BESM vs Heartbeats in Perfect Sync
Compare BESM and Heartbeats in Perfect Sync side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| BESM | Heartbeats in Perfect Sync | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Universal | Modern, Fantasy |
| Tags | Character Building, Cinematic, Heroic, Pulp Action, Anime | Anime, Character-Driven, Cinematic, Collaborative, Drama, Fast-Paced, Rules-Light, Superpowers, Tag-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Tri-Stat System: three Stats (Body, Mind, Soul) plus point-buy Attributes, Defects, and Skills built from a Character Point budget. Roll 2d6 + relevant Stat or Combat Value vs. a Target Number. Edges and Obstacles add or remove dice. Eight power levels scale from Sub-Human to Godlike. | When an outcome is uncertain, the GM sets a target number of hits. The player rolls a d6 pool equal to their current Heart Rate, and each 5 or 6 counts as a hit. Meeting or beating the target succeeds and lets the player shift their own Heart Rate by one. Beating the target by two or more also lets the player shift other characters' Heart Rates by one per extra hit. Before rolling, a player can invoke an aspect to add two dice, once per session per aspect. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | Book tools not listed | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary (Tri-Stat) | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Dyskami Publishing | Nathan Blades |
| Year | 2019 | 2024 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want to play anime and manga-inspired adventures in any genre: from magical girls and mecha pilots to demon hunters and high school detectives. | Groups who want episodic urban-fantasy action centered on emotional escalation, relationship drama, and coordinated anime-style set pieces. |
| Highlights | Highly flexible point-buy system can model any anime concept, free primer available, scalable power levels from slice-of-life to cosmic | Heart Rate is both the dice pool and an emotional track, so every roll can change how many dice a character brings to the next one. Perfect Sync lets characters on the same Heart Rate combine their pools into one roll, at the cost of their spotlight turns for that round. Heartbreak turns a character into a dark version with a reusable fighting-style aspect that lasts until their Heart Rate climbs back above the maximum. |
| Considerations | Point-buy character creation can overwhelm newcomers, balance depends heavily on GM oversight, anime-focused tone may not suit all groups, dense attribute list requires bookkeeping | The default City is deliberately sparse, so groups build most setting detail themselves or begin from the included scenario. The GM sets target hits and decides when a roll is called, so difficulty comes from table judgment rather than a fixed ladder. Perfect Sync requires matching Heart Rates, though optional special moves can align or bypass that requirement. |