Greek Week

Hey, everybody! It's vlog time, and this week is Greek Week! The kind where we talk about a bunch of Greek mythology stuff, not the kind with beer and toilet paper togas. (Although we could potentially do both. That would be a fun Saturday.)

Question: I read your blog about how the Theoi don't like anything that deviates from normal human physical perfection. So, then why do the Theoi have Gods with Animal associations? Wouldn't that mean that any Greek God with Animal would pretty much never use Animal Feature and/or Animal Form? Okay, maybe Aphrodite could get away with giving herself a pair of swan wings (since you mentioned that the Theoi don't mind wings) but if Ares gave himself ANY wolf feature, wouldn't that be kinda wrong to him?

Question: How do you guy treat Charon, as he is son of two Titans - a god, titanspawn, or even a Titan?

Question: When I was reading your post on how other pantheons laugh about the Greek/Romans small "swords", I realized that since different pantheons may have different standards of beauty, then how does having a high Apperance in one pantheon affect another who may have a different version of an ideal apperance?

Question: How might the Virtues of a Roman Scion differ from those of his or her Greek counterpart?

Question: Hera's Vengeance demands that she continue to punish Zeus' bastards forever. However, in some versions of the Heracles myth, Hera ritually adopts Heracles as her own son when he achieves apotheosis. Would that satisfy Hera's Vengeance toward him? Technically he isn't a bastard anymore. Hera has formally claimed him as her own son. Would she still need to fight her Vengeance around him? Would this option apply to other Scions of Zeus who manage to become gods?

Question: I know this will sound stupid, but what exactly is Tartarus?

Question: Valor is the Virtue of acting honorably, right? Does that mean Scions with Valor can't lie? Can't steal? Can't work undercover?

Please pardon the lack of question text in the video - the editor crashed on me so I had to rush it to make sure it go out on time.

Next week, more themes, plus the exact same faces and clothes you saw this week.

Affairs of the Soul

Our marathon vlog series continues, this week with a two-for-one subject deal! Look at us go. We're not tired at all.

Question: I was just reading the Fatebinding rules on your site and something confused me. The way that the rules are written makes it seem like Scions have to be Legend 3 before they can get Fatebonds. Am I understanding that correctly?

Question: I remember John saying a while ago (in comments) that Fatebonds in general don't buy Attributes below 3 dots, but is there a theoretical maximum? Could one measly Fatebond and enough time buy a character up from zero Epic to ultimate attribute?

Question: What happens when the total amount of XP Siphoned by Fatebonds exceeds 100%? For example, if you pick up seven Level 10 Fatebonds - you'd end up with 105% of your XP being siphoned to meet your Fatebonds' expectations. Do you end up with more XP, but no discretionary spending?

Question: What would happen to the entire universe of Scion if Fate was either destroyed or could no longer influence the Gods?

Question: Neith is said to be a goddess that "made" Fate. how does that work in Scion?

Question: What's the difference between a Valor pantheon and a Courage pantheon? What makes you decide to give the Theoi Valor instead of Courage, or give the Tuatha Courage and not Valor?

Question: Have you ever considered having the Virtue Benevolence? Helping others, even sometimes at great cost to oneself?

Question: Is Malice going to be one of the core Virtues of the Inuit? It might be a little strange to have a Dark Virtue, but from your description the Inuit people were constantly scared shitless of their gods.

This is our fiftieth vlog - how the time flies. We should do something special, right?

Hey, guys. We're aware that our video is being a massive pain in the ass right now and refusing to load, and since we're stuck on a hotel connection this weekend, it's not being polite about our attempts to fix it. Please be patient - we promise it'll be up some time tonight.

We decided to celebrate our fiftieth vlog with technical difficulties.

John has IRL vengeance...it's a problem.

How do you reduce your virtues? My character started out incredibly vengeful but has grown as a person and repented his ways. I want to trade my Vengeance rating for Valor rating (Dodekatheon.)

Let me relate a personal story that hopefully will help explain. As a teen/young adult, I had terrible rage problems. Although I had great successes in the classroom and in many after-school activities, I was also in trouble in the principal's office often. It wasn't just that I got angry, or even that I got irrationally angry. It was that when I acted on that anger, I lost control and horrible things happened.

My parents didnt want to admit that anything was wrong with me. And my success in other areas made it something that was easy to overlook. Also, although I didnt realize it then, looking back, I was a very manipulative little shit, and got away with things I shouldn't have with bold-faced lies.

But to save you the details of many insane stories, by the time I was 16, I had court-appointed anger management (was far better than jail for attempted murder... yay, lawyers). After several years of counseling, group therapy and a deeper immersion in the arts, I was "cured".

This didn't mean I didn't get angry anymore. Or that something chemically changed that let my brain react to anger like other people do. Instead, I learned how to control my anger better, and to find ways to channel the anger/energy in a health(ier)y manner.

I still get really, really angry sometimes. But the times where that anger causes me to be excessivly violent/destructive have been greatly reduced. However, there are definitely times when I fail to control myself, and can get myself into pretty bad trouble. But it's never something that stops existing as part of me. It's just something I struggle to control for the rest of my life.

An alcholic will tell you a similiar story.

Where am I going with all this rambling?

Virtues aren't things that change over time because you grow or change. Vengeance isn't the angry "phase" of our youth that we grow out of. Harmony isn't that hippy "phase" in college that we mature through. Order isn't something only stuffy old gods have. Virtues are an important, intrinsic parts of your character's very being. They represent not only the inner values that you feel as part of your soul, but also your connection to your people and your pantheon (rage problems are well-documented for generations in both sides of my family).

I promise that a character who has changed and become Pious, but still suffers under the yolk of intense levels of Vengeance, constantly struggling to control their emotions and actions is WAY more interesting as a character than someone who gets to take the easy way out and just be done with the emotions they don't like when they don't want them anymore.

Gods are giant, awesome, super versions of humanity. Virtues represent those giant, awesome, super emotions/needs/VIRTUES that they have. If they disagree with them, that can be great, but it should be a struggle, not a switch you can turn on or off.

That being said:

I've had lots of Virtue changing in games (although usually, almost always, it's against the will of the Scion).
There's a magic spell that does it for non-gods.
Avatar of Magic could work for gods probably, but maybe would take several to do a Legend 12 god.
Avatar of Justice, if swearing an oath to forever defend another pantheon or something similiar.
Some sort of blood-mixing oath-swearing with Avatars involved.
Titanspawn infection, or Titan worship at Hero/Demigod.
Titanrealms/Avatars at God.

So there are many options, but for all except Magic it's usually a suprise to my players and not something they're happy with.

So use one of those ways if you must. But I promise, sticking with that high Vengeance and making a go of it will be a far more interesting adventure/story for your character. It'll cause many problems, but it'll be far more rewarding.