Agone is an RPG published by Multisim. They are a French company that published board and RPG games. Agone was originally released in 1999 as a French game. It was translated into English and released again in 2001. It was supported by a few accessories and one module in translation but has many more products available if you can handle French.
I remembered seeing this book at either Barnes & Nobles or now defunct Borders and liking the look of it though I balked at the price. I was eventually able to find it on eBay at a deep discount. The game can still be found online and dirt cheap I might add.
The price that the game goes for is not indicative in any way of the quality of the product. Let me start by saying that this is one of the most eye appealing games I have ever seen. This starts with the cover which for some reason just draws me in. In the interior it is not done with full color glossy pages. There are some pages in color but overall it is done with b&w art that is amazing.
The game itself is a variation on the Unisystem with parts added from others. The GM sets difficulty levels and then the players roll against these. The are open and closed rolls which makes things more complicated at time. The mechanics themselves are secondary to the setting and the storyline here.
The setting is epic level high fantasy. The players are assumed to be established in their lives and have been called upon to fight the evil that threatens the world. They are called the Inspired and the GM is actually a character in the game who leads them.
I think one of the reasons most people will never have heard of this and fewer will ever own or play it is the fact that it is so different from your standard RPG fare. I think it is closer to Nobilis in nature than D&D. There is much that open to the creativity of the player which them must be handled and adapted to by the GM. The game is not one I would use to introduce someone into gaming.
The game world is Harmundia and there is a run down of all the countries that exist in the provided play world. Since this is one continent in size I wonder of some of the non English material explains on this. The nations described are varies in nature which will allow the GM to use a setting they are more familiar and their players might be comfortable in as a starting place.
Since the game can be had for a song as can the published supplemental material I would say pick it up just to see if I know what I am talking about. I think if noting else there is always something that can be "borrowed" for incorporation into existing games as house rules.
Spell:
Arcane Syphon (R)
Level: Fifth
Range: 9"
Duration: None
Ares Effect: One Creature
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 5 Segments
Saving Throw: Special
Through use of this spell the magic user is able to syphon away spells from another individual or creature that is able to cast spells or has spell like abilities. The intended victim must have spells that they can cast or abilities that would be in the repertoire of a magic user.
The spells syphoned away are converted to levels. The spells lost will start with the highest level and work down converting as needed so no levels of syphon are lost. If the victim does not have enough spells to complete the syphon then those levels are lost. The caster can then add spells as desired even exceeding the number they could normally cast in a day.
The number of spells that can be syphoned away is a function of the spells level and a combination of level and intelligence difference between the caster and the victim. The caster will be able to syphon five spell levels plus another (2-5 levels). They will also syphon away one additional level for every two experience levels they are higher than the victim. They will also take an additional level for every point of intelligence they have greater than the victim. If the victim is of higher level than the caster then they are entitled to a saving throw. The same will be true if the intelligence of the victim is more than three points higher than the caster.
The reverse of this spell will allow the caster to send spell levels to another caster. In the case of the reverse the recipient must be an actual magic user and not someone or something will spell like abilities. The caster will also be able to specify the number of levels they syphon away.
The material component of this spell is a lodestone that has been prepared for this purpose specifically. The cost of preparation will be no less than 100gp. Each lodestone will be able to serve as the syphon for 201 to 600 spell levels (100 plus 1d4x100 plus 1-100) before it crumbles away.
Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.
