Call of Cthulhu vs Dread
Compare Call of Cthulhu and Dread side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Call of Cthulhu | Dread | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Horror |
| Tags | Investigation, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Mystery, Deadly, Corruption, Skill-Based, Atmospheric, One-Shot Friendly, Character-Driven, Narrative | Atmospheric, CC-Licensed Rules, Character-Driven, Deadly, Diceless, Experimental, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Fiction-First, Narrative, Rules-Light |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 equal to or below a skill or characteristic. Hard and Extreme tests use half and one-fifth of that rating. Bonus and penalty dice select a better or worse tens digit. Eligible failed skill rolls can be pushed by taking further action, risking a harsher consequence. | The host calls for a pull when a character attempts something uncertain, outside their experience, or under aggravated conditions. The player removes one block from a shared tower and places it on top: a stable tower means success, while refusing means failure without character removal. Collapsing the tower removes that player's character. |
| Dice | d100 | Diceless |
| Complexity | Medium | Very Low |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | Chaosium Fan Material Policy | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program | Noncommercial only — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $ |
| Publisher | Chaosium | The Impossible Dream |
| Year | 2014 | 2005 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Chinese | English, German, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want clue-driven horror with ordinary investigators and lasting consequences. Suits focused mysteries and campaigns where survival matters more than defeating every threat. | Groups seeking focused horror where improvised character drama and irreversible risk matter more than tactical combat |
| Highlights | Pushing a failed roll offers another chance at the goal with a more serious consequence if it fails. Learning Mythos lore reduces maximum Sanity, tying useful knowledge to lasting vulnerability. An Idea roll gets a stalled investigation moving again, with failure putting investigators into danger. | Successful pulls leave the shared tower increasingly precarious, turning prior success into mounting risk for the whole table. Questionnaire answers establish capabilities and vulnerabilities, giving the host material that directly shapes rulings and scenarios. Deliberately toppling the tower converts character removal into one final dramatically appropriate success. |
| Considerations | A major wound can leave an investigator dying, making direct confrontation dangerous. Bouts of madness temporarily place investigator actions under Keeper control. Foot and vehicle chases track relative speed and movement actions, adding a separate procedure to pursuit scenes. | The intended tower-based experience requires a physical block tower, a stable surface, and manual dexterity. A collapse removes a character from play, so players can lose their original role before the session ends. Creating original scenarios asks the host to prepare tailored questionnaires and make frequent pull judgments. |