DIE vs Vampire: The Masquerade

Compare DIE and Vampire: The Masquerade side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	DIE	Vampire: The Masquerade
Genre	Fantasy, Horror	Horror, Modern
Tags	Dark Fantasy, Playbook-Driven, Character-Driven, Narrative, Drama, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Atmospheric, Worldbuilding, Collaborative	Social Intrigue, Faction Play, Urban Fantasy, Corruption, Drama, Character-Driven, Resource Management, Superpowers, Social Combat, Lore-Heavy
Core Mechanic	Build a dice pool of d6s equal to the stat most relevant to the task (0–4), adding dice for advantages and removing dice for disadvantages. Each 4+ is a success; the GM's difficulty subtracts from that total. Each 6+ can also activate a Special ability tied to the roll. Each of the six Paragon classes is identified with a different polyhedral die (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, or d20) that can be added to the pool to power that class's signature abilities.	Roll attribute plus skill in d10s, counting 6+ as successes against a difficulty. Paired 10s add extra successes. Hunger replaces ordinary dice in most pools: a winning critical containing a Hunger 10 becomes messy, while a failed test containing a Hunger 1 becomes a bestial failure.
Dice	d6 dice pool + d4–d20	d10 dice pool
Complexity	Medium	High
Accessibility	High	High
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	Proprietary	Community Content Agreement for the Storytellers Vault
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$$	$$
Publisher	Rowan, Rook & Decard	Renegade Game Studios
Year	2022	2018
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese
Best For	Groups who want an emotionally heavy, character-focused portal fantasy: real-world friends enter a fantasy world that mirrors their buried issues and must decide whether they can ever agree to go home.	Groups who want campaigns about vampire coteries balancing political ambition, predatory hunger, and relationships with the humans they still care about.
Highlights	Six Paragon classes each tied to a specific polyhedral die with its own subsystem: Dictator breaks hearts with words, Fool gains luck from acting carefree, Emotion Knight weaponizes a chosen feeling, Neo powers techno-magic with daily-refreshing Fair Gold, Godbinder bargains with gods for miracles, Master rewrites reality as a rule-bender. Real-world Flashback lets each player recall a memory once per session for advantage on any task. Session-zero procedures build the Personas and the fantasy world around their buried issues. Designed around 2–3 session games with extended campaign rules provided.	Using supernatural powers can increase Hunger, making the next hunt harder to postpone. Convictions and human Touchstones make moral compromise carry consequences beyond winning the immediate conflict. Coteries share hunting territories and social assets, giving political ambitions a foothold in the city.
Considerations	Premise requires players willing to roleplay vulnerable real-world versions of themselves before any fantasy play begins. Bleed themes (the fiction leaking into real relationships) push emotional intensity that many groups will need explicit safety buy-in for. Each Paragon has a distinct subsystem the class's player must learn individually. The fantasy world is built collaboratively in session zero around the player Personas rather than drawn from a fixed setting, placing significant improvisational load on the GM.	Messy criticals and bestial failures can put predation or compulsions into scenes where players hoped to stay in control. Character creation requires choices across clans, powers, feeding habits, advantages, and human ties. Establishing the chronicle’s relationships and boundaries for mature themes takes group preparation even when using a published city.