Ask Neall

[Samudra]

Thank you for your reply, I am not trying to be hostile and you are obviously more knowledgeable about it than myself, and I admit being a bit sore and worried about it to perhaps an unreasonable level. I am not Hindu but my stepfather and sister always have been very devout. We played the first edition scion together and we enjoyed it a great deal, until the companion came out and they were deeply hurt by the portrayal of the gods, to the point the campaign revolved around it and the game in general was soured.

I was hoping this version would be less so, and while you are probably correct that the wider cultural analysis is more critical of the story of Sita and Rama, I always was told since I was little it was the ultimate love story. It is at least a story very dear to both of them, and I know that phrase will bother them, and to a lesser extent it bothered me. Add on my understanding of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana as lessons of always pursuing multiple avenues of peace before war or battle could be fought (except when made from hasty promises, which usually led to the lesson, of don't commit yourself lightly), it felt wrong and I was a bit ashamed I encouraged excitement about the new version if it was just going to disappoint as well.

I also admit the Persephone thing is long held, and that is a larger issue of me being frustrated her myth gets often romanticized often by the same people who tend to disparage the Rama/Sita story. It's felt hypocritical, but that's aimed mostly at those who like me, were at the peripherary of the Religion and not part of it, which felt Culturally Unaware. This happily, is not the case.

Admittedly, our family will probably house rule it, or make our own write ups of them if anyone wants to join in, so it is not a big issue. I fully understand a Culture is not a few groups of people, but I'd feel amiss if I didn't say anything. I do feel better knowing it sits well with other Hindus, and understand nothing can fully satisfy everybody. Thanks!

I also apologize if I got a bit too heated in the Deva's defense Trust me, after the 1e Devas Chapter in Companion, I was pretty badly turned off as well. I was pretty ecstatic when the quality of work done on the 2e Deva became apparent, and I hope that other than those two points, you enjoyed the rest of it

[glamourweaver]

It occurs to me that there’s an important reason for the revision of the Persephone myth that doesn’t apply in Sita’s case: giving Persephone agency. Sita has agency in her narrative - it’s tragic, and arises from her mistreatment, but she still raises children on her own, and chooses to reject the world in her sorrow - operative word being chooses. Persephone in the traditional telling has no agency, so revising that tale to have her want to be with Hades is less about making one of the male Theoi look less bad, as it is about giving the godess of the Underworld some control of her own fate.

[glamourweaver]

There’s no Riastadt power I’m missing in the Hero text is there? Would that work by just stacking certain Epic Attribute Boons with Visage Great and Terrible, or is Demigod level Geas going to open up something more specific?

[Kyman201]

There’s no Riastadt power I’m missing in the Hero text is there? Would that work by just stacking certain Epic Attribute Boons with Visage Great and Terrible, or is Demigod level Geas going to open up something more specific?

I heard rumors about the Riastadt being a potential Cultural Knack.

[glamourweaver]

I heard rumors about the Riastadt being a potential Cultural Knack.

Are Cultural Knacks a thing we know to be coming in a particular book?

[Kyman201]

Are Cultural Knacks a thing we know to be coming in a particular book?

Neall mentioned in the Scion Discord once that the team would like to put more Knacks of both Mortal and Immortal levels, as well as Culture Specific Knacks, in Demigod.

As with everything Neall says about future content I wouldn't assume this is guaranteed

[Yue Ryong]

Ok, I'm trying to get my head around how different kinds of Scale stack.

Here's what I'm pretty sure I know:

1) Scale represents a significant difference in some measure of potency; such as speed, size, numbers or divine 'weight'.
2) For Dramatic comparisons, Scale adds Enhancement based on the difference to relevant rolls.
3) Characters of a two scale disadvantage (or greater) are largely treated as trivial unless the game demands otherwise.
4) Characters cannot deal damage to targets more than two Scale above them.

All makes sense to me thus far. What I'm less clear about is something like this scenario:

A Band in a getaway car (Size 1, Speed 3) is hitting the tarmac after nabbing a phoenix egg from a cultist/crime boss, and her oni muscle (Size 3, Title 2 from a stolen Relic) drops into the middle of the road to block them, putting herself in the path for a violent collision.

Leaving aside the expectation that plot-relevant comparisons shouldn't treated as trivial, what happens?

1a) The oni is in no way fast enough to contest the car, is treated as Trivial and easily sped past before she's able to put herself properly in the way.
1b) The car can't do anything against something that big/heavy, is treated as Trivial, smashes into the oni & stops.
2) The oni has an overall +1 Scale advantage over the car, getting a +2 Enhancement bonus against them, but because the car is two scale faster, she can't do more than clip them, doing no damage to the car and limiting to non-damaging stunts (and vice versa).
3) The oni has an overall +1 Scale advantage over the car, getting a +2 Enhancement bonus against them, and the contest is rolled normally.

[Dataweaver]

Scion: Origins and Scion: Hero are out. Can we maybe shift questions about them to their own threads, to make it easier to find things, and reserve Ask Neall for questions about upcoming books?

[RedRobin]

Scion: Origins and Scion: Hero are out. Can we maybe shift questions about them to their own threads, to make it easier to find things, and reserve Ask Neall for questions about upcoming books?

Are they? I can't find anything on Kickstarter or Backerit about them being out.

[Gnomish American]

I have the first pass of the fully edited Origin, did I miss the mail on Hero?

[Iceblade44]

Do Titan's have Mantles? If they do, did Zeus took a mantle when he usurped Cronos and became King of the Gods and did Cronos did the same with Ouranos. If that isn't how it works its there another type of mechanic which that type of power-swapping falls under?

[mjorkk]

I know I've asked this before earlier, but conversations got caught up in other trains of though, and I never got an answer (which is okay.) When you use a knack that allows you to invest legends instead of spend it on a feat of scale, how long does the legend stay imbued before the player can reclaim it.

[Oxcelot]

Hi, I'm glad and liking the Scion: Origin book and rules but I have two questions about Conditions.
1) How Conditions do exactly work?
2) Will there be examples of Conditions in the book?

I'm asking this because Conditions is one of the game rules that is really poorly explained in the book. It is briefly explained in page 66-67 the can apply to Complications or Enhancements, and that's it. It doesn't really explain how many Conditions a character can have, if they only work in that way, and what is really the difference between brief and permanent Conditions, and if Injury Conditions are always applied for Conditions of harmful effects or not.

It seems to me this kind of rule is handwaiving and not really playtested, and that's unfortunate. I'm looking forward to tips for when to award Conditions, how many are too much, what kind of different effects it could have (examples), how to remove them (examples), and examples of Conditions in general.

[Kyman201]

Hi, I'm glad and liking the Scion: Origin book and rules but I have two questions about Conditions.
1) How Conditions do exactly work?
2) Will there be examples of Conditions in the book?

I'm asking this because Conditions is one of the game rules that is really poorly explained in the book. It is briefly explained in page 66-67 the can apply to Complications or Enhancements, and that's it. It doesn't really explain how many Conditions a character can have, if they only work in that way, and what is really the difference between brief and permanent Conditions, and if Injury Conditions are always applied for Conditions of harmful effects or not.

It seems to me this kind of rule is handwaiving and not really playtested, and that's unfortunate. I'm looking forward to tips for when to award Conditions, how many are too much, what kind of different effects it could have (examples), how to remove them (examples), and examples of Conditions in general.

Not Neall but part of the thing with Conditions is that they're intentionally going to be a varied lot. There's examples of them in Hero as well.

Some answers: What are Conditions like? Deliberately varied. Drunk could be a Condition. Blind could be a Condition. Fox Tail that you can't hide is a Condition.

How many do you assign? As many as makes sense. If you're overloading your players, stop, but don't feel like there's a hard limit of Legend x2 Conditions a Player can suffer from.

How do they resolve? It depends. "Sand in the eyes" may require an action to wash or rub your eyes. "Eyes burned out" will probably require divine magic. "Drunk as a Skunk" will require sleeping it off, probably "Lasts until end of scene"

[mjorkk]

Another question: when it says that the defense of followers is half of their rating, it never specifies whether it's round-up or round-down, and I also can't find anywhere in Origins or Hero where it gives a default assumption for the game about rounding either. Does the what't the defense of followers of 1, 3, and 5 dots respectively?