CAIN vs Candela Obscura

Compare CAIN and Candela Obscura side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	CAIN	Candela Obscura
Genre	Horror, Modern	Horror
Tags	Anime, Character-Driven, Corruption, Deadly, Fiction-First, Investigation, Mission-Based, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, Theater of the Mind	Investigation, Mystery, Corruption, Mission-Based, Playbook-Driven, Fiction-First, Resource Management, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Strong GM Support
Core Mechanic	Roll a pool of d6s from a skill rated 0–3 plus up to +3D of ordinary advantages; each 4+ is a success, and one success achieves the goal. The Admin judges difficulty and risk separately, so a roll can be both hard and risky. A hard roll scores successes only on 6s. A risky roll adds the Admin's risk die, which sets how much better or worse the outcome goes. A straight roll omits that die. Complex tasks use talismans, segmented trackers that take one slash per success.	Roll d6s equal to your action rating and take the highest result: 1–3 is failure, 4–5 is success at a cost, and 6 is full success. Multiple 6s give a critical success. Spend drive to add dice, up to six total. With no dice, roll two and take the lower result. Taking a gilded die’s result restores one drive point. Burn resistance to reroll only your action dice. The GM sets stakes and expectations before the roll.
Dice	d6 dice pool	d6 dice pool
Complexity	Medium	Low
Availability	Paid	Free quickstart
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	Proprietary	Darrington Press Community Gaming License 2.0
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Creator-published permission for original supplementary content	Commercial publishing allowed — Community gaming license
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	CHASM	Darrington Press
Year	2024	2023
Languages	English	English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Best For	Groups who want short monster-of-the-week campaigns where uncovering a sin's traumas makes the final confrontation easier. It suits tables ready to handle abuse, self-harm, and trauma themes with characters treated as expendable weapons.	Groups who want episodic occult investigations with lasting injuries and shared recovery resources. Character-specific goals reward taking risks during assignments.
Highlights	Each trauma question answered during investigation can be invoked once in the final fight to reduce stress and slash the sin's execution talisman. Exorcists can pay for powers with 1d3 sin instead of scarce psyche bursts, a shortcut that builds toward overflow, mutation, or becoming an enemy Imago. Every rest raises pressure, and each pressure tick lengthens the sin's execution talisman, making recovery a direct trade against the final fight.	Gilded dice let investigators accept a worse outcome to recover resources. Character-specific goals contribute to shared advancement after each assignment. The assignment framework identifies essential reveals that keep investigations moving.
Considerations	Investigations engage with abuse, self-harm, trauma, and mental health crises, so the book directs the Admin to discuss intentions and boundaries with players beforehand. Harm taken with three injuries, or 7 or more stress from one event after reductions, causes instant death unless the exorcist defies fate and suffers sin overflow instead. The author expects campaigns of about ten sessions or fewer, and Category advancement reaches its normal cap after seven missions survived.	Recovery draws from a limited pool shared by the whole circle. Scars usually persist throughout a campaign and can force a character out of play. Combat uses narrative judgment rather than initiative or fixed enemy health.