Guest post from Tim Kirk, talking about High Valor.
High Valor is a fantasy world passing through its own Dark Age, as it approaches the end of that time things sort of begin falling apart threatening the strides they've made. Certain parts of the greater Free Kingdoms, are threatening to break off, monsters (collectively called Fyrlings) have always been there lurking in the dark places. Now however the wall, sometimes misnamed a gate known as Daralgul has fallen.
Behind it are the nations ruled by the Fane-Lords, demons with physical bodies that have ruled their Empire for thousands of years, are free to call up their armies and own dark forces to invade by stealth, or force. Their first attempt failed because of a tiny force led by a single man, who fell turning back the first coming tide of terrors.
Its a fantasy game built on folklore, where between the precious cities of men there are places you do not go if you want to live. Though mankind (which includes, Elves, Dwarves, Sidhain*, and Fomoradgh*) is rousing to take a stand. Both to hold the Free Kingdoms together and to stop the growing evil that slithers like shadows back into their part of the world.)
It is a game where your character start out heroic, and reasonably powerful (compared to your average peasant, even if peasant born themselves.) Your characters may grow from there, building heroic legacies in their actions--and some may choose to die to turn back the darkness (the game rewards suffering failures, as well as success with its experience system of Triumphs and Dooms. Though death is final, the legend you make should impact the world.) I didn't want a game that told you here is this world and stuff going on and you can't really add anything because its a 400 page tome where everything is detailed. Its a sleek bit of background GM's are expected to use or toss as needed to create epic play between them and the players.
*Sidhain are humans who suffer a curse due to ancient powerful sorcery channeled through their ancestors to forge Daralgul. They may are considered changelings by some, but they're still human. They just have some strange boon (Like being naturally better at magic, or being long lived) and tend to have terrible banes (like having a misshapen limb that resembles a wolf's paw, or having fangs and a serpent's tongue.)
Fomoradgh: Basically Fyrlings who changed sides centuries ago. They're related to Trolls, but tend to be more at home in wetlands (marshes, swamps, lakesides.) They're beastmen of a sort.
The game is inspired by older folklore, Celtic, Norse, Frankish, and Saxon myths. Beowulf for example is one of its chief inspirations as is Charlemagne's history.
A friend saw Skyrim from the Elder Scrolls game, and basically freaked because in his opinion it very much looks and feels (in tone not mechanics) like High Valor.
Now mechanically the game uses three dice pools (small roll-and-keep the best style pools) representing your characters resources in Will, Faith, or Valor. Feats (big tasks) are rolled from the most appropriate pool for the action, and then two traits (players can create these or use the many examples I provided) who have values from Lesser (+2) to Mythic (+10) are added together and then to the die roll. Beat the target number required and you succeed, and it can be small: I cut that guys arm deeply to slow him down) to big "I weave my way through the five bandits before me slashing the first through the throat, stabbing the second, then..... and so on, but the bigger and wider the task the higher the difficulty (a short chart is included on the PC sheet) The game doesn't fiddle with those Feat numbers either--the GM sets how hard he wants it to be once, taking into account whatever he thinks matters to determine that, but no endless modifiers to stack. Just pick the closest and go. Ties to the target number have special rules, but I am trying to keep this short.
The game also lets you use pep talks ( "You have to do this, your the only one who can take down that troll!") Prayers: "I ask the Martyr to aid you." and other similar things to let other players lend you dice from their pools, shifting the odds upwards in your favor if you accept the die.
Magic exists and takes time and strange rituals and components or very bad things happen. Alternately, you can weaken the fallout from casting by making up your own spell rhyme, or dramatic prose for the spell--and there is always at least some small fallout. Milk curdles, your food turns to stone, up to major things like magic consuming your body in a pillar of flame.
Faith, allows prayers above, but also Blessings and Miracles. You can ask divine forces for aid. (The game uses a somewhat splintered early analog to Christianity because I wanted it to. )
That's the short form.
The revised edition fixes some editing mistakes, adds some new art, and makes all the fonts readable. (The original fonts were my choice, filtered to the layout person and they turned out to be less readable than I thought. Totally my mistake.)
Are the ideas in it new? No. Are they my ideas for fantasy gaming? Yes. (Hey I like BECMI D&D and a few dozen other fantasy games) its just I wanted my take on fantasy to be out there.
Its also a game whose lore and mechanics aren't so heavy they're going to get in the way of creating something that is hopefully fun and epic for those who pick it up. |
