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Written by Steven Long. A 278-pg trade paperback (listing says 176 pages), perfect bound with black and white interior. This is a comp copy and was not playtested.
Overview: Like the author and Hero lead man Steven Long, Hudson City: The Urban Abyss (henceforth HC), has something of a history for me. Dark Champions was the game that converted me to Hero System games. Sure, I had played a few Champions games but supers has always been something of a tepid experience for me – something to run as a one shot or limited campaign but within the bowels of Dark Champions, Justice, Not Law, and An Eye for an Eye, I found something other than fantasy that could hold (maybe demand would be a better word) my attention. Be forwarned that this review comes with all the benefits and pitfalls of being written by a true fan of the genre.
Prelude: HC is set in the Dark Champions universe. Dark Champions is a “street level” level game meaning that campaigns will be much more morally ambiguous, the threat of death (NPC & PC alike) is much greater, and super-powers fall closer to Punisher, Daredevil, and Batman type of levels than they do to the Spiderman level. Serial killers, pimps, costumed freaks, gangs, mafia, and sometimes even the police line up to fill out the GMs arsenal of villains.
Hero Games has really sharpened their delivery of city books with Millennium City and Vibora Bay. These two warm ups have helped to streamline and tighten their conception of what a good city book needs to fly all by itself. This pays off in HC.
HC covers the city proper and the surroundings of a fictional metropolis on the eastern seaboard of the United States but unlike (or maybe not) real US cities law enforcement agencies are just plain insufficient to control the spiraling crime rate. Every form of vice and every type degenerate can be found in this cesspool. Think of it as a target rich environment.
Layout & Design: The cover of the HC depicts a grungy strike team ready prepping to hit some mafia thug. The grime on the cover does well to hint at the contents. Overall the image is well done.
Interior Art – The black and white interior art ranges from dirty realism to cartoonish in places. It is neither outstanding nor detracting. See mapping notes below.
Mapping – The interior mapwork was done by Keith Curtis. A quick count reveals 21 maps – mainly the master map and blow-ups of different city sections. Hudson City feels real with these maps; highways, bridges, subways, and twisting roads add a very nice dimension to the setting. The neighborhood zooms are a wonderful game aid to be photocopied and placed in a quick reference book.
Editing and Layout – The Hero editing and proofing department once again leaves little to note. The layout is done in the standard easy to read but nothing fancy style.
Chapter by Chapter
History of Hudson City – The obligatory introduction chapter that explains how Hudson City came to be. Even here, you can find some nifty plot hooks and adventure ideas.
The Lay of the Land – This 80 page chapter starts off with bio-statistics of the city just like you would expect to see in an advertisement for any real world city. Tons of nicely summarized information presented in this little chart. Next is a section on the vitals of the city – urban transportation, utilities, rail, and the metro. Again, these things aren’t belabored but a quick nod is given to make them both unique and realistic (gaming realistic that is).
The chunk of this chapter looks at each of the 25 neighborhoods. These sections include a short history, landmarks, notes on shopping (and other relevant lifestyle issues), and attractions. These “highpoint” topics are information dense with adventure hooks and seedy details but rarely extend beyond a paragraph.
A Day in the Life This is a fun chapter to me. The highs and lows of the city as a “meta-organism” are covered, this means things like TV, Radio, amusement parks, and other city wide venues get coverage. Again, each entry is a densely packed paragraph or two embedded with ideas and inspiration for DMs to run with.
The later half of the chapter covers the city subcultures like the business world, medical hotspots, religious organizations, and scientific research. To be sure there are other subcultures that I didn’t include but most if not all the interests of a potential vigilante can be found here.
The Long Arm of the Law – Few settings need as much detail on law enforcement as Hudson City but vigilantes naturally find themselves running afoul of both good and bad law enforcement officials so an understanding of the system is critical to the DM. HC breaks things down into easy to use systems that don’t require a 1,000 page document detailing the inter-relations of various departments and jurisdictions. This section really stands out as a brain saver for the DM.
It concludes with a section on vigilantes as well as several write-ups including the iconic Harbinger of Justice. Among Dark Champions fans the Harbinger is something of a hot topic, no one can agree what exactly he should look like when written up. Some want a HoJ who is competent but not uber-powerful, others want a PC level character, and still others think he should be written to hand Batman his lunch. In this write-up many things were toned down but in other ways he was made far more powerful. I suggest that before anyone stroke on his weakness or his strength, they should sit back and just design the HoJ that works for their Hudson City – it is what we did and it beats getting disgruntled about a write-up. Having said that – My god is he gross!
Predators – Some could argue that it is the depraved villainy that opposes the players in Dark Champions that gives the genre its allure and those people would point chapter five and say “I told you so!” Predators is chalk full of vicious criminals and psychopaths ranging from Chinese Tongs to Cardshark. The inclusion of “Costumed Freaks” introduces several new criminal players to Hudson City and each of them is destined to provide someone with some freak to hate. The most unusual is Diomedes, a co-joined twin with a single lower body but two heads (he is co-joined and mid-thorax). The torment and social stigmatization of his deformity has left him nearly inhuman and totally without mercy.
Hot Spots for Cool Heroes – This short section details some of locations that are likely to see use in your game including an arms dealership, a strip club/whorehouse, a prison, and a very chic eating facility.
Running Hudson City – The ubiquitous GM’s Vault common to many Hero settings can be found here and unleashes a flood of secret information sure to surprise your players. I love these sections – basically, the GM’s Vault is a collection of notes that reveal notes about entries found earlier in the book. You won’t find mention of DEMON, Cardshark, or VIPER within the main city book but here in the GM’s Vault you can find honest seeming businessmen who have ties to organizations or criminal elements that allow you to pull those groups in (Cardshark is well threaded into the Vault but DEMON and VIPER are only hinted at). Secrets are always cool.
The last section of the book is a section of write-ups for the characters previously introduced within the text including the Cardshark organization and half dozen creepy, crazy, crooked, or flat out mean characters.
Summation Hudson City: The Urban Abyss is well worth the investment if you like gritty settings; it is not the bright shining spire of Metropolis. If you are looking for a rough urban environment for your game be it supers, conspiracy, or vigilante then Hudson City has a lot to offer. My game group owns 4 collective copies of HC, including a loner for those without the money to get one. I think that is a pretty strong recommendation.
The Negative – There is little to complain about with this book. There are sections that go into a little too much information and because of the nature of the book there are some brief sections that are dry reads but these are infrequent enough that they aren’t distracting.
The Good – Hudson City is painted as a place where none of us want to live and painted convincingly. It accommodates just about any modern style of play with ease and I have even heard of it being used as a fantasy city – strange thing was that I could easily see that happening. It sounds like a fun game. The maps and attention to detail clears a high mark for Hero games. Nostalgia leads me to favor the old beaten Dark Champions books on my nightstand but HC is a worthy successor to a fantastic line.
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