Dread vs We Are But Worms
Compare Dread and We Are But Worms side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Dread | We Are But Worms | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror | Universal |
| Tags | Atmospheric, CC-Licensed Rules, Character-Driven, Deadly, Diceless, Experimental, Fiction-First, Narrative, One-Shot Friendly, Rules-Light | Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, GM-Less, Freeform Magic, Experimental |
| Core Mechanic | The host calls for a pull when a character attempts something they could conceivably do but might fail, particularly outside their experience or under aggravated conditions. The player removes one block from a shared tower and places it on top, and the action succeeds if the tower remains standing. Refusing the pull means the action fails, though that failure cannot remove the character from the game. If the tower collapses, that player's character is removed from the game. | The entire game is one word. No dice, no stats, no GM. Playable as a tabletop RPG or LARP. Explores physical embodiment and perspective through the act of play itself. |
| Dice | Diceless | Diceless |
| Complexity | Very Low | Very Low |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 3 of 5 book tools | Book tools not listed |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | The Impossible Dream | Riverhouse Games |
| Year | 2005 | 2019 |
| Languages | English, German, Italian, Hungarian | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a single-session horror story where improvised character drama and irreversible risk matter more than tactical combat. | Anyone curious about the absolute boundary of what an RPG can be: a single-word game about embodiment, physicality, and being a worm. |
| Highlights | Successful pulls leave the shared tower increasingly precarious, so earlier success raises the risk for every later action. Questionnaire answers define each character's capabilities and vulnerabilities, giving the host concrete material for rulings and scenarios. Deliberately toppling the tower lets a player trade their character for one final dramatically appropriate success. | Entire game is a single word, playable as tabletop or LARP, zero barrier to entry |
| Considerations | The game requires a physical block tower, a stable surface, and manual dexterity. A collapse removes a character from play, so a player can lose their character before the story ends. Running the game asks the host to prepare questionnaires and make frequent pull judgments, even when running a published scenario. | No mechanical structure: no dice, no stats, no resolution system, one word of rules text with no GM guidance or scenario framework, single session only, no character creation or advancement |