Scion: Hero
If you have ever wanted to role play the novel American Gods – Neil Gaiman’s story about an employee of Odin who has supernatural powers – then Scion: Hero is the game for you. Even if you have never read American Gods, it’s quite possible Scion: Hero is the game for you. Published by White Wolf Publishing, Scion puts gamers into the role of the half-human children of gods from pantheons past. These children, called Scions, are tasked with fighting the Titans of Greek myth in an epic, winner-takes-all battle that could lead to the destruction of the world.
Scion should be both familiar, and pleasantly different from other White Wolf games like Vampire: the Requiem, Mage: the Ascension, and Werewolf: the Apocalypse. The basic mechanics are all there – Attributes, Abilities, D10 dice pools, and so on. However, these rules are tweaked to represent the powers available to the children of gods. Scion offers something unique for anyone who has enjoyed a White Wolf game.I have to say, my fear when I cracked open Scion was that it would follow the same paradigm that all White Wolf games follow: you have groups (Clans, packs, Traditions) which give you certain aptitudes. The clans/packs/traditions don’t really like each other so they fight amongst themselves and occasionally they fight other creatures (vampire vs. werewolf being the most typical.) I’m not saying this set up is not enjoyable, but it felt like a rut. (In all fairness, I’ve not played Changeling or Wraith, so the rut may have been broken sooner.)
However, this fear was quickly dissipated upon first reading the chapter on character generation. Scion does feature pantheons, each with their own unique characteristics, but these choices did not feel as confining as they do in other games. At the very least, there was not the list of “How we feel about the other clans” one-liners that are part and parcel of Vampire write-ups.
Still, the best parts of what I liked from previous games remained. Characters have three groups of three Attributes, which players designate as primary, secondary, and tertiary. This designation determines how many points are available to put into each. Then players are given a pool of points for Abilities, which are split amongst all skills, not three separate groups. I liked this touch as it allowed me to tailor a character a little more and reduced the incidence of my taking skills just because I had the points.
About then, things deviate quickly, as players get to invest in cool things for their characters. These include Birthrights (gifts from a godly parent to protect them in the trials ahead), Epic Attributes (attributes which surpass human limitations and allow for Knacks, which are tricks or special powers), and Boons (supernatural powers.) There are also Purviews, powers that come from the aspects for which a parent god is known. (For instance, a fire god would have a Fire Purview and its Scion would receive gifts from it.)
There are a lot of nice touches in Scion. For instance, because characters are playing the children of gods, they have the ability to manipulate probability, which is good – at first. However, eventually they begin to bond others to them and, at some point, the Scions begin to cause disruptions around them. This turns a cool player power into something for the Storyteller to sink her teeth into. And that is just what’s cool about character generation.
Even if this was only Vampire with the serial numbers filed off, reading the intro fiction and the setting primer would probably have been enough to get me to sit down and roll up a character. There was something about the opening story that resonated with me: a boy who never knew his father is shown he has tremendous power, is given a godly weapon, and goes off to fight his father’s enemies. That’s a timeless tale, but in Scion, the fact that PCs are the offspring of gods gives it an interesting twist.
Another thing about the setting I found compelling was it seemed to blend the right amount of power and danger. PCs are the children of gods, granted powers and cool weapons, but they are still mortal and their enemies are the Titans of Greek legend. The end result is that PCs cannot just walk into the room and kill every bad guy, but at the same time, they do not need to run away from the Titans, either. All in all, it felt like the right way to be powerful and a pawn in a larger game.
I was also pleasantly surprised that there are six pantheons to choose from: Ancient Egyptian, Greek/Roman, Norse, Japanese, Caribbean, and Aztec. In American Gods and the computer RPG Too Human, the Norse gods were the most prominent. In television shows like Stargate: SG-1, the enemies were Egyptian. In Scion, many gods are represented, which actually underscores the scope of the Titan’s threat. It’s not just a Greek problem – everyone is in danger.
Some players will like the fact that Scion: Hero is just the first of three books that take characters from a new Scion dealing with his/her emergent powers all the way through to becoming a demigod. Part of me finds this idea fascinating, but ultimately I’m not sure how I feel about it. Given the size (and price tag) of the other books, this felt like it might have been a business decision more than a game decision. Still, I am curious to see how the game progresses at higher levels. Going from human to demigod has the potential to cause tremendous issues with power creep.
One thing that gave me pause is the lengthy section on how to run the game. This section fell flat for me. The authors obviously spent a great deal of time researching the progression of the legendary hero as he/she travels from unassuming hero to powerful being capable of performing legendary deeds. This research is apparent in character generation, particularly the Birthrights mentioned above, but it never really translated to the Storyteller section. I was hoping for a Joseph Cambell-esque treaty on the hero’s journey. Instead, I got a canned adventure and a crash course on the system.
If any of what I’ve said sounds critical, it stems from the fact the setting really gets my blood pumping to do some role-playing. I want the Scion experience to be everything it possibly can be. If you have any love of the White Wolf system, this game has something to offer you. If you have not played White Wolf or don’t care for it, I would still recommend it just for the setting porn alone. The chance to play a demigod really is that good.
Scion: Hero is a hefty book weighing in at 336 pages, though the book is very art heavy. It is definitely worth its $34.99 price tag.
Want to learn more about Scion? Read on…
- Atomic Array: Episode 016: Scion
- Scion Preview: Demo and Adventure
- Game Cryer: Review by Chris Perrin
- Mad Brew Labs: Scions of Celtic Mythology
- Fear the Boot: Manifestation of Ichor
- RPGAggression: Celstial Bureaucracy
- Flames Rising: Companion 4 Review
- Geekdad (WIRED): Scion: Roleplay Heroes Ascending to Divinity
Drop by RPG Now to pick up your copy today!
February 13th, 2009 at 16:06
Thanks for the review! It’s much appreciated!
August 18th, 2009 at 00:58
Thanks to all that posted, very cool site keep it up
January 19th, 2010 at 21:12
The nice thing about the system is that you can ignore parts of the system if you want. We created our own pantheon and placed our setting in ancient Greece (albeit with new place names and back stories). It’s working out very well and power creep is avoided to some extent by having sufficiently powerful enemies, whether they be monsters, other scions or the gods themselves. We’ve had a couple of battles where the outcome was not at all certain and one where divine intervention was absolutely required to save us. I recommend the system. It’s fun.