Aeon Trespass Odyssey
Cycle 4 - Session 1
My first game session took another five hours! This time it was an hour to read the opening story for the campaign and make suitable changes to the game setups, followed by four hours for the first battle as I painstakingly had to look up every single special rule again to remember what stuff did. And those rules are now spread across four rulebooks (each cycle after the first added a new set of rules).
It was fun though, and I’m sure after a couple more game sessions I’ll be remembering the rules much better and it will go a lot smoother.
This game would be so much easier with a combined index (IE “For this rule see Book 3 P120”). In the absence of that, head to Board Game Geek and check out the files section for ATO. There are some player generated aids in there including keyword indexes you can print out and keep to hand. Makes it a whole lot easier than grabbing one of 6 books at random and hoping thats the one with the rule you’re after (5 cycle books and core rules).
Since that gaming session I’ve spent several hours making my own reference sheet for all the keywords. I guessed there were probably some online, but by making my own I re-read all the words and I got to structure them the way I think makes most sense. Hopefully that speeds up my future sessions.
Good luck. Its a very heavy game and it likes to hide its rules. Keep notes. Rules and powers will be gained from random story chapters. I always thought I wrote down enough and then a few fights later I’d want more info and then have no idea where to look for it. Its a good game, but it could do with the kid of tidy up and clarification that comes with a 2nd edition. Or it was just too much for my solo feeble brain.
The best thing for speed is momentum. Don’t take a few weeks/months off. Keep playing until it’s done, or you risk forgetting rules and whats going on.