New Preview: The Water Purview!
over 7 years ago – Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 12:44:20 PM

Hi, everyone. ^_^ Rose here. Following up on yesterday's art preview, today we're showing the Water Purview itself. This gives a good look at how non-Pantheon Purviews work.

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Neall:

Hey folks! This time we’re going to preview a bit of the power saw in the last art preview. The Water Purview is used by gods of lakes and rivers, of oceans and brackish seas. When we design Purviews (which we’ll get into with some of those new stretch goals) we try to do so with the intent of providing Boons useful for the three arenas of action. Changing Tides is useful for action, while Reborn in the Depths can (as you see) be very useful for investigation. And the third, Sink Hopes...well, you’ll see soon.  

Water  

From ancient wells and municipal waterworks to flowing rivers and vast oceans, all Water is governed by this Purview. It rules the ebb and flow of the tides, the sustaining and cleansing power of fresh water, and the untold perils of crashing waves and the deep sea.  

Innate Power: You can breathe water like air and swim with flawless grace, ignoring any Obstacles for moving or acting underwater. You are also immune to harm from the pressure or temperature of water.  

Changing Tides

Cost: Imbue 1 Legend or Spend 1 Legend  

Duration: One scene or Instant  

Subject: Body of water  

Range: Long  

Action: Simple  

You exert your will over water, controlling the tides or currents that move through it. You can calm all water out to long range, making it still and placid even in the face of a hurricane, or change the direction that currents flow in, letting you reverse the direction of a river or cause a riptide to drag lost swimmers back to shore.  

Alternatively, if you spend Legend instead of imbuing it, you can call up a great wave to crash down on your foes. You roll this attack with (highest Power Attribute) + Occult and Enhancement 4. It has the shockwave tag (p. XX), letting you attack all characters in a single range band within long range, as well as the bashing and pushing tags.  

Reborn in the Depths  

Cost: Imbue 1 Legend  

Duration: One scene  

Subject: Self  

Action: Reflexive  

You can heal by submerging yourself in a body of water, clearing a -2 Stress box at the end of a scene spent immersed. You can heal a -4 box instead if all your -2s are clear. You can only benefit from this healing once per session.  

In addition, you extend your senses through the water. As a simple action, you can displace your perspective to any point out to long range within the same body of water, seeing through that point as though you were physically there.

Art Preview: Water and Fire!
over 7 years ago – Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 03:51:28 PM

Hi, folks. Rose here. ^_^ We just got some new art in, and thought it'd be fun to share. I'll turn the floor over to Neall...

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Neall:

You might recall Yukiko, signature Scion of Susano-o, from First Edition. Her command of the sea and waves is as strong as ever in Second Edition. Here, she uses a Water Boon called Changing Tides to call up a great wave to crash down on a rampaging fire giant (and provide her with a convenient means of getting to said giant).

1000%!!! Plus: Stretch Goal update!
over 7 years ago – Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 06:54:53 PM

Hi, Rose here. ^_^

Thanks to you, we've crossed 1,000% funding! This is a huge milestone for the reborn Scion setting.

Not only that, but...

...having passed $245,000, we can kick off the Scion Bestiary with a section on Giants! All backers who pledge for physical books will receive the Bestiary PDF.

We also passed $250,000, which means we can add another story to the Scion Anthology. All backers who pledge for the Origin and Hero PDFs will receive the Anthology PDF/ePub.

Up next, at $255,000, we'll add a section greatly expanding the Relic rules to the Scion Companion. One of the ways the gods bestow their favor is through Relics - sacred weapons and miracle items. Scions channel the powers of their parents through these items. With this stretch goal, we greatly expand the Relic section from the corebook, giving you many more options, examples, and alternate systems to craft the weapons of the gods both in and out of character.

After that, at $260,000, we'll add another story to the Scion Anthology, which is getting to be quite substantial!

Thank you for all your support!

New Preview: Relics!
over 7 years ago – Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 12:12:09 PM

Hi, folks. Rose here. ^_^ Today, we're going to look at a few Relics from Hero.

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Amulet of Resurrection (••)  

Purview(s): Death; Calling: Liminal; Primary Skill: Occult  

Motif: Death is not the end of purpose.  

Enhancement: 2  

Osiris fashions these golden amulets in the shape of the djed pillar, a symbol representing stability and the spine of the afterlife god himself. A Scion who knows the right ritual can place the amulet upon a mummified corpse and perform the spell, allowing the mummy to regain the use of its spine for a short while and do the godling's bidding.  

Knack: A Scion can use one of these amulets to animate a properly mummified corpse as a complex action rolled with Reason + Occult at difficulty 2, with an interval of one round and a goal of eight successes. If successful, the Scion temporarily gains the Mummy Follower (see p. XX) at one dot per corpse animated for the scene, to a maximum of five dots.  

iGjallar (••)  

Purview(s): Sky; Calling: Liminal; Primary Skill: Persuasion  

Motif: A voice heard everywhere.  

Enhancement: 3  

The great sounding horn of Heimdall is the Gjallarhorn, a clarion with a blast audible in all worlds that summons gods and signals doom. Prophecy holds that when Ragnarok comes, the Gjallarhorn will herald its beginning. The iGjallar is the modern Scion's tribute to the mighty call of the Æsir's hawk-eyed sentinel: a smartphone with a direct uplink to the Overworld. It requires no service contract or battery and can communicate across boundaries between realms, including from the World to almost any Terra Incognita and vice versa.  

Knack: In addition to all the functions of a normal smartphone, the iGjallar has crystal clear reception no matter where the Scion goes and never loses signal except when brought to realms that have no connection to the Overworld or other locations sacred to the character's divine benefactor. With it, the Scion can call anywhere as long as there's a phone or similar device on the other end to receive it.  

Irish Muscle Car (••••)  

Purview(s): Journeys, War; Calling: Warrior; Primary Skill: Pilot  

Motif: The road is my battlefield.  

Enhancement: 2  

The chariot is the traditional conveyance of battle for the Tuatha Dé Danann, favored by the Morrígan. A sturdy chariot pulled by noble steeds and bristling with weaponry could make a simple drive-by deadly in the hands of a skilled charioteer. Modern Scions prefer to pay homage to this tradition with a different kind of horsepower. The Irish muscle car is usually a Mustang or Charger, tricked out with gadgets, guns, hidden blades, and more to make chases a dicey prospect for a hero's enemies. Souped-up engines that roar like lions and stylish paint jobs are practically required — no stealthy spy vehicles receive Badb's blessing.  

Knack: This vehicle constitutes a road hazard for any other vehicle involved in a chase or race (see p. XX). Once per scene, the driver of the Irish muscle car may gain one Momentum whenever the driver of another vehicle spends any.  

Flaw: Reduce the car's Cruising and Top Speeds by one at the end of any scene in which it was used in a chase or race without its driver or another occupant fulfilling his Prowess Virtue. Restore these traits to full value as soon as Prowess is fulfilled this way. Other similar Virtues may substitute at the Storyguide's discretion.

Mega-Update of Infinite Wonder! Press coverage! Stretch goals! And Eileen's back!
over 7 years ago – Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 09:43:25 AM

Hi, folks. Rose here, with a lot of stuff. ^_~

Press Coverage

Geek & Sundry posted an overview of the project. This one's great to share with your interested friends!

Also, writer James Mendez Hodes did an interview in which he discusses the Orisha, Shen, and Devas, as well as his research process and academic background.

Stretch Goals

Having passed $225,000, we can work with Earplay to create a Scion interactive audio drama. Earplay will give this free to any backer who pledges for a reward tier which includes the Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero PDFs.

But that's not all! Passing $230,000, we can add a section on Building Your Own Purviews rules to the Scion 2nd Companion. In this stretch goal, we give guidance on how to customize the Purviews of Gods into sub-Purviews, creating Boons to match and perfectly reflect your Scions' supernatural development. We'll also recreate the Frost Purview, for Scions of winter and snow.

And still more! Now that we've passed $235,000, we can upgrade our art budget, enabling us to increase the amount of beautiful art in the two books.

Up next, at $245,000 we will start the Scion Bestiary with a section on Giants! Backers who pledge for any reward tier including physical copies of Scion: Origin or Scion: Hero will receive this as a PDF.

Preview

And now it's time to check back in with Eileen in our latest fiction preview...

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Maura wasn't home when Eileen got back to the apartment. She'd left a note on the kitchen table: Went out. Don't wait up. The spiky letters and the way the pen had dug deep into the paper told Eileen she was on her girlfriend's shitlist. And rightly so.  

It was just as well that Maura had gone out: Lady Niamh was waiting on the back step, and Eileen had no idea how she'd even begin to make that particular introduction.  

"Do you have it?" asked the fairy woman.  

"I do," said Eileen, but she knew better than to simply hand over the harp. "I dropped it off at the library, and you can have it when you show me the way to the one in Tír na nÓg."  

Lady Niamh's mouth pursed, but she nodded. "Well enough. I'll see you there." She turned on her heel and was gone. It saved Eileen the dilemma of whether to offer her a ride, or ask if they ought to walk to campus together.

***  

The crows were back, perched in a long black line on the library roof. Bev sat on the steps, watching Eileen approach. "I knew you could do it."  

"Could've used a hand."  

"Eh. You had it. Besides, that's not how it works. I wasn't allowed to interfere. There are rules to all of this."  

"It'd be nice if someone would clue me in to what they are." She unlocked the library door and held it for Bev. "Like, should I stay here and see of Lady Niamh needs a formal invite to come inside, or is that just for vampires?"  

"Some of the sidhe labor under that restriction," said Lady Niamh as she swanned past, "but not me. Now, Miss Bran. My harp?"  

Eileen led them to the rare books room, where she'd stashed the harp away on her way home. "The doorway first."  

Lady Niamh uttered a word and waved her hand, and Eileen felt the fragrant air of Tír na nÓg ruffle her hair. "It's open for you when you wish now," said the fairy woman. Then she took her harp from Eileen's arms and glided away, leaving Eileen and Bev alone on the threshhold between worlds.  

On the other side, Eileen saw the smudge of red against the green that meant her father was waiting. "Are you coming with me?"  

Bev shook her head. "You have to do this on your own."  

"More rules?"  

"No, just… not my place. Not just now." Bev leaned forward and kissed Eileen on the cheek. "I'll see you around."  

***  

The Dagda waited next to a stack of books. This time, the glasses were nowhere to be seen. He looked different without them, rougher, cruder. The book he held looked out of place in his hand, like he'd rather be holding a cudgel.  

"I wasn't sure it would be you coming through," he said. "Our visitors aren't always the friendly sort."  

"You told me to find my way back," Eileen said. "Here I am."  

"And this is what you want? This life? I feel like I should warn you that not all monsters can be lulled to sleep."  

So he knows about the man with the harp. She wasn't entirely surprised. In fact, she suspected he might have been the one to send Lady Niamh to her in the first place. Eileen looked around, at the rows of books containing knowledge she'd only ever dreamed might be hers. She looked behind her, through the door to her own library. Her own world. Somewhere, Maura was seething at her, and Eileen was only going to make her frustration grow.  

But the thought of walking back through that door, having it close on her forever… No. She couldn't bear that loss.  

"This is who I am," she said. "Now show me everything."