Chronicles of Darkness vs Starving Folly
Compare Chronicles of Darkness and Starving Folly side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Chronicles of Darkness | Starving Folly | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Horror |
| Tags | Atmospheric, Character Building, Character-Driven, Classless, Corruption, Drama, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Improvisation, Investigation, Strong GM Support | Fear & Stress Mechanics, Survival, Gritty, Resource Management, Character Building, Classless, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, One-Shot Friendly, CC-Licensed Rules |
| 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. | Roll a d10, add the relevant ability score and any skill that applies, and meet or beat a Difficulty Class the GM sets on a scale from 4 for an easy task to 15 for an almost impossible one. A weapon attack rolls a d10 plus the weapon's ability score against the target's Evasion and, on a hit, deals the weapon's listed damage. Spending a Hunger Token rerolls a failed Body or Agility roll, and spending a Sanity Token rerolls a failed Mind, Senses, or Sociability roll. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d10 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | CC BY-NC-SA |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault | Noncommercial only — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | Free |
| Publisher | Onyx Path Publishing | TheCappy01 |
| Year | 2015 | 2026 |
| 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 free, setting-agnostic horror game for one-shots or short campaigns, built around a gradual reveal of the threat and survival costs that reach beyond hit points. It fits tables that enjoy building characters from a wide menu of backgrounds and perks. |
| 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. | Scars land on specific body parts, and a permanent -5 Scar costs the character that part. Each time a character drops to 0 Sanity Tokens, the GM gives them a new Phobia that can drain a Sanity Token once per session. A character's base Actions equal Agility plus 1, and unspent Actions can be saved to act again later in the round. |
| 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. | Standard rest clears Temporary Scars but leaves permanent Scars in place. Running out of Hunger or Sanity Tokens normally imposes -3 on rolls tied to that token's abilities, and a standard rest restores just one token of each type. Whether the six Doctrines of magic appear in a campaign, and how characters earn Affinity to use them, are left for the GM to decide. |