Rules

Introduction

Scion as a system was a very strange experience for us: it did an incredible job of providing a basis for mythic gameplay and a foundation for characters who would eventually come to embody, subvert, and transcend both classical and modern-day archetypes; however, as a system it was horribly broken, introducing an incredible scale of unbalanced power on the one hand, and on the other arbitrarily limiting things like certain Boons and Knacks to very specific circumstances which were unlikely to ever come up in gameplay. For God-Touched we went through various community-modified rulesets and tweaked them endlessly with our own house rules, but ultimately it didn’t solve any of the issues we had with it. Eventually, when it came to the epilogue, we felt it best to eschew rules entirely—after all, most of the characters were gods whose limits were related more to the metaphors and symbols and worldviews which defined them than sheer potential.

But for Fate-Touched, we were going to be playing entirely new characters who were going to start limited to the mortal world. We needed a very different system to fit our needs as a gaming group.

To that end, this system follows three principles:

• Be friendly. While complex RPG systems are fun to explore (and conquer), simple systems offer gameplay that’s quick and easy to get into without requiring too much knowledge of the ins and outs. Because complexity is always added throughout the course of gameplay as the players and GM negotiate their power over each other anyway, we decided to err on the simpler, or “fluffier,” side of the spectrum.
• Be flexible. Because a lot has been consolidated or trimmed out from the original Scion system, the distinctions between the limits placed on certain powers or stats rest more on the GM and players now than on the system itself. This was done on purpose, to encourage rather than restrict different ways of thinking about a character’s powers.
• Be mythic. To us, being mythic means accomplishing (or spectacularly failing to accomplish) deeds on a grand scale, pushing one’s limits, being resourceful, and embodying and transcending cultural values, symbols, and archetypes. We tried to provide a foundation for all of those things, and also tried to make room for it.

Obviously, this is not the best or only way to accomplish these things, nor is it the best or only way to define these principles. But this is the way we choose to do it.

That’s not to say we threw out mechanics with the bathwater! We decided to keep a few things:

• Dice and successes. We’ll still be using a pool of d10s (which can be modified in various ways), with 7s, 8s, and 9s granting 1 success and 10s granting 2 successes. And a pool of dice will still be drawn from two sources.
• Attributes and Abilities. Though we won’t be using all the original Attributes and Abilities, the basic concept is still there, with three physical, three social, and three mental Attributes, along with the five-dot limit to the mortal scope.
• Legend, Legend Points, Virtues, Virtue Channels, Virtue Extremity, and Purviews. At their very core, each of these mechanics did a very good job of paving the way for creating heroes who were truly mythic, and, in the case of Virtue Extremity, also did a good job of increasing the stakes involved in using one’s power.
• Knacks... kind of. Really, the only resemblance that Knacks bear to their predecessor in the original Scion system is offering bonuses to very specific circumstances.

Although we’ve simplified the system a great deal, you may still want to be familiar with the original Scion rules to understand what’s going on.

The Basics

Or, how to roll, how to modify rolls, when to roll, and determining a turn order.

Rolling

To make an action, a character must add together the ratings of an Attribute and an Ability or a Purview and an Ability to determine how many dice they’re rolling. Plain and simple!

Modifying a Roll

Before rolling a dice pool and tallying up results, the player must determine how they’re going to modify their roll (if at all). They can do it any of the following ways, in any combination:

• Spending Legend Points. One Legend Point gives one automatic success to any given roll. There is no limit to how many Legend Points can be spend on a single roll—the only limit is how many Legend Points a character currently has.
• Channeling a Virtue. By checking off a Virtue channel box, a character adds as many automatic successes as there are dots in that particular Virtue. However, after making the roll (regardless of the outcome), a player must roll their Virtue rating in dice against a Difficulty of the total remaining unchecked Virtue boxes from all the Virtues. If their roll matches or beats the Difficulty, the character goes into Virtue Extremity.
• Using a Knack. A Knack is a passive, always-on bonus to dice which applies to a specific circumstance, so technically it’s always in use!
• Perform a Stunt. A player can borrow the spotlight to describe a character’s action in evocative and thrilling detail. Each fellow player who upvotes their stunt grants an automatic success—and a Legend Point!

Botching

If a player rolls more 1s than successes (automatic successes notwithstanding), they’ve botched their roll! The GM gets to determine just how badly the character has failed in their task, and what penalties might arise from that failure.

Rerolling

By spending a Legend Point, a player can reroll any roll they just made, even a botch. However, this can only be done once, and the new result is the one the player has to keep regardless of what it is. Additionally, one may not spend more Legend Points to improve a reroll than previously—however, one doesn't need to spend those Legend Points a second time on the reroll.

Assisting Another Character's Roll

A character may choose to assist another character’s roll by rolling their own relevant ([Attribute or Purview] + Ability). The GM may decide how many successes they need to grant +1 bonus dice to the character they’re trying to assist. For example, the GM may decide that for every two successes the assisting character nets +1 bonus dice—therefore a roll with 7 successes will grant +3 bonus dice.

Resolving Conflicts

Of course, when a player makes a roll, that indicates that there is some kind of obstacle to overcome or conflict to resolve. The type and scale of that particular conflict is determined by the GM, who then communicates to the player exactly what they’re facing.

Difficulty

To represent some kind of obstacle—whether it be an inanimate barrier, like a wall, or an active hazard, like a storm—the GM determines a difficulty, which is a static number that a character has to match or beat with their roll in order to succeed. If a character rolls more successes than the difficulty, they may receive further benefits, such as more specific information on a roll made to gather intel.

Contested Roll

If a character is taking an action in response to an action made against them, that’s considered to be a contested roll. It’s pretty simple: both characters roll ([Attribute or Purview] + Ability), and whoever rolls more successes wins that contest.

In the case of the tie, as a group you can decide the tie-breaking rule is

• … the defender always wins. (This is the one we use.)
• … flipping a coin.
• … reroll.
• … any other method of your choice.

Extended Roll

An extended roll represents an effort which takes more than one action on the part of one or more characters. For example, constructing a hollow wooden horse big enough to fit several hundred people or racing against the physical personification of thought could be considered extended rolls.

An extended roll can call for any combination of difficulty per roll, total difficulty, and contested rolls. It may also feature rounds in which one can roll.

Example 1: One Character Performing a Ritual Properly

The GM decides that there is a total difficulty that the character has to meet or beat, that the character also has to beat a minimum difficulty per round in order to add the difference as successes to their total, and that they have a certain amount of rounds to reach the total difficulty.

Example 2: Two Characters in a Boxing Match

The GM decides that there are twelve rounds (like a standard boxing match). Each character rolls their relevant ([Attribute or Purview] + Ability) and the difference between the rolls represents the amount of “points” earned by the winner. Whoever earns the most points wins the boxing match.

Example 3: A Team of Characters Building a Magical Zeppelin

The GM assigns a total difficulty. Each character chooses an ([Attribute or Purview] + Ability) roll which represents the kind of work they’ll be doing on the zeppelin throughout construction. The GM, of course, may decide that their rolls no longer apply or won’t apply until later in construction. Then, the GM assigns each character a minimum difficulty per round in order to add the difference in successes to their total.

These are just a few examples of the possibilities a GM has when designing a challenge. It can, of course, get more complicated with characters being able to roll to assist another character rather than directly adding successes to the total and then some.

Stats

Or, what to roll and what kind of rating your character should have (aside from the best rating).

Attributes

Just like in the original Scion system, there are nine Attributes—three of which are physical, three of which are social, and three of which are mental—which represent intrinsic qualities of a character.

One Dot

When a character has one dot in a particular Attribute, they are considered below average in that area. For example, someone with one dot in Perception may have dulled senses or may just have trouble passively filtering out superfluous information. The average person has two dots in any given Attribute, so use that as your metric for determining exactly what rating you want for your character.

The List

The Attributes are as follows:

• Strength. Physical capacity for strength.
• Dexterity. Agility and hand-eye coordination.
• Stamina. Physical capacity for endurance: pain tolerance, immune system strength, and how quickly one bounces back can all fall under this Attribute.
• Charisma. Inherent instinct regarding cultural/social cues and behaving in an engaging and compelling fashion.
• Presence. Ability to draw attention by body language and other socio-physical cues.
• Insight. Emotional intelligence, or how well they can subconsciously read other people.
• Perception. The sensitivity and efficacy of a character’s different senses, as well as their ability to parse information provided by their senses.
• Intelligence. Capacity for retaining and applying knowledge.
• Wits. Ability to act or react quickly to a given scenario—or, to “think on one's feet.”

Abilities

Again, similar to the original Scion system, Abilities are skills that require training and practice to develop, and must be actively used.

One Dot

Unlike with Attributes, one dot in an Ability represents an investment of time and energy beyond the societal average in a particular skill. A character with a dot in Medicine had to not only have been taught (either by another person or self-taught) basic medicinal skills (like first aid) but have had to practice and apply it (like in a first aid class or even on the field).

The List

The Abilities are as follows:

• Art.
• Athletics.
• Combat.
• Control.
• Endure.
• Knowledge.
• Larceny.
• Medicine.
• Notice.
• Relate.
• Search.
• Sneak.
• Survival.

Specializations

Particularly:

• Art.
• Combat.
• Control.
• Knowledge.
• Relate.

What About Mental Resistance?

In the original Scion system, mental resistance was represented by Integrity. We chose not to re-implement that because, while having integrity does require a strong will, they are mutually exclusive terms. An amoral character can still have a strong will and not be easily manipulated.

We found that there are several options regarding implementing a mental resistance Ability. A character with Knowledge: Self is self aware and so will at least have a notion when they’re being manipulated into behaving in a way which they would normally find objectionable. On the other hand, a character may not be terribly self aware but they could have a Self-Discipline Ability, which will allow them to resist temptation. Alternatively, an exceptionally stubborn character could have Endure: Mental. The possibilities are endless, really—and each gaming group should discuss how important they consider a mental resistance Ability and come to a common ground about how to implement it.

Powers

Or, all the cool things your character can potentially do.

Legend Points

Virtues

Purviews

Knacks

Advancement

Or, Experience Points costs for various stats.

Stat	Cost
Attribute/Purview	(new dot x 10)
Ability	(new dot x 5)
Knack	(new bonus x 5)

Keep in mind that all stats cap at the character's current Legend rating.

What About Legend & Virtues?

As a group, we like to keep everyone at the same Legend level because the power disparity between different Legend ratings is exponential. As such, the GM is placed in charge of when all the characters gain a dot of Legend—which typically tends to be tied to the resolution of important plot events.

Virtues, on the other hand, represent the compulsory values that a character holds; and on top of that Virtues only max out at only five dots. As such, we decided to tie it to Legend, rather than Experience. So, at every third Legend dot, the character gains a dot which they can put into any Virtue.