CAIN vs Werewolf: The Apocalypse

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

	CAIN	Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Genre	Horror, Modern	Horror, Modern, Fantasy
Tags	Anime, Character-Driven, Corruption, Deadly, Fiction-First, Investigation, Mission-Based, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, Theater of the Mind	Atmospheric, Base-Building, Character Building, Character-Driven, Corruption, Drama, Lore-Heavy, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, 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.	Build a d10 dice pool, usually from an Attribute plus a Skill. Each 6 or higher is a success, and meeting the Storyteller-set Difficulty wins. Each pair of 10s counts as four successes. Rage dice replace regular dice up to current Rage and can cause Brutal outcomes.
Dice	d6 dice pool	d10 dice pool
Complexity	Medium	High
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	2023
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese
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 long-form modern horror about shapeshifter packs defending communities from ecological and spiritual threats, with violent power constrained by moral and social consequences.
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.	Brutal outcomes can force destructive failures or add four successes to actions the Storyteller judges can benefit from Rage. Choosing a Garou form changes a character's capabilities, creating tactical and narrative options. Caerns give the pack an improvable spiritual home whose traits connect campaign advancement to territory and community.
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.	A Crinos-form Garou who did not kill in the previous turn must spend Willpower at the start of the next turn or enter frenzy, making the war form difficult to sustain outside violent scenes. Harano and Hauglosk can remove a Garou from play when despair or absolutism fills either track, making moral decline a campaign-level consequence. The game centers mature environmental and spiritual horror, including graphic violence and themes of exploitation and extremism that require deliberate table boundaries.