Question: What is the one of the weirdest ideas for a relic you or one of your players has made that turned out to be very useful? Like with original type powers on a relic, or a combination of powers and purviews on it that strangely worked well together.
You know, we looked at this question for a while, and finally had to concede defeat to it - we're not sure what a "weird" relic would look like. We build relics to suit the Scion and pantheon they're attached to, so their associations, powers and imagery are always created to complement those; we don't really have any reason to add anything weird without a reason, at which point it stops being weird. We know what gods put what powers on it and why, what the Scion vaguely plans to use it for and what drawbacks and bonuses it might have; none of that is determined randomly, and there's no combination of powers in Scion that's any weirder than any other, considering that any god can have any and all powers regardless of what they are and that the sum total of gods around the world probably already contains every possible juxtaposition of powers imaginable.
All of our weird relics happen over the course of play, as things happen to previously innocuous relics and make them bizarre. Will had a magical bullet that he accidentally dropped into an ocean that had been damaged by a rampaging use of the Wyrd, and it ended up being rearranged into the most useless relic in existence, a bullet that just had Sky on it twice (his band made a lot of fun of the Sky Sky Bullet, but it had sentimental value for him so he kept it anyway). Vivian lost her connection to her Guide thanks to an angry lava-goddess melting the relic that she normally used to contact him, forcing her to actually go to Ville au Camp or use Clairvoyance if she wanted to talk to him, and Goze, through the course of a ritual designed to help Geoff with an animal spirit, accidentally got Animal (Bear) added to his magical iPhone, giving it a thick sheath of bear-fur around the case like a particularly musty rug on his phone. All stuff that looked very odd afterward and was hard to explain to others, but that happened as a natural consequence to things going on in game.
Really, in a game in which PCs can even at the lowest levels have any contradictory set of powers they want, shapechange at will and kill with a touch, I'm not sure what constitutes a "weird" power. If you're around, asker, maybe you could clarify for us a bit?
Beyond character creation and the upgrade "checkpoints" (demigod/god) where you "buy" additional relics, do you give out additional ones during play? It sounds like you at least modify them, which I like the idea of.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that a player bought their relics upfront and then you, as the ST, found an interesting and compelling way to bestow them in the story and that's that until the next upgrade.
I like the sound of a more dynamic arrangement, but then how do you guys judge when it's appropriate to give out a "free" relic or destroy one that somebody has invested in. I like the idea of rolling where the story takes you - but as a relative novice to Scion STing, I'm just not sure how/when to make those judgement calls.
You can gain additional relics during play, but you have to do it in-character as a result of your own actions. The ST doesn't "give out" any new relics at any point, nor are there extra points to get them except at the Demigod and God jumps.
DeletePCs have gotten new relics by killing Scions or powerful Titanspawn and taking theirs, by using Industry or crafting powers to turn Trophies into new relics, or by bartering with NPCs in order to get something they need. Once they're gods, they can also create low-Legend relics that channel one of their associated purviews (i.e., Geoff can make a relic with Sun on it, though no other powers since he doesn't have Industry or Concept to Execution), though for obvious reasons they usually only do this to give them to other people.
Stealing relics (whether through shenanigans or by killing the owner) of course requires the help of a high-level Magic user with Steal Birthright and Birthright Bond to avoid the unpleasant side effects of using a relic that doesn't belong to you, but it's not as much of an issue for less powerful relics (and while powerful relics can wreck a user who doesn't own them, sometimes PCs are willing to take that risk if they have particularly awesome benefits). Crafting new relics requires considerable time, effort and investment and is something that doesn't happen very often since it takes so long to achieve, but it's totally possible for PCs to do so, especially if they already have good raw materials like Trophies or other Legendary items. Bartering for new relics is dangerous business, since they're a hot commodity and the gods or beings who have them will take you for everything you've got, but desperate or determined PCs have also occasionally gone to a deity they know has a tool they need to beg for it or sign away some of their power/wealth/other relics/future children/whatever in exchange.
As a Storyteller, you should never feel like you need to give PCs relics; if they go out and intentionally try to build, steal or buy them and succeed, then let them have them, and if they don't, then don't. Just like anything else Scions can do, they can accomplish it if they really put their minds to it, and your job as the ST is just to make it appropriately difficult/expensive in relation to what they're doing.
Conversely, you definitely shouldn't be blowing relics up all the time, but it's a real danger in the worlds and you also shouldn't avoid it when it's reasonable for the story. Lava, Fusion, uppity Titans, pissed off tricksters... there are lots of ways to lose your relics, and Scions should be wary of that. Birthrights might cost points, but they're separate items, not innate skills, so they can be lost, stolen or destroyed a lot more often than stats can. Once the story's started, it's not about "points" or "free" anymore; relics are items in the story, so their owners' actions matter when it comes to what happens to them.
But hey, losing a relic and needing to regain or replace it is a story all on its own; mythologies across the world involve quests to gain a magical object or recover a lost treasure. Don't jack someone's relic just to punish them, but if they lose it over the course of play because of their own choices - fighting in a volcano, for example, or mouthing off to Odin - then let it happen and help them with suggestions of what to do next if it stumps them.
Here's a dumb question then: how does a newb ST know how to "make it appropriately difficult/expensive in relation to what they're doing"? I feel like this is just one of those things you get a better gut feeling for as time goes on. However, if you happen to have any guidelines, I'd love to hear them! :)
ReplyDeleteItems of legend have their own stories if they are powerful enough, just look to mythology to see the best examples. For the most powerful relics it is important to base the difficulty of the story on the power and usefulness of an item rather than base the power of an item on the story. If the players want a super powerful death relic than take them to Hades and make them steal the collar of Cerberus or Hades' morning tea cup. Make the players earn them through blood, sweat and tears.
DeleteFor smaller relics just use what makes sense. Purviews are not cheap and doubling up is redundant so don't hand them out like candy.