City of Mist vs Night's Black Agents
Compare City of Mist and Night's Black Agents side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| City of Mist | Night's Black Agents | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Modern | Horror, Modern |
| Play Style | Narrative, Investigation, Mystery, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Noir, Urban Fantasy, Drama, Tag-Based | Investigation, Espionage, Character-Driven, Gritty |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + invoked tags. Characters have no numerical stats: instead they invoke narrative tags from their Mythos (legendary) and Logos (mundane) themes. 7–9 partial success, 10+ full success. Statuses replace HP on a 1–6 tier track. | GUMSHOE engine. Investigative abilities auto-succeed: if you have the skill and there's a clue, you find it. General abilities (combat, athletics) roll 1d6 + spent points vs. difficulty 4. Point pools refresh between sessions, creating resource-management tension. Four play modes (Burn, Dust, Mirror, Stakes) tune mechanics to your preferred espionage tone. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Medium | High |
| License | Community content (Cauldron of Mist) | GUMSHOE SRD (CC BY 3.0 / OGL) |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Son of Oak Game Studio | Pelgrane Press |
| Year | 2019 | 2012 |
| Best For | Groups who want noir-style investigations in a modern city where characters channel mythological archetypes: balancing mundane lives with legendary powers. | Groups who want spy-thriller action fused with supernatural horror: burned agents unraveling a vampire conspiracy through investigation, chases, and tradecraft. |
| Highlights | Tag system makes every character unique, investigation mechanics are well-designed, layered interplay between mythic and mundane identity | Investigation never stalls: clues flow automatically, Conspyramid campaign structure is a well-designed GM tool, four tonal modes let you dial in the spy genre you want, highly modular vampire creation system, works stripped of vampires for pure espionage |
| Considerations | Tag-based resolution takes adjustment from traditional RPGs, heavily tied to its urban noir setting, two-book format can feel expensive, prep-intensive for the MC | NPC combat math can feel unbalanced against PCs, multiple point pools to track can bottleneck play, narrow genre focus limits reuse, requires significant GM prep for conspiracy networks |