Crafting
At certain points in a story, characters may need to gather reagents for an antidote, repair a vehicle to escape pursuit, or forge a weapon of literally mythical power. These tasks use crafting, which can allow characters to acquire the tools needed to overcome a challenge, or provide mythic rewards near the end of a story.
Scion boils any craft project down to a goal with a Tier. The goal is the aim of the crafter’s work, and usually amounts to creating an Enhancement or resolving a Complication, such as preparing a lavish feast to impress a delegation of giants.
The Tier is based on the goal’s scope, and determines how hard it is to achieve. Tier 2+ projects (and some large Tier 1 projects) are complex challenges that require a suitable Path, such as Student of Kagutsuchi. These projects have a number of Milestones equal to their Tier, plus one for every key element (materials, tools, design) that is missing when the project starts.
Possible Milestones for making a Relic include:
• Acquire rare materials, such as mythical herbs, secret ores, or the hide of a titanic lion. Characters might do so through violence, bartering, exploration, or alchemy.
• Hard labor in a forge, laboratory, garage, kitchen, construction site, and so on.
• Uncover a recipe or secret technique, or gain inspiration from a similar item or phenomenon. Suitable methods include theft, apprenticeship, research, or trade.
• Earn the blessing, advice, or hands-on assistance of a God or other powerful creature suited to the Relic.
• Perform a ritual act, like blooding a blade in the heart of a giant, parading divine armor through a grand ceremony, or spiritually cleansing oneself before work begins.
These Milestones have a minimum Difficulty equal to the overall Tier of the project, but remember that intervals don’t need to be resolved with a roll. If Diarmuid’s new spear needs the tusk of a demon boar, the players can spend an episode hunting one down to achieve that Milestone. Or if they’ve already slain such a beast, the crafter might produce a preserved tusk, translating the achievements of an earlier adventure into a “free” Milestone for this project.
Much like characters, craft projects in Scion have Tiers that represent their mythical potency. A crafter cannot create something with a Tier higher than his own.
• Tier 1 (Mortal): Mundane items like swords, improvised explosives, or cars, which usually offer a +1 Enhancement to a specific challenge. Many mortal projects can be completed without offering a challenge, and those that do are usually basic challenges with a Difficulty of 1-3.
• Tier 2 (Hero): Lesser mystical tools, like lucky charms or sleep potions. These usually aren’t any more potent than Tier 1 items, but possess unnatural qualities. A blessed sword is no sharper than a combat knife, but it slices cleanly through rakshasa sorcery. An unrolled Milestone for Tier 2+ can be earned with a scene of play.
• Tier 3 (Demigod): Extraordinary objects equivalent to Relics with ratings of 1-3, like Fae-Shot or the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. These offer powerful magical effects, or benefits stronger than a +1 Enhancement. Their unrolled Milestones require about an episode’s worth of story.
• Tier 4 (Divine): Legendary wonders, such as Relics rated 4+. Creating or restoring such a masterpiece is a grand project that the entire band labors toward, and usually serves as the focus or drive for an entire season, with Milestones that occupy or represent an entire arc of achievements.
A crafting project does not force the story to a halt while one character sits at an anvil. Characters pick up inspiration, acquire reagents, and win favors through their stories, allowing Heracles to sew his Nemean Cloak from the spoils of adventure.
Even when an artisan spends time in her workshop, other characters in the band can get involved in achieving Milestones by exploiting their Paths, taking on suitable challenges themselves, or offering support using the teamwork rules. Those intervals that require nothing but long and solitary work should occupy the downtime between scenes, episodes, or even arcs; while others train, plan, or party, the crafter toils away.
The time it takes to complete a craft challenge or interval depends on its nature. Fixing a busted engine might take a matter of minutes, while forging a sacred silver jian could take a solid day of hammering and grinding, followed by hours of ritual electroplating. Projects with a deadline or perishable ingredients should have a limited number of intervals.
FLAWS
Flaws are negative traits that undermine an item every time it is used, like a poorly balanced weapon or toxic side-effects. The most common sources of Flaws are Complications on a crafting interval, usually caused by substandard or dangerous materials, improvised or cursed tools, or a lack of knowledge. These inflict Flaws of equal total value, chosen by the Storyguide and player.
If a character wants to complete an interval more quickly, the Storyguide may choose to allow them to do so under the threat of a Flaw. Working twice as fast normally results in a Complication equal to the project’s Tier, while jury-rigging a Tier 1-2 object in moments inflicts automatic Flaws equal to twice the item’s Tier.
Most Tier 3+ projects are demanding enough that at least one of their intervals will face a Flaw. A player can choose to reduce or remove Flaws from these creations by adding two points of Tension to the Tension Pool for every removed point of Flaws.
Sample Flaws for each rating are suggested here, and specific Flaws for use with Relics can be found in the Relics section (Scion: Hero).
At times characters may recover lost or broken Relics from the depths of lore, face a foe powerful enough to curse or damage their own Birthrights, or decide to improve their panoply beyond its normal limits.
If an object is reduced to scrap it can only be used as materials for a new project, but repairing a mostly-intact object works just like creating a new example, with one fewer Milestone. If the project already needed only one successful roll it can usually be resolved extremely quickly, or without facing the usual Complications.
An object can also be altered to remove its Flaws. This requires a number of Milestones equal to the total rating of the removed Flaws. Alternatively, reforging a Relic to create a new version at a higher Tier provides an Enhancement to each roll equal to the old version’s dot rating.
Scion boils any craft project down to a goal with a Tier. The goal is the aim of the crafter’s work, and usually amounts to creating an Enhancement or resolving a Complication, such as preparing a lavish feast to impress a delegation of giants.
The Tier is based on the goal’s scope, and determines how hard it is to achieve. Tier 2+ projects (and some large Tier 1 projects) are complex challenges that require a suitable Path, such as Student of Kagutsuchi. These projects have a number of Milestones equal to their Tier, plus one for every key element (materials, tools, design) that is missing when the project starts.
Possible Milestones for making a Relic include:
• Acquire rare materials, such as mythical herbs, secret ores, or the hide of a titanic lion. Characters might do so through violence, bartering, exploration, or alchemy.
• Hard labor in a forge, laboratory, garage, kitchen, construction site, and so on.
• Uncover a recipe or secret technique, or gain inspiration from a similar item or phenomenon. Suitable methods include theft, apprenticeship, research, or trade.
• Earn the blessing, advice, or hands-on assistance of a God or other powerful creature suited to the Relic.
• Perform a ritual act, like blooding a blade in the heart of a giant, parading divine armor through a grand ceremony, or spiritually cleansing oneself before work begins.
These Milestones have a minimum Difficulty equal to the overall Tier of the project, but remember that intervals don’t need to be resolved with a roll. If Diarmuid’s new spear needs the tusk of a demon boar, the players can spend an episode hunting one down to achieve that Milestone. Or if they’ve already slain such a beast, the crafter might produce a preserved tusk, translating the achievements of an earlier adventure into a “free” Milestone for this project.
TIER
Much like characters, craft projects in Scion have Tiers that represent their mythical potency. A crafter cannot create something with a Tier higher than his own.
• Tier 1 (Mortal): Mundane items like swords, improvised explosives, or cars, which usually offer a +1 Enhancement to a specific challenge. Many mortal projects can be completed without offering a challenge, and those that do are usually basic challenges with a Difficulty of 1-3.
• Tier 2 (Hero): Lesser mystical tools, like lucky charms or sleep potions. These usually aren’t any more potent than Tier 1 items, but possess unnatural qualities. A blessed sword is no sharper than a combat knife, but it slices cleanly through rakshasa sorcery. An unrolled Milestone for Tier 2+ can be earned with a scene of play.
• Tier 3 (Demigod): Extraordinary objects equivalent to Relics with ratings of 1-3, like Fae-Shot or the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. These offer powerful magical effects, or benefits stronger than a +1 Enhancement. Their unrolled Milestones require about an episode’s worth of story.
• Tier 4 (Divine): Legendary wonders, such as Relics rated 4+. Creating or restoring such a masterpiece is a grand project that the entire band labors toward, and usually serves as the focus or drive for an entire season, with Milestones that occupy or represent an entire arc of achievements.
CRAFTING TIME
A crafting project does not force the story to a halt while one character sits at an anvil. Characters pick up inspiration, acquire reagents, and win favors through their stories, allowing Heracles to sew his Nemean Cloak from the spoils of adventure.
Even when an artisan spends time in her workshop, other characters in the band can get involved in achieving Milestones by exploiting their Paths, taking on suitable challenges themselves, or offering support using the teamwork rules. Those intervals that require nothing but long and solitary work should occupy the downtime between scenes, episodes, or even arcs; while others train, plan, or party, the crafter toils away.
The time it takes to complete a craft challenge or interval depends on its nature. Fixing a busted engine might take a matter of minutes, while forging a sacred silver jian could take a solid day of hammering and grinding, followed by hours of ritual electroplating. Projects with a deadline or perishable ingredients should have a limited number of intervals.
FLAWS
Flaws are negative traits that undermine an item every time it is used, like a poorly balanced weapon or toxic side-effects. The most common sources of Flaws are Complications on a crafting interval, usually caused by substandard or dangerous materials, improvised or cursed tools, or a lack of knowledge. These inflict Flaws of equal total value, chosen by the Storyguide and player.
If a character wants to complete an interval more quickly, the Storyguide may choose to allow them to do so under the threat of a Flaw. Working twice as fast normally results in a Complication equal to the project’s Tier, while jury-rigging a Tier 1-2 object in moments inflicts automatic Flaws equal to twice the item’s Tier.
Most Tier 3+ projects are demanding enough that at least one of their intervals will face a Flaw. A player can choose to reduce or remove Flaws from these creations by adding two points of Tension to the Tension Pool for every removed point of Flaws.
Sample Flaws for each rating are suggested here, and specific Flaws for use with Relics can be found in the Relics section (Scion: Hero).
MAKING REPAIRS
At times characters may recover lost or broken Relics from the depths of lore, face a foe powerful enough to curse or damage their own Birthrights, or decide to improve their panoply beyond its normal limits.
If an object is reduced to scrap it can only be used as materials for a new project, but repairing a mostly-intact object works just like creating a new example, with one fewer Milestone. If the project already needed only one successful roll it can usually be resolved extremely quickly, or without facing the usual Complications.
An object can also be altered to remove its Flaws. This requires a number of Milestones equal to the total rating of the removed Flaws. Alternatively, reforging a Relic to create a new version at a higher Tier provides an Enhancement to each roll equal to the old version’s dot rating.
Type
Metaphysical, Supernatural
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