Elemental Radio Presents · SvltyDog Productions
Vessel of the
A Daggerheart Campaign Module
The smallest light can push back the darkness —
and the world’s most powerful institution
will do everything to stop anyone from proving it.
— Unknown Prophet, The Vale of Umbra
The Vale of Umbra is a failing frontier where the boundary between life and shadow has begun to rot from the edges inward.
Cold mists crawl from the low marshes. Villages shutter their windows before dusk. Those touched by the Umbra do not always die — many linger between life and death, lucid for moments, lost the next, feared by the living and hunted by the devout.
“Hope survives only in flickers. Travelers whisper of small lights that push the darkness back — of loved ones who briefly remembered their names.”
Vale of Umbra · Player PrimerThe greatest power in the Vale is not the wandering horrors. It is the Church of Umbra — an organized authority that teaches a chilling doctrine: corruption is not the enemy. Losing control is. Through ritual discipline and sanctioned exposure, they claim a person can endure the coming darkness and remain whole.
And in many places… it appears to be working. That is precisely where the story begins.
A Complete Campaign Framework
Everything a GM needs to run a long-form gothic hope campaign
The Glow Globe
A fully mechanized key artifact with passive suppression, resonance ladders, attunement mechanics, and snapback tension — your anchor against the dark.
Church Heat Clock
A 0–6 escalation system tracking Church awareness — from polite observation to doctrinal crisis. Every public act of hope costs something.
The Seeker System
A hidden GM framework for tracking Lost Ones — the people swallowed by the Umbra that players are searching for. Forward movement guaranteed every 2–3 sessions.
Gobbling the Tinkerer
An eccentric goblin NPC with a wandering tavern and deeper secrets than he admits. Helpful, never time-sensitive, always exactly where the story needs him.
Six Detailed Locations
Three hubs and six named episode sites — each with Church pressure dials, Glow Globe interactions, GM secrets, and adventure hooks ready to run.
Three Arc Endings
Contain it. Give it shape. Break the doctrine. No single right answer — the ending the Vale gets depends on what the players choose to carry.
A World Tightening Around You
This campaign is not about heroes in a safe world.
It is about people trying to matter in a place that is slowly closing.
The Darkness
- A corruption that learns your shape
- An authority that calls it salvation
- Loved ones trapped behind their own eyes
- Every act of hope draws attention
- The Church does not forget
The Light
- A glow that makes the corrupted remember
- Moments of clarity in the dark
- A goblin who fixes broken things
- A tavern that appears where needed
- The question the Umbra cannot answer
If darkness is inevitable,
why does it fear the light?
Available now on Itch.io.
Carry the light into the Vale.