Question: On regards to the Mahaprasthana boon, I've noticed none of the Devas have more than six associated abilities. While I understand the balance concerns, if this aspect of the boon is never used, should it really be a part of the boon? I don't know many legends of instances where the Legend 12 Devas were reincarnated, but at least Parvati and possibly Ganesha when he lost his head seem like good candidates to have used it.
You're right; the Devas, like all of the other divine parents in Scion, are rocking only six associated abilities, despite the fact that the Mahaprasthana boon would have technically allowed them to choose a seventh at some point in their past if they'd wanted to. And yes, one of the reasons for this is just normal, boring old game balance. Of course, you guys know how profoundly not worried about things like slight XP discount imbalances we are in our games, but we still prefer that those things be choices made by the players where applicable, not arbitrarily handed down by us, and therefore we don't want to have some of the Devas wandering around as the only set of gods in the game with seven associated abilities. Not only that, but trying to figure out how to even do it would be weird; I mean, they probably didn't all choose to use that clause, so how do we decide which ones used the boon how in what nebulous history? It looks like a lot of research and guesswork for not much payoff, so we're happily going to ignore it.
However, that doesn't mean that the boon shouldn't be able to do that, and we have plenty of reasons why. Firstly, it's important to make a distinction between what powers gods and Scions can use during the course of a game and what their default setup is for purposes of beginning said game. Gods have all kinds of powers, pantheon-specific and otherwise, that could wildly have changed the course of history if they'd used them in a certain way at a certain time... but since they didn't, we choose to believe they haven't been up to much so that the PCs can come into whatever setting you play the game in and be the important change-makers instead of having all that epicness already taken out of their hands by NPCs before the game even started. Unless your plot has a good reason to want it to happen, there's no point in sitting around what-iffing; the default setting of the game is the myths more or less as they appear in their cultures' legends, so all the other stuff they could have done doesn't really matter. What gods are doing in the background before a game's plot starts is irrelevant; there's no point in wondering what a god theoretically used his Mahaprasthana on any more than trying to figure out how much XP Zeus would have if he were a PC and why he wouldn't have bought six more purviews. They're not PCs and don't need to be treated the same way.
Also, just because you don't have a direct example of a god using that particular facet of a boon doesn't mean it shouldn't exist or that PCs can't do it. Mahaprasthana (and a lot of the rest of Samsara, actually) is a very internal, spiritual kind of a boon, and as a result it's difficult to know when or how any individual might have used it. Just because they didn't use it in a way that resulted in a concrete stat change you could look at doesn't mean it didn't happen, and such shaky objections aren't good enough for us to want to deprive PCs of the rockin' awesome option if they want to go for it. Keep in mind also that the divine parents with stats posted on our page are only a very small sample of the massive numbers of Devas that there actually are, and just because none of them appear to have used the boon that way doesn't mean that nobody else has.
Because of the special mechanics Mahaprasthana uses, as well, there's another alternative option, too: some of the gods simply may not have used it yet. The boon is only usable once, and most Scions will do so relatively early in their careers as they meddle around with what they spend XP on and what they want to grow into as gods, but those concerns don't apply to most of the Devas. They were born gods, they don't spend XP, and without a compelling reason to use the boon (such as deciding to totally reinvent oneself and what one's Scions have access to), they have no reason to rush it. Mahaprasthana doesn't kick in until a Scion or god who possesses it dies, and many of the Devas simply never have. Might as well save that free reincarnation for the moment they need it, right?
By the way, I agree that Parvati (who was Sati but died and was reincarnated) and Ganesha (who was beheaded by his cranky father and then hastily reconstructed from elephant parts when his mother pitched a fit over it) are good examples of Devas who might have used Mahaprasthana, simply because they actually have died and returned in some other form. I'd also add Yama, who has died at least twice, to that august list of Devas who have continuity problems.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
The Cone of Flame
Question: With respect to the Fire 5 boon "Dragon's Breath", I am a little confused as to the system. The to-hit roll is Wits + Survival. The resist seems to be a Dexterity + Athletics (is that if the victims have not taken an action yet? or does the Dexterity + Athletics dodge count as an action? or is it a free reflexive?). Then, damage seems to be calculated on the basis of attacker's Stamina (including Epic successes, presumably) + 5 + threshold. Is the Stamina + 5 + threshold successes a roll, or is automatic damage? And since it produces a cone of fire, can you hit multiple people with a single attack? How wide is the cone?
Sure, let's break Dragon's Breath down. You're right; if you use it to attack someone (which most people do), you roll your Wits + Survival as the attack roll. The boon isn't "resisted", but rather avoided like other area of effect attacks (Perun's Apples over in Sky, for example, or Shockwave in Strength) by the target attempting to dive out of the way. This is an automatic and reflexive roll; Scion doesn't require "readied actions" or dedicated guarding to attempt to avoid being hit, and this roll is just as automatic as a target's DV is against normal attacks.
As the boon says, it does "lethal damage equal to his Stamina roll plus 5, added to his threshold successes". This does indeed mean it is rolled, not static (static would be bananas!). The five, incidentally, is just the basic damage that fire usually does, while the Stamina represents your divine firepower and the threshold successes how dead-on you managed to incinerate your unfortunate victim.
As for the cone, yes, you can hit multiple people at once, especially if they're nice enough to be hanging out in a clump. The boon has a range of your Fire boons in feet at its farthest point; we didn't map out how far the cone itself extends on either side because that involves mathiness that most people don't care about, so in most cases it's easiest for the Storyteller to rule on it based on cinematic awesomeness and what makes sense for the scene. But if you absolutely insist on figuring out the exact size of the fire's cone, you'll need to know both its length and its angle. Length's built into the boon - it's your Fire boons in feet - and we use ninety degrees as the easiest cone angle (hold the corner of anything square up to your mouth and you'll get an idea of the shape).
There's a lot more trigonometric math involving tangents and cosine you can wander off into now, but if you want to cheat, use this cone calculator instead. Plug in your Fire boons under "perp height" and 90 under "S angle", then double the "base radius" and presto, you will have a number with unnecessary decimal values.
But seriously, nobody wants to stop at the table to do trigonometry or argue about the exact angle at which the flame issues from your mouth, so don't bog the game down with all that unless you happen to be an entire group of mathematicians who enjoy breaking out the modeling clay. Most of the time, there's no need to figure out the cone's exact width if your Storyteller is paying attention and narrating well, and if that's the case, abide by his or her ruling. If you can decide as a group on a particular angle you like (we don't recommend anything wider than 90, because that stops being a cone and starts being a wall, but you could go narrower), feel free to make up a table for easy reference, but if you're not using hexes and exact battlefield positioning, more often than not that won't be that useful anyway.
Scion's about wrecking a lot of stuff, but this is a case where breaking out a bunch of extra math to determine the exact parameters of said wreckage is hindering the game instead of helping it. Make it awesome, make it stunted, and make it within your Storyteller's guidelines, and you should be just fine.
Sure, let's break Dragon's Breath down. You're right; if you use it to attack someone (which most people do), you roll your Wits + Survival as the attack roll. The boon isn't "resisted", but rather avoided like other area of effect attacks (Perun's Apples over in Sky, for example, or Shockwave in Strength) by the target attempting to dive out of the way. This is an automatic and reflexive roll; Scion doesn't require "readied actions" or dedicated guarding to attempt to avoid being hit, and this roll is just as automatic as a target's DV is against normal attacks.
As the boon says, it does "lethal damage equal to his Stamina roll plus 5, added to his threshold successes". This does indeed mean it is rolled, not static (static would be bananas!). The five, incidentally, is just the basic damage that fire usually does, while the Stamina represents your divine firepower and the threshold successes how dead-on you managed to incinerate your unfortunate victim.
As for the cone, yes, you can hit multiple people at once, especially if they're nice enough to be hanging out in a clump. The boon has a range of your Fire boons in feet at its farthest point; we didn't map out how far the cone itself extends on either side because that involves mathiness that most people don't care about, so in most cases it's easiest for the Storyteller to rule on it based on cinematic awesomeness and what makes sense for the scene. But if you absolutely insist on figuring out the exact size of the fire's cone, you'll need to know both its length and its angle. Length's built into the boon - it's your Fire boons in feet - and we use ninety degrees as the easiest cone angle (hold the corner of anything square up to your mouth and you'll get an idea of the shape).
There's a lot more trigonometric math involving tangents and cosine you can wander off into now, but if you want to cheat, use this cone calculator instead. Plug in your Fire boons under "perp height" and 90 under "S angle", then double the "base radius" and presto, you will have a number with unnecessary decimal values.
But seriously, nobody wants to stop at the table to do trigonometry or argue about the exact angle at which the flame issues from your mouth, so don't bog the game down with all that unless you happen to be an entire group of mathematicians who enjoy breaking out the modeling clay. Most of the time, there's no need to figure out the cone's exact width if your Storyteller is paying attention and narrating well, and if that's the case, abide by his or her ruling. If you can decide as a group on a particular angle you like (we don't recommend anything wider than 90, because that stops being a cone and starts being a wall, but you could go narrower), feel free to make up a table for easy reference, but if you're not using hexes and exact battlefield positioning, more often than not that won't be that useful anyway.
Scion's about wrecking a lot of stuff, but this is a case where breaking out a bunch of extra math to determine the exact parameters of said wreckage is hindering the game instead of helping it. Make it awesome, make it stunted, and make it within your Storyteller's guidelines, and you should be just fine.
User Unfriendly
Question: What's the deal with using relics that aren't yours? I think you mentioned somewhere that there's some kind of danger involved - care to elaborate?
Indeed there is! We'll probably try to include something about this in the upcoming relics/crafting/Industry rules, but we're happy to talk about it right now anyway!
Relics are neat things; they're part and parcel of a Scion's Legend, tied to them in almost unseverable bonds as parts of the myths and legends they write about themselves, and they're also artifacts of power in their own right, with their own Fatebonds and Fateful Auras once they become powerful enough. Of all the magical items and substances populating the worlds of Scion, they're the most important for the simple reason that they are part of the most important beings in the universe - the players, and the gods with whom they interact and form relationships.
We all know that relics are, of course, bound magically to their Scions and nearly unbreakable or unlosable short of ridiculous forces or high-level shenanigans from the Magic purview. But they are still items that could theoretically be borrowed, lent, lost or stolen, which means that it's possible for people who don't own them to try to make use of their fabulous powers and bonuses. When that happens, the relic automatically fights back against the unfamiliar power that is trying to make use of it; it may not be a thinking being (unless you're Amatsukami, in which case it's also probably offended and shouting), but it still recognizes its owner and rejects anyone else who can't bamboozle it with the Steal Birthright spell.
Also, before we get into this, we'd just like to make sure everyone is on the same page with us: do you know that rule on page 162 of Scion: Hero, where it says that if you use someone else's relic you get access to all the boons they have in any purview that relic channels? If you don't, that's okay, because you shouldn't. Nobody should. It is a bad, bad rule. It is the dumbest rule to ever have dumbed. Not only does it make relic-stealing way more powerful than anything else anybody could be doing (oh, you mean I can get an entire purview's worth of boons I never paid XP for, for free? SIGN US UP), but it's also stupid because it implies that it's the relic that knows those boons, not the Scion, who apparently doesn't have any control over the purviews he embodies at all. Do not use this rule.
Okay, everyone on the same page? Back to how stealing relics works, then!
Whenever you try to use a relic that doesn't belong to you, you roll a number of dice equal to your Legend (and you can channel, Deed, stunt, or whatever other nonsense you want to try to increase this roll's chance of succeeding). If you roll successes equal to or higher than the relic's rating, then presto, you get to use it this one time! That means you can swing this stolen relic sword once, or add this borrowed relic necklace's Presence bonus to the roll you're making right now, or call upon the powers of this book you found on the ground to use its unique power to read something in the blink of an eye, or whatever else it does. Every single time you want to use the relic, you will need to succeed at this roll, meaning that if you want to continue stabbing people with a relic sword that isn't yours, you'll have to roll against it every time you swing; you may have bent it to your will once, but there's no guarantee that it won't manage to reject your lack of authority over it next time. It is possible to simply carry around a relic without using it, meaning that you don't need to roll for it as long as it stays inert, but they always trigger the roll when their powers might come into play - a suit of relic armor, for example, would need to be rolled against every time someone hit you, but it wouldn't need to be rolled against every five minutes if you were just sitting around in it.
If you fail at the roll, you land in Paintown (population: you). Unsuccessfully trying to wrestle a relic that you don't own into working for you causes an instant backlash from Fate, which knows perfectly well that you and this relic aren't meant to be together, and it deals an amount of unsoakable aggravated damage to you equal to its relic rating, something our PCs usually describe as "motherfucking thing bit me" in very aggrieved tones. This is often accompanied by fairly severe maiming, which the Storyteller decides based on what the relic is and what you were trying to do with it - a relic gun might just blow your hand off, for example, or a relic pair of glasses burn your eyes out. Not only did you take some damage, which sucks, but you also failed to force the relic to behave, meaning that whatever you just tried to do did not work; you didn't get its bonus to your rolls, or you couldn't channel that purview, or you were unable to lift it against your enemies, whatever. You don't necessarily drop it (unless it blows your hand off, in which case you probably do), but it offers you no benefit whatsoever.
So, as you can imagine, it's always a (literal) roll of the dice to try to use someone else's relics; the rewards might be fantastic, but the penalty for failure is uncomfortable at best and disastrous at worst. This sucks for Scions who are trying to accumulate a collection of stolen goods for their own aims, but it also protects them, since far fewer enemies will bother with trying to take their toys if they can't reliably use them. The natural defenses of a relic can also be augmented (we allow Scions to spend Birthright points on making their relics more thief-resistant, which generally means they bite when you touch them even if you aren't using them yet or that they deal more damage when they do, or both), and of course they can also be circumvented by those with high-level Magic or Tsukumo-gami, although doing so is rare. It's also possible to have relics that aren't bound to anyone, which means they fall under two categories - they don't bite, like minor relics created with Trusted Tool, or (more commonly) they bite everybody until someone with Magic comes along and makes sure they get properly homed with an owner.
Of course, that does mean that is pretty likely that you're not going to be able to sneak into Thor's place on a lark, steal Mjolnir and command the skies of Asgard, but if you can't make the Legend roll, you just aren't worthy, my friend. And if you can make that roll - Deeding and channeling and busting off Bona Fortuna and Lucky Star and using your dice from Become the Herald and whatever else insanity you can pull off - well, that one moment of glory when you can use it is going to be epic as all hell, isn't it?
Indeed there is! We'll probably try to include something about this in the upcoming relics/crafting/Industry rules, but we're happy to talk about it right now anyway!
Relics are neat things; they're part and parcel of a Scion's Legend, tied to them in almost unseverable bonds as parts of the myths and legends they write about themselves, and they're also artifacts of power in their own right, with their own Fatebonds and Fateful Auras once they become powerful enough. Of all the magical items and substances populating the worlds of Scion, they're the most important for the simple reason that they are part of the most important beings in the universe - the players, and the gods with whom they interact and form relationships.
We all know that relics are, of course, bound magically to their Scions and nearly unbreakable or unlosable short of ridiculous forces or high-level shenanigans from the Magic purview. But they are still items that could theoretically be borrowed, lent, lost or stolen, which means that it's possible for people who don't own them to try to make use of their fabulous powers and bonuses. When that happens, the relic automatically fights back against the unfamiliar power that is trying to make use of it; it may not be a thinking being (unless you're Amatsukami, in which case it's also probably offended and shouting), but it still recognizes its owner and rejects anyone else who can't bamboozle it with the Steal Birthright spell.
Also, before we get into this, we'd just like to make sure everyone is on the same page with us: do you know that rule on page 162 of Scion: Hero, where it says that if you use someone else's relic you get access to all the boons they have in any purview that relic channels? If you don't, that's okay, because you shouldn't. Nobody should. It is a bad, bad rule. It is the dumbest rule to ever have dumbed. Not only does it make relic-stealing way more powerful than anything else anybody could be doing (oh, you mean I can get an entire purview's worth of boons I never paid XP for, for free? SIGN US UP), but it's also stupid because it implies that it's the relic that knows those boons, not the Scion, who apparently doesn't have any control over the purviews he embodies at all. Do not use this rule.
Okay, everyone on the same page? Back to how stealing relics works, then!
Whenever you try to use a relic that doesn't belong to you, you roll a number of dice equal to your Legend (and you can channel, Deed, stunt, or whatever other nonsense you want to try to increase this roll's chance of succeeding). If you roll successes equal to or higher than the relic's rating, then presto, you get to use it this one time! That means you can swing this stolen relic sword once, or add this borrowed relic necklace's Presence bonus to the roll you're making right now, or call upon the powers of this book you found on the ground to use its unique power to read something in the blink of an eye, or whatever else it does. Every single time you want to use the relic, you will need to succeed at this roll, meaning that if you want to continue stabbing people with a relic sword that isn't yours, you'll have to roll against it every time you swing; you may have bent it to your will once, but there's no guarantee that it won't manage to reject your lack of authority over it next time. It is possible to simply carry around a relic without using it, meaning that you don't need to roll for it as long as it stays inert, but they always trigger the roll when their powers might come into play - a suit of relic armor, for example, would need to be rolled against every time someone hit you, but it wouldn't need to be rolled against every five minutes if you were just sitting around in it.
If you fail at the roll, you land in Paintown (population: you). Unsuccessfully trying to wrestle a relic that you don't own into working for you causes an instant backlash from Fate, which knows perfectly well that you and this relic aren't meant to be together, and it deals an amount of unsoakable aggravated damage to you equal to its relic rating, something our PCs usually describe as "motherfucking thing bit me" in very aggrieved tones. This is often accompanied by fairly severe maiming, which the Storyteller decides based on what the relic is and what you were trying to do with it - a relic gun might just blow your hand off, for example, or a relic pair of glasses burn your eyes out. Not only did you take some damage, which sucks, but you also failed to force the relic to behave, meaning that whatever you just tried to do did not work; you didn't get its bonus to your rolls, or you couldn't channel that purview, or you were unable to lift it against your enemies, whatever. You don't necessarily drop it (unless it blows your hand off, in which case you probably do), but it offers you no benefit whatsoever.
So, as you can imagine, it's always a (literal) roll of the dice to try to use someone else's relics; the rewards might be fantastic, but the penalty for failure is uncomfortable at best and disastrous at worst. This sucks for Scions who are trying to accumulate a collection of stolen goods for their own aims, but it also protects them, since far fewer enemies will bother with trying to take their toys if they can't reliably use them. The natural defenses of a relic can also be augmented (we allow Scions to spend Birthright points on making their relics more thief-resistant, which generally means they bite when you touch them even if you aren't using them yet or that they deal more damage when they do, or both), and of course they can also be circumvented by those with high-level Magic or Tsukumo-gami, although doing so is rare. It's also possible to have relics that aren't bound to anyone, which means they fall under two categories - they don't bite, like minor relics created with Trusted Tool, or (more commonly) they bite everybody until someone with Magic comes along and makes sure they get properly homed with an owner.
Of course, that does mean that is pretty likely that you're not going to be able to sneak into Thor's place on a lark, steal Mjolnir and command the skies of Asgard, but if you can't make the Legend roll, you just aren't worthy, my friend. And if you can make that roll - Deeding and channeling and busting off Bona Fortuna and Lucky Star and using your dice from Become the Herald and whatever else insanity you can pull off - well, that one moment of glory when you can use it is going to be epic as all hell, isn't it?
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Sea of Trees
Question: How would you mythically run Japan's suicide forest, Aokigahara? I think It could be used as a portal to Yomi.
What a neat question! For those who haven't run into this bit of Japanese folklore, Aokigahara is a forest around the base of Mount Fuji that is deep, old, unnaturally silent, filled with the remains of ancient volcanic activity and heavily associated with death and suicide. It's one of the most popular places in the world for people to attempt suicide, with an estimated fifty to two hundred people killing themselves in it per year and double that making the attempt (at our best guess, anyway - the government of Japan doesn't like to give concrete numbers anymore because it just encourages more potential suicides to beeline for the place). And while the traditional association of the place with suicide has only really been tracked in the past several decades, the forest's been connected to the idea of death for centuries, and is believed to be one of the places that ancient Japanese people abandoned their elderly community members in times of hardship to die alone instead of taxing the rest of the peoples' resources.
There's actually a story seed regarding Aokigahara in Scion: Demigod on page 113, but there are plenty of options out there for other things to do with it as well. If you'd like to connect the mortal forest with the supernatural very directly, it's a perfect location in the World to connect to a Terra Incognita, most likely some kind of dangerous forest of death and suicide, even one connected to other mythic forests such as the Norse Mirkwood or the Wood of Suicides from Dante's Inferno.
While we think you could use it as a portal to Yomi if you really wanted to, we'd probably avoid it, simply because Yomi is traditionally hard to get into or out of (out of necessity, because we don't want Izanami rolling up in the land of the living), so more doors into the place are not necessarily better. But it is reputed to be haunted to the gills by the souls of all the mortals who have killed themselves there, so even if you don't use it as a direct door to the Underworld, it may still be full of the dead who for some reason find themselves trapped there (due to Titanic interference? some death god's influence? something even weirder?) or even be on its way to turning into an Underworld itself if some enterprising Scion with a penchant for Death happens to come along and lay claim to it.
It's also a good site for breakthroughs from Titanrealms, if that's something you're interested in seeing. If you're using a Titanrealm of Death (like Xibalba in our Maya supplement or Mrtyu in the French supplements from Biblioteque Interdite), Aokigahara is a natural place for such a realm to break through into the World; and while the death connections are strong, so is the place's ancient forest setting, making Terra or Ourea another possibility.
And even if you don't make the wood itself anything special, it looks like a perfect home base for Titanspawn who would likely be drawn to the nasty vibrations and free buffet of a bunch of mortals losing their lives. There are tons of possibilities to suit all kinds of games, so go to town with your favorites!
What a neat question! For those who haven't run into this bit of Japanese folklore, Aokigahara is a forest around the base of Mount Fuji that is deep, old, unnaturally silent, filled with the remains of ancient volcanic activity and heavily associated with death and suicide. It's one of the most popular places in the world for people to attempt suicide, with an estimated fifty to two hundred people killing themselves in it per year and double that making the attempt (at our best guess, anyway - the government of Japan doesn't like to give concrete numbers anymore because it just encourages more potential suicides to beeline for the place). And while the traditional association of the place with suicide has only really been tracked in the past several decades, the forest's been connected to the idea of death for centuries, and is believed to be one of the places that ancient Japanese people abandoned their elderly community members in times of hardship to die alone instead of taxing the rest of the peoples' resources.
There's actually a story seed regarding Aokigahara in Scion: Demigod on page 113, but there are plenty of options out there for other things to do with it as well. If you'd like to connect the mortal forest with the supernatural very directly, it's a perfect location in the World to connect to a Terra Incognita, most likely some kind of dangerous forest of death and suicide, even one connected to other mythic forests such as the Norse Mirkwood or the Wood of Suicides from Dante's Inferno.
While we think you could use it as a portal to Yomi if you really wanted to, we'd probably avoid it, simply because Yomi is traditionally hard to get into or out of (out of necessity, because we don't want Izanami rolling up in the land of the living), so more doors into the place are not necessarily better. But it is reputed to be haunted to the gills by the souls of all the mortals who have killed themselves there, so even if you don't use it as a direct door to the Underworld, it may still be full of the dead who for some reason find themselves trapped there (due to Titanic interference? some death god's influence? something even weirder?) or even be on its way to turning into an Underworld itself if some enterprising Scion with a penchant for Death happens to come along and lay claim to it.
It's also a good site for breakthroughs from Titanrealms, if that's something you're interested in seeing. If you're using a Titanrealm of Death (like Xibalba in our Maya supplement or Mrtyu in the French supplements from Biblioteque Interdite), Aokigahara is a natural place for such a realm to break through into the World; and while the death connections are strong, so is the place's ancient forest setting, making Terra or Ourea another possibility.
And even if you don't make the wood itself anything special, it looks like a perfect home base for Titanspawn who would likely be drawn to the nasty vibrations and free buffet of a bunch of mortals losing their lives. There are tons of possibilities to suit all kinds of games, so go to town with your favorites!
Distance Learning
Question: If someone wants to perceive something beyond their perceptive capacity, how does that work? For example, if I am an average person and want to see the facial features of someone who is 6 yards away, and my perceptive capacity is 2 (so my distance of sight is 2 yards), how does that work? Is there a penalty to see beyond that distance? Or do I just flat out fail? Or is it that I automatically succeed within 2 yards, and beyond 2 yards I have to roll?
Okay, Perception and distance stuff. One part mechanics, two parts Storyteller narration, with a dash of player creativity.
First of all, the perception distance table on our House Rules page details the exact farthest distance that a Scion can see with perfect 20/20 vision. If your Perceptive Capacity is 7 and you can therefore see 30 yards, you can read a book's typeface as clearly at 30 yards away as if it were in your hand.
But that's perfect vision; past that point, you get the normal diminishing returns that all of us see every time we look past our 20/20 limit. You can still see things that are more than 30 yards away - you don't suddenly go blind at that point or anything - but they're no longer perfectly clear, and the farther away they get, the more indistinct they are, like any mortal who can see a skyscraper miles away but not see any details about who's in the windows or what the texture of the walls looks like. There aren't specific mechanical details for what you can see past your 20/20 best perception limit because there's simply too much range to bother with trying to mechanize your sight, and a table with diminishing columns of percentages and distances would not only be a big pain in the ass to always have to refer to but also still not actually all that helpful since it would come down to the Storyteller's decision on how far away something was and what that meant in terms of its visibility anyway.
So, instead of bothering with a lot of fiddly numbers that would still come down to interpretation for everyone not using a precisely hexed battlemap to run their Scion games, Storytellers have the final word when it comes to how well you can see something that's outside your perfect vision range. In most cases, the Storyteller will simply decide what details aren't distinct enough since it's outside your range; if you can't see it clearly, they'll be able to make a good decision on exactly how much of it you can see. Some Storytellers may decide to run it cinematically, giving you details they think suit the scene and the moment, while others will enforce a stricter idea of the image being out of range meaning you can't learn the important information unless you get closer to it.
In most cases, rolls will probably not need to be involved; while it's true that Perception rolls are by nature more passive than those of some other Attributes, it's still more of an "active" action than simply looking at something. A Storyteller might call for a Perception roll if you're specifically looking for something hidden or subtle, sensing something that those with lesser capabilities might not or noticing something that you might walk right past otherwise. Squinting to see something that's a little out of your range, however, doesn't need to be covered by a roll if you're using the Perception distance table - it's already telling you how close you need to be to get that information, and if you're not doing anything else to alter that, there's no reason to bog things down with extra rolls.
Of course, if your Storyteller wants to use rolls to determine whether or not you can make some detail out, he or she is totally within their rights to do so; and if they choose to say that you need to get closer to get that information, that's valid, too. Exact details past the point of your normal ability to see are nebulous and may depend on the scene and situation at hand and are not only difficult to reduce to easy numbers but would also suffer from it, so this is a case where you'll want to let the Storyteller make calls for the good of the scene and roll with it from there.
Okay, Perception and distance stuff. One part mechanics, two parts Storyteller narration, with a dash of player creativity.
First of all, the perception distance table on our House Rules page details the exact farthest distance that a Scion can see with perfect 20/20 vision. If your Perceptive Capacity is 7 and you can therefore see 30 yards, you can read a book's typeface as clearly at 30 yards away as if it were in your hand.
But that's perfect vision; past that point, you get the normal diminishing returns that all of us see every time we look past our 20/20 limit. You can still see things that are more than 30 yards away - you don't suddenly go blind at that point or anything - but they're no longer perfectly clear, and the farther away they get, the more indistinct they are, like any mortal who can see a skyscraper miles away but not see any details about who's in the windows or what the texture of the walls looks like. There aren't specific mechanical details for what you can see past your 20/20 best perception limit because there's simply too much range to bother with trying to mechanize your sight, and a table with diminishing columns of percentages and distances would not only be a big pain in the ass to always have to refer to but also still not actually all that helpful since it would come down to the Storyteller's decision on how far away something was and what that meant in terms of its visibility anyway.
So, instead of bothering with a lot of fiddly numbers that would still come down to interpretation for everyone not using a precisely hexed battlemap to run their Scion games, Storytellers have the final word when it comes to how well you can see something that's outside your perfect vision range. In most cases, the Storyteller will simply decide what details aren't distinct enough since it's outside your range; if you can't see it clearly, they'll be able to make a good decision on exactly how much of it you can see. Some Storytellers may decide to run it cinematically, giving you details they think suit the scene and the moment, while others will enforce a stricter idea of the image being out of range meaning you can't learn the important information unless you get closer to it.
In most cases, rolls will probably not need to be involved; while it's true that Perception rolls are by nature more passive than those of some other Attributes, it's still more of an "active" action than simply looking at something. A Storyteller might call for a Perception roll if you're specifically looking for something hidden or subtle, sensing something that those with lesser capabilities might not or noticing something that you might walk right past otherwise. Squinting to see something that's a little out of your range, however, doesn't need to be covered by a roll if you're using the Perception distance table - it's already telling you how close you need to be to get that information, and if you're not doing anything else to alter that, there's no reason to bog things down with extra rolls.
Of course, if your Storyteller wants to use rolls to determine whether or not you can make some detail out, he or she is totally within their rights to do so; and if they choose to say that you need to get closer to get that information, that's valid, too. Exact details past the point of your normal ability to see are nebulous and may depend on the scene and situation at hand and are not only difficult to reduce to easy numbers but would also suffer from it, so this is a case where you'll want to let the Storyteller make calls for the good of the scene and roll with it from there.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Like a Flat Fish
Question: Hey, boss. Wanted to ask you guys whether any of your players have ever played a PC of the opposite gender? If so, how did they role-play that character?
Question: Hey, John and friends! Just wanted to know whether any of your players have played a PC of the opposite sex in any of your games. If so, how did they manage it? Playing a PC's that's not the player's gender has always been kind of strange area in the games I've been in.
Question: Have any of your players ever played a character of the opposite gender?
We suspect that these may be the same person resubmitting the question a few times, which is totally our own fault - we've been meaning to answer it for a while, and in fact did answer it a while ago in that vlog that our computer ate, and then we put it off because we figured we'd bring in a guest blogger and everybody had life concerns that took up time. The upshot is that we apologize that this post took so long, but here it is, larger than life!
To start with, yes: while we don't usually encourage it because it so often causes players trouble, we have had one player play a PC of the opposite sex, and it was the fabulous Seph, who despite being a dude played psychotic little war machine Shanti. Since he was the guy actually doing the opposite-sex playing, we thought we'd invite him to do a little guest blogging to tell you about his feelings on the subject. Here goes!
Please allow me to begin by expressing my apologies for not getting around to this sooner. It’s all my fault, John and Anne asked me to comment a long time ago, but I got sidetracked. So blame me – not them.
So, thoughts on playing cross-gender characters. Please bear in mind, I am no expert on such things – and I’m purely shooting from the hip here…
First, I should say that one of the things I love about roleplaying, and tabletop especially, is the opportunity to explore characters and perspectives that differ significantly from myself. I suppose it’s also what interested me in theater as well, but theater, as a largely visual medium, is more limited. I’m a 6 foot plus, average to large build, white guy with brown hair and blue eyes – and while I could play Duncan, or a very tall Iago, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever play Lady Macbeth or even Othello.
Roleplaying, and tabletop especially, allows us to play characters that run the gambit of human experience. I can play young or old, rich or poor, criminal or law abiding, egalitarian or elitist, a different race, religion, nationality, or anything else – and rarely is this even commented on. To my mind, it seems strange that given this vast, and unlimited spectrum of diversity that we so often cut ourselves off from 50% of the human race by exclusively playing one gender.
That said, there are challenges in playing against type. First, it’s important that you approach the character, particularly in regard to their differences, with respect. Yes, sexism and racism are unfortunate realities in both our history and into the modern day, and perhaps, these will bleed through into certain situations confronted by the character during the game. However, using a character as a spring board to mock a different gender, race, etc. is ignorant and wrong. So, if you don’t think that you can play a different gender/race/etc. without making them the butt of every joke because of those differences – don’t do it.
Second, make sure that your gaming group is okay with this decision. I was fortunate that the group that I’m playing with was patient, understanding, and generally awesome – so there wasn’t too much of a reaction. However, if playing a different race or gender is going to cause a disruption in the group – you should probably avoid that too.
Third, and only because this is the internets. Figure out where you and your group draws the line regarding romantic entanglements. Personally, I’m much more of a “fade to black” type person.
Finally, whenever playing a character with fundamental differences from you – particularly in a historical context – you need to decide how this difference is going to impact your character. For example:
Many of these questions are things that you should likely be asking yourself anyway as part of your character creation process. However, because of a fundamental difference in your character – you should likely spend some additional time considering these issues as your “gut reaction” as a person, may not be the same as a result of this difference.
So yeah… those are my thoughts. Welcome the differences and the challenges/opportunities they provide, remain respectful and thoughtful. Good rules for life and for playing cross-gender characters in my limited experience.
Seph hit most of the high notes, so there's really not much more to say; the most important thing to keep in mind for playing a character of a different sex - or race, or religion, or anything else - is to make sure that you can do so meaningfully and respectfully. It's not just about not intentionally being offensive, but also about remembering that we all have strongly internalized stereotypes and gender roles that come from our upbringing and culture, so it's easy to be accidentally offensive as well. If you can't portray a different kind of character from yourself without reducing it down to stereotypes, you may want to think again. And, also important, examine why you want to play a different sex or gender, what you want to explore by doing so and how you hope to bring something new to your playing experience by doing it.
Basically, players who come into it with a vision, a firm character concept or a good reason to want to play a different sex or gender can do fun and meaningful things with it, but not every genderbent character concept is a good one; it's what John refers to as "advanced roleplaying". If you prefer to just build characters on the fly and run them through adventures without bothering much with deep personalities or subtext (which is a totally valid way to want to play, and nobody should feel like it isn't!), it's much more likely that your genderbent-on-a-whim character will either have no difference because you don't play the opposite sex any differently than you play your home one, or at worst will be offensive because you're not paying much attention to it and therefore have a higher chance to make thoughtless blunders that may upset others.
It's also absolutely true that the comfort and tolerance level of your fellow players and Storyteller are all-important; if there are people at the table who are of those other sexes (or races, or religions), they may be very sensitive to anything that looks like an offensive portrayal, and it also may be true that some players simply aren't comfortable with genderbending at the table at all. If any of that is true, you may want to avoid playing a different gender altogether, even if you think you'd really do the concept justice; if the players are uncomfortable and not having fun, you could be the most badass roleplayer in the universe and it'll still hurt the game overall. It never hurts to check with the Storyteller first or take the group's temperature before rolling in with a character concept that might potentially throw others off.
We'd also like to add that it's much easier to pull off different-sex character in an online game than a face-to-face one. When you play over the internet, you might as well be either sex anyway for all anybody can tell if you don't advertise your gender, and if you're playing it well it's likely that nobody will bat an eyelash. When you're in person, however, and you're actually looking at a person obviously of a different gender than the one they're playing, it can become harder to suspend disbelief or easier to pick out stereotypes or playstyles that make other players uncomfortable. It's odd indeed that we can handle the idea of playing PCs of different religions and occupations and races from our own with ease but that some Storytellers and players still tweak when confronted with the idea of playing a different gender, but the internet's veil of anonymity makes avoiding that a lot easier.
Playing a character of a different gender or sex can be a rewarding and interesting experience, both for the player doing it and the game it's done in. It's all about why and how you do it, however, and it's not always the best fit for every game. Use your judgment, talk to your group, and have an awesome time.
Question: Hey, John and friends! Just wanted to know whether any of your players have played a PC of the opposite sex in any of your games. If so, how did they manage it? Playing a PC's that's not the player's gender has always been kind of strange area in the games I've been in.
Question: Have any of your players ever played a character of the opposite gender?
We suspect that these may be the same person resubmitting the question a few times, which is totally our own fault - we've been meaning to answer it for a while, and in fact did answer it a while ago in that vlog that our computer ate, and then we put it off because we figured we'd bring in a guest blogger and everybody had life concerns that took up time. The upshot is that we apologize that this post took so long, but here it is, larger than life!
To start with, yes: while we don't usually encourage it because it so often causes players trouble, we have had one player play a PC of the opposite sex, and it was the fabulous Seph, who despite being a dude played psychotic little war machine Shanti. Since he was the guy actually doing the opposite-sex playing, we thought we'd invite him to do a little guest blogging to tell you about his feelings on the subject. Here goes!
Please allow me to begin by expressing my apologies for not getting around to this sooner. It’s all my fault, John and Anne asked me to comment a long time ago, but I got sidetracked. So blame me – not them.
So, thoughts on playing cross-gender characters. Please bear in mind, I am no expert on such things – and I’m purely shooting from the hip here…
First, I should say that one of the things I love about roleplaying, and tabletop especially, is the opportunity to explore characters and perspectives that differ significantly from myself. I suppose it’s also what interested me in theater as well, but theater, as a largely visual medium, is more limited. I’m a 6 foot plus, average to large build, white guy with brown hair and blue eyes – and while I could play Duncan, or a very tall Iago, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever play Lady Macbeth or even Othello.
Roleplaying, and tabletop especially, allows us to play characters that run the gambit of human experience. I can play young or old, rich or poor, criminal or law abiding, egalitarian or elitist, a different race, religion, nationality, or anything else – and rarely is this even commented on. To my mind, it seems strange that given this vast, and unlimited spectrum of diversity that we so often cut ourselves off from 50% of the human race by exclusively playing one gender.
That said, there are challenges in playing against type. First, it’s important that you approach the character, particularly in regard to their differences, with respect. Yes, sexism and racism are unfortunate realities in both our history and into the modern day, and perhaps, these will bleed through into certain situations confronted by the character during the game. However, using a character as a spring board to mock a different gender, race, etc. is ignorant and wrong. So, if you don’t think that you can play a different gender/race/etc. without making them the butt of every joke because of those differences – don’t do it.
Second, make sure that your gaming group is okay with this decision. I was fortunate that the group that I’m playing with was patient, understanding, and generally awesome – so there wasn’t too much of a reaction. However, if playing a different race or gender is going to cause a disruption in the group – you should probably avoid that too.
Third, and only because this is the internets. Figure out where you and your group draws the line regarding romantic entanglements. Personally, I’m much more of a “fade to black” type person.
Finally, whenever playing a character with fundamental differences from you – particularly in a historical context – you need to decide how this difference is going to impact your character. For example:
- How is the difference likely to impact your character’s interactions with others? As society progresses, we’ve become more egalitarian – however, in the 1800’s (the time period in which our game takes place) this was not the case. Everyone had a very clearly defined role based on their age, race, gender, marital status, etc. Ask yourself if your character fulfills the gender-role expected of them or do they rebel against it? If they do rebel – is this an internal struggle or an outward one? And how does your character cope with the consequences of their choice?
- How does your character view people differently as a result of being a different gender? Do they expect people to fulfill their gender-roles, even if the character isn’t doing so?
- Did your different gender impact your character’s ability to learn certain things (should you rethink portions of your character’s stats as a result of differences in opportunity) – and if so, did you overcome these barriers and if so, how and why? Does your character think they were fortunate for the opportunity to break through the barrier, or are they resentful because the barrier existed in the first place?
- Are there behavioral differences as a result of your character’s gender – based either on societal expectation or biology?
Many of these questions are things that you should likely be asking yourself anyway as part of your character creation process. However, because of a fundamental difference in your character – you should likely spend some additional time considering these issues as your “gut reaction” as a person, may not be the same as a result of this difference.
So yeah… those are my thoughts. Welcome the differences and the challenges/opportunities they provide, remain respectful and thoughtful. Good rules for life and for playing cross-gender characters in my limited experience.
Seph hit most of the high notes, so there's really not much more to say; the most important thing to keep in mind for playing a character of a different sex - or race, or religion, or anything else - is to make sure that you can do so meaningfully and respectfully. It's not just about not intentionally being offensive, but also about remembering that we all have strongly internalized stereotypes and gender roles that come from our upbringing and culture, so it's easy to be accidentally offensive as well. If you can't portray a different kind of character from yourself without reducing it down to stereotypes, you may want to think again. And, also important, examine why you want to play a different sex or gender, what you want to explore by doing so and how you hope to bring something new to your playing experience by doing it.
Basically, players who come into it with a vision, a firm character concept or a good reason to want to play a different sex or gender can do fun and meaningful things with it, but not every genderbent character concept is a good one; it's what John refers to as "advanced roleplaying". If you prefer to just build characters on the fly and run them through adventures without bothering much with deep personalities or subtext (which is a totally valid way to want to play, and nobody should feel like it isn't!), it's much more likely that your genderbent-on-a-whim character will either have no difference because you don't play the opposite sex any differently than you play your home one, or at worst will be offensive because you're not paying much attention to it and therefore have a higher chance to make thoughtless blunders that may upset others.
It's also absolutely true that the comfort and tolerance level of your fellow players and Storyteller are all-important; if there are people at the table who are of those other sexes (or races, or religions), they may be very sensitive to anything that looks like an offensive portrayal, and it also may be true that some players simply aren't comfortable with genderbending at the table at all. If any of that is true, you may want to avoid playing a different gender altogether, even if you think you'd really do the concept justice; if the players are uncomfortable and not having fun, you could be the most badass roleplayer in the universe and it'll still hurt the game overall. It never hurts to check with the Storyteller first or take the group's temperature before rolling in with a character concept that might potentially throw others off.
We'd also like to add that it's much easier to pull off different-sex character in an online game than a face-to-face one. When you play over the internet, you might as well be either sex anyway for all anybody can tell if you don't advertise your gender, and if you're playing it well it's likely that nobody will bat an eyelash. When you're in person, however, and you're actually looking at a person obviously of a different gender than the one they're playing, it can become harder to suspend disbelief or easier to pick out stereotypes or playstyles that make other players uncomfortable. It's odd indeed that we can handle the idea of playing PCs of different religions and occupations and races from our own with ease but that some Storytellers and players still tweak when confronted with the idea of playing a different gender, but the internet's veil of anonymity makes avoiding that a lot easier.
Playing a character of a different gender or sex can be a rewarding and interesting experience, both for the player doing it and the game it's done in. It's all about why and how you do it, however, and it's not always the best fit for every game. Use your judgment, talk to your group, and have an awesome time.
Parents on the Loose
Question: Say Izanami and, hey, maybe Izanagi, too, decided to jump ship and follow the siren call of Titanhood. What would happen to the rest of the pantheon? Yomi? Their existing Scions?
Ah, the political panic and changing landscapes of gods that turn out to be traitors. The effects always depend on who the gods in question are and what's going on at the exact time they defect, but it's always a big deal!
In all technicality, nothing would happen to the rest of the pantheon. Izanagi and Izanami may be the creator gods who originally parented them, but they're not the rulers of the pantheon and their departure won't have any direct effects. Amaterasu will still be the queen of the gods, her siblings and lesser subjects will still remain in control of their normal areas of influence, and nobody's going to suddenly stop existing or lose their powers or anything.
After that point, however, things get interesting. If Izanami's out of the picture, nobody's running Yomi anymore, which leaves the mortals under the Amatsukami's care without anywhere to go once they've shuffled off their mortal coil. Yomi itself might or might not remain stable, and the pantheon might have to reroute them to Susanoo's Underworld, the mysterious and seldom-frequented island of Tokoyo; they also might have to allow Emma-O, the god of the Japanese Buddhist Underworld, to take on the largest burden of souls, which is further complicated if you consider Emma-O to be the same figure as Yama of the Devas (who is probably his basis). It's also possible that Izanami might retain her control over Yomi after she defected, meaning that not only was the place not doing its job but it might actually become a very present danger, turning the souls of the dead and the normal creatures living there into Titanspawn scourges.
Another question is what, exactly, they would go become Titans of. Izanami's association with death and determination to destroy more life than her husband can create make her obvious to be part of a Titanrealm of Death if you're using one, but Izanagi's more nebulous. As a creator god whose mission statement is to populate the world with people faster than his wife can kill them, he's aligned most closely with fertility and health concepts, but neither is super strong. The original Titanrealm Terra in the books might be a good fit, since it includes the ideas of birth and new life, but if you're using closer to our Titanrealm setup you may want something more closely aligned with Health or even Creation. Izanami's deathiness is easy as an antagonist behavior already - she's not a very pleasant lady - but Izanagi's destructive Titanhood is probably more like a loss of all moderation, overpopulating the earth with an unending flood of people and causing starvation, poverty and violence to skyrocket from the overcrowding.
As for their Scions, on the surface it's mostly the same story as the rest of the pantheon. Technically, nothing will change for them; a god becoming a Titan doesn't retroactively turn their children into Titanspawn or anything, and they would remain full-blooded Scions of the Amatsukami just as they'd always been. But they would have a lot of problems of loyalty; not only would they be in an uncomfortable situation with their pantheon, all of them scrutinizing them and wondering if they might follow their parents into the realm of evil jerkness (or even preemptively taking them out in case they're considering it), but the newly-minted Titans may also try to take their children with them, calling upon them to prove their loyalty to their divine parents by becoming minions of the Titans themselves. It's always uncomfortable being a Scion thanks to having to deal with different gods pulling you in ninety directions in their influence wars, but it's even worse when your parents are also the incarnation of world-destroying antagonism.
All this is barely scratching the surface of what can happen when a god (or two!) goes Titan, but so much depends on when they go, why and who supports them that it'll always vary for every game and situation. The consequences are always huge, long-lasting and far-ranging, though - if it seems like a major problem might occur, it probably will. Go nuts, because they will.
Ah, the political panic and changing landscapes of gods that turn out to be traitors. The effects always depend on who the gods in question are and what's going on at the exact time they defect, but it's always a big deal!
In all technicality, nothing would happen to the rest of the pantheon. Izanagi and Izanami may be the creator gods who originally parented them, but they're not the rulers of the pantheon and their departure won't have any direct effects. Amaterasu will still be the queen of the gods, her siblings and lesser subjects will still remain in control of their normal areas of influence, and nobody's going to suddenly stop existing or lose their powers or anything.
After that point, however, things get interesting. If Izanami's out of the picture, nobody's running Yomi anymore, which leaves the mortals under the Amatsukami's care without anywhere to go once they've shuffled off their mortal coil. Yomi itself might or might not remain stable, and the pantheon might have to reroute them to Susanoo's Underworld, the mysterious and seldom-frequented island of Tokoyo; they also might have to allow Emma-O, the god of the Japanese Buddhist Underworld, to take on the largest burden of souls, which is further complicated if you consider Emma-O to be the same figure as Yama of the Devas (who is probably his basis). It's also possible that Izanami might retain her control over Yomi after she defected, meaning that not only was the place not doing its job but it might actually become a very present danger, turning the souls of the dead and the normal creatures living there into Titanspawn scourges.
Another question is what, exactly, they would go become Titans of. Izanami's association with death and determination to destroy more life than her husband can create make her obvious to be part of a Titanrealm of Death if you're using one, but Izanagi's more nebulous. As a creator god whose mission statement is to populate the world with people faster than his wife can kill them, he's aligned most closely with fertility and health concepts, but neither is super strong. The original Titanrealm Terra in the books might be a good fit, since it includes the ideas of birth and new life, but if you're using closer to our Titanrealm setup you may want something more closely aligned with Health or even Creation. Izanami's deathiness is easy as an antagonist behavior already - she's not a very pleasant lady - but Izanagi's destructive Titanhood is probably more like a loss of all moderation, overpopulating the earth with an unending flood of people and causing starvation, poverty and violence to skyrocket from the overcrowding.
As for their Scions, on the surface it's mostly the same story as the rest of the pantheon. Technically, nothing will change for them; a god becoming a Titan doesn't retroactively turn their children into Titanspawn or anything, and they would remain full-blooded Scions of the Amatsukami just as they'd always been. But they would have a lot of problems of loyalty; not only would they be in an uncomfortable situation with their pantheon, all of them scrutinizing them and wondering if they might follow their parents into the realm of evil jerkness (or even preemptively taking them out in case they're considering it), but the newly-minted Titans may also try to take their children with them, calling upon them to prove their loyalty to their divine parents by becoming minions of the Titans themselves. It's always uncomfortable being a Scion thanks to having to deal with different gods pulling you in ninety directions in their influence wars, but it's even worse when your parents are also the incarnation of world-destroying antagonism.
All this is barely scratching the surface of what can happen when a god (or two!) goes Titan, but so much depends on when they go, why and who supports them that it'll always vary for every game and situation. The consequences are always huge, long-lasting and far-ranging, though - if it seems like a major problem might occur, it probably will. Go nuts, because they will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)