Batman Role-Playing Game vs Feng Shui
Compare Batman Role-Playing Game and Feng Shui side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Batman Role-Playing Game | Feng Shui | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Superhero, Modern | Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical, Modern, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | Licensed IP, Heroic, Investigation, Crunchy, Tactical, Character Building, Martial Arts, High-Power, Strong GM Support, Beginner-Friendly | Cinematic, Combat-Heavy, Fast-Paced, High-Power, Martial Arts, Playbook-Driven, Pulp Action, Strong GM Support, Tactical, Theater of the Mind |
| Core Mechanic | Abilities and quantities such as weight, distance, and time are rated in Attribute Points (APs), a scale on which each AP doubles the last. A Dice Action rolls 2d10 against a Success Number found by crossing the Acting Value with the Opposing Value on the Action Table. Doubles add and may roll again, while double 1s always fail. When a roll of 11 or more beats the Success Number, it earns a Column Shift for each entry counted rightward past the Success Number that is at least 11 and no higher than the roll. The Effect Value is then crossed with the Resistance Value on the Result Table, moved left by the Column Shifts, to give Result APs (RAPs) of damage or effect. Before the roll, both sides may bid Hero Points, each adding 1 AP to one value without more than doubling it. | Roll a positive d6 and a negative d6, subtract the negative die from the positive, and add the Swerve to an Action Value. Meeting or beating the Difficulty succeeds, while open-ended sixes create extreme results. |
| Dice | 2d10 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Out of print | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 3 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Noncommercial only — Atlas Games Fair Use policy |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Mayfair Games Inc. | Atlas Games |
| Year | 1989 | 2015 |
| Languages | English | English, French, Russian |
| Best For | Groups who want to play the Batman, his allies, or original Gotham heroes in detective and street-crime adventures against his rogues gallery. | Groups that want fast Hong Kong action, tactical shot-by-shot fights, melodramatic hooks, and time-traveling campaigns that mix genres |
| Highlights | Hero Points serve as both the bonus for rolls and the currency for advancement, so every point spent to win a scene is a point not banked toward growth. Starting Killing Combat forfeits all of a hero's Hero Point awards for the adventure, building the Batman's code against killing into the reward system. Interrogation and Clue Analysis turn Result APs into graded information, so a stronger roll reveals more of what a suspect or clue can tell. | A descending shot countdown makes every action and interrupt change when a character acts again. One-hit mooks support crowd-clearing spectacle, while featured foes and bosses use deeper wound rules for climactic fights. Feng shui sites link faction victories to changes in history across four connected eras. |
| Considerations | A Dice Action reads its Success Number from the Action Table and, only when the roll succeeds, takes a second lookup on the Result Table for its effect, so each successful attack or other rolled action needs two table references. Designing a Gadget runs a multi-step Hero Point cost formula with Reliability Number modifiers, Drawback discounts, and a final halving. Only one player can be the Batman, so everyone else plays another listed hero or one built with the creation rules. | Most starting archetypes have fixed statistics and schticks, so initial mechanical customization is limited. The default adventure structure treats investigation and social scenes mainly as connections between fights. Exploding positive and negative dice permit large reversals even when a character's Action Value substantially exceeds the Difficulty. |