Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert vs Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Compare Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert and Werewolf: The Apocalypse side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert | Werewolf: The Apocalypse | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Horror, Modern, Fantasy |
| Tags | Classic Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Hexcrawl, Resource Management, Deadly, Vancian Casting, Descending AC, Domain Management | Atmospheric, Base-Building, Character Building, Character-Driven, Corruption, Drama, Lore-Heavy, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d20 and meet or exceed the attack or saving-throw target supplied by class, level, Hit Dice, and descending Armor Class. Exploration, reactions, morale, thief abilities, and treasure use their own d6, 2d6, or percentile procedures. | Build a d10 dice pool, usually from an Attribute plus a Skill. Each 6 or higher is a success, and meeting the Storyteller-set Difficulty wins. Each pair of 10s counts as four successes. Rage dice replace regular dice up to current Rage and can cause Brutal outcomes. |
| Dice | d20 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | TSR Hobbies, Inc. | Renegade Game Studios |
| Year | 1981 | 2023 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups who want a dangerous, referee-led fantasy campaign that starts with mapped dungeon expeditions and grows into wilderness travel, retainers, strongholds, and territorial play. | Groups who want long-form modern horror about shapeshifter packs defending communities from ecological and spiritual threats, with violent power constrained by moral and social consequences. |
| Highlights | Ten-minute dungeon turns connect mapping, searching, light, encumbrance, rest, and wandering-monster pressure. Reaction and morale procedures allow negotiation, evasion, surrender, and retreat to matter alongside combat. The Expert volume expands the campaign into hex travel, naval expeditions, magical research, strongholds, settlers, and rulership. | Brutal outcomes can force destructive failures or add four successes to actions the Storyteller judges can benefit from Rage. Choosing a Garou form changes a character's capabilities, creating tactical and narrative options. Caerns give the pack an improvable spiritual home whose traits connect campaign advancement to territory and community. |
| Considerations | The complete level 1 through 14 game requires both the Basic and Expert rulebooks. Descending Armor Class, class-specific tables, and separate procedures replace a universal action mechanic. Low hit points, poison saves, and other severe effects make early play highly lethal. | A Crinos-form Garou who did not kill in the previous turn must spend Willpower at the start of the next turn or enter frenzy, making the war form difficult to sustain outside violent scenes. Harano and Hauglosk can remove a Garou from play when despair or absolutism fills either track, making moral decline a campaign-level consequence. The game centers mature environmental and spiritual horror, including graphic violence and themes of exploitation and extremism that require deliberate table boundaries. |