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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core $8.00
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Jonathan R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/26/2023 08:51:25

A cool concept. I also like the included adventure and setting. But, Fate is just too light mechanically for me. You millage may vary.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Rebekah T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/26/2022 08:41:23

Venture City is, in some ways, exactly what you would look for when searching for an easy, roleplay heavy game about superheroes and the city they protect. It's got tons of powers, ways to mix and match, and ways that these powers manifest to make even one super with invisibility play differently than another (for instance, blending in with environments with camouflage vs. having the shadows coallesce around you and hide you).

However, I do have some of the same complaints that I've seen others list here: the math on some of these powers is pretty game breaking. To use the invisibility example from before, it's possible to get up to +8 Stealth just on your invisibility power stunt, to say nothing of your mundane stealth skill, making it nearly impossible for anyone to detect them (of course, this is the point of the major boost to the skill, but that means that even other modes of detection such as hearing, touch, infrared and so on are probably not going to roll high enough to detect the super ever). I would have leaned more heavily into advantages, aspects, and boosts for powers where applicable.

Do not get me wrong: I've played two campaigns using this game and I did enjoy them both, but I still think there's still areas that I would want to see improvement.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Andrew S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/25/2020 07:42:34

This game does have some pros:

The setting is fun and an interesting take on superheroics, I quite liked this aspect of the book.

The rules are simple and easy add-ons to the basic fate rules. if you know fate rules most things are a direct extension of that so it cuts down on learning time. Or it would except...

Cons:

The rules only work for about 90% of what I want them to do. There are a lot of pretty basic interactions that there are just not addressed. For one example each power gains special effects when they succeed with style. Now that is fun and evocative, but how does it work with powers that don’t have rolls? You can also spend a FP to activate them so maybe they only have that activation method, but that leaves them significantly weaker than those that you can roll well on.

In addition the terminology is muddled the word “Power” can refer to a number of concepts that are mechanical distinct. You build your power out of powers. Either the first concept should have been powerset or the latter one effects.

The Book feels almost incomplete, the listing of power effects is pretty good, but the list of power themes afterwards is incredibly short. Sure you can just say that players should come up with their own, but not enough guidelines are given since there are only 7 of them and 4 of those are energy-projectors of one flavor or another.

There are some effects like the charged shot collateral damage effect that states it “Eradicates a barrier” What happens if you use it on a stationary character? Auto-kill? Standard attack with no benefits? Completely unharmed since they aren’t an obstacle? Some guidance on these interactions would have been great.

All of these issues are things that have actually caused issues in our gaming group, not just nitpicking.

There are also issues that haven’t come up but are still pretty serious. The fact that the base energy blast power does nearly nothing by itself is a good example of this. It is generally assumed that you have the gear to use your skills so being able to make a basic ranged attack with shoot is basically the same as having shoot, but being able to add in special effects. In comparison the Natural Weapons power grants +2 to fight rolls at the basic level, which means it is actually worth taking, even without enhancements.

I could go on for pages unfortunately. I really like the concept of trying to keep things as simple as possible for ease of play, but this errs a bit too much towards simplicity and doesn’t hold up well to creative players. The only way to really make it work is to sometimes just ignore the rules, which is not why I buy a game book.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Josh H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/17/2017 13:35:11

Since my friends and I love to run supers, and we've been using FATE since we discovered it, this was a godsend! Easily quantified powers, we had to do so little work on the boring stuff (crunch) so we could get to quickly telling dramatic stories about our favorite supers-ours!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Jeremey C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/18/2016 17:20:23

I love this take on superheroes, and it is one of my go to examples of how well the FATE system can support a theme.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Zeb W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/14/2016 16:52:40

I love superhero rules. What I think I liked most about Venture City was that it was not your usual superhero game - it is much darker. Sure there were powers like flight, but with the Collateral Damage power, when could have it so that that when you go "super sonic" your flight destroys the environment around you as fly. Not very "super heroic", but in this settings when heroes are owned (and created by corporations) - and most likely part of something nefarious, and the good guys are looked on as vigilantees, it reminds of how the world viewed the X-Men.

While I did not like a number of the power - several where pretty bland when they could have done something interesting with them, I really loved the power buying structure - it works extemely well with how FATE handles their "extras".

If you like the FATE system and like Dystopian Super Power settings (think Heros, Powers), then this is the game for you.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Drew A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/25/2016 17:06:57

The rules they use to represent supers are fairly tight and consistent. The only problem is besides the example characters in the book, there is practically no super power write-ups - they simply give you pointers for creating your own 'Super' Stunts. If it had included mechanical rules for a wide array of powers, this would be 5 stars, but as such it is merely mediocre.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
It\'s getting expanded exactly along those lines and put into print. Check out the Fate More kickstarter, running right now, to get a look at it. kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/fate-more-from-bits-to-books
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Roger (. L. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 06/24/2015 02:15:41

http://www.teilzeithelden.de/2015/06/24/rezension-venture-city-stories-fate-superhelden-galore/

Venture City Stories - Shadowrun trifft Superhelden. Evil Hat liefert ein weiteres Schmankerl aus der Patreon-Schmiede und erschafft erneut eine Welt auf nur wenigen Seiten. Ein Werkzeugkasten mit allem was man benötigt, um kreativ zu werden. Dank dem schlanken Regelwerk und der vorgefertigten Charaktere gibt es quasi keine Einstiegshürde.

Rezension: Venture City Stories (Fate) - Superhelden galore

Evil Hat schafft es, dank Patreon, nahezu monatlich ein neues Setting zu erschaffen. Die Liste der geplanten Settings bleibt trotzdem lang. Kreative Ideen gehen den klugen Köpfen scheinbar nicht aus und auch wenn ein Genremix, wie bei dem vorliegenden Werk, keine fundamentale Neuerung ist, regt sie doch meine Fantasie an. Superhelden lagen mir schon immer am Herzen und als Comicsammler und Serienverschlinger gibt es auch genügend Vorlagen, auf denen man aufbauen kann. Eine der grundlegenden Fragen in dem Superhelden-Genre ist oft, inwiefern der Mensch mit seinen übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten nun eigentlich ein Held oder ein Bösewicht ist. Es steckt schließlich ein wenig von beidem in jedem Menschen und genau dieser Konflikt ist für mich das eigentlich Interessante: Was tut man mit so viel Macht?

Inhalt Venture City Stories ist, wie bei den bisherigen Fate Core-Settings, ein schönes Grundgerüst, um darauf aufzubauen. Es bezeichnet sich selbst als Sandbox und eine Art Mini-Setting.

Im ersten Teil des Heftes wird auf die Venture City eingegangen und es werden die, für ein Abenteuer benötigten, Bedrohungen geliefert. Zur Erinnerung: Bei Fate dreht sich vieles um Aspekte, kurze Sätze, die einen Zustand oder eine Situation beschreiben. Die Bedrohungsaspekte einer Welt liefern die nötige Würze, um ein interessantes Abenteuer zu erleben. Es gibt „aufkommende Bedrohungen“ und „andauernde Bedrohungen“ - gedacht für entweder kurze Abenteuer, oder eben ganze Kampagnen. Es handelt sich dabei um Probleme, welche die Stadt betreffen und von den Spielern kurz- oder langfristig gelöst werden können. Die Liste der Bedrohungen ist überschaubar und dient vor allem als Richtlinie für die eigenen Ideen. Zur Not kann man die Stadt aber immer von Maulwurfmann und seiner Untergrundarmee angreifen lassen. (Anm. d. Verf.).

Auf den folgenden Seiten werden dann Fraktionen und wichtige Charaktere der Stadt beschrieben. Fraktionen besitzen einen Slogan und ein Geheimnis, sozusagen das öffentliche Gesicht sowie ihre Schattenseite.

Soweit also nichts Neues, allerdings tauchen zwischen den Beschreibungen immer wieder blaue Textboxen auf und bilden zusammen eine kleine Geschichte namens „nothing ventured“. Auf diese Weise liefert Venture City Stories gleich ein Abenteuer mit, mit dem man in die Superheldenwelt starten kann. Meiner Meinung nach eine gute Variante, um ein Abenteuer zu präsentieren. Man spart sich ständiges Herumblättern und wird zeitgleich über die Hintergründe der Fraktionen/Charaktere informiert. Der gute Aufbau begünstigt natürlich das kompakte Werk und ermöglicht es dem Leser, sich geschmeidiger in die Welt zu denken. Durch die Beschreibungen der NSCs bekommt man außerdem ein gutes Gefühl für die Superkräfte und ihre Möglichkeiten.

Das Setting selbst hat einige Elemente von Shadowrun, verwendet aber an Stelle von Magie Superkräfte genetischer Herkunft. Einige Superhelden aktivierten ihr Gen durch extreme Erlebnisse oder Unfälle. Die meisten, die heute herumlaufen, sind allerdings hausgemacht: Eine große Firma namens Mitsuhama hat den Supergencode gefunden und eine Methode entwickelt, ihn zu aktivieren. Zwar haben viele andere Firmen den Vorgang kopieren können, jedoch hat Mitsuhama bisher die größten Erfolge verbuchen können und befindet sich an der Spitze der Forschung. Die Superhelden-Hersteller sind auch dafür verantwortlich, die Kräfte zu lizenzieren. Es ist selbstverständlich verboten, eine unregistrierte Superkraft zum Einsatz zu bringen und für eventuelle Kollateralschäden wird man selbstverständlich zur Kasse gebeten. Die registrierten Superhelden wiederum bringen auch nur denjenigen Recht und Ordnung, die es sich leisten können.

Mitsuhama und seine Konkurrenten haben offensichtlich eine Methode gefunden, ihre selbstgeschaffenen Superhelden in Schach zu halten und auf der Straße ist bekannt, dass das aktivierte Gen wohl eben so leicht wieder ausgeschaltet werden kann. Genau so schnell verschwunden sind dann sehr wahrscheinlich Ruhm und Reichtum.

Nach den Beschreibungen und dem Abenteuer folgt nun die Charaktererschaffung. Es mag seltsam erscheinen, das an den Schluss des Heftes zu legen, aber es hilft, denke ich, dass man zuvor einen Eindruck vom Ausmaß der Kräfte bekommt. Die Charaktererschaffung funktioniert genau wie bei Fate Core. Eine Abweichung gibt es bei den Superkräften. Die Mechanik gestaltet sich so, dass man drei zusätzliche Stunts erhält, um sich eine Superkraft zu erschaffen. Regeltechnisch wird das in Fate Core als Extra bezeichnet. Die Kraft selbst besteht dann aus mehreren Stunts, die man auch mit seinen normal verfügbaren Stunts befüllen kann, um sie mächtiger zu machen. Weiterhin haben die Kräfte sogenannte Spezialeffekte. Spezialeffekte sind Bonuseffekte, die eintreten können, wenn man einen Erfolg mit Stil geschafft hat. Beispielsweise kann man bei einem besonders harten Superschlag entscheiden, sein Opfer zwei Zonen weit zu bewegen oder eine automatische mittlere Konsequenz anzuhängen. Jede Kraft besitzt zwei Spezialeffekte und man kann für je einen Stunt noch zwei weitere hinzukaufen.

Natürlich hat ein Superheld auch seine Nachteile, es wäre ja sonst langweilig. Jeder wählt „sein Kryptonit“ oder einen vergleichbaren Effekt, wie beispielsweise Kontrollverlust oder Burn-out nach dem Verwenden der Kraft. Ein weiterer cooler Effekt ist der Kollateralschaden. Wenn der Spieler sich entscheidet, dass ihm seine Umwelt egal ist, kann er alles aus seiner Superkraft herausholen und teilweise extreme Effekte hervorrufen. Da freut sich die Haftpflichtversicherung.

Es wird geraten, maximal zwei Kräfte zu verwenden, da Superkräfte im Spiel durchaus komplexe Implikationen haben können. Anhand der teilweise vorgefertigten Charaktere mit Kraftbeispielen, sowie Fertigkeitsvorschlägen kann man sich schnell und einfach einen Superhelden erschaffen.

Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis Der vorgeschlagene Preis beträgt 4 USD und das Supplement ist ansonsten frei verfügbar auf der Zahl-was-du-willst-Basis. Es ist also bei dem Käufer selbst zu entscheiden, was es ihm wert ist.

Erscheinungsbild Das bewährte Design von Evil Hat findet sich auch in diesem Setting wieder. Die Schriftgröße ist auf verschiedenen Geräten angenehm les- und skalierbar. Weiterhin ist das gesamte Dokument verlinkt, sowohl das Inhaltsverzeichnis als auch diverse Schlagworte im Text. Bemerkenswert schön finde ich die vollfarbigen Zeichnungen, die es dem Leser ermöglichen, einfach in die Welt der Superhelden einzutauchen. Sie rufen Erinnerungen an so manchen bekannten Helden aus dem ein oder anderen Universum hervor. Was mir auch immer wieder bei Evil Hat-Produkten auffällt, ist die ethnische Vielfalt der Charaktere und die gute Porträtierung wirklich starker Frauen. Mit Sicherheit ein guter Zug für so manche(n) Spieler(-in) und eine willkommene Abwechslung fürs Auge.

Fazit Venture City Stories schafft es, in einem schlanken Format eine gute Grundlage für ein Superhelden-Setting zu liefern. Es gibt einige schöne Ideen zu Erweiterung der Fate Core-Mechaniken um Superkräfte darzustellen und sogar ein kleines Abenteuer wird mitgeliefert. Die einzige Schwäche ist der Mangel an dargestellten Optionen und die Kürze des Werkes.

Das Setting selbst spielt mit der Idee, dass in Zukunft Konzerne herrschen werden und diese auch noch die Kontrolle über einen großen Teil der Superkräfte besitzen. Es gibt also zahlreiche Möglichkeiten für Charaktere, die eigentlich „over the top“ sind, trotzdem aus verschiedenen Schichten zu kommen und genügend Konfliktpotenzial für so manche dramatische Auseinandersetzungen. Alles in allem ist es einen Blick wert und kann für ein paar schöne Runden sorgen.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Ryan P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/14/2015 06:21:42

I was supposed to run a game for the local monthly Game Day but life happened and didn't have anything. I've been wanting to try this one out for awhile, so I gave it a shot. It was a great experience, easy to run and fun for my players. I even had someone playing who had never gamed before and she took it all in easily and was able to engage the narrative and game easily. Bravo!

Good:

  • Built on Fate, so win!
  • Story bubbles made planning a breeze.
  • Default setting was interesting and unique.
  • The powers and their special effects felt fun and dynamic.

Bad:

  • It would have been nice to have some printer-friendly character sheets for the sample characters.

Can't Review:

  • Power building. Used the example characters and their powers.


Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Jon L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/17/2015 21:22:09

Its very good but I prefer my superhero games be constructed by d6 system but overall this game wasn't that bad for a FATE Core game. It just wasn't my cup of tea but I won't bash it by a bad rating just because it wasn't my cup of tea.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Lolita V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/29/2014 08:30:54

As soon as I came across Venture City, I knew I had to give it a try. After reading Fate Core and the Fate Toolkit I was interested in reading about some different settings, so I can learn the system better and learn more about the possibilities. Also while I love building my own setting, there are times when you just don't have the time or energy to make your own setting and this book is perfect for those instances.

For such a short book Venture City is full of information. Basically it's whole setting with a premade possible campaign, premade NPC's, organizations, aspects, superpowers and possible PC's. It gives you everything you need to start playing a campaign with almost no preparation except reading this book, but on the other hand also hands you the tools to make the setting your own. I liked the build-up of this book, first some general chapters about the setting and possible issues then factions, places and people followed by character creation and superpowers and it ends with some sample characters. Interwoven in each chapter there are pieces for the premade session.

It's a pretty short and easy read and still gives you a lot of materials to work with. I especially liked the part about superpowers and how they show a simple system for this by basically seeing superpowers as something build up from multiple stunts and then with a drawback and something extra. It gave a nice dynamic and the explanation is clear enough so you can easily start making your own superpowers.

I didn't expect much from the setting itself, I mean a city with multiple factions and superpowers for sale just didn't sound like my idea of a fun setting. But during reading I actually found myself liking the setting more than expected and I might actually use this setting for a possible campaign or one-shot or maybe use some elements from this book. I actually liked the idea of having a campaign take place in and around one major city. I also liked the urban fantasy feel this setting gave me and the feel reminded me a bit of some urban fantasy books I read.

One minpoint from this book is the fact that to me it seemed a bit short. There are some instances and corporations, but for a long running campaign it feels like you need more. I just couldn't see how you could use this setting for a long running campaign, but then again this seems to be a problem I have more often. I can think of begin settings, but always wonder if there's enough material for a long campaign, so maybe that's just me. Also I think that if you want to use this setting as a basis you just have to add a few of your own ideas and use this as a basis.

To conclude: this book is a great supplement to Fate. You do need to have read the Fate Core book before starting this as it doesn't explain the rules of the system. Venture City offers a nice setting, premade campaign and some premade NPC's and PC ideas. Or you can use this book as building blocks for your own campaign, think up your own story and add your own ideas. All in all a great book and I am looking forward to read the other settings these authors will come up with!

Review originally posted on Lola's Reviews: http://lolasreviews.com/review-venture-city-by-brian-engard-and-tazio-bettin/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Vance R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/01/2014 22:39:16

I love fate. Since Core came out I have run and played in a few games. We ran a Kick-Ass Princess game; I won the tournament in a Street Fighter inspired game; Cthulhu was punched in the face by the Kaiju Klown killers; and Dracula was staked on the dance floor, under the disco ball. All great, but something was missing: superheroes. I have been craving a good super game for a while. I liked Icons, hated M&M, and though I adore the system Savage World Supers never felt right. I wanted Fate Core Supers. Icons was close but was a bit unfated (if I can be allowed to totally make up a word). Fate Core, with Supers. It sounds simple and I thought I could make my own hack, now I don't have to. Venture City is Fate with Supers. It is elegant and simple and Fate. I hate cliches, so I'll just say it doesn't remake the ham sandwich. It uses Fate as Fate is meant to be used and doesn't do anything fancy. It doesn't have to.
Venture City Stories is the kind of game that makes you feel stupid, because you didn't come up with it. It is exactly what it claims to be: Fate with superpowers. If you already know Fate and want to see the easiest way to do superpowers this is must buy, and at the price how can you pass it up.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Tim H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/27/2014 08:08:36

Excellent add on to the FATE Core game, I bought it mostly as a way of seeing how FATE can be adapted for the superhero genre. I wasn't dissapointed, it showed how to use super powers well in the game, and the art work + sample adventure / characters are solid.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by David M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/27/2014 05:48:35

Amazing artwork, world concept and layout, for a Pay What You Want product. All thanks to the Evil Hat's Patreon funding, this product made me decide to join it. While I might have done the super powers slightly differently they are another good example of a different approach from the Fate Core System Toolkit.

I like how the sample adventure is worked into the text, but the book gives you additional ideas as well. The only problem if it can be considered one is it is too short, but that is due to the nature of the funding. Hopefully Venture City might be returned to and expanded at a later date.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Venture City • A Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core
Publisher: Evil Hat Productions, LLC
by Paul M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/23/2014 04:10:00

So I've been a fan of the Fate system for a few months now, and have successfully ran/played in cyberpunk,steampunk, and fantasy using Fate. My group was starting to get into a slump after a less then stellar attempt at a scifi game. Then I saw Venture City Stories, and man the ideas started to flow. I don't think a product with such a small page count has inspired my gaming creativity so much. I hope the author releases more content in the future. Just sayin' , if you like the Fate system, Shadowrun, or gritty supers you should support the author and pick this up.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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