A while ago, I did a review of Venture City Stories, one of the “Worlds of Adventure” for Fate Core. Now Evil Hat Productions has expanded it from 34 pages to 100 pages by combining it with Venture City Powers, by the same authors, Brian Engard and Ed Turner. If you, like me, already owned Stories, this expanded “Superpunk Sourcebook for Fate Core,” as it is subtitled, is already available in your Library at Drive-thru RPG at no additional cost! Otherwise, the PDF can be purchased for US$8 at Drive-thru RPG.
Building a superhero PC is very similar mechanically to what was given in in Stories, but with a few additions. You get the standard three free stunts and three refresh from Fate Core plus the three bonus Powers-only stunts from Stories. One stunt buys you the Basic form of your Power, and each Power has Enhancements that also cost one stunt. Special Effects are still two for one stunt; however some powers have Improved Special Effects that do bigger things and are one for one purchases. Finally, there are Power Themes and Power Synergies. Themes as described seem to me to be analogous to Mutants & Masterminds descriptors–is your power technological, electricity, cold, magical? Something else? Your first Theme is free. Synergies are additional Basic Powers and every Power has suggested Synergies, although you aren’t limited to them. You just have to be able to tie the Basic Powers together.
What else is in the sourcebook? There’s a section on building your group’s version of Venture City. This is where the module “Nothing Ventured” from Stories is found. The module is still in the form of sidebars, but since it is contained in one chapter I found the format less annoying in this iteration. Finally there is a chapter of Mini-adventures. They are intended to be the result of PCs using their Collateral Damage abilities, but it looks like most of them would work as set pieces to drop into a campaign at other times.
I like this expanded version of Venture City better than the original. Maybe I have been spoiled by M&M, but I felt the lack of a comprehensive Powers listing and character templates in the original Venture City rule set–and now I have them. Overall, I think it would be a lot of fun to play, if your group likes Fate.
Linda Whitson
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