Against the Darkmaster vs Flying Circus
Compare Against the Darkmaster and Flying Circus side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Against the Darkmaster | Flying Circus | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Deadly, High-Fantasy, Journey, Character-Driven, Roll to Cast | Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Sandbox |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 + skill bonus against a difficulty threshold for skill checks, or against an opponent's defensive bonus for attacks. Rolls of 01–05 are automatic failures (fumbles); rolls of 96–00 are open-ended, allowing a second d100 roll added to the first for explosive results. Attack rolls that exceed the target produce hits on weapon-specific attack tables, with high results triggering critical strikes that cause injuries, bleeding, and conditions beyond simple hit point loss. | Roll 2d10 + stat: 10 or less is a miss, 11–15 is a partial hit, 16+ is a full hit. Moves are triggered by fiction. Air combat uses energy management, altitude, and speed on instrument panels. Stress accumulated in missions is relieved between flights through vices and relationships. |
| Dice | d100 | 2d10 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary (open00 SRD planned) | Proprietary (PbtA) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Open Ended Games | Newstand Press |
| Year | 2020 | 2020 |
| Languages | English, Italian | English |
| Best For | Groups who want an epic good-versus-evil campaign with deep character creation, detailed travel mechanics, and crunchy percentile combat with critical hit tables: especially fans of Rolemaster or MERP looking for a modernized take. | Groups who want a deeply detailed aerial combat game wrapped in a rich, character-driven story about mercenary pilots in a post-war fantasy world. |
| Highlights | Character creation combines Kin, Culture, Vocation, and Background into highly differentiated characters with personal Passions that mechanically drive play. Detailed overland travel system with terrain-specific hazard tables, foraging, camping, and safe haven mechanics. Magic system with 30+ Spell Lores and over 300 spells, available to all Vocations at different costs. The Darkmaster creation system lets the GM build a campaign-defining antagonist with servants, artifacts, and a dark stronghold. | Highly detailed air combat, setting blends WWI aviation with Miyazaki-esque fantasy, character-driven downtime system, free aircraft builder tool, 10 diverse playbook backgrounds |
| Considerations | 574-page core book requires significant reading investment before first play. Open-ended d100 rolls and critical hit tables can produce extreme outcomes that swing encounters unpredictably. No published setting: the GM must build or adapt one, though the included introductory campaign provides a starting framework. Character creation involves multiple layered steps (Stats, Kin, Culture, Vocation, Skills, Backgrounds, Passions) that can take an entire session. | Dense and intimidating to learn, very niche aerial-combat focus, requires printing instrument panels and component cards, limited to its specific setting |