VALR: Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[valuecifer]

VALR, as the name may or may not suggest, is a Valor tabletop campaign run in the setting/style/approximate universe of Rooster Teeth's CGI animesque animated series, RWBY.

OVERVIEW:

For those familiar with RWBY:

• The world of Remnant (such as it is), the four nations, Grimm, Huntsmen + Huntresses, Hunter Academies, etc, all exist roughly as they do in canon.
• All named characters are AU'd out, to be replaced with PCs or NPCs.
• Dust, Aura, and Semblances will be roughly similar to canon, with more details on exact changes coming eventually.
• Until such time as details are better established, we will not be using anything relating to the Four Maidens.
• The Faunus Rights Revolution, unspecified timeline-wise in canon, happened fourty years ago.
• Settlements outside the major capitals exist more readily than they did in canon, but are much more dangerous, as Grimm are overall more threatening.
• There is no mechanical difference to playing a Faunus vs a regular Human, though note that the White Fang will be undergoing some moderate rewrites and there may be story perks.


For those not familiar with RWBY:

The world of Remnant is a place that brims with technology born of magic, and a struggle to survive in a hostile world.

In the beginning annals of history, mankind struggled to find its place in the world, for one simple reason: ever since mankind can remember, they have been beset upon by the Grimm. Creatures of darkness, soulless in their single-minded destructive nature, hellbent on wiping humanity from this world. They would have succeeded, if not for mankind's own ingenuity and discovery of Dust, a magical energy catalyst that reacts to one's Aura, or soul. In conjunction, it was found that many individuals could manifest their Aura in ways that not even Dust could replicate, these special abilities, Semblances are unique to the individual, with some notable exceptions. With magic crystals and new powers in hand, humanity fought back against the darkness - and won, for a time.

But the Grimm were never truly vanquished - and humanity could only establish the barest footholds against their aggressive predators. To that end, four kingdoms were formed: Mantle to the North, Vacuo to the West, Mistral to the East, and Vale in the 'center', south of Mantle, west of Mistral, and East of Vacuo. At some point (though history isn't clear), humanity learned that it was not alone in fighting against the Grimm, the Faunus - animal-esque humanoids who shared many similarities to humankind.

Humankind, however, is ever fickle. Even when continued survival depends on cooperation, it struggles against itself most mightily. Though there was a fragile, but existent peace, eighty years ago, that peace was shattered by the Great War, a War fought over many things - most importantly, the right to individualism, and to express themselves artistically. Though records of that time are conflicting or, at worst, absent, those who wished to express themselves emerged victorious - and brokered for peace on the island of Vytal. And thus, crowned the Vytal Festival to encourage a bi-annual mingling of the Kingdoms.

This peace, to many, was only skin deep - in the kingdoms, the establishment of new places of learning were created. Hunter Academies, which trained those gifted, skilled, or talented enough to be considered worthy into Huntsmen and Huntresses, champion Human and Faunus alike who dedicated their life to securing mankind's future. It's at this time that Mantle 'fell', as Atlas Academy and the kingdom of Mantle essentially became one and the same. Military, government, and academy unified.

And even still, humanity is not without its faults - so comes the Faunus Rights Revolution of fourty years ago, a war started as a response to increasing discrimination of the Faunus race and their attempts to segregate them to the southwest continent of Menagerie. Though the Faunus were successful in willing their right to co-exist with humans as equals, there still remains today discrimination - albeit rare. In response, the White Fang was created with the intent of keeping the peace between the leaders of the Faunus and Humanity, though in its long and stories history there have been critics who claim that these methods are not near enough to undo the decades of prejudice humanity has built towards their hybrid kin.

Though there has been progress, it seems once more that the kingdoms have become distant - as Grimm become uncharacteristically more aggressive in their attacks, and the morale of humankind seems in a downswing. News reports consistently talk more and more about settlements outside the kingdoms' capitals being razed or going dark, and racial tensions - even within the erstwhile White Fang - coming to a head. People have begun to fear. And with the fear comes yet more Grimm. One thing is clear: The world needs its Hunters, now more than ever.

MECHANICS:
Valor, either Vanilla with Prof's balancing Houserules or, if it's out by the time the game launches, Valor: Fixed For BluRay Revised Edition. I will also likely be using prototype enemies from Valorous Foes if I can get a hold of it, which I'd be remiss in mentioning you can totally go help Kickstart right now go go go

I can provide the core Vanilla rulebook to anyone who doesn't have it.

There may be additional houserules in the works as we get closer to running this thing, primarily about whether I want to make Semblances mechanical or flavor. I'll let prospective players know one way or the other before game starts.

PLANNING:
Game will begin likely when my schedule clears up more in the Winter, let's say early January. I may move this date forward or backward depending on RL needs. Sessions will run for roughly 3 hours.

Campaign is ideal for four characters, but I will take a maximum of six if demand is high enough. The party will be students (either Human or Faunus) who are starting their first year (of 4) at Beacon Academy in Vale, though said students can come from any of the four Kingdoms, or even settlements outside of their capitals. Rough idea is that each Season in Valor is a year's worth of training at the academy, learning how to function as a team, discovering the various conspiracies and conflicts in your teammates and at Beacon, and the mysteries of the world as it threaten to topple over into darkness. I have plans, don't worry.

INTERESTED?
Comment with the following information:


1. Name and Plurk
2. General availability - what days and times would you be able to consistently make game? Please include time zones where applicable.
3. Character concepts, if you have any!
4. Setting and game questions, if you have any!
5. Your favorite weapon, historical, fictional, anime, whatever.

Shining Brightest In Darkness: An Exalted 3rd Edition Campaign

[valuecifer]

Shining Brightest In Darkness, hereafter referred to as Shining Brightest, is an Exalted: 3rd Edition campaign, set in the self-same setting. It is a campaign of redemption, of high-stakes drama, of (probably) political intrigue, and above all, about the gods among men: the Solar Exalted.


THE GIST:

For those of you who have avoided playing the game up until now (I don't blame you), Exalted is a tabletop game published by White Wolf (3rd Edition by Onyx Path), in which you play as a mortal who has powers beyond even godly imaginings. You are a mortal paragon, imbued with divine power.

You are an Exalted.

There has been a lot of Really Bad stuff to come out of Exalted, but 3rd Edition does right by the system's promise of highest-of-high fantasy, wuxia, high-end anime insanity. These stories don't have small stakes, everything is larger than life, and your character is a paragon beyond even Exalted: They are a Solar Exalted, the mightiest of the mighty.

But let's take a little history trip. This shouldn't take long.

THE PREMISE:

In the beginning, there was nothing but the Wyld - the formless chaos from which all life springs. The Primordials, such as they were, created the World, and the Gods as their playthings. Though the Gods could not personally turn against their creators, they created ones who could.

Mortals, and among the Mortals, those imbued with a divine spark, lauding them to unparalleled levels - the Exalted. The Exalted cast down the Primordials, and as thanks, the Gods gave mortals all of Creation to do with as they pleased, retreating to Heaven to play their games of divinity. And so it was that the strongest of the Exalted - the Celestial Exalted, the Solars, their Lunar companions, and Sidereals, the masters of Fate, ruled Creation in a glorious first age.

But it was not to last. As they lay dying, the Primordials inflicted the Exalted that rose up against them with the Great Curse, which drove them slowly mad - the Solars, the most powerful, most of all. King became tyrants at the grasp of the curse, and such as it was the Sidereals looked to the great loom of Fate for the solution- to kill the Solar Exalted.

Aided by the most numerous of the Exalts, the Dragon-blooded, the Dragonblooded and Sidereals killed the Solars to a man, as the Lunars fled to the edges of reality to escape what would become know as the Wyld Hunt.

Thus ends the First Age, and thus begins the Second - the Age of Sorrows.

The Dragonblooded took over, establishing the Shogunate and the Immaculate Philosophy, a religion which declared the Dragonblooded the champions of Creations, Solar and Lunars Anathema, and legitimized the Wyld Hunt. Though too, did the Shogunate fall in time - to the Great Contagion, a plague of such might that nine-tenths of the world perished under it - and as the world reeled with this, so did the Fair Folk - twisted denizens of the Wyld, strike into Creation to bring it sinking down into the chaos from which it was brought forth. Creation might not have been spared were it not for a lone Dragonblooded who braved the trip to the center of creation, re-activating one of the greatest creations of the First Age, the Realm Defense Grid.

She is known as the Scarlet Empress, and she ushers, by her hand, the founding of the Realm, and took over near all of Creation - save for the vast expanses of the West, by the Elemental Pole of Water, using the Realm Defense Grid as the world's greatest bargaining chip. This continues for 763 years. And then...

She vanishes.

Almost overnight, the world changes. The Scarlet Empress disappears, one of the Realm's greatest city-states to the east, Thorns - falls to a mythical lord of death upon a fortress built out of a titanic corpse that dwarfs entire cities - the Mask of Winters and his Corpse Fortress Juggernaut. The great clans of the Realm - those that the Scarlet Empress had built to bicker uselessly with each other for near-800 years, predictably, turn to infighting, legions of soldiers are withdrawn to stake political claims at the heart of the world, territories fall into open rebellion.

The Wyld Hunt, vigilant for millennia... lapses.

And so, in these tumultuous times, the First and Greatest of Exalts is born anew - the souls of old once more finding bodies to inhabit, souls whose hearts are heroic and whose will is stalwart, to carry the spark of divine power.

The Solars have returned. But will they be the saviors of the age, or the ones to plunge it into eternal chaos, never to be wrest free of the Wyld?

MECHANICS:

The game will be run, obviously, using Exalted: Third Edition - a Storyteller System Game (read: if you've played a World of Darkness game, you're already about halfway there), with the additional Miracles of the Solar Exalted - a book of additional powers for your characters. I will be providing both books to whoever needs them.

Note: Anything marked 'Apocryphal' in the Miracles of the Solar Exalted book is forbidden from use.

PLANNING:
Game will begin, much like VALR, when my schedule frees up in the Winter months. This is important, because I won't let people be in VALR and Shining Brightest at the same time. There's more than enough demand for both games that double-dipping is super cheating. You can still post interest, obviously, but if I pick you for one game, you won't get into the other. Simple as that.

The game is best suited for a group of five players, each creating a Solar Exalted of a different caste:

• The Dawn Caste are masters of war, peerless fighters in their chosen specialty. Though all Exalts have combat prowess (if they're smart), the Dawns elevate their specialty to an art. They may take on a hundred mortals without breaking a sweat, wrestle titans and gods into the earth, and cleave mountains in twain with their bare hands.
• The Zenith Caste are warrior-priests and shepherds of their fellow Exalts. Behind every peerless warrior Dawn is a Zenith commander or priest who holds only their ideals closer than their choice of weapon. Shadows and gods in equal measure flee from the blinding, all-seeing eye of the Sun's Chosen Priest.
• The Twilight Caste are godlike sorcerers, communes and binders of demons, historians, occultists and intellectuals - though they have combat prowess, they are sorcerers first and foremost - and in a world like Exalted, a Sorcerer commands a lot of respect - even those that can't attain the highest, world-shaping magics.
• Every group needs a person to do the dirty work, and thus, even the Sun needs the Night Caste. Assassins, spies, and thieves, they can perform deadly feats of dexterity, steal something and convince its owner he never owned it in the first place, and avoid even the most prying of eyes.
• The Eclipse Caste are the God's Chosen diplomats - travelers and social paragons, they are capable of turning the magics of Gods and Fae against their originator, seal pacts with divine intent, and barter with man, god, or even demon. They are terrain-walkers and masters of arts even the Solars would find near-impossible to master.

The game will revolve around many things, depending on player input and plot, but all will be wrestling with the question of their past lives - shrouded in mystery. The game will likely take place in the Near Eastern Scavenger Lands, but there's more than enough room for travel.


INTERESTED?

Comment with the following:

1. Name and Plurk Handle
2. General availability - what times and days would you consistently be able to make game? Please include timezones where applicable.
3. Character concepts - ideally, one for two different Castes at minimum, one you're really into and another as your backup. I want to try and have each character have a different Caste, if possible.
4. Setting and Game Questions - I know there's a lot of things I didn't go over, but the book is a 600-page tome for a reason. If you want to ask about certain things, feel free.
5. A gif or picture of some hype-ass shit.