Dungeons & Dragons vs Wanderhome
Compare Dungeons & Dragons and Wanderhome side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons | Wanderhome | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Combat-Heavy, Exploration, Resource Management, Strong GM Support, CC-Licensed Rules | Cozy, Narrative, Diceless, GM-Less, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Atmospheric, Rules-Light, Roleplay-Heavy |
| 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. | No dice, no GM. Belonging Outside Belonging engine: earn tokens by inconveniencing yourself or stepping outside your comfort zone; spend tokens to help others, reveal secrets, or achieve difficult actions. Violence is explicitly absent. Playbooks define each character's nature through lists of things they can always do, things that earn tokens, and things that cost tokens. Seasons and nature guide the journey. |
| Dice | d20 | Diceless |
| Complexity | High | Very Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (SRD 5.2.1); proprietary core books | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | Possum Creek Games |
| Year | 2024 | 2021 |
| Languages | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want heroic fantasy campaigns with tactical combat and extensive character customization. | Groups who want gentle, non-violent storytelling about animal-folk journeying through a pastoral world: exploring themes of community, seasons, and small acts of kindness. |
| 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. | Best TTRPG 2021 from Polygon and Dicebreaker, token economy (earn tokens by stepping outside comfort zone, spend them to help others) mechanically enforces non-violent play, Belonging Outside Belonging engine removes dice and GM roles, seasonal calendar structures the journey |
| 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. | Tokens are earned and spent to take certain actions, so a table that loses track of them can stall its own pacing. Shared narrative authority spreads scene framing across the whole group, which can leave participation uneven when confidence differs. Playbook Natures fix a character's emotional register, which can feel constraining across a long campaign. |