Agon RPG Preview Review

I’m reading through the preview pdf of Agon by Fred Hicks/Evil Hat and I’m impressed by the art and “smoothness” of the game despite it being a draft. I’m hesitant to say to much beyond a few generalities as the game is new but you can grok a fair amount from the copious data on the kickstarter page I linked to above.

You have your typical players and you have your GM/DM/SG/ST etc referee called the Strife Player with this system which is very open to swapping who is the referee which is great for groups trying to avoid referee burnout or trying to train up new referees.

I’m a big proponent ever since I discovered the idea of purposefully having beta Storyguides in Ars Magica as a kid and having one session tryouts for referee is a great way to test the waters without overwhelming a new referee. Since the system is not very crunchy and more story focused that takes part of the distraction of heavy rules away making Agon appealing as a referee trainer as well. Since it does have mechanics that avoids the opposite pitfall of games like Amber Diceless which become a bit scary to newcomers because there is so little hand-holding.

As the Strife Player or referee you play an island which the other players face off against with various challenges. This makes it easy to hand off referee duty to the next person!

Each hero has just a small handful of traits as you can see below. It is blessedly free of formulas and algebra that made up a lot of the crunchy games of my youth (which I loved back then but I only have so much effort to spend these days and even the thought of min/maxing a complicated system sounds terrible.)

I’d like to see more epithets get added as it can be daunting for some players to come up with good descriptors. I’d really recommend taking a look at the new Cypher rulebook for ideas if they don’t and then just give it a divine greek twist or go and look up epithets used by your divine ancestor or even look at other pantheons like the Celts such as Lugh Lámfada “of the Long Arm” and Samildánach “Equally Skilled in Many Arts” (basically means jack of all trades in today’s speech).

The mythology booster pack from The Story Engine on Kickstarter would probably be a great tool to use with this game. I’m looking at the beta for that right now too and it looks great.

If you like story based role playing with Scions of Greek Gods I think you’ll dig this and it does have a short section on taking the game beyond Greece and I really liked that they mentioned the lasting influence Greek art and thought had outside of Europe. Might be fun to have adventures in Greek Bactria but instead of islands have valleys or something like that.

And since my website is Scion House Rules originally you can probably guess why I am so enthused and eagerly awaiting the finished product to take my players on a new adventure.

 

“Adept” Purviews, Attributes and Abilities

The Scion’s divine parent’s ichor grants certain competencies that go beyond the limitations of physics and mortals.

At character creation a Scion chooses a Divine Purview, an Epic Attribute, and two Favored Abilities. The Scion is “Adept” in these areas and gains certain advantages as a consequence.

At character creation the Scion gains a free dot in their Adept Purview, Adept Abilities and Adept Epic Attribute. As the core focus of the Scion’s power the normal limitations are weakened. The result is that in the Adept Purview and Adept Attribute the maximum level is equal to the Scion’s Legend rather than his Legend minus one.

For example a Scion with a Legend of 3 and Adept Intelligence could have her Epic Intelligence at 3 while her Epic Strength would be limited to 2 along with the rest of the Epic attributes and Purviews.

Should a Scion in gameplay find his passion and focus is changing the character can change their Adept Aptitude by switching to another Purview or Attribute with an equal level of competence. So, a Scion with Darkness of 4 as their Adept Purview could change their Adept Purview if they increased their Illusion to 4. The majority of the time it should also be a Purview of their Divine Parent. This should only happen rarely and be driven by the story. Maybe the Scion discovers an  ancient relic and bonds with it providing insights into a new Purview with the sacrifice of the old or maybe the Scion secretly turns to a Titan for occult secrets. This gives a player an out if they find they simply don’t care for their Adept Purview or would like to see their character move in a new direction.

With Adept Abilities the Scion can grow in skill with much less effort and it is much cheaper to achieve Arete in them.

Upon Apotheosis to Demigod status and God status the Scion gains a new Adept Ability and a new Adept Purview or Epic Attribute. At godhood the Scion would have four Adept Abilities and four Adept Purviews or Attributes.

Breakdown of Social Abilities

Empathy:

Detect lies, negotiation, or convince someone to open up. Perceive mental, emotional state and motivations and intentions.

Sense weakness: Perception + Empathy

Each success grants an extra boost die on later interactions that scene with that character. For example, four successes would give an extra four dice that could be allocated and spent on anything from an Intimidation roll and later a strike on a bad knee. Can only be attempted once a scene and once the dice are used they are gone. So, in the above example one bonus die could be used as a bonus on an intimidation attempt and the final three bonus dice on the brawl attack.

Detect Lie: Perception + Empathy/Investigation

Maintain Lie: Manipulation + Empathy

Flirting: Wits + Empathy

Innocent Face: Appearance + Empathy (more passive version of Maintain Lie relying more on emotion than reason)

Negotiation: Manipulation + Empathy

Enemy of my enemy: Charisma + Empathy/Command (Whatever is less)

Gets neutrals and enemies to fight with you or under you against a greater threat. If successful can be involved in Coordinated Assaults.

Command:

Leadership: Charisma + Command

Grants boost dice to working together as a team on tasks, logistics, organization for the rest of the scene to those under the direct supervision and leadership of the character.

Coordinate Assault: Manipulation + Command

Each success allows coordination of two people. Attack takes place 5 ticks later and the leader dictates who is helping. Target suffers DV penalty equal to number of coordinated attackers or the number of successes on the roll (whichever is less).

Take over: Charisma + Command to take over a new group or organization and Manipulation + Command to mold the group to your liking.

Allows the charismatic character to take over an organization if there is a lack of leadership or confusion and impose their will. Leadership assumes that the character is already in charge.

Presence:

Terrify enemies: Appearance (negative provides double dice) or Charisma + Presence

Can cause enemies to flee a conflict in terror or cause a loss of confidence or morale. Subtract Confidence dice from enemies in this conflict who can perceive the character. Should a character lose half of their available combat dice they will cower or flee a conflict. So, if they lost three Confidence dice and they only had a Melee 2 and Dex 3 for five combat dice then they won’t be sticking around with a morale boost.

Higher Motivation: Charisma + Presence

Gives a bonus Confidence die during the next scene to self and a number of allies equal to Presence. For example a charismatic woman knows what motivates the best in her and her people so she rolls four successes and has a Presence of 3 so can allocate those four bonus dice amongst herself and up to three allies such as one Confidence die for each of them.

Baser Motivation: Manipulation + Presence

Grants boost dice as a pool during the next scene to allies.

Grant Hope and Courage: Appearance (negative provides half dice) or Charisma + Presence

Counters “terrify enemies” by healing lost confidence and morale. Each success removes penalty Confidence die.

Integrity:

Resist deception, persuasion, manipulation, and avoid breaking under torture or interrogation. Used when resisting any attempt to weaken confidence or morale.

Miscellaneous:

“Boost” die/dice are one shot use and gone after expenditure while “Confidence” die/dice last the scene and give an additional bonus or penalty die for all rolls that scene.

With Boost dice the maximum a character can use on a single roll is 1 + Legend.

The Twelve Most High

Odin:

Chief Executive Officer and King

“tyr of inspiration, passion, and sacrifice”

Thor:

Frey of Battle and Champion

“tyr of thunder, sky, and might”

Loki:

Chief Analytics Officer and Vizier

“tyr of the weird, illusion, and change”

Frygga:

Chief Information Officer and Scholar (Wife of Odin and Queen)

“tyra of prophecy,  magic, and love”

Brigid:

Chief Creative Officer and Bard

“tyra of expression, flame, and healing”

Sif:

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

“tyra of agriculture, hearth, and gold”

Wayland:

Chief Technology Officer and Smith

“tyr of smithing, education, and science”

Uller:

Chief Operations Officer and Seneschal

“tyr of frost, ranged combat, and oaths”

Heimdall:

Chief Security Officer and Guardian

“tyr of perception, travel, and protection”

Temujin:

Chief Martial Officer and General (Scion of Thor)

“tyr of empire, war, and iron”

Valfreya:

Freya of the Ljosalfar (daughter of Frey Ingwe and Gerd)

“tyra of fertility, health, and sun”

Kunnalfa:

Freya of the Dvergar (daughter of Thrud and Alviss)

“tyra of engineering, darkness, and earth”

(tyr/a meaning elite god of and frey/a which means lord/lady)

The weakest of the Twelve is far more powerful and dangerous than any two lesser Gods as the mantle of rank grants tremendous might and only the best can hope to enjoy the title for long or can handle the intense responsibility over the cosmos.

Odin has remained as the highest for nearly a thousand years and was one of the Three Most High who led the battle against Ymir in the first Titan war and used the Titan’s lifeforce to craft the Nine Worlds into their current form and imprison most of the other Titans until recently.

Uller has stood as the Highest in Odin’s stead in ancient times and more recently during the retreat from Midgard a thousand years ago and is trusted as leader while Odin or Frygga is unavailable.

Wayland, Brigid, and Kunnalfa share aspects of the “art of making” and their Scions tend to either work together extremely well or become dangerous rivals. Those who focus on exquisite design, high cost, and high production value tend to follow Brigid while pragmatic mass production and good value tends to be the mindset of Kunnalfa. Wayland creates the initial ideas, research, and inventions that both Goddesses use in their creations. In the past he crafted many of the mightiest relics of the Aesir and worked closely with Dvergar smiths during the second Titan war and became a prominent king in Elfame during his rise as the first Scion to achieve full Apotheosis. His exact lineage remains unknown.

A Scion of Kunnalfa’s  “recent” influence in the invention of the atomic bomb has had a large social impact on the Nine Worlds leading to even more dangerous weapons.

The Twelve Most High stand in power where once the Twelve Titans of Antiquity did.

The Nine Worlds

Asaheimr

Contains the great city of Asgard and home of the Aesir led by the Twelve Most High. Legend states that an Aesir cup bearer in a modest hall has might enough to rule a kingdom in Meruheimr. Beyond the fortress home of the Aesir lies subsidiary nations of elite ancestors from different peoples and species of Manheimr that currently act as a buffer and protection against the Titan’s onslaught. These city states and nations provide Asgard with Tribute and as a consequence gain a measure of protection, higher status, and place away from the vastly overcrowded Meruheimr. The Glory Road links these mostly new realms together and allows for quick travel and commerce.

Vanaheimr

Home of the Vanir. Devastated originally by the war between the Aesir and the Vanir it had slowly recovered only to have suffered great losses at the hands of Angrboda’s creatures, the Fomori, and other Titanspawn who have conquered most of its Great Forest leaving only a handful of cities and fortresses relatively safe with most barely surviving. Even with these great losses the Vanir still outnumber the Aesir greatly and have been petitioning access to the Dvergar’s weapons for self defense.

Elfame

Home of the Alfar or Aes Sidhe and contains Tir Nan Og, Brimir, the summer court, and Hy Brasil.

Manheimr

Contains Midgard and is home of men. Many terrae incognitae lie folded within Midgard and outside of sight but even more realms beyond Midgard called Peripheral Realms. Over the past thousand years the focus of the Twelve Most High left Midgard towards these outer territories with little traffic on Bifrost going to the heart of the world. The Gods have once more realized the central role Man and Midgard play and have been very interested in making sure there are plenty of Scions to stand against these new creatures and the new realms that gave them birth. Many of these new Scions have embraced technology and so have some sects of the Dvergar.

Jotunheimr

Home of the Jotnar. Not much is known about this World given its opposition to the Aesir. Utgard is a powerful realm closely linked with Midgard though its attention has been on the new Peripheral Realms expanding from Midgard. Powerful Jotnar who have mastered the Illusion Purview walk amongst mankind with a moderate amount of influence in Industry, Finance and Government. Rumors of immensely powerful Mages who have conquered terrae incognitae and many Peripheral Realms providing them with new servants and resources.

Niflheimr

Mist home contains Hel (the dead/Nair), the winter court, Helreginn “Jotun of frost” the heir of Ymir. The primal world of Ginnungagap known as the yawning Abyss of Creation which lies on the farthest edge of “civilized” Niflheimr and has been very active for over a thousand years. In the past century the activity has vastly accelerated and with the end of the Titans imprisonment it seems to have exploded in an orgy of new realms and life forms flowing into Manheimr and Meruheimr.

Meruheimr

Home of the Vaettir and Fylgja. The Great Mountain or heavens for the goodly dead of man originally and now for those of other natures. In ancient times it was known as Authumla and legend once was in the center of the cosmos (lying between Niflheimr and Muspellsheimr) and home to the Three and the Twelve before they rose up and slew Ymir and used his life essence to craft the Universe. Four rivers flow from the Mountain which lead from the four Dvergar Guardians to the far off edges of Manheimr. These rivers nourish Yggdrasil wherever the cosmic tree grows. Many new divine beings have flooded peripheral sections of the Mountain with new creatures never before seen. As of yet the Aesir have been too busy to look at them closely leaving it to the locals and the occasional Scion slumming amongst the lesser deities.

Nidavellir

Home of the Dvergar. The dark fields is the name and the endless caverns is its nature. Here the engines of war used by the Aesir were forged that allowed them to imprison the ten of the remaining Titans in Niflheimr and keep Aten and Surtr’s regent Sinmara at bay in Muspellsheimr…until recently. Rumors say of vast sections of caves openly ruled by Cromm filled with Fomorians, undead, and their Jotnar masters. The Dvergar petition for aid which for the most part goes unanswered despite Kunnalfa’s rise to rank amongst the Twelve centuries ago. As a consequence many Dvergar have gone to Midgard to seek aid from their brethren pushing their resources beyond capacity.

Muspellsheimr

Home of the fire Jotnar ruled by Surtr (black one) and Sinmara (pale nightmare). Primal realms of light, fire, and heat . Home of Aten’s brood and realm who in the past 1400 years has grown in power so much that he challenges Surtr’s strength. Agents of Aten have travelled all over Manheimr spreading his word bending the mortal races towards his worship.

Modified Abilities

Academics covers research through academic channels such as reading journals or scanning Google scholar and thus encompasses much of the canon version of Occult . It is used when converting Spells, Boons, and Rituals into a different tradition and can be hugely useful for an eclectic mage. It is also used when a character has access to an Occult Library or Guide to discover spells, rituals, and boons that others have created and using your philosophy to twist their technique into something you can use.

Occult: is the secret knowledge of the world and an understanding of how that world really works along with being the Ability that fuels the Magic Talent. Occult is to be used for intimate knowledge of secrets gleaned from the world personally or whispered at night by ancient guides granted by the Divine Parent. Does your character know about the “real” skull and bones secret society or how the observer effect and uncertainty principles twist and warp the skein of fate? Who is the demigod having an affair with Aphrodite now? At character creation it cannot be higher than 3  without a player’s explanation usually involving a divine Guide as most characters who just had a visitation having one dot in Occult.

Using tradition’s focus and philosophy to enact change within that tradition’s parameters using that tradition’s tools usually in a passionate and emotional manner (the mystic’s path) or in a cool rational manner (the hermetic or technological path). Advanced practitioners can develop eclectic tastes or even invent their own new Tradition as discussed in the Purviews and Traditions post.

Science: Using the scientific method to test and experiment and come up with new ideas in order to effect reality in a rational but imaginative manner. Also, knowledge of scientific professions, lab practices, and scientific information and theories. Useful for testing, developing, and learning new Spells and Rituals.

Investigation: which covers researching the accidentally and purposefully hidden lore along with using people as information resources that aren’t teachers openly giving information.

Epic Attributes

There is simply to big of a gulf at the high end for Epic Attributes for my taste. I like the idea of a talented Demigod in his specialty actually having a chance of defeating a much more powerful God in an area outside of their specialty. As it stands in canon that would be highly unlikely.

 

Epic Attribute automatic successes follow this pattern in canon:

1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46.

Or:

+1, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8, +9.

 

My way:

(1, 2, 3,) (5, 7, 9, 11,) (15, 20, 25)

Or:

(+1, +1, +1,) (+2, +2, +2, +2,) (+4, +5, +5)

The groupings are based on Scion status such as Hero, Demigod, and God.

Arete also follows this rule.

Intro to Magic Talent

The Magic talent isn’t limited by the Legend of the user. Anyone can learn how to cast Spells with training, experience, tradition, mindset, and the right occult understanding. Like all Talents there is no maximum to the highest level a character can learn. This allows for mortal practitioners to be a dangerous threat to a Hero even if only of low power barring the very unusual master magus.

The main vein of the “Magic Purview” described in the books is now called the Fate Path which focuses primarily on Spells that manipulate Fate directly. The Pantheon Specific Purviews (other than Arete) are other Paths commonly wielded by Scions trained in those Traditions. With higher rank in Occult it is possible for Scions to learn many Paths and incorporate them into their Tradition or invent wholly new Traditions.

For example a voodoo priest with Magic Talent of 4 with Spells in Cheval and Fate is somewhat dangerous to a lone Scion. In time the houngan might adapt the Spells and Traditions of other peoples and learn Spells developed by the ancient Egyptians or the Wiccans down the street. Possibly he could even transform himself into a creature of Legend or his studies could lead him to becoming a minion to a Titanspawn.

Magic is no longer a Special Purview and thus cannot be the Adept Purview endowed by the Divine Parent.

Learning too much Magic has the effect of attracting Fate’s attention however. Mortals with Magic talent are considered to have a Fateful Aura and Scions who grow powerful in magic will find that they attract far more attention from Fate than their less versatile brethren.

Every other dot in Magic (the 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th…) the character adds one die to Fatebinding rolls and this does mean a mortal can face the same kind of difficulties the Legendary suffer.

Jotunblut

All Scions have access to this endowment as they have the ichor of the Gods. Most supernatural beings have access to something similar with varying degrees of potency. The blood and flesh of the Gods has power as does their children’s. Some creatures find Scion’s to be rare delicacies and even some Scions have been captured and bled by some cults and secret organizations.

Jotunblut is no longer a Purview and cannot be the endowed Parental Purview from the divine parent.

The term Jotunblut now covers a range of Rituals that almost any Supernatural can learn and cast with use of the Magic Talent.

The Path of Jotunblut includes the Spells which were formally of the Aesir Pantheon Specific Purview. There are possibly other Paths offering other Spells that transform, charm or bind mortals to a supernatural’s service.

For those unwilling to spend the experience on Spells and more willing to spend Willpower and Legend the supernatural can turn to Rituals.

There are many Rituals designed to take advantage of this endowment. A seidr shaman might make a ritual that used sexual energy and ichor to bind a mortal to their will in a very similar fashion a tantric sex master or an Alfar might. A less sophisticated method might involve a simple cut and channel of Willpower to bind those who would drink a Supernatural’s blood in order to charm, bind and enhance a mortal to service.

The mortals thus transformed might turn into Berserks, Thralls, hungry corpses, vampires, werewolves, Avant Garde artists, and mounts for spirits.

The type of enhancement and magnitude depends on the ritual involved along with the duration of the enchantment.

Epic Abilities and Arete:

For those with great passion, diligence, and talent it is possible to achieve beyond the five dots in an ability and become a true Master. With the “sixth dot” the Scion has started on a long path of excellence. Once achieved the character may continue to gain additional skill through the Arete Talent which is applied only for that single ability. It is possible to become a Master in multiple abilities.

Arete provides additional dice for ability rolls but also grants guaranteed competency in the tasks that fall under that ability. It is no longer necessary for the character to make rolls unless they want to do so as the Master can choose to take an automatically successful roll with half of his available dice as successes in all actions involving the Ability. So a Scion with Melee 5, Arete (Melee) 2, Dexterity 5 and Epic Dexterity 2 would have the option of not rolling and just taking (12/2) +2 = 8 successes as a default.

Once per day (in game) a Master may reroll any action using the Mastered Ability but must accept the results of the reroll.

The Arete Talent is accessible to anyone though few who are not Legendary approach such excellence. As a consequence it doesn’t need to be purchased with the Purview Access Birthright as it is no longer a Purview.

Those who achieve Arete in an ability are highly likely to have human ancestry. It is extremely rare for those with fully divine backgrounds to have achieved such excellence as it tends to take a peculiar blend of creativity, passion and ambition to focus so intently on a particular ability. As a consequence many Scions achieve Arete in an Ability before their Visitations which are often in arenas that their parents excelled in.

It is cheaper as a consequence to have an Ability with Arete at character creation than to develop such in game play.

There are bloodlines amongst the Dvergar with human and Aesir ancestry who occasionally produce master smiths able to craft and invent new engines of war, artifacts and relics of great power.

Arete adds to all derivative stats like DV as it is adding directly to the Ability.

Arete is not limited by Legend as a maximum. There is no limit to the pinnacle of excellence and no cap on skill and expertise. It is theoretically possible for a mortal swordsman with tremendous talent and slavish focus to be so skilled as to challenge a God. It is just highly unlikely!

Experience Cost: 20 points or 10 points if one the Scion’s Adept Abilities (after this improving Arete follows the normal costs for Talents)

Character Creation: 2 points and the ability in question must be one of the six Adept Abilities. Also, bonus points must have been spent to raise the Ability to 5.

Arete as it is no longer a Pantheon Specific Purview cannot be the endowed Parental Purview.