Vampire The Masquerade Review

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N4UZQypmuo&ab_channel=EternityTTRPG Transcription What if you combined the card drafting of a deckbuilder, the equipment-sets of a loot quest, and the hidden personal goals of a role-playing adventure—wrapped up in a compact competitive board game? That’s “Journey Adventure Quest” – or JAQ, for short. This is a game my wife and I picked up at GenCon, and I’ve really enjoyed. In our first playthrough at the convention, it felt like there was a lot to wrap my head around. But we just played the game again for the first time since GenCon, and it made perfect sense – after a thorough read through the rulebook. In today’s video, I’ll break down what I like about Journey Adventure Quest, whether you as a D&D fan may like it, and some basic info on how the game is played in case you want to pick it up. JAQ is a competitive (or semi-cooperative / even solo) tabletop/ card game about fantasy heroes growing in power, fighting monsters, building gear and spell combinations, and completing quests. I’ll get into the game in more detail shortly, but for the bulk of this video I actually want to just share what I like best about the game – which are some very specific things. Whenever you get a new piece of equipment for your hero, you can “stack” it on gear of the same type. The way that you do this is to actually leave the card top and left side uncovered, which actually empowers your equipment. This style of gameplay reminds me a lot of early gaming experiences I had with D&D and other RPGs where you finally get your first +1 Longsword. Sort of, before the days of World of Warcraft style play, where you’re just getting the newer, badder glowing sword that adds 1,000 more DPS than you had before. I like that in Journey Adventure Quest, every upgrade adds to the stats of the equipment you had before, and also gives you a unique name. This style of equipment upgrade works for all the gear you’d normally have in a D&D campaign, or other RPG – chest armor, helmet, gloves, belt, weapon, and even your spells! And there’s no limit to how much you can “stack” on one equipment piece. We’ve had some games where one of us had like 8 weapons on top of each other, and was just the most insane gear you could imagine. This stacking and naming effect makes the equipment begin to feel legendary, and incredibly powerful, even though you’ve had the basis for it from the very beginning of the game. This “feel” of equipment upgrading actually isn’t all that important to the gameplay at all, to be honest haha. You’d probably think from me going on about it that it is, but to me the feel is valuable enough for why I like it so much, and it’s a great idea for even your next D&D campaign – emulating something like this. Similar to stacking equipment, you actually do the same thing with monsters. Basically, to defeat it you need both strength, and knowledge for how to bring it down. Your goal (in my cases) is to gather enough strength and knowledge through your gear to overcome the monster. But, when the monster levels up, you do the same thing with stacking the cards so they still show the top and left-hand side. The final thing I want to point out that I really like about the game is that your character actually can’t “die.” Instead of taking “damage” that get removed from your total HP – like you’d see in most games or RPGs – you instead take 1 “blood” marker for each damage you’ve taken. At the end of the game, all of your “blood” markers reduce your overall score, so you can still basically “lose” the game (kind of) from taking too much damage. But it’s really fun – and pretty funny also – that the game has these awesome equipment and monster mechanics, but you actually have no risk of character death. For a low-key, fantasy-adventure, fun/ party kind of game, I really like the low stakes nature of the game. In one game, I think my wife had like 18-blood on her character – which is a ton, by the way. She basically had 0 armor all game, didn’t even try to reduce the damage she was taking – and ended up still winning because she completed all of her character’s quests, in other ways. Super fun. So, here’s roughly how the game is played, overall. Heroes get an initial hand of 7 cards to draft equipment, spells, or other items. Equipment has a cost to it (either in coins, or blood), and you basically just choose what you want for your character. After every two rounds of drafting cards for your hero to power them up, you face monsters. Everyone who can defeat the monster – by overcoming their knowledge and HP – gets rewards, like you can see here. And then, each monster also comes with specific loot drops, which only one player may acquire, based on specific requirements for each loot card. After a monster is defeated, players returning to drafting more equipment and cards to boost their heroes. There are three total “rounds” of fighting monsters. While all of this is happening, there are personal secret adventures : each hero has some hidden goals that often require high-level spells, powerful equipment of a certain type, or certain “colors” that go into their equipment – these are known as guilds. I think of them basically just as being elemental types. Finally, there are quests , which are basically adventures that everyone’s on, to either compete for end-game prizing, or to at least hit certain thresholds where bonuses are given. At game end, the hero with the most points – which you get from a combination of equipment / monster fights / secret adventure completions/ quest/comparisons and) – actually wins the game. To summarize it, the game utilizes a very fun drafting mechanic for gear where you’re building combos, guild-sets, spells and equipment that synergize. You have progressive escalation of your very cool equipment, and monsters you battle. Players have hidden goals that add a roleplay-like flavor, and gives each player a sort of personal story they’re pursuing. And then you have multiple paths to victory: through direct confrontation/quests, through your hero’s power, through completing your secret adventures, and more. All of this a adds replayability, strategic variation, and a sense that you’re sort of roleplaying a character through this board, card game. M any D&D fans enjoy storytelling, character growth, equipment/spells, quests, sometimes hidden motivations, and fighting monster. I would say that journey adventure quest delivers on all of these. What JAQ might not deliver (for D&D fans) would be: Narrative depth, Roleplay flexibility, and stuff like Dungeon exploration and world building. So, it isn’t a replacement, obviously, but if you like D&D and want a light version of a D&D-feeling game, I think you’d have a lot of fun playing JAQ for an hour or two on some afternoon you have free. So there you have Journey Adventure Quest — a game that blends drafting, hero building, secret goals, and monster combat into something strategic, replayable – and most importantly, fun. For many D&D fans, especially those who love loot, spells, and character growth, this is worth a look. If you’ve played the game (or get a chance to), let me know your impressions. Thanks for watching—don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that bell so you see when we cover more hybrid adventure/ strategy games amidst our journey into D&D!

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FWHvMzf_nI&ab_channel=EternityTTRPG Transcription We’ve reached the grand finale of our journey through Crooked Moon. If you thought alchemical barbarians and plague monks were wild—wait until you see sorcerers turning into pools of blood, warlocks who serve a cosmic jester, and wizards who poke holes in reality itself. This is where things get truly unhinged. Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG—your go-to source for all things D&D. This is Part 3 of our dive into the Crooked Moon subclasses, and the final five might just be the most dramatic of them all. We’ve got blood magic, chaotic laughter, witchcraft bargains, and two wizard paths that pull on the strings of reality. 1. Sorcerer: Crimson Sorcery Crimson Sorcerers channel raw lifeblood as their source of magic. Their powers revolve around something called the Blood Well—a reserve of vital energy they can spend to boost damage, enhance healing, or fuel their abilities. They can even dissolve into a literal pool of blood, slipping through cracks and resisting damage like some vampiric horror. As they grow stronger, they siphon life from their own body to supercharge spells, and eventually unleash Sanguine Feast—tendrils of blood draining everyone around them while restoring their own vitality. It’s absolute blood magic—a perfect subclass for anyone who wants their sorcerer to feel dangerous and unsettling. 2. Warlock: Great Fool Patron Not all horror is blood and gloom—sometimes it’s laughter. The Great Fool is a cosmic jester patron, and its warlocks wield humor as a weapon. They lash out with Vicious Mockery as a reaction, slap curses on enemies that leave them blinded by flowers, clumsy with clown shoes, or honking uncontrollably every time they move. At higher levels, their banter deals psychic damage, and eventually they can Send in the Clowns—summoning ghostly jesters that strike fear and knock enemies prone. It’s creepy circus energy meets eldritch pact, perfect for players who like their dark fantasy with a side of twisted comedy. Real quick to interrupt, we now have free downloadable D&D cards at the Eternity TTRPG website that you can use at your table. Everything from combat actions to status effects – no more flipping through your book to see exactly what being “Petrified” does to your character. You can just take our graphics, print them out at home, and slap them on your table for fun and easy reference. Grab yours today using the link, below! Now, back to the video. 3. Warlock: Horned King Patron The Horned King reminds me, of course, of the Black Cauldron! ...So I already have nostalgia for it. This class is the darker side of warlock pacts—witchcraft, maledictions, and the like. These warlocks curse enemies with agony, rot, or madness, and later channel the Horned King’s majesty by sprouting antlers and radiating an aura that charms, terrifies, or weakens foes. At their peak, they can even form a coven—bonding allies to share curses, teleport across the battlefield to each other’s sides, and spread extra necrotic damage. Thematically, this one screams ‘folk horror witchcraft’—rituals in the woods, blood pacts, and the slow transformation into something more than human. 4. Wizard: Occultist Occultists are the wizards who say, ‘knowledge at any cost.’ They reach beyond the stars, tearing open the veil of reality for forbidden secrets. Their unique mechanic is the Intrusion Die—every time they push their magic, reality might fight back, causing strange intrusions from alien realms. In exchange, they get immense power: removing concentration requirements, teleporting through scrying spells, and even flying or resisting madness. It’s the perfect subclass for players who want their wizard to feel like they’re constantly balancing brilliance with cosmic horror. 5. Wizard: Philosopher  Where the Occultist seeks forbidden knowledge, the Philosopher seeks ultimate truth. These wizards distill existence into Quintessence—a crystalline powder created from dissolving creatures or objects with their magic. That quintessence can then be spent to boost spell levels, craft magic items, or even alter the damage type of spells. Eventually, they craft a philosopher’s stone, granting them immortality, the ability to supercharge spells, and even cheat death itself. It’s the alchemical dream realized—equal parts academic and arcane. And that’s it—the full lineup of Crooked Moon’s subclasses. Fifteen in total, ranging from blood-soaked sorcerers to those we covered in previous videos, like the plague monk, and alchemical barbarian. This supplement doesn’t just remix the classic D&D classes—it drenches them in gothic horror, folk myth, and cosmic strangeness. If you’ve stuck with us through all three parts, thank you. Now I want to know—which of the fifteen subclasses across this series is your absolute favorite? Drop it in the comments, and let’s see which one takes the crown. And if you enjoyed this series, be sure to like, subscribe, and share it with your table—because who knows, maybe your next campaign could use a paladin bent on the inquisition, or a spectral ranger.