American Gods

Question: I've been toying with the idea of an "American Gods"-esque antagonist group for one of the games I run, based on modern concepts and ideas, the "New Gods" as presented in the novel. I know you guys are heavy on mythological accuracy when it comes to your games, so would you have any advice on how you would handle this without losing the mythical spirit of the game? Would an older group of Scions, Titanspawn, or Legendary Immortals hijacking these concepts and exploiting their "worship" be too kitschy?

We don't think that would be too kitschy at all. In fact, we think it would be awesome.

We've had conversations a few times about how we wished with all our might that this was actually what the World at War setting in Companion had done, because it would have converted a silly, ill-fitting and painfully shoehorned premise into grade A awesomesauce just about perfectly. It's ridiculous to say that John Henry is a god on par with Zeus - but what if John Henry were actually just an alias being used by a Scion, or even the Avatar form of some god, Ogun striking back against the New World in the guise of its own budding myths? What if, instead of claiming that Rosie the Riveter was a mythological figure in her own right, she had actually just been a front for some other power in Scion's universe rising up to shape the national consciousness of the young USA? That would have been badass. Badass.

That's not what actually happened in World at War, but it can be what you do in your games, and we don't think it'd be kitschy in the least (well, it could be, but only if you want to play it that way - which isn't necessarily a bad thing depending on the flavor you want your game to have). By far the easiest way to set up your antagonists is just to have them be a slightly older generation of Scions, ones who have been active a couple years longer than your PCs. Scions are, after all, the new vanguard of gods and the new concepts that humanity is deifying; they are the gods of Media, the Internet, Vegetarianism or any other modern concept they want to be. It's entirely possible for a Scion to aim and succeed to be Technical Boy, and there's no reason your Scions have to be the first Scions let loose on the world if you don't want them to. The war against the Titans probably needs more than a few Scions, and it's unlikely that every god hit the streets to create them at exactly the same time. Scion has a strong undercurrent of the new Scions rising up to become gods that might challenge their ancient parents - but if your Scions happen to be a couple of years of development behind some others, they in turn might be seeking to prevent other Scions from overthrowing their tenuous, just-gained godhood.

It's also entirely possible to use Titanspawn or lesser immortals as the powers behind modern gods or concepts; they were all released into the World at the same time the gods and Titans returned to it, and in fact, having people to deal with uppity Titanspawn or dangerous lesser immortals that threaten the World is one of the main reasons gods have Scions in the first place. A new "goddess" representing herself as the Blind Justice of the US court system might actually be a gorgon, wearing her blindfold in public unless she chooses to smite someone, or a new "god" of heroin and ecstasy might just be an enterprising satyr who's found that the new World has a whole bunch of awesome new toys and substances to play with. With the gods distracted by the Titan War and Scions still in the middle of figuring out who and what they are, now's the perfect time for such creatures to seize power and run rampant unless they're stopped. If they're canny enough about it, there's a good chance even budding Hero Scions won't know the difference between a true goddess and a Legend 6 aelf masquerading as one, and mortals don't stand a chance.

And finally, they might actually just be aliases of the ancient gods themselves - a seriously fun proposition, though one that you probably want to use sparingly. The United States is a melting pot, meaning that most of the ancient gods were represented here at some point (and still are in some areas!), but also that many of them have fallen by the wayside or been replaced by other concepts that resonate more strongly with modern Americans. Perhaps Cernunnos, still known as god of forests and stags in his old Celtic haunts, has reinvented himself across the water as a stockbroker god of wealth and lottery, leaning on his associations with good fortune and riches to make himself known even to those who have never heard of him in his original form. Maybe Tenjin, who enjoys a robust modern cult in Japan, also haunts the east coast of California as a god of intellectualism; maybe ancient Ishtar plays brand-new games of power and intrigue in the seedy dance halls of Las Vegas. There are two reasons that you want to use actual gods masquerading as modern faces seldom - one is that they have to avoid Fatebonds, which means that if they're in the World, it'll always need to be as an Avatar that doesn't wield their true power, and the other is that the Titans are not going to put their war on hold to let Isis take a quick vacation to become a modern representative of womens' rights, so most of them don't have a lot of extra resources or time to be running around in the World and not at their full power. But it could still happen, and if you build a plot in which those gods have good reason, intricate plans or secret gambits that benefit them by doing these things, then it could be an awesome take on the subject. (Plus, just imagine your Scions' faces when they realize that the antagonist they've been trying really hard to kill actually turned out to be Indra. Awkward.)

It's absolutely possible to use the ideas of modern powers and deities in Scion without losing the mythic flavor of the game - in fact, when it happens, it's super awesome. Remember that those Scions (or lesser immortals, or gods, whatever) that are wearing these modern faces also have ancient roots, and let them out to play once in a while. Remember that their powers are the same powers as the ancient gods', just focused differently and used for different things, so a god who uses lightning bolts to smite enemies and one who uses electrical explosions to destroy the technology of his rivals are not beings that are so different that they can't be used in the same system. Eshu, the conduit by which the divine and the mortal meet, can easily branch out and begin to try to take on the global communications of the world - or his Scions can, and in either case, it's a perfect place for an antagonist that the Scions may not entire understand or be able to fight, but recognize as a brand-new kind of power.

The only thing to be wary of, I think, is making sure your PCs still have the chance to shine as the precious new badasses they are. They're the new generation of gods, too; be careful that they don't feel that there's no place for them, trapped between the ancient hierarchy of their parents and the newly insurmountable front of these modern gods. Make sure that they have a chance to choose between them and become powers in either place if they so choose, but if you've got that, there's no reason not to pursue the idea wholeheartedly. Scions who become gods already have to carve out a new place within their pantheons; it's only adding another layer of difficulty (and thus another chance to heroically shine!) if they also have to carve out a new place in the vanguard of the gods of the modern world.

It sounds awesome. Go do it.