Procedurals
Procedural play involves gathering information and solving problems with careful thought. These systems help characters find clues, form masterful plans, and create useful items. Such goals work hand in hand with the rest of the game. Characters might research an obscure titanspawn before confronting it during an action-adventure scene, or engage in intrigue to secure obscure ingredients for a wondrous concoction.
Over the course of a story, characters might need to delve into a secret library, investigate a crime scene, locate a hidden door, or crack a code. This all involves gathering or deducing information, which can push the story forward by suggesting the group’s next course of action.
Scion divides this information into two categories: leads and clues. Leads are necessary to kickstart or continue the plot. Since the story would stall without them, they don’t rquire a roll to find — a character just needs to be in the right situation. If Edwin Drummond drops dead at a charity ball, poisoned, that’s a lead. Paths and Consolations often provide leads, using the characters’ contacts or setbacks to introduce new information.
Clues offer more than basic information, and are generally a challenge to uncover. If a character examines Edwin’s body with Medicine + Intellect, she can determine that he was poisoned with aconite, a plant associated with the hellhound Kerberos, and a character who asks around with Culture + Manipulation can discover that he owed a tremendous amount of money to a local child of Pluto.
Clues are not essential to driving the story forward, but can hasten its conclusion, deepen the characters’ understanding, or allow them to explore personal agendas and side stories.
There is a variety of ways to find clues. The following basic templates suggest likely dice pools and the types of clues each method would yield. Typical Complications for information gathering include tipping off the opposition, burning a contact, or owing a debt. • Analysis. The character uses experiments and specialized equipment to learn more about the case at hand. This method normally uses Medicine (dissection, diagnosis), Occult (mystic examination), or Science (chemical tests, material analysis), and can only provide information relevant to whatever the character is analyzing.
• Cracking. The information is guarded by firewalls or literal walls, needing criminal activity to unveil. This method normally uses Subterfuge (picking locks, forging an ID) or Technology (cracking codes, malware), and offers information hidden by the target.
• Interrogation. The character asks around, reads the atmosphere, or screams at someone hanging from a building. This method normally uses Culture (gossip), Empathy (reading a suspect), Persuasion (questions, conversation), or Subterfuge (criminal contacts), and provides information known to others. If an interaction becomes particularly involved, it may use the intrigue system. A character with a relevant Path can try to discover a clue this way using an Access roll.
• Surveying. The information is right there in front of the character, if they have the right knowledge and look hard enough. This method can use any appropriate Skill, from Close Combat (aftermath of a fight) to Survival (wilderness scene), and provides information about the immediate scene.
• Research. The character hits the books or search engines in search of useful specialist knowledge. This method normally uses Academics (history, politics), Culture (art, legends), Occult (myth, secret practices), or Science (science facts), and offers information that is generally available, if incredibly obscure or advanced.
The more successes a character earns when gathering information, the more the Storyguide can tell them. The following Stunts allow a player to distribute their threshold successes between specific topics or angles of inquiry, and can be performed as many times as the player has successes to spend.
Extra Clue (1s): Eileen spent an hour leafing through the old book before she looked up, cracking her neck and stretching. She paused. Why did the librarian look so terrified? Result: The Storyguide provides the character with an additional clue, which can relate to a Skill they possess but did not use for the original roll.
Interpretation (1s): The girl kept clamming up, but Horace kept pressing, and pretty soon he knew the kid was protecting her brother. Had she done all this just to pay his debts? Result: The Storyguide offers the character some additional context or insight for understanding a clue or lead, and its relevance to the story or the band.
Q&A (1s): Aaron pondered the bloody shards of black glass. A macuahuitl. Now, where would they get a thing like that? Surely he knew a place… Result: The player can ask the Storyguide one question about the clue, which must relate to how the character is gathering information. If the answer would be irrelevant or a red herring, the Storyguide should offer alternative information.
Player Inspiration (1s): Yukiko drifted around the gala, missing the weight of her sword. She soon spotted her target: Professor Khatri. If anyone knew where to find the sacred mirror, it was him. Result: The player can create an entirely new fact about the clue, which his character knows. The Storyguide must approve the fact before it is accepted.
Knowledge is power, and characters that discover useful information can use it to further their plans. The simplest way to do this is by performing an enhance Stunt, spending successes from an information-gathering challenge to create an Enhancement for a future roll using a different dice pool.
Example: Charlie, playing Titus, rolls Close Combat + Cunning to analyze a Wudang monk’s fighting style. Charlie could spend a threshold success for a +1 Enhancement to use in a future encounter with that monk.
In some situations, the Storyguide might allow a character to expend an Enhancement from an information-gathering challenge to gain new clues, using the Stunts listed above.
Example: Eileen studies Australia’s indigenous cryptids with Occult + Intellect, and spends two threshold successes to create a +2 Enhancement, which she banks. Later in that session, she spends the Enhancement on the Extra Clue and Interpretation Stunts, to earn some insight into a specific beast.
The Storyguide can also run information gathering as a complex action, a series of challenges covering an entire investigation. In this approach, every Milestone is a clue leading toward the truth, and the Storyguide reveals the full truth to the characters when enough have been found. This sort of complex action is a good way of letting the group quickly tackle an extensive investigation before moving into one of the other arenas.
Intervals for an investigation can span days or even weeks, and characters may not even recognize the clues they unearth as important information until the last piece brings everything together. An interval limit on information gathering might be a deadline for presenting your research, the time before a ghoulish murderer strikes again, and so on.
While visiting the British Museum, Donnie and Eileen stumble across a robbery. A quartz statue of Dionysus’ lover, Amethysta, was stolen from a collector’s display run by Henry Mackeson. This is a lead, a piece of information that can’t be missed, and starts the investigation.
The two split up and search for clues, extra information that can lead them to the truth. Donnie decides to chat up an attractive witness, but she’s worried he’ll think she’s crazy. This is (technically) an Interrogation, so prying out the info is a Difficulty 2 Persuasion + Manipulation challenge. Donnie rolls 4 successes, and spends his 2 threshold successes on two clue-based Stunts.
The girl tells him that the heavy statue was carried off by a single woman, slung over her shoulder. Donnie uses the Interpretation Stunt to get some more info from the Storyguide, who tells him that he recognizes the description; Evandre, an Amazon immigrant living in London. He also uses the Extra Clue Stunt to get another clue; he notices that the workers at the Galatea Foundation’s stand have quietly vanished in the chaos.
Meanwhile, Eileen discovers the cameras watching the statue were destroyed. Instead, she surveys footage of the parking lot with Technology + Resolve, and finds a Galatea Foundation van big enough to hold the statue, leaving at around the right time. Instead of looking for more information, she spends her 1 threshold success to create a +1 Enhancement as she works out its likely route.[br]
Eileen races down to grab Donnie, and the two of them jump in his sports car. The pair enjoy a +1 Enhancement in the car chase that follows, as Eileen shouts out directions while tapping on her phone.
INFORMATION GATHERING
Over the course of a story, characters might need to delve into a secret library, investigate a crime scene, locate a hidden door, or crack a code. This all involves gathering or deducing information, which can push the story forward by suggesting the group’s next course of action.
Scion divides this information into two categories: leads and clues. Leads are necessary to kickstart or continue the plot. Since the story would stall without them, they don’t rquire a roll to find — a character just needs to be in the right situation. If Edwin Drummond drops dead at a charity ball, poisoned, that’s a lead. Paths and Consolations often provide leads, using the characters’ contacts or setbacks to introduce new information.
Clues offer more than basic information, and are generally a challenge to uncover. If a character examines Edwin’s body with Medicine + Intellect, she can determine that he was poisoned with aconite, a plant associated with the hellhound Kerberos, and a character who asks around with Culture + Manipulation can discover that he owed a tremendous amount of money to a local child of Pluto.
Clues are not essential to driving the story forward, but can hasten its conclusion, deepen the characters’ understanding, or allow them to explore personal agendas and side stories.
FINDING CLUES
There is a variety of ways to find clues. The following basic templates suggest likely dice pools and the types of clues each method would yield. Typical Complications for information gathering include tipping off the opposition, burning a contact, or owing a debt. • Analysis. The character uses experiments and specialized equipment to learn more about the case at hand. This method normally uses Medicine (dissection, diagnosis), Occult (mystic examination), or Science (chemical tests, material analysis), and can only provide information relevant to whatever the character is analyzing.
• Cracking. The information is guarded by firewalls or literal walls, needing criminal activity to unveil. This method normally uses Subterfuge (picking locks, forging an ID) or Technology (cracking codes, malware), and offers information hidden by the target.
• Interrogation. The character asks around, reads the atmosphere, or screams at someone hanging from a building. This method normally uses Culture (gossip), Empathy (reading a suspect), Persuasion (questions, conversation), or Subterfuge (criminal contacts), and provides information known to others. If an interaction becomes particularly involved, it may use the intrigue system. A character with a relevant Path can try to discover a clue this way using an Access roll.
• Surveying. The information is right there in front of the character, if they have the right knowledge and look hard enough. This method can use any appropriate Skill, from Close Combat (aftermath of a fight) to Survival (wilderness scene), and provides information about the immediate scene.
• Research. The character hits the books or search engines in search of useful specialist knowledge. This method normally uses Academics (history, politics), Culture (art, legends), Occult (myth, secret practices), or Science (science facts), and offers information that is generally available, if incredibly obscure or advanced.
CLUES AND STUNTS
The more successes a character earns when gathering information, the more the Storyguide can tell them. The following Stunts allow a player to distribute their threshold successes between specific topics or angles of inquiry, and can be performed as many times as the player has successes to spend.
Extra Clue (1s): Eileen spent an hour leafing through the old book before she looked up, cracking her neck and stretching. She paused. Why did the librarian look so terrified? Result: The Storyguide provides the character with an additional clue, which can relate to a Skill they possess but did not use for the original roll.
Interpretation (1s): The girl kept clamming up, but Horace kept pressing, and pretty soon he knew the kid was protecting her brother. Had she done all this just to pay his debts? Result: The Storyguide offers the character some additional context or insight for understanding a clue or lead, and its relevance to the story or the band.
Q&A (1s): Aaron pondered the bloody shards of black glass. A macuahuitl. Now, where would they get a thing like that? Surely he knew a place… Result: The player can ask the Storyguide one question about the clue, which must relate to how the character is gathering information. If the answer would be irrelevant or a red herring, the Storyguide should offer alternative information.
Player Inspiration (1s): Yukiko drifted around the gala, missing the weight of her sword. She soon spotted her target: Professor Khatri. If anyone knew where to find the sacred mirror, it was him. Result: The player can create an entirely new fact about the clue, which his character knows. The Storyguide must approve the fact before it is accepted.
PLANNING AND ENHANCEMENTS
Knowledge is power, and characters that discover useful information can use it to further their plans. The simplest way to do this is by performing an enhance Stunt, spending successes from an information-gathering challenge to create an Enhancement for a future roll using a different dice pool.
Example: Charlie, playing Titus, rolls Close Combat + Cunning to analyze a Wudang monk’s fighting style. Charlie could spend a threshold success for a +1 Enhancement to use in a future encounter with that monk.
In some situations, the Storyguide might allow a character to expend an Enhancement from an information-gathering challenge to gain new clues, using the Stunts listed above.
Example: Eileen studies Australia’s indigenous cryptids with Occult + Intellect, and spends two threshold successes to create a +2 Enhancement, which she banks. Later in that session, she spends the Enhancement on the Extra Clue and Interpretation Stunts, to earn some insight into a specific beast.
COMPLEX INVESTIGATIONS
The Storyguide can also run information gathering as a complex action, a series of challenges covering an entire investigation. In this approach, every Milestone is a clue leading toward the truth, and the Storyguide reveals the full truth to the characters when enough have been found. This sort of complex action is a good way of letting the group quickly tackle an extensive investigation before moving into one of the other arenas.
Intervals for an investigation can span days or even weeks, and characters may not even recognize the clues they unearth as important information until the last piece brings everything together. An interval limit on information gathering might be a deadline for presenting your research, the time before a ghoulish murderer strikes again, and so on.
INVESTIGATION EXAMPLE
While visiting the British Museum, Donnie and Eileen stumble across a robbery. A quartz statue of Dionysus’ lover, Amethysta, was stolen from a collector’s display run by Henry Mackeson. This is a lead, a piece of information that can’t be missed, and starts the investigation.
The two split up and search for clues, extra information that can lead them to the truth. Donnie decides to chat up an attractive witness, but she’s worried he’ll think she’s crazy. This is (technically) an Interrogation, so prying out the info is a Difficulty 2 Persuasion + Manipulation challenge. Donnie rolls 4 successes, and spends his 2 threshold successes on two clue-based Stunts.
The girl tells him that the heavy statue was carried off by a single woman, slung over her shoulder. Donnie uses the Interpretation Stunt to get some more info from the Storyguide, who tells him that he recognizes the description; Evandre, an Amazon immigrant living in London. He also uses the Extra Clue Stunt to get another clue; he notices that the workers at the Galatea Foundation’s stand have quietly vanished in the chaos.
Meanwhile, Eileen discovers the cameras watching the statue were destroyed. Instead, she surveys footage of the parking lot with Technology + Resolve, and finds a Galatea Foundation van big enough to hold the statue, leaving at around the right time. Instead of looking for more information, she spends her 1 threshold success to create a +1 Enhancement as she works out its likely route.[br]
Eileen races down to grab Donnie, and the two of them jump in his sports car. The pair enjoy a +1 Enhancement in the car chase that follows, as Eileen shouts out directions while tapping on her phone.
Comments