Comrades vs Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game

Compare Comrades and Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Comrades	Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game
Genre	Historical	Horror, Historical
Tags	Playbook-Driven, Narrative, Fiction-First, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Deadly, Worldbuilding, Drama	Fear & Stress Mechanics, Player-Only Rolls, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Character-Driven, Narrative, Low-Prep, Licensed IP
Core Mechanic	Roll 2d6 + stat (Body, Mind, Spirit, Guile, or Bond, ranging from -3 to +3). On a 10+ it is a strong hit, on a 7–9 a weak hit with complications, on a 6- a miss and the GM makes a move. Basic moves cover combat (Get Rough), persuasion (Sway), infiltration (Sneak), mob incitement (Start Something), and interpersonal moments (Share a Quiet Moment). At the end of each session, the party rolls Pathway Moves to advance along five tracks toward revolution: Force, Organization, Zealotry, Mayhem, and Fellowship. Reaching level 5 on any pathway triggers the final attempt to seize power.	The GM rates a task from difficulty 0 to 10 and multiplies it by 3 for the target number; difficulty 0 succeeds automatically. When a roll is required, players roll a d20 for tasks, attacks, and defenses and succeed by meeting or beating the target. Skills, assets, and Effort spent from Might, Speed, or Intellect Pools ease the difficulty; Edge reduces those Pool costs.
Dice	2d6	d20
Complexity	Low	Medium
Accessibility	Medium	Medium
Runnability	High	Very High
License	Proprietary (PbtA)	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Not yet researched
Cost	$	$$
Publisher	Akers Games	Monte Cook Games
Year	2019	2023
Best For	Groups who want to tell stories of revolutionary struggle against an oppressive regime, exploring the costs of political violence and the bonds between comrades willing to die for their ideals.	Groups seeking community-rooted horror in early 20th-century Appalachia, with player-controlled risk spending and theater-of-the-mind action. It suits GMs who prefer flexible adjudication and explicit horror-safety conversations.
Highlights	Pathways to Revolution system gives campaigns built-in momentum and a definitive endgame, 10 playbooks embody distinct revolutionary archetypes from Artist to Soldier, first session includes collaborative worldbuilding where players choose the setting and define the oppressive regime, Bond stat mechanically reinforces relationships between comrades	Character arcs award XP for steps in GM-approved arcs and for climaxes even when their final goals fail, keeping personal stories mechanically active. Single-use cyphers turn folk charms and strange objects into frequently changing powers, encouraging players to spend unusual tools instead of hoarding them. What Wakes Mode widens the natural-roll range for GM intrusions until a ten-hour recovery roll resets it, turning supernatural attention into escalating mechanical pressure.
Considerations	Strongly political subject matter requires buy-in from the entire table, no included bestiary or detailed tactical combat rules, Khresht 1915 is the only fully developed setting: other included settings are brief outlines, GM receives principles but limited structured prep tools beyond fronts	Stat Pools serve as both health and spending resources, so Effort and abilities can leave characters less able to absorb harm. The GM sets task difficulties and decides when to introduce complications, placing much of the game's consistency in GM adjudication. The game is built around alternate Appalachia in the 1920s and 1930s rather than a portable generic-horror setting.