Apocalypse World vs GunCraze
Compare Apocalypse World and GunCraze side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Apocalypse World | GunCraze | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic | Post-Apocalyptic, Modern |
| Play Style | Narrative, Rules-Light, Collaborative, Improvisation, Low-Prep, Drama, Theater of the Mind, Roleplay-Heavy, Playbook-Driven | Tactical, Crunchy, Classless, Skill-Based, Deadly, Gritty, Miniatures |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat. 6−: MC makes a hard move, 7–9: succeed with cost or complication, 10+: full success. Playbook moves trigger from the fiction. The MC follows Agendas and Principles instead of plotting. | Statistic Test — roll 1d10, add the relevant Attribute or Skill rank plus modifiers, and meet or beat a target number; contested actions are Opposed Rolls where the higher total wins and ties favor the defender. A natural 9 or 10 on a combat test banks a Craze! Point, and up to three Craze! Points can be spent after a roll to add +1d6 each. Attacks roll a d10 for hit location and deal damage in d6s against per-location hit points. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d10, d6 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | High | High |
| License | CC BY 4.0 (Powered by the Apocalypse) | Proprietary (GunCraze OGL v1.1) |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | lumpley games | Action Tactics Roleplay Gaming LLC |
| Year | 2016 | 2025 |
| Best For | Groups who want raw, character-driven post-apocalyptic drama where the fiction leads and the MC never plans ahead. | Groups who want crunchy, grid-based tactical gunfights with genuine lethality in a post-apocalyptic setting and don't mind learning a dense rulebook before the first session. |
| Highlights | Genre-defining design that launched the entire PbtA movement, playbooks with built-in dramatic hooks, MC framework provides detailed GM guidance, highly hackable | A natural 9 or 10 on a combat roll banks a Craze! Point, and up to three can be spent afterward for +1d6 each or to dive for cover mid-attack, but never to boost damage, keeping firefights swingy without softening lethality. Damage tracks per body location, so a destroyed limb is disabled and spills further hits into the torso past armor, turning partial wounds into mounting handicaps rather than one shared health bar. Characters are built from specializations, tiered talent trees, ranked skills, and jobs rather than classes, letting any blend of gunplay, melee, and noncombat skill live in one survivor. |
| Considerations | Can feel directionless without strong character flags, 2nd edition layout is dense and hard to reference, move trigger ambiguity requires frequent MC judgment calls, harm mechanics can cascade quickly | Social conflict resolves through single skill tests, with no structured subsystem for extended negotiation, interrogation, or social maneuvering. The rules cover realistic firearms, melee, and cybernetics only, with no rules for magic, psychic powers, or other fantastical abilities. Installing cybernetics requires both Surgery and Engineering (Robotics) skill ranks plus high target-number tests, gating the augmentation catalog behind dedicated character investment. |