A postapocalyptic game-book on board.
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, 12 game rounds, tracked on a QUEST TRACK, which can take about 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 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.