Aeon possesses core axioms that permeate throughout all of the rules you’ll see below.
| Axiom | Rule |
|---|---|
| First | The engine must allow for all Characters, that means Players and monsters alike, to share the same, simple template for creating any abilities. We sum this up as “You can be anything you fight and vice versa.” Thus, nothing in the game hides behind an artificial wall of “well, that’s a unique enemy, so you can’t copy its abilities.” |
| Second | All Talents must provide a tangible benefit for leveling them up. Nothing's more frustrating in other games where you're putting points into something, just so you can get past "gating" to something you actually need. |
| Third | All Abilities' components must interact with one another. This way, whenever you build anything, there's never a Character ability that's dead on arrival. |
| Fourth | The engine must be simple and clean, and have most of the rules fit onto only a couple of pages, so new Players can jump on in. While you’re likely raising an eyebrow as you’re reviewing this site, the Character Sheet has most of the Augments and rules listed thereon as a quick reference for new Players and GMs alike. As a Team who often had a stack of tomes on hand, ready to interpret the rules of other RPGs during our game sessions, we found the lawyering a bit tiring. So the rules should be easy to use, and in the event that there is a reasonable dispute, then the “rules as written” should be quick and clean cut enough so the GM can quickly flip go through this site to the section to settle the issue; the GM can then spend time telling the story; the Players can spend more time enjoying the story; and everyone can spend less time acting like librarians. |
| Fifth | The engine must be easily portable and cost efficient. While we love opening starter boxes and other accoutrements which wow and delight the audience, we also hated the idea that we’d have to spend hundreds to get a taste of a new game (we’re looking at you tabletop wargamers). Accordingly, the Aeon team lists a number of “free options” to mitigate or possibly eliminate the cost for new Players and GMs to try out Aeon’s engine. To be honest, new GMs and Players can try out a free module located on this site without having to buy anything. It may seem a bit counterintuitive that a new company wants to find ways to keep you from spending money on us, but we’ve been playing RPG’s from adolescence up to our adult lives. We understand everyone’s means are different; so if you like our works and can support us, we’d love your patronage, but if you can’t right now, we understand that too. |
Now that we’re done being a bright-eyed, beautiful indie company, let’s get back to some of the other game mechanics.
A GM should provide a Character Sheet, for each of their Players, copies of which can be found on this site. We recommend that, for the first couple of sessions, a GM print out Character Sheets for each of their NPCs as a quick reference aid, until they become comfortable enough to draft their own cheat sheets. If a GM has reviewed the Character Sheet well enough, they should be able to quickly jot down notes on scratch paper for each of the NPCs (some of the Aeon team members go so far as just having a notepad ready, and when we need to whip up a new enemy, we can do it on the fly using the quick facets of our engine). We also recommend that, at the end of every session, the GM collects all the Character Sheets and hold them for future sessions; after all, nothing slows a game more than a player forgetting their character’s statistics and having to “re-roll” their Character Sheet from memory.
Both Players and NPCs alike are granted six Ability Points, or "AP", per turn to spend on actions as they see fit; note that if a Player has accumulated Inspiration Points, they may spend one Inspiration Die per turn to instead increase their AP to 7 that turn. There are four, general actions that a Character can perform per turn: using an Ability; making a Called Shot; using a Defensive Action; or moving around the battlefield. Note that Players are allowed to mix and match their AP usage as they see fit, subject the following below:
An Ability Action represents a Character’s efforts to affect another Character during their turn by using an Ability during combat. The Character will refer to the Dice Table to determine the total number of dice they are granted based upon the total amount of AP spent. Augments have different means of determining whether they are successful and are discussed under Part 3 - Augments. When Characters target another Character with an Ability, they must state the total number of die they will roll during their turn, and may not split up die when used against the same target.
Examples
Permitted: A Player has 6 enemies surrounding them, and elects to spend 1 AP to attack each enemy surrounding them.
Permitted: A Player has 2 enemies nearby who themselves are standing side by side. The Player spends AP to move up to the enemies, then splits their remaining AP to attach each enemy.
Not Permitted: A Player knows that the single enemy before them only has 1 health. They spend 1 AP to attack, are told they miss, and they repeat this, trying to conserve their AP as much as possible by rolling "one at a time" until they get a success. This is not permissible. A Character must look at their enemy and elect how many AP to spend on that enemy this turn. Thus, if the Player knows that the Enemy has only 1 health, they will have to make a calculated gamble: should they spend 1 AP, or more, this turn to try and just kill them? Players with higher AP have a lower chancing of missing, but the odds of missing will plummet the more they invest this turn, but this leaves them less able to deal with other enemies this turn.
Characters may sacrifice a single dice to upgrade a separate dice by 1 step, such as sacrificing a 1d4 to make another 1d4 now a 1d6. This may be done indefinitely until a Character is left with only one die.
Called Shots are extremely AP inefficient and should only be used for scenarios where the Character is in a helpless situation, and but for a Called Shot, they would likely die. More often than not, GMs will use this ability more than Players in order to increase their NPCs attack to account for unexpected increases in Players' Resistances.
A Player may also choose to take a Defensive action, where each AP spent may increase a single Resistance by one point until the start of that Player’s next turn. Players may increase the total resistances they receive per AP by investing in the Endurance Perk. Note that a Player who spends AP for a Defensive need not place all their temporary Resistances into the same Resistance type; thus, a Character may spend six AP to gain two resistance each in Resistance (Physical), Resistance (Elemental), and Resistance (Supernal).
Some enemies may hide behind an object, such as a wall, which provide “Cover”, in order to gain additional temporary Resistance. Note that temporary Resistance from a Defensive Action, Cover, and the Endurance Perks are cumulative, up to the max Resistance cap of thirteen; thus, a Player should not spend their AP to take them above thirteen Resistance as this would waste their AP. GMs should also be on the lookout for a Player’s mathematical calculations if they get close to thirteen total Resistance to prevent a Player from wasting a portion of their AP pool.
Barring investing in Talents, all Players may normally move up to a single hex per AP spent during their Move Action. When crafting a battlefield, a GM may also elect to designate certain terrain as “Difficult Terrain" which instead requires two or more AP spent per single hex travelled.
In General: Aeon uses polyhedral dice to represent a Character’s Actions. There are two rules for how we describe dice that any previous RPG player will already know:
The Three Approaches: Aeon’s team recommends one of the three following approaches for having enough dice to play:
| Augment Level | 1AP | 2AP | 3AP | 4AP | 5AP | 6AP | 6AP + Inspiration Die |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1d4 | 2d4 | 3d4 | 4d4 | 5d4 | 6d4 | 7d4 |
| 2nd | 1d6 | 2d6 | 3d6 | 4d6 | 5d6 | 6d6 | 7d6 |
| 3rd | 1d8 | 2d8 | 3d8 | 4d8 | 5d8 | 6d8 | 7d8 |
| 4th | 1d10 | 2d10 | 3d10 | 4d10 | 5d10 | 6d10 | 7d10 |
| 5th | 1d12 | 2d12 | 3d12 | 4d12 | 5d12 | 6d12 | 7d12 |
| 6th | 1d12! | 2d12! | 3d12! | 4d12! | 5d12! | 6d12! | 7d12! |
Aeon uses a unique dice calculation system far different from other, more conventional table top RPGs, where your Ability’s “strength” scales against both your level in the Augment and the total number of AP spent; think of this as the difference between a firebolt by a novice mage versus a powerful fireball by a master wizard. Another way of thinking this is that your Augment level represents how powerful the Ability is, while the number of dice spent represents how much effort you throw behind that Ability for this turn.
The Dice Table will be the most used reference in all of Aeon Imperium. Each Augment has six total levels a player may invest in it, as denoted on the left side, or the Y Axis. Along the X axis at the top, Players will see the total number of Action Points a Player may spend per turn, up to six (or seven with an Inspiration Die).
A Player who only has one point invested in an Active Augment has access to 1-7d4; while a Player who has three points invested in an Augment has access to 1-7d8. If a Player with only one point invested in the Active Augment elects to spend six Action Points during their turn, then they will have access to 6d4 dice to roll during their turn; similarly a Player with Active (3) Augment who spends six Action Points will have access to 6d8.
Players who have reached level five on the Dice Table are afforded 1-7d12. Upon reaching level 6, the die then becomes 1-7d12!, which now has the chance to achieve two Successes upon rolling a Natural twelve. If a Character uses the Seeking Augment described in a further chapter, then the die roll is the Natural number, while the modified number is the total roll.
A Critical Strike does not guarantee a hit. In the event an enemy has thirteen Resistance, then rolling a Natural twelve would not be a Critical Strike since it did not exceed an enemy’s Resistance. In the event a Character rolls multiple dice, some of which are Critical Strikes while others are not, only those dice which are Critical Strikes achieve two Successes each, while the non-Critical Strike die achieve their normal one Success apiece.
An Inspiration Die may be awarded by a GM for excellent RP’ing. Thus if a Character performs an action to the detriment of the Party but keeps to their Character personality, a GM may award an Inspiration Die. Similarly, if a Character performs a brilliant act of deduction or some other act which the other Players will remember for weeks to come, the GM may award an Inspiration Die. There is never a mandatory event by which a GM must award Inspiration Die; it is always at the GM’s discretion. A Character may hold up to three total Inspiration Dice at one time, but may only use one Inspiration Die per turn or on a single Skill Check. If a Player receives an Inspiration Die but already has 3 in their pool, then the new Inspiration Die is discarded (use them when you can!). We're sure a rules-lawyer GM is going to ask "Can one of my NPCs gain an Inspiration Die?" No, because that's just self-praise at that point.
Aeon Imperium allows Players to use three systems for visualizing encounters: the hex grid, measure, or online media approach. Each system has its benefits and detriments, to be chosen by the GM and explored below. For whatever approach you use, each uses a single unit of distance measured as 1 inch on a map, which in turn represents six feet in the real world. For new GMs, the Aeon Imperium team strongly recommend the hex grid approach, as the overlay provides a very quick and easy visualization of the encounter.
Aeon Imperium uses a hexagonal system to describe encounters. The benefit of a lined map is that it is extremely easy to visualize the distance and relation between Characters, enemies, and the environment.
Both internet retailers and gaming stores sell large, laminated/coated hexagonal maps at one inch in diameter. We recommend choosing a wet erase, rather than a dry erase, map to ensure drawings aren't accidentally erased during gameplay.
\The detriment to the maps and miniatures method is that it may require a small investment by the GM, such as purchasing a wet erase map; prefabricated maps with hex-grid overlays; miniatures in order to enhance their adventures; or any combination of the above.
Instead of having a hex overlay on all maps, GMs can elect to instead measure the distance, using a ruler or measuring tape, along a non-lined map to determine Character actions. Since a hex is one inch in diameter, a GM would begin measurement at the very center of the Character, with the distance in question being the very end of the measurement.
For example, a Character moving six hexes would translate as moving six inches, with the measuring tool being placed above the miniature, and the final location of the Character being at the six-inch mark on the measuring device.
The benefit to the distance measurement and miniatures approach is that a GM need not purchase maps that have any kind of overlay. Moreover, some wargame veterans often have beautiful landscapes and dioramas which they can quickly place on a table and have an immersive scene readily available. The detriment to the distance measurement and miniatures approach is mostly the same as the maps and miniatures method, but that it may take some time for players to get used to measuring distances with a device rather than just quickly counting up hexes on a grid. Veterans of the tabletop miniature market may find this approach familiar and beneficial to their gaming sessions.
Many RPG fans have likely already used websites which emulate tabletops for their RPGs so that players across the world can play with one another in real time. These websites allow you to upload maps, create Miniatures or “tokens” as they are typically represented in 2D, and possess several features to make online gaming enjoyable. The great news is that the only requirement for Aeon to be played online is that the map tool allows for hex-grids, which the Aeon Team has yet to find a polished RPG website that doesn’t, and a dice roller. So if you’re a new GM that wants to avoid spending money on miniatures, maps, dice, or tokens, then by all means you can use one of these online sites to facilitate your games.
The only detriment to this approach is if your entire group is local, as it may be somewhat odd to have six people sitting in a circle with their laptops, when they could instead be hovering over a map and enjoying rolling their dice.
No matter which of the three approaches a GM takes, each requires the visualization and movement of terrain. Most terrain encountered will be flat or otherwise at a gentle slope, which allows the Player to traverse the area by only spending one AP per Movement.
In certain situations, the GM may instead decide that the terrain is hard to traverse. These kinds of situations are called “Difficult Terrain” and represent a Characters additional care in crossing. Difficult Terrain is determined by the GM at the start of an encounter; furthermore, when presenting the battlefield, the GM is encouraged to note Difficult Terrain so that Players can survey and determine their Characters’ actions accordingly.
Here is a list of common, Difficult Terrain which, when presented, should immediately notify the GM that this part of the map is difficult terrain: marshes, sand, uphill and downhill slopes, areas with ankle or knee-deep water such as river or lake shores, etc.
Players typically understand that running uphill is difficult terrain, in that they have to expend extra energy to both run and to avoid any footfalls; however, Players may also be curious as to why running downhill would also afford them the detriments of Difficult Terrain, since they should be moving faster. The answer lies in one of the same reasons why running uphill is difficult: a Player must ensure that they do not trip or otherwise dislodge their footing. When Players are running downhill, they must be careful to ensure that they do not misstep and hurl themselves downwards. Accordingly, Players that are running both uphill and downhill suffer the penalties of Difficult Terrain, subject to the GM’s discretion.
In a crowded and chaotic battlefield, Players will likely be wading through hordes of minions, perhaps a lieutenant or two, and maybe even a boss commanding their legion. This, coupled with your Party members and Difficult Terrain, could lead to questions about where and how you can move in the first place.
If the hex is instead occupied by an ally, then the Character may move through the hex in question, so long as they end their turn in an empty hex. I.E. two Characters may never occupy the same hex. A Character may not move through a hex if it is occupied by an enemy. In certain situations, a Character may wish to “break away” from combat in order to gain a more advantageous position; this is called Break(ing) Combat.
If a Character is adjacent to an enemy and wishes to move away, then the Character suffers from minus one AP per adjacent enemy for their efforts. Breaking Combat is cumulative. Thus, if a Character Breaks Combat whilst surrounded by six enemies, then they would suffer minus six to their AP pool just to perform the action, effectively negating their ability to escape. A Character may take the Tactician Perk to mitigate these scenarios.
What if, while running from one enemy mob, I pass by another? How is AP loss calculated then?
Since Breaking Combat is cumulative, then the total AP loss counts during the entirety of a Character’s turn. So if a Character breaks away from three enemies, they would lose three AP; if the Character then runs past another enemy, they would also lose one additional one AP that turn. Characters should always watch the battlefield’s ebb and flow to ensure that they have a route of both ingress and egress.
How do occupied hexes synergize with breaking combat?
Since Characters may not run through occupied hexes no matter the situation, if that Character’s back is against a wall and they are surrounded enemy occupied hexes, then that Character is effectively trapped and may not escape. Players with the Forceful Augment would do well to spot terrain which would engender these kinds of scenarios, especially when confronting highly mobile enemies.
Cover represents obstructions to eyesight which prevent a Character from clearly seeing or otherwise targeting another Character.
The GM should look at the situation and determine if terrain provides either “Half Cover” or “Full Cover”. If a Character is behind Half Cover, then they receive +2 to Temporary Resistance to all their Resistances. If a Character is instead behind Full Cover, the bonus increases to +4.
Note that GMs should also be forthright in showing what can and cannot be Cover, so Players can move accordingly. This adds dynamism to the battlefield, in that if Players need to weave through a forest to get to their enemy, then clever usage of their AP could provide an advantage in attacking and ducking behind cover. As a warning, enemies can do the same!
As a final note, a Character cannot attack another unless they can see their enemy. Thus, if an crossbowman takes a shot from atop a highwall, then retreats into a tower where the Players can no longer see them, then the Character may not attack the retreating Character. Similarly, Characters cannot attack enemies they are unaware of. You may ask when this would happen: oftentimes GMs set up the battlefield with miniatures or draw out areas whereby any Players familiar with RPGs would know that enemies are present. We refer to this as Metagaming or knowing something beyond that which their Characters have active knowledge. If this happens, then the GM just needs to gently remind the Player that their Character doesn’t know about this, or better yet, the GM should instead have the Player justify why they would know this through their Character’s background.
Thus, a novice squire may not think to torch the path behind them to prevent being pincered, while a grizzled knight may instead have seen this before. These kinds of situations are perfect to expand upon a Character’s development; after all, that same squire will hopefully become the knowledgeable knight!
As covered under the Defensive Action section, Temporary Resistance granted by Cover is cumulative with a Defensive Action and the Endurance Perk.
Example
The easiest example of this is that a Character is stands atop a wall and shoots between the crenellations, while another Character stands on an open battlefield. It is easy to imagine the Character standing on the open battlefield as not possessing cover, while the Character up on the wall is difficult to hit.
When creating battlefields, GMs should always keep in mind what may provide Cover to any Characters. While it is up to the GM, the Aeon Team has a couple examples below for what we’ve found to be easy scenarios:
As a final example, a GM may encounter a scenario where two enemies are both behind cover and targeting one another. An easy example of this is in the movies when two enemies are both behind walls, shooting at each other. In these situations, both enemies retain their cover when poking around a corner and attacking. For the sake of clarity:
Note that the Chain Augment is specially designed to get around these situations.
Fall damage typically only comes up with the Force Augment.
"Fall Damage" is technically a Physical Attack, per GM discretion (I.E. the enemy falls into lava, which would instead be Elemental Damage). For every 6 feet, being one hex, a Character falls, the DM receives 1d2 to roll against the Character and the Character treats their armor as if it's been temporarily Sundered equal to the fall distance in hexes.
Players may ask why a heavily armored enemy may be able to shrug off a fall through a lucky roll or high Physical Resistance, and the answer lies in that the Characters likely forget they, and their enemies, are supernaturally tough. In comparison, a normal citizen would likely have perhaps only the minimum resistance of 1, and a HP pool of 6, thus a fall using the example above would likely kill them immediately, or leave them crippled and in need of medical care.
As a final note, fall damage is the only time that an "Attack" roll may exceed 7 total die, whereas a Player normally only has 6 AP + 1 Inspiration Die maximum. Thus, a fall from 60 feet would be 10d2, etc.
Example
One of your Players Forces an enemy off a wall, where they plummet to the street below. The DM makes up the wall's height on the spot, and says it's probably around 45 feet. 45 / 6 = 7 Hexes (always round down!). The DM thus gets 7d2 to roll against the enemy, and since the impact with the street below will be Physical, the enemy treats their Physical Resistance as temporarily Sundered (7), which maxes out to temporarily Sundered (6). As with normal attacks, any Natural 1s will be treated as failures.
As can be expected when a Character inadvertently blows up the dungeon, the supporting structure will begin to crumble and debris will begin to fall. As the debris falls and changes the battlefield, a GM will naturally ask "if this debris hits a Character, how do they take damage?"
In these instances, the damage from falling objects would essentially be Attack (Physical) with Shaped. Since the debris could be tens of hexes affected, the exact levels of Shaped are inconsequential. A GM should survey the battelfield, determine whether small chunks or large crenellations are falling down, and make an educated guess whether the damage is anywhere from 1d4 - 1d12!.
Note that since Characters are likely to be pummelled over and over as they flee the crumbling dungeon, we have only two, strong recommendations:
A GM may immediately pipe up and say "Well, my Players have Restoration, they'll be fine if I up the damage!" If the building is falling around them, and any Characters sacrifice AP for movement and instead use it for healing, they'll likely die in that scenario (and be yelled at by their compatriots); however, if the Characters are close to death, a good GM should hold off on the damage through RP'ing: "You all find a reinforced stairwell inside one of the towers, you think you can take a very quick break here but you see stress cracks slowly forming along the mortar." Here, Players will take their queue to heal, but know they have to keep going. Remember, it's the GM and the Players against the scenario, not the GM against the Players.
As a final note, damage from falling objects may be an excellent way to ensure your players have Wounds from the encounter, ensuring they are both thankful to get out alive and that they will need to bandage themselves up in safe harbor, opening additional RP'ing opportunities.
Combat Order determines the order in which Characters participate in combat. The GM will also determine whether or not one or more characters, on either side of combat, are surprised by the appearance of the others. Each character will perform a Celerity Skill Check to determine their initiative and add their Celerity Perk level to the total roll; thus a Character with Celerity (3) would roll 3d12.
As a quick reference, a GM should always consider the following when commencing combat:
Example
Let’s say two Characters are rolling against one another, and the Player has Celerity (3) while the Enemy has no levels in Celerity:
The GM would then rearrange the Player and enemy Character in order from highest to lowest roll. In the event that the Player and enemy Character have the same result, then each would reperform their Celerity Skill Check until there is a clear winner. Note here that Players with higher level of Celerity will also have a higher chance to win a subsequent Celerity Skill Check, should the first Celerity Skill Check result in a draw.
As is often the case, one batch of Characters will ambush or sneak upon another group. The ambushers should gain the upper hand while the ambushed will likely be caught off guard, both in turn order, and often more deadly, their formation.
To determine an Ambush Phase, the GM should go through the following checklist:
Successful Players will be allowed to either (A) position themselves on the battlefield as they see fit and are awarded one free round of action before Initiative normally starts; or (B) avoid the conflict altogether. After the first “free” round, Initiative returns to normal and all Characters may act accordingly.
Unsuccessful Players will instead not gain the advantage of either ambushing or avoiding the enemy, and everyone must make their Initiative Skill Checks.
Ambush phases are somewhat rare, in that it’s often unlikely that two parties will not see one another; instead, it’ll take a concerted effort (usually by your Players) to determine that they’ll take a stealthy approach in order to gain the benefits of an Ambush phase (or to just avoid combat altogether).
Example
Two Players attempt to sneak into a castle by climbing over the fortifications, where they know guards are patrolling at random intervals.
The GM has determined that the guards are not on alert for anything particularly nefarious since the castle has not been attacked or otherwise infiltrated in recent memory. The GM notifies the Players of this.
The Players, rather than just scaling the wall, instead alert the GM that they would like to watch the wall from a comfortable, and shadowy, distance to see if they can determine a schedule for patrol, so they can hopefully avoid the guards.
Delighted, the GM informs the Players that they need not roll a Stealth Skill Check yet, but after hours of camping out, they can indeed determine a schedule for the guardsman, and thus they can better avoid running into them. Here, the GM would decide whether to award the Players an Inspiration Die for excellent RPing (which could be used on any Skill Check) or more appropriately, advantage on Stealth Skill Checks for this particular endeavor. The GM elects the latter and informs the Players they are rewarded for their efforts by having a Skill Check Advantage on Stealth for getting past the guards.
One of the Players asks the GM if the guards would have disadvantage on any Perception Skill Checks against the Player’s eventual Stealth Skill Check. The GM thinks about it, and since the guards are not otherwise distracted from their normal duties, the GM informs them that the guards will have a normal Skill Check.
The Players decide to proceed, and the GM asks for their Stealth Skill Checks with Advantage. The GM also informs the group that since they are dealing with trained guards, the Skill Check will be Moderate, i.e. each Player will need three Successes each to not be noticed. The GM will also need to ask the Players if anyone already has an Advanced Skill Level in Stealth, since it would result in an automatic Success and that Character need not roll.
One Player informs the GM that they do indeed have Advanced Stealth, and the GM states that this Player need not roll since they have an automatic Success in the Skill Check. The other Player informs the GM that they only have a Simple level of Stealth.
The GM tells the second Player not to worry, in that they have Advantage, or one additional die; moreover, if the Player rolls a 12, then this counts as two Successes.
The Player with Simple stealth rolls their two dice plus the additional advantage die, resulting in a 2, 12, and 5. The GM informs the Player that the 12 results in two Successes, and the 5 counts as a single Success, for a total of three Successes, enough to defeat the Stealth Skill Check.
The GM asks the Players how they proceed: would they like to engage in combat and gain the benefit of an Ambush Phase, or avoid the guards altogether?
More often than not, Parties will consist of one “stealthy” Player while the others are not; accordingly, the stealthy Player may try to get an Ambush phase while the others, knowing they would likely fail (and hurt the stealthy Player by removing their successful Ambush) would forego trying to get an Ambush by staying back and not requiring a Stealth Skill Check in the first place.
In this scenario, the GM would ask for the same rolls as above. If the Character is successful, then only that Character would have an Ambush phase, i.e. that Character would get a free round before Initiative starts normally, and would be allowed to position themselves as they see fit; however, their other Party members would not gain the advantage of setting up their formation in a favorable manner close to the ambushed party; moreover, the other Players would likely be far away. A GM should inform the stealth Player this is a double edged sword, in that it may take a round or two for the other Players to catch up to the stealthy Character to support them, and otherwise prevent the stealthy Character from being surrounded and possibly slaughtered.
We encourage GMs to not let this fact prevent a Character from achieving their potential; instead, the GM should allow the stealthy Character to use their advantage in setting up their position (and move the ambushed Characters appropriately) so the stealthy Character is rewarded for their actions.
Experience Points or “XP” represents the total accumulation of a Character’s Talents. XP represents a Character’s “soul” and their accumulation, the sum of which provides the fodder for their supernatural feats. XP may be granted both for success in combat or for successful Skill Checks. Thus, a Party who outwits an enemy will likely gain the same amount of XP as if they had instead fought and defeated said enemy. The amount of XP granted is at the GM’s discretion.
After testing this for years, we've found that different Player groups prefer one of two different systems. The first system is easily recognizable to TTRPG Players, where actions award XP to spend how they see fit; the second system is far more simplified and more logically reflects a Player becoming better at the Abilities they use; this system is called the RP-XP system.
After trying out both systems, we've found that the happiness with either system is pretty evenly split down the middle: Players who want to show up, roll dice, and kill the baddie prefer the XP system, whereas Players who want to take a step back after their campaign and really develop their Character's backstory prefer the RP-XP system. For TTRPG veterans who are trying out Aeon, we recommend sticking with the XP system, since it's far more familiar territory. For GMs who have used Aeon and want to develop more meaningful backstories for Characters, we recommend trying the RP-XP system.
| System | When to Level Up | Leveling Restrictions | Pool vs. Single Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| XP | Immediately | None | Pool |
| RP-XP | "In Town" | Only Talents Used | Ticks |
The XP system awards XP after each encounter or Skill Check. The Players are allowed to "accumulate" XP points into an XP pool, and spend them as/when they see fit.
The obvious benefit to this is that Players can build out their Characters without having to justify how the experience from one encounter translates to something that may or may not make sense. An easy example of this is that a Player succeeds at a Skill Check and is awarded XP, which is added to their XP pool. The Player later decides that one of their Attack augments needs a nudge, and uses the XP received from the Skill Check to do this. There's a logical disconnect between a Skill Check affecting an Augment, but the Players can skip over the details and just build things out as they like. Another detriment to this system is that Players who can level up during a dungeon may skew the dungeon difficulty, forcing the GM to adjust on the fly, whereas under the RP-XP system, the Players are the same level throughout the dungeon, and thus the dungeon does not require as much ad hoc tweaking.
For groups that enjoy heavier combat and lighter RP, this is usually their first choice. So while RP opportunities are diminished (the Player essentially uses a montage to skip how they developed the Ability), this is counterbalanced by Players making what they want and getting back into encounters as fast as possible.
The RP-XP system takes a far different tact than the XP system, in that the XP pool is completely removed in favor of a simpler grant by the GM for a Player to level up something they recently used. Thus, if a Player succeeds at a difficult Skill Check (and presumably learned something about the Skill due to their arduous labor), then the GM states the Player should remember that Skill for when the Party retunrs to their "home base" for leveling. Once the Party returns to the home base, then the GM will state that each Player may level one Skill "a tick/level", a used Augment "two ticks/levels", etc.
The benefit of this system is that Players are rewarded for using their Talents in a direct, meaningful way: you use something and learned from it, so said thing gets better; moreover, this also presents an RP scenario where the Player, having gained knowledge concerning a Talent, could seek out a knowledgeable NPC to help them level up said Talent. Noted under the XP system, another benefit is that dungeon difficulty does not need to be scaled up and down, since Players will not level up on the fly.
The drawback to this system is that, inevitably, certain Talents become lopsided in their power and usage. If you have one Takebt that you use, it levels up, and if you want to be safe, you keep using that leveled up Talent. In order to counterbalance this, the RP-XP system requires GMs to provide scenarios for Players to work on underutilized or new Talents to better balance out their kits. While the XP system doesn't forbid creating new Talents in the same way, the RP-XP system inevitably requires more of these opportunities, since Players can't use the XP system's pool to create new Talents from scratch. While this is a drawback, it provides for numerous RP scenarios where a Character "fleshes out" their background and development by seeking new NPCs and developing relationships.
The amount of XP granted to each Player should correspond with the combat or Skill Check Difficulty. The Table below includes the encounters difficulty level, and what kinds of enemies one would expect if concerning combat:
Note that in the vast majority of encounters, the difficulty will be anywhere from Simple to Challenging, with Challenging typically being the ultimate “boss fight". Daunting and Legendary fights may include multiple Lieutenants bolstering their boss for the final showdown.
| Level | Difficulty - XP / RP-XP Systems |
|---|---|
| Trivial | 1/0 |
| Simple | 2/1 |
| Moderate | 3/1 |
| Advanced | 4/1 |
| Challenging | 5/2 |
| Daunting | 6/2 |
| Legendary | 7/3 |
Now that the GM has crafted their engaging combat or intriguing Skill Check, they must grant XP and allow the Players spend such XP.
Granting XP: Whenever a GM grants experience under either system, the overwhelming majority of scenarios has the GM award an equal amount of XP to all participating Players, without regard to which Player did "more" than the other. The obvious reason for this is to prevent sowing discord amongst Players, who will likely ensue into bickering amongst themselves and the GM in order to justify their efforts. The second reason is that it is far easier for the GM to craft future combat and Skill Checks when the Players are almost-always the same XP level. As always, the GM is the ultimate arbiter in awarding XP, and if the GM (and hopefully all the other Player agree) that one Player went exceedingly above and beyond in order to secure success, the GM may award additional XP to that Player. The Aeon Team would instead suggest awarding Inspiration Die or, more appropriately, praising the Player for their actions and granting that bonus experience to all Players.
Spending XP: All Talents in Aeon may be anywhere from level one through six. Utilizing the table above as an example, one would expect that someone with levels in any of the above would be performing Legendary actions heard only in tales of Gods and their chosen heroes, whilst someone with a trivial amount of XP would engender, well, trivial results that are far below the notice of most people. Each level of a Talent reflects their total cost to “upgrade”.
Under the XP system, new Players may be confused during Character creation by assuming that a level two in something costs two total XP, when it would instead cost three total XP. After a couple of sessions, most Players quickly pick up on this mathematical system and will not need any handholding by the GM.
Under the RP-XP system, Players need not concerng themselves with "costs". If a GM tells a Player to upgrade a Talent by one or two levels/ticks, then they would just update the level. As an example, if a GM stated to level an Talent by one tick, then the Player would go from level 2 to 3, or from 5 to 6, without needing to consult what's the "cost", unlike the XP system.
As a quick reference, please see the table for creating leveling a brand-new Talent from scratch:
| Level | XP System - Total XP Spent/Equivalent |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 21 |
Due to the fluidity in earning and spending XP under either system, Aeon does not possess a hard and fast “gated” approach to levels similar to other RPGs, where Players only gain new Talents at certain intervals. Instead, Players receive XP and may spend them appropriately under each system. While Aeon does not possess “Player Levels”, and instead refers to a Character’s total XP, parsing out Player’s total XP is useful for a GM, especially when designing encounters. After all, nothing would be more frustrating to Players than to battle an encounter grossly above their punching weight. Additionally, some veteran RPG Players may look at their total XP and wonder what the lateral, rough equivalent would be to other RPGs.
For every 25 XP a Player possesses, they have a “level equivalent” of one. Thus, a Player with a total XP anywhere from 75-99 would be roughly Level 3. Players’ XP may not exceed a total of five hundred, whereby upon achieving this, a Player would have a full set of Talents maxed out and be at the strength of a God. The cap at five hundred is, of course, under GM discretion. For Players trying to equate their level under an RP-XP system, they can just translate their total Talent levels using the same table above.
Starting a new campaign is always a magical time when Players approach a fresh story and world with (hopefully) an idea of how their Characters and background will fit into this new world and, more importantly, how they’ll change it to suit their morals. We encourage new GMs to use the “Starter XP” list below, in order to give new Players a chance to play with the Aeon rules and understand how both the combination of their Talents and how they interact with other Players may best achieve their desired outcome in combat and Skill Checks.
A GM will dole out “starting XP” to the Players which must be spent in a certain fashion. The first is that Players are granted a pool of XP to spend on just Perks and Augments; moreover, the Players must create a minimum number of Abilities per the Table (though the number of Augments within is up to the Player). Afterwards, the Players must then spend a pool of XP on just Skills. After Character creation and as the Players receive XP, they are thereafter free to upgrade their Augments, Skills, and Talents as they see fit.
The reader will likely note that the starting XP listed places the Characters slightly above a level one equivalent, whereas future levels are closer to the level equivalency noted above. This is done on purpose to represent the Characters’ lives and experience as being above that of other, normal people at their onset. The XP of a normal person is likely that of only ten or so XP; thus a starting Character is already a cut above the rest of their contemporaries, though still vastly differing in power from powerful NPCs which roam, and rule, the different areas of Vasatha.
| Character Level | Minimum Abilities | Talent Level Cap | XP System vs [RP-XP System "Levels"] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augments | Perks | Skills | Total Talent Points | |||
| Starting Characters | 3 | 2 | 15 [12] | 10 [9] | 10 [9] | 35 [30] |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | 20 [16] | 15 [12] | 15 [12] | 50 [40] |
| 3 | 5 | 4 | 35 [20] | 20 [15] | 20 [15] | 75 [50] |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | 50 [24] | 25 [18] | 25 [18] | 100 [60] |
| Etc. | 5 | 6 | Etc. +15 [+4] | Etc. +5 [+3] | Etc. +5 [+3] | Etc. +25 [+10] |
As a general rule of thumb: if a Party complete a battle, everyone receives the same XP. Under the XP system, if a Character succeeds at a Skill check, then the entire Party gains the same XP; however, under the RP-XP system, if a Characte succeeds at a Skill check, then only that Player gains experience for that specific Skill.
As is often asked during Playtesting, Players love the freedom that Aeon provides in building whatever they want, but justifiably wonder why initial XP is split between two pools, with one being Abilities and Perks combined, and the other being just Skills. Why not just give them their total XP and let them do as they wish?
After years of playtesting, the Aeon team noticed four, stark trends by Players of other, level-based RPGs:
With these four overarching mindsets, new Players often approach the Aeon system with the expectation that they should dump all of their points into offensive Augments; forego their defensive Perks; and expect that Skill Checks will just be for RP’ing and not have any serious consequences. As you can imagine from the above, we often saw Players creating only a single, powerful, damage-dealing Augment and, when confronted with a Debuffing foe or even a basic Skill Check, they would be frustrated in utterly failing a simple encounter. This led to one-dimensional Characters who, unless they deal with the specific issue they’re made for, will likely lead to all Party members dying; moreover, it would pigeonhole the GM into having to cater to this lest they feel that they are “letting the Players down” by not challenging the Character's one-dimensional builds to the detriment of the adventure overall.
After tweaking the system, the Aeon team has found that having Players diversify their XP for Talents led to more robust Characters and synergies between Players. If a starting Character must have separate starting Abilities (with any number of Augments therein), then rather than saying “this has to be a damaging attack,” they may instead question what would be best to fit multiple situations; moreover, how would their three abilities synergize with the other Players at the table?
After this minor tweak, the Aeon Team saw a plethora of dynamic Characters emerge with each owning and embracing their role: they were not just a Player, they were an integral member of the team.
As is always the case, the GM is the final arbiter as to any rule within this Player’s Guide. Thus, the GM may tweak the rules above as they see fit. We include this lengthy description text not to wear out our fingers; rather, after years of playtesting, we have seen what does and does not make for a wonderful starting experience. Moreover, having the Players initially diversify themselves usually teaches the lesson that being someone fleshed out is better than being one-dimensional, which is for their own playing-experience's benefit.
So, to all GMs, we hope the above makes sense, and encourage you to work with your Players as you see fit. This world is shared amongst you, your Players, and the Aeon Team. Our ultimate wish is for all to enjoy its majesty and danger.
As is often the case, this is wholly up to the GM. The Aeon Team proposes two scenarios, with pros and cons for both, to help the GM decide when to let their Players spend their XP. While everything is subject to First Rule, the first scenario lends itself more towards the XP system, while the second scenario relates to the RP-XP System. Regardless of how the GM decides, the XP system works with either scenario, while the RP-XP system gnerally only works with the second scenario.
Overall: More often than not, Players prefer being allowed to spend their XP as its received. Thus, they will be ready to encounter the next, immediate dungeon encounter better than the previous. Despite movies often having the hero or heroine dramatically pause during an epic battle scene, in the expected slow motion with a chorus singing a wailing dirge in a language no one can pinpoint, battlefields are not the places for Characters to spontaneously erupt with newfound power. Our quintessential example of this is that a novice magician may enter a dungeon and it’s highly unlikely they’ll have time to really sit and ponder how to improve their spells with the enemy at the gates; this is something that should be reserved for quiet contemplation after the danger, not during.
Pros: Players immediately receive the reward they are given and can see their Characters evolve in real time. Players may also have moments where they truly gained insight, and thus they should receive an immediate (and permanent) boon for their efforts by spending XP.
Cons: As more seasoned GMs can imagine, spending XP is a moment of reflection for the Player to look back on their encounters and wonder “what could I have done better?” As a final note, GMs may be caught off guard, in that they have crafted their dungeon for a certain XP equivalent; thus, if Players are allowed to spend XP as they go, either the encounters will be far easier than expected or the GM will have to painstaking ensure that subsequent encounters account for the Players leveling as they go. This is further complicated in that no GM knows exactly how battles will go, and Players may receive more or less XP than expected, further skewing the dungeon’s difficulty and rewarding experience.
Overall: A GM informs their Players that, while they are accumulating XP during the numerous, subsequent encounters the GM has crafted, they’ll have to wait until they “return to town” in order to spend their rather large pool of well-earned XP.
Pros: By going this route, GMs may engage themselves and their Players with RPing opportunities, such as returning to town; the Players discussing the battle and how it went; more importantly the Players asking themselves how their Characters and their personalities have changed because of the GM’s adventure arc; and how they will pursue bettering themselves and their place in the party. The GM can also create new NPCs and story arcs for the Players, so that they can meet others who have mastered the kinds of skills they’re looking for, and require a mentor or intensive training in order to improve. Here, a priestly Character may return to their religious order and pray for guidance from their God, receiving divine insight as to how to improve themselves. Similarly, a warrior Character may realize that they received far too many wounds during combat, and thus they may seek a master swordsman or armorer to improve their Defensive Perks to fight another day.
Cons: Players may stare at their large pool of XP right before a boss fight and loudly pontificate that, if only they could spend that XP right now, then they’d surely be able to fight whatever is behind the rather large, baroque door carved with images of tortured souls.
Unlike the XP System, the RP-XP system lends itself towards a very even blend of letting Players spend their "levels" as they receive them, but the GM will also need to provide downtime between "campaigns" to allow Players to assess their deficiencies and remedy them. Accordingly, Players who use their Abilities in combat or Skills will readily see themselves becoming more proficient in said Ability or Skills, but they will also begin to recognize that they may lack, or need to improve, an Ability or Skill. These are perfect RP opportunities, in that Players will "return to town," note their opportunities for growth, and request the GM provide RP opportunities to justify themselves getting better.
These simple scenarios listed above are amazing RP opportunities for Players to grow their Characters and for Players to reminisce on how they helped one another during their adventure. While the XP system would get to the same outcome: i.e. the Players would get the XP points needed to improve themselves, the RP-XP system instead fleshes out the middle stories that sometimes are more memorable than the overarching campigns themselves.
So in short, the RP-XP system both allots "levels" as they're earned, but also provides direct opportunities and memorable experiences for why the Players should "return to town", with the reward being more than just levels and instead being the memories earned along the way.
GMs and Players alike can imagine that different groups will prefer one of the two scenarios above, and GMs will have to navigate their Players’ personalities and remind them that “if they leave the dungeon in order to have enough time to spend their XP, then the entire dungeon will be on alert and their defenses will be commensurate.” Trust the Aeon Team when we say our heart goes out to GMs who must navigate these troubled waters.
As listed in Common Terminology, Hit Points (“HP”) represents the collective life essence of a Character. If a Character reaches zero HP, they die. GMs may use the First Rule to deviate from this as they see fit. A Character’s HP may be increased through the Toughness Perk. All Players begin at eighteen HP, whereas NPCs may have a max HP anywhere from six to eighteen.
Resistance represents a Character’s overall difficulty in receiving damage. Note that a Character must exceed their target’s Resistance to deal damage; if a Character’s roll equals their enemy’s Resistance, then no damage is dealt. For example, a Character has Resistance (3) (Physical). The enemy uses a 3d4 Physical Attack and rolls a two, three, and four. Thus, the recipient would only receive one point of damage, since the two and three dice rolls are less than or equal to the Resistance (Physical) in question.
All Characters have a base level of Resistance (1); thus, anytime a Character rolls a one, it is an automatic failure and does not require further review unless the Character has the Seeking Augment. A Character’s Resistance may never go below one, even if they are subject to the Sundering Augment.
All Character’s may achieve up to thirteen total Resistance for any damage type; however, each Resistance Perk may only increase up to the sixth level. Thus a Character with six Resistance (Physical) would have seven total Resistance (Physical). A Character may increase their Resistance through temporary means, such as using the Defensive Action alone or in combination with the Endurance Feat, and with Cover.
Note that while Resistance, Temporary Resistance, and Cover are all cumulative, a Character may never exceed thirteen in any of the Resistances. If a Character achieves thirteen total Resistance, they are essentially impregnable and may not receive unmodified damage since die rolls cannot exceed a twelve without use of the Seeking Augment. Scenarios such as this necessitate the use of the Sundering Augment.
Barriers are covered more extensively in the Restoration Augment section.
Barrier represents another form of temporary HP for a Character. Barriers must be designated as Barrier (Physical, Elemental, or Supernal) and is placed in the Resistances and Barriers’ section of the Character Sheet.
Damage must always go through Resistance first; accordingly, when determining if a Character receives damage, the Character must first review whether the attack exceeds a Character’s Resistance. If the Character has a Barrier of that damage type, then the Character’s Barrier would first suffer damage. If a Character has no Barrier of the damage type, then the Character would take damage to their HP.
Wounds represent a temporary negative to a Character’s max HP. A Wound lasts until the Party can retreat to a safe location and rest for an appropriate period. For most scenarios, Aeon recommends that a Character must rest for a week to remove a single Wound; thus, if a Character receives three Wounds, this will take three weeks to fully recover. The amount of time needed to recover from a Wound is subject to GM discretion, as any GM or Character would agree that resting in the wilderness would likely take longer than resting within a temple of healing. The above is merely a rule of thumb for most situations.
To receive a Wound, a Character must receive four or more points of damage to their HP in a single round. Damage taken to a Barrier does not count towards the count for taking a Wound.
For the sake of clarity, a Character may receive multiple wounds per combat, but only one wound per attacking Character.
As an example, two enemies attack a Character, with the first enemy rolling five Successes on their attack, and the second enemy rolling four Successes on their attack. In this scenario, the Character being attacked would receive two Wounds.
Can NPCs Have Wounds?
In the overwhelming majority of scenarios, Wounds only apply to Players, since minion and lieutenant NPCs, to be covered in a future chapter, would almost immediately receive Wounds in any combat and create further notetaking for the GM to maintain. Since these NPC are likely to die at the end of the encounter, this would only be needless bookkeeping by the GM.
The only time this may apply to an NPC is intentionally by the GM in very niche scenarios where the Players have an archetypal, recurring villain with boss statistics who may flee a battle to recuperate from their Wounds. In this kind of RP situation, the Aeon Team would instead suggest that the GM just proceed with their Deus Ex Machina of saving the boss who will fight another day without regard to any Wounds. Again, this is an extremely niche scenario intentionally crafted by the GM; thus, the Aeon Team encourage GMs to wholly forgo the Wound mechanic for NPCs to cut down on their notetaking duties during combat.
Inevitably, Players will encounter creatures that are larger than just a single hex. The mortal races are typically 3.5 - 6.5 feet tall, and all occupy a single hex on the battlefield. Elder Cloin and Vasathan creatures frequently grow to monstrous sizes (though the intelligent Cloin have magics to adjust their size appropriately, such as the Salt King). In more mundane areas of thought, a horse or elephant surely occupies more territory than a Player, no matter how tall or short.
Any creature larger than one hex is generally referred to as a "large" creature. Thus, the horse, elephant, or dragon would all be referred to, generally, as large creatures. Large creatures have slighly different AP and HP rules: for every hex, the large creature gains an additional 18 bonus HP, and 2 additional AP, as illustrated in the table below:
| Size in Hexes | Health | Total AP | General Height/Width (Feet) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 30 | 8 | 12 |
| 3 | 42 | 10 | 18 |
| 4 | 54 | 12 | 24 |
| 5 | 66 | 14 | 30 |
| 6 | 78 | 16 | 36 |
| 7 | 90 | 18 | 42 |
| Etc. | Etc. (+12) | Etc. (+2) | Etc. (+6 Feet) |
A large creature uses all of their AP in a single turn, just as would any other Character.
Large creatures may come in numerous configurations. The below are just suggestions and are merely suggestions of common creatures we've created and tested. The easiest ones to imagine are the following:
Since large creatures have more than 6 AP, they interact correctly with all debuffs; however, the interactions may seem at first a bit odd, since Players will likely spend the overwhelming majority of their time fighting other, normal sized enemies. Below are some examples of an enemy that's 7 hexes large, with 18 total AP:
When DMs are generating XP, they should treat each hex as a regular enemy. Thus, a monster of 7 hexes should generate around the same XP as 7 individual enemies.
Elder Cloin typically retain their original sizes amongst their own societies, but such Cloin often magically adjust their size when dealing with mortals. Accordingly, Players should beware rumors of dealing with Elder Cloin, since such Cloin, while appearing the same size as mortals, still retain the Health and AP stats of their "normal" state. This same ruleset also applies to Mortal Gods, who inversely (and typically) prefer their original, mortal sizes, but can elect to grow to their "Godlike" size granted by their power.
Aeon divides enemies into 3 general categories: Bosses, Lieutenants, and Minions. The main difference between each is that they have different starting health, with Bosses, Lieutenants, and Minions having 18, 12, and 6 base health respectively. Each class of enemy has the same AP and XP rules as another Player of their equivalent level. The reason for the difference in health is how quickly a Party should expect to kill a class of enemy, with Minions susceptible to well placed Shaped attacks, while Lieutenants and Bosses require strategies more akin to fighting another "Player".
As a rule of thumb: Bosses should have the same XP as a member of the Party; Lieutenants should have 1 less "level" equivalent, and minions should have 3 less "level" equivalents; moreover, the number of enemies depends on how difficulty the encounter will be. Note that just because a pack of minions have less health does not mean they aren't potentially deadly, after all, they have the same AP and experience points of the Party's equivalent, subject to GM discretion. Below is a general guide to preparing a fight:
| Level | Minions / Lieutenant / Boss |
|---|---|
| Trivial | 3 / 0 / 0 |
| Simple | 4 / 0 / 0 |
| Moderate | 5 / 0 / 0 |
| Advanced | 6 / 1 / 0 |
| Challenging | 7 / 2 / 0 |
| Daunting | 8 / 3 / 1 |
| Legendary | 9 / 4 / 1 |
Aeon Imperium uses a number of common terms and definitions throughout this guide, in game, and on your character sheets. The table lists the quick definitions for these terms, which are explained in depth in further chapters. Feel free to skip this page and use it as a reference after going through the other sections.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Aeon | Often abbreviated to just “Aeon”, Aeon Imperium represents this guide's ruleset and numerous universes contained therein. |
| Ability | An Ability is a specific set of individual Augments, whether natural or supernatural, brought together to create an awesome feat during combat. These Abilities are comprised of Augments which represent the Characters' specialized spells, attacks, manipulation of terrain, etc. In general, when a Character refers to their "Ability", they mean the sum of up to three Augments which create a single Ability, akin to an Ability being like a jug and the Augments being the wine within. |
| Action | An action represents the acts of a Character during their Round. There are four kinds of Actions, being an Ability Action, Defensive Action, Called Shot, and Movement Action as listed in the The Four Actions article. The amount of “real world” time a Character's Round takes is roughly six seconds. |
| Augment | Augments (Generally): An Augment is one of numerous ways that a Character expresses their supernatural Talents within Aeon during combat. To cut down on visual clutter, this guide may refer to Augment as Augment (1-6), meaning that the Augment has X levels of that Augment. Thus, the phrase Ranged (6) means the same as “six levels in the Ranged Augment”. When coupled with Augment that have a damage type using the Attack Augment, this will instead be shown as Attack (6) (Physical, Elemental, or Supernal), meaning the same as “six levels in the Attack (Physical, Elemental, or Supernal) Augment.” Augments (Active): Active Augments represents Augments that determine the total dice rolled based on the Die Table. An Augment may only have one Active Augment. In the event that the Active Augment is the Attack Augment, then for each die that exceeds the targets' Resistance, that die is considered one Success. For all other "Debuff" Augments, for each die that equals or exceeds four, then that die is considered a Success. The Active Augment is the main flavor of the spell, and determines its primary purpose. Augments (Passive): Passive Augments represents Augments which only apply if your Active Augment is successful during its rolls. Passive Augments further serve to add additional flavor and effects to your Active Augment. As a quick example, let’s say you have a fiery spell, which represents the Active Augment of Attack. Your Passive Augments would determine if it affected an area; dealt a curse which made your enemies more susceptible to future attacks; burned them so that their wounds wouldn’t heal further; and many other effects! Similar to the Active Augments’ definition above, feel free to consult your GM or the further chapters of this guide for some quick ideas. |
| Breaking Combat | When a Character disengages from an enemy and suffers minus one AP for each adjacent enemy for that turn unless otherwise modified by Tactician. |
| Buff | A Buff is a temporary beneficial effect placed on a friendly Character, such as Barriers and Deflection listed in the Health, Resistances, and Barriers in General article. Buffs last until the end of combat and dissipate thereafter. Buffs may be applied before combat through the Delayed Augment. |
| Character | A Character is any Player or NPC. Character is typically used as a catch-all term to reduce redundancy when describing rules. |
| Character Sheet | Represents the multipage document which encapsulates the Character's total Talents. A copy of the Character Sheet may be found on the website. As a rule of thumb, a GM should always keep a couple extra Character Sheets on hand and should probably keep Character Sheets between sessions to prevent a Player from inadvertently forgetting to bring it to the session. |
| Charted Realms, The | The Charted Realms represents the core portions of the mapped world from the perspective of the Tullusian Principates: a large nation-state bordered by many of the most prominent, known nations. While there are other areas outside of The Charted Realms, the term serves as a useful moniker encompassing most of the territories with a fleshed-out background, as provided in this guide. The Charted Realms consists of Tullusia, Snowclutch Mountains, Lastbreath, Ashperch Archipelago, and Redvine Jungle. |
| Debuff | A Debuff represents a temporary debilitating effect placed on a Character. Debuffs lasts until the end of combat or if they are dispelled using the Cleansing Augment. A Debuff “stack” or “increment” represents a single application of 1, up to a maximum of 6. The maximum cap of a Debuff is determined by the Debuffing Augment; thus, if an Ability is Blinding (4), then the maximum number of Blinding Debuff stacks the Character may apply is four. |
| Deflection | Deflection is the supernatural means by which a Character can resist a Debuff. Deflection may only be applied through the Cleansing and Restoration Augments. For every point of Deflection, a Character resists one application of a Debuff. Thus, if a Character has four stacks of Deflection (Blinding), and thereafter an enemy applies three stacks of Blinding, the Character would have only one stack of Deflection (Blinding) thereafter, thereby wholly resisting the enemy's attempt to apply Blinding. |
| Die or Dice | In General: Polyhedral Die or Dice to represent a Character's Actions, being the D4, D6, D8, D10, and D12s. Other than “Inspiration Die" or "Critical Die", we typically leave the term uncapitalized. Critical Die: When using an Ability , if a Player has access to level 6 of the Dice Table, they are granted 1d12!, where the exclamation point indicates that a Player could achieve a Critical Strike. Upon rolling a Natural twelve and exceeding the target’s Resistance, the Character counts the Critical Strike die as two successes, rather than one. When using Skills, all Skill ranks benefit from Critical Die rolls. Thus, even a Character with only a trivial skill may achieve a Critical Die upon rolling a Natural twelve. As an example, a Character with Perception (1) rolls a Natural twelve, which represents two Successes. Inspiration: An Inspiration Die awarded by a GM for excellent RPing. A Player may roll an Inspiration Die once per Round, which allows them to roll one additional die for their roll. The sides of the die match whatever the Player is rolling. Thus, if a Player is rolling 6d10 for an Attack, they may instead burn one of their Inspiration Die to instead roll 7d10. Natural: The unmodified result of a die roll. Thus, if a Player rolls a four, before any modifications, the die is called a “Natural four”. |
| Difficult Terrain | Terrain which requires two or more AP per Movement, rather than normal terrain which requires only one AP per Movement. Difficult Terrain is often seen when moving uphill or at an otherwise difficult slope, traversing marshlands, etc. |
| Experience Points or "XP" | Experience or “XP” represents the sum of a Character’s Talents. |
| Health Points or "HP" | Hit Points (“HP”) represents the collective life essence of a Character . If a Character reaches zero HP, they die. GMs's may use the First Rule to deviate from this as they see fit. A Character's HP may be increased through the Toughness Perk. All Players begin at eighteen HP, whereas NPCs may have a max HP anywhere from six to eighteen. Further Chapters cover the differences in HP between Players and NPCs. |
| Flanking | Flanking represents the increased ease to hit a surrounded target. If a Character is fighting two adjacent enemies, then each enemy gains +1 to all Ability rolls; for 3 adjacent enemies, +2, etc. The defending, flanked Character gains neither benefits nor detriments for being Flanked; only the attacking Flanking enemies gain a benefit. Characters that make a Ranged attack never gain the benefit of Flanking if their target is not adjacent to the Ranged caster. |
| Game Master or "GM" | A Game Master (“GM”) is the arbiter presiding over the story, and who interprets Aeon’s rules to ensure that a Character may perform their actions. A GM's ultimate goal is to ensure that the Players experience a compelling narrative and to provide the necessary accoutrements for them to participate in an active manner, such as maps, miniatures, Character Sheets, or similar media through a face to face or online platform. Often described as the “First Rule”, “Rule Zero”, “Primary Rule”, etc. within most RPGs, the GM has the final say on any rules, and may even bend or break rules as they see fit, though the Aeon Team strongly encourages the GM to be upfront about any large deviations from this guide so as to put the Players on notice. |
| Initiative | Initiative determines the order in which Characters participate during combat. Initiative is always a 1d12, which may be modified through Celerity covered in a future article. |
| Metagaming | Metagaming typically addresses Players who, after looking over the map and knowing the expectations of the GM, can readily discern things that their Characters would not. An easy example of this is if the GM prepares a map with a ravine, and a Player focuses on the fact that they would likely be ambushed, rather than the fact that their party has also seen similar terrain over the course of hours, days, or even weeks of travel, and perhaps wouldn’t be on alert in this scenario. A further chapter provides some insights in RPing and how to craft a more fulfilling experience for both the GM and Player alike. |
| Miniatures or "Minis" | Sometimes referred to as “minis”, miniatures are small figurines that can be purchased online or through local gaming stores. Miniatures are representations of Characters that aid in visualization the position of the Character in relation to other Characters or the map itself. Miniatures need not always be plastic figurines; instead, they can also be paper cutouts held upright by small, plastic or metallic stands or even "tokens" used in online media. |
| Movement | The act of spending AP to move one or more hexes. The overwhelming majority of movement retains this one-to-one ratio; however, Difficult Terrain may increase the amount of AP spent due to the scenario presented, such as having to cross marshy ground as opposed to firm, flat earth. Movement may also be modified through certain Talents. |
| Non-Playable Character or "NPC" | Abbreviated to “NPC(s)”, Non-Playable Characters represent the fictional entities created by the GM to interact with the Player. NPCs may be either friend or foe, and there is no distinction between them when it comes to terminology. NPCs fall under the category of Characters. |
| Ocucupied Hex | An occupied hex is a hex on the map which is occupied by any Character. Certain Augments and rules have special approaches when confronting occupied hexes. In general, allies may move through their own allies' occupied hexes, but enemies may not. Two Characters may never occupy the same hex at the end of a turn. |
| Perk(s) | Perks are those Character features other than Abilities or Skills, and represents innate Character qualities that are always in play during combat. Perks are discussed in a further chapter. To cut down on visual clutter, this Player’s Guide may refer to Perks as Perks (1-6), meaning it has X levels. Thus, the phrase Celerity (6) means the same as “six levels in the Celerity Perk." |
| Players | Players are the humans at the table alongside the GM who experience the GM's story and Roleplay their persona's actions. Players fall under the category of Characters. |
| Reach | Reach is how far a Character may use an Ability. All Characters always have a melee Reach; i.e. they may always use an ability within melee range, being the six hexes adjacent to their Occupied Hex. Certain Augments, such as Ranged, may extend a Character's reach. |
| Resistance | Resistance represents how difficult it is for a Character to be harmed or affected by another Character with the Attack Augment. Resistance derives its power from the Resistance Perk. |
| Round | A Character's "Round" or "Turn" represents roughly six seconds in real time but can encompass any amount of Actions within that time, with each Character acting sequentially after one another. |
| Roleplaying or "RP" | Roleplaying or “RPing” is the GM or Players acting in accordance with their Character's desires and morals. When doing this, the GM or Player must take a step back from themselves and Metagaming, and instead ask “what would the Character do in this situation?” A further chapter has some tips and tricks for how to better flesh out a Character’s ambitions and approach to different situations. RPing is the only means by which a Player may gain Inspiration Dice. |
| Skill | A Skill represents an out of combat action where the Characters utilize non-Ability proficiencies to handle a difficult situation. All Skills have seven levels (and difficulties), being the following from easiest to hardest: Trivial (1), Simple (2), Moderate (3), Advanced (4), Challenging (5), Daunting (6), and Legendary (7), where the number represents both the number of Successes necessary to succeed in the Skill Check and the number of dice afforded to Characters who have attained that level of Skill. |
| Skill Check |
Skill Checks in GeneralA Skill Check is a Xd12 roll whereby the GM will announce that some difficult situation has arisen (typically out of combat, but they may happen during combat) which requires a Character to make a roll based on their Skills, as opposed to their Abilities. To cut down on visual clutter, this Player’s Guide may refer to Skills as Skill (1-6), meaning that the Skill has X levels of that Skill. Thus, the phrase Perception (6) means the same as “six levels in the Perception Skill”. Skill Checks are explored in depth through the Skill Check chapter. Skill Checks and RPDue to the nature of RP, Skill Checks are far more flexible in how they pan out due to the nature of each Player offering how they would handle a mutable situation. In these situations, the GM should review the entire scenario and the Players’ efforts, then determine if the situation is fortuitous or not for the Players. In the event that the Players performed some actions which directly and beneficially aided them in their pursuits, then the GM may grant Advantage to the Player or Players, where when they make their Skill Check, they are granted an additional 1d12 for their dice roll. Note that Advantage is on a Skill Check by Skill Check basis, thus Advantage does not carry over from one situation to another. Similarly, if the GM sees that the odds are stacked against the Players far more than the GM had originally intended, then the Players may be granted Disadvantage, where they must subtract a 1d12 from their total Skill Check dice pool. Note that for Disadvantage, the GM should only use Disadvantage if the normal circumstances created by the GM are somehow directly and negatively affected by the Players’ actions. Using the quintessential “Sneaking Past the Guards” scenario, one Player offers to try and cause a disturbance to distract the guards, and hopefully grant the other Players Advantage on the Simple Skill Check. The Player tries but is instead spotted by the guards. Now the guards are all on alert, and thus the Simple Skill Check must now be made with Disadvantage. |
| Success | A Success or "Success Die" means that, per the Augment's requirements, it has met the parameters necessary for overcoming the roll necessary to succeed in a Character's Action. A further chapter describes the two forms of calculating Success Die, whether the 4+ for most abilities or rolling against a Target’s Resistance when using the Attack Augment. |
| Talents | "Talents" are a catch-all term referring collectively to Abilities, Skills, and Perks. |
| Wound | Wound represent a temporary negative to a Character's total HP . Wounds may be removed through rests, the length of which are determined by the GM and campaign's circumstances. |