Horizons of Valor™

Tabletop role-playing for the 21st Century

  • Limitless classes
    • Mix and match character types with ease
  • Limitless levels
    • Develop your character in any direction
  • Simple rules
    • Easy to learn
    • If your Strength is 3, your Strength bonus is +3
  • New characters in minutes
  • Other Features:
    • Fast-paced gameplay
    • Easy-to-manage mechanics
    • Easy customization
    • Unified game engine


Simple rules. Endless adventures.™

By grasping a few easy rules, you can quickly play any kind of character.


Limitless character building rewards player creativity and encourages role-playing.


Just as simple atoms and molecules combine to form complex chemicals and creatures, a streamlined framework creates fascinating and complex characters.

Craft a Legend


Easily build familiar archetypes from epic fantasy or mix and match attacks, spells, and perks in limitless combination.


With 7 Paths, 45 Disciplines, 17 Moonsigns, and over 900 Abilities and Perks, you will never run out of options, whether you're starting a new character or advancing a veteran.


Horizons encourages unique builds with seamless architecture between character types. There aren’t separate rules for different playstyles (martial vs magic) or classes (fighter vs rogue).


Horizons is unbounded by level. Develop your character in any order you choose:

  • Immediately unleash high-powered attacks and spells, even with new characters.
    • Practical players may prefer more sustainable (less costly) options.
  • Never wait to unlock a certain ability or spell.
  • How early your character acquires a specific spell, ability, or bonus is entirely up to you.
  • Perks allow your powers to scale as your character grows.
  • "Starter" attacks become end-game steamrollers in the hands of a clever player.


Endless possibilities await—whether you’re optimizing statistics, or bringing your unique vision to life.

 

Race the Clock

In Horizons, victory sometimes comes at a cost, usually time spent pursuing one goal at the expense of another.


While the players confront the boss, his henchman might be moving the treasure. While the party is counting their treasure, the villain makes her escape.

Choose wisely.

Beyond the Grave

The death of your character is not the end of your story. It’s not even the end of your place rolling dice at the table.


In a fantasy world full of magical powers, spirits, otherworldly creatures, and influences, Player Characters  are no exception.


When a PC perishes in Horizons, they may continue playing as a ghost.

The Infinite Edge

Explore a vast uncharted region known collectively as the Infinite Edge™, a dangerous frontier where food and water are scarce.


Villages, towns, tribes, and clans struggle for survival. Each community can prove a deadly competitor for the others.


Even in a world with literal magic, healing can be hard to come by. Especially for communities who lack such powerful adventurers as yourself!

Forge Your Legacy

The default campaign consists of new lands, endless frontiers, savage wildernesses, and outside invaders. When rumors of discovery reach distant continents, powerful forces rush to capitalize on untapped resources.


Achieve notoriety by assassinating villains, making new discoveries, or even founding a new city, the first foothold of civilization in these wild lands. Achieve infamy by leaving unintentional power vacuums or absconding with the treasure.


Your decisions will shape the landscape of this fantasy world.

Players are the heart and soul of Horizons.


Each player creates and manages a character in the game world, playing the role of this character throughout your adventures. Each character under a player’s control is known as a Player Character (PC).

It's dangerous to go alone!


Your adventures will be assisted by a Guide who:

  • Manages environments, hostile creatures, and the overall story.
  • Controls and speaks for non-player characters (NPCs) like shopkeepers, quest givers, and villains.
  • Advises and supports the players.
  • Referees and adjudicates the rules


"Game Masters" have their own agenda, but the Guide's job is to make your character shine.

Creating characters is a 5 step process:

In Phase 1, you decide your character's innate qualities:

  1. Choose your species
  2. Buy your Traits
  3. Choose your background


Phase 2 fills in remaining stats based on your choices above.

4. Check your defenses

5. Know your innate resources


Next, you are ready for character building.

Imperious, introspective, and cautious otherworldly humanoids from ancient civilizations; a pale shadow of their former glory.



Wasp-like and spindly, highly organized, fiercely territorial, and spiritually shamanic, organized into busy hives with a unified purpose. Capable of mobilizing with frighting speed and coordination.



Clever and canny rat-like humanoids with furry bodies, sharp teeth, whiskered snouts are logical and coldly pragmatic.



Innovative, traditional, and determined, stout folk who occupy expansive subterranean fortresses.



Inquisitive and thoughtful diminutive humanoids who claim same fae ancestry as Elves (which Elves deny). Curious, inventive, and insightful, with warm, homey communities.



Curious and expansionist apes with a variety of societies and cultures, often revolving around oral/musical tradition, written laws, and sacred texts.



Roach-like humanoids with twitching antennae, large reflective black eyes and exoskeletal carapaces, durable and organized in matriarchal castes.



Strong, temperamental, fierce, typically tall and muscular humanoids with porcine faces and prominent fangs. Competitive, fractured, tribal, but spiritual and shamanistic.



Tall, agile, and muscular panther-like humanoids typically covered in glossy black fur. Solitary, independent, and rarely form larger communities. Natural hunters who are also playful and fun-loving.



Resembling large bipedal lizards or humanoid dragons, they are scaly, sinuous, and strong, strangest of sapient humanoids with clannish and fragmented cultures of many kinds, often subject to whims or machinations of manipulative dragons.



Large, fuzzy, and strong bear-like humanoids can seem deceptively slow-moving, deliberately gentle, and disarmingly cuddly. They're also unnervingly fast and instantly deadly to whomever they find annoying...or delicious. Little is known about their society or culture.



Combine any two races into a hybrid character with an interesting background and rich adventuring experience. Hybrid combinations of five "normal" humanoids (elves, dwarves, gnomes, humans, and orcs) are common, but all are possible.



At character creation, you will choose which Traits will define your character.


Physical Traits:

    • Strength (physical might)
    • Vitality (health and endurance)
    • Agility (coordination, reflexes, balance)

Spiritual Traits:

    • Insight (willpower, intuition, devotion)
    • Spirit (inner harmony, connection to nature)

Mental Traits:

    • Logic (mental acuity and reasoning)
    • Charisma (personal magnetism and persuasiveness)


New characters are granted 5 Trait points to distribute among these seven.


The Trait maximum is 3.

Moonsigns are a unique feature of Horizons of Valor.

The larger moon, Lunathor, and smaller moon, Sorkadin, exert supernatural influence over world as they dance in sky.

Many adventurers bear magical tattoos of a specific phase and position between two moons with a distinct influence over their lives and those around them. Bearing a Moonsign grants a powerful effect to your character, but affects how they are viewed and treated by others.


Moonsigns include:

Sign of Abyss

  • The complete eclipse of Lunathor by Sorkadin is a bad omen indeed.

Sign of Aegis

  • When both moons are Waxing Crescent with Sorkadin prominent in fore, rulers feel secure in their strongholds and children feel safe in their homes.

Sign of Dragon

This celestial sign indicates a time of renewed draconic influence upon races of mortals.

Sign of Forsaken

  • When both moons have gone dark and Sorkadin descends beneath Lunathor, lovers cling more tightly together, parents and guardians watch their children a little closer.

Sign of Grove

  • When both moons are in their Third Quarter with Sorkadin ascendant, it is considered a sign of balance and harmony.

Sign of Healer

  • When moons align during double Waning Crescent, people are reminded that life can be short, and encouraged to take measures to protect their health and tend to infirm.

Sign of Heavens

  • Sorkadin flies high over Lunathor, each moon reflecting a bare slip of sun’s light. gods are always watching, but people are especially reminded during this season.

Sign of Loremaster

  • During Waxing Crescent with Lunathor following after Sorkadin, people reflect on value of learning and education.

Sign of Mystic

  • When Sorkadin appears in Lunathor’s right hemisphere during Third Quarter, strange and mysterious things can happen.

Sign of Nymph

  • When Sorkadin is ascendant in First Quarter, halfway between new moons and full moons, romance blooms and lovers celebrate.

Sign of Prophet

  • Lunathor is partially obscured by Sorkadin during Third Quarter moons; portents and prophecy are nigh.

Sign of Scoundrel

  • Sorkadin ascends over Lunathor, much as a scoundrel might seek to elevate himself above their peers, and both moons are dark.

Sign of Storm

  • Most commonly seen among navies, sailors, and pirates, Sign of Storm is considered by most to be talisman for warding off worst weather sea can fling.

Sign of Survivor

  • This Moonsign is preferred and respected and sought by those who have been knocked about throughout their lives and have learned to roll with punches and come out stronger on other side.

Sign of Traveler

  • Waxing Crescent moons with Lunathor ascendant is considered by many to be best season to travel, and with good reason.

Sign of Warder

  • When Sorkadin appears in Lunathor’s lighted hemisphere in Third Quarter, some people see Moon Mother protecting her child. Others notice Sorkadin’s shadow across Lunathor and interpret it as a young ward protecting their master from evil.

Sign of Warrior

  • Sorkadin stands subordinate to Lunathor’s greater wisdom in First Quarter. This, more than any other, is a season for battle. A season for war.


The alignment and phase of Lunathor and Sorkadin can amplify or diminish effects of individual Moonsigns and creates a distinct impact on characters, adventures, or campaigns.

Character building is a core feature of Horizons. 


Once your character is created, it is time to choose the powers and abilities you'll use in role-playing and combat: Attacks, spells, maneuvers, commands, and perks to improve them.


Characters are built using a universal point-buy system. You spend Ability Points (AP) to unlock one (or more) of the Seven Paths, which are broad avenues of training (e.g., "Weaponry").

Each Path contains multiple Disciplines, which are narrow fields of expertise (e.g., "Blunt Weapons").


Each Discipline contains Abilities, which are things characters can do (make attacks, cast spells), and Perks, which permanently improve your Abilities.


Characters may diversify or specialize their abilities in myriad ways. One warrior may enjoy mixing a variety of weapon types to expand their arsenal, while another devotes exclusively to mastery of a single weapon.

The Seven Paths are broad avenues of training. They are:


  • Weaponry
  • Armor
  • Arcane Magic
  • Divine Magic
  • Primal Magic
  • Survival
  • Leadership

Each Path contains multiple Disciplines for customizing your character. Not all mages cast same spells; not all fighters wield same weapons. Some Disciplines contain sub-Disciplines of deeper specialization.


Each Discipline has a unique feel and flavor. Slashing Weapons are versatile, Blunt Weapons are good against armor, and Piercing Weapons are fast. Fire magic deals sustained damage whereas Lightning magic excels at burst. Shapeshifting is a different beast altogether.

  • Weaponry
    • Blunt Weapons
    • Piercing Weapons
    • Ranged Weapons
    • Reach Weapons
    • Slashing Weapons
    • Unarmed Combat
  • Armor
    • Light Armor
    • Heavy Armor
    • Shields
  • Arcane Magic
    • Energy
      • Fire
      • Ice
      • Lightning
    • Illusion
    • Mind Control
    • Scrying
    • Spacetime
    • Warding
  • Divine Magic
    • Holy
      • Divination
      • Healing
      • Protection
    • Unholy
      • Fear
      • Death
        • Necromancy
  • Primal Magic
    • Elemental Magic
      • Sun
      • Earth
      • River
      • Sky
    • Shapeshifting
  • Survival
    • Medicine
      • Alchemy
      • First Aid
    • Resilience
    • Trickery
      • Gadgetry
    • Wilderness
      • Beastmastery
  • Leadership
    • Entertainment
    • Training
    • Warfare
      • Tactics
      • Strategy

The Infinite Edge is default campaign setting for Horizons of Valor.

  • A vast uncharted region far beyond reaches of known civilization.
  • A dangerous place where food and water are scarce.
  • Villages, towns, tribes, and clans struggle for survival.
  • Full of ancient mysteries, arcane puzzles, and clever traps, left over from eons of struggling survivors, exiled rulers, and narcissistic villains.
    • Some might be remnants of whatever conflict, calamity, or conflict first created Edge


Forge your legacy and make your mark on a frontier of endless possibilities.

HORIZONS OF VALOR™ is not merely a collection of sourcebooks and written rules. Horizons was developed inside a mathematical engine which drives game.


This engine:

  • Compares basic melee attacks to most powerful magic spells
  • Evaluates the relative strength of every ability, perk, weapon, armor, and item
  • Provides a framework for streamlined character development and simplified "cross-classing"
  • Allows basic attacks and early spells to scale dramatically for advanced characters


The Horizons engine uses a few simple rules to generate a vast array of character possibilities.

The simplicity of the rules allows fast-paced gameplay, streamlined management, and minimal time investment for busy players.

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