Dungeons & Dragons vs OpenQuest
Compare Dungeons & Dragons and OpenQuest side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons | OpenQuest | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Vancian Casting, Ascending AC | Skill-Based, Classless, Beginner-Friendly, Deadly, Sword & Sorcery, Mana Points, Roll to Cast, Theater of the Mind, Open Source, GM-Friendly |
| Core Mechanic | Make a D20 Test by rolling d20, adding relevant modifiers, and comparing the total to a target number. Ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls use this procedure. Advantage and disadvantage use two d20s and keep the higher or lower result. | Roll d100 equal to or under a skill percentage to succeed. Doubles on a success (11, 22, 33) are critical successes; doubles on a failure are fumbles. Modifiers apply in meaningful increments of ±20% or ±50% only. Opposed tests have both sides roll, with the highest successful roll winning. Fortune points allow rerolls and can prevent character death. |
| Dice | d20 | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | CC BY 4.0 (SRD); core books proprietary | CC BY 4.0 (SRD) |
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | D101 Games |
| Year | 2024 | 2021 |
| Best For | Groups who want heroic fantasy with configurable tactical combat, broad character options, and campaigns that span multiple levels. | Groups wanting a streamlined D100 fantasy system that retains the feel of classic BRP (deadly combat, three distinct magic systems, and percentile skills) without hit locations or fiddly modifiers. |
| Highlights | Advantage and disadvantage resolve common situational effects by selecting the higher or lower of two d20 rolls. Backgrounds, classes, subclasses, and feats distribute character choices across creation and advancement. Weapon Mastery gives qualifying weapon users distinct tactical effects without replacing the action economy. | Three magic systems (Personal Magic, Divine Magic, and Sorcery) each with distinct mechanics and progression. Simplified modifiers (±20% or ±50% only) reduce bookkeeping without sacrificing impact. Social combat subsystem handles fast talk, oratory, and intimidation with mechanical structure. Full SRD released under CC BY 4.0, which has spawned commercial derivatives like Jackals (Osprey Games). |
| Considerations | Spell preparation, spell slots, class features, and conditions create several interacting resources for players to track. High-level characters combine many spells and features, increasing adjudication work for the DM. Bastions add a separate downtime procedure for campaigns that use the stronghold rules. | No hit location system: groups wanting granular wound tracking should look to Mythras or RuneQuest. Low hit point totals make combat swingy from single lucky or unlucky rolls. Non-human character options (Ducks, Elves, Dwarves) are optional rules only. |