Just ran my first game!

So, I finally got a chance to ST my first Scion game. I had 3 players (with a possibility of 2 more when schedules allow). Two of them are experienced players.. and the third was a total RP virgin. Our first get together was a "character creation" session where we walked the new player through creation, and I hammered out a few little details on creation.. Once that was doen, the new player wanted to dive right in, so I started with her visition. My other two players waved off playing through theirs, saying we could run them seperately later.. I have a Scion of Baldur, a Scion of Ogham and a Scion of Ares adopted by Artemis..

The game is set in Las Vegas, but I'm not using the plot in Hero. Instead each Pantheon has a touchstone in the city, represented by a Casino.. here's the list..

Egyptians - LuXor
Greeks - Ceasar's Palace
Norse - The Valhalla (A reimagied Wynn)
Aztec - Haven't decided yet..
Japanese - Imperial Palace
Loa - The Orleans
Tuatha - Excalibur
Devas - Mandalay Bay (A slightly more "themey" version)
Chinese - Haven't decided yet..
Yankee - New York, New York

Anyway.. something is amiss in town and the Scions have to figure it out.

I got the Band together and they had some good RP intereractions with various extra's.. and we even had our first combat.. with the band taking on a Fire Giant in a casino bar..

All in all it was a great time.. though I do have some questions..

In regards to Relics, is there a way listed in the books to increase their potency after creation? Allow them to access more Purveiews, increase stats, add powers?

Combat seems a little clunky, is there anyway to make it a bit streamlined.. other then having the players know what they're rolling before hand?

I'll be sure to post again if I run into more problems..

MisterShifter:

In regards to Relics, is there a way listed in the books to increase their potency after creation? Allow them to access more Purveiews, increase stats, add powers?

"Additional Birthright traits can be acquired only through roleplaying, not the expenditure of experience points."
-Hero, p156

MisterShifter:

Combat seems a little clunky, is there anyway to make it a bit streamlined.. other then having the players know what they're rolling before hand?

What do you mean by 'clunky'? Any particular sections of combat you're having trouble with?

MisterShifter:

In regards to Relics, is there a way listed in the books to increase their potency after creation? Allow them to access more Purveiews, increase stats, add powers?

Aside from the extra Birthrights you get at Demigod and God there's no official way to get more points to modify an existing birthright.  Unofficially, the sky's the limit.  Bathing in the beating heart of a dragon?  Getting Hephestus to throw it in the forge and give it a working over?  Have Thor summon lightning with Mjolnir to clean the grime off it?  Nothing is too "out there" for Scion.

MisterShifter:

Combat seems a little clunky, is there anyway to make it a bit streamlined.. other then having the players know what they're rolling before hand?

I've been running for a while and we do have a pretty action oriented game so glad to lend a hand.  Just need to know what you need the hand with in particular.

Grendl and rawn have you covered on Birthrights.

Combat seems very streamlined to me. Indeed, if you give out DVs and Soaks, players can completely roll to hit and factor damage with no input from you, and you can do the same with them, beyond the possibility of spending a legend to slightly boost DV.  I have found it to be faster and smoother in Scion then nearly any other game.

Is the tick system your problem and are you using a wheel? What are your problems and I will be happy to lend a hand.

Mmm.. well.. I'd like to let my players develope their Relics into real objects of legend.. so I'll think of something that is a combination of RP Quest and XP expenditure..

As for combat.. the system itself was fine.. all I need to do is get some of the finer details down, but that will come from experience. I think I felt that the fight lasted longer then it needed to. It was 3 Scions and 1 NPC with a shotgun versus one Giant and it took almost 10 minutes. People would hit, and be hit.. but it took forever before they finally dished out some damage past the soaks.. in fact, the Scions didn't even take ANY damage the whole fight.

Guess I'm to used to the WoD style with damage flying everywhere.

I do have one thing though.. looking through the "yankee" Pantheon.. I'm not to fond of the whole "Wild West" Tall Tales identities of the Deities.. I'm deffinately thinking of changing them.. at least their names and personas to reflect something more broadly American..

Were these starting characters?
A giant might have trouble hitting a starting character, but if he hits, he definitely should do dmg.   Also remembers that npcs can stunt and channel and deed also.

Although, for  a first combat where people are just learning the game, 10 minutes doesnt seem too bad. 

Yeah.. they were starting level characters.. though I think I might of missed the Giants Epic Strength bonus successes.. plus Dice hate me..

I guess it wasn't so bad.. especially considering three of us were sharing dice.. it's just getting used to the system..

Yeah, if everyone can get their own dice that'll help speed it up a lot.   They can have their dice counted out before their turn and speed it along.   Epics on npcs are also very important yeah :)

Well our first game was just supposed to be a character creation deal.. so I didn't have my dice..

Next time we'll be ready. And I guess I'm ok with the baddies not hurting the Scions.. as long as they can hurt the baddies back.. guess they just need some Epic Strength..

OH.. here's another question.. how the hell does Eric Donner hit anything with no Epic Dex? I thought maybe he used Strength to roll with to punch people.. but apparently not.. how does one hit without epic Dex?

Its a classic problem.  Generally you cant.
Eric donner is an awful statted character.  He's pretty useless, and continues to get more and more useless as he gains legend. 
Without epic dex you can wrestle.  Thats about it. 
Early on its easy with stunting and such, but past 3-4 legend its almost impossible to hit anything without epic dex.  Its a problem with the system.

It can be solved with a knack or a relic power.  Some HR that eric uses str. to hit with the gun.

My Samedi Scion can hit things without Epic Dexterity. Now he can't usually hit things with Epic Dexterity naturally, but he has done OK at as high as 7 without purchasing any.  When fighting harder to hit foes, he uses animal 3 to get a shitload of dice.

That said, Donner really is built badly. Maxed strength and a gun as his main weapon. Unlike my guy no fallback to a boon to boost his chance to hit.

As heretical as it may sound, I've found that having a die roller program on my laptop really speeds things up, especially at demigod and god levels. I wrote my own, and freely make the code available to my players in an effort to make it more legit.

Plus the players can't see what you're rolling, which makes it easier to fudge in effort to make things more fun.

Watching an ST(or anyone at a tabletop game) use a dice roller would make me cringe.   If the ST is worried about fudging, a DM screen works awesome.  However if I need to fudge, I really don't expect their eyes on my dice.  They have other thing to do. 

I'm glad it works for you, but you're right, it seems heretical :)

From what I've been told, die-roller programs have a lower average, just as part of the architecture.  As a player, I wouldn't want to use one... but I also wouldn't object to my ST usng one. >:->

BlaineTog:

From what I've been told, die-roller programs have a lower average, just as part of the architecture

Random is random. Based on the Scion system, you should see a success 40% of the time, regardless of random dice or random numbers.