favored Approach, which I'm thinking is Finesse. So effectively I get 3 dots each in Cunning, Dexterity, and Manipulation. 

In Physical, I'll put a dot each into Might and Stamina for a score of 2 each. For Social, I'll put one into Presence and the other three into Composure. And then over in Mental, I'll put two into each one, which gives me three dots in Intellect and Resolve but 5 in Cunning. 

Calling and Knacks! Persephone gives me the options of Judge, Leader, and Liminal as Callings. I think the latter is pretty clearly my choice. And then I get one Knack, and holy shit, Experienced Traveler is exactly what I want. On we go!

Finishing touches! My Defense is...um, not that simple. I'm meant to note the dice pool I use when taking a defensive action. Well, what pool is that? Ugh. 

Movement is Dexterity + Athletics, anyway, so that's 5. Oh, wait! I get more shit that was tucked away in a hidden paragraph that I um, didn't read! I get 5 points of Skills, one extra Attribute dot, and either two more Knacks or four points of Birthrights, which aren't in this book. OK, well, for the Skills, I'll put two into Empathy and give myself the Specialty "Children", and then split the others into Close Combat, Survival, and Technology. 

The Attribute dot I will put into Manipulation. 

And then...hmm. Even if I felt like figuring out how Birthrights would work for pre-Visitation characters, which I don't, I don't really think any of them are appropriate. I'll just take two more Knacks - let's say Complete Privacy and Unobtrusive Visitor. I can only have one active at a time anyway. 

And that's basically it, but for the the details and name and stuff. Let's see. His name is Ronald Mallory. He's now in his early 30s, and hasn't seen Lou (his father) or Petra (his mother) in nearly a decade. He's not aware that his real mother is Persephone, of course, and how he came to live with the Mallory family is probably a weird story in and of itself. Ronald is an only child, but his father had multiple brothers and sisters who all lived relatively close, so for half the year Ronald lived with Dad and never went a day without seeing at least a handful of cousins. The other half of the year, he lived with his mother, and was homeschooled. He barely saw anyone except the help (Mom was, and is, extremely wealthy), and having a social life would have required convincing his mother to let him out of the house without an ankle bracelet, so it wasn't really worth the trouble. 

For all of that, Ronald is pretty balanced. He blends in to new situations and places almost effortlessly, and he picks up not only languages, but slang and regional humor, within a day. He can put people at ease quickly, but at the same time, they don't usually remember much about him. And that's fine. Ronald isn't looking to be remembered, he's looking for...huh. Well, probably he'll know it if he sees it. 

Ronald is tall, but not so tall as to invite comment. He's pale, but not unhealthy. He's got blue eyes and a gentle voice, and he's the kind of person that little kids wave at.