Valiant Universe RPG Quick Start Rules WebPsionic powers are no longer science fiction, they are science fact. Only a few people have a power, and those powers are coveted. As a player character you are one of the coveted few. But being coveted doesn’t put you in a very good place.

As a player stepping into the Valiant Universe setting you are stepping into the middle of a long standing conflict. On one side there is the group that wants your powers, either willingly or unwillingly. They will do whatever is required to obtain them. Another side are those who want to study how you work, harvesting your power, or your brain, to further their means. There might be other groups, like yours, caught between the known and unknown forces coveting what you have.

Valiant Universe: The Roleplaying Game is set in the Valiant Entertainment’s comic book universe. A setting that isn’t black and white, but with many subtle shades of grey going from one end of the spectrum to the other. This allows for some complexity to be added to the personalities of your heroes.

On Saturday, 06/20/15, during the Free Roleplaying Game (RPG) Day events I was able to sit in on an introductory session of Valiant Universe at a local game shop (Epic Games in West Valley City). We had six players taking on pre-generated characters who were heroes from the comic books. A couple of people had experience with the comics, but none of us had played this RPG system.

The system itself is based more on storytelling, with the idea that each player taking a turn of forwarding the story. The rules we were using were in a quick-start booklet so they were pared-down for quick understanding to get us quickly into game play.

I won’t go into the details of the adventure, in case you get the opportunity to sit in on the scenario. The basics had us set in present day San Francisco. The adventure was designed for four players, but our game master was able to allow for a couple extra players easily.

The storytelling was quick and easy, the rules were appropriate for quick conflict results. The storytelling style is best described by thinking of completing the panels of a comic book. More can be told in the picture and the game play moved along in the same manner.

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We were successful in the scenario we were playing, we had some experienced role-players. The options we came up with were easily incorporated into the storyline.

Since this was an introductory setting, I asked the other players what they thought about it. All were in agreement they were interested in finding out more, and playing the system again. Although we were given pre-generated characters based on the comics, I found out the system allows for creating your own characters.

Valiant Universe is from Catalyst Game Labs. The game was written by Randall N. Bills, Alex Sanchez, and John Rauch. Along with the comic books, there are other game supports for running and playing the game. Catalyst also has available he quick-start book so you could introduce the game to your group.

I was introduced on the Free RPG Day event and if you’re interested in other games I picked up for future reviews, please take a look at [email protected].

A day spent gaming, is a good day spent with friends.

Valiant Univers on Catalyst Games