Coriolis: The Third Horizon vs M-SPACE
Compare Coriolis: The Third Horizon and M-SPACE side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Coriolis: The Third Horizon | M-SPACE | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Exploration, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Ship-Based, Investigation, Cinematic | Toolkit, Modular, Skill-Based, Classless, Ship-Based, Tactical, Social Combat, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d6 dice pool (attribute + skill + gear). Each 6 is a success. Pray to the Icons to reroll all non-successes, but doing so gives the GM a Darkness Point to spend on complications, NPC boosts, or cosmic threats. | Roll d100 without adding a modifier to the roll and succeed at or below the skill's percentage after difficulty adjusts that target. Critical successes fall within one tenth of the adjusted skill, rounded up. Opposed tests compare success levels and break successful ties with the higher roll. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Year Zero Engine OGL | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Free League Publishing | FrostByte Books |
| Year | 2017 | 2020 |
| Languages | English, Swedish, French, German, Italian | English, French, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want sci-fi exploration with a Middle Eastern-inspired setting, ship-based campaigns, and a mix of trade, intrigue, and cosmic mystery. | Groups who want to build a science-fiction campaign around a starship crew and competing organizations. Optional extended conflicts give negotiations and chases the same round-by-round attention as fights. |
| Highlights | Setting blends sci-fi with Middle Eastern mythology and Icon worship, Darkness Points create a GM resource that escalates over the session, detailed ship customization with five crew roles in space combat, ten factions provide a political backdrop for intrigue campaigns | Modular ship construction connects crew space and equipment choices to handling and damage in combat. Extended Conflicts use depleting pools to make withdrawal a meaningful choice during negotiations and chases. Passions turn personal loyalties into skill bonuses and conflicts between competing commitments. |
| Considerations | Space combat uses a separate five-phase subsystem with added complexity, praying to the Icons is the only reroll mechanic and it always costs a Darkness Point, mystical powers chapter is brief compared to the setting and combat chapters, setting is tightly coupled: 36 star systems with specific lore | The core supplies creation tools rather than a ready-made campaign setting or playable adventure. Default combat tracks hit points by body location, and a Major Wound incapacitates immediately and can kill outright on a failed Endurance roll. Starship motion uses an abstract Speed value that mostly ignores conservation of momentum. |