Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (Holmes) vs Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Compare Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (Holmes) and Werewolf: The Apocalypse side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (Holmes) | Werewolf: The Apocalypse | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Horror, Modern, Fantasy |
| Tags | Classic Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Resource Management, Random Character Creation, Deadly, Vancian Casting, Descending AC, Map-Drawing | 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 target supplied by the attack or saving-throw table. Exploration, reactions, thief abilities, doors, and treasure use separate d6 or percentile procedures rather than one universal action rule. | 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 | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Very Low | Medium |
| Runnability | Low | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | 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 | Unavailable | $$ |
| Publisher | Tactical Studies Rules | Renegade Game Studios |
| Year | 1977 | 2023 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups who want a referee-led, map-and-torch dungeon campaign with low-level adventurers, treasure-driven advancement, tactical table-based combat, and room for improvised rulings. | 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 turns make mapping, searching, light, rest, and wandering monsters central expedition pressures. Worked melee and referee-player examples demonstrate combat, formation, secret-door searches, and encounter pacing in context. The included Zenopus dungeon and removable reference tables provide a ready starting site and consolidated table aid. | 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 rulebook covers only the first three character levels and points longer campaigns toward Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Combat, saving throws, thief abilities, doors, traps, and reactions each use separate procedures instead of one task mechanic. Low hit points, poison, paralysis, and other severe effects can remove characters abruptly, and no current legal complete-core storefront was located. | 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. |