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Dark Venture is a retro, story-based, adventure card game where players construct a twisting narrative to explore a dystopian future with their heroes, completing quests to win the game.
Pursue your destiny through the ravaged wilds of Darkgrange where magically-mutated creatures prowl the grounds of every seemingly abandoned building and stretch of dilapidated roadway.
From writings found on the deceased body of the hero, Torgon the Hunter: "We are the new rulers of the Earth and this is our struggle against one another. We venture into the darkness, the uncertainty, ambling through the ruins of progress every day. We live the repercussions of the events that spun civilization backwards while propelling the remaining inhabitants forwards along various inconceivable and diverse refractions. The world has unquestionably become a new, peculiar and merciless place."
Players maintain a hand of LOCATION, ITEM and CHARACTER cards, playing them on their turn by spending ACTION POINTS. LOCATIONS are played and attached to the map, then descriptive story entries are read that set up actions to be triggered and decisions to be made. ITEMS, including weapons, magical artifacts, armor and potions, can be placed from a player's hand into their heroes inventory for them to use. Players may want to play other CHARACTERS from their hand to complete a quest or thwart an enemy.
Competitive: A player's goal in the main COMPETITIVE game mode is to gain the MOST QUEST POINTS over the course of a day, 6 game rounds in a short game or 12 game rounds in a long game, tracked on a QUEST TRACK, which can take about 20-30 or 60-90 minutes to play.
Cooperative: In the COOPERATIVE mode, players work, fight, move and complete their quests together to each get a set number of quest points before the end of the day, in 6 or 12 game rounds.
Solo: In the SOLO mode, players can choose to play a short game of 6 game rounds, attempting to get a set number of quest points before lunch, or a full game of 12 game rounds, attempting to get even more quest points before the end of the day.
- Second edition rules greatly speed up the game.
- Incorporation of house rules into the base game.
- Populates the world quicker with more interesting locations and characters.
- Really fun, sandbox-style gameplay.
- Interesting setting and creatures.
- Visually appealing art by Rob Lemon.
- Expansions like Vile Invaders, Beasts and Monsters, and The Alder King add variety without complex new rules.
- Base game box has surprising capacity for components.
- Combat system is engaging.
- Solo play is well-supported, with rules to simulate more cards being drawn.
- Base game is currently out of print.
- Wish there was something more interesting to do with unwanted gear.
- Crawl and Crag Pit Arena expansions add significant complexity and setup time.
- Dungeon crawl and adventure
- Post-apocalyptic world
- Gamer World
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Point Allowance — In the first edition, players had to spend an action point to play a card onto the table to play a location or to play a character. With the second edition, players can play one location and one character for free on each of their turns, and can spend action points to play additional characters and locations.
- Card Drafting — Players draw cards to populate the world with creatures, characters, and locations from their hand.
- Combat — Combat is resolved by rolling for initiative and then rolling for damage. Enemies can be aggressive or non-aggressive.
- exploration — Players explore locations on the map, drawing from different location guides based on set chosen for the game.
- Followers — Characters can have followers, like a horse or a fabricated follower.
- Item/Equipment Management — Players can equip items like swords, helmets, and spellbooks. There's a desire for more interesting ways to manage unwanted gear.
- Quest Completion — The game involves solving and completing quests to gain quest points. There are heroic quests and side quests.
- Set Collection — Crafting components can be collected to build items like the smelting kiln, hammer, and anvil.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This game has a very, very high spot on my top 10 games with the best art.
- I love Rob Lemon's art so much. This game looks so dang cool.
- It really does feel like a big huge kind of sandbox game in a really really small box.
- And so it just makes the game a lot faster and it populates the world quicker with more interesting locations and more interesting characters to engage with.
- And I think with the second edition, the game is better than ever. It's faster. It's more fun.
References (from this video)
- Unique and well-designed indie game
- Approachable, highly enjoyable
- Stylistically, thematically, narratively weird
- Love both card games
- Love a good adventure
- Has been on the shelf staring me dead in the eyes for about three months now.
- Weird, creepy world
- Campaign, journey, story
- Dark Venture: Battle of the Agents
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck Building — Mentioned as a favorite subgenre of card games.
- Deck crafting — Mentioned as a favorite subgenre of card games.
- Hand Management — Mentioned as a favorite subgenre of card games.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this last year has not been defined by playing a lot of new games this last year has been defined by playing a ton of Classics
- this is my top 10 list from 2024 but it's a little bit of a weird collection cuz this is technically the 10 games that I regret not playing or the 10 games I wish I got to the table the 10 games that arrived that I was and have been for a long time so excited about
- the unique thing about being a content creator about working in this board game Space is that we are always playing previewing and prepping content on games that still haven't arrived
- I would argue that most of these games probably at least six or seven of these games would be on my official top 10 list of 2024 if I had only gotten them to the table in the first place
- so slay the Spire is coming to the channel very very soon it is still one of the 10 games I desperately want to obsess over
- it's kind of remarkable that this isn't even opened I haven't done a unboxing video I haven't showcased it on the channel
- seon has this problem of delivering too much stuff and stuff that doesn't necessarily easily find its way into an organizational pattern
- this is one of like six or seven boxes for Simon's uh Marvel uh United
- flip 7 though is one of the games that West Todd one of my close friends uh told me was remarkable he asked me if ID tried it yet I said I hadn't and he said man it's one of the best games of the year you have to try it
- dark Venture Battle of the agents is one of the most unique uh well-designed indie games I have ever played
- vagor song is this beautiful maob over the Garden Wall feeling campaign game
- we're getting structured scheduled we're getting a consistent thematic posting schedule going
- this group of 10 this group of 10 is or are my top games from 2024 whether or not I actually played them in 2024
- don't beat yourself up just cuz life is messy and you didn't get every game you hop to get to the table or every project you intended on getting done
- a new year is in some ways an arbitrary line in the calendar that people put to indicate they either suc succeeded or failed and in other ways it's a fresh opportunity a chance to start a new
- Focus take account of where you are set yourself in a meaningful and purposeful Direction and clean your room make your bed work on yourself