Action Movie World vs Delta Green
Compare Action Movie World and Delta Green side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Action Movie World | Delta Green | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Modern | Horror, Modern |
| Play Style | Playbook-Driven, Cinematic, Fiction-First, Fast Sessions, Comedy, Martial Arts, Player-Only Rolls, Pulp Action | Investigation, Deadly, Roleplay-Heavy, Character-Driven, Gritty |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat. On a 10+ the move succeeds completely, on 7–9 it succeeds with a catch, on 6 or less it fails and the Director makes a move. Players choose an Actor Playbook (their star persona across all films) and a temporary Script Playbook (the genre of the current movie), gaining moves from both. Only players roll dice: the Director never rolls. | Roll d100 under your skill percentage to succeed. Matched doubles (11, 22, etc.) are critical successes or failures. Six stats (STR, CON, DEX, INT, POW, CHA) derived from percentile rolls. Bonds represent personal relationships and can be damaged as agents lose SAN. Sanity tracks Breaking Points: cross enough and you develop disorders. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d100 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | Powered by the Apocalypse | All Rights Reserved |
| Cost | $ | Free (Need to Know) / $$ |
| Publisher | Flatland Games | Arc Dream Publishing |
| Year | 2015 | 2016 |
| Best For | Groups who want short, high-energy sessions that celebrate the cheesy action movies of the 1970s through 1990s, playing actors whose careers span multiple genres of film. | Groups who want modern-day investigative horror where federal agents sacrifice everything (careers, relationships, sanity) to protect humanity from threats that should not exist. |
| Highlights | Dual-layer playbook system: Actor Playbooks define a star's brand while Script Playbooks define the genre of each movie, so campaigns shift between kung fu, cop, barbarian, and other action subgenres. Lead actor mechanic grants one character plot immunity per movie, mirroring action film conventions. Star Power and experience track an actor's career across multiple films. Movies run in 2–4 sessions, making each one a self-contained arc within a longer campaign. | Bonds and sanity mechanics create personal drama, Need to Know quickstart is free and complete, strong atmospheric design, profession-based characters feel grounded, well-regarded published scenarios |
| Considerations | Meta-narrative framing (playing actors playing characters) requires buy-in and may confuse groups expecting straightforward genre play. No free rules or quickstart available. Script Playbooks in the core book cover six subgenres: groups wanting genres outside those six must create custom scripts. | Dense investigative scenarios require significant GM prep, limited character advancement between operations, bond deterioration can feel mechanically punishing, SAN loss mechanics can remove player agency |