Agon wallpaper

Tuesday, June 27, 2006



1280 x 1024
1600 x 1200

Playtests are going very well. More Agon soon.

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Agon: Beta Test Version

Monday, June 19, 2006

I have a draft of Agon ready for your eyeballs. It's definitely in beta. It's more a collection of mechanics now than a complete game (it's totally lacking the situation creation section, for example). But there's enough there to play with if you want to. Not bad for a few days work.

Agon Beta Rules (817kb PDF, zipped)


My only request is that if you download this and try it out, please post about it in the Forge playtest forum. And even if you don't get to playtest, I'd love to hear your comments about the game here.

Oh yeah. What is it? Agon is a game of ancient Greek heroes on a quest for the gods. You sail from island to island, battling men, monsters, and magical things. All the while, you engage in the agon -- the never-ending conflict among all things to determine what is greatest. The whole thing is about conflict and victory, so the system is pretty gamist supporting. I hope.

UPDATE: Apparently there's an ability missing in the first few pages of the text. Instead, it just says, "???" That missing ability is Presence, a Sport ability. It's described in the ability section.

I'm not totally in love with Presence as the other Sport ability, though. I've also considered Gambling. The other classic Greek sports (boxing, pankration, running, throwing, etc.) don't have a good fit either since they're already covered by other abilities. Any ideas appreciated.

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T = +1

Friday, June 16, 2006

Yeah, I failed the 24-hour challenge.

The game is done, though. I just need to PDF-ize it and add a few graphics. But now I must go to work. I'll post it as soon as I can. Here's another little tidbit.

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WEAPONS

Spear: 1d8 1d6. Range: 2
You hold your spear in both hands. Put the d8 in one hand and the d6 in the other (left for defense, right for offense). You may swap the positions of the dice at any time before you roll. You may use a spear and shield at the same time.

Sword: 2d6. Range: 1
You hold your sword in one hand. Put the 2d6 in the hand that holds the sword. Sword dice can be shared with other swords. If you hold a sword in your other hand, you may shift 1 die from one to the other. So you could have 1 left, 3 right; 3 left, 1 right; or 2 and 2. You may swap the positions of the dice at any time before you roll.

Shield: 1d8
You hold your shield in one hand. Put the d8 in your defensive hand (the left). You may use a spear and shield at the same time.

Bow: 1d8+1. Range: 5, 6
Use of the bow requires an empty left hand. Put the bow die in your right hand.

Javelin: 1d6. Range: 2-4
The javelin is the least powerful weapon but it is useful at many different distances, making it very versatile. The javelin die can be used in either hand.

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T = -1

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

It's called Agon.

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The starting position is 4, based on terrain and visibility (large interior + bright).


After the positioning rolls, the order is (from lowest to highest):
1. Green Skeletons (armed with javelins and swords)
2. Blue Hero (armed with a bow and spear)
3. Red Hero (armed with javelins and a spear)
4. Yellow Skeletons (armed with bows and spears)

The Green Skeletons are the lowest, so they don't get to position anyone.
The Blue Hero goes next. He can move any opponent that he beat, which in this case is only the Green Skeletons. He moves them one range band closer.


Then the Red Hero goes. He can also move the Green Skeletons, so he moves them closer again, to get them into spear range (2) for both Heroes.


Finally, the Yellow Skeletons get to position. They decide to push the Red Hero away one band, putting him into their bow range (5,6) and moving him out of optimal spear range against the Green Skeletons.


That leaves us with our final positions before the action starts for this exchange.


Blue has Green in optimal spear range, and Yellow has Red in optimal bow range. Red doesn't have a bow, but he can hurl javelins at Green.

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The range strip kind of looks like a corridor, but it's not. It's just an abstract representation of the battlefield. Wilhelm tells me that Traveller did something like this, but I haven't played it. Brandon came up with this range strip business during our playtest last night. It seems to work really well.

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T=-2

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be finishing Stranger Things. But this game just jumped out of the blue and tackled me. I'll post it on Thursday.

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Your name and your father's name. [d6]
Petros, son of Lycaemon

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