Atomic Robo RPG vs Call of Cthulhu
Compare Atomic Robo RPG and Call of Cthulhu side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Atomic Robo RPG | Call of Cthulhu | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi, Modern, Historical | Horror, Modern |
| Tags | Pulp Action, Licensed IP, Investigation, Cinematic, Tag-Based, Fiction-First, Narrative, Collaborative, Improvisation, Superpowers | Investigation, Deadly, One-Shot Friendly, Atmospheric, Roleplay-Heavy, Mystery, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Corruption, Skill-Based |
| Core Mechanic | Roll four Fate dice and add a skill rating, then compare the total against a fixed difficulty or an opponent's roll on the adjective ladder. Matching the opposition is a tie, beating it by one or two shifts is a success, and beating it by three or more is a success with style. Spend a fate point to invoke an aspect for +2 or a reroll. Accepting a compel earns a fate point in exchange for a complication. | Roll d100 equal to or under your skill percentage. Success tiers at half (Hard) and one-fifth (Extreme) of the skill value. Bonus and penalty dice adjust the tens digit. Failed rolls can be pushed for a second attempt at greater risk. |
| Dice | 4dF (Fudge dice) | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | CC BY 3.0 or OGL 1.0a (SRD); core book All Rights Reserved | Chaosium Fan Material Policy |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Evil Hat Productions | Chaosium |
| Year | 2014 | 2014 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish |
| Best For | Groups who want to play Action Scientists in pulp adventures against super-science conspiracies, jumping between eras of a century-long secret history. Its Brainstorms suit tables that like solving mysteries together during play. | Investigation-driven horror where combat is deadly and sanity is fragile. Great for one-shots. |
| Highlights | Brainstorms turn a mystery into a group procedure: each winning roll adds a fact as an aspect, and the final hypothesis must build on every fact. Invention rules build a gadget from a function aspect, a flaw aspect, and stunt benefits, then charge for it in narrative catches like rare materials rather than money. E-Z No-Math creation starts a character from a concept and three rated modes, so players can make characters on the fly and fill in aspects and stunts during play. | Tracking Sanity as a depletable score ties mental erosion to the fiction, so confronting cosmic horror mechanically wears characters down. The percentile skills resolve on a d100 roll-under, with Hard and Extreme bands at half and one-fifth of the rating. Bouts of Madness convert failed Sanity checks into temporary phobias, manias, or loss of character control. |
| Considerations | Custom weird characters take longer to build, because modes and skill improvements are bought from a 30-point budget instead of picked from the E-Z options. The campaign rules assume the PCs belong to a faction, so a group playing freelancers has to build its own organization or run without the faction support and advancement rules. A Brainstorm's winning hypothesis becomes the truth of the situation, so a GM cannot count on a planned explanation for a mystery surviving play. | The chase rules add a detailed positioning subsystem whose complexity outweighs how often it sees use. Character creation allocates points across a long list of skills, a slow first step for new players. In long campaigns the sanity spiral can strip a character of player control as madness accumulates. |