Agon: Successful First Run and question

[Skywalker]

I ran Agon for the first time in the week in preparation for a Con next weekend. It worked wonderfully.

Quick question:

I really enjoyed using the minion rules for everything except the main antagonists as they were quicker whilst dealing out less Glory to the PCs. I ran an encounter with some city thugs as an introduction and it worked well.

However, my reading of the rules is that minions should be under the control of a master. I got around this mechanically by making a 1 Strife NPC thug and then buying 5 1 Strife minions of that thug. I then fudged it so that the leader thug was also a minion in terms of wounds, making the group 6 minions.

Is there any problems with doing this? It seems like the trade off of the extra power of an NPC for the reduced Glory of a thug is reasonable. The d4 name dice to all minions seemed appropriate too.

Second set of questions:

I had some issues with advantages. In particular:

- Can the GM roll for advantages, instead of spending strife?
- Are advantages known to the players but not to the heroes (who must make a Lore test to find them out)?

Last question:

The hubris rules are awesome but they seem only to be applicable in a contest against an NPC. Can you invoke hubris on a contest without an NPC i.e. climbing a wall and if so what does the GM roll?

[Darren Hill]

I can answer your first and last question.
Minions: They need a leader, but that leader does not have to be present. Those thugs in a the city may have been working for some gang leader that the heroes only meet if they deliberately set out to do so.
Alternatievly, you could do sometyhing similar to what you did - have one of them who isn't a minion, but a d4 or d6 Name guy as the personality leading them. You can easily build a low-powered NPC on a few points and give him a bunch of minions.
Another approach: I'm not sure if this is kosher. The rules say that minions get their leader's anme die so long as he still lives. That opens up the possibility of having Minions who don't have a Leader - they just don't get to roll a Name Die.

The hubris rules:
When the players turn a simple contest into a battle, turn the opposition into an NPC and stat it up. So, the PCs want to get over that wall into some villain's villa - create "The Villa" as an NPC, and have it fight back. It's attacks might be roaming guards, or slippery walls, and when the PCs eliminate its six wound levels they get past it.
I've done this with a Maze.

[Skywalker]

I can answer your first and last question.
Minions: They need a leader, but that leader does not have to be present. Those thugs in a the city may have been working for some gang leader that the heroes only meet if they deliberately set out to do so.
Alternatievly, you could do sometyhing similar to what you did - have one of them who isn't a minion, but a d4 or d6 Name guy as the personality leading them. You can easily build a low-powered NPC on a few points and give him a bunch of minions.
Another approach: I'm not sure if this is kosher. The rules say that minions get their leader's anme die so long as he still lives. That opens up the possibility of having Minions who don't have a Leader - they just don't get to roll a Name Die.

Hmm. So I can create a 1 Strife NPC (d4 Name, d6 Abilities) and 1 Strife Minions (d6 Abilities) but not 6 Minions? I understand the importance of not just throwing random mooks at the heroes but I find it strange that the Minion rules don't allow the above.

The hubris rules:
When the players turn a simple contest into a battle, turn the opposition into an NPC and stat it up. So, the PCs want to get over that wall into some villain's villa - create "The Villa" as an NPC, and have it fight back. It's attacks might be roaming guards, or slippery walls, and when the PCs eliminate its six wound levels they get past it.
I've done this with a Maze.

Cool, so this would like a battle using Craft or Sport skills (so a wall would be an Athletics Battle) as appropriate?

[Darren Hill]

Hmm. So I can create a 1 Strife NPC (d4 Name, d6 Abilities) and 1 Strife Minions (d6 Abilities) but not 6 Minions? I understand the importance of not just throwing random mooks at the heroes but I find it strange that the Minion rules don't allow the above.

Er, that's not what I said. I listed two situations you could have Minions without a leader: To clarify:
1. The Leader isn't present. In this case, you don't need to design the leader - just choose an appropriate name Die and pay for that (1 point = 1d4, 2 points = d6, etc).. If the players don't hunt down this leader, he may never enter play. (Note: this is perfectly fine by the rules: you're building an NPC who has spent points ONLY on his Name Die.)
2. The Leader is dead. In this case, you don't design him, and don't need to pay for him. But the Minions don't get to use a Name Die either.

In the second case, there is no difference between a group that has no leader, and a group whose leader is dead - so you can use that approach to justify leader-less minion groups.

The hubris rules:
<snip>
Cool, so this would like a battle using Craft or Sport skills (so a wall would be an Athletics Battle) as appropriate?

Yes.

[Skywalker]

[Er, that's not what I said. I listed two situations you could have Minions without a leader: To clarify:
1. The Leader isn't present. In this case, you don't need to design the leader - just choose an appropriate name Die and pay for that (1 point = 1d4, 2 points = d6, etc).. If the players don't hunt down this leader, he may never enter play. (Note: this is perfectly fine by the rules: you're building an NPC who has spent points ONLY on his Name Die.)
2. The Leader is dead. In this case, you don't design him, and don't need to pay for him. But the Minions don't get to use a Name Die either.

In the second case, there is no difference between a group that has no leader, and a group whose leader is dead - so you can use that approach to justify leader-less minion groups.

Awesome. Thanks a bunch.