Chronicles of Darkness vs Honey Heist
Compare Chronicles of Darkness and Honey Heist side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Chronicles of Darkness | Honey Heist | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Modern |
| Tags | Atmospheric, Character Building, Character-Driven, Classless, Corruption, Drama, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Improvisation, Investigation, Strong GM Support | Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Comedy, Heist, Random Character Creation, Random Tables, Low-Prep, Gonzo, Fast-Paced, Theater of the Mind |
| Core Mechanic | Build a d10 pool from an Attribute plus a Skill and count each 8, 9, or 10 as a success. Tens reroll, five successes are exceptional, and a pool reduced below one die becomes a chance die that succeeds only on a 10. | When a bear acts and the outcome is in doubt, the player rolls 1d6 against the relevant stat, Bear or Criminal: a roll equal to or under the stat succeeds, and a roll over it fails. Using the bear type's skill or doing something covered by the character's role rolls 2d6 and keeps the lowest. When the lowest die rolled is a 6, the GM introduces a twist or unseen complication. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Medium |
| License | All Rights Reserved | RR&D Community Licence v1.14 |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault | Commercial publishing allowed — RR&D Community Licence (Grant Howitt's One Page RPGs) |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | Free |
| Publisher | Onyx Path Publishing | Rowan, Rook and Decard (Grant Howitt) |
| Year | 2015 | 2017 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want modern supernatural horror built around investigating mysteries, navigating personal consequences, and confronting threats before they overwhelm an ordinary life. | Groups who want a silly, low-prep one-shot as a crew of bears pulling a heist at a honey convention. |
| Highlights | The investigation system can reveal an Incomplete clue on a failed roll, preventing a mystery from stopping at one check. Conditions, Aspirations, and Beats link consequences and personal goals to character advancement. Horror Anchors create investigative inroads for supernatural threats. | Greed moves a point from Bear to Criminal when the plan goes off without a hitch, and Frustration moves one back when the plan fails and the bear runs into difficulty. A player can shift a point toward Criminal by playing a flashback scene of the bears planning the heist, or toward Bear by eating a load of honey. The GM sets up each heist from random tables, including two security features and a complication kept secret from the players. |
| Considerations | The core contains detailed procedures for combat, chases, investigation, social maneuvering, and supernatural threats, so groups need to decide which rules to emphasize in a campaign. Damage, Integrity breaking points, and Persistent Conditions create lasting consequences. Social Maneuvering includes sexual goals and hard leverage, so players should back away from uncomfortable concepts. | There are no experience, advancement or campaign rules. Bear covers shrugging off damage, but the rules track no damage or injury. The sheet gives no rule for what a player does after their bear betrays the party or flips out at 6. |