# Agon tags: #game/rpg/agon ![[Agon (cover).jpg|600]] **Agon** is the hobby's cleanest attempt at running Homer with a dice pool: a band of epic heroes, lost on a mist-shrouded sea of uncharted islands, settle each island's strife in a single one-roll contest and sail on. It's the game that took the "no prep, generate it as you go" ethos to a classical extreme — each island is a self-contained two-to-three-hour adventure you can run on the spot, which makes it a favorite of the no-session-prep crowd. The snag, as ever, is that the heroes are competing with each other for Glory even as they fight the same monsters, which is exactly how mythology works and exactly as petty as it sounds. ## Setting The book's own thesis: *"In the mists of ancient time, a poet sings of great deeds wrought by mighty heroes."* On their way back home from war, a band of heroes become lost among strange islands populated by mythical creatures, dangerous villains, legendary kingdoms, and desperate people — each entangled in strife, at the mercy of the capricious gods. The heroes seize the chance for greatness, set things right, overcome the trials of gods and monsters, and win their way back home. The action happens in a strange, mist-shrouded sea full of islands that aren't in the Mediterranean — a fantasy riff on Greek myth, not a history lesson. The book is pointedly friendly about it: your heroes can be anyone, any gender, any ability, and its cited touchstones are **Xena**, the **Iliad** and **Odyssey** (the Emily Wilson translation, no less), and, for flavor, the **Fast & Furious** crew. The twelve gods of the pantheon loom large, each offering a named strength — Artemis's *Precision*, Hekate's *Insight*, Hera's *Cunning* — that heroes can call upon. ## Mechanics Characters are a handful of traits, not a stat block: an **Epithet** ("Clever-Eyed"), a **Name** (d6, which grows as Glory accumulates), a **Lineage** — which may be a god, making you a demigod — a favored **Domain** at d8 with the rest at d6, an **honored god** granting access to **Divine Favor**, and a handful of **Expressions** standing in for Pathos. Bigger die, bigger trait; the game is built on d4 through d12. Every conflict is a **contest**, and a contest resolves in one roll. The Strife Player sets the **Domain** — one of four: **Arts & Oration**, **Blood & Valor**, **Craft & Reason**, or **Resolve & Spirit** — then assembles the opponent's pool from its Name and any Epithets that apply, plus bonus dice (a Perilous foe rolls 2d8, a Mythic one 2d10). The heroes declare their approach and goal, then each rolls their Name die, their Domain die, and any Epithets that fit. The contest follows four steps — *face your opponent, speak your name, test your fortune, recite your deeds* — and its result decides all at once which side gets its way, who is best, and who suffers. It's one-roll resolution with real teeth: you don't linger on failure, you face the trial and move on. Two resources sit on the hero's human/transcendent duality. **Divine Favor** is the capacity for superhuman achievement — call on your god's strength to reach beyond your limits, powerful but unreliable, "the favor of the gods is not assured." **Pathos** is the inner fire of perseverance; when it burns out, the hero enters *agony* and slips closer to their Fate. Contests feed **Glory** — the best performer earns the most, and Glory drives advancement over the campaign. A **battle** is a series of linked contests in three phases (**Clash**, **Seize**, **Finale**), and the whole campaign cycles through origin → islands → respite → legend. ## Editions - **Agon: An Ancient Greek Tragedy** — First Edition, *John Harper*, **2006**, self-published (printed by Lulu), www.agon-rpg.com. *In the library* (the `agon 0814` scan, plus its hero/legend/deed/minion/NPC sheets and reference tables). The scrappy original: a smaller, denser book run on **Strife** spent by the Antagonist against the heroes' pooled dice, with Glory, **Oaths**, and Divine Favor. - **Agon, Second Edition** — *John Harper & Sean Nittner*, **2020**, Evil Hat (EHP0054). *In the library* (held as both "pages" and "spreads" layouts of the same book). The full rewrite: the four Domains, the four-step contest, Divine Favor and Pathos as a cleaner duality, and a self-contained-island structure. This edition's engine is what the third-party ecosystem calls the **[[Paragon]]** system. ## Supplements - **[[Agon - Additional Islands]]** — an anthology of ready-made islands by guest authors (Jeeyon Shim, Ben Scerri, Whitney Delaglio, Kira Magrann, James Mendez Hodes, Stras Acimovic, Misha Bushyager, Allison Arth). *In the library.* - **[[Agon - Storm Furies]]** — Harper's sci-fi dial on the engine, stormcraft pilots defending the last of humanity. *In the library.* - **[[Agon - Endeavour]]** and **[[Agon - Memories of the Fallen]]** — third-party Paragon playsets. *In the library.* - **Agon Player Kit** — free hero sheets and play aids. *In the library.* - **[[Agon - Temple of Hera]]** and **[[Agon - Beast of Kolkoris]]** — first-edition-era Spears & Glory adventures by Ben Robbins (Lame Mage Productions). *In the library.* ## References - [Agon — Official Site](https://agon-rpg.com/) - [Agon — Evil Hat Product Page](https://www.evilhat.com/home/agon/) - [Agon — DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/328661/AGON)