Dungeons & Dragons vs VI·VIII·X
Compare Dungeons & Dragons and VI·VIII·X side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons | VI·VIII·X | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Combat-Heavy, Exploration, Resource Management, Strong GM Support, CC-Licensed Rules | Skill-Based, Career-Based, Freeform Magic, Roll to Cast, Deadly, Gritty, Experimental |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d20 and add applicable modifiers to meet or beat a target number. Checks and saving throws use a Difficulty Class; attacks use Armor Class. Advantage or disadvantage means rolling two d20s and keeping the higher or lower result. | Action Resolution Check (ARC): roll the die set by your Exclusive Skill score (d4 at skill 1–2 up to d12 at skill 9–10); rolling at or under the skill adds that result while rolling over subtracts the difference. Add the governing Character Stat and your Morality Index, then beat a hidden GM threshold (ARCT) or an opponent's roll (ARCO), with ties going to the defender. Because the Morality Index feeds every check, how closely a character follows their chosen moral Path constantly raises or lowers all their rolls. |
| Dice | d20 | d4–d12 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (SRD 5.2.1); proprietary core books | VI·VIII·X Third Party License |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | Knight of the Lake Games |
| Year | 2024 | 2025 |
| Languages | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want heroic fantasy campaigns with tactical combat and extensive character customization. | Experienced GMs running morally grounded fantasy who want player choices to carry hidden mechanical weight, and tables that prefer immersion and information asymmetry over full rules transparency. |
| Highlights | Weapon Mastery adds effects such as pushing or slowing enemies to qualifying weapon attacks. Class and feat choices let characters develop different roles over twenty levels. Optional Bastions give characters home bases with facilities that produce benefits between adventures. | A character's Morality Index adds to every check, so holding to a chosen moral Path lifts all rolls while drifting from it imposes a growing penalty until the character returns, and the GM tracks the grid position in secret so players feel the swing without seeing its cause. Secret Sorcery, the arcane tradition, pairs one element word with one principle word from twelve Magic Circles to declare any effect the GM prices by scope, removing spell lists and preparation and pushing magic toward improvised problem-solving. Characters have no hit points, so damage lowers the relevant Character Stat, and a stat reduced to zero starts a countdown of stat-plus-level turns during which healing can still reverse it before death locks in. |
| Considerations | Spells and class abilities have separate resource limits and timing rules. Higher-level magic can change travel and encounter assumptions that the DM must prepare for. Social encounters rely on ability checks and DM judgments about NPC attitudes. | The Keep Uneducated Paradigm places the morality grid, hidden thresholds, growth points, and State of Mind tracking entirely on the GM, a parallel bookkeeping load that grows with the party. Resting recovers only one or two stat points per day and any real activity reverses healing, while magical healing ages the character a week per point restored, forcing long downtime between fights. Social interaction has no mechanical subsystem and defaults to the player's own roleplaying, so persuasion, intimidation, and negotiation rely on the generic check rather than any dedicated social rules. |