Demiplanes: Valhalla by Andrew Mullen, Jennifer Povey and Stephen Rowe is a role playing game supplement published by Rite Publishing for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 59 page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $6.99 but was purchased at the reduced price of $4.68 during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is the front matter, one the Open Game License and one an advert for another product.
The supplement starts with a discussion of the concept of Valhalla and how, if it existed as an Outer Plane, it would be other than the traditional concept of Odin’s feasting hall. The term that would define the plane would be heroism and other races and beings would have their own version of what Valhalla is. There are a few mentions of what forms Valhalla would take in such cases.
The Introduction starts by saying that demiplanes are separate from, but are attached to, a plane and tend to embody elements of their parent plane.
Overview has brief details on the ten demiplanes associated with Valhalla that are covered in this supplement, giving a general outline of each.
Outer Plane Cosmology starts by stating that their names, positions and nature can vary widely between settings. The aim of the Demiplanes series is to create little or sprawling worlds connected to Outer Planar themes, so that even if a setting doesn’t have a “Valhalla” as such, they can be connected to another appropriate Outer Plane or simply be a weird new location.
It continues with an explanation of the Outer Planar cosmology used, with sixteen Outer Planes, each connected to one or two alignment traits, and that these do not correspond to the planar cosmology in the GameMastery Guide (or Planar Adventures for that matter). In fact, although it isn’t stated, the cosmology has more in common with traditional D&D cosmology found in such as the original Manual of the Planes and Planescape, with each plane having law and chaos, as well as good and evil, traits, that can be strong, weak or nonexistent (true neutrality is not covered). There is a table of these planes and traits and most will be familiar to those familiar with older settings (and most will also realise that for the Abyss “strong good” as a trait is a definite typo!).
Traits and Connections explains that each demiplane has planar traits intrinsic to it but otherwise has the same as Valhalla. Connections are permanent methods of travelling to the demiplane, conjunctions are temporary ones and manifestations are when a demiplane, either a portion of or the entire realm, appears within another plane. A sidebar gives the Valhalla Planar Traits.
Greater Petitioner (Template) is a variant of the Petitioner from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 intended to embody more exceptional individuals than the regular petitioner. There are instructions on creating a greater petitioner.
The ten demiplanes are then descried in more detail and each follows a fairly standard layout. There is a description of the demiplane to start with. Secrets has several bits of not widely known information on the plane. Planar Traits are those in addition to or replacing those of Valhalla. Connections, Conjunctions and Manifestation cover what permanent or temporary connections there are to the demiplane, and whether it can manifest. Locations has any important locations, and Important NPCs list any major NPCs connected to the plane – in some cases this may only be one. Plot Hooks has several ways to get characters involved with the demiplane; effectively adventure hooks. Finally, Additional Rules covers a variety of associated things such as templates, magic items, creatures and effects.
Champion’s Arena is the first of the ten described demiplanes. This is a place where creatures can fight each other – although even fights to the death are rarely fatal. The arena alters itself for any desired battleground. Surrounding the arena itself is the city of Arena, a substantial location that exists to sell would-be combatants any goods or services they may need. A minor artefact can be created that gives a bonus for a month on finding and defeating a stated enemy; failure to do so results in massive damage to the individual.
Any creature who willing leaps from the Cliffs of Renewal – pushing someone over results in them appearing at the top – will be reborn similar to a reincarnate spell. All knowledge of their former life is suppressed, but it can be possible to regain it.
The Eternal Tavern is a tavern with a very specific clientèle. To enter the tavern, the would-be entrant must have saved the world. Merely being a powerful ruler, character or god is not enough. A minor artefact in the form of a drinking stein is given to anyone allowed to enter the tavern.
The Forge of Destiny allows a creature to sacrifice free will in exchange for a destiny of their choosing. This is done by creating a magical item at the forge, which can be done even by characters not able to construct such. Items created are cursed, though, and using the forge is a foolish move. The creator of the item must follow the destiny specified, although it is always flawed. The curse can pass to the next owner of the created item, but a secondary owner can more easily escape the curse. A minor artefact is given as an example of such an item.
The Garden of Memoriam is a place where there are monuments to the sacrifices of deceased heroes. The larger the monument, the greater the deed. Each monument gives details of the deed, the creature who did it, the date and a final message. Touching a monument triggers a haunt, whereby the toucher may witness the final deed of the monument’s owner. The haunts are not evil, but the experience may be very unpleasant and even dangerous.
The Hall of Unseen Fates is a place where bad fates – world-ending ones would generally describe them usually – which have been averted are kept, so that they cannot happen at all. Averted fates may happen again, and this hall exists to prevent that. It is run by the Weavers, who can alter the fate of any creature, no matter how powerful. The fates are portrayed in tapestries that change, and unwary viewers can enter this. Should they do so, they will need to undo the fate the depicted world suffered. Fortunately, they have a bonus to this, but their body, which remains outside the tapestry, may still die of neglect whilst their spirit is immersed.
The Tavern of Unsung Songs is a demiplane that celebrates the smaller acts of heroism. This is not a tavern for legendary heroes and powerful creatures who enter suffer substantial penalties in order to bring them more in line with the regular people who inhabit it. One of these is chosen to be Lord or Lady for a day and the tavern is designed around the current one.
The Training Grounds were created for axiomites to test their primal inevitables, weapons forged to fight the proteans, against created pseudo-proteans. One such became self-aware and the project was shut down, believed to be destroyed. Now the demiplane can be used to create foes to test oneself against, and environments to fight them in, but there is always a risk that the rogue pseudo-protean will become active again and may be able to effectively unite Chaos.
The Unknown Expanse was created as a realm to spend eternity voyaging in. It is effectively forged from dreams and within it can be found any place or civilisation, as it was or as it became in legend. There are some tables for creating random locations but a GM can use anywhere they wish in the demiplane.
Finally, the Well of Sacrifice is the well at the foot of the World Tree. There are portals to many worlds from here and things can be truly sacrificed to the Well in exchange for powers. This includes sacrificing themselves, and such if done by gods or legendary heroes goes well beyond game mechanics.
Demiplanes: Valhalla in Review
The PDF is decently bookmarked with major and minor sections linked, although it lacks a table of contents. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two column format and some errors were noticed; for example, there is an entire paragraph where the word “he” is actually written as “ze”. The layout is full colour and there are a number of colour illustrations. It looks as if most may be stock and, oddly, there is one which is CGI that kind of clashes with the others. Presentation is generally decent.
There are a whole lot of places in this supplement that can be dropped reasonably easily into most settings. There is no reason why they all need tying to Valhalla either, even though most have a heroic bent. These also include new monsters, rituals, game rules and other effects. Possibly the Unknown Expanse may be one of the most difficult to GM, as it can contain anything – then again, that may make it one of the easiest, as any setting can be dropped into it with no real logic. Some of the demiplanes are far more dangerous than others; the Forge of Destiny and the Hall of Unseen Fates can both be dangerous to characters, and the Training Ground could be dangerous to everywhere.
The supplement does reference quite a lot of other Pathfinder supplements, so anyone without these will need to use sites where the rules are compiled, as without access to the referenced rules, some parts will be more difficult to manage. There is a lot of potential squeezed into a comparatively small supplement. Demiplanes: Valhalla is an interesting collection of different demiplanes and it can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply