CAIN vs Hunter: The Reckoning

Compare CAIN and Hunter: The Reckoning side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	CAIN	Hunter: The Reckoning
Genre	Horror, Modern	Horror, Modern
Tags	Anime, Character-Driven, Corruption, Deadly, Fiction-First, Investigation, Mission-Based, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, Theater of the Mind	Investigation, Mystery, Character-Driven, Gritty, Deadly, Atmospheric, Social Combat, Strong GM Support, Lore-Heavy, Urban Fantasy
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 a pool of d10s, usually an Attribute plus a Skill. Each 6 or higher is a success. Meeting the Storyteller's Difficulty wins. Each pair of 10s counts as four successes. On tests within their creed's Field, Hunters may choose to add Desperation Dice equal to the cell's shared Desperation rating. A 1 on any Desperation Die turns a win into a choice: keep it and raise the cell's Danger, or fail and enter Despair. A failed test with a Desperation 1 always causes Despair.
Dice	d6 dice pool	d10 dice pool
Complexity	Medium	Medium
Accessibility	Medium	Medium
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	Proprietary	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Creator-published permission for original supplementary content	Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$	$$
Publisher	CHASM	Renegade Game Studios
Year	2024	2022
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, 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 investigation-heavy modern horror in which a cell of ordinary people researches, plans, and confronts a monster at real personal risk.
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.	Desperation rises after the cell's setbacks, so mounting trouble adds both dice and risk to later Field tests. Overreach lets a player keep a win by raising the cell's Danger, which escalates the quarry's response against the whole cell. Monsters have weaknesses Hunters can discover, so research pays off as concrete advantages in the final confrontation.
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.	Desperation Dice apply only to tests within a Hunter's creed Field, so a character's signature boost sits idle outside that specialty. The book recommends ending most conflicts after about three turns, which leaves little room for extended tactical combat. The content warning covers themes such as sexual violence and torture, so groups should calibrate boundaries before play.