This game is so original, and such a welcome departure from standard tabletop RPG fare.
At first, the idea of a single roll to determine the outcome of an entire battle sounded overly simplistic to me, and seemed limiting. The more I read and thought about it, the more I began to see how liberating these rules actually are. The player decides how their outcome will look, allowing for nearly unlimited story. No more choosing a weapon for your character simply based on the die of damage; weapon choice is rooted in the way the character is perceived by the player. Weapon stats don’t exist, because it is the player that wins contests, not their weapon. This allows for character creation to be engaged with in a far more artistic way than a typical tabletop RPG.
As a history teacher who has spent summers in Greece with my Spartan wife and her family, the “Greekness” of the game is spot-on - not just in it’s mythology, but in it’s epic storytelling spirit. In Agon your deeds matter, becoming a part of the character. Your name matters. Your ancestors matter. In the Peloponnese, when a Greek is introduced to someone new, they often ask “Who are your people?” Your family matters to them, and the mechanics of the game capture this kind of thing.
Just some musings from a long time tabletop player who is fascinated with the scope of this game, and the possibilities that it offers.