Journey Adventure Quest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction and Object of the Game
• Game Components
• Game Set-Up
  • Start at the Inn
  • Hero Layout
• Journey and Adventure Cards
  • Journey Cards
    • Guilds
  • Adventure Cards
• Quest, Monster and Loot Cards
  • Quest Cards
  • Monster and Loot Cards
• Stacking Cards
  • Enhancing Equipment
  • Leveling Up the Spell
  • Evolving Monsters
• Playing Cards
  • Pay, Deal, Heal, and Steal
  • Consumables
• Adding up Attributes
  • Attributes
  • Blood is Life and Life is Blood
  • Guild Equipment
    • Rainbow Equipment
• Gameplay and Steps in a Journey
  • Overview of a Game
  • Journeys
    • Start the Journeys
    • Days and Drafting: 2 Days per Journey
    • Reveal and Play Cards
• Almost the End of a Journey
  • Battling Monsters
    • Monster Attacks
  • Defeating a Monster... Or Not
  • Competing for the Loot
• End of a Journey
  • Heroes prepare for more!
• End of the Game
  • The Score Pad
  • Rainbow Guild Cards
  • Adventures
    • Completing an Adventure
  • Quests
    • Competitive Quests
    • Non-Competitive Quests
  • Penalties
    • Unequipped Penalty
    • Blood Penalty
  • Counting Victory Points
• Determining a Winner
  • Tie Breakers
• Gameplay Variants
• 2 Player Rules Changes
  • Turn Token
  • Start the Journeys
    • Turn Token Chart
  • 2 Days per Journey
  • 2 Player Drafting
• Journey Journal
• FAQ
• Quick Gameplay Overview

Introduction and Object of the Game

JAQ is a competitive game that has players stacking cards to build attack, defense, and knowledge while avoiding blood damage. Each day, heroes search for treasure, spells, and an assortment of magical equipment pieces.

At the end of every other night, heroes fight an ever-strengthening monster that is threatening the realm. So get ready for a Journey full of Adventure and probably a Quest or two.

Game Components

• 136 Journey Cards: 85 Equipment Cards, 39 Spell Cards, 12 Consumable Cards
• 33 Adventure Cards
• 36 Quest Cards
• 16 Monster Cards
• 16 Loot Cards
• 1 Navigation Token
• 1 Turn Token
• 1 Score Pad
• 6 Time of Day Player Mats
• 36 Equipment Slot Cards
• 99 Journey Tokens: 33 Attack Tokens, 33 Knowledge Tokens, 33 Defense Tokens
• 95 VP Gem Tokens: 56 1VP Tokens, 21 3VP Tokens, 18 10VP Tokens
• 77 Coin Tokens: 52 1 Coin Tokens, 15 3 Coin Tokens, 10 6 Coin Tokens
• 60 Blood Tokens
• This Rule Book

Game Set-Up

1. Determine how many heroes (players) are journeying. For Journey, Adventure, and Quest cards: Look on the bottom right of the cards for the dots and include the cards that have at least as many dots as heroes playing. (For example, belts are only used if you have at least 4 players, so only include belts if there are 4 or more heroes.) Cards with no dots are part of every game. Example: A card with 5 dots = Include when playing with 5 or more heroes.
2. Choose the competition mode. Decide whether to play competitive or non-competitive mode. In the Journey and Quest decks, for competitive mode, remove all non competitive cards (two hands shaking icon) and return to the box. In non-competitive mode, remove all competitive cards (crossed swords icon) and return them to the box. Example: The non-competitive cards have two hands shaking on them. The competitive cards have a cross swords on them.
3. Shuffle the Journey, Adventure and Quest decks.
4. Shuffle the 3 decks of monsters. Draw a Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 card and set aside, face down. Example: The Monster card backs have the Level of the monster on them. The monster's Level is represented by a number of slashes; Level 1 = 1 slash, Level 2 = 2 slashes, Level 3 = 3 slashes.
5. Put the tokens in the supply where all heroes can easily reach them.
6. Draw the top 3 Quest Cards and place them face up (see "Start at the Inn" on page 5 for details).
7. Setup the hero play area. Place equipment slots in front of each hero, usually in this configuration: helmet at top; off-hand, chest, and weapon in middle; and (if journeying with 4 or more) belt at bottom; spells offset to the right; time of day board to the left.
8. Deal each hero 5 Adventure Cards. Each hero chooses 3 to keep and places them facedown in their play area.
9. Give each hero 3 coins.
10. Deal each hero 7 Journey Cards. This is the start of the first Journey.

Start at the Inn

All fantasy campaigns begin at an inn. Each hero will have the opportunity to play 18 total cards in the game. This is important information for math-savvy heroes to understand as they start making choices.

1. Quests can be played in a competitive mode or non-competitive mode. Draw the top 3 Quests from Quest deck and place them face up between the heroes. In competitive mode, heroes compete for Quests, with only the highest scoring heroes victorious. In non-competitive mode, each hero receives victory points based on the amount they individually attain.
2. Deal 5 Adventures to each hero. Each hero chooses 3 Adventures and discards the other 2. Unlike the public Quests, these Adventures are secret, so the cards should be kept face down near the heroes. (For more information on collecting the appropriate cards, see "Adding Up Attributes" on page 10.)
3. If there are 3 or more heroes, place the Navigation token visible to all, with the clockwise direction face up. If there are 2 heroes, place the Turn token near the randomly chosen player who will go first.

Uh ... by the way ... people are looking at the heroes funny. They aren't wearing anything. So, they better grab some equipment soon! It's time they start their first Journey!

Hero Layout

Heroes need to find Equipment, learn Spells and claim Loot. At the beginning of the game they have open slots to build their arsenal. A hero's layout should look something like this. (But you can lay it out however you are most comfortable.)

Equipment slots: Helmet (top); Off-Hand, Chest and Weapon (middle row); Spell (offset to the right); Belt (bottom).

Journey and Adventure Cards

Journey Cards

Journey Cards are all drawn from one deck and drafted between heroes to create their arsenal. The Journey Card deck consists of Equipment, Spells and Consumables, each have their own function.

Equipment card anatomy: 1 Card type (helmet, off-hand, chest, weapon, or belt); 2 Descriptor; 3 Item name; 4 Guild banner; 5 Cost; 6 Attack; 7 Knowledge; 8 Defense; 9 Temporary attributes; 10 Item picture; 11 Victory points; 12 Instant items; 13 Minimum heroes required for this card; 14 Card number.

Spells card anatomy: 1 Card type (spell); 2 Spell name; 3 Cost; 4 Spell picture; 5 Temporary benefits; 6 Permanent benefits; 7 Minimum heroes required for this card; 8 Card number.

Consumables card anatomy: 1 Card type (consumable); 2 Consumable name; 3 Cost (blank means no cost); 4 Consumable picture; 5 Instant benefits; 6 Minimum heroes required for this card (blank means card is always used); 7 Card number.

TIP! When you see a gray circle around an item, that indicates it is a token that is taken from the supply. Spells only give tokens.

Guilds

Mysterious guilds crafted magical items that heroes collect and equip to enhance their attributes. A piece of equipment retains its guild even when combined with other pieces, making the equipment even more powerful. Often, heroes will need multiple components (cards) from the same guild to complete Adventures and Quests. The seven guilds are Water, Fire, Shadow, Nature, Light, Neutral and Monster Guild.

Adventure Cards

Adventure cards are used by the heroes to achieve greatness (and points). These cards are kept secret throughout the game. The requirements for the Adventure are gathered throughout the game in no particular order, and result in the number of Victory Points shown, if completed.

Adventure card anatomy: 1 Adventure name; 2 Adventure requirements; 3 Success Victory Points; 4 Flavor text; 5 Minimum heroes required for this card; 6 Card number.

Adventure Requirements! Adventures require the hero to collect a number of different equipment and/or spells and/or guilds on their Journey. If a hero can collect all the depicted requirements, they will gain a number of Victory Points at the end of the game. (See "End of the Game", page 14.)

Adventure Requirements EXAMPLE: This card would count for two requirements towards completing "Out-Think the Beasts". Both the Helmet and Nature Guild. (Example card: a Nature Guild helmet.)

Quest, Monster and Loot Cards

Quest Cards

Quest Cards are drawn at random during set-up. Heroes will decide whether to play a competitive or non-competitive quest line and will shuffle and draw 3 Quests to be used during the game. Quests are Victory Point goals that all heroes may try to complete.

Competitive Quest card anatomy: 1 Quest name; 2 How to win the Quest; 3 First place VP; 4 Second place VP; 5 Flavor text; 6 Competitive marker; 7 Card number.

Non-Competitive Quest card anatomy: 1 Quest name; 2 How to win the Quest; 3 Number requirement; 4 Victory Points; 5 Flavor text; 6 Non-Competitive Marker; 7 Card number.

Competitive Quests: In competitive mode, heroes will attempt to out-quest their opponents by acquiring the most of the depicted requirements. Also, there is a second place, which is just first loser.

Non-Competitive Quests: In non-competitive mode, heroes may quest as long as they desire. There are 3 scoring tiers and a hero must meet or exceed a tier's requirement to score the associated Victory Points.

Monster and Loot Cards

Monsters are big, so they get bigger cards! In competitive mode, monsters drop loot after every battle, and all heroes compete for one winner to keep it. NOTE: Many groups prefer to use loot even in non-competitive mode.

Loot that Monster! Each monster has an associated piece of Loot. That Loot has both a Level slash and a Descriptor that matches its monster. When a monster Level is revealed, the associated Loot is also revealed. The heroes that have defeated a monster's Level are eligible to gain the monster's Loot card. Whichever hero has the majority of winning requirements takes the Loot into their arsenal. (See "Competing for the Loot", page 13.)

Monster card anatomy: 1 Card type (monster); 2 Descriptor; 3 Monster name; 4 Monster level; 5 Life; 6 Knowledge; 7 Attack; 8 Temporary attributes; 9 Monster picture; 10 Victory points; 11 Bounty; 12 Minimum heroes required for this card; 13 Card number.

Loot card anatomy: 1 Card type (monster loot); 2 Descriptor; 3 Loot name; 4 Guild banner; 5 Monster Level; 6 Attack; 7 Knowledge; 8 Defense; 9 Temporary attributes; 10 Loot picture; 11 Victory points; 12 Winning requirements; 13 Instant items; 14 Minimum heroes required for this card; 15 Card number.

TIP! When you see a gray circle around an item, that indicates it is a token that is taken from the supply. Each player who defeats the monster will receive both the Victory Points and Bounty offered.

Stacking Cards

Everything gets bigger and badder in JAQ!

Most cards in JAQ are stacked while they are in play. This allows for card effects to combine and stack when new cards are placed on top of existing cards.

Enhancing Equipment

Equipment cards are drafted by heroes and played to gain Attack, Knowledge and Defense attributes, instant benefits and reputation in guilds. They are placed in the heroes play area on the equipment slot card matching their type, then, if there is already an equipment card in the slot, the new equipment card is stacked on top of the existing one.

Equipment Types: Helmet, Chest, Weapon, Off Hand, Belt.

At the top of each equipment card is a descriptor and the type of equipment. Every time a card stacks on top of another, the name grows and changes - place the new card on top of the previous card of the same equipment type, with the new descriptor covering the old equipment type, indented so all permanent attributes of the card beneath are visible, but the name and picture are covered. A little down, a little right - easy!

Example: The "Smoldering Hateful Hammer" becomes the "Smoldering, Grizzly Dream Claw". So. Cool.

Attributes can be in two places: on the far-left scroll (permanent), or extending toward the equipment (temporary). All these attributes are active when visible. As new cards are stacked, the temporary attributes will be covered, making them inactive. (When a new card is played, anything at the bottom of the card should be resolved immediately such as collecting tokens or healing blood.)

Example: The Equipment's old attributes were 3 Attack and a temporary 1 Defense. Once the new equipment is added, the new attributes are 4 Attack, 1 Knowledge and 1 temporary Knowledge.

Equipment keeps getting more and more powerful. Indeed, there is no limit to how powerful it can get - keep adding new levels, and heroes get some awesome (and highly unlikely) gear! (See Adding Up Attributes page 10.)

Leveling Up the Spell

Spell cards are drafted by heroes and played to gain immediate benefits, usually in the form of tokens. They are played to the heroes play area on the spell slot card, then, if there is already a spell card in the slot, the new spell card is stacked on top of the existing spell stack. The newly played spell and all existing spells will immediately provide their benefits.

Spell Card Type: at the top of a spell card there is an icon showing the card is a spell type. Each hero can only know a single spell, but it keeps getting better each time a new spell card is added to the stack. Stack spell cards so that the newest card is positioned covering the bottom card's pink portion and above, leaving only the bottom brown portion of the scroll visible. Each time the hero casts the spell, by placing a new spell card on the stack, the hero will collect tokens for all items on the new spell card plus all visible items on the cards below it. (Note: Items collected from these spells will be used to fight the monster by counting the tokens, but icons on the spells themselves are never counted.)

Example: The first time the spell was cast, the hero got 3 knowledge tokens. The second time, the hero gets an attack token, 2 defense tokens, AND the knowledge token from the now-mostly-covered bottom card. The caster gets the tokens, which ARE counted when summing up attributes, but the icons themselves on the cards are NEVER counted as attributes.

Evolving Monsters

Monsters evolve at the beginning of each Journey. They evolve exactly like equipment. Place the newest level monster card below it, offset to the right and down so that the scroll on the left and the descriptor at the top are still visible for the monster card being covered.

Monster Card Type: monster icon.

Example: The "Taunting Goblin" evolved into a Taunting Ominous Unicorn, worth 5 VP, a coin and 4 healing if the hero has at least 5 attacks and 3 knowledge.

Playing Cards

Cards played in JAQ are Equipment, Spells and Consumables. These cards are building your hero over the course of the game.

After drafting and assigning 3 cards during a Day phase (page 11), it will be time to reveal and play those cards (page 12). Each card will be played individually from Dawn to Dusk on the hero's Time of Day Board. Heroes reveal and play each card simultaneously.

When played, heroes have two choices: Pay for it and play it, or discard it for 2 coins. Most of the time, heroes don't have to worry about the order, but when order matters, playing a card has four steps. This is the sequence that all heroes follow together: Pay, Deal, Heal, and Steal.

Important notes:

• Heroes pay first, so nobody can steal the amount that they pay for their current card ... but they may not be able to afford the next card. Oops.
• Heroes heal after collecting all blood for this time, including both what they collected to pay for the card and whatever others deal them.
• If a hero does not have any coins, they cannot be stolen from.
• If multiple heroes are stealing at once, and a hero who is a victim to this thievery only has one coin, then that hero can choose who will receive their coin.

Pay, Deal, Heal, and Steal

When a card is played, it is important to follow this order to resolve the effects of the card.

1. Pay: Depending on the cost of the card, the hero pays the number of coins indicated and/or collects the amount of blood indicated. (Some cards have no cost). Place the card in the appropriate stack (see Stacking cards, page 8). Note: Discarding the card is always an option, but if a hero can't pay, they must discard for 2 coins. Example: The hero pays for the card by taking 2 blood tokens and returning a coin to the supply.
2. Deal: If the card deals out any damage in blood to others, those should be dealt now, before any healing. Then, deal everything EXCEPT healing (negative blood) from the bottom of the card, including collecting any items the card grants, such as VP, coins, and Attack, Knowledge and Defense tokens. This happens before the steal. Example: "Each other player takes 3 blood." Deal each hero (besides the one casting the spell) 3 blood tokens. The casting hero is also dealt a knowledge token.
3. Heal: Return the number of blood tokens indicated by the symbol to the general supply, including any blood the hero may have just received in the "Deal" step. Heal actions take place immediately and cannot be saved for future use. Example: "If flipped at Dusk": heal by returning 1 blood token to the supply from any blood the hero currently has (the 2 coins would have been dealt in the previous step). Some cards have "when played at certain times", and the items here are available only at Dusk.
4. Steal: The hero steals from other heroes any items that their card allows them to steal. Note that they can steal whatever the heroes have, including what other heroes' current card granted in the "Deal" step. Example: "Steal a coin from each other player." After all cards are purchased and bounties received, the spell-casting hero steals a coin from each other hero.

Consumables

Consumable cards are drafted, placed, revealed and play just like Equipment and Spell cards. Once revealed any cost to play the card must be paid and the benefits and items are received immediately. The card is then discarded into a common discard pile next to the Journey draw deck. Consumables offer any number of coins, healing and victory points.

Consumables Type icon; Coins; Healing; VP Gems.

Adding up Attributes

Heroes often need to total their attributes, like when facing a monster or completing an Adventure or Quest. The concept is simple: Add all the positive numbers, and then subtract the negatives.

There are 4 types of attributes in the game, Attack, Knowledge, Defense and Guilds. NOTE: Blood and Healing work similarly.

Attributes

Attack, defense, and knowledge attributes can be found on cards and on tokens gained from spells and equipment heroes find in their Journeys.

Equipment cards: Sum the permanent attributes, which are found on the left-hand banner of cards, with any visible temporary attributes to the right of the banner on the top facing cards. Subtract any negative values. (NOTE: Spells and consumables have no attributes and only produce tokens.)

Example: 3 Attack (permanent) + 1 temporary Attack + 3 Attack tokens + (-1) Attack = 6.

Spell cards: Sum the permanent attributes, which are found on the bottom brown scroll portion of cards, with any visible temporary attributes located in the pink section above the brown scroll on the top facing card. (NOTE: Temporary attributes on the top facing spell are only gained the turn the card is played, they are kept through the end of the current Journey.)

Journey tokens: Heroes will often find items on their Journeys, by casting spells or donning equipment. These should be added to the sum from the equipment cards (and returned before the start of the next Journey). (NOTE: Your total for an attribute can never be negative - 0 is the lowest.)

Blood is Life and Life is Blood

Blood and healing are similar to the other attributes, but they are always immediate.

If heroes are hurt, through purchasing equipment, fighting monsters, being attacked by other heroes, or any other means, they take blood tokens. There is no maximum amount of blood a hero can take, but each blood is a negative Victory Point at the end of the game.

Healing means returning a blood token. Heroes cannot be healed beyond full health, so if a hero has no blood tokens, healing does nothing.

Guild Equipment

Guild equipment can be essential to completing Adventures and Quests. Equipment pieces from the same guild have the same color and Guild Banner, and compiling guild components can gain the hero additional Victory Points at the end of the game.

To determine how many guild components a hero has, simply add the number of equipment cards from each guild: Fire, Water, Light, Shadow, and Nature. A piece of equipment retains its guild identity even if it is not the top card.

Guild components are required to complete many Adventures, Quests, and loot competitions. Heroes gather components by playing multiple cards made by the same guild, which is indicated by the icon in the scroll in the top right of the equipment cards. The cards can be anywhere in any of the hero's equipment stacks - they do not have to be on top. Multiple cards of the same guild each count toward the sum, even if they are in the same stack.

(EXAMPLE: This Adventure requires a certain number of Water components. Count the total number of Water cards among all played cards.)

Rainbow Equipment

Rainbow equipment are of special origin and belong to the Neutral Guild. They can be used as a component from any one guild. But be warned! A Rainbow piece permanently stays part of the guild once it is added to it - it cannot act as parts of different guilds at different times. The guild is announced at the end of the game, when heroes are completing Adventures and Quests.

Gameplay and Steps in a Journey

Each game of JAQ consists of 3 Journeys (or Rounds), at the end of a Journey, each hero will face a progressively stronger monster and gain Victory Points and bounties if successful in their battles.

• Each of the 3 Journeys has 2 phases, called Days.
• Each Day has 3 card drafts, followed by 3 card reveals.
• Each card reveal has 4 steps: pay, deal, heal, and steal. (page 9)

Overview of a Game

I. Setup Game II. Select Adventures III. Play 3 Journeys

• Flip Monster (upgrading monster each journey)
• Deal 7 Journey cards to each hero
• Play through 2 Days
  • Draft Dawn card, pass remaining cards
  • Draft Noon card, pass remaining cards
  • Draft Dusk card, pass remaining cards
  • Play Dawn card: pay or sell card, heal deal steal
  • Play Noon card: pay or sell card, heal deal steal
  • Play Dawn [sic] card: pay or sell card, heal deal steal
  • Repeat for Day 2
• Fight monster, collect bounty, claim loot (if in play)
• Discard attack, knowledge, and defense temporary tokens to supply
• *Repeat for Journey 2 and 3

IV. Add up victory points to determine the winning hero V. Determine the winner

Journeys

Start the Journeys

Turn over the appropriate monster card (Level 1 for the first Journey, etc.). If this is the first Journey, behold the fearsome (or ... maybe not so fearsome) monster. If it is a later Journey, evolve the monster by stacking that level's monster card (see "Stacking Cards", page 8). Much more fearsome!

In competitive mode, pull the matching Monster Loot card and put it beside the monster, which can be found by matching the card number in the bottom right ... or by matching the descriptors in the names.

Days and Drafting: 2 Days per Journey

**See 2 "Player Rules Changes" page 16, for how 2-hero games differ. Much of this section changes for 2-hero games.

1. In games with 3 or more heroes, deal 7 Journey cards to each hero to create their hands. The heroes each review the cards in their hands.
2. Heroes search through their cards, and draft one card from their hand and place it on the appropriate position on the Time of Day Board. IMPORTANT: Cards are always played in the order drafted, so the first card drafted goes in Dawn, the second in Noon, and the third in Dusk.
3. Heroes pass the remaining cards in their hands to the player next to them in the direction shown on the Navigation token.
4. After the 3rd card drafted this way, they place the remaining cards in their hands face down in front of them. This concludes the first the drafting portion of the first Day in the Journey.

The Draft: A Day consists of heroes drafting 3 cards. When a card is drafted, it is placed facedown on the Time of Day Board. The rest of the cards are then passed and another card will be drafted. After the Dawn, Noon and Dusk slots are full the heroes pass the cards one last time.

Reveal and Play Cards

5. The heroes simultaneously reveal and play each card in the order that they were drafted, from Dawn to Dusk. (See "Playing Cards", page 9.)
   • A) Play card 1 (Dawn) and resolve it
   • B) Play card 2 (Noon) the same way
   • C) And ... play card 3 (Dusk) ... the same way
6. For Day 2, there are 4 remaining cards. Players pass the cards in the direction shown on the Navigation token.
7. Do the same thing as in Day 1, again with 3 draws.
8. Discard the remaining card. If a hero doesn't have any remaining cards, somebody probably cheated ... likely that shifty rogue who passed the cards! Nobody ever really trusted them, anyway.

After 2 Days of drafting and building your hero, the first Journey is close to an end... The sounds of monsters draws only the bravest of heroes to come test their might!

Almost the End of a Journey

At the end of the Journey, each hero battles the monster. Yes, the heroes MUST battle, and they can't run - they are warriors!

Battling Monsters

Each hero fights the monster individually, with no help or hindrance from other heroes. Monsters evolve at the end of each Journey, of course.

1. To defeat a monster, a hero must have at least as many attacks as the monster has life AND at least as much knowledge as the monster has. Note that the heroes do NOT have to have more defense than the monster's attack in order to defeat the monster. Heroes who win collect the bounty at the bottom of the card, including VP tokens.

   • Add all of their health (the heart icon, located at the same position on the left of the monster card as attack is located on the equipment card).
   • Add all of their knowledge (again, at the same relative place as the equipment card)
   • Include all temporary attributes visible on the top card.

   To win, each hero has to overpower the monster and out-think it. That means a hero needs BOTH as many attacks as the monster has health AND as much knowledge as it has, or the monster is undefeated by that hero.

   Heroes can use all attack and knowledge symbols on Equipment (including temporary icons) and all attack and knowledge tokens.

   Example: Life 2 + 3 + 3 = 8; Knowledge 1 + 3 + 4 + (1) = 9. Each hero would need at least 8 attack and 9 knowledge to defeat this Level 3 monster.

Monster Attacks

2. No matter if the heroes are victorious, the monster will ALWAYS attack all heroes. Don't worry - heroes are immortal and will never die! But they can be bloodied. To find out how much blood a hero will receive, compare the monster's attack against each hero's defense.

   • If the hero has at least as much defense as the monster's attack, the hero is unharmed.
   • However, each hero who has less defense takes as many blood as the difference between the monster's attack and the hero's defense.

   NOTE: Being hurt by the monster does NOT prevent the hero from defeating the monster, so a hero does NOT have to have more defense than the monster's attack to be victorious.

   SECOND NOTE: Whether a hero defeats the monster or not, they will still compare their defense to the monster's attack and potentially take blood.

   (EXAMPLE: Monster attack 1 + 1 + 5 = 7. If a hero has 5 defense, they will take 2 blood tokens, regardless if they defeated the monster or not.)

Defeating a Monster... Or Not

Each hero fights the monster and may defeat it... or not. If a hero defeats the monster, they will gain bounties and Victory Points and they will have a chance to compete for the Loot (if playing in competitive mode).

1. When a hero defeats the monster, they will gain the immediate bounties and Victory Points from that monster. Each hero who defeated the monster takes the bounty on the top facing monster card and takes VP tokens equal to the TOTAL sum of the VP shown on all the cards that make up the evolved monster. (Example: The Level 3 monster, "Horrifying, Pulverizing, Destructive Lava Golem" has a total VP value of 9 and a bounty of 4 coins.)

   Note: Damage to the hero occurs before the bounty is awarded. If the monster bounty awards the hero health, the hero can heal.

Competing for the Loot

In competitive mode, the fearsome beasties always drop some loot after the battle. All heroes, no matter if they defeated the monster or not, compete for this loot. The competition for the loot is over whatever is depicted under the picture in the card. Unlike with Quests, heroes only get the loot if they outright win - a tie means nobody gets it. BUT, those who tie still each get a prize: 2 coins or 1 VP token (hero's choice).

Example (Compete for Defense): When competing for the "Destructive Molten Core", heroes add up all their defense on both their equipment and tokens to see if someone wins. If so, the winner takes the Loot Equipment and places it on the appropriate Equipment slot in their play area. They gain any immediate items the loot has depicted (Heal 1 and coin). Loot has no regular guild, but this "Destructive Molten Core" does count as an off-hand item for the purposes of Adventures and Quests.

NOTE: If the loot directly or indirectly grants tokens, the winning hero gets those items immediately after the current Journey, and so does not have to return them at the start of the next Journey.

End of a Journey

After 2 Days of drafting Equipment, Spells and Consumable items and after battling the monster, the Journey comes to an end. The heroes must rest and therefore lose all of their temporary attributes. Heroes return all their attribute tokens: attack, knowledge, and defense, to the supply. They keep their blood, and they should NOT return coins or VP tokens, unless they are trying to lose.

Heroes prepare for more!

If it is the end of Journey 1 or Journey 2, then the heroes must prepare for another Journey. Deal each hero 7 new Journey cards and flip the new Level for the monster and its associated Loot card (if playing competitive mode).

End of the Game

Once all 3 Journeys are complete, the heroes sit down at the inn and regale each other of the Adventures they've completed (or not), and challenge each other over who best deserves the bounties of the 3 Quests they were tasked with (competitive mode). Then choose a hero to tally the score and give them the score pad and add up all the hero's Victory Points. TIP: For easier counting, don't return tokens or move your cards yet.

The Score Pad

• Players record their name (or Hero name) on the sheet.
• All sources of VP (and -VP) are recorded on the sheet.
• After recording all VP info players determine the winner.

Rainbow Guild Cards

If they haven't already, heroes announce the guild type of each piece of Rainbow equipment they have. Each Rainbow card must be exactly 1 guild and cannot change guilds once it is assigned.

EXAMPLE: This hero decides to announce their 2 pieces of Rainbow equipment are now Fire Guild cards. They had only drafted one other Fire Guild card during the game and they want to complete their "Burn it to the Ground" Adventure.

Adventures

Each hero's Adventures are for them to individually complete (or not). All equipment and guild components on an Adventure must be collected by the end of the third Journey to receive the card's victory points. The equipment and guilds can be collected in any order and at any time during the Journeys. Equipment and guild cards can also be counted toward more than one Adventure if a hero has Adventure cards with similar goals.

(Example: This hero has an Adventure which requires a Level 2 spell and an Adventure which requires a Level 4 spell, if they collect 4 spell cards, those would fulfill the requirements for both Adventure cards. They also have 3 Shadow Guild Equipment cards which could fulfill the like requirements on the Adventures they have. Unfortunately, they did not meet the other requirements for those Adventures and only completed "Study the Tomes".)

Do the heroes have the appropriate equipment levels, spell levels, and guild components? If so, congratulations! They are victorious! If not, the unsuccessful heroes don't take Victory Points... so there is no problem. Except ... they may lose ... but no other problem.

Completing an Adventure

Example: In order to get 7 victory points, by the end of the game, the hero must have 2 spell cards, 3 Shadow Guild cards, and 4 Water Guild cards.

Important notes:

• The same cards can be used for multiple Adventures.
• Adventure cards do not need to be completed in a particular order. The VP indicated on the card are rewarded if the card requirements are fulfilled by the end of the game.

Quests

In competitive mode, Quests are awarded to whomever has the most of a given attribute. Compare all the heroes' totals. For Quests, heroes win even if there is a tie.

Competitive Quests

• First place victory points are awarded to the hero who wins or 2 or more heroes who tie for the win. In the case that there is a tie for first place, all tied heroes receive the full victory points, and second place will not be awarded.
• If there is no tie for first, then second place victory points are awarded to the hero in second or 2 or more heroes who tie for second. The tied heroes will receive the full victory points for second place.

Example ("Be the Light"): In competitive mode, whoever has the most Light Guild cards wins 7 VP. If there was only a single 1st-place winner, any heroes with the next most get 3 VP.

Non-Competitive Quests

In non-competitive mode, each hero compares their totals with the indicated amounts and takes the VP (rounding down). One hero's results do not impact what other heroes get. (Example "Be the Light": 2 Light = 3 VP, 3 Light = 5 VP, 4 Light = 7 VP.)

In non-competitive mode, each hero receives Victory Points based on the amount they individually attain, regardless of the other heroes.

Penalties

Heroes are supposed to be well-balanced, not partially unclothed! Does every equipment slot have at least one piece? Any empty helmet, weapon, chest, off-hand, or belt slot card will count as -5 VP to the hero's final score. (For example, if a hero is missing 2 pieces of equipment, that hero subtracts 10 VP from their score.)

Unequipped Penalty

For each empty equipment slot, subtract 5 VP.

Blood Penalty

Every hero has their scars, and those scars can be painful. For each blood token a hero has at the end of the game, subtract 1 VP.

Counting Victory Points

• Sum VP tokens, per amount on the tokens.
• Add up coins and divide by 3. Every 3 coins (round down) = 1 VP.
• Add the number of VP for completed Adventures.
• For Journey cards and monster loot, add the number of VP in the bottom left of each card; note that spells are not worth VP.
• For each empty equipment slot, subtract 5 VP.
• Subtract VP for each blood token. 1 blood = -1 VP

Determining a Winner

• If a hero has more points than anyone else, that hero wins.
• If multiple heroes are tied with the highest number of points, the top-scoring hero with the most coins wins.
• If any heroes are still tied, then the top-scoring, richest hero with the highest-level spell wins.
• If any are still tied ... congratulations! There are multiple winners!
• Winners should brag loudly, regaling the other heroes with stories about the awesome equipment they used to defeat the monsters and complete Adventures and Quests. Their exploits should be recorded in the Journeys Journal for all posterity. (pages 17-18).

Tie Breakers

1. Most VP
2. Most Coins
3. Highest Level Spell

Gameplay Variants

• A smidge competitive: Compete for monster loot even in non-competitive mode.
• Random interactivity: Mix and match on the competitive and non-competitive cards, keeping one of each card name.
• Chaos: Play with all the cards, ignoring the dots. Everything you thought you knew is wrong!

2 Player Rules Changes

When playing a 2 player game of JAQ there are a few significant changes to the rules. The biggest being, heroes no longer pass and draft their hands of cards. Instead, the cards are laid out on the table in front of both heroes and they take turns drafting cards until they have filled their Time of Day Boards.

Turn Token

In a 2 player game, the Turn Token will be passed between heroes after each first Day in a Journey. The Turn Token is used instead of the Navigation Token.

Start the Journeys

• Determine the starting hero. That hero receives the Turn Token.
• Turn over the appropriate monster card (Level 1 for the first Journey, etc.). If this is the first Journey, behold the fearsome (or ... maybe not so fearsome) monster. If it is a later Journey, evolve the monster (see "Evolving Monsters", page 8) by stacking that level's monster card (see "Stacking Cards", page 8). Much more fearsome!
• (Also, in competitive mode, pull the matching monster loot card and put it beside the monster, which can be found by matching the card number in the bottom right ... or by matching the descriptors in the names.)

Turn Token Chart

	1st Day	2nd Day
1st Journey	Hero 1	Hero 2
2nd Journey	Hero 2	Hero 1
3rd Journey	Hero 1	Hero 2

2 Days per Journey

1. Place 7 cards face up and 1 card face down in the center of the table, between the two heroes.
2. Heroes take turns drafting cards from the center of the table. The hero with the turn token chooses the first card. IMPORTANT: Cards are always played in the order drafted, so the first card drafted goes in dawn, the second in noon, and the third in dusk.
3. After the second player's 3rd card is taken, discard the remaining 2 cards.
4. The heroes simultaneously reveal and play each card in the order that they were drawn, from dawn to dusk. (See "Playing Cards", page 9.)
   • A) Play card 1 (dawn) and resolve it, and wait for the other hero to do the same.
   • B) Play card 2 (noon) the same way.
   • C) And ... play card 3 (dusk) ... the same way.
5. Pass the Turn token to the other hero.
6. For Day 2, do the same thing as Day 1. Do not pass the turn token.

All other rules are the same

2 Player Drafting

In a 2 player game, the heroes take turns drafting cards from the center of the table and onto their Time of Day Board. The heroes alternate drafting cards, one by one, until each hero has 3 cards.

NOTE: The face down card can be drafted like all the others, except it is a gamble and, if chosen, must be placed on the hero's Time of Day Board.

Journey Journal

When heroes are created their stories must be told! Use this Journey Journal to record your Adventures and Quests. (Columns: Date, Hero Name, Equipment MVP, Final Boss Name, Winner UP, Special Notes.)

FAQ

Who plays first when that matters? Follow the "pay, deal, heal, steal" rules, and it shouldn't matter.

Can I use the coins from an attack to pay for the attack card itself? No, "pay" comes before "steal." (some attack cards steal coins, some give blood)

When it says to "pay" blood, do I discard a blood to the supply? No. You are literally paying in blood, and the blood token is collected from the supply to indicate the extent of your injuries.

Do I have to defeat the monster to get the monster's loot card? Nope - it's just sitting there for the taking! You do have to beat the other heroes, though.

Do I discard face-up or face-down? Face-down.

Can I die? Only of shame. No, you can take any amount of blood, which will count as -1 VP at the end of the game.

Can I go into negative coins? No.

What if my number of coins is not divisible by 3? Round down.

If my attributes sum to a negative number, do I have a negative total? Or is it 0? Your total for an attribute can never be negative - 0 is the lowest (the "floor") for your total. If you have negative defense, you don't get more blood than if you had 0, for instance. And that's still 0 for Quests and loot.

Can I change the order of the cards in any of the stacks? No, because that might mean you would end with a different card on top, changing potential consequences.

What if we run out of coins or other items? There is no limit to the coin and token supply. In the unlikely event that no coins or tokens remain in the supply, use a temporary substitute.

What if I can't pay for a card? Then you have to discard it for 2 coins.

Does equipment need to be in the same slot to satisfy guild equipment requirements? No. All equipment cards with that guild's symbol count toward the total for that guild, no matter what slot or level.

When summing attributes, do I include the spell card items? No. When you played the spell card you should have taken the appropriate tokens, and if you still have those tokens, they count toward the total. Only tokens and visible items on equipment cards count toward totals.

In competitive mode, what if there is a tie for first place in a Quest? All heroes tied for first each are awarded the full amount of the first-place reward, and in this case there are no points awarded for second place.

In competitive mode, what if there is a tie for second place in a Quest? Assuming there was NOT a tie for first place, all heroes tied for second place are awarded the full amount of the second-place reward.

If I use an item to complete an Adventure, can I use it to complete another Adventure? Yes. The requirements for an Adventure (everything on the card except the VP reward) are not spent by completing the Adventure - you have just hit the minimum requirements for completion.

Quick Gameplay Overview

Time of Day Board (Dawn, Noon, Dusk): 1 Draft and place card; 2 Pass remaining cards; 3 Place drafted card here, face down; 4 Pay costs (blood and/or coins); 5 Pay, heal, deal and steal; 6 Pass (or end of 2nd Day) discard remaining cards; 7 Repeat another Day, or battle the monster, compete for loot, then discard attack, defense and knowledge tokens.

Card order of events: 1. Pay (or discard and get 2 coins). 2. Deal all blood to other heroes, and then all tokens. 3. Heal any blood. 4. Steal any coins.

Ties on monster loot: 1 point or 2 coins (hero's choice).

Returning Journey tokens: Before the next Journey, but after resolving monster loot and (at the end of the game) Quests. Return attack, knowledge and defense. Keep blood, VP and coins.