Preview: More Origin fiction!
over 7 years ago
– Mon, Oct 03, 2016 at 05:55:31 PM
Hi, folks. Rose here, with another fiction preview. ^_^
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Neall:
Hey, Neall again. Back once more, faithful readers? Your persistence deserves reward! This preview continues Eileen Bran’s story.
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"You have decisions to make," the Dagda — her father — had said. "It’s not all ancient books and Beltane parties and hanging out with the Battle-Crow. There are things out there that want us dead. I'll have to ask things of you that put you and yours in danger.
"Go home. Think about it. Find your way back, if it's what you want."
Bev brought her home, deposited her right in front of the library just after they'd left. Eileen knew this not from a glance at her phone, but at the cloud of dark wings just clearing the library's roof. Eileen watched them fly away.
She eyed Bev. "So I guess that makes you, uh. The Morrigan?"
Bev shook her head. "It makes my mom the Morrigan. An Incarnation of her, anyway. There are stories about some version of my mother hooking up with some version of your father. So you and I make a fucked-up kind of sense, when you think about it."
"I'm, uh. Not going to think about it."
"Fair enough. You need anything, I'll be around." After the morning she'd had, Eileen half-expected Bev to turn into a crow and launch herself into the air. Instead she merely turned on her heel and headed off in the direction of the bus station.
Inside, it was as though they'd never passed through. Eileen's coworkers arrived a few minutes later, bleary-eyed and none the wiser. She found herself returning to the rare books room throughout the day, hoping to catch a glimpse of that forest library. But no matter which tomes she pressed against or pulled from shelves, or how carefully she retraced her steps, the room remained the same.
Twice before noon, she had to hush clusters of students who were sharing videos of the crows and Bev. Turned out someone had filmed them after all, and now they were murmuring about spotting the Morrigan. Eileen got her share of curious looks, but she put on her stern librarian face and any queries about herself and the crow woman withered on the vine.
But queries about books, though.
Oh.
Oh, so many students in need of knowledge.
She'd always had a knack for knowing who needed help and who could be left alone to find their sources on their own. But now, after spending hours in the Dagda's library, pulling millennia-old books from shelves and poring over their texts, now she knew what they needed before they even asked. The inquiries came to her in murmurs, in the tones that didn't dare disturb the library's peace:
Where would I look for…?
Do you have any books on…?
I need a first-hand account of…
But not all of them were spoken aloud.
It spooked her, a bit, to realize she was… what? Not reading their thoughts, exactly. When she tried delving for personal info — their favorite songs, what they had for breakfast — she got nothing. These were more like prayers.
And she was the one who could answer them.
Eileen spent the day leading people to books. She found not only the ones they thought they wanted, but the ones they truly needed. She nudged them toward epiphanies without saying a word, leaving a new tome beside them in their study carrel, opening up to an index and pointing at a salient entry. She reveled in the rush of realization, felt their inspiration as her own. She hunted down texts — the more obscure the better — and surged with, what? Pride? Power? as she placed them in outstretched hands.
By the end of the day, the library's patrons were approaching the circulation desk as though it were an altar, and Eileen the high priestess.
It was nearly midnight when she got back to the apartment, past dinner-time. Maura was curled, cat-like, on the couch, still nursing her hangover.
"Sorry I’m late," said Eileen. "I was helping people. Uh. A lot of people."
Maura smiled, but it was tired and oddly wary. "Sweetie, you always help people. You're the smartest person I know."
But this was different, amazing in a way that Eileen couldn't quite explain to her girlfriend. The girlfriend who, fifteen hours ago, she'd been fairly certain she could tell anything. Today, though, she didn't even know where she'd begin. I'll sleep on it, and tell her tomorrow. Somehow.
Eileen kissed Maura goodnight. She didn't see the social media app open on Maura's phone, cued to the video of Bev, the crows, and Eileen herself.
New stretch goals! The Yazata, fiction, and interactive audio drama!
over 7 years ago
– Fri, Sep 30, 2016 at 11:00:43 AM
Hi, folks. :) Rose here, with some new stretch goals!
At $205,000, we will add the Yazata pantheon to the Scion Companion PDF. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Origin and Hero will receive this PDF.
At $210,000, we will add another story to the Scion Fiction Anthology. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF/ePub.
At $225,000, we will work with our friends at Earplay to create a Scion Interactive Audio Drama. I'll let Earplay introduce themselves:
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Earplay creates stories you play with your voice and we're on a mission to nurture and grow the exciting new medium of interactive audio storytelling. What better way to get started than by serving you -- fans with years of experience role-playing and conversing in gameplay scenarios. We're absolutely thrilled to be working with Richard, Onyx, and the crew to create your kind of stories in an interactive audio format. You'll be able to step inside your imagination to experience Scion in this new immersive style of digital play with full cast recordings, sound effects, and music. It's like a high quality audiobook or radio drama got mashed up with a Choose Your Own Adventure book and you get to make decisions and control your character with your voice.
Head on over to http://www.ear-play.com to learn a little more and register for updates. Since one of our projects was already announced as a stretch goal for the Pugmire Kickstarter we're already hard at work on that interactive audio story. Eddy Webb and Dave Grossman are polishing an outline for production and a 2017 release. But get ready and be on the lookout for a new announcement in late October about our biggest partnership and project yet! Longtime fans of White Wolf will be very pleased to hear about the collaboration that's in the works. For now, you can provide your email, give a listen to our audio teaser file, and we'll notify you when there's more to say: https://info.ear-play.com/voicemail-quarantine.
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Thank you for your support!
Fiction anthology expanded! Plus: Pantheon Signature Purview Preview!
over 7 years ago
– Fri, Sep 30, 2016 at 12:51:42 AM
Hi, folks, Rose here. ^_^
Great news! Having passed $175,000, we can add two more stories to the Scion Fiction Anthology. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF/ePub.
Up next, at $190,000, we'll create the Scion: Origin Ready Made Characters Collection PDF, ten starting characters that are not yet Scions, but have the potential to join one of the ten starting Pantheons in Scion: Hero. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF.
And now, I'll pass the mic to Neall...
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Neall
Welcome back, faithful readers! A lot of folks have been asking for how PSPs work, so here’s a preview of the Æsir and Shén Pantheon Signature Purviews.
Each pantheon has its own unique Signature Purview, encompassing the unique qualities and cultural magic of the pantheon and its followers. Scions gain access to the Signature Purview of their divine parent’s Pantheon (A Scion whose parent is in multiple pantheons, or has parents from two different pantheons, must choose one). Relics and Guides cannot grant access to a Signature Purview.
Æsir Signature Purview: Wyrd
The Wyrd Purview encompasses the magic used by the Æsir and their worshippers to foretell and manipulate the fates spun by the Nornir. These include galdr (spells and charms) cast through runes or chanting, spá (prophecy), and the practice of seiðr in emulation of the Nornir.
Innate Power: You have a personal fate that you know you are destined to meet. This might be a death whose circumstances mirror those of your divine parent’s fated doom in Ragnarok, a betrayal by those closest to you, the failure of an ambition, or some similar dramatic downfall. Whenever you encounter narrative difficulties that advance your fate or echo its circumstances, or because you are trying to avoid your fate, you gain 1 Momentum.
Cast the Runes
Cost: Free
Duration: One session
Action: Complex
Once per session, you may perform a divination by casting runes etched onto stones, strips of bark, or other objects in a ritual that takes one scene to complete. The Storyguide gives you a lead or a clue about what will happen in the near future (i.e. what they expect to happen in the current session).
If you use a boon or marvel later in the same session, and the Storyguide agrees that it will help in bringing about the foretold events, you may “cash in” the divination for this session in place of spending or imbuing 1 Legend towards that power’s cost.
Spin the Thread
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Duration: Condition
Subject: One character
Range: Infinite
Action: Complex
You use the art of seiðr to lay a blessing or curse on another character, entering into a ritual trance that lasts one scene and envisioning their future. You predict a specific triumph or downfall the character will face, and impose a Condition that represents this destiny on them. If an action is likely to bring about the foretold fate, the Condition provides Enhancement 2. Actions that struggle against this destiny have their Difficulty increased by 1, or by 2 if they would make it outright impossible for it to come to fruition. These effects cut both ways—a blessing might make it more difficult for a warrior to undertake a plan if it would lead to his defeat, while a curse might give a foe an Enhancement on actions that lead to their downfall.
This Condition resolves once the outcome you have predicted comes to pass, the Storyguide deems that it is no longer capable of being fulfilled, or you reclaim the Legend imbued in this boon.. It can also be lifted by magic capable of altering destiny, such as marvels of this Purview or the Fortune Purview.
Shén Signature Purview: Tiānming
The Shén order heaven, hell, and the World through a great celestial bureaucracy. At its head is the Jade Emperor, and from him all power flows downward in the form of positions and titles, privileges and responsibilities: the tiānming, or mandate of heaven. This Purview holds sway over the hierarchy of the heavens as well as all mortal bureaucracies, which are seen as Worldly extensions or reflections of the celestial model.
Innate Power: You ignore all Complications from bureaucratic delay, corrupt officials, missing paperwork, long lines at the DMV, or similar obstacles that impede the right functioning of bureaucratic and official institutions.
Celestial Promotion
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Duration: Condition
Subject: Self or One character
Range: Short
Action: Simple
You name yourself or another with a title imbued with the authority of Heaven: “Great Sage, Equal to Heaven,” “Protector of Dogs,” “That One God No One Likes,” or something similar. The bestowed title is a Condition. The target’s title is self-evident to anyone who meets him, and people who need aid related to the title’s duties will tend to come to them for help. The title provides Enhancement 2 on rolls to influence characters or form plans whenever the target is able to take advantage of it, but imposes a 2-point Complication where it incurs the displeasure of those they’re working with—cats don’t like the Guardian of Dogs, and no one likes That One God No One Likes.
A character who finds their title disagreeable can resolve this Condition by undertaking a dramatic action that carries significant potential consequences in the service of their title’s duties, finally releasing themselves from its obligations. A spurned lover named “King of the Poorly Endowed Assholes” might resolve the Condition by rounding up a gang of fellow assholes and establishing authority over them with shows of strength and intimidation. If the Scion recovers the Legend imbued in this boon, the Condition also resolves.
Vermillion Tape
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Duration: Indefinite
Subject: One organization
Range: Long
Action: Simple
You place a curse on a bureaucracy or similarly structured organization from within range of either its leader or its headquarters. Any member of the organization conducting its official business faces a 4-point Complication. If the Complication is not bought off, the task either takes significantly longer than intended—enough that it occurs narratively “too late”—or it turns out to be misunderstood, resulting in an end product or accomplishment that is not what the character originally intended.
When you use this boon, you can specify a behavior, such as holding weekly prayer rituals or wearing fancy suits, that lets a character ignore this Complication.
Make Your Own Pantheon achieved! Plus: New Preview Fiction!
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 01:32:17 PM
Hi, folks. Rose here. ^_^
We've cleared another stretch goal! Having passed $165,000, we're able to add a section on Making Your Own Pantheon to the Scion Companion PDF. This section will feature the Atlantean pantheon from first edition as a worked example. Everyone who pledges for a reward tier including the Origin and Hero PDFs will receive the Companion.
Just around the corner, at $175,000, we'll add two more stories to the Scion Fiction Anthology to further detail and enrich your Scion experience. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF/ePub.
After that, at $190,000, we will create the Scion: Origin Ready Made Characters Collection PDF, ten starting characters that are not yet Scions, but who have the potential to join one of the ten starting Pantheons in Scion: Hero. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF.
Our dice pool continues! Read the possibilities and vote here!
And now, I'm going to turn the floor over to Neall...
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Hey folks! The Kickstarter is going really well. Thank you for all of your support so far! If you haven’t, please remember to share this Kickstarter on Facebook, Tweet about it, and tell your gaming groups!
As promised, part 2 of Lauren Roy’s chapter fiction for the Origin cover character, Eileen Bran, Scion of...well, you’ll see.
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It was a bit weird, being led through her own library. The crows, mercifully, stayed outside, but that relief only went so far. The birds weren't flapping about and shitting on the books, hooray, but an ex showing up able to…what, control them? And what was that sleight of hand with the door?
You know what it was.
No. Nope.
She elected not to go down that particular rabbit hole, and instead trailed behind Bev, through the regular stacks and towards the library's northeast corner, where the rare books were kept. You needed an ID badge to get in there, but before Eileen could fumble hers out of her purse, Bev did the hand-wavey thing again and the scanner beeped in acknowledgement.
The door swung open, and Bev led them inside.
"What are we looking for in here, exactly?" They'd been in this room together before, but they hadn't been there to read. Eileen skirted around the study table where they'd done anything but study. Either Bev had forgotten, or was pretending not to notice the heat radiating off her flaming cheeks.
"This is easier than taking you the long way," Bev said, and veered into the stacks.
Eileen darted after her, rounding the corner into a section of the library she'd never seen before.
It was still a library, the shelves rising up and up into… yes, that was a canopy of trees. The shelves themselves were carved into the trunks. Eileen whirled around, but the familiar sight of her own library was gone. Trees stretched behind her in a long, neat row, disappearing into a distant blur of brown and green.
"What… where?"
"Terra Incognita," said Bev, as though that explained everything. "You really ought to go up to the circulation desk."
The books weren't organized by any logic Eileen was familiar with, but carved into the shelves were signs labelling the various sections. After studying one for several seconds she realized it wasn't even written in English. This was Ogham script, with its vertical lines and slashes. She'd never learned to read it, and yet the words assembled themselves in her mind like she'd known it all along. Predictions of the Morrigan, read one, but before she could reach for it, Bev snatched it off the shelf.
"Circulation desk. Shoo." She flapped a hand at Eileen, and the noise sounded like wingbeats.
It wasn't so much a desk as it was a hedge, with roots and branches twined through and around each other. Behind it waited a man sporting a pair of reading glasses that seemed far too thin and delicate for his enormous frame. His hair was red as her own — redder — and as she approached, he rose. She stopped far enough back so she wouldn't have to crane her neck to look at him. And to give herself a good headstart should she need to run.
Not that she had any idea where she could run to, if it came to that.
But the man made no threatening moves. He stood there, one finger holding his place in the book head been reading (a finger that covered half the page), smiling at her amiably and a bit apprehensively. If it weren't for those glasses and the nervous grin, he might look just as at home in a biker bar as he did here in this strange library.
"Who are you?" she asked, though she already knew the answer. It was in the way he gently set aside his book, in the reverent way he walked as he came around the desk, as though he stepped on sacred ground and didn't dare disturb the quiet. It was, she supposed, in the shock of red hair and slope of his nose, too, but they weren't as important.
"I am the Dagda," he said. "Since I'm not much for preamble, yes, I'm also your father." He swept one giant hand out, gesturing to the rows upon rows of books. "And this is my little piece of Tír na nÓg. I don't suppose you'd like a tour?"
The smart answer was probably no. The smart answer was to demand real answers.But in Gran's stories, and in the hundreds of epics she'd read in her own scholarly pursuits, refusing an opportunity like this meant you inevitably woke up in your bed, sorry you'd said no, wishing you could take it all back.
Besides, all those books.
She slipped her hand into the crook of her father's elbow. "Show me."
LARP project achieved! Up next: Make Your Own Pantheon, Fiction, and Ready-Made Characters
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 03:59:56 PM
Hi folks, Rose here. ^_^ It's been another incredible day!
Having reached $155,000, we can work with a group of designers to create Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) Rules for Scion. A surprising number of companies have approached us about Scion LARPing, and this Stretch Goal will enable us to give one of them the go-ahead and for us to provide supervision on an in-house system for those LARP events.
Up next, at $165,000, we will add a section containing Make Your Own Fictional Pantheon rules to the Scion 2nd Companion, using the Atlantean Pantheon from Scion 1e as an example of how it can be done. The section will include guidance on creating gods, relics, and a Pantheon Signature Purview as well.
After that. at $175,000, we will add two more stories to the Scion Fiction Anthology to further detail and enrich your Scion experience. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF/ePub.
And then, at $190,000, we will create the Scion: Origin Ready Made Characters Collection PDF, ten starting characters that are not yet Scions, but have the potential to join one of the ten starting Pantheons in Scion: Hero. Backers who pledge for any reward tier including PDFs of Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero will receive this PDF.
We're still collecting opinions on what kinds of dice to incorporate into this project. You can vote on options here, and we'll make our decision based on that and our practical considerations.
Thank you for your support!
