Storypath

Storypath is a roleplaying system, designed for heroic adventures featuring larger-than-life protagonists.
It provides a structure for a huge range of challenges and powers in a range of dramatic and intriguing
settings, from distant post-human futures to the halls of ancient gods.
You are likely already familiar with roleplaying games if not, they are a set of rules for creating
characters and playing out their stories, with challenges and antagonists created by a referee (or
Director) and using dice to inject an element of random chance.

Modes Of Play
Storypath uses a single core mechanic to resolve events in the game world. Specific changes and
extensions allow this one mechanic to model three broad modes of play.
Action-Adventure : Physical peril, violence and round-by-round action. This is the realm of punch-ups,
car chases and defusing bombs with seconds to spare. These fast-paced scenes usually take place in
real-time, with specialist rules covering combat and dramatic movement.
Intrigue : Interpersonal ties, relationships and social manipulation. These scenes include interrogations,
infiltrating secret social circles, and pursuing romance. They blend real-time conversation with stretches
of skipped time, and include specialist rules for persuasion and representing different personalities.
Procedural: Deductions, careful research and cunning preparation. The focus here is on solving
problems through information, by gathering clues or formulating plans. These scenes take place as
montages, skipping through long stretches of work, and include specialist rules for investigation and
crafting.

Your Character
In Storypath, you (the player) control the actions of a hero in the world of the game, guiding them
through their adventures. The various talents and advantages of each players character are represented
in three basic ways: Attributes, Skills, and Edges.
Attributes and Skills are numerical values, which represent your characters raw talent and trained
expertise, respectively. They normally range between 0-5, with higher ratings indicating a greater
aptitude and making it easier to overcome challenges in the game.
Edges represent other special qualities a character might have, such as unique physical characteristics or
external resources. The strength of each Edge is also represented by a numerical rating; these are usually
referred to as dots.
Attributes
Attributes are a characters most basic strengths, represented as nine different values. If youre
particularly intelligent or charming or tough, its represented by your Attributes.
Physical Attributes
These deal with a characters bodily talents the work of muscle and sinew.
Might: Sheer physical power. Might allows you to lift heavy objects, break through or force past
obstacles, attack enemies in a melee, and so on.
Dexterity: Deft physical control. Dexterity allows you to move with grace and balance, make use of
fine motor skills, strike distant targets, and so on.
Stamina: Vital physical resistance. Stamina allows you to shrug off illness and poison, endure hardship
and deprivation, recover from injury, and so on.
Social Attributes
These deal with a characters interpersonal flair natural ease and charm.
Presence : Charismatic social power. Presence allows you to make an immediate impression, persuade
or bully other characters into doing what you want, and so on.
Manipulation: Subtle social control. Manipulation allows you to fit in with a crowd, discern the motives
of other characters, drop subliminal hints, and so on.
Composure : Poised social resistance. Composure allows you to hide your reactions and motives,
exercise self-control, endure social pressure, and so on.
Mental Attributes
These deal with a characters cognitive ability the measure of genius.
Reason: Intellectual mental power. Reason allows you to make logical deductions, draw on your
memory and research, employ academic disciplines, and so on.
Cunning: Quick-witted mental control. Cunning allows you to react quickly to new situations, notice
minor details, make intuitive leaps, and so on.
Resolve : Disciplined mental resistance. Resolve allows you to see through deception, endure pain and
torture, ignore distractions, and so on.
Skills
Skills are the abilities a character acquired through training, experience and education. If youre an
expert in quantum mechanics or a champion kickboxer, its represented by your Skills. They vary
depending on the setting a post-apocalyptic future offers different opportunities to a Victorian
globe-trotting adventure. General, common Skills include:
Academics : Knowledge of the humanities, politics and law. Useful for deciphering political systems and
climates, as well as understanding bureaucracies.
Athletics : Techniques for sport, fitness and physical exertion. Useful for training, throwing objects,
running and jumping, climbing, displays of physical stamina, and so on.
Culture : Knowledge of religious and cultural ideas. Useful for recalling relevant historical events,
identifying cultural taboos to avoid, and understanding artwork.
Close Combat: Prowess at fighting up-close and personal. Useful for engaging in close range combat,
whether bare-handed grappling or deadly knife-fighting.
Empathy: Ability to understand the psychology of other characters. Useful for discerning a characters
motives, emotions, or truthfulness, provoking emotional responses, and so on.
Firearms : Training in the use of guns and similar projectile weapons. Useful for firing with accuracy, as
well as maintaining complex weaponry.
Leadership: Knack for commanding others. Useful for co-ordinating teams, issuing direct orders,
bypassing red tape, and so on.
Medicine : Education in medical practice. Useful for treating injuries and illnesses, identifying the cause
of various ailments, and making use of drugs.
Occult: Knowledge of deeper mysteries. Useful for identifying or using actual magic, as well as
researching secret cults and supernatural beings.
Persuasion: Ability to get others to do what you want. Useful for interrogation, seduction, bribery,
honest requests, public debate, and so on.
Pilot: Experience in controlling vehicles. Useful for travelling across land, sea and even air, as well as
repairing and maintaining mechanical vehicles.
Science : Knowledge of the natural sciences. Useful for identifying clues and supernatural phenomena,
as well as creating useful reactions or compounds.
Subterfuge : Prowess at deception and criminal activity. Useful for lying, applying disguises, picking
locks and pockets, and avoiding notice.
Survival: Techniques for surviving without modern amenities. Useful for foraging, navigating, enduring
the elements, taming animals, building shelter, and so on.
Technology: Experience with modern technology. Useful for operating modern computers, jury-rigging
devices, crafting and repairing tools, and so on.
Edges
Unique quirks that offer a character a constant, passive benefit are called Edges. They often provide an
Enhancement to actions, allow a character to bypass specific disadvantages, or represent access to
abilities or resources the character would not otherwise have.
Wealth of Croesus
Wealth Beyond Avarice: If a character has a Path that means they have a serious amount of cash, this
Edge allows them to evoke the Path one extra time per Episode without causing a Path Challenge, only
for the purposes of applying a staggering amount of cash to a situation.
Self-Defense Training
SDT: Enhancement (1) to any Defense Trait in clash range combat.
Striking Looks -
Striking Looks: Enhancement equal to cost for any roll involving physical attractiveness.

Core Mechanic
Storypath uses a single core mechanic to resolve the actions undertaken by characters. It can be used in
different ways for specific situations, but always remains basically intact.
Summary
1) Form a dice pool. This is a number of 10-sided dice equal to the sum of the most relevant Attribute
and Skill for the task at hand.
2) Roll these dice. Every die that shows a number which meets or exceeds the target number of 7
provides 1 success. Dice that show a 10 instead provide 2 successes. This rule is called double-10s.
3) If you roll at least one success, you can benefit from Enhancements. These are situations or
advantages that provide additional, free successes.
4) All tasks face a difficulty. Subtract a number of successes from your total equal to the difficulty
rating. If you retain any successes after this, you succeed, and achieve your aim.
5) Any leftover successes past the first are threshold successes. Spend them to apply Stunts that
improve your victory further, or to overcome Complications that could trip you up.
5) If you didnt roll any initial successes, or didnt have any successes left over after the difficulty, you
fail. The Director may offer you a Consolation to keep the story moving.

When Not To Roll

Rolling the dice is a way of deciding what happens in the game, intended to add tension
and the possibility of failure. As such, you shouldnt bother rolling if failure wouldnt be
interesting, or if what you want to do would obviously succeed like Googling a
simple fact, or performing a task well within the bounds of your Skills under ideal
circumstances.
The Director ultimately decides when you should and shouldnt roll.

Dice Pools
To form a dice pool, add the most appropriate Attribute to the most appropriate Skill. Lifting a fallen
pillar off a comrade could use (Might + Athletics), while hacking a security system might require
(Reason + Technology). Dice pools are almost never modified. Dice are not added or subtracted; when
a task is trickier, difficulty and Complications are used, and when the player benefits from certain
advantages, Enhancements come into play. This makes it easier to memorize common dice pools.
Target Numbers
The target number is the value each of your rolled dice need to meet or exceed in order to provide you
with a success. By default, it is 7. Like dice pools, target numbers are almost never modified.
Regardless of your target number, if you roll a 10 it provides 2 successes. This is called the double-10s
rule, and certain powers may offer double-9s, double-8s, and so on.
Tier
In Scion, Origins -level characters roll at target number 8; Heroes roll at 7; Demigods and
Gods roll at 6.
Successes & Enhancements
Successes are the currency of the Storypath system, spent to overcome difficulty, pull off cool Stunts
and so on. Successes come from a characters dice pool, but if they roll even one success, they can also
gain successes from Enhancements. These are advantages, like having the high ground in a fight, which
provide additional successes equal to their rating.
Enhancements are never applied to failed rolls. Enhancements can only add successes to goals that they
actually apply to explosive ammunition can add successes if youre shooting a police convoy, but it
wont help you vault a barricade, or even aid your accuracy but all applicable Enhancements add
successes.
A common form of Enhancement is Scale, representing effects of overwhelming size, speed, power or
scope. Other Enhancements come with drawbacks, such as getting drunk to help yourself hide from a
psychic probe.
If a character rolls at least one success with their dice pool and retains at least one success after beating
the difficulty, they succeed. Spare successes past the first are threshold successes, which can be spent
beating Complications and improving success with Stunts.
Difficulty
Any action that you actually roll for has a difficulty, even if its 0. This is the number of successes that
you subtract from your total including any Enhancements to see if you succeed. If you dont have
successes left after difficulty, you fail.
Difficulty 0 is sufficient for many tasks after all, it takes a Mortal about three dice to generate an
average of 1 success, and any situation in which you need to make a roll is, by definition, already
stressful and action-oriented. In situations where its simply impossible to succeed, theres no reason to
set a difficulty just dont roll.
Difficulty is normally set by the Director, but in some cases it fluctuates based on the ability of an
opposing character. This is called opposed difficulty, and is usually generated by successes on the
defenders own roll. When its not clear whos defending, the character with the lower success total
has their successes converted into difficulty for the other character.
Complications
Difficulty represents the chance of outright failure, but its possible to succeed with drawbacks; a yes,
but. These situations are represented with Complications, which inflict some kind of hindrance or injury
when you succeed. Perhaps you successfully clamber over a wall, but the barbed wire wounds your leg,
or tangles a coat that you have to leave behind as evidence.
Complications have ratings, indicating how hard they are to avoid. You can bypass a Complication by
spending a number of threshold successes equal to its rating.
A low difficulty with Complications is usually more interesting than a high difficulty, as it forces players to
choose where to assign their effort and to consider whether they want to spend successes to
overcome Complications at all, when they could be using them for Stunts.
Stunts
Stunts are a way of rewarding success beyond the basics, allowing characters to spend their threshold
successes to produce additional effects, like creating useful Enhancements or Complications. Perhaps
you successfully clamber over a wall, and even have time to create a handhold for the friend fleeing
directly behind you, or confuse pursuit with a false trail.
In cases where this level of mechanical detail isnt necessary, the number of threshold successes youve
achieved just indicates a general degree of success, with 0 being barebones, 3 demonstrating
remarkable fortune or skill, and 5 being a sublime performance worthy of fame, song, and millions of
Youtube views.
Stunts are usually built using a general template, where the strength is based on the threshold successes
spent on it. As they are an extension of your characters actions, Stunts have to make sense, just like
actions and dice pools. You cant assist diplomatic talks with a Stunt for a (Cunning + Pilot) roll, unless
Chinas MPA representative particularly appreciates stunt driving.
Fields and Challenges
Some combinations of Enhancements, Stunts and Complications are bound up together
for players to use. The most obvious example is Fields, which represent different
surroundings. A disorganized, dimly-lit warehouse might offer an Enhancement to
ambushes, the ability to Stunt grabbing a useful item from a box, or a Complication that
makes characters get lost.
By contrast, Challenges are part of the character theyre attached to a descriptive
disadvantage or flaw, temporary or otherwise, that they must endure or overcome.
These inflicts their own Complications or increase certain difficulties, but help them
generate Momentum.

Injuries are treated much like hybrid Complications and Challenges - once the players
decided to take an Injury to avoid filling their strain track, an Injury functions like a
Complication that cannot be bypassed. However, they generate Momentum the first
time they hinder a character to the point of failure in an episode.

Failure & Consolation

If a dice roll scores no successes, or the character cannot muster enough successes to overcome the
difficulty even with Enhancements, the action fails. Simply put, you dont achieve whatever you were
hoping to. You swing and miss, your charm falls flat, you draw a blank.
The specific results of failure depend on the context, but it never ends in nothing happening. Instead, the
Director moves the story onward by offering a Consolation, a minor benefit that doesnt exactly give
them what they want, by advances the groups interests somehow.
Consolations cant substitute for actual success, but might include information leading the character to
another avenue of assault or completely different aspect of the story, a minor Enhancement offering a
success to a future action, or attracting a potentially-useful NPC.
Momentum
Perhaps the most common kind of Consolation is Momentum. This is a resource that players spend to
control the storys narrative pacing and help out their characters. By default, it is an out of character
resource, though some settings may claim its the very real hand of destiny at work. Each character can
have up to 12 Momentum at any one time, though their Momentum pool starts out empty, and empties
at the end of each story Arc.
Players receive a point of Momentum whenever they suffer a failure or setback as the result of a
Challenge, or if they fail and accept Momentum as their Consolation. They also receive a point if they
allow a Director-controlled character to manipulate them into doing something with a social roll, or
whenever such a character ignores one of their own successful social actions.
Sometimes, a Director may see an opportunity to make failure more awful (and interesting) than usual.
For example, rather than just whiffing their attack, a characters weapon outright slips from their grasp.
This is a botch, and if the player accepts the offer, they receive even more Momentum as their
Consolation.
Director characters do not generally gather Momentum, though nemesis DPCs might be the exception
to the rule. If so, their starting Momentum is noted in their traits, accruing bonuses at different points in
the narrative.
Spending Momentum
Momentum is generally spent in one of two ways, which may not be combined in a single action:
Once per episode , a character may expend all of the Momentum in their pool to add an equal amount
of dice to one actions roll.
At any time , if a characters action relates to the description of their Path, a character may expend two
Momentum from their pool to add two dice to one actions roll. For Scions, Legendary Titles also count
as a Path.

Scale
Storypath games span back-alley brawls to dragon-riding dogfights, often in the same adventure. Scale
exists to handle these extreme circumstances, representing entities or effects on a different level than
normal humans. The example given here is Size a Might 1 weakling can struggle against a Might 5
bodybuilder, but theyre both ants in front of a T-Rex.
However, they are also exciting adventures where heroes overcome impossible odds. Scale is therefore
kind to important characters; a raging giant easily crushes buildings and faceless crowds, but our heroes
can dart through the chaos and face him on more even ground.
Scale Principles
Different kinds of Scale exist, each with their own unique quirks. However, all of them share three basic
principles:
Rank: Scales are measured in ranks, each indicating an order of magnitude characters with the same
Size rank operate on roughly the same playing field, even if their specific heights are different. Scale 1 is
always roughly human.
Enhancement: A Scales rank adds an automatic Enhancement to certain actions. If their target would
also have an Enhancement from the same Scale, the smaller is just subtracted from the larger. If multiple
Scales apply to the same action, only the largest is used.
Overwhelming: Certain characters or objects are considered to be trivial targets, which face more
extreme effects when affected by something on a higher Scale, as described below. They may even be
overwhelmed without any need for a roll.
[begin tabbed table]
Scale Rank General Description Size Enhancement
1 Standard Human 0
2 Formidable Elephant, Bus +2
3 Impressive Mobile Suit +4
4 Awesome Blue Whale +6
5 Incredible Statue of Liberty +8
6 Astonishing Kaiju-Hunting Mecha +10
[end tabbed table]
Off The Scale
Its rare for a game to situations beyond Scale 6, but if you need to cover such territory, just increase
the Enhancement by two each time, making sure that every new rank represents another order of
magnitude.
Trivial Targets
Scale represents tremendous gulfs in relative power - from massive trucks that can smear humans flat, to
giant robots that can pick up such a vehicle in one hand. In Storypath, however, heroes (and villains)
can survive onslaughts that should be overwhelming. When faced with an effect on a higher Scale,
significant targets simply suffer the described effects. Player characters, most named Director
characters, and plot-significant items or objects are considered significant.
Trivial targets suffer more. These are nameless mooks, background scenery, and so on. When they
face an effect on a Scale one rank higher than their own, the Scale Enhancement becomes a multiplier,
doubling the effects successes. For a Scale of 2 or greater, assume a successful roll can be resolved via
player narration. If the number successes on the roll is relevant, multiply them by the listed Enhancement.
This is basically an extension of the guidelines given for when to roll the dice only when its interesting
and the outcome could be in doubt. When the animated Colossus of Rhodes brings his hand down on a
group of Greek protesters, there isnt any doubt.
Shockwave
Some kinds of Scale generate a Shockwave, so the effects of their actions spread out across a greater
range. Normally, each range increment outside of the original target reduces the effects Scale by two,
as its force peters out a Size 5 colossus with a Shockwave punch would hit its intended victim at
Scale 5, everyone in the Clash category at Scale 3, and Near targets at Scale 1.
When resolving a Shockwave effect, roll the original action once then apply your rolled successes and
relevant Enhancements separately to each target.
Size
In days past, giants strode alongside mortals. In times to come, monstrosities of steel and flesh will
rampage through cities that bristle with sky-scrapers. This Scale represents differences in Size, from a
Size 1 human to a Size 9 mountain. It applies to actions that make use of a larger creatures weight,
height and sheer strength against smaller targets crushing, squeezing, stomping, shoving, lifting,
dragging, intimidation and so on.
Special Size Rules
Bigger They Are : Size has its own problems, ranging from appetite to storage space. Creatures of a
larger Size suffer increased difficulty matching their usual Scale Enhancement when taking actions
impeded by their weight and height stealth, dodging, delicate manipulation and so on.
Segments : Some creatures are so big that they cannot be fought as a whole just crippling them is a
battle in itself. Creatures of a larger Size may have to be tackled as a group of distinct segments, to
represent both their resilience and the impossibility of representing them in combat as a single
character. Segments are not based strictly on size each Segment represents a significant part of the
giant character or structures capabilities, which it is interesting to engage and rewarding to destroy.
Do You Even Lift: The Overwhelming rules apply as normal to attempts to lift and throw trivial targets.
However, the successes needed to lift something with Athletics are calibrated to a Scale 1 character
these feats should be scaled up relative to the characters Size. If it normally takes one success for a
human to lift another human, the same applies to a giant lifting another giant.
Shockwave : All violent actions enhanced by Size gain the Shockwave tag.

Action Types
Whenever a character wants to do something, theyre taking an action. Some actions require rolls,
relate to particular traits, or have a mechanical effect. Others have no risk of failure, or exist purely for
the sake of roleplaying. Whatever the case, these actions are divided into three types: reflexive, simple
and complex .
Reflexive actions
Instinctual, instantaneous, or otherwise requiring very little effort, reflexive actions are minor moves that
dont interfere with anything else you want to do. How many you can perform at once (and when you
can perform them) is up to the Directors common sense. Examples include walking, talking or glancing
around.
Use reflexive actions when what youre doing doesnt matter much on its own. Reflexive actions are
there to set up more dramatic and interesting actions moving into place for a sword-strike, or glancing
around for a handhold to leap onto. They dont occupy your character, your attention, or the groups
excitement, so dont roll for them.
Simple actions
Significant, straightforward, and self-contained, simple actions occupy a characters attention and
abilities for their duration. In a time-sensitive situation governed by initiative, a character can take only
one simple action each turn. Examples include attacking an enemy, hacking a computer, or
sweet-talking a CEO.
A single simple action can encompass multiple distinct movements an attack might represent a flurry
of blows, while hiding from an enemy could involve moving from one bit of cover to another, but they
are both dealt with as simple actions.
Simple actions seize the attention of the group, however briefly, and have a dramatic effect on the story.
As such, they often require rolls to resolve, just as described earlier.
If a character wants to split their attention between two distinct simple actions at once, it becomes a
mixed action. These use the lower of the two relevant dice pools, and the player splits their rolled
successes between separate difficulties for each action. If an Enhancement could apply to both actions,
it does so.
Complex Actions
Taking place over an extended length of time, and requiring ongoing effort, complex actions are
numerous separate actions abstracted into a single set of rolls. Examples include street races, criminal
investigations, or forging a fine blade.
Complex actions are scenes in themselves, with tension thats drawn out rather than immediately
resolved as with simple actions. A foot chase could play out with a single roll as a simple action, or it
could be a complex action with multiple rolls contributing to the chases resolution, each representing an
interval of time and activity.
A complex action is resolved like a simple action, except that threshold successes are spent reaching the
actions goal the number of successes the character must accumulate across multiple rolls in order to
succeed. As a result, outright failure only occurs if the character runs out of time, though they can still fail
individual rolls.
Each roll takes place over an interval of time a police chase might use each roll to represent half a
frantic minute, while library research might take an hour of reading for every roll. The length of each
interval is determined by the scope of the action, while the maximum number of intervals depends on the
time pressure the character is under.
Many complex actions have separate stages each of which use distinct modifiers, goals, and even
dice pools. Stages for inventing a new device might be research and design, then gathering materials,
before construction, for example.
If a complex action involves multiple opposed participants, it is a competition. The characters each roll
to reach their goal, and the one who reaches it first is the winner. Competitions take place under
initiative rules, though this is mainly for resolving sabotage and preventing draws.
In competitions with multiple stages, characters who reach their stage goal must wait for their rivals to
complete that stage. To represent their head start, they receive a free Enhancement on rolls for the next
stage based on how many intervals they waited.
If a complex action involves multiple characters pooling their effort across multiple simultaneous stages,
it becomes a team project . Each participant individually rolls to reach their stage goals, allowing them
to complete the action far more quickly.

Time
Storypath uses a number of narrative units to measure time within the story e.g. scenes rather than
hour. The following are shorter units appropriate to this Quickstart; longer ones include Arcs, Seasons,
and Series. In some cases its desirable to use real time, so weve included default durations for each
unit.
(Your) Turn: A turn is not itself a length of time. Instead, it is the moment in each round that a character
takes their action(s) while acting in initiative order.
Round (Default4 seconds): A round is the smallest dramatic increment of time. Scenes governed
by initiative are divided into rounds, which are the length of time needed for every participant to take
their turn. In real time combat, rounds take about four seconds.
Scene (Default1 hour): A scene resembles a scene in a show or film, where characters interact in a
single location and the focus is on a significant event, whether thats a three-minute fight or a night-long
party. Entering and leaving an action-adventure sequence governed by initiative always starts a new
scene. Scenes are considered to take roughly one hour, but its up to the Director when the focus has
changed enough to dictate a new scene.
Episode (Default1 day - 1 week): An Episode is a game session from beginning to end, from the
moment the dice come out to the moment you head home (or log off). The amount of time an Episode
covers can wildly vary, from an intensive and detailed hour to several weeks that the Director
fast-forwards through as uninteresting downtime. By default, an Episode is considered to last between
a day and a week.
Initiative
In action-adventure round-by-round conflicts, everyone takes their turn to act. As such, the question of
who goes in what order is important, and solved by initiative.
At the start of the scene, every character rolls a dice pool representing their ability to react to events
kicking off. This is usually (Cunning + Athletics, Empathy or Subterfuge). Each roll generates a turn slot
for either a player or Director character, with the slots placed in order of which achieved the most
successes traits (and then Directors preference) break the tie if theres a draw. This is the initiative
order.
The player character who achieved the most successes occupies the first player turn slot, and acts within
it. Once the next comes up, the previous player decides which of their group-mates takes their turn, out
of those who have yet to act this round. This cycle continues every round until no characters or turns
remain, at which point it resets and the player character whose turn was last picks the next player to
start the next round.
Director characters follow the same rules. The exception is characters in Focus, whose turn slot is not
placed in the initiative order. Instead, they act whenever they please, taking their turn as it suits them
but do not get to choose which player characters turn follows theirs.
Nobody can take two turns in a single round. Characters can take two simple actions in a single turn,
using a mixed action, but they dont get multiple turns.

Paths
Paths represent pieces of a chronicle setting which characters can interact with and be a part of. Paths
are the organizations characters belong to, the societies they join, the place they came from, or even a
concept or setting topic that relates to their character. Each Path is important not only to a single
character, but are built to give substance and meaning to the entire chronicle, as well as a holistic sense
to the characters history beyond Edges, Attributes, and Skills. In some cases, these are setting specific
groups and organizations a character can be a part of; in others, these are specific to a certain chronicle
or group. Characters relate to a Path through a short sentence or descriptive phrase; generally, you can
say, I am a before your Path phrase.
Paths can be both setting-agnostic and setting-specific. In Scion, Pantheons are specific Paths. Generic
Paths such as growing up poor (Child of Poverty), being a citizen of the city (Born and Raised in Hells
Kitchen), or even tying them to specific settings (Family of Bronx Cops), are all recommended. Almost
all characters have an Origin Path, or a Path that describes a major part of their upbringing, whether
its recorded or not (after all, everyone has a history). Frequently, player characters will have a Role
Path, or a path that reflects their former profession. Supernaturally-powerful characters may have a
third Path (or more), reflecting their colorful histories and talents. In Scion, Pantheons are Paths with
Virtues, one-word descriptors of principles important to the organization or pantheon.
Paths contain a number of standard elements:
Common Edges: Most Paths will have Edges associated with them, such as Toughness for an
ex-boxer, or Performer for a character more-or-less raised in a conservatory.
Relationships: Characters on a Path will have other characters who are useful acquaintances,
acquired over the course of her life and work. A colleague, a lover, or just someone to trade favors
with. Origin Paths are particularly notable for this, though Role Paths often serve the same function.
Asset Skills/Specialties: When a character takes this Path at character creation, they receive
Specialties of the players choice in the two listed Asset Skills. More specific Paths (such as Pantheons)
grant listed Specialties particularly relevant to their groups.
Paths can grant several things via inference:
Access to equipment. The character can gain access to any equipment relevant to the Pathway
(normally restricted to common items; high-cost items or mean the character has to take a Challenge, as
described below).
Access to locations. Some locations in the game might be restricted for most characters military
bases, exclusive clubs, an underground fighting ring, a corporate boardroom. The character has access
to any locations that are relevant to their characters standing in the Path. A cop would have access to
an evidence room, while a general would have free reign over a military base.
Access to networking/relationships. Pathways infer connections to an entire ecosystem of
individuals, including relevant allies or contacts.
Momentum Expenditure: As stated above, if an action the character is taking relates to a Path, so
long as the character has at least two Momentum in her pool she may expend that Momentum to add
two dice to that actions roll.
Evoking the Path
If a characters Path would allow them to access something reasonable, they get it, simple as that. An
American police officer, for example, would have access to the police station and restricted evidence
files; weapon ammunition and additional training, whatever. Once per Episode, they may evoke their
Path without penalty - push the limits in one of these areas and narratively redefine the situation for the
players benefit. Need some tear gas? The police stations got it. Break your buddies into the evidence
room? You got it. Sheriffs deputy giving you jurisdictional guff? Evoke the Path and its because hes
yanking your chain - you both went to the academy together, only you ended up a beat cop and he
decided to join the Sheriffs department. Evocation might require a roll at the Directors discretion, but
the player can always spend Momentum on that roll.
Path Challenges
Paths grant you access to anything that makes sense for the character, but if the character tries to evoke
their Path more than once an Episode, or if the player fails their access roll, a Path Challenge comes into
play. This works like any other Challenge (including generating Momentum), but locks down access to
the rest of the Paths features. Turn in your badge and gun, da chief says to the maverick cop whos
pushed the line too far, too hard, too fast.
You can also deliberately call down a Path Challenge when you evoke a Path, generally to earn more
Momentum when your life is made harder because of it.
Path Examples
Privileged Upbringing
Hang on, let me call my friend. She knows a guy on the consulate staff.
You have never gone hungry. You have never been cold. If you wanted something, it was yours. You
probably thought that this was how the world just worked until it became impossible to ignorehow
you coped with being treated fundamentally differently from the vast majority of the human race is your
own business. There are certain doors open to you that arent open to others, places you can go and
things you can get away with thanks to your wealth, your networking, and whatever else sets you apart.
But being set apart means youre different, and while that has been good to you, it also means you are
completely disconnected from the vast majority of people. Theyve never tasted caviar, never flown in a
private jet, never gone on a safaritheir experience is completely outside your context, and there are a
lot more of them than there are of people like you.
Relationships: The Media, CEOs, Glitterati, Your Bodyguard
Asset Skills: Academics, Persuasion
Incarnate
Id almost forgotten what it felt like.
All your life, youve had a strange sense that you arent really you, that youre someone else looking out
through your eyes. Turns out, your gut instinct was right, and sooner or later, you realized the truth in a
flash of insight, an epiphany to end all epiphaniesyou are a deity reborn in human flesh, a single facet
of some infinitely bright jewel now shattered. The memories of the life you once lived come only as
flashes here and there, glimpses of nigh-incomprehensible glory that only hammers home the fact that
you, the you that exists in this time and place, is at best the larval stage of something cosmic. Will there
be anything left of the you-that-is when you do seize that celestial mantle, or will this singular viewpoint
be engulfed by the greater self? Can you hope to change who you once were into who you now are? To
be one of the Corporeal is to ever be at the center of a game of tug-of-war, and there can only be one
winner.
Relationships: Family and Friends (Who Dont Understand), Ancient Allies or Servants, Old Enemies
Asset Skills: Culture, Leadership

Fire Purview
The Purview of Fire is held by gods who wield mastery over flame, magma, or forge, from Hephaestus to
Agni to Pele. It holds sway both over literal flames, which hold power to destroy and create and the
metaphorical flames that may burn in the mortal heart, from the fires of sultry passion to the illumination of
enlightenment.
Marve ls: Marvels of Fire often cause fortuitous events to happen as a result of a chance fire or a false
fire alarm, or through the coincidental action of mortals who are strongly associated with fire, such as
smokers, firefighters, or arsonists. Destinies woven from flame may alternatively manifest because of a
sudden outburst of inspiration from a mortal.

Heavens Fire
The Scion calls divine fire up from the depths of her soul, her ichor running hot with the fury of
her Purview.
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Action: Simple
The Scion sends a blast of flame into the World, whether it emanates from her eyes or simply blazes a
fiery path through whatever she snaps her fingers at. Dexterity + Athletics as an attack. Her fireblasts
have Enhancement 3, clash/near/far range, and the Autofire, Deadly, Piercing, and Ranged tags.
The Tetl of Mexico
I bet a hundred sacrificial captives on Club Amrica to score twice in the second half.

In the morning of the world, the seven Nahua clans emerged from seven caves and moved to the state of
Aztln. But Hutzilpchtli, god of war, the sun, and human sacrifice, had bigger plans for one of these
clans, the Mxihcah. He urged them out of Aztln, forbidding them the demonym which would identify
them as denizens of that place, bidding them wander until they saw an eagle perching on a prickly pear
cactus and eating a snake. This they found on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco; and on this site, on
1325-06-20, they founded Mxico-Tenchtitlan. Over the next hundred years, the Mxihcan citystate rose
to prominence over its eventual partners in the Triple Alliance, Texcoco and Tlacopan; and
Hutzilpchtlis influence grew in tandem with the empire of the Mxihcah, which would last one hundred
years.

But tragedy struck in the year 1519 CE, when Hernn Corts de Monroy y Pizarro and his army of
invaders from the faraway land of Spain joined forces with the states of Tlaxcala and Cempoala to shatter
the Mxihcahs dominance over the region. Some attribute the fall of Tenchtitlan to the power of
Quetzalcohutl, Hutzilpchtlis brother and rival and the patron god of Tlaxcala. Was the conquistador
Corts really a Scion of the Feathered Serpent? Would the god of wisdom, light, justice, and mercy really
urge violence against his warlike brother god? The Tetl arent telling; and in this age, Quetzalcohutl and
Hutzilpchtli stand together against greater threats from without. Supposedly.

The Tetl have survived the death of their empire, the marginalization of their culture, and the extirpation
of their religion and even their historical records. They know intimately what it is to live on the edge of
extinction. Each Scion they invest, therefore, can expect to be the subject of close scrutiny and fervent
hope. Right now, Scions are all theyve got.

Principal Members
Chicomectl: agriculture
Ctlcue: motherhood
Hutzilpchtli: war, sun, sacrifice, the city of Tenchtitlan
tzppltl: infant mortality, death in childbirth, butterflies
Michlantecuhtli: spiders, owls, bats, death
Quetzalcohutl: wisdom, light, justice, mercy, wind, dangerous white people
Tecciztecatl: the moon
Black Tezcatlipca: war, night
Tlloc: rain, fertility, water
Xpe Totc: agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths, liberation
and the seasons
Xiuhtecuhtli: volcanoes, life after death, warmth in cold, light in darkness, food in famine.
Xchiquetzal: fertility, beauty, female sexual power, young mothers, pregnancy, childbirth, crafts practised
by women such as weaving and embroidery
Xiuhtecuhtli, Turquoise Lord of Fire and Time, Day and Heat
Other fire gods burn wild and bright, their flames wide -ranging and all-consuming; but Xiuhtecuhtli is
different. Xiuhtecuhtli is the god of the positive sparking to life amidst the negative, a single brilliant point in
a black ocean: a torch lit in a cave, a full meal in the midst of a famine, a tight embrace on a frozen
morning, a life that lives after death. As the mother and father of the Tetl, their beginning, hes the spirit
of the first fire lit by the first humans to fight the killing cold, smoky and small and sputtering and yet
warmer than anything else in all the world.

Xiuhtecuhtli is the patron of merchants, volcanoes, and the Mxihcan emperors. He appears as a young
man, sitting with his arms crossed over his knees, with a turquoise mask, a turquoise crown, and a
turquoise butterfly pectoral. Attending him are the lovely cotinga and the flame serpent. His symbols are
the flint and the rubbing-sticks, the first humans tools for making fire. He is married to Chalchiuhtlicue
(but who isnt, really).
Callings: Creator, Guardian, Healer

Cosmography
Cipactli was a giant sea monster with innumerable mouths, part fish, part crocodile, and part frog.
Tezcatlipca tempted Cipactli to its death by cutting off his own foot and using it as bait. Then he and
Quetzalcohutl transformed Cipactlis head into the thirteen heavens, its body into the World, and its tail
into the nine underworlds. Dying humans pass into different afterworlds and join different tetl according
to the manner of their death: casualties in ritual warfare arrive to Hutzilpchtlis heaven, for instance,
whereas women and children who die in childbirth go to tzppltls side.

The first Mxihcah emerged from the womb-world of the Seven Caves and settled in Aztln, legendary
original home of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples. Historians suppose that if Aztln were a real physical
place, it would lie somewhere in northwestern Mexico or the southwestern United States; but in the World,
it is a terra incognita. Hutzilpchtli hates everything that reminds him of Aztln, the land he left behind so
he could rule something real, especially that one nameyou know the oneby which modern folk call the
empire of the Triple Alliance. But the Mexico he loved best is lost; and it may be time for the Tetl to find
ancestral Aztln once again, before the Titans get there first.

Birthrights
Creature
Magical serpents pervade Mesoamerican mythology. Feathered serpents come in all sizes, and represent
the duality of existence in their ability to fly to the heavens or slither on the ground, with Quetzalcohutl as
their chief. Xiuhtecuhtli commands flame serpents, and Mixcoatl is a cloud serpent. Theres also the
huizotl, a doglike river creature with a hand at the end of its tail, which loves the taste of human eyes,
teeth, and nails; it lures victims to its watery grotto by crying like a lost baby. If youre friends with Tlaloc,
to whose realm the huizotls victims go, you might get to sic one on your enemies.
Followers
The Triple Alliances orders of knighthood included the eagle knights, who called upon the power of
Hutzilpchtli and the sun, and jaguar knights, who called upon the power of Tezcatlipca and the moon.
These elite warriors wielded magically empowered arms and armor (see Relic) and specialized in
capturing enemies alive for later sacrifice to the Tetl.

Guide
Outside the formal priesthood, various witches, healers, hermits, and other arcanists existed on the
periphery of Mxihcah society. These hedge magicians were feared and hated for their mysterious
abilities and desperately invoked by those who could find no help among the ordained clergy of the Tetl.

Relic
You can get pulque, a thick white alcoholic beverage made from fermented agave sap, most places in
Mexico these days. But its derived from iztc octli, a magical drink invented by the goddess Mayahuel.
Iztc octli was given to priests and sacrificial victims to improve their mood or ease their pain, and its
magical benefits usually outweigh the alcohols depressive effects (or dont, sometimes, if thats what
youre going for). The battle dress of the aforementioned eagle and jaguar knights was magically
empowered as well (see the Nagualism Purview); the round feathered shieldsthey carried were often
enchanted.

Sanctum
Central America is famous for its stepped pyramids. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, which are tombs, these
pyramids are beautifully decorated structures which often boast temples and sacrificial altars on their
peaks.

Religion
The temples of the Nahua were once vibrant and proud. There was a meticulously kept calendar, the pride
of Xiuhtecuhtli, replete with festivals. As the Triple Alliance dominated culture after culture, foreign gods
such as Xpe Totc of the Tlapanec were invited into the company of the big four (Tlaloc, Hutzilpchtli,
Quetzalcohutl, and Tezcatlipca). In addition to military religious orders, wandering occultists, and the
holy emperor of Tenchtitlan, an elaborate hierarchy of exhaustively educated priests and priestesses
enjoyed great prestige and extensive duties. There were songs, dances, lavish decorations, and delicious
food.

Also there were human sacrifices. Lots of them. Slaves, prisoners of war, and sometimes even the upper
classes were sacrificed to every Tetl; and worshippers from all classes ritually bled themselves to feed
their gods. Its this last issue thats given the Tetl trouble in the twenty-first century. Theyve got that
taste for human blood, now. Animal sacrifice is nice, it just ... isnt the same. As Mesoamerican religion
dwindles to near extinction, some hardliners argue that the time has come to resurrect the old waysthat
the choice is between human sacrifice and religious extinction.

Asset Skills and Specialties

Skills: Culture, Technology
Spe cialtie s: Agriculture, Astronomy

Virtue: Hunger and Sacri ice

The Tetl hunger. During the two hundred years when the Mxihcah ruled Tenochtitlan, they consumed
massive quantities of flesh, blood, and fire, their empires warfare practices based around capturing
sacrificial captives to kill and offer to the ravenous tetl. But for one to eat, another must be eaten; for one
to have, another must give something up. To create the earth, Tezcatlipca had to cut off his own foot and
use it as bait for Cipactli, who in turn had to die so the world could be made. When Tucciztcatl
chickened out of leaping into the sacrificial fire that was necessary for the creation of this ages sun,
Nanhutzin selflessly dove in ahead of him, shaming Tucciztcatl into leaping after him. As an affiliate
of the Tetl, this dichotomy is yours to grapple with; you cant just dress someone up as a Tetl and
sacrifice them instead, which is what the Mxihcah used to do. To consume sacrifice, to demand the
obedience and resources of others, is to become more powerful; but your godlike hunger risks devastating
the World around you. To sacrifice to others is necessary, but can the ultimate hunger make the ultimate
sacrifice?

Pantheon-Specific Purview: Nagualism

The exalted Tetl have an interesting relationship with animals. The tetl and their religionists often
transform themselves into animals, or call upon the power of animals to increase their own. This isnt the
polymorphic shapeshifting of the Greeks or the direct command of so many Beast Purview gods; no, this is
a focus on and devotion to a single animal spirit or a small number of animal spirits. Students of nagual can
transform themselves into animals, call upon an animal form to increase their strength, or even empower
others through their own animal form.

Emanuel Montero
Background: Emanuels childhood was a labyrinth, a palatial home connected to his fathers palatial
office atop a skyscraper by a black-windowed armored limousine. He knew his servants better than his
parents, who called him their little prince but appeared only for birthdays and special occasions, and
with them always came the cameras. He learned to handle the paparazzi before he learned what love
was, learned how to track his fathers telecom business on the financial news channels before he learned
the name of another child his age. He had everything he could possibly desire except an end to his
isolation.
The first revelation came when he was still a child, abducted in a terrifying firefight that young Emanuel
was not equipped to understand. His captors were very nice to him, fed him food hed never had
before, but he did not know them, nor did he know the other children he could see from the tiny
window of the room. He did not quite understand until his father paid an unholy sum of money for his
return that other children do not live this way. Upon Emanuels return, his father was convinced hed
been brainwashed, but in truth hed simply seen for the first time that his world was not the light, but the
shadow that light cast upon the wall. Emanuel would never be the same, would always carry with him
what his father called an unhealthy fixation on the needs of others, which would lead him to advocacy
and charity work the moment he was old enough to be taken seriously. His father was not pleased.
The second revelation came years later, while mountain-climbing with friends from the expensive
American school his father sent him to after paying for an ambassadorial appointment to the US. As
Emanuel sat atop an outcropping of rock, arms crossed, the wind whipped at him, and he had a sudden
realization: I have done this before. In his mind he saw vast crowds prostrated before him stretching out
as far as he could see, a throne beneath him, the skies opening wide as the sun shone down upon him.
Something vast filled him, and though it left again but a heartbeat later, it did not leave Emanuel
unchanged. He knows that for all that he is barely college-aged, he is incomparably old, that great
power awaits him, and all he must do is grasp it. The only one question remainswill he be seize that
power for himself, as seems only right, or for others, as his heart all but demands?
Description: Though barely 20, Emanuel has managed to cultivate a thin mustache, and he takes great
pride in it. His father would skin him alive if he caught him in anything but tailored suits, which is
precisely why he maintains a secret wardrobe that lets him fit in outside the rarified atmosphere of the
halls of power and privilege. Here, he musses his hair ever so slightly, smokes off-brand cigarettes, and
generally tries to be a part of the world outside his fathers bubblebut he hasnt quite got the trick of
authenticity down just yet.
Name: Emanuel Montero
Divine Parent: Xiutechutli
Paths: Privileged Upbringing (Ambassadors Son); Incarnate of Xiutechutli, the Turquoise Lord; Scion
of the Tetl of Mexico
Virtues : Hunger and Sacrifice
Might 1, Finesse 2, Vitality 3; Presence 4, Grace 3, Poise 2; Reason: 2, Cunning: 3, Discipline: 2
Callings: Leader , Creator , Guardian
Knacks: --
Boons:
Fire: Heavens Fire
Skills: Academics 2 (Aztec History), Athletics 1, Close Combat 2, Culture 3 (Aztec Culture), Empathy
4, Leadership 5 (Public Speaking), Persuasion 3 (Building Trust), Science 2, Subterfuge 1, Technology
2
Edges: Striking Looks , Wealth of Croesus , Self-Defense Training
Legend: 3 (Xiuhtechutli Reborn, Whose Gaze Conquers Mountains With the Future in His Wake)