Scion: Hero
Bought this; have many mixed feelings about it:
1) As I've said from time to time, I think linear expansion in RPGs is something we're likely to see. Hero: is an example of this, as it presents the first few "levels" of power. That's smart.
2) The book has built in PCs and an adventure path, which is pretty damn impressive. The adventure path has some problems as it sometimes assumes you're using the pregens.
3) I think it's in remarkably poor taste to feature two religions/pantheons who have unreconstructed (i.e. not neopagan) bodies of worship.
One of the things I made sure to do in my Mage: The Ascension writing was create a distinct point of separation between real world belief systems and what mages do, without merely creating fictional clones of these systems. This is a subtle but important thing, because the premise of that game is that mages construct belief systems and can both represent and create cultures. For instance, an Akashic Brother has a belief system that's completely synthetic, but resembles many actual beliefs. You can "get there from here" if your character followed said actual beliefs, without the book objectively claiming that Tradition beliefs are the genuine article.
The reason Greek and Norse pantheons get a by, by the way, is because in my books, it's okay to have two separate constructions based on the same root.
4) Join Battle needed a bit more time in the oven. It's inelegant as written and would be difficult for some folks in my group to follow. I'm think of this alternative:
Battle Points: Roll Wits + Awareness. No matter what you roll, you always score a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 8; adjust results accordingly. The resulting number is your Battle Points for the turn. Actions cost the same number of Battle Points as they take ticks, unless you only have 3. In that case, you can always take one action, regardless of cost. Resolve actions based on whoever has the highest number of Battle Points and go in order; some characters with remaining points might be able to go again in an order determined by their remaining totals.
This has the advantage of using the dice where they lie as your counters and understanding it as a resource, instead of Join Battle's relative-speed oddities.
5) I'm *almost* inclined to use much of this system for my current WoD game, especially when it comes to Epic Attributes (which are way better than current supernatural buffing systems), combat and a few other things.
6) Legendbinding? Brilliant.
1) As I've said from time to time, I think linear expansion in RPGs is something we're likely to see. Hero: is an example of this, as it presents the first few "levels" of power. That's smart.
2) The book has built in PCs and an adventure path, which is pretty damn impressive. The adventure path has some problems as it sometimes assumes you're using the pregens.
3) I think it's in remarkably poor taste to feature two religions/pantheons who have unreconstructed (i.e. not neopagan) bodies of worship.
One of the things I made sure to do in my Mage: The Ascension writing was create a distinct point of separation between real world belief systems and what mages do, without merely creating fictional clones of these systems. This is a subtle but important thing, because the premise of that game is that mages construct belief systems and can both represent and create cultures. For instance, an Akashic Brother has a belief system that's completely synthetic, but resembles many actual beliefs. You can "get there from here" if your character followed said actual beliefs, without the book objectively claiming that Tradition beliefs are the genuine article.
The reason Greek and Norse pantheons get a by, by the way, is because in my books, it's okay to have two separate constructions based on the same root.
4) Join Battle needed a bit more time in the oven. It's inelegant as written and would be difficult for some folks in my group to follow. I'm think of this alternative:
Battle Points: Roll Wits + Awareness. No matter what you roll, you always score a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 8; adjust results accordingly. The resulting number is your Battle Points for the turn. Actions cost the same number of Battle Points as they take ticks, unless you only have 3. In that case, you can always take one action, regardless of cost. Resolve actions based on whoever has the highest number of Battle Points and go in order; some characters with remaining points might be able to go again in an order determined by their remaining totals.
This has the advantage of using the dice where they lie as your counters and understanding it as a resource, instead of Join Battle's relative-speed oddities.
5) I'm *almost* inclined to use much of this system for my current WoD game, especially when it comes to Epic Attributes (which are way better than current supernatural buffing systems), combat and a few other things.
6) Legendbinding? Brilliant.