Surviving Childhood Horrors in a Cursed Town

Surviving Childhood Horrors in a Cursed Town

Shadows from below the basin of Valley Crowne stalk the schools and parks of this small suburban peninsula

TYPE

Campaign

SYSTEM

World of Darkness
Chronicles of Darkness

EXPERIENCE

Open to all

AGE

18+
2 SEATS LEFT
$15.00

/ Session

Details

Custom / Monday – 3:00 AM UTC

Aug 12 / Session 55

Session Duration / 4–4.5 hours

2 / 4 Seats Filled

Report Adventure

Schedule

Tue, Aug 12 | 4:00 AM – Session 55

Tue, Aug 19 | 4:00 AM – Session 56

Tue, Aug 26 | 4:00 AM – Session 57

Tue, Sep 02 | 4:00 AM – Session 58

Tue, Sep 09 | 4:00 AM – Session 59

Tue, Sep 16 | 4:00 AM – Session 60

Tue, Sep 23 | 4:00 AM – Session 61

Tue, Sep 30 | 4:00 AM – Session 62

Tue, Oct 07 | 4:00 AM – Session 63

Tue, Oct 14 | 4:00 AM – Session 64

Tue, Oct 21 | 4:00 AM – Session 65

Tue, Oct 28 | 4:00 AM – Session 66

Tue, Nov 04 | 5:00 AM – Session 67

Tue, Nov 11 | 5:00 AM – Session 68

Tue, Nov 18 | 5:00 AM – Session 69

Tue, Nov 25 | 5:00 AM – Session 70

Tue, Dec 02 | 5:00 AM – Session 71

Tue, Dec 09 | 5:00 PM – Session 72

Tue, Dec 16 | 5:00 AM – Session 73

Tue, Dec 23 | 5:00 AM – Session 74

Tue, Dec 30 | 5:00 AM – Session 75

Tue, Jan 06 | 5:00 AM – Session 76

Tue, Jan 13 | 5:00 AM – Session 77

Tue, Jan 20 | 5:00 AM – Session 78

Tue, Jan 27 | 5:00 AM – Session 79

About the adventure

Valley Crowne Cases is about surviving the horrors of childhood by day and monster infested streets by night. We will be playing World of Darkness: Innocents, using only the core rule book at start. Innocents is made specifically for campaigns with child player characters, and it's a stunning Dark Fantasy game set in modern day America. You and your companions are 7-12 years old. You live in Valley Crowne, Maryland, one of the most cursed suburbs in America, and attend the local Public Elementary School. You are a group of children who, through some combination of curiosity, heroism, intuition, or other motivation, have taken it upon yourselves to investigate the strange phenomena going on in Valley Crowne. Plagued by difficult-to-explain phenomena, Valley Crowne's inhabitants struggle constantly with the reality in which they live. Reports include: sightings of cryptid-like monsters, floating lights, repetitive deja vu, fish flying into the sky, levitating yard furniture, and sudden strange fog. Many who live in Valley Crowne, both children and adults, are completely oblivious to these phenomena. Others believe only a select few exist. Even those who have experienced these things first hand, will often warn neighbors and children about hazards they have personally experienced, but remain dismissive of others' experiences. As the summer preceding your fourth grade school year wanes these phenomenon rise in frequency and severity. You and your friends quickly discover that each year a few of your schoolmates disappear. Through a mixture investigative knack and dumb luck, it falls on YOU to save these children and protect your friends and neighbors from the things they fear.

Game style

Theater of the Mind

Meet the Game Master

5.0

(4)

4 years on StartPlaying

103 games hosted

Highly rated for: Storytelling, World Builder, Creativity

About me

I am a queer, disabled, and neurodivergent GM who primarily focuses on hosting a table where people can feel safe, respected, and engaged. I use a custom content comfort form to get detailed information at each player's needs. I make content fully customized for my players needs and preferences. One of my specialties is working with players who are going through a hard personal journey, especially in identity and trauma issues. I can provide someone's preferred mix of escapism and friction with a particular topic that they would like the opportunity to engage with on their own terms in a safe space. We do take crying breaks at this table and hold no judgement for inner personal revelations, especially at the table. I am a game designer (acting, board, card, drinking, table, and word games), horror and dystopian fiction writer, cultural anthropologist, entertainment host, comedian, magician, mentor, tutor, activist, and a safe space expert.

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Character creation

Creating your character

We will create characters together as a group in session 0. Session 0 will primarily be about filling out the character sheet and interlinking backstories between PCs, as well as a full discussion of the specifics of Content Comfort with the group. Session 0 is free of charge, but will likely take longer than an average session, the GM will coordinate schedules to make the experience work for everyone. We will begin at zero Experience points, the equivalent of Level 1 for level based RPGs.

What to expect

Preparing for the session

Players will need a Discord account for game correspondence between sessions, and to receive updates and announcements. Players will also need a microphone for session play. While reading the rules is encouraged, this system is simple enough to be picked up at the table. If you would rather learn as you go, I strongly recommend using some of the printable materials I provide. I teach RPG systems and group strategy as part of this hobby; I am always willing to teach at the table, but I do recommend being prepared by using available resources.

What Vinnie brings to the table

I will provide a PDF of the system core rules as well as any expansion books as we begin using them, a Discord server custom made for this campaign, select atmospheric music, maps of the neighborhood and some indoor areas, and several printable materials you can use if you find pen and paper notes helpful, such as, character sheets, weapon cards, a combat quick reference sheet, and a document with all of the game options available to you.

Homebrew rules

We use Morality as a Innocence mechanic more than WoD's usual morality and guilt system. We include a few gateway progressions into adding expansion books to their repertoire and hidden resources that the players can uncover in the game through play.

Equipment needed to play

Headphones

Internet

Microphone

Platforms used
Safety

How Vinnie creates a safe table

Before game begins each player needs to fill out on of my custom Content Comfort Form. My Storytelling style is largely improvised but based within deeply developed aspects of Valley Crowne's fictional world. Therefore this form gauges what MIGHT be covered in our campaign much more than what will be in the game. What will be in the game is covered in the express content warnings. The CCF covers a lot of specific, common but under-discussed triggers, and many topics that I use but am willing to remove or replace. Gameplay will be broken up into two kinds of sessions: Nighttime and Daytime. During Daytime sessions, you will multitask mundane issues like family, friends, school, homework, chores, hobbies, life, etc. and investigating the difficult-to-explain phenomena of Valley Crowne. Daytime sessions will often consist of multiple in-game days or sometimes weeks, with brief time skips leading to the next nighttime session. Daytime sessions will have very little action but will rarely be consecutive with one another. Nighttime sessions will be where most of the danger occurs - rescuing classmates, monster hunting, infiltrating enemy bases, and the like. They will be set at night, and usually involve the party working together to investigate a specific place within the town that has recently experienced difficult-to-explain activity, or is the workplace or home of a suspicious individual. Nighttime sessions will center action, primarily stealth and observation during investigations, with occasional combat and chases. Investigation and mystery elements will be pervasive during both Day and Night session. I tend to run very fast and dangerous combats when they happen, but most monsters and villains can be defeated or even slain without rolling initiative. In this game, players purchase individual features and stat increases by spending Experience, which the group earns based on heroism, cleverness, teamwork, and objective completion. Experience will be rewarded between one session and the following. I usually take 3-4 days to rate the team on their success to remain fair in awarding Experience. Base Experience is 3 points for players regardless of attendance. Up to 3 additional experience for accomplishments may be awarded to attendees. This game will be broken up into several "Stories", each of which will comprise either a semester of school or adventures during summer break. The story of this campaign is divided into two halves called "Chronicles" each of which will have a conclusive ending. The first will span from the beginning of 4th grade to the end of summer after 5th grade, and will contain 5 stories. If there is enough interest, after the first Chronicle, everyone who participated in the first will be invited to return for the second, which will span from the beginning of 9th grade to the end of High school and contain 9 stories.

Content warnings

Safety tools used

Frequently asked questions