Chronicles of Darkness vs Zombicide: Chronicles

Compare Chronicles of Darkness and Zombicide: Chronicles side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Chronicles of Darkness	Zombicide: Chronicles
Genre	Horror, Modern	Horror, Post-Apocalyptic
Tags	Atmospheric, Character Building, Character-Driven, Classless, Corruption, Drama, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Improvisation, Investigation, Strong GM Support	Survival, Tactical, Mission-Based, Base-Building, Licensed IP
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 dice pool of d6s equal to Attribute (Muscle, Brains, or Grit) + Proficiency (Athletics, Attitude, Background, Combat, Perception, or Survival): the cross-product forms an 18-Action matrix (Fight, Shoot, Sneak, Scavenge, Tinker, Heal, etc.). Each die shows Molotov (success), Zombie Head (failure), or a number (failure forceable to success by gaining Stress during Mission Phase). One success is ordinary, two is superior, three or more is outstanding. Difficulty Levels subtract 1 or 2 dice; pools beyond six convert the excess into Mastery dice that may reroll a Zombie Head once. Rolling more Zombie Heads than successes triggers Trouble: a GM-determined complication on top of whatever the roll resolved.
Dice	d10 dice pool	d6 dice pool
Complexity	Medium	Medium
Accessibility	Medium	High
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	All Rights Reserved	Proprietary
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault	Not yet researched
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$	$$
Publisher	Onyx Path Publishing	CMON / Need Games
Year	2015	2022
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 tactical zombie-apocalypse RPG with structured Mission and Shelter phases: leaving the safehouse to scavenge, fight hordes, and clear districts of the dead, then returning to manage supplies, plan the next run, and fortify the shelter. Designed to drop in alongside the Zombicide board game's tiles, miniatures, and Equipment cards if the group already owns them.
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.	Mission Phase and Shelter Phase run on different rules: Mission Phase activates Stress, Adrenaline, and Trouble for high-tension play, while Shelter Phase resets HP/Stress/Adrenaline to zero and uses simpler resolution for downtime activities like Supply Checks, Shelter Actions, and planning the next run. Stress-to-force-successes drives a tight feedback loop: Mission Phase players can convert numerical dice results above the weapon's Accuracy into successes by gaining Stress, each forced success also feeds the Adrenaline track, and Adrenaline thresholds unlock additional Skill slots (Yellow at Level 1, Orange at Level 3, two Red at Levels 5 and 7). Native board-game compatibility: combat uses the same Zombie types (Walker, Runner, Brute, Abomination), Targeting Priority Order, and Weapon stats as the Zombicide board game, so groups who own it can swap in physical tiles, miniatures, and Equipment cards as table aids.
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.	Setting is locked to one unnamed American city with nine fixed districts (Downtown, Old Town, Fun Zone, University District, Heart of the City, Slums, Suburbia, Uptown, Industrial Park) plus the Undercity: adapting to other locations or rural campaigns means rebuilding the district map, Travel Rolls, and Threat Level scaffolding. Combat dominates the rules: Survivor Phase, Zombie Phase, Targeting Priority, Major Injury table, weapon traits, and the Zombipedia bestiary occupy most of the page count, while investigation, social intrigue, and faction politics get comparatively light mechanical support. The Mission/Shelter alternation imposes a session-level rhythm: Stress, Adrenaline, and Trouble exist only in Mission Phase and Shelter Phase wipes them clean, so improvised open-ended campaigns outside this structure need GM adjustment.