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In Short

The Good: It’s hard to beat playing a god fighting primordial forces of evil on another level of reality. The combination of creative writing and beautiful artwork is inspiring. The god-powers are just plain cool.

The Bad: The included adventure sports few options and is very focused on the signature characters. There’s little guidance about what to do with the product other than use the included adventure. At the god level the level by level powers seem messy, yet the ultimate powers for the gods are completely freeform. Epic Attributes are poorly supported.

The Physical Thing

Under the Cover

Upon becoming a god a character burns away their mortal body and becomes a being of spirit. From now on they build bodies made of ichor, godstuff, that resemble their ideal self image. Because of this all characters receive a dot of Epic Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Appearance. Add in 9 more Attribute points, 10 more points of Epic Attributes and Boons, 5 points of Birthrights, and another 15 Bonus Points and you have a character of truly incredible power.

New Birthrights are introduced for gods. Avatar allows a god to build a weaker body so that they can be in the world without wrapping others up in their Legend. Sanctum allows a god to have a super awesome estate in the Overworld and an Axis Mundi (passage) connecting it to Earth. Both of these Birthrights make good sense and are valuable to any god, though Sanctum seems to be here mostly for cool factor.

Changes to general characters only fill three pages. The other 19 pages are devoted to the signature characters. Each one receives a full page piece of artwork that emphasizes what a badass they are along with a detailed character sheet. Be warned, at this stage of the game the character sheet is truly bloated and encompasses a wide variety of powers from all three books. The plus side is that so many individual powers results in characters that are very unique, mechanically, and which each have their own clear advantages and disadvantages. Donner, God of Lightning, is the guy you send to directly fight the Titan Avatar while Harshihar, God of Justice, figures out the thing’s weakness. If you’ve been enjoying a game using the signature characters already then you’ll enjoy their transition to gods.

Chapter Two Epic Attributes And Knacks 20 pages.

God changes the advancement rules a bit. Epic Attributes receive a price reduction at the god level, dropping to only Rating x 4 XP to advance. This is a surprising change, especially since Epic Attributes often have an edge on other abilities. It may also be frustrating for some players, as it means that character heavily invested in Epic Attributes up to this point have ‘lost’ a certain amount of XP compared to if they had picked them up later. This gaming of the advancement system can already occur with the bonus point additions the game offers, and it further offers an advantage to the min/maxing player who can see how hundreds of XP may be saved depending on build. If you don’t intend to spend a lot of time at the Hero and Demigod level then it might be worthwhile to carefully consider this advancement change.

Epic Attributes now go all the way up to 11. By level 10 the character receives 46 extra successes, and by level 11 the character is capable of doing whatever the player can imagine with the Attribute (rules aren’t used) for a high cost in Legend Points. Unfortunately, the same critism I applied to Demigod applies to God which is that there’s absolutely no guidance as to what 20 or 40 difficulty actions look like. The adventure provides a tiny, tiny number of examples that only serve to further confuse the Storyteller. The only meaningful use for Epic Attributes at this level that doesn’t include the 11th dot seems to be combat (Physical) and powering various Boons.

New Knacks are included to allow the player to apply Epic Attributes in various interesting ways. Some of the more exciting are Divine Damage Conversion (turn aggravated damage into lethal), Clairvoyance (perceive into the past), and Jack of all Trades (apply part of Epic Wits to everything). Unfortunately, I found most of the Knacks to be shockingly mundane for characters at this power level. Speed Reader allows a character to read a book very quickly, Hapless Cool (for a legend point you look cool), and Making It Look Easy (strength feats no longer appear difficult) are a few that seem misplaced. They further emphasize the notion that the designers have no concept of what Epic Attributes are meant to represent except really big numbers, and they show that an Epic Attribute alone is incapable of allowing a character to do something as simple as speed read or look cool. Why 20+ extra successes in a game which has a listed difficulty around 1 – 5 isn’t enough to look cool I don’t know.

The level 11 Ultimate abilities require 30 Legend Points and a point of Willpower to use, making them extremely expensive. While the text says, in effect, that anything is possible I don’t see the distinction between 40+ successes and the effects described.

Chapter Three Godly Boons 36 pages.

Right off the bat rules for creating a divine heritage for children of the gods are discussed, and I really like them. Creating these magical objects requires a lot of time and the expenditure of blood, making them extremely valuable and more than simple magical trinkets being churned out by craftsmen. A god may get a specific god to craft the item, another to imbue it with specific purviews, or even another to design the whole thing to begin with. It’s a wonderful opportunity for diplomacy and the need for favors, and a game focusing on gods watching out for their children could be a lot of fun.

New powers for each Purview go up to 10, but characters can buy an 11th level that reflects becoming an “Avatar of X.” As with the Epic Attributes these levels of power are expensive (30 Legend + 1 Willpower) and are entirely separate from the rules. I have a problem with this because it just doesn’t synch up well with the rest of the game. For more mundane stuff the character should already have all the powerful tools they need, so I see Avatar of X only being used for more mundane effects that aren’t otherwise covered (making it extremely expensive). For fighting against other gods and titans the lack of rules are extremely unsatisfying. In effect the Storyteller will simply narrate how well Death does against Fertility or War does against Dexterity or whatever combination comes up. The Storyteller might also just call for an opposed roll but, if that’s the case, then the purpose of Avatar of X isn’t entirely clear. Characters can always just do an opposed roll.

That said, the new Purview abilities are generally epic. A few of my favorites include Justice 9’s Overworld Judgment (all who hear you speak a rule must obey), Health 9’s Human Hybrid (mix humans with plants/animals), and Chaos 10s Unintended Purpose (use an object as something else). That said, many of them are also disappointing. Darkness 10’s Eclipse (makes a big area dark), Fire 10’s Rain of Fire (rain down fire on an area), and Moon 9’s Lunar Estate (house on the moon) just aren’t what I expect when I think of the pinnacle of power within a given Purview. The two constant themes here seem to be area of effect powers and plot device powers, both of which are repeatedly presented (much like the travel powers of Demigod).

Finally, the Pantheon-specific Purviews are a little limited. Magic, in particular, receives weak support in Magic 9’s Scion Adoption Rite (adopt a Scion into the pantheon) and Magic 10’s Divine Unweaving (counterspell).

Chapter Four Realms Of The Gods 39 pages.

The Overworld is a big place and it encompasses the domain of every Pantheon and every Titan with plenty of room to spare inbetween. Each Pantheon lives in their own reality, similar to a bubble floating in the air, and within that reality each god has their own domain. These realities are connected to the Earth through one or more Axis Mundi, similar to the Touchstones introduced in Demigod. Currently the Titans are directly assaulting the Pantheons in an attempt to destroy them as quickly as possible.

Each Godrealm receives around 6-8 pages of flavorful description that syncs up well with mythology. The Norse, for example, live in Asgard and each god has a specific Hall filled with trappings of their domains and interests. Such details as the Bifrost Bridge, which can connect Asgard to Earth through any rainbow, are included and really help to bring each of the Godrealms to life. The goal of the text is to provide enough detail to bring the land to life in the mind of the reader, and to that end it does a good job.

Chapter Five The Titans 32 pages.

The Titans ARE their Godrealms. They’re enormous beings of concept and the only way to bind them is through invading them and taking a specific piece (an Avatar). The true archvillains of the game, then, aren’t the Titans (which are unknowable) but the Avatars the Titans have spawned within their domains (almost like Titan Scions). These are the mega-bosses of Scion and they always take forms that strongly reflect the concepts their parent Titans embody.

Six Titans are covered here, including Light, Fire, Water, the World, Sky, and Darkness. Each Titan receives a detailed section that covers the Avatar(s) that live within it, creatures native to it, and the sorts of environmental hazards characters must overcome. These places are nasty and even gods will need careful planning to be able to invade them and conquer the Avatars that guard them. Each Titan realm receives several pages of description, much like the Godrealms, though that description is predominantly focused on the hazards and villains gods will encounter as they venture inward. Since the Titans are laying siege to the Godrealms the only hope of the Pantheons to survive the anger of their progenitors is by leading an assault inward to capture the primary Avatar and bind it to a prison.

For example, Akhetaten (Light) has such places as The Desert That Is Seth, Snow Plains, and The Forest Of Flames. Everywhere the theme is light so bright it blinds and burns, often dealing 2-10 dice of various types of damage every minute. Phoenix, angels of fire, and other creatures constantly patrol the land looking for any intruder to bring to the incredibly powerful Avatar of Light that governs the realm. It’s descriptive, wondrous, and filled with perils to give even the mightiest of creatures pause. The theme is also such that a Storyteller should have an easy time further populating the realm on the fly. Just stick with the “too much light” theme and you’re good to go!

I can’t fault the coverage of the Titans. Limiting it to six Titans enables plenty of detail on each domain and the many avatars and creatures presented provides the Storyteller with an enormous amount of bad guys to throw at the players however she likes. The domains are very imaginative, well written, and just plain fun to think about.

Chapter Six The Heroic Saga 66 pages.

The final adventure for Scion begins with a short scenario for each character to allow them to flex their god powers. It then moves on to having the characters assault every Titan realm and defeat each of the Avatars. Finally, it concludes with the characters attempting to bind the Titans back to their prison. Unfortunately, this sequence of adventures is very poorly presented.

Any written adventure must have a degree of predetermination, as the written word can never account for the myriad possibilities available to a roleplaying group. That said, good adventures often offer a degree of flexibility that poor adventures do not. They anticipate a broad range of potentialities and, in addition to being open, they also showcase the rules. Even if a Storyteller chooses to never use an included adventure that adventure continues to be valuable specifically because it demonstrates how to use the rules in the game.

The individual scenarios fail on both of these grounds. They’re extremely scripted, forcing the player to merely react to a variety of things that the Storyteller readers rather than giving them the flexibility to come up with their own solutions. Just about every one of them invalidates some of the character’s powers as well in order to force them along the tracks. Some of the invalidations are particularly odd and give me the distinct impression that the writers have no idea how to actually use the mechanics. This is further reinforced by the difficulties presented in these adventures. Difficulty to diagnose a unique poison created by a god found in the heart of a Titan Avatar: 15. Difficulty to perform a multiple heart transplant between Titan Avatars in order to cure said poison: 20. If the most epic tasks presented only go up to 15 and 20 then where does that leave Epic Attributes? From these adventures the Storyteller is left with no clear idea of difficulties or of how to use some of the more interesting Scion abilities as the difficulties are set low and abilities like Prophecy are specifically invalidated by the adventure.

Another problem with these solo adventures is how focused they are on the signature characters. They’re not at all easy to adapt to a random group of characters as each one assumes both a specific attribute and skill set but also a specific Pantheon. While a Storyteller could always rewrite these things that seems to defeat the purpose of an included adventure. The authors could have made the single character adventures more generic in order to make them more accessible to a broader player base, but as things stand these adventures are only truly useful to the Storyteller who uses the signature characters. The second arc opens up a little more. While it amounts to nothing more than the characters kidnapping Titan Avatars from various exotic environments, the epic feel of the adventure does a good job of challenging characters of such a high power level. My only concern is that this could become a little repetitious for players who don’t like one big fight after another, but then the Scion line is focused on kicking butt rather than social intrigue. I do like the sheer variety of environments and situations, though, as they offer many opportunities for creativity on the part of the players.

Spoiler: The final arc involves a scripted double cross that may make the players’ long fought victory taste bitter. The resolution is predetermined to result in the Titans’ prison being flawed such that they can find ways out or send their minions outside, thus opening up room for future adventures. For me this is a far from satisfying end to a long, epic adventure but it does do a good job of setting up groups interested in continuing to play beyond the included adventures.

The bottom line is that if you’ve enjoyed the adventure up to here and are using the signature characters then you’ll like the god level butt kicking that’s in store for them. If you’ve been using your own characters, however, the final installment might not be as useful.

Chapter Seven Antagonists 103 pages.

Over 100 pages of bad guys to throw against your band of gods. The selection covers an extremely broad variety, from other gods to Titanspawn to the Avatars of the Titans themselves. Some of these are filler, some of them are epic adversaries meant for a full group of seasoned gods, and some may even be allied for the characters to work with (or against). I can’t honestly comment on game balance at this stage. Scions have such a dizzying variety of abilities that player creativity and skill with the system play a big role. I will say that some of the defensive abilities of the signature characters don’t seem quite up to the task of taking hits from some of the villains, but then again it seems clear that Donner or another melee character is meant to take the big physical hits while the others scramble to attack.

My Take

If, however, you’re looking to Scion: God for a systems vehicle for telling stories about gods then you may want to pause a moment. The large amounts of individual rules combined with the freeform descriptive endgame may not work well for many folk, especially considering that there are alternatives on the market that serve the role better. If you’re otherwise a fan of the system then be aware that a lot rests on the Storyteller’s interpretation of and implementation of the freeform and poorly quantified rules. Additionally, if you aren’t using the signature characters then a moderate amount of the product will be of questionable use.

For those who loved Scion: Hero and Scion: Demigod, Scion: God is sure to deliver more of the same!

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