Valiant Persona, Part 1

February 3, 2024

I'm thinking about Persona* a lot lately, partially because P3 Reload is out and I kind of want to play it but also it's $70 so fuck that shit. But partially it's because I realized while putting together the playlist for Valiant Horizon how well the two concepts overlaid with each other with only a little reflavoring/stretching:

• Normalish people given extraordinary power
• Powers come from discrete beings with archetypical distinctions that are intended to match with the character
• Huge emphasis on relationships and building both towards understanding that archetypical power better and being closer to the person who wields it, is associated with it, etc.

_{*3-5. I know 2 has its fans but I've never played it and honestly it's a little longer in the tooth than I have patience for nowadays. I'm sure 1 has its adherents too but I don't know them.}

All the building blocks are there. And if that's all you need or want, you could probably just run it like that as is as long as everyone's on the same page. Nothing more to see here. You don't have to click through on that "read more". Ignore that "part 1" in the title, it's ok. See you next post!

Ok, they're gone. Only the real sickos better be left. Let's see how deep this line of thought goes.

The idea behind this extended thought experiment would be to create something that explicitly scaffolds around Valiant Horizon and extends it towards the end of creating something that's better at making that kind of game: the goal is not to make a new game, but to leave the mechanics of this one mostly intact and build around them. But first, we should establish what we're even doing.

Establish The Broad Tenets

Valiant Horizon has a few specific callouts as to what it means by "crystal fantasy", and the nature of the setting I'm assuming: heroic souls exist in crystals, heroic crystals attach to worthy people who become heroes over time, fragmented souls exist, there's an empire and they suck. Let's dig deeper in this direction: we're not doing crystal fantasy here, so we'll need a new set of broad setting callouts to make a Persona-ish setting.

• The setting is mundane, if not modern. The vibe probably works best with a game set in like, Earth sometime in the last 30 years because it's pretty easy for people to see as "normal". But it would probably be fine in anything where characters have like, kind of regular lives before things kick off. (It would be sick to create this around like...an actual medieval village or something, for example, or workers in a factory or something.) The goal is to create contrast: if the "regular" portion is also fantastical then the other elements don't really contrast well.
• There is a dangerous realm representing hyperreality and manifested metaphorical reality that overlaps this one. In the same way that the "base" world is fairly grounded, there is a parallel, dangerous world that is ungrounded: the contrast between these two is important. The denizens of that realm are themselves unreal, exaggerated and dangerous. Entry to that realm might open and close based on resonance or connection to specific events, or be available at any time.
• In this realm, a person's archetype-bound true self may be found, for better or for worse. The true self is buried deep within, and when in great peril, it can manifest in that other realm. To accept it when it does is to know yourself better and gain a powerful ally. To deny it is to risk its wrath, often at the cost of your life. People who know themselves in this way are bound to that other realm in some way, at least enough to know how to access it when it's available.
• The two worlds are connected and in flux. Change, turmoil, or significant happenings in one will affect the other. This gives those who have come to terms with their true self the ability to greatly influence real-life events by making things happen in the other realm.
• Characters are in some kind of regimented schedule that prevents them from doing this full-time, and forces them to stay grounded. Work, school, family, etc. The only way this works is by creating a balance between the two halves of the game. If you can just hit da bricks or devote your entire life to it, it's a little less meaningful.

So this not only gives us some very good setting tenets, but provides some ideas for scaffolding going forward: namely, balancing other-realm play (very similar to base VH) vs this-realm play (more uncharted). Next time we'll talk about the biggest scaffold that already exists in Valiant Horizon and then extend it further: Classes and Relationships, and what we can do with Tarot stuff.

(Read the original on cohost here!)