Ashen Stars vs Coriolis: The Third Horizon
Compare Ashen Stars and Coriolis: The Third Horizon side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Ashen Stars | Coriolis: The Third Horizon | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Investigation, Mystery, Mission-Based, Ship-Based, Space Opera, Resource Management, Character-Driven, Strong GM Support, Skill-Based, Crunchy | Exploration, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Ship-Based, Investigation, Cinematic |
| Core Mechanic | Ordinary tests roll a d6 plus ability-pool points spent before rolling, succeeding by meeting or beating the difficulty. Investigative abilities work differently: a core clue is simply given when the right ability is used, no roll needed, with point spends buying extra benefits. | Roll a d6 dice pool (attribute + skill + gear). Each 6 is a success. Pray to the Icons to reroll all non-successes, but doing so gives the GM a Darkness Point to spend on complications, NPC boosts, or cosmic threats. |
| Dice | d6 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Year Zero Engine OGL |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — GUMSHOE Community on DriveThruRPG | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Pelgrane Press | Free League Publishing |
| Year | 2011 | 2017 |
| Languages | English | English, Swedish, French, German, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want episodic space mysteries with a shared ship and recurring personal subplots. Cases put the crew's pursuit of justice in tension with its need to earn a living. | Groups who want sci-fi exploration with a Middle Eastern-inspired setting, ship-based campaigns, and a mix of trade, intrigue, and cosmic mystery. |
| Highlights | Automatic core clues keep missed information rolls from blocking a case. Reputation changes the wait between contracts, connecting ethical choices to the crew's upkeep bill. Ship combat assigns different attack modes to crew stations, spreading decisive actions across specialists. | Setting blends sci-fi with Middle Eastern mythology and Icon worship, Darkness Points create a GM resource that escalates over the session, detailed ship customization with five crew roles in space combat, ten factions provide a political backdrop for intrigue campaigns |
| Considerations | Investigative pools normally refresh only when a case ends, making extra benefits a case-long budget. The rules assume a working Laser crew; fugitive campaigns require changes to that framework. Ship battles use abstract goal-point races rather than positional movement on a tactical map. | Space combat uses a separate five-phase subsystem with added complexity, praying to the Icons is the only reroll mechanic and it always costs a Darkness Point, mystical powers chapter is brief compared to the setting and combat chapters, setting is tightly coupled: 36 star systems with specific lore |