Hey, Man, Nice Shot

Question: This is probably dumb - Is there a reason you can think of that Marksmanship shouldn't require you to build up your ability in the way that Art, Science and Control do? I'm not sure I think you should need to, but it seems that different ranged weapons react in very different ways. For example, a pistol vs an AK-47 vs a bow vs the Aztec fling a big arrow stick (atlatl)? On a side thought, javelins should require Marksmanship and spears Melee, right? Thanks!

It's not dumb! This is something that every player and Storyteller runs into eventually, and it's an issue with the Storyteller System that Scion, like most of White Wolf's games, is based on. (Incidentally, new Scion under Onyx Path probably won't be on this system, but we have no idea what that will look like yet, so conjecture away.)

Yes, you certainly could diversify Marksmanship into Marksmanship (Handguns) and Marksmanship (Longbow) and Marksmanship (Gun Turrets) and anything else you want to; in the real world, those are all specializations that are basically the same idea - that is, shoot something that is far away with a ranged weapon - but that realistically require different skills. The problem with doing so is that you're looking at doing that for all the abilities, and that just isn't feasible from a gameplay perspective.

Because you can make that point about every ability. Academics could be Academics (European History) or Academics (Dead Languages) or Academics (French Poetry), right? Brawl could be Brawl (Boxing) or Brawl (Crane Style) or Brawl (Bar Scuffles). Why not Investigation (Crime Scenes) or Investigation (Internet Research) or Investigation (Paper Filing Systems)? Larceny (Security Systems) or Larceny (Lockpicking) or Larceny (Identity Theft)? Melee (Swords) or Melee (Spears) or Melee (Clubs)? Stealth (Camouflage) or Stealth (Disguise) or Stealth (Sneaking)?

And so on and so forth. And while there is a foolish part of me that loves that idea - because who doesn't love skills that are perfectly tailored to your character, right? - the more rational half of my brain knows that it's not a good idea. The reason the game doesn't specialize all skills is that it's unwieldy and inconvenient; it's a lot of extra bookkeeping that really only boils down to flavor, and it results in characters not having a useful ability far more often than they do. People whine enough about the skills we think need to be specialized, like Craft or Science - can you imagine the pathos if everyone needed to buy seven different kinds of Melee to really be sure they weren't going to be caught flatfooted in a fight? It wouldn't be good for the game; it'd actually detract from the playing experience, not enhance it.

Scion attempts to compensate for this some by applying a -2 dice penalty any time you use a weapon or item that's unfamiliar to you - that is, to use your example, if you have Marksmanship and are familiar with handguns but you have to suddenly try to use an AK-47, you'll have -2 to the roll as you try to figure out how this stupid thing works and still apply your knowledge of shooting. It's really only much of a hindrance for Heroes, but then again by the time you're a Demigod the bother of figuring out shortbow vs. longbow probably isn't a big deal anyway, all things considered. I've seen some Storytellers dispense with the dice penalty in the name of letting those skills shine no matter what the Scion is doing, and I've seen others up it to -4 dice or even more in order to make sure that they have a realistic handicap when learning a new weapon.

In the end, it's really not a good idea to add more specialized abilities to the game, fun though those specializations might be. It makes more sense for gameplay to let players stunt and decide where their dots come from in their backstories, and for the Storyteller to apply spot penalties where necessary for new or difficult situations.

As for spears, they would use Melee if you're using them to stab people, but they'd use Thrown if you were throwing them. Ditto javelins, and we also use Thrown for atlatl use, which is really a lot more like javelin-throwing than shooting. Don't forget about Thrown - it's an important combat skill, too!