Dungeons & Dragons vs Troika!
Compare Dungeons & Dragons and Troika! side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons | Troika! | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Scifi |
| Play Style | Tactical, Heroic, Dungeon Crawl, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Beginner-Friendly, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy, Ascending AC | Rules-Light, Weird, Random Character Creation, Low-Prep, Improvisation, Deadly, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + modifier against a target DC (for ability checks and saving throws) or AC (for attacks). Meeting or exceeding the target succeeds. Advantage rolls 2d20 and takes the higher; disadvantage takes the lower, replacing most situational modifiers. | Three stats: Skill, Stamina, Luck. Roll 2d6 under Skill + Advanced Skill to succeed. Initiative uses a random token-draw stack: unpredictable turn order. Luck is a consumable resource that depletes with each test. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Low |
| License | CC BY 4.0 (SRD); core books proprietary | Open (Troika! SRD) |
| Cost | $$$ | $ |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | Melsonian Arts Council |
| Year | 2024 | 2019 |
| Best For | Groups who want heroic fantasy combining tactical grid combat with deep character-build options, scaling from one-shots up through long multi-tier campaigns. | Fast, surreal science-fantasy adventures with minimal rules and random character generation. Ideal for one-shots and improvisational play. |
| Highlights | Advantage and disadvantage collapse most situational modifiers into one mechanic: roll a second d20 and keep the higher or lower, so play rarely stops to total small bonuses. Each of the 12 classes offers four subclasses in the 2024 Player's Handbook, letting players reshape a class's role without multiclassing. Bounded accuracy keeps proficiency bonuses small, so low-level threats stay relevant in numbers and DCs read consistently across all tiers. | Simple rules, creative backgrounds double as setting material, chaotic token-draw initiative creates unpredictable turn order, consumable Luck depletes with each test |
| Considerations | High-level play (tier 3–4) introduces significant spell interaction complexity and encounter balancing challenges for GMs. No official rules for non-fantasy genres. Three core books at $50 each represent a significant investment for the full rules. | Initiative stack can leave players unable to act for long stretches, mixed roll-under/roll-over mechanics confuse new players, setting is implied rather than described, minimal tactical depth |