Valley of Shadow: Gettin' Gritty in the City

[Jeph]

Valley of Shadow is a game that is set in The City. What is They City? Dunno. But it's got skyscrapers, streetgangs and black tie balls. Maybe its New York, it might be Chicago at the turn of the century, it could be Greater Dalls Fort Worth in the year 2043.

The players are seedy types. Gamblers, womanizers, corrupt politicians, gangsters; the sort of men and women whou could get into trouble. Well, you just did. As you stand there in the street, you look up at the buildings reaching nigh unto the heavans, and wonder if there's anything up there that can help you out. For the impregnible wall of glass and stell, you might as well be in a cement valley between mountains of iron.

This is The City. The Valley of Shadow.

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Characters are made up of a Shadow, Fortune, and twelve Traits divided into four groups.

Shadow is a character's seedy side, and the GMs tool for creating conflict. Basically, a Shodow is just the character concept (it's got to be able to get the character into trouble, remember) with a number attatched.

Fortune is just a character's luck. Its a metagame element like Action Points, and doesn't play a huge roll in the game. Your Fortune replenishes each game session.

The first Trait group is Combat. The Traits therein are Evade, Strike, and Shoot. Evade is used for diving out of the way, dodging to the side, parrying, leaping behind the desk, whatever. Strike is used for hitting the other guy in close combat. Stab him with a knife, punch him in the face, whatever. Shoot's just obvious, I won't even bother explaining.

The second Trait group is Physical, containing Athletics, Stealth, and Vehicles. Athletics is for running, jumping, climbing, arm wrestling, and being generally fit. Stealth is for slinking around and not getting caught. Vehicles is for driving and piloting, and also riding bikes, boards, etc.

The third Trait group is Mental, and its Traits are Awareness, Education, and Tech. Awareness is the acuteness of a character's senses, as well as their perceptiveness of the habits of others (the ability to know when someone is lying to you, is nervous, etc). Education is basically how much you know. Tech is how well you operate the technology of the times, be that the steam engine or the internet.

The fourth and final Trait group is Social, with Amiability, Command, and Connections. Amiability is how likeable a person is. Command is a character's ability to get what they want, when they want. Connections is how numerous and how powerful the character's friends are.

Now. Choose one section to put 1 point into, one section to put two points into, and one section to put three points into. Put none in the other section. At this point, no Trait may be rated higher than 1. Also, set your Fortune and Shadow at 1.

Now. Increase stuff. For every extra 2 points that you add to Fortune, increase your Shadow by 1. For each Trait at 1 that you increase to 2, increase your Shadow by 1. You may not increase your Shadow to greater than 4.

For example, Shelton Marqe is a socialite with a tendancy to gamble, and big debts from it. He chooses to put 3 points into Social, 2 into Mental, and 1 into Combat. He then increases his Contacts, Amiability, and Fortune. His stats look like this:

Combat
Evade 0
Strike 0
Shoot 0

Physical
Athletics 0
Stealth 1
Vehicles 0

Mental
Aware 1
Education 1
Tech 0

Social
Command 1
Amiability 2
Contacts 2

Fortune
3

Shadow
Gambling Debts 4

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The basic system:

Start with your Trait value. Add 1 for favorable circumstances. Subtract 1 for unfavorable circumstances. Add the number of Fortune points that you decide to spend. Multiple circumstances may stack, at the GM's discretion. Then, roll dice equal to the absolute value of your result, plus one. If your result was negative, take the lowest die. If the result was positive, take the highest die. If the task was opposed, whoever got the highest die value wins. If the task was unopposed, you succeed on a 4 or higher.

Example: Shelton is trying to convince the thugs sent to get him to pay up that the Boss would be fine if they gave him one more day. The GM says that this is a Likeability roll, and since the thugs are pretty loyal to the Boss, this is an unfavorable circumstance. So, Shelton rolls 2 dice and takes the highest: 2 for his trait plus 1 base, minus 1 for circumstances. He rolls a 1 and a 4--the thugs will leave him alone, but they'll be back soon.

Example: The thugs are back, and Shelton's running. He rolls 2 dice and keeps the lowest: he's in a part of town that he's not familiar with, so this is an unfavorable circumstance. The thugs also roll two, but keep the highest, as they have an Athletics of 1. Shelton rolls a 3 and a 5, keeping the 3; and the thugs roll a 2 and a 6, keeping the 6. They easily chase the man down, and set to work.

Shadow:

Shadow is the source of conflict in The Valley of Shadow. At the beginning of each scene, every character will roll dice equal to their Shadow, and take the highest. The roll that that character's Shadow plays in this scene is determined by the value of the kept die:

1, 2, or 3: The character's Shadow doesn't come up unless the PCs bring it up.
4: A minor object in the scene relates to their Shadow, such as a wanted poster.
5: A minor NPC or major object in the scene relates to their Shadow, such as a man on the street to whom Shelton owes a few dollars of gambling debt.
6: A major NPC relates directly to their Shadow, such as the thugs coming after Shelton.

Fortune points do not affect Shadow rolls.

Combat:

Yes, there is a combat system. I want it to enforce the grittiness of the game, and be a reminder that its a dangerous world out there.

Durring the first phase of a round, characters will state what they do, aside from attacking. Any rolls involving chases, hiding, tailing, fixing the broken gun, etc. are resolved now. Then, characters declare if/how they are attacking. If they have the Shoot or Strike skill, they will also designate a target.

Then, each character will make a roll, using Evade as the key Trait. If they were Targetted, they suffer a number of stacking unfavorable circumstances equal to the value of their targetter's Trait. If they are wounded, they suffer additional unfavorable circumstances equal to the number of Wounds taken. Favorable circumstances include cover, concealment, a bulletproof vest, and being at long range. Very long range counts as two favorable circumstances.

If they get a 4, 5, or 6, they're fine. If they get a 3, they take a Wound. If they get a 2, they're disabled. If they get a 1, they're dead.

That all assumes its a gun fight. Heavy weapons, like bazookas, wound on a 4, disable and a 3 or 2, and kill on a 1. Inferior weapons, like knives or fists, wound on a 2 and disable on a 1.

Example: The three thugs have caught up to Shelton, and commence the beating. They each have Evade 1, Shoot 1, and Strike 1. Since they are using their fists, they use Strike. They all target Shelton.

Shelton rolls 4 dice and keeps the lowest: 1 base, 3 targetters. The thugs each roll 2 dice and keep the highest: 1 base, and 1 Trait. Shelton gets 4, 4, 2, 1: He's disabled, and Wounded when he wakes up, to boot. The thugs roll 1 and 4; 5 and 5; 6 and 3: They beat Shelton down before he can react.

Example: Suppose the Boss had just sent a guy to shoot Shelton and take his cash. This assassin has Stealth 2, Shoot 2, and Evade 1. Declaring actions, the assassin slinks into a favorable range. Shelton glances around. The assassin rolls 6, 3, and 6 on his Stealth roll, keeping the 6. Shelton rolls snake eyes on his Aware roll, and is oblivious.

On the attack phase, the assassin targets Shelton. Shelton doesn't know there's an assassin, so doesn't shoot. Shelton rolls 4 dice and keeps low: 1 base, 2 for the assassin's Trait, and 1 since he's unaware of his attacker. He gets 1, 5, 4, and 5. He gets shot in the back of the head, killing him instantly. I'll need a new person for my examples.

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So, do you think the system supports the premise of shady characters trying to avoid trouble in the big city? My main points of scrutiny are:

• Shadow. Does it tie in well with character creation? Does it provide good guidelines for handling and creating conflict?
• Combat. Is it the right grittiness? Too deadly? Sufficiently deadly to discourage fighting as the solution for everything?

Thanks,
Jeff S.

[Brian Leybourne]

What happens if I have a trait of 0 and unfavorable circumstances? That means I roll 1 (base) + 0 (trait) -1 (unfavorable) = zero dice...

I'm still absorbing the rest of the system, and will get back to you.

Brian.

[Jeph]

Nuh-uh. It means you roll |0 (Trait) - 1 (circumstance)|+1 (Base) = 2 dice, keep low. I'm a lot better explaining it IRL, on the screen I've got to use absolute values and stuff.

Think of it like this . . .

4 keep low
3 keep low
2 keep low
1 keep, welll duh, there's only 1
2 keep high
3 keep high
4 keep high

Ya see?

[Jeffrey Miller]

Nuh-uh. It means you roll |0 (Trait) - 1 (circumstance)|+1 (Base) = 2 dice, keep low. I'm a lot better explaining it IRL, on the screen I've got to use absolute values and stuff.

I don't get it.

0-1+1=0

(0-1)+1=0

?

[ethan_greer]

Add the absolute values to determine the number of dice.  So, |-1| = 1, and 1 + 1 = 2.  Roll 2 dice.

The actual value determines whether you keep the highest or lowest roll.  With values less than 1, you keep the lowest.  For values greater than 1, you keep the highest.  In the example, 1 - 1 = 0, so you'd keep the lowest roll.

Do I have it right?

[Jeph]

Add the absolute values to determine the number of dice.  So, |-1| = 1, and 1 + 1 = 2.  Roll 2 dice.

The actual value determines whether you keep the highest or lowest roll.  With values less than 1, you keep the lowest.  For values greater than 1, you keep the highest.  In the example, 1 - 1 = 0, so you'd keep the lowest roll.

Do I have it right?

YES!

Okay, now that we've got the mechanic figured out ;), I shall reitterate my questions:

Do you think the system supports the premise of shady characters trying to avoid trouble in the big city? My main points of scrutiny are:

• Shadow. Does it tie in well with character creation? Does it provide good guidelines for handling and creating conflict?
• Combat. Is it the right grittiness? Too deadly? Sufficiently deadly to discourage fighting as the solution for everything?