10,000 Swords Against Heaven vs Starving Folly
Compare 10,000 Swords Against Heaven and Starving Folly side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| 10,000 Swords Against Heaven | Starving Folly | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Cyberpunk | Horror |
| Tags | Martial Arts, Tactical, Character Building, Classless, Fiction-First, Survival, Resource Management, Sandbox, Dark Fantasy, Weird | Fear & Stress Mechanics, Survival, Gritty, Resource Management, Character Building, Classless, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, One-Shot Friendly, CC-Licensed Rules |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a pool of d6s equal to the relevant Cultivation rating, adjusted for the circumstances. Each die showing 4–6 counts as a Strike. Meet or exceed the action's Demand to succeed; opposed checks compare Strike totals. | Roll a d10, add the relevant ability score and any skill that applies, and meet or beat a Difficulty Class the GM sets on a scale from 4 for an easy task to 15 for an almost impossible one. A weapon attack rolls a d10 plus the weapon's ability score against the target's Evasion and, on a hit, deals the weapon's listed damage. Spending a Hunger Token rerolls a failed Body or Agility roll, and spending a Sanity Token rerolls a failed Mind, Senses, or Sociability roll. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d10 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 2 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | Third Party License | CC BY-NC-SA |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Core rulebook Third Party License | Noncommercial only — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | JK Saavedra | TheCappy01 |
| Year | 2026 | 2026 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups seeking cultivation campaigns with reactive tactical combat and open-ended exploration. The setting centers communist revolution against divine and capitalist rule. | Groups who want a free, setting-agnostic horror game for one-shots or short campaigns, built around a gradual reveal of the threat and survival costs that reach beyond hit points. It fits tables that enjoy building characters from a wide menu of backgrounds and perks. |
| Highlights | Two-stage Interrupt cascades let combatants spend Actions to respond before an opponent's declared action resolves. Licenses from fifteen Sects combine with limited Meridian slots to support changeable martial and magical loadouts. Magnetite is both currency and a source of XP, making cultivation compete with equipment purchases. | Scars land on specific body parts, and a permanent -5 Scar costs the character that part. Each time a character drops to 0 Sanity Tokens, the GM gives them a new Phobia that can drain a Sanity Token once per session. A character's base Actions equal Agility plus 1, and unspent Actions can be saved to act again later in the round. |
| Considerations | Characters start fragile by design; the book expects many to die at Stage 0 before cultivation takes hold. Casting Magick prevents Defense Checks, making positioning and allied protection important. The premise centers communist revolution, and the book warns of sexual violence and body horror. | Standard rest clears Temporary Scars but leaves permanent Scars in place. Running out of Hunger or Sanity Tokens normally imposes -3 on rolls tied to that token's abilities, and a standard rest restores just one token of each type. Whether the six Doctrines of magic appear in a campaign, and how characters earn Affinity to use them, are left for the GM to decide. |