Agon: Post Your Islands Here

[John Harper]

Post the Islands and associated Quests that you've created here. Quest-specific NPCs can also go here, though you may want to also post them in the NPC sticky thread. If you want to discuss an Island, please start a new thread rather than having commentary here.

[iago]

This is an island from my nascent Agon campaign, First Among Equals.  If you are a player in that game, don't read this too closely.  Or do.  It won't help you.

THE ISLE OF ARKANAM

  Arkanam, a strange jagged rock of a place, harsh, pitted  with caves and twisting passages. Some say the passage to  the underworld is found here. An old and strange brass  city caps one of its highest crags, and the hidden heart  of this place still rumbles with the fires of Hephaestus.

  The 'political' climate here:

    Bazantanam, The Great City of Brass and Shadow. Strange    ancient devices churn behind the walls and beneath the    ground of this strangest of cities. The people there    wear only metal, and use the strange machineries to gather the knowledge of the dead into their library.    They have used the knowledge of their fallen enemies to    wage a constant, effective defensive battle against    those who would come to destroy them. In the bowels of    their many-layered city, there is a great brass gate,    locked to all passage and never once opened, which leads    into the underworld of Hades. Bazantanam is building a    temple to Apollo.

    The stalemate of old has lead the Bazans to offer a    notion of peace to Ukron, the Great Gorgon King of the    Phost, a race of warlike giant-men who live on the far    side of Arkanam. Ukron has tentatively accepted the    truce (though no one is buying it), but confident that    he can stop worrying about Bazantanam for the short    term. Instead, he turns his eye towards Iliana, a    smaller, verdant neighboring island populated by a    pleasant fisher-folk favored by Poseidon. The machinery    of war begins to point towards Iliana.

QUEST ONE: (6 objectives)

Hermes commands the heroes to travel into the land of the dead, and release Niktaros, the Shadow Steed, from its bondage under Hades' rule. The steed must be returned to the living lands.

* Find how to get into the land of the dead.

    * Acquire the Amulet of Opening (key to the land of the      dead) from the Black Circle sorcerers.

* Face the trials of the dead, where each hero must  answer to those he has killed.

* Actually ride/master/tame the Shadow Steed long enough  to get it to stay with the heroes and follow them out  of the underworld.

    * Evade the attention (and wrath) of Hades during the      escape.

QUEST TWO: (6 objectives)

Apollo commands that the new temple being built in his name in Bazantanam, and the architect in charge of the project, be defended against those who would stop its construction. Three attempts will be made to destroy it.

* Find safe passage to Bazantanam (it is across vast and  treacherous terrain, full of painful pitfalls and other  challenges).

* Convince the lead architect to accept help.  He is too proud for this.

* Determine who is trying to destroy the temple, and stop  them:

    * The Phidaros, a proud nomadic tribe evicted from this      spot in ages past, servants of Artemis, and outraged      that Apollo is taking the spot as his own.

    * The Morlokai, a vast army of underground cannibals

    * The Kraxes, a trio of chimaera hated by Apollo for      their betrayal, cast out of Olympos ages ago.

QUEST THREE: (4 objectives)

Poseidon commands that the heroes slay Ukron, the Great Gorgon King of the Phost. Slain, one of the heroes must take Ukron's place upon his throne and return the Phost to their ageless war against Bazantanam. This quest is front-loaded with the kill of Ukron. The question afterwards is how to deal with taking command of the Phost.

* Kill Ukron, the Gorgon King.  Not easy.

* Take command of the Phost, by facing their trials:

    * Defeat the ten best of the Phost in contests of      strength.

    * Recover the Crown of Ukron from Nonos, the Keeper of      Blood.

    * Recover the Scepter of Ukron from Fokron, his elder      brother, the gorgon living in the heated heart of      Arkanam.

STRIFE TOTALS: 16 objectives x 5 = 80 strife per player involved. I'm looking at 3-5 players, for a budget of 240-400 strife.

[Ignus]

Polyaigos: My first island

An exciting sea-fairing island mourning the passing of their great King. Ranging from the tranquil coast with its temperate rolling hills to the towering, frosty heights of Polyaigos' mountainous interior and fortified capitol.

It all went very well. I unfortunately didn't win once (I was running it, if you haven't guessed) however, the Hydra did take out one of the Heroes! I consider that a moral victory.

I think the problem was that we were using the optional rule of using fate to re-charge divine favour. In the long run it'll do them nothing but harm, but at this point they didn't care. Thus the Hydra got a snack

Please forgive my idiosyncratic writing, they are mostly just my notes and numbers. Make of it what you will (it has pictures!).

[Ignus]

Fixed link: 40kult.0catch.com/images/Polyaigos.pdf

[Darcy Burgess]

Tremble before the cyclopean goodness that is the undead patriarchy of The Island of Skyros.