Other sources of Quests

[timmyd]

I'll admit right off the bat that I have not yet read *all* of the Agon rulebook, and I have not yet ran a game.

With that in mind, I have an elaborate campaign storyline planned, and it has more of a traditional D&D feel to it.  I'm wondering how Agon would work with other sources for generating Quests.

What I mean is, Agon seems to rely on the Gods as the source for all Quests (eg. Aphrodite appears, and compels the heroes to slay the such-and-such monster).  But much of my storyline uses other sources (eg. an enigmatic philosopher, the king of a city-state, etc.).

The campaign should unfold as the heroes uncover the overarching storyline.  The various Quests that make up the campaign will be clearly identified when the heroes get to that point.

For example, the heroes should accompany a philosopher on a trip to the ruins of an Atlantean fort in Sicily to seek a sacred idol from the catacombs.

How could I phrase this Quest in the frame of Agon?

[RPL]

Hi Timmy,

Concerning the way you want to organize things I can give you the example I'm using on a island I'm GMing: There are 3 Gods (as usual) and one of them gave the Band a quest to pursue, during that quest they came across a situation where another God asked them for something else and at the end of that one the last God appeared and asked them for yet another thing.

Now, all of the problems on the Island were connected to the things that a secret cult did to that last god (witch they have to resolve as their final quest), and set off the chain reaction to the other quests. I probably won't use this method for our next island (I want to try a lot of different approaches) but maybe it helps you.

For your example you could have Poseidon appear to the Band and phrase the following quests:
- Find the knowledge that the philosopher holds;
- Recover for me a sacred idol;
- Protect my philosopher servant in his journey;
- Etc.

You can try to link the Gods wishes to something vague (the knowledge) about a key NPC in the quest your playing or to the final purpose of said quest (the idol) or the NPC it self (protect him).

Does this help?


Diogo Curado

[timmyd]

Thanks Diogo, that does help a bit.

I guess that I really just need to change my perspective.  Classic D&D does not typically involve the gods as much as Agon does.  In Agon, the gods are very much a part of all of the important events, and the daily lives of the people.

[MikeSands]

Another thing is that the gods might be behind the quests even if they do not appear to the Heroes and tell them to go do it. Your important NPCs could easily be doing the bidding of the gods when they give out 'their' quests.

[John Harper]

That's a good point, Mike.

The game design idea behind the quests of the gods is a simple one: The players need to understand that the quests are important, and are meant to be the focus of game play. So, for standard Agon, the gods show up and give divine orders that can't be ignored.

But it your players already understand the structure of the game, you can play looser with how quests are handled... even (gasp) letting the heroes come up with their own plans for what to do on the next island.

[timmyd]

That's a great idea Mike.

Even having the gods deceive the heroes and duping them into going on quests would be good.

Think of Athena disguising herself and encouraging Telemachus to seek his father Odysseus.

I'll play with a mix of quest sources.