I have donned cape and mask for a 3-part exploration of another dimension of superhero RPG rules, Fate Accelerated/FATE. I am reviewing two different takes on incorporating superpowers into the core rules, one from the publishers, Evil Hat, and the other by (as far as I can determine) fans. Finally, I will present some PC stats in Part 3. This is Part 2 of my mini-series and covers the official mechanics for Fate superheroics.
Venture City Stories: A World of Adventure for Fate Core includes official rules for a Fate supers game, and is another Pay What You Want item. (Drive Thru RPG says the average is US $3.34.) Like the unofficial Four-Color FAE (my review), powers are layered onto the standard Fate/FAE character generation, although in a different fashion. (More on that below.) Unlike Four-Color FAE, this supplement is also a setting with a full adventure (in sidebars) included.
In fact, VCS is first a setting book, as the subtitle implies. Second it is an adventure module. As I mentioned, the “module” is actually a series of sidebars, which are scattered through the first 2/3 of the 34 page PDF. I would rather the module had been in its own section, to reduce going from page to page. However, in such a short PDF, it might not be a large inconvenience. The Venture City setting itself is pretty gritty. It reminds me of the typical Cyberpunk setting (only with supers instead of netrunners): Corporations rule everything; everyone is either associated with a “corp” in some way or is S— Out of Luck; dangerous, illicit drugs abound and so on. I prefer less dark and grim campaign styles myself, but that is fine. A lot of gamers like that comics subgenre. Besides, the new mechanics are suitable for any type of superhero campaign from Golden Age through the Iron Age through the modern style.
Let’s have a look at how VCS handles superpowers mechanically. Your superpower(s) will cost you, in either stunts or Refresh (Refresh 3, just as in Fate/FAE Core). But you won’t run out because in addition to the free stunts from Core, you get extra stunts that can only be used for powers. And each power gets 2 free Special Effects. Special Effects give you alternate benefits when you Succeed With Style, and they are a closer fit to the genre, such as attacking everyone in a zone. Although your PC will already have a Trouble aspect, they will also have a Drawback aspect related to their powers. Again using my Yule Queen Cold Controller as an example, hers would be “Powers don’t work when it’s very hot.” Finally there is Collateral Damage Effect, a Good News/Bad News mechanic. Collateral Damage lets you do something extra-powerful but it puts a situation aspect on the scene–which the GM will probably use against you and the other PCs. I do have one minor complaint. Neither the general discussion of Drawbacks or the ones given in statblocks and example characters show how they work. A couple examples of what happens when a Drawback is compelled would be nice.
All in all, this is a good set of superhero mechanics and a decent, if typical, setting. I think it handles powers very well. In fact, even though we are already playing and enjoying Mutants and Masterminds, a couple of us in the gaming group have talked about giving this a try.
Linda Whitson
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