Starset RPG Game Review - Score: 85 / 100

This review is part of my new TTRPGs page, where you can find awesome Games Like DnD that you may never have heard of before. If you're interested in finding a new game to play, check out that article!

 

Josiah Mork is definitely one of the up-and-coming TTRPG designers that you should be watching. Let me first say that Josiah did not pay me to create this review. Through our exchanges, he has become a friend of mine, though that does not affect my review of his game (as you'll see below, I do have some critiques).

 

We originally connected when I reviewed his first TTRPG: BaG (Basic and Generic) Role-Playing Game, which Kickstarted back in 2021. My take on BaG was that it was a solid game system, but not what I would consider to be amazing.

 

Now, fast forward a couple years, and Josiah asked me to review Starset: The Great Dimming. And let me tell you, what an improvement. If you’ve seen some of my other TTRPG Reviews, you’ll actually note that my score for Starset: The Great Dimming (at 85/100) makes it into my top-5 list of all time, just behind the Marvel Universe RPG, which I rank at 4th place.

 

In my opinion, Starset is actually a better overall game than longstanding TTRPG favorites such as Shadowrun, Savage Worlds, Zweihander (another grimdark TTRPG), and more. This may seem like a stretch, but read on to see why I think this top-5 placement for Starset is so well-deserved.


If you want, you can also check out the Starset Kickstarter page to get a feel for the game, while you read this review.

Starset RPG the Great Dimming

How Unique is Starset RPG: The Great Dimming: (9/10)

Every great modern TTRPG is both firmly rooted in the genre’s core concepts established by D&D, and yet also expands upon key components to improve player/ GM experience.

 

Starset: The Great Dimming hits these marks as it contains ideas that are somewhat standard to the TTRPG genre, while there are also parts that take common ideas in entirely new directions.

 

Character Creation

Probably the most brilliant part of Starset is character creation.

 

There are only 3-core stats (Toughness, Vitality, Movement) to player characters in Starset, and all three are actually originally determined by finding your character’s height and weight. I was honestly surprised by this, but it's also interesting to see an TTRPG tie stats to something like character appearance.

 

Once core stats are determined, the next major part of character creation are “plot choices.” When creating a character, you're given a series of 4-15 choices you select, from essentially a random list of backstory prompts. Based on the prompt, you make a choice, which then shapes your character’s Skills, maybe your core stats a bit, and your character’s “Keywords.”

 

Keywords are like “Perks” or even “Feats” in other games, in that they give your character bonuses to skills, etc. or sometimes negative effects.

 

Taking your character’s “plot choices” and “keywords” into the game lets any player – even and especially those new to the TTRPG genre – start an RPG campaign with a nearly fully-fleshed out backstory that actively affects your character’s stats and skills.

 

Character Leveling

As if character creation wasn’t enough, I also love the Starset leveling system - at least as far as gaining XP goes (I do have some critiques, later, about the overall progression/ lack of options with leveling up).

 

Most times that you’re making a skill check (which is all the time), you’ll be rolling more than 3-dice at a time. I mention this because if you happen to roll 3-dice that land on the same number – for any roll – you get +1XP.

 

I’ve always enjoyed the idea that the more your character “does” something, the better they get at that activity. So, it was really fun for me taking on missions or trying to complete tasks, and naturally "leveling up" while doing so.

 

Dice Pools

Much like the Cypher System, in Starset, your character has a dice pool that also functions as HP.

 

Every turn, your character replenishes their dice pool up to their maximum value, and those dice can be “spent” on performing actions to increase your likelihood of success. 

 

If your character takes injuries (or becomes fatigue through additional exertion), the number of dice replenished to your pool decreases each round. If you ever take enough damage that you can’t replenish your dice pool to at least 1, your character dies.

 

This is obviously a close idea to Monte Cook’s Cypher System rules, but with some unique spin on it. This kind of dice pool/ HP usage is also very rare among TTRPGs, so definitely counts towards being a unique strength of the system.

 

It also doesn’t hurt that the way Starset uses dice pools is very clear, easy-to-use, and does not obstruct the game’s flow in any way.

Dungeon A Day Article

How Easy is it to Learn to Play Starset RPG: (10/10)

Compared to Josiah's first game, BaG RPG, which only had a 55-page rulebook, I was at first a little concerned by Starset, which comes in at 271-pages. However, the core rules to play Starset RPG only requires reading about 4-chapters (roughly 53-pages) and a lot of those pages  are taken up by charts and artwork.


As you'll see, my impression with Starset RPG is that the game is very easy to learn and teach to new players.

 

Character Creation

Back to generating characters – I love games where I can create a new character in under 15-minutes.


Do you know how many TTRPGs let you create characters in under 15-minutes? Pretty much none.

 

In that list, and along with Starset, I’d include BaG, maybe Cypher System if you kind of know what you’re doing, Eternity TTRPG, and that’s pretty much it. I realize that if you've been playing D&D or Pathfinder for your entire life, maybe you too could make a character in 15-minutes. But I'm talking about picking up a game for the first time, and still hitting that 15-minute mark. So no, D&D doesn't make the cut, here.

 

Additionally, the amount of immersive character-building you actually dive into during your 15-minutes of character creation with Starset RPG is unmatched. It’s easy, fast, and compelling, which is why I give this section a solid 10/10.

 

Gameplay and Skill Checks

Pretty much all of Starset RPG game is played using skill checks. Whether you’re investigating a break-in, conversing with an NPC, or attacking someone, you’re rolling one of the game’s many Skills to see what happens.

 

I would say that Skills in Starset RPG take the place of “core stats” in most other games.  I think Starset's "Skills" are well-defined and clearly labelled, leading to clear gameplay.

 

When it comes to Skill Checks, you basically just roll a number of d6 to see if you get enough “checks” to succeed at whatever task your character’s attempting. Nothing really unique here, but it’s  easy to understand, and it keeps the game moving at a quick pace. 

Starset RPG Review

Starset Presentation: (8/10)

I really like Josiah’s graphic design and layout choices for Starset RPG, and I think this game is a bit of an improvement over BaG, which I also like.

 

The graphics on the front and back cover, as well as the page borders throughout the text work very well. There’s definitely a unique “style” to Starset that makes the book feel both complete, and at home in the Sci-Fi genre.

 

I have to mention though that there are font choices in the book that are very difficult to read. If you sometimes have trouble reading small or partially-blurred text, you may not love all of the font choices in Starset RPG, to be honest.

 

As a “grimdark RPG,” I think the somewhat messy font actually makes sense for the game, thematically. However, there are places such as Pg.9 where the bolded text is almost too runny, or Pg.10 (in the bottom left corner) where the white text actually runs into a white background of oblivion (I think this issue was fixed in the PDF).

 

These issues are relatively small and did not affect my overall love of the game; they were more like small occasional annoyances.

 

Starset: The Great Dimming Lore: (10/10)

The lore for Starset: The Great Dimming makes me think of Starcraft, but if there were only humans. It’s gritty, dark, futuristic, and provides a deep dive into space exploration, survival on the fringe of civilization, and all kinds of related topics.

 

I especially enjoyed the various Factions presented in the game’s lore, their leaders, and basically everything provided in the chapter on “The Solar System,” which thoroughly details organizations, faction motivation, rumors around the universe, and so much more.

 

As the game master (known as the “Overlord” in Starset), I felt that there was more than enough material provided to create epic game sessions without needing to spend too much time in the game's preparation.

 

The core rulebook's lore is well laid-out and explained, and genuinely interesting.

Starset RPG The Great Dimming Rulebook

Combat in Starset RPG: (6/10)

As with BaG, I think that Starset isn’t really created for the power gamer (like me) who loves combat. Or rather, combat isn’t emphasized in incredibly unique or exciting ways.

 

Really, this is only the major criticism I have about Starset. So, if you don’t care a whole lot about having a fully developed combat system in your game, then ignore this section.

 

However, if like me, you really enjoy nuance and strategy in combat, then you may feel the need to supplement your Starset experience in some way, such as with homebrew rules. Personally, I'm just hoping for some supplemental material to Starset RPG in the future that specifically expands combat.

 

How Combat Works

As mentioned earlier in this review, every action in Starset RPG comes down to a Skill Check resolution, which includes combat.

 

If my character attacks with a rifle, I’d make a “Weapon (Ranged)” Skill Check, adding in any bonus dice I’d like from my character’s dice pool (up to a total of 5). I'd then add in modifiers to the attack from my weapon, which say adds another +4.

 

If my total “checks” from my dice rolls equal or exceed my target value, then I hit. That action then becomes a “Floating Action,” which actually resolves at the end of the target character’s upcoming turn.

 

Then, the defending character has the option to use their turn to try and “Dodge” the attack, or something similar that would otherwise reduce its damage. Basically, same process, and the degree to which they succeed reduces my degrees of success, and damage dealt.

 

Combat Skill Outcomes

So, that’s pretty much it. In my group’s experience, the Starset combat system ended up mostly being one character attacking, and then the attacked character spending their turn defending themselves.

 

Afterwards, the same character would attack again, and the same defending character would spend their turn trying not to die... again. Or, if they had a large enough dice pool, they’d also make a counterattack of their own, using the same simple attack/ defend process.

 

My Wishlist

I love that combat in Starset is very streamlined and fast paced. In addition to those great traits, however, my wishlist for a future version of Starset RPG includes:

  • An expansion of weapons with unique traits.
  • Some kind of unique powers or combat maneuvers that provide additional layers of strategy, but still keep combat simple.
  • “Keywords” from your character’s backstory that provide or enhance your character’s unique power or combat maneuvers.

 

Combat is the one big piece of Starset RPG: The Great Dimming keeping it from being even higher up on the list of best TTRPGs of all time.

Starset Map

Starset RPG Game “Flow”: (9/10)

Starset RPG “flows” smoothly, from character creation through actual play during the game’s session. Overall, Starset is a “rules-light,” classless RPG system, that provides a framework for campaign setting, character backstories, and skill/ knowledge/ combat resolution.

 

I tend to favor game systems that are light on rules. Many TTRPGs come with dense game manuals that require players to double-check rules quite frequently during the game - which, in my opinion, is why many TTRPG players come up with their own in-house rules meant to simplify the games they play.

 

In any case, I do think that Starset RPG: The Great Dimming is probably a little bit too light on rules/ game systems – even for my tastes.

 

What’s Missing

Take this section with a grain of salt, as I am giving Starset RPG: The Great Dimming a 9/10 when it comes to overall game “flow.”

 

However, if you recall what I mentioned before, Starset RPG doesn’t offer much meat and potatoes when it comes to combat. When it comes to overall game sessions and character progression, I actually feel basically the same...

 

There isn’t anything “wrong” with Starset RPG. There just isn’t anything inherently engaging about the game once you get past character creation, lore, and the cool way that skill checks resolve.

 

What I mean is that most TTRPGs have a progression system that naturally leads campaigns to build in intensity over time:

  • In D&D, players gain levels, which provide unique and powerful abilities/ spells based on the character’s class.
  • In Cypher System, you increase your character’s stats and gain unique “Cyphers” that provide you with interesting game options and powers.
  • In Star Wars, you gain Force Powers, etc.

 

I would love to see Starset adds in more level-up options/ ways to use XP in the future, such as:

  • The ability to create/ improve NPC importance (and have NPC importance do more than just be a reminder for GMs to use those NPCs in game sessions).
  • The ability to add desired keywords (and have more keywords in the game – especially those that count as unique “powers” of some kind, for both in and out of combat).
  • The ability to increase (or even decrease) your reputation with desired factions, without needing to resort to keywords (and to have that reputation have more "in-game" meaning or value).
  • The ability to add more than 5-dice to a skill check, to make your character truly god-like at certain skills, etc.
  • The ability to increase your character's Toughness, Vitality, and Movement (your character's core stats).

 

What it boils down to is that I want something within Starset RPG's rules that I feel like I’m “endeavoring towards,” aside from just the campaign story that the GM is creating. I get that Starset is a grimdark RPG, and so it is weighted more towards realism and somewhat frail characters.


But even so, I want to have my character be able to "do" more in the game, both as a matter of abilities/ powers, and their capacity to affect the game's world.

Eternity TTRPG Article Shop

Artwork: (5/10)

I don’t mean this in a negative way, but Starset RPG: The Great Dimming clearly makes use of AI artwork. I know this is a hotly-debated topic right now, and I won't weight in too much about AI art overall. I'm just pointing out that Starset makes use of quite a bit of AI art.


Some pieces look kind of odd, as AI art (as of the date of this article) still struggle with making human-looking art. With most of Starset’s art though, I think it is kind of nice to have as it breaks up the text, and makes the book look quite presentable.

 

With up-and-coming TTRPGs, I also never expect too much in the way of artwork. New TTRPGs often can’t afford a professional artist who can create multiple high-quality pieces, after all.

 

Starset has done really quite well as a Kickstarter game, but never aimed for high-quality artwork, anyways. I can appreciate that, and the game’s overall experience is certainly good despite the lack of full-color, human-made artwork.

 

Ease of Purchase: (10/10)

Starset is extremely easy to purchase. You can find it on the Hoodwink games website, and find information on it at the and Kickstarter page.

 

Price & How Many Books Do You Need to Play: (10/10)

Starset: The Great Diming has a player manual PDF price of $15, or complete core print for $40. For a core rulebook that’s over 200-pages, those are great prices to have.

 

I also enjoy that to play Starset, you only need the one core rulebook. Everything from player information to GM (Overlord) information is contained within. ï»¿

Starset RPG Announcement

Ease of Starting a Group & Availability of Supplemental Material: (8/10)

At this time – to the best of my knowledge – there are not any supplemental materials for Starset RPG. Hoodwink Games does offer a “Player’s Manual” and “Universe Manual” that are separate from the core rulebook, but those are actually pieces of the core rulebook split out into separate guides, and not their own unique books.

 

If you’re thinking of trying out Starset: The Great Dimming, I can confidently say that you can bring this game to any group of people – even those new to TTRPGs – and have a great time. The game’s easy to pick up, fast-paced, and provides tons of interesting setting material.

 

I’m personally hoping for more supplemental material from the game in the future (particularly for combat and level-up progressions).

 

Starset RPG: The Great Dimming is Produced By:

Josiah Mork – Hoodwink Games

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Jacob Tegtman Eternity TTRPG Creator

Author - Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.


I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.


If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

Eternity Races: Crour and Yzarc (D&D Compatible)

July 19, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnvXjloeTQY Transcription [00:00:00] we are back with the Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, and this time around, I wanted to c- pick up where we left off with our races of Eternity. Um, so we've already covered our Eteri/Empyrean humans, and then we did our Jadori and our Treant. This time, we're gonna cover the Croar and the Ezark. So I'm gonna start off with the Croar. The Kror isn't necessarily a, like, race on its own. It's actually created from other races with the help of a formula, the Kror formula. So a Kror can be a human or an Etarian, Empyrean, Jadori, Treant, so on and so forth, right? Because these beings are drinking this Kror formula, and what this Kror formula [00:01:00] does is it instills these beings with chaos, and from that chaos, they become, like, monstrous beasts. So with Kror, you will see humans with horns or with multiple eyes or in one of our images, we have a Kror that has, um, a mouth on its gut and teeth and extra tongues and all these different things to make it look really monstrous. The way that Core Formula came about is that when a star fell, it created these different chaos wastes, and the chaos waste infected, um, these different streams, and from these streams, these animals, of course, drank and started taking on these monstrous appearances. [00:02:00] So different beings in eternity decided that if these animals could drink this and turn into that, what would happen to humans? It was like a science experiment gone wrong, in a sense. And, you know, for some beings it went right because they wanted to take on these monstrous, um, features and be able to better, you know, combat their foes. Um, some kroor are very proud of this, and some kroor are very ashamed. So you'll see in some images where they're trying to cut off their horns, or they just no longer wanted to be monstrous, but there is no reversal. When you're looking at playing a Korred and trying to match it up to a class, they do best with fighter classes. So that's gonna be your judge, your thief, your assassin. Um, they have a high hit chance and low faith, [00:03:00] right? They are not good at casting spells, so I really don't recommend that they go into those races Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video let's switch gears a bit and go into the Yzarc. So the Yzarc [00:04:00] has a bit of what I would say a complicated beginning that reminds me of Greek mythology in a sense, where you have all of these gods kind of vying for power. So to start off, the Aes Ark was created by the World Gods. The World Gods decided that they would create an angelic spirit and a demonic spirit. And then from these spirits, they decided to combine them and the Aes Ark was created, the first Aes Arks. Now, the reason the Aes Arks were created was to show the beginnings of the world, the first races, the humans, how to live, how to survive. And with that, right, with teaching all of these beings how to live, they're gonna start out in ways of squabble and very [00:05:00] run-down places. While these first Aes Arks that were just created by the gods know everything, they're gonna live in wealth and have these amazing things for them because they already know, and they're trying to teach these humans who have to, you know, learn. So it's not very good. So because these humans were upset that they were living in shambles while the Aes Arks were living in riches, a war started. Because the World gods saw that there was conflict between the humans and the Ezarks, the humans of course did what they could to end the Ezarks, but the World gods ultimately decided that it wasn't good for the Ezarks to be around anymore. So they destroyed them. They left all these other races be, and then the second Aezerk ended up coming around. The second Ezarks happened because the eternal gods [00:06:00] decided to go at war with each other, and from this war, the angelic and demonic spirits that we originally talked about were pushed out of where this eternal god was keeping them. And these pushed out spirits, the angelic and demonic spirits, became the second Ezark, and they took on a mortal form and now walk among all the other races of eternity. So these Ezarks, they typically... Now they take on a mortal form. However, You know they're an aezerk because they have bony wings as well as a tail. This depicts their demonic and angelic spirits within them. So now that is the second Ezarks, and that is where they are in the world, is that they're here, they take on the mortal form, and now that they take on the mortal form, they do take on different classes and roles in the Eternity world. Now, with Ezarks [00:07:00] being created from the gods, right, they don't take on the idea of they're best as a fighter or a mixed class or a caster. Because they are close to the gods, They take on a well-rounded form similar to that of the human. In fact, they have higher hit chance than humans because with being created by gods, they should be able to take care of everything, and because of that, they also have lower defenses. So if you're looking for a well-rounded race other than humans, it's gonna be your Ezark, and your Ezark can play just about any class effectively. With that in mind, I think Ezarks are really good for your mixed classes more than anything, which is gonna be your classes that do casting magic along with melee fighter sort of stuff So that's gonna cover our races for this go around. We do have [00:08:00] two more races left that we're gonna cover before we jump into our classes. The upcoming races are gonna be your Stoneborn and your Esper, my personal favorites for myself to play, not just as a getting started. So join us next time we do that, and we'll catch y'all next time. Make sure that you like, comment, subscribe, ask your questions, let us know how we're doing, and we'll see ya. Bye.

2026 Gen Con TTRPGs - What to Expect

By Shawna Tegtman • July 15, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmN4njpT3BQ Transcription [00:00:00] Hey, adventurers. We're back, and we are with the creator of Eternity and the page that we started, right? Um, this is my husband, Jacob, and I got dragged onto this- Thankfully, yeah. I got dragged onto this adventure about five years ago- Mm ... when we met, and just been with it ever since, but obviously he's been with it a lot longer. So where did Eternity start? Well, first off, thank you for helping with the channel so much. As we've been growing, it's been really nice actually to be able to focus more on the gaming stuff- Mm ... and have you handle a lot of this, so. Mm-hmm. I'm glad I can. Yeah. So you're asking how did it start? Yes. Where did Eternity start? Yes, like way, way back. Where did it start? Um, I've been making games since I was probably six years old as just a way to fill time and spend, you know- Mm-hmm ... fun afternoons with friends growing up. [00:01:00] Uh, so I think the first version of creating some kind of tabletop role play game, I was probably 12. Goodness. Yeah. So 20-ish years. Yeah. Yeah, like 25 years. Yeah. Yeah. So it was really just everybody gets a notebook and some, you know, pens and different colors to highlight or whatever- ... draw on, stuff like that. Nothing was really formalized. Anything I did have was just printed off my parents' computer. And, uh, mostly we used Legos, so. Oh, for, like, the terrain and stuff? Yeah, the terrain and your characters, and if your character got a new sword, you'd actually switch out their, what they were wielding, you know. That's fun. Um, it was really fun, and we'd build castles, and it was less about having a TTRPG system that was mathematically right or that made sense from a storytelling perspective. It was just playing with friends. And whatever you want your [00:02:00] character to wear, they wear, and then you update your stats based on what you thought was cool to add to your Lego character, so. That's awesome. It was really fun. Yeah. Yeah. So 25 years, 30 years of making games, right? And now we're at the point of not just Eternity but Sparks of Eternity. So where did the idea of the Sparks of Eternity come from when you had, like, Eternity going from 25, 30 years ago? So what does the Sparks mean? Yeah. S- Sparks of Eternity was really actually your idea- ... at Gen Con last year. And basically- You went with it. Yeah. Well, it was a- You at least went with it ... it's a great-- You have great ideas. Mm. And basically what happened is we were, as visitors to the convention, walking around the aisles, looking at all the great games- Mm ... seeing everything from board games to card games to tabletop role-playing games. It became apparent to us that it wasn't the [00:03:00] easiest for the tabletop role-play game vendors to show off their products. Mm-hmm. Uh, we'll talk about that a little bit more later, I'm sure. But- Yeah ... basically everybody else can game demo, but it's not very easy to game demo in about 15 minutes for a tabletop RPG. Yeah, because you need, like, a character, right? Usually you wanna show people through, like, a series of encounters or do a quick adventure or something. Yeah. And that can take 45 minutes. You're talking about having a whole event with ticketing and stuff like that to- Yeah ... run at a convention. And so we wanted a way to be able to show off our game very quickly and get people into the world of Eternity, see if they like the races, the classes, the unique ideas that we have, uh, without needing more than five minutes, because, you know, you just don't have a lot of time at conventions like that. And I also think it's important if we're gonna share the game with a lot of people, and the really, I think, great [00:04:00] ideas that we've come up with, um, not just at conventions, but if you're gonna share it with your friends or your family or- Mm ... you know, you wanna be able to show them something in just a couple minutes that either catches their attention or at least they know that it's not for them right away. Mm-hmm. So you went to Gen Con, you had this happen, and then we had that car ride back, right? Yeah. And we were brainstorming how can we make a TTRPG accessible at this con. Mm-hmm. And that's where Emanation was created, right? Mm-hmm. What, what is Emanation? Yeah. So we're still probably figuring out the right way to say this, but Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is one of the games in the Eternity world, and it's supposed to be the introductory game. So it's a card game battler, is the name that we've come up with at this time. And really what it takes is six of the game's classes, [00:05:00] puts them into a card game that each class has its own deck of about 15 cards. Mm-hmm. And those are just all the unique abilities for that class. So what you can do is pick a class, um, pull out some dice, pull out some trackers for hit points, that kind of thing, and you just start playing. So I might attack, you might defend. Mm-hmm. And then after that round, which could literally take that fa- that fast, it might be a couple seconds- Mm-hmm ... our characters level up, and so we take the next card off our deck And then we have one more option to play that turn. So now I have maybe a more specific berserker ability, whereas you have a cryomancer ability. Mm-hmm. And every round your characters level up until you've picked up your whole deck. And, uh, you just kinda battle each other until there's one left standing or the, the rounds run out. 'Cause we want [00:06:00] it- Yeah ... to be a fast game, so it's not necessarily about, you know, defeating your opponents. Maybe at the end you just have more hit points left than they do. Yeah. But the whole game can be played a- anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on how well you know the characters. Mm. Yeah. I think you and I are easily have our five-minute games now- Mm-hmm ... because we've been play testing so much. Yeah, we've tested a lot. But I know when we had both of our mothers try this game, and they're- Right in their 50s and 60s, and they were able to pick up the game, and we went through two or three different rounds of games in a matter of 30, 40 minutes. Mm-hmm. So it wasn't just us as young people and the creators being able to play this game, it was our elderly family- Yeah ... could pick it up. So it was just showing like- Mm-hmm hey, you can do this when you're young, you can do it when you're old. And, and it was a family game. It was nice. Mm-hmm. Um, you touched on it for a second, but what are the six classes in the, in like game that's being printed right [00:07:00] now? Well, I thought I'd touch really quick too on, on your point there as well. That was the whole point is we wanted to be able to play with anybody. Mm-hmm. So my family- Yeah ... my parents have actually never played the tabletop role play game that we're- Same with mine ... generating, and they never would- Yeah ... because it's a tabletop role play game. My mom's not gonna play D&D. Yeah. She's just not. But she was interested and able to play this card game. Mm-hmm. And she picked it up in a, just a couple minutes. And, you know, she didn't make the best choices every round. She didn't optimize, but she had fun, and that was the whole goal. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I think mission accomplished. Um- Yeah. But the six classes, so I, I mentioned one, and then I've actually mentioned an expansion class. So berserker is one of the base game classes. There's assassin Druid, Judge, Oracle, and Summoner What's your favorite out of those six? I was gonna say really quick, Cryomancer, which I mentioned, is an expansion class. And that's the only one we're gonna talk about because we wanna keep those a secret for a little bit. So we have a lot more coming. Yes. So [00:08:00] the, the plan with this is it is a base game, very easy entry point, not a whole lot of options. But if you like the game, there's a lot more that we have planned and, and it's already done, so. Uh, my favorite out of those first six? Mm-hmm. So I would say that a few of those are kind of fantasy staples: Assassin, Berserker, Druid. Mm-hmm. Uh, and then a few you've probably heard of a couple times, Summoner, Oracle. I think one of the ones out of this base game that's most unique to Eternity is the Judge. Mm-hmm. Uh, so I guess for that reason I'll g- I'll say Judge is my favorite at this moment. It changes. Yeah. So out of those six, I, because we played it so much, I would say the Druid is the most fun to play because I can have like damage plus an additional turn during the round. Mm-hmm. Um, so it's very fun to be able to hit someone multiple times and Yeah, the, the game i- is very simple to learn and pick up and play- Mm-hmm ... but they have very distinct [00:09:00] play styles. I think we've- Mm-hmm ... we've hit a good balance point of- There is some complexity if you wanna dive into it, but also at a face value, all the cards are very simple to read and- Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, we have spent countless nights over the last year at this point- Yeah, it's been a full year. Yeah. Yeah. I can't believe it. I know. Um, but we've been play testing all of these cards, right? And making sure the wording matters 'cause like- Mm-hmm ... I mean, you've been in this for 30 years, as we've just pointed out, making all these adjustments, and I come in and play and I've only been in this for five years, had no tabletop role playing, D&D, any of that beforehand. Mm-hmm. So I can help you with the wording for someone that's- Yeah ... you know, not used to it. And that's really helpful actually. Sometimes for me, having played so many of these games, it's easy for me to look at something and say, "This makes sense." Mm-hmm. But then having you read it or our parents read it- Yeah and they go, "I don't understand this," that's actually the best feedback. Mm-hmm. So. Yeah. [00:10:00] So to wrap things up a little bit, this game, Emanation, is... It's on a boat from China right now. Yeah. Right? Yeah. It, it's finished. It's gonna be... It's coming to the US. It's finished. Mm-hmm. It's in production. We have the box showcasing it, the videos anyway, right? And we've been waiting for this since December, I think, is how quickly we got it to production. Um, kind of. The- Roughly. The, the whole production thing is its whole own story. This was our first time having a game professionally produced. Yeah. And so we had a lot to learn about file types- ... and even silly things like sizing and, uh... Yeah, there was a lot of back and forth with the manufacturer. But it is all done and it is on the way. Yeah. So. So with it being on the way, we've created a pre-order page. Now, this page is not accepting payment at this time. It is just collecting- That's right ... your email, right? Mm-hmm. [00:11:00] And once we get it in and we're happy with it, we're gonna send out an email to you saying, "Hey, it's ready now. If you wanna buy it, you can." So this one is just a notification pre-order, right? Mm-hmm. So. Yep, that's right. So, uh, we'll share the link to that page, but it's ettrpg.com/game, and all it does on that whole page is tell you everything you might wanna know. So maybe you're a big TTRPG fan, and you're looking for ways to get more of your friends involved, your family, show off sort of what the genre's about You can play Eternity Emanation and then get somebody to play D&D with you off that. If they like Emanation, they're likely to enjoy D&D, and that was kind of the point. We don't just wanna get people into our world of games. We wanna have an easy access point to tabletop role play games in general. Mm-hmm. So yeah, go take a look at it. Uh, learn more about the game. See if you [00:12:00] like the idea of the classes. Uh, we even have an About section for Shauna and myself- ... uh, John, who does the marketing. All of the art is human-made. It's beautiful. It's am- you know, we're really- It looks incredible ... happy with everything that's come together. Yeah. A lot of really amazing people, a lot of amazing skillsets involved to make this happen. Uh, but yeah, you're right that, uh, if you want to get notified about when we have the product in hand, we are not accepting any payment info, any payment commitments at all until we actually have the products at our house ready to ship to you. So everything- Yeah ... at this point is just, you know, if you wanna know when that's up, then, um, just, yeah, drop us a line there. Absolutely. Um, and just to wrap it up, if you have any further questions about the game, the world of Eternity, or even just our different takes on tabletop role playing and D&D related things, please drop it below, um, because we're always here, always watching. [00:13:00] And we, we enjoy this kind of stuff, so. Yeah. For me, I'm, I'm sort of obsessed with it really. Um- Oh, you are obsessed with it. Yeah. So like- Like I... Go ahead ... the la- the last thing I was gonna say is that we do have the tabletop role play game version coming out as well. Mm-hmm. And that will expand a lot, and you'll actually be able to use the card game Battler Emanation as the combat system within that full tabletop role play game. So you'll have options. You'll be able to do kind of the, uh, the battle grid style that you've seen from D&D and probably have always loved. But, uh, I always think that some combat is, is worth that, and then some combat maybe is a, a l- you just want to fight some- Something quick ... goblins really quick. Yeah. Yeah. And so you just pull out the card game, and that can be a much faster system for your, your group. Mm-hmm. So when we have that available, we will be sharing that as well. But we're excited that this is the, uh, first step for this whole Sparks of Eternity world- ... we've been planning for [00:14:00] a very long time. Yeah. It's just so exciting, and it's amazing seeing it come together. I mean, this is your life's work. Yeah, yeah. And I get to be along for the ride with it, and it's just so fun, you know? Well, at this point, you're doing more than just being along for the ride. I- At this point, you're, you're in it. You're making the videos. You're- That's- Yeah ... it's not my creative mind at work here. But anyway- I don't know about that ... as always- Like, subscribe, comment, let us know what y'all think, and we will catch you next time. Thanks for watching. Bye.

Sparks of Eternity: Card Game Battler (D&D Compatible)

By Shawna Tegtman • July 10, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMheJn1MOd8 Transcription [00:00:00] Hey guys, and welcome back to Eternity TTRPG, where we talk about Eternity in itself, D&D, and anything related to tabletop role-playing. Um, a few weeks ago, we started talking about the different races that you find in Eternity, which you can also use in D&D or other tabletop role-playing, and we had covered humans, Aeteri, and Empyrean. Um, so we're just gonna keep that rolling, and I'm gonna cover two more. We're gonna talk about the Jadori and the Treant. Um, and these two are very different, but they link together so well. It reminds me kind of like, of yin and yang, okay? So let's just jump right in, okay? So Jadori and Treant are linked together because of the lore that you find with them, and I'm gonna keep the lore short and sweet because when you start talking lore, it can [00:01:00] just landslide into, you know, an hour-long video, and that's not what we're looking for. Um, so Jadori and Treant, um, Treant is Trees, it's, um, I've seen it be cactus, bushes, any kind of floral really that you find in nature. Um, so if you ever wanted to play a tree and be friends with the forest, there you go. Jadore is gonna be this lion-like, um, character that has jade for their claws and their fangs, which is kind of where they get their name, Jadore. So they are very aggressive and protective of their, you know, animal counterparts. So these two work together in the lore. So the Treant race and the Jadore race are tasked with cre- not [00:02:00] creating, they're tasked with protecting, um, the Tree of Life, and this Tree of Life, think like blue people avatar giant tree where all life is at, and it's a great meeting location. It's just this interconnected forest, and these two races are tasked with protecting it, the Treants, the floral side of it, the Jadore, the fauna side of it, and what one side lacks, the other picks up. However, lore-wise, they actually fail at this. There's some kind of ultimate betrayal that happens, and they ultimately fail, and the Tree of Life is destroyed, and rather than having this vast green area, you now have this desert, and that happened many, many years ago in the lore, like hundreds, thousands. I'm not 100% sure, but that's lore for you. In present times, the Tree of Life is attempting to grow back, and it's [00:03:00] still this massive tree, not like it used to be, but still pretty massive, and Treants and Jadore are returning to it to, you know, protect it again and try not to fail again. At least that's the idea in the lore. Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video So jumping into them a little bit [00:04:00] separately, yes, they're super intertwined, and they're opposites of each other, but on a separate side, right? Jadori is this lion race that is super protective of everything fauna related, and they are a beast master of sorts, right? Because they're gonna work with all of these different creatures, bring them together, protect them, rule them, in a sense. And very aggressive, very protective, very blunt. Um, and one thing that we see with Jadori with their stats and everything is that they have very high agility, which is gonna lend itself to, um, the strength and how quick you are with your turns, um, how hard you hit. It's definitely more of a melee race. Um, so a beast master class or a judge or a lancer or I believe barbarians, berserkers, those are gonna be really good [00:05:00] with Jadori. Um, they also really don't care about politics or really have much influence when it comes to anything except protecting the tree When we move over to their opposites with treants, um, treants, once again, don't care politically. They just care about protecting the forest They care about protecting the floral, right? So that's gonna be your trees, your flowers, your bushes, anything that grows. Um, they are very druidic, um, so druids are gonna be great races for them, or any caster really, because when you start looking at their stats, they are the complete opposite of Jadori. So their strength, their agility is low. They can barely move because you're supposed to be this lumbering tree. However, their spirit is super high, if not one of the highest, um, of all the races. So they're a very good caster class. Like I [00:06:00] said, druids. Um, in the world of Eternity, you've got, like, pyromancer, cryomancer, your oracles. They're really good for those kind of classes. But you don't really wanna see a berserker tree. That doesn't completely make sense in this case. However, to each their own. Do what you want. Um, so that kinda covers both of these races and how they're intertwined. Um, obviously there is so much more lore when you start getting into Eternity and diving into that game, and we hope to have a book out at some point showing this lore and showcasing it to share it, right? Um, for now, we'll just talk about it on the channel and keep things going, and we'll show you some more races, uh, next time, okay? As always, keep it going, and if you wanna see more of anything going on with Eternity, head to, uh, eternityttrpg.com. And as always, these races can be combined into D&D. You just gotta get [00:07:00] a little creative. See ya.
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