Which New Pantheons do you want?

[Neall]

I think the idea is to distinguish the theoretical pseudo-Gaul pantheon from how the others are altered, in the sense that, for example, the Lugh example you give in your quote is because you have too much to work with, while the Pseudo-Gauls would have far too little, and thus is noteworthy in its reconstructedness. Sorry if I got anything wrong, Mr or Ms Ajax.

In that sense, the Gauls would be noteworthy, but as Ajax noted that's actually something of a bonus to us writers, in that we've got a bit more freedom to work with. Myths, legends, folktales, and yes, fantastical reconstructions all have a place in Scion and the modern myths PCs play through.

[Ajax]

Why?

I mean, given that there will be a caveat in the front of the book warning students from using Scion for their myth and religious studies homework.

Why not?

You're a writer Don't you want credit for the cool stuff you make up? When you take little pieces of next to nothing a come up with something cool that is NOT actually just you doing a synthesis and a translation into a workable game format. That's a lot more of YOU in that.

Plus, you can throw in a caveat on page after the title and say that, but that doesn't mean people will pay attention at all. People who get their Welsh mythology from Evangeline Walton are going to be getting something closer to Welsh myths that people who read Patricia Keneally Morrison's Celts-in-Space pastiche. Neither is hardcore slogging through the translations and trying to extract out "noise". (Or, for real fun, reading the Old Welsh.) For the most part and most people, that's pretty boring, if not impossible (depending on how good your Old Welsh is). Evangeline Walton threw in a very short Appendix highlighting the changes she made or when she made things up. It didn't detract from the books at all.

People WILL get their mythology from Scion. They already do. Particularly when it comes to the less accessible pantheons. So, even with the caveat, people think the Gaulish pantheon is what the people in Gaul were worshiping before Julius came through. And it's not.

[Xanthias]

The Sumerian pantheon would be really cool. Especially Inanna, Enki and Utu. If the gods of Kemet are not too old-fashioned for the setting, neither are the sumerians.
The Hittite empire would have been be a rich mine of ideas, but frankly, all those gods, cultures and languages colliding is just too much for a roleplaying game, and simplifying things would make the "Hittites" too generic.
Some more variety for the Celts would be appreciated as well. Some juicy Welsh lore, perhaps? Manannan, Gwyn, Rhiannon, mmmmm...
Bushman lore, like the kukummi Bleek and Lloyd collected? Incredible, but unlikely to make it.

[ZealousChristian24]

Why?

I mean, given that there will be a caveat in the front of the book warning students from using Scion as a basis for their myth and religious studies homework.

I think the idea is to distinguish the theoretical pseudo-Gaul pantheon from how the others are altered, in the sense that, for example, the Lugh example you give in your quote is because you have too much to work with, while the Pseudo-Gauls would have far too little, and thus is noteworthy in its reconstructedness. Sorry if I got anything wrong, Mr or Ms Ajax.

[Neall]

So long as you put in the caveat that you are essentially making almost the entire thing up, that it's an exercise in reconstruction akin to finding a burned down house in the woods and building something on the foundations that includes pretty much everything left architecturally, but that you are doing it without anything like photograph.

It just needs to be telegraphed as such.

Why?

I mean, given that there will be a caveat in the front of the book warning students from using Scion for their myth and religious studies homework.

To quote something I wrote earlier:

Keep in mind, though, that our foremost goal is a playable and enjoyable mythological game allowing players to embody the myths of legend, wear divine mantles of succession and create their own myths in the vein of old in the modern day whilst being a badass, not arguing about who's God K and who isn't. Accuracy and respect are still very high priorities. But if we're looking at Lugh of the Tuatha de Dannen and see the Welsh Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Lugus of the Gauls, there's a judgment call to be made.

[Ajax]

Personally? I'd love to do a Gaulish pantheon as a prime example of a "dead" or destroyed pantheon as a potential Kickstarter goal or further PDF/POD book down the line. They got completely annihilated by a militant Scion of Venus. What strange strands does Fate weave for the dead...? When you walk in the footsteps of dead gods, do they then walk like you?

So long as you put in the caveat that you are essentially making almost the entire thing up, that it's an exercise in reconstruction akin to finding a burned down house in the woods and building something on the foundations that includes pretty much everything left architecturally, but that you are doing it without anything like photograph.

But you didn't rebuild the house. You built a new house with some old pieces here and there, a general idea of what houses like this were like typically based on some other examples and a whole lot of imagination.

So somewhere 3 notches up from the Atlantean pantheon. Around where the WW2 pantheons are. (Since some of the "gods" are based on solid, fun folktales.... which are two steps down from myths - myths, legends, folktales.)

Having said that, sure. Why not? It would be a ton of fun to try to sift through a lot of Roman syncretism, iconography and artwork from archaeological sites (the Gundestrup Cauldron Rules!), retconning from Irish & Welsh myths and some folktales, trying to cobble and shoehorn things together based on similarities in nomenclature (Lugh-Llew-Lugh, Nodens-Nudd-Nuada, etc.) It just needs to be telegraphed as such.

[Evilmarmelade]

Personally? I'd love to do a Gaulish pantheon as a prime example of a "dead" or destroyed pantheon as a potential Kickstarter goal or further PDF/POD book down the line. They got completely annihilated by a militant Scion of Venus. What strange strands does Fate weave for the dead...? When you walk in the footsteps of dead gods, do they then walk like you?

Nnnnngh. Yes. Thousands times, yes. My french mind is pleased.

[Shadowflame]

Personally? I'd love to do a Gaulish pantheon as a prime example of a "dead" or destroyed pantheon as a potential Kickstarter goal or further PDF/POD book down the line. They got completely annihilated by a militant Scion of Venus. What strange strands does Fate weave for the dead...? When you walk in the footsteps of dead gods, do they then walk like you?

Bring it! Take my money please!

[Neall]

First, I’d like to see the Voodoo Pantheon replaced by one or two of the West African Pantheons from which Voodoo is derived, under the premise that Voodoo is a human-founded religion based on said West African Pantheons.

I'm just going to go ahead and confirm that we're really looking to integrate Yoruba and the Loa in 2e as a prime example of a how a pantheon reacts to socio-political changes in the World (the Diaspora) and what an "old guard" versus a "new guard" looks like within a pantheon (and how a new guard tends to interact more with Scions or Gods from other pantheons).

Also, by extension, 2e's "core" pantheons are commentary on how pantheons function in the World, providing GMs with guidelines on how to create their own.

I’d like to get Gaulish...Pantheons; but given the lack of solid information on these, they’d end up qualifying as fictional Pantheons and thus outside the scope of this thread.

Personally? I'd love to do a Gaulish pantheon as a prime example of a "dead" or destroyed pantheon as a potential Kickstarter goal or further PDF/POD book down the line. They got completely annihilated by a militant Scion of Venus. What strange strands does Fate weave for the dead...? When you walk in the footsteps of dead gods, do they then walk like you?

[Shadowflame]

Since belief doesn't make a deity, and mankind is over a million years old...BUT we have only representations of pantheons that only go so far back.

You could shoot in the dark, blindfolded and come up with your own pantheon that could ostensibly be spot on and thousands of years older.

[DeadGuy]

I remember some Talk back at,Jhons Scion Resources, about a Tibetan Pantheon , i really would like see more about that. Roman,Mayan and Mesopotamian Pantheons would also be Cool.

[TheGraySoul]

Would Buddhism / Hindu be interesting?

Isn't the Hindu Pantheon already in the game? That's the Devas from the Companion right?

[Nyrufa]

The problem there is that the guidelines would be something like "Do hours of research on the subject, attempt to create a PSP based on the central philosophy of the culture, balancing it against dozens of other powers that we're not very good at balancing ourselves, then write up short descriptions of the major deities. Drink heavily."

It's equally impossible to nail down a system that can flexibly represent every mythology in history, and WW/OP has never successfully written rules for designing anything mechanical and then been able to stick to those rules, even in their own material that comes out in the same book as those rules.

Well to cut hours and hours of research out of the work

Here's the Cthulhu mythos explained

[Telgar]

What I really want, is guidelines for homebrewing Pantheons. Because there's no way they can fit every Pantheon on the world into one book, or even a dozen books. Empowering their fanbase into filling in the gaps just seems like it'd appeal to me.

The problem there is that the guidelines would be something like "Do hours of research on the subject, attempt to create a PSP based on the central philosophy of the culture, balancing it against dozens of other powers that we're not very good at balancing ourselves, then write up short descriptions of the major deities. Drink heavily."

It's equally impossible to nail down a system that can flexibly represent every mythology in history, and WW/OP has never successfully written rules for designing anything mechanical and then been able to stick to those rules, even in their own material that comes out in the same book as those rules.

[Nyrufa]

Would Buddhism / Hindu be interesting? You could have Scions walking around with like 6 to 12 arms. Might be a little bit risque because it's a modern day religion, but if they can get away with the Loa, I don't think it would be too complicated.


Also, if we're going by real world mythology, I'd like to pose the concept of Cthulhu and friends. Yes, there are actual cults dedicated to worshiping them, so the idea has merit!



Buddhist / Hindu Scion in Action


On an additional note, I would also like to see an "independent pantheon" at some point. Gods and goddesses who operate on their own, such as the Lord of the Harvest and so on. I think a monotheism faction could be an effective means of independent Scions.