If you’re wondering where the Advanced Agon posts are, I moved them over to ars ludi where I should have put them in the first place. Deeper Quests and Wrath of the Gods are already there and a third installment is coming soon. Agon up!
“Wretched man! Short indeed are the memories of mortals, that you O king should stand in this shrine and without shame ask for a father’s blessing! You who gave your first daughter in sacrifice to the Beast of Kolkoris, defying the will of the immortal gods!”
In the labyrinth of Kolkoris a monster lurks, hiding its face from the immortal gods. It has ravaged countries and eaten the flesh of the living, but now the gods have declared that the Beast must die.
Yep, Beast of Kolkoris is ready for download.
Big thanks to Antagonist Phil Lewis and his players, Gene Hughes, Tom Peters and Mark Trosien, plus all the brave players who burned through so much Fate in the first playtest round: Gavin Cummins, Mike Frost, Kevin Lewis and Ching-Ping Lin.
Think you can do better against the Beast? Now’s your chance.
Fresh on the heels of Temple of Hera, our next Agon adventure Beast of Kolkoris has gone to playtesting.
When I originally ran the game it set the record for “most Fate spent in a single quest” among my heroes. Seriously. Piles of Fate (somewhere John Harper is cackling with glee). Will the playtest heroes do better? We’ll see.
Assuming everything goes well Beast of Kolkoris should be ready for release in mid-May. Sharpen your spears.
Oh, I know: you wanted to run some Agon this weekend, but work got kind of crazy, and you had a lot of errands to run and blah blah blah so you didn’t have any time to prepare. Well now you have no excuse. Temple of Hera is done and ready for download.
Big thanks to all the playtesters: George Austin, Jeff Collyer, Jonathan Davis, John Farrish, Jeff Hosmer, Mona Hosmer, Patty Kirsch, Georgianna Marshall, Joshua Seigler, and Elliott Wu, as well as the Antagonists who tortured them, Nick Marshall and Mel White. Extra thanks to Mike Frost, Jem Lewis, and Kevin Lewis who I smacked around in the first playtest round, Ching-Ping Lin for her tireless ninja-like vigilance, and of course John Harper for making Agon in the first place.
And when you play it and cunningly force your heroes to spend Fate like there was no tomorrow, come on back here and tell us about it. Tell us which of your heroes scored all the glory and which got punked in every contest. Heroes may die (or at least retire at maximum Fate) but their legend lives on eternally in the comments field…
Our first Agon adventure, Temple of Hera, is now in playtesting and peer review. If you listen carefully you can hear the clash of bronze and the anguished cries of heroes as their comrades bludgeon them with oaths and steal their glory.
I had intended to send Beast of Kolkoris out first, but as I was finishing up the playtest draft there were things about the text I just wasn’t happy with, so instead it’s getting revised some more while this round of playtesting goes on.
When will you be able to download Temple of Hera and inflict it on your brave heroes? Should be about two weeks from now.
Interested in playtesting some upcoming Agon adventures? Now’s your chance.
I’ve already run them, but I like having outside groups do “blind” playtests so I get an objective opinion of whether they really work, whether there are any kinks, etc.
The playtest windows will be fairly short, probably just two weeks for each adventure, but since each can be played in one sitting that should be doable. Groups providing feedback will get listed in the credits, not to mention earn the eternal thanks of all the other gamers who come after them and have more fun because of their brave playtesting. Plus you get a d12 god oath.
If you have a gaming group and you’re interested, email me at info-at-lamemage-dot-com. You can also leave a comment here if you want to make sure I’ll be on the lookout for your email.
“Heroes, my anger is hot within me! Slay those who defile my shrine! Cleanse my temple! Let not one escape the wrath of Hera!”
What’s coming up next from Lame Mage? I’m working on a series of adventures for the AGON role-playing game by John Harper. The plan is to make them free releases, so everyone who wants to will be able to partake of the mythic heroic goodness (so long as you have Agon anyway).
The review draft of Temple of Hera is already finished but I haven’t decided which one I want to release first. The popular vote seems to lean towards the notorious Sack of Lemotea.
I’m sticking to a particularly Classical tone in the adventures — no creatures or situations that wouldn’t feel right in Iliad or the Odyssey, lots of heroic hubris and smack talk.
Why Agon? Same reason I wrote adventures for M&M: it’s a fun game.