Epyllion
is a Tabletop Game published by Magpie Games.
The player characters are young dragons ("drakes") fighting to protect their world from the Darkness' corruption. They grew up in a time of peace and prosperity, long after the war in which the Darkness was banished forever... or so everyone hoped.
But terrifying omens are emerging all across Dragonia; strife grows between its ancient Houses, more hearts fall into Darkness every day, and the Council ignores it all — out of caution, corruption, or both.
But it's not all doom and gloom. The Power of Friendship is alive and well, the moons of Dragonia will lend their magic to worthy drakes, and Dragonia is still a fantastical, idealistic world ripe for adventuring.
The game is made on the Powered by the Apocalypse system, and so places a lot of focus on PC interaction. Each action the PC takes, even outside of battle, counts as a move and will frequently generate an equal reaction in response. The Power of Friendship is given great emphasis; each PC starts off with 10 'Friendship Gems' they can give to other PCs through good roleplaying, which they themselves can use to give a boost to their own actions. However, the PCs can also take strifes from particularly poor rolls, which can cause them to form rifts in the party and even fall to the darkness.
Definitely on the story side of Story to Gameplay Ratio, the game deliberately lacks rules for combat; it encourages combat be used to push engaging interactions between players and whatever best fit the narrative for everyone. The Real Man probably won't find much fun in this system, but The Roleplayer will likely have a blast.
This game includes the following tropes:
- Alien Sky: Dragonia has five moons.
- Condescending Compassion: The Warrior class's shadowselves have this. Their eagerness to protect Dragonia is poisoned by disdain for the "weakness" of everyone else in it.
- Creepy Child: The textbook example of the Seer class is this- a distant, terrified hatchling isolated by the terrible futures their powers force them to see.
- Crystalline Creature: Dragons who've died natural deaths have two options. One of these options is to become a still crystal statue, capable only of sharing one piece of telepathic information (like an epitaph, or words of encouragement) with those who approach it.
- Dark Is Evil: The Darkness, naturally. The PCs themselves can tap into the darkness, if need be, using their strifes as pluses to the rolls. However, even perfect rolls have some form of cost to them, and anything less than perfect have negative consequences- the worst being that the PCs actively spreading the darkness to their immediate surroundings.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Often, due to the fantastical setting.
- Corruption by Darkness is a very real threat and a matter of public safety. Therefore, it's not considered rude or naïve to accuse a dragon of being objectively evil — if the accuser has proof to back it up.
- Epyllion dragons don't have parents. An egg belongs to whatever House it's been assigned to, and is raised collectively by that House. They have friends and siblings of varying ages, but rarely any blood relations.
- Evil Is Easy: As easy as being injured or ignored one too many times...but then, so is coming back to the light.
- Insufferable Genius: When a member of the Academic class falls to the Darkness, they become this trope: an egoistical jerk who believes that they know everything. The clutch can purify an Academic by showing them otherwise.
- Jack of All Stats: Young dragons can use all five moons' magic, but it will be weaker and less reliable than the magic empowering older dragons. The very oldest dragons can only connect to one moon; specialisation always replaces adaptability eventually.
- The Mentor: The party (or "clutch") must be sponsored by an elder dragon, who is naturally this trope.
- Must Make Amends: House Kebros is defined by the shame of their betrayal during the War of Shadow, and its members know it. Even those born after the War consider regaining Kebros' honor very important.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The Council is slow and canonically hasn't realized yet that the Darkness is returning. They are basically invisible for story purposes, only appearing at the beginning or end.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Since this is a tabletop about dragons, the dragons are pretty diverse in terms of design and character.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Dragons do not die from old age; instead, they become massive crystal statues or silent, intangible beings that wander across the land. No one knows what they do, or even if they do anything.
- The Power of Friendship: An actual mechanic in the game. Each PC starts with ten "Friendship Gems" and is encouraged to give them to fellow PCs when they enact a quality they themselves possess. The recipient can then use the gems to power up their Moon Magic.
- Rousseau Was Right: Most of the Shadowself triggers are involuntary.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Thanks to themes of friendship and redemption, the tabletop game snuggly fits in the idealistic end of the spectrum.
- White-and-Grey Morality: The dragons are either good-hearted or antagonistic by outside reasons, but never evil by choice. Becoming corrupted by the Darkness is never a good thing, but it is often unavoidable or sympathetically motivated. (PCs can gain a shadow even for getting hurt in battle, concealing their identity, or ignoring a friend's advice, among other things.) Nobody is irredeemable, and it's expected that PCs will often move into the Darkness and out of it.
- World of Badass: The setting's dominant race is dragons. (Horns, claws and spiked tails are optional but suggested in the character creation rules.) And any dragon who lives long enough will become a giant, magic-blasting elder "mightier than any weapon ever forged".
