Scion by Stormgale

1 A whole lot of words
2 Buy one pantheon, get another 5 free
3 The only thing more depressing to Greeks than their economy
4 Ride the Lightning
5 A Christmas Miracle

A whole lot of words

posted by Stormgale Original SA post

Edit: Ah fuck what the hell

Scion, White wolfs other other Bad system: Part 1 - A Whole lot of Words


So then just take a look at the picture above, give it a nice long look, tribal style tatoo, hoop type earrings, wife beater, almost like a parody of white trash... but he is what we have got so let us begin. The first 37 pages of this book, that is roughly 1/10th of it’s page count, is devoted to a narrative of Above seen white revolver guy, let’s just take a gander at some of this wonderful storytelling:

quote:

Seventeen years ago, Jordan Donner moved back home to live with her father, Randall. She was single and six months pregnant at the time, but she never spoke of
the baby’s father. Three months later, Jordan took sick from unforeseeable complications resulting from the birth of her son, Eric. She lived until Eric was 10, and she died in her sleep during a thunderstorm. Randall raised Eric after that. He taught Eric how to play football. He taught Eric how to tune, deconstruct and rebuild the engine of his fully restored ’67 Pontiac GTO. When Eric turned 16, Randall bought him a stripped-down GTO of his own. The old man promised Eric they would rebuild and restore that car just as Randall and his late wife had restored the other decades ago. Yet, one year and nine months later, Fate broke that promise. Randall Donner died in his bed of a massive stroke as black clouds crawled overhead on legs of crooked lightning.

Does anyone want to take a guess at what sort of gods might be the father of this with the incredibly subtle imagery evoked here, at least after that heavy foreshadowing it’s not like they are going to force it any more down our throa...

quote:

A bolt of lightning signed Eric’s resolve across the heavens, and two
ravens on a branch outside witnessed the decision through the kitchen window.

He looked at the picture again and saw a window in the background with the words
“Skirnir’s Diner” stenciled in block letters around a picture of a hamburger.

Subtle as always white wolf, anyway to cut a long and boring story short, here are the bullet points:
Yes that is exactly how much setting information you get from a 37 page narrative, it’s a long and winding story that really does not have much occur apart from an origin story for one of their cannon NPC's. It would have been much easier to digest broken up between the chapters, perhaps illustrating the specific events, rather than a massive amount of space at the front that just never seems to end.

Chapter 1: Introduction

SO then we actually get to something that isnt storytime, with our first chapter, which starts oh so Promosingly:

quote:

Since the dawn of man, the Gods have involved themselves in the affairs of humankind— and in affairs with humankind. Slaking their all-too-human desires with the flesh of mortal paramours , the Gods often sire half-breed offspring.

Though far weaker than their divine parents, Scions possess abilities far beyond those of any mere mortal. These abilities are often augmented even further by Boons and Birthrights provided by the Scions’ godly parents. As a result, Scions tend to rise to positions of power and influence.
Already getting bad changing breeds flashbacks and we have barely started, so just to clarify it is a pretty good thing that the gods are all apparently sex-crazed lunatics cause they get super awesome Scions out of it.

So we actually get some setting information: seems that early Scions back in the olden days would protect humanity by killing monsters and telling the gods to stop being such massive dicks. It appears they were were too good at killing monsters cause humanity flourished turned into nations which would apparently through a process called “Fatebinding” drag the gods to war with each other unless they stopped being so attached to the mortal realm, so they fled up to the “Overworld” and apparently avoided this. Also another fun fact, they kept ascending scions to levels of awesomeness over history ((Probably attesting to all the great “Heroes” of lore, probably all the inventors and great scientific minds too)) and taking part in the world wars (Again, stay classy White wolf). But the aforementioned Titan escape has made them just start making scions all over the place to be their soldiers in this war.

Then we get a whole 2 pages of glossary, including the definition of a God and fate, Summarised here (cut down on the mechanical Glossary as that can be covered later):

Calling: As a child of a god you a drawn to things like your god, Ares’ children will be something warlike, mercenary, weapons tech etc, pretty much giving you (and the writers) the freedom to be as derivative as possible.
Fate/Fatebinding: Apparently if you become too famous people become bound to you, friends become sworn allies and rivals become villains who dog your every step. Apparently this can also happen in reverse, with gods being fate bound to certain things (the Aesir dying in ragnarok for example).
Fateful Aura: Really bad or good shit always appears to happen around scions, the reason for them being the centre of the plot it seems.
Virtues: Same as in exalted, the things that drive your character and are used as cheap ways to buff tests

The rest are either self explanatory (God’s, The world, the underworld, titans) or are mechanical terms which I will save for when we get to character gen.

Next time I’ll delve into the individual pantheon descriptions and we can count how many goddesses have a focus on their hips and/or work in the sex industry.

Buy one pantheon, get another 5 free

posted by Stormgale Original SA post

Scion Part 2 - Buy one pantheon, get another 5 free

The chapter starts with a brief blurb summing up that the gods are good, the following list is not complete (just most common) and posing the question if the gods made humans or humans made the gods.

First up: THE PESEDJET (Egyptian gods)

General statements:

Oldest of the pantheons
Obsessed with everyone being in the right job, social rank etc..
Focus on the social effects of the titan war (refugees, discontent)
Vulnerable to simply falling back on old ways than trying new solutions

Alrigh for the god’s I am just gonna chery pick the really idiotic stuff, cause no one needs another Secondary school education on mythology.

Anubis:

quote:

Anubis used to live as an undertaker, a judge, a lawyer, a jeweler and a bodyguardas the mood of the day struck him. None of his clients ever died while under his protection, though few lasted long after his angry departures.
(so he is an asshole who throws huffs)
Good judges of character, incredibly loyal/spiteful based upon their judgement of people:

quote:

Anubis’s Scions will often abandon or even turn on their comrades if unable to convince them of the injustice of their recent activities.”
So a remit to be lawful stupid, the best part is this isn't even really the justice god, that's Horus' shtick.


ATUM-RE (RA):
Nothing out of the ordinary, except for a lovely nothing quote in “They are strong without being overly strong” about his scions, just an observant well mannered dude

Bastet:
((Warning, as a female being depicted in a White Wolf game, people of a nervous disposition or who frequent the Minority perspectives thread may wish to have a soothing cup of your drink of choice on hand, cause it’s all down hill from here))

quote:

In the modern day, Bastet appears as a slender woman with rounded hips and a graceful manner. She has been a belly dancer and the madam of a brothel, the hostess of salons and a spy in Paris. She even took on a role as a geisha in Japan, as part of a special exchange program among Gods many years ago.
So... I can sort of see where they were coming from, see they portray her as a “Secret keeper” kind of god with a curiosity for new experiences, so with geisha’s madam’s etc... sort of fill that bill, while also you know focusing on her hips... because white wolf.

GEB:
Homey organic earth god, moving on:

HORUS:
Pure justice forever

ISIS

quote:

Brave and cunning, dark-haired and narrow-faced, with small breasts and narrow waist Isis is a Goddess of magic and guardian of families. She once set a snake on Atum-Re to weaken him and force him to share power with the Pesedjet by revealing his name. She also
refrained from completely restoring her husband, Osiris, to life, in order to bring her son Horus into the Pesedjet. Isis is a manipulator of feelings and thoughts, turning everything to her advantage first, her immediate pantheon second, all the Gods third and the created order fourth. Everything and everyone else comes distinctly last....

...Unlike otherhealing Gods, she uses her powers only after she has won favorable concessions to her projects....

..Few of Isis’s own Scions are so relentlessly mercenary, partly by Isis’s design. She prefers thoughtful but biddable Scions who can be used to support her plans and then switched off until needed again.
So the trend continues, heard of the word Petite White Wolf? But more importantly I am quoting this whole thing to explain something, Anubis, the guy who literally kills people cause he throws a hissy fit and quits has 1 line mentioned about this, Isis has a whole paragraph dedicated to her being a bitch (In the original myth as I can find, she simply could not find the part of him that was missing)
It also gets better, she is probably the only goddess to get mentioned in the other’s but only in a negative way:

quote:

From Atum-ra: Godof magic and all-powerful, nothing in Creation could harm him until Isis conned him out of his true name.
Bonus: I Just found her character art, enjoy:


Osiris:
Meant to be a manipulator by the above but in conrast:

quote:

When dealing with Scions and deities, he is forthright about his intentions to manipulate emotions and plans, but people love helping him because he appears so good and wise. It’s not until after he’s left that you realize how much stupidity one has agreed to, and just how deeply
in debt to him one really is.

His wife Isis brought him back to life,but Set had already destroyed his genitals.
So ya know, he’s a dick but they seem to skirt over the issue, maybe I am just being pedantic but just what the hell, also Isis’ description blames her but this one blames set, gotta love the white wolf consistency.

Edit: Of note is that Due to Osiris lacking a dick (due to it being destroyed) he does not make scions the usual way, he simply picks from other god's unwanted ones and imprints them on himself, this comes into play later with goddesses like athena I believe

Ptah:
This is the CCP guy, how do I know:

quote:

In modern life, Ptah has been a wonderful game designer, a cryptologist of uncanny abilities, a master carpenter, a thoughtful sculptor and an ingenious architect. People recall him as giddy with excitement as his designs become reality. Ptah is not just a toy designer, though. His tools and weapons are equally useful.
Oh and this

Set:

quote:

“Set is the malignantand treacherous brother of Osiris. Where his brother is good and generous, Set is evil and grasping. What Osiris gives, salawa-headed Set takes away. Other Gods rarely
trust him, since he murdered his brother and loves to stir up trouble”
Go back up and read the quote I have for osiris again, go on... Ill wait. Now tell me if these two messages link up? I mean if they were in different parts of the book maybe, WW freelancers and all, but 2 Pages apart? Also to clarify these are not (meant to be)biased accounts (which would have been interesting) they are out of universe factual accounts.

Sobek:

quote:

In modern times, Sobek is remembered most for his perfect hair and toothy grin. Tall and lean in his human form, with a preference for fine clothes and good food, the crocodile God prefers cities to the countryside. He rarely goes anywhere without at least some jewelry. He plays at being a lawyer, but he’s most often a troubleshooter of some sort, and it rarely matters to him whether the trouble is solved with a briefcase of money or a sawed-off shotgun. As long as his clothes stay clean and he eats well, Sobek keeps just about any project moving along.
Just quoting this cause he actually sound pretty fun and perhaps a little complex

Thoth:
Subtle talky Magic guy, also sounds pretty cool

Ok then so to summarise, what we learnt:
Isis is a bitch
White wolf cannot keep things consistent
Isis is really a bitch

The pre built character at the end of the chapter is pretty standard, so stay tuned for Part 3: My big fat Greek Pantheon

Fake Edit: Also if anyone who knows egypthian mythology/theology can chime in on the validity of this, I would love to put it in here for all to enjoy.

The only thing more depressing to Greeks than their economy

posted by Stormgale Original SA post

Part 3: The only thing more depressing to Greeks than their economy

Welcome back, last time we dealt with the Egyptians, today we will deal with the greeks, so without further ado:

Generally the game tells us, the Greek pantheon are somewhere between Individuality and The Social order of the Egyptians, while the Egyptians want true social order, the Greeks believe that individuals can and should rise above their station (if they are sufficiently great) and do good, also the greek gods are arrogant, believing their scions will defeat fate.

APHRODITE

quote:

Description: As beautiful and capricious as the sea that birthed her, Aphrodite is impossibly gorgeous no matter what disguise she puts on. Men and women fall in love with her
in an epic way the moment they lay eyes on her......

.Fickle, demanding, fascinated by intelligence yet never really seeing its use, Aphrodite
keeps her attendant fans waiting on her, hand and foot, so that her every whim is supplied. Her indiscretions arealways overlooked, laughed off or excused. Her paramours rarely get off so easily. When she vanishes suddenly, her former victims are usually left penniless and suicidal.

So No breast or hip descriptions this time sorry Goggle Fox but we do get see how much of a bitch this woman is, using her looks to get favors then ruining the people she leaves, then again the greek gods are meant to be assholes to a tee perhaps it is just a trend.

Apollo

quote:

Apollo’s tendency to speak truths others are unwilling to face is guaranteed to win respect from half the room and make the other half want to start swinging.

Nah see Apollo is a pretty stand up guy, not like Aphrodite

Ares
Pretty standard, though credit where credit is due they made ares a raging avatar of bloody war but:

quote:

Ares is not above motivating his Scions with negative reinforcement, but he knows that his children are called to a different kind of war than he was. They need skills of cool calculation
and battle-tested reason more than the rage of war.
At least something interesting

Artemis
Before I delve into this, tell me what first comes into your mind when you think of artemis, virginial goddess of the hunt? Peerless markshman with a little bit of a sapphic slant, keep that in your mind as you read the following

quote:

Sister to Apollo and Goddess of the moon, Artemis eschews the company of men, preferring
the companionship (and touch) of women. Dark-haired and white-skinned, Artemis always has a predatory gleam in her eye, whether she’s chasing deer or skirts.

In modern life, Artemis has played a rock guitarist in black leather, a senator in a power suit, an erotic dancer in feather fans, a dominatrix and a doctor. It has not, in fact, proved beyond her ability to assume all five of these roles in a single disguised lifetime.
Say hello ladies and gentlemen, to whitewolf.txt, so not only is artemis a Skirt chasing lesbian but also one who likes to moonlight as a dominatrix, cause yeah, I do have to ask why the huntress goddess lacks any huntress careers like game or bounty hunter, I guess that would not fit in with her new image. Words fail me, I am sure someone more eloquent can put something that isnt blinding rage but yeah, fuck this game.

Athena

quote:

Honey-haired and well-rounded—voluptuous, some would say

Alright then is it too late to just kill myself and not do this any more?

Guess so, considering I have just done the two virginal goddesses I guess I should intercede for how Gods and Goddesses who cannot or will not reproduce have scions (such as Osiris, artemis and athena), they Adopt... no really, they literally ask another god for one of their scions and then transfer them over, this gets especially stupid when you consider your parentage defines your powers.

Dionysus
Party god, nothing to see here

Hades

quote:

Joy claims him every six months when Persephone comes to his realm. Although she is a springtime Goddess, Hades found herto be as devious as he, and discovered love rarely granted to Gods of doom and gloom. But Persephone’s mother ripped his fair bride from him and contrived to keep her away from Hades for half of every year. The result is a tormented and angry soul who occasionally beds mortals to assuage his sense of being lost in the currents of eternity.
Seee, Persephone really loves Hades’ dark and gloomly demeanor, it’s just that her mother is such a bitch, I am sure white wolf hires 15 year old’s to write all their work now.

Hephaestus
Nothing much to see here, builder god

Hera

quote:

In modern life, Hera prefers roles that grant her access to the good life. She is the chairman’s wife, or the mayor’s. She is the president of the exclusive women’s college in New England or the matron of a political family that has ruled the highest echelons of the nation. She is rarely
without her pearls, her peacocks and her dogs.

Hera: perpetually the woman married to the person with power.

Hermes

quote:


Now loki for the greeks... ok.


POSEIDON
Enviromentalist sea god, namor from Comics as a god pretty much


Zeus

quote:

His very potency and the heroic nature of his children and the great deeds they do in the
World push him to father yet more Scions and bring more soldiers to the side of the Gods in the battle with the Titans and the titanspawn.
No you see guys, zeus isn't just a sex-maniac, his children are the bestest scions so he needs to keep fucking everything that moves.

Sorry for the lack of commentary but it is just so blatantly bad there's not my explanation to do until we get to mechanics.

So that was certanly an experience, The aesir are up next and My god are they going to hurt.

Ride the Lightning

posted by Stormgale Original SA post

Scion Part 4: Ride the Lightning

The book describes how the aesir are the most bound by fate, as they are all going to die in ragnarok, also socialogically the are somewhere in between the two previous, talking in equal amounts about community responsibility and individual freedom. I am going to say it now, I like the norse gods, I am a silly white nerd who can get behind lightning, alcohol and lots of fighting, so this is probably going to break me.

Baldr
Supper pretty awesome god (All the ladies want him, even Hel).


Freya

Well, Ummm... fuck... they actually managed to not be total assholes for once, freya is an in dependant passionate woman who can kick your ass if you need it, so yeah.

Freyr
Freya’s brother where they stuck most of the fertility aspect a virile handsome man who beds all the ladies, dumb but not especially so.


Frigg

quote:

In modern times, Frigg has taken on roles as diverse as gynecologist, women’s rights activist,
coven leader, swimsuit model, military wife, financial planner and gypsy fortuneteller. Her predictions are eerily accurate, which unnerves people who know and remember her.


One of these things is not like the other, frigg is meant to be a guiding force, so which of those professions just seems out of place. 2/2 white wolf have not managed to massively fuck things up, Small blessings and all but I think we might be ok

Heimdall
Paranoid security god who is awesome.


Hel
Ice queen goddess of the dead.


Loki
Lemme tell you about loki: Thought there was something interesting here, some little secret, sadly nothing to see here


Odin
Right nothing wrong with him in the lore sense, but time to talk mechanics (mostly cause there haven't been enough interesting fuck up in this segment), see your choice of father or mother affects the paths open to you, your specialisations if you wil;, these are your associated magical gifts, your skills etc.., now Loki has the following
Associated Powers: Epic Intelligence, Epic Manipulation, Epic Wits, Chaos, Fire, Jotunblut,
Magic
Abilities: Brawl, Empathy, Larceny, Occult, Politics, Stealth

Heaphestus has:
Associated Powers: Epic Intelligence, Epic Stamina, Epic Strength, Arete, Earth, Fire
Abilities: Art, Control, Craft, Investigation, Melee, Science

Odin has the following:
Associated Powers: Epic Charisma, Epic Intelligence, Epic Manipulation, Epic Perception, Epic Stamina, Epic Wits, Death, Jotunblut, Magic, Mystery, Prophecy, Psychopomp, War
Abilities: Art, Fortitude, Integrity, Investigation, Occult, Presence

A little unbalanced, now this can be attributed to odin being a bit of an ass, but still having practically twice the specialisation in certain gods makes it very easy to have differing power levels in your group.

Sif


quote:

Sif, a Goddess of fertility and waving grain among the Vanir, is the wife of Thor. Beautiful and youthful, her hair is made of spun gold that the dwarves made for her after Loki cut off her real hair. Blonde and blue-eyed, she has mythic proportions made real. Even the giants lusted over her regularly, the maiden with golden hair. To modern eyes, she often plays cheerleader to
Thor’s football star, and movie starlet to his action hero.

Oh hello there violent rage, been missing you, so yes Sif has pretty much been relegated to cheering squad and lusting object for Thor, words fail me.... you were doing so well white wolf, so Well.

Tyr
Oh Hello there justice archetype, take a seat right over there.

Vidar Odinson
A god of vengance and such, fated to survive ragnarok, bit of a dick. Apparently they needed a vengace god in every pantheon

Sorry this has been mostly boring guys, but next time we get to see how they deal with the Aztec gods, white wolf detailing a foreign culture... what could possibly go wrong.

A Christmas Miracle

posted by Stormgale Original SA post

Stormgale Actually Doing More Scion- A Christmas Miracle

Well I have a headache, wish I had some alcohol and am alone on Christmas, so how about I share the suffering? To Save on time and sanity im gonna gloss over the rest of the gods, because there is too much boring and not terrible (also recapping deity’s histories is kinda fruitless when people who would be interested probably know far more than the book).

We get a brief description of them, finding out that the Atzlánti Fate, community and people are unimportant, focusing more on the continuity of the world: The Sun rising and setting, the moon following etc... seems Fine, wait what have we here:

quote:

The Atzlánti have weaknesses, naturally, and their greatest stumbling block is their desperate need for blood. Blood fuels and expedites all Aztec magic and divine powers, and while Quetzalcoátl might need only a drop for most of his workings, Huitzilopochtli seems to need bucketsful.

Alright then, this is going to end well, now don’t get me wrong I get the whole blood deal, aztec gods are not the nicest after all but when you think about what this game is trying to evoke (children of gods heroically defending the world against titans) does blood sacrfice really seem all that fitting? This continues with the descriptions (HUITZILOPOCHTLI’s Scions are seen as rage filled warriors Miclántecuhtli’s reven in suffering), I mean why would a scion of Thor, god of rocking thunder and being awesome let these guys run around and be assholes?

Tlazoltéotl

quote:

Tlazoltéotl is a Goddess of filth,whether it involves water-treatment systems, physical
human waste or the mental detritus of psychological baggage. She has the power to clean it all up and sweep it all away with her magic broom. Her favorite position is squatting, whether to defecate or to give birth to a child or to fornicate, and she can get anyone at all to tell
her their life story, including all the evil and nasty bits. She is young enough and beautiful enough to tempt the most pious mortals to sexual lust and emotional ruin. That she is so eager to hear all the details of their lusts and darker emotions only makes her power greater.
:stare
So let’s get the old white wolf checklist out, follow at home and let me know if I have missed anything:
Goddess has to be incredibly hot - Check
Given no positive description or act in a likeable manner - Check
Ruiner of men - Check

I mean really what else can I say, this offends on so many levels and I have read cthulthutech... bravo white wolf, bravo.

And on a lighter note, Regarding the Sample Aztec Scion

quote:

Aaron Tigrillo was born in a small New Mexico town called Aztec

Well that’s all I think needs to be said on the matter.

Moving on to the AMATSUKAMI, the japanese gods, let’s keep our katana and trenchcoats at the ready for Glorious Nippon is about to descend.

In all honesty this chapter isn’t bad, its got a relatively interesting set of gods from refined (amaterasu) to bawdy (SUSANO-O)then again I am probably Biased on the matter that focuses on the idea of balance between man and nature, no blood sacrifices or Really stupid portrayals here..

Special mention goes to Amaterasu who is depicted in a positive and benevloent light rather than well the rest of the godesses in the book.

But you came here for terrible so onwards to the Loa, to summarise the Loa are relatively recent, almost all of them scions or spirits elavated to Godhood through belief, this gives them a different perspective, focusing on the minutia of the world, saving one life at a time or creating one happy village rather than great social change or order.

Or at least that is what white wolf were trying to go for I think, we however have been lucky enough to hit a pure seam of white wolf writing folks and it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Baron Samedi

quote:

Baron Samedi would have you believe he spent a Saturday night in a drunk tank in the
Underworld, drinking Jesus under the table with shots of rum. Then, he’ll grin at you like a crack addict in the middle of a mescaline overdose, and you wonder who’s really taking the drugs. Outfitted with sunglasses, a stylish black shirt or a white shirt and an undertaker’s swallowtail coat, silver jewelry and a top hat, the Baron loves to entertain children and frighten the living
daylights out of adults. In legend, he walks right up to dictators and tells them to put their affairs in order. He mugs for the cameras in New Orleans. He strolls between nightclubs everywhere, putting AIDS on the tip of every seventh needle.

Loki is that you? have you been delving into other pantheons again, nope this is the right section and not loki.
Seriously though did someone write a malkavian into scion cause what the hell. This guy is supposed to be the god of death, a good attempt at avoiding the sorrowful boring death but we have officially entered White wolf trying to be Exotic and colourful territory, prepare for dumb/

Damballa


quote:

Damballa is the father of the other Loa, and the most powerful and important God of the pantheon. Appearing as a huge green-and-black snake, and associated with parental duty as well as primal sexuality and creativity, Damballa marries many women and sleeps with all of them every Thursday. He leaves behind money for them, and gifts for the children he has with them. He is associated with the Catholic/Jewish Moses, and dresses in white and silver...
...Any woman who handles a snake whilenaked risks his sensual and sexual embrace.


In 20 minutes of searching I couldn't find a single reference to the wives story, He has two wives (Ayida Weddo and Erzulie Freda) and is supposed to represent Creation and the love of a father to his children which I guess is in there. Seriously though can white wolf stop trying to put sensuality into their games, I havent seen them do it right once and every time it either leads to creepiness or excuses for players to be creepy.


And Like a flash of thunder in the night the storm of bad white wolf passed, the rest of the loa seem pretty decent.

Next chapter is character creation so I would like some suggestions from the thread, pick a god you like or just a sort of dude you want me to make and We’ll see how quickly the system breaks down (I’ll let you in on a secret, it isnt that long).

Also if you have any specific questions or think I have missed out something feel free to shoot em my way.