A first look at Destan's Valus sourcebook

[Lela]

I got them last night, thanks guys. I appreciate all the work you put in on my behalf.

 

[grodog]

I got them last night, thanks guys. I appreciate all the work you put in on my behalf.

De nada. I'm just glad we were able to cross that communication divide---I was getting worried for a little while there....

edit: If anyone has additional questions inspired by the FAQ that Ryan posted, feel free to chime in!

 

[Joshua Randall]

Now that Lela's personal e-mail problems have been sorted out on a public message board (no offense, but this is one of my pet peeves about the Internet), perhaps we can get back to discussing the Valus sourcebook...

I know at least 9 other people have a copy, as mine is #10.

Here's a question to prompt some discussion: would you, as a player, want to be a PC in the Valus? I'll withhold my own answer for a while.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I don't have the book (yet), but based on what I've read here and the poking around I've done in the SH and RG threads, yes. It looks really cool. I particularly like the Old Faith/Risen Gods divide. Neat stuff.

Best,
Nick

 

[WizarDru]

Now that Lela's personal e-mail problems have been sorted out on a public message board (no offense, but this is one of my pet peeves about the Internet), perhaps we can get back to discussing the Valus sourcebook...

I know at least 9 other people have a copy, as mine is #10.

Here's a question to prompt some discussion: would you, as a player, want to be a PC in the Valus? I'll withhold my own answer for a while.

Having DM'ed a session or three, I can say with some safety that there are quite a few people who not only wanted, but were PCs in the Valus. Piratecat as a Roven, by the way, is a frightening thing.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Just wanted to note that I've received a copy of it and will hopefully have something either before or after Gen Con.

 

[Destan]

I know at least 9 other people have a copy, as mine is #10.

My mom owns the other 9.

Would you, as a player, want to be a PC in the Valus? I'll withhold my own answer for a while.

Hell, I'd like to answer this, as I've never been a player in the Valus - always been on the "evil side" of the DM screen.

I'm assuming, based on your question, that you would not want to be a player in the Valus. You may or may not be surprised to know that this very concept was raised before the book was published. I realized that no one in the Valus liked one another - elves were arrogant, dwarves provincial and crude, half-orcs savage, halflings concerned only with smuggling illicit wares into and out of communities, burrow gnomes reclusive, roven too busy slaughtering gnolls on the Weedsea (and being slaughtered in turn), trulls too alien, etc.

Even humans, for the love of d20, didn't get along with one another or their demi-human/humanoid friends. Carriks are ticked that Rhelmsfolk had successfully gained their independence years ago. Luc Valusians worry about an impending invasion by the Apians and Basilicans. Gordians fight everyone, just for fun. And, hell, Rorns are cannibals. We won't even talk about Genns and the Aradeeti.

And it wasn't just a hodge-podge of angry mortals. Even the gods disliked the creatures living and dying on the Valus. As the book states, a Risen God grants his clerics divine gifts for purely selfish reasons. (Or, at least, most Valusian sages would concur with this point). A god's power is loosely based on the number and strength of his worshippers; he wants to aid his clerics because their devotion, in turn, helps him in his heavenly struggle against his fellow deities. It's more complicated thant his, of course, but that's the general gist of it.

Based on that quick-and-dirty, one might think it'd be impossible for a heterogenous adventuring party to be a cohesive team.

But it's not. Adventurers can be the exception to this rule. They can be a very bright beacon in a fog-shrouded world. I'm not trying to get overly dramatic here; I really think there's an opportunity for PCs to shine. Heroes just aren't common within the Valus, so when one more comes along - they're marked.

Incidentally, I think this exceprt from the book addresses the very sort of thing you've mentioned.

There is but one thing greater than my hatred for the horadrel Serian par Dindandilion. I have traveled with him for two years now. The rest of our group has come and gone, many have died, others have retired. But Serian, damn him, always seems to remain. When we climb mountains, I sweat and he sings. When we flee from terrors, I sprint and he glides. When we fight our enemies, I stumble and he dances. The bastard even raises his pinky finger heavenward when drinking.

He is an arrogant ass. He refuses to pay his share, and sometimes won’t even sit with me in the common room. He makes me discuss the terms of our payment whenever our patron is lowborn. He steals the few tavern girls I manage to entice to my table.

At last count, he bailed me out of jail seventeen times. He saved my life thirty-one times – and that’s not including those nights when he escorted me down alleyways after I had become fall-down drunk. When my mother was dying to the wasting sickness, and I had no coins to buy a priest, one came anyway. I blame the horadrel whenever I hear my mother cursing me on those few times we return to Restan, though he just sneers and ignores me.

I mentioned there is but one thing greater than my hatred for the horadrel Serian par Dindandilion, and that is my love for him.

- Rive of Restan, Carrik adventurer

So, I guess, my answer would have to be: I would like to be a player in the Valus...but I'd much rather be a DM.

Just wanted to note that I've received a copy of it and will hopefully have something either before or after Gen Con.

Remember, JGK, I have three kids to feed.

In all seriousness, if anyone's heading to GenCon, look me up. Just head to the DWP booth (2025?). Look for a tall, handsome guy. He'll be wearing a nice shirt and jeans. Pretty big arms, chiseled good looks, square chin.

That ain't me. If you look down a bit, you'll see he has some poor S.O.B. in a headlock. That's me. Come say hi.

Here's wishing all of you happy and safe weekends,

D

 

[Old One]

You Kiddin'?

Now that Lela's personal e-mail problems have been sorted out on a public message board (no offense, but this is one of my pet peeves about the Internet), perhaps we can get back to discussing the Valus sourcebook...

I know at least 9 other people have a copy, as mine is #10.

Here's a question to prompt some discussion: would you, as a player, want to be a PC in the Valus? I'll withhold my own answer for a while.

Emphatic yes, here...

I have only delved into the copy that showed up on my doorstep a bit, but I would love to play a PC in a Valus campaign. I love the gritty, watch-your-back, gray feel of what I have read thus far. If a mixed group was fairly widely traveled, the idiosyncracies of the various races and cultures could make for interesting campaigning, since the high CHA elf bard might be useless in a durven compound and vice versa. Pride, prejudice and lots of conflict...sign me up!

That said, there is much potential for "real world" issues in a Valus campaign...poverty, disease, death with finality, racial strife, lots of gray moral areas...that don't necessarily rise to high (or even mid-) fantasy. If you are using DnD as escapist fantasy...then there might be too many of these issue !

Destan has done much of what I tried to do with my own Faded Glory homebrew...only he has done it better AND gotten published...damn him !

~ Old One

 

[Lela]

Though I haven't read the book yet, I think I get the feel from the Story Hour. I tend to take my character cues from the DM and the setting itself. In this case, I'd try to create an extremely good aligned Paladin.

I'd try, as Destan puts it, to shine out in the darkness. And I'd fully expect the DM to make that extremely difficult to do. But I'd also expect to have moments when I'm on top of the world, standing for everything that men should stive for.

I think this kind of dark, grity, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, type of campaign setting is built for that type of PC. You know when you accomplish something but you also know there's always something to do next.

As a side note, Joshua, that's one of the things I like best about these boards. Everyone's always willing to help out the other guy. Regardless of what else happens, I've always seen that as a theme here and I hope it doesn't change.

 

[grodog]

I'm glad to hear that your order is in process now Lela. If you have further difficulties, please feel free to email me directly (that goes for anyone else as well).

FYI, I just posted some details about the Ryan's signing schedule, and the d20 goodies DW will have at GenCon in the d20 Publishers forum at http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1708376#post1708376

See you at the show