Blades in the Dark vs Scum and Villainy
Compare Blades in the Dark and Scum and Villainy side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Blades in the Dark | Scum and Villainy | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Heist, Mission-Based, Faction Play, Playbook-Driven, Fiction-First, Dark Fantasy, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Low-Prep | Narrative, Heist, Faction Play, Low-Prep, Roleplay-Heavy, Exploration, Atmospheric |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d6s equal to an action rating and keep the highest result. A 1–3 produces a bad outcome, 4–5 succeeds with consequences, and 6 succeeds fully. Multiple 6s produce a critical success. Before an action roll, the GM sets its position and effect to establish the danger and intended impact. Players can add a die by pushing with stress or accepting a Devil's Bargain. | Forged in the Dark. Roll d6 dice pool, read highest: 6 = full success, 4–5 = partial success, 1–3 = bad outcome. Position (controlled/risky/desperate) sets stakes. Flashbacks replace planning. Progress clocks track complex obstacles. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (SRD only) | Forged in the Dark |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Evil Hat Productions | Evil Hat Productions / Off Guard Games |
| Year | 2017 | 2018 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a continuing criminal-crew campaign with improvised heists and consequences that change their standing among rival factions. | Groups who want Firefly/Star Wars-style spaceship crew adventures with Blades in the Dark's fiction-first mechanics. |
| Highlights | Flashbacks establish earlier preparation during a heist, allowing the group to enter the action without planning every contingency. Resistance lets players reduce or avoid consequences at a potential stress cost. Crew advancement changes the group's influence and resources alongside its relationships with rival factions. | Flashbacks eliminate tedious planning, ship playbooks level up alongside characters, detailed faction system, low GM prep |
| Considerations | Action outcomes depend on table judgments about fictional risk and effect rather than fixed difficulty numbers. Recovering harm and clearing stress compete with personal projects for limited downtime activities. Filling the trauma track normally forces a scoundrel into retirement or prison. | The game is tightly tied to its specific setting. Ship playbook progression can overshadow individual characters. The faction system requires significant GM prep between sessions. |