Coriolis: The Third Horizon vs Scum and Villainy
Compare Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Scum and Villainy side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Coriolis: The Third Horizon | Scum and Villainy | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Exploration, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Ship-Based, Investigation, Cinematic | Narrative, Heist, Faction Play, Low-Prep, Roleplay-Heavy, Exploration, Atmospheric |
| 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. | Forged in the Dark. Roll d6 dice pool, read highest: 6 = full success, 4–5 = partial success, 1–3 = bad outcome. Position (controlled/risky/desperate) sets stakes. Flashbacks replace planning. Progress clocks track complex obstacles. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Year Zero Engine OGL | Forged in the Dark |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Free League Publishing | Evil Hat Productions / Off Guard Games |
| Year | 2017 | 2018 |
| Languages | English, Swedish, French, German, Italian | English |
| 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 Firefly/Star Wars-style spaceship crew adventures with Blades in the Dark's fiction-first mechanics. |
| 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 | Flashbacks eliminate tedious planning, ship playbooks level up alongside characters, detailed faction system, low GM prep |
| 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 game is tightly tied to its specific setting. Ship playbook progression can overshadow individual characters. The faction system requires significant GM prep between sessions. |