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Valus

Valus is a recently released d20 campaign setting from Different Worlds Publications (they also just put out the 4th module in the Maze of Zayene series).

What? Another d20 campaign setting? Aren't there enough of those already? While I actually would answer "No" (You can never have too many, if only to borrow ideas from), Valus is a lot different in feel than any other d20 fantasy setting I've seen, and it's exquisitely done. And other than the tone, it's generally not too hard to integrate into any other fantasy setting, as it's mostly set on a 600 mile or so island (though it will take some doing to reconcile the background mythology).

Background

If it's one thing that d20 doesn't really have for fantasy, is gritty, dark settings. How gritty is Valus? Well, the tag line for it is "A World Born Without Love". Okay, that (at least the last 3 words) might sound like a Lifetime TV movie, but the tone, combined with the extensive mythology (which explains the tone), is a far cry from any other d20 setting I've seen.

Yes, there's Midnight, which is sort of Tolkien if Sauron had won. But that's almost cartoon-ish grimness. This has "realistic" grimness, the world is grey instead of black and white, or maybe more accurately, like the real world, it has black and various shades of grey. Some would say it's presumptuous of me, but I would put in Valus in the same group of worlds as Harn and Glorantha (without the ducks, anyway) in terms of "realness". Besides the feel, it has a long history as a gaming world, going back to the mid 80s. So it's fairly old and established, and has had a lot of history take place in it.

Essentially, it's a fantasy world, but it has no "good" gods in it. The line "A World Born Without Love" isn't just a tagline, it's literally true in this case. The gods of this world don't feel love. For anyone or anything, including their worshipers. They view them pretty much only as tools or pawns.

The mythology is a bit complicated and this explanation ended up a little longer than I like, but I think I have to explain it to give you a feel for the world. Basically, the universe started out with one super-powerful god-goddess. Then for some reason, she had children. However, this didn't turn out like she planned, so much like Eric Cartman's mother-father, wanted to perform a post-birth abortion. Unlike Cartman's mother-father, this god-goddess actually ended up killing her children, but in the process, lost her capacity for love.

The corpses of her children turned into the world. But the corpses weren't completely dead. The various bits inside it somehow turned into lesser gods, called the Drimm, and crawled out from within the body. There were a lot of these. They eventually started fighting amongst each other, and over the course of time, whittled themselves down to about 100 or so. Then the god-goddess intervened, not wanting them to destroy themselves completely, moving some of them to the Moon, while leaving the more peaceful ones (she thought) still on the world.

However, this didn't quite work out either. The ones remaining on the world got bored and belligerent, but couldn't fight each other directly (they promised not to, and were afraid of getting smacked by the god-goddess if they did). So they figured out how to use their magical powers to create monsters to do their fighting for them. (Most of them. All except 12, who were too dumb/idiotic to do so). So, this fighting of created monsters goes on for quite some time - the monsters that were made were horrible, essentially demons and devils and the like.

This doesn't last forever. Once again, the god-goddess gets annoyed at all the Pokemon style fighting (the fighting wakes her up), so she sticks all those created monsters into hell (the Abyss) and smacks down all those Drimm that created all the monsters.

All the Drimm except for the 12 loser Drimm that couldn't figure out how to create monsters. Because they behaved (though only because they couldn't create things themselves), the god-goddess took mercy on them, and essentially gave them the god-like powers, including that of creation, that they had lacked. But not trusting them, either, she gave them perfectly balanced powers, and decided to lock them far away in a dimension, and made the Sun as a portal to it. Then she went back to sleep.

The first thing these 12 did, was to create a race of guardians, beings that would watch over the demons and devils that their brethren had created. Because before they were given powers, they were picked on by their brethren. And so developed a fear of their fellows, and the creations - the demons and devils. These guardians were Angels/Archons.

Eventually though, the 12 did start to quarrel among themselves, and start fighting. But because they were so evenly matched, they could never win or lose, and actually gained and lost power/influence on a regular basis.

In the meantime, life had evolved on the planet below. From the seas, much like on earth. Eventually, humans finally showed up. At first intensely curious about the world and it's creation and their role in it, when they eventually learned the truth, and their "gods", they were appalled.

My recap really doesn't do it justice - the book takes 20 pages to explain it. I really found this part fascinating. Rarely in RPGs do you see much of a connection between the tone of the world and the mythology of, which is sort of a disconnect from the real world.

There's not a general feeling of heavy oppression, or impending doom, just a resignation to a fate. The feel reminds of Brian Aldiss's Malachia Tapestry. Or maybe Jack Vance's Dying Earth (the first novel, not the rest, which are silly). Or if you're old enough, the Jimmy Carter presidency, aka the era of Malaise.

As a Gnostic myself, I couldn't help but notice the similarity of the basic background to Gnostic mythology. Even the name of the goddess is similar - Sacifea in this, Sophia in Gnosticism. So I might be a bit biased in liking this, it's not nearly as blatant or annoying a rip off as say, Kult, nor is it a weird misinterpretation like say, Dan Brown's DaVinci Code or a certain book from another game company, just loosely inspired (maybe - could be a coincidence). But most people won't even notice.

Still, though, because of that, I do think Malachia Tapestry is the feel I mean. It's been ages since I read that book, but if I remember correctly, it was set in sort of an alternate universe, where the main religion was that of the Bogomils. I don't know much about the Bogomils, except that they were Dualists (believing in a good and an evil god) and so are generally labeled as "Gnostic". Though it seems they were heavy on the evil god part and light on the "gnosis" part, so they were something of a depressing lot.


Changes/Additions to d20/D&D Rules...


Valus has a fairly long history (15+ years in the real world, I think. I could have sworn I read it first was gamed in in the mid 80s, though now I can't find that) and was originally developed for a game that wasn't D&D. So when it comes to classes and races, it's not 100% D&D, though the changes aren't huge.

The races get changed somewhat. Gnomes are quite different, they are called "Pems" and are sort of magical and reclusive and can change color. Elves are called "Drel" and are more aloof and arrogant than good. A bit Tolkien-ish, but not overly so. Dwarves are called "Durven" and are greedy and crude.

Because it's sort of a grim world, you get a lot of nonconsensual crossbreeding. Besides the normal Half-Orcs and Half-Elves, there are Trulls, which are half-troll, half-human, and Roven, which are half-gnoll, half-human. Though the latter two actually now breed true, and so are now proper species. The stats for the new races seem sound mechanically (maybe too much so, I would probably expect the Trull to be stronger, being essentially part troll, but they only get a +2 strength. Presumably to keep the effective character level at +0).

There's something of an undercurrent of racism between the various races. Most non-human races aren't especially liked (except maybe the Pems) and many human races don't like each other much. A chart has various offensive names used to call each race (none is particularly offensive to modern ears, and most make sense, like calling Dwarves "Stumps". Heck, when I was a kid, all my Dwarf characters were named "Stump". Though largely because I was a big Stump Mitchell fan).

While the setting is not low magic per se, powerful magic isn't very common,so classes get tweaked a bit.

The Cleric probably is altered the most, because of the way the gods work in Valus. The various god's power waxes and wanes regularly, and thus so do the powers of their clerics. Basically, for one month out of the year, plus one week a month, they gain some additional powers, but for a same amount of time in a different part of the year/month, they suffer from some negative effects. The latter can range from losing the ability to read, to smelling like a swamp, to not being able to lie, a few other doozies. There are basically 2 negative and 2 positive effects they suffer from, plus either gaining or losing a spell slot (sort of).

Plus, some spells can only be cast when the Cleric's god is ascendant. Most notably, the spells involving the ressurection of the dead (Raise Dead, Resurrection, etc). Even when the raise dead spell does work, it needs the personal approval of the god of the cleric who casts it. The god will generally ask the character being raised to do something for him or her. And the character who is raised will be marked in some way. Usually some way unpleasant.

Paladins are an interesting sort. Mechanically they are similar to normal D&D paladins, but they are generally outcasts, because instead of worshiping any of the proper gods (not being good, they aren't worth of a paladin), they have sort of a special connection with an Angel or Archon. Sort of like Joan of Arc heard voices from one of the Marys, the Paladin hears the voice of their specific guardian/patron angel.

Bards are tweaked just a teensy bit - they can take a subtype, Skald, Minstrel, or Troubadour. This doesn't affect them much, each subtype is better than the regular bard at something, but worse at something else. Good for flavor.

There's only one prestige class, the "Covenguard", or member of the "Order of the Covenant". Basically, they hate all outsiders, both Demons/Devils and Angels, and do their best to expel them from the world.

As befits this book, they have sort of a complicated history. Apparently the god-goddess of the world gave a unique name (called a "True Name" to everything in the universe, everyone that was and everyone that will be. Fish, people, rocks, gods, demons, angels. Everything.

But to some beings she told the True Name of others. In the case of the angels, she told each one the true name of another so they would work together. In the case of fiends, she told each fiend the name of another so it would try to manipulate that fiend. And the Covenguards were created to exploit this (somewhat) to keep the world safe from extra-planar influences, because the god-goddess didn't want the world to become a battleground for angels and fiends.

On a related note, this also makes the summoning of extra-planar beings more dangerous for spell-casters. The gods generally notice when powerful beings are being summoned or show up on the world, and they don't like it. Do it enough, and the summoner will face divine retribution. This can be any of a number of things, from having to do something, or pay a fine (essentially, it's left up to the GM to decide).

Setting Details/Geography


Valus is sort of shaped like Crete, only a bit crooked. It's basically divided into 3 regions - the two ends, and the middle. Pretty much every site or terrain feature or town on the island gets at least a paragraph of description. Most important places get more detail, a few get a whole lot of detail, including a map of a city with keyed locations.

It makes good use of small bits of prose to set the mood. The author of this book is actually a pretty good fiction writer - he's got a fairly popular "Story Hour" thread over at ENWorld, which basically relates an ongoing campaign in his world.

There are a couple of kingdoms on the west end, one called the Empire of Carrik, the other the Kingdom of Rhelm. Despite the name, the Empire of Carrik is not especially big, but it used to own most of the other parts of the isle (including Rhelm) before losing them in a civil war.

Carrik is ruled like an Empire, though, it's got a triumvirate running things (that is, 3 people)

There's something of a "Cold War" situation between Carrik and Rhelm. Not an out and out war, but most people expect one to come any day, and there is a fair amount of espionage and tension between the two sides.

The middle section of Valus is somewhat desolate. The south part is called the "Loamlands" where there are only a few independent towns and villages. There are 3 Scottish or Celtic like "clans" that live here, the Larrens, the Calahens, and the Cormicks, which are mostly nomadic. Two of the clans don't get along, and have each sided with one of the west Valus countries (though the text is a bit unclear on who has allied with whom).

To the north of the middle section is a large, imposing mountain range, which has some dwarves living in it. 7 different clan of dwarves, actually (unfortunately, no relation to the 7 Dwarves of Snow White fame). They aren't unified, which each clan having very different personalities.

The eastern section of Valus is one kingdom, at least in theory, and is ruled by a fairly competent Queen, but some of her dukes are not the most loyal of vassals. One completely ignores her. Two others are essentially at open war with each other. And one Countess, which is only supposed to give out Letters of Marque to privateers who prety upon enemies of the country, actually pretty much lets people get away with piracy. There's also a burgeoning drug trade, which claimed the life of the Queen's niece (though she was raised form the dead).

Also complicating things is that that area doesn't completely belong to the kingdom. There is one Free City, which is essentially a city of thieves. And one city used to belong to a somewhat neutral power on the main continent, but was invaded by the Queen. This irked the neutral power a lot. Added to this mix is a fairly powerful subterranean dwarven kingdom which is ruled by a fairly stern and fairly amoral tyrant. So there's a fair amount of intrigue in this kingdom.

Valus seems suited for a large variety of styles of games. Intrigue and politics. There's numerous ruins mentioned, so you can do dungeon crawls. There's lots and lots of pirates, so swashbuckling is possible, too. And higher level characters could make their own impression on the place, so they can aspire to be more than just lackeys and errand-people. It's a really nice mix of detail and openness.

There's a short but comprehensive chapter on running a "Valusian" campaign, that is, set solely on the island. It's full of details and adventure seeds and campaign ideas. And various tidbits on Valus that didn't fit into the other sections of the book.

Rounding out the book are 3 appendices.

The first is a short adventure, designed to introduce the characters to Valus and the grayness of it. Works pretty well. More role-playing than combat.

Next is a section on Valusian items new to D&D/d20, including weapons, food, several recreational drugs or narcotics, and plants. The new weapons are solid, mechanically (i.e, not munchkinny) and the drugs are a nice reminder that all is not cheerful on Valus.

Lastly there is a distance chart to and from various places on Valus. Quite handy.


Tangibles/Presentation (Art, layout, etc)

The layout is pretty good. Logical, and things are easy to find. It's an easy book to read, unlike say, the Kalamar setting book which was really dry and boring. It's also just packed with stuff, sometimes I just open it randomly, and come across an interesting detail I had missed.

The art is very good, and does a great job of capturing the setting, from the sneer on the Horadrel (elf) to the somewhat chilling illustration of a paladin starting to get stoned (as in getting rocks thrown at him), to the pathos of a Trull. Also, speaking of elves, it's nice to see them normal looking, without the foot long, anime style ears. The only downside is, there isn't all that much art.

The maps are also excellent. Nice looking, but also clear and easy to read.

For the most part, editing is okay. I noticed a fair amount of problems, like double words or words missing, but nothing too jarring. Certainly not on the scale of a Mongoose book. The only real major editing problem I noticed that was a problem was that it's not clear which clan from the Loamlands is allied to which Western kingdom

The paper is nice and heavy. The typeface used is very legible.



So, if you don't want to start a new campaign in a whole new setting, how easy would it be to adapt Valus to your setting of choice?

Well, not that hard, I think. Most of it's fairly self-contained. There is basically a reference to an outside empire, but you can replace that with any similar powerful empire in your world.

The religion is a bit trickier. But the mythology presented in this, might not necessarily be true for your world, but the people on the island happen to believe it. I mean, look at the real world - pretty much every continent or region had its own religion. A surprisingly large number of them also happen to have fairly well documented "miracles", or at least very weird events. So even though they can't all be right, since they contradict each other, they also happen to produce supernatural events. (I know I'm going to be vaguely worried when A.D. 2012 rolls around, and I'm not a Mayan. Or an Aztec)

So, you could simply make the religion in this, part of the beliefs of just this island. That would actually make a lot of sense, I think.


Final Thoughts

I really really like this. I appreciate the complex mythology. I like the impressive but not overwhelming amount of detail. Though I think I would have liked more hard detail in some things. For instance, physical descriptions of some of the NPCs (it does a good job of covering their personalities and motivations, which is the important thing), and I would have liked to have known the exact size of some of the smaller towns/villages. Nothing major.

A-

Admittedly, I'm something of a sucker for something like this. But I honestly think it's a great book/setting, and anyone looking for a grim, gritty, realistic D&D world will love this. When I said it was the "anti-Eberron", I was joking somewhat, but I do think there is truth to that. From what I've seen of that, Eberron is somewhat comic book-ish (especially the art) and favors style over substance. This is pretty much the opposite in every way.

Even if you just want help fleshing out your own campaign world, this can be a great help, as you can drop Valus into it without too much trouble.

Also, while it is a d20 product, I do think it could easily be adapted to another fantasy rules system pretty easily. HARP for instance.

And lastly, the web page for this has a lot of information, including a Q&A, artwork samples, and the table of contents and introduction from the book itself.