Dungeons & Dustbunnies vs Questgiver
Compare Dungeons & Dustbunnies and Questgiver side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Dungeons & Dustbunnies | Questgiver | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Comedy, Gonzo, Beginner-Friendly, One-Shot Friendly, Theater of the Mind, Improvisation, Survival | Comedy, Rules-Light, Beginner-Friendly, One-Shot Friendly, Improvisation, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | Decrease Dice: each character has one die, starting at d20, that serves as both their health and their resolution roll. To attempt a risky action, roll the die against the Difficulty your class assigns that skill; meeting or beating it succeeds, while a normal failure costs only the attempt. The die steps down a size (d20 → d12 → d10 → d8 → d6 → d4) whenever you roll a 1, take major damage, or voluntarily force the scale to convert a failure into an automatic success. A character whose die would drop below d4 falls Exhausted or dies; sleeping in a safe shelter resets it to d20 and consuming a sugar ration steps it back up one size. | Describe an action and roll a pool of d6s equal to your level in a relevant skill, then compare the total against an opposing roll. Opposition is either another character's roll or a difficulty pool the GM rolls, from 1d6 for easy up to 4d6 for nearly impossible. Rolling all sixes earns a new, more specific skill one level higher than the one just used. Every failed roll grants 1 XP. Spent XP turns a die into a six to raise a skill, but never rewrites the roll that earned it. |
| Dice | d4–d20 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very Low | Very Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free core rules |
| Runnability | Book tools not listed | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary | ORC License |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Castamar RPG Studio | Kent Malosh |
| Year | 2026 | 2025 |
| Languages | English, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a quick, comedic one-shot or short campaign as thumb-sized survivors scavenging a household that has become a hostile wilderness, with a ruleset light enough to read in a few minutes before the first session. | Comedy-focused groups who want a low-prep competitive party game built around performing absurd challenges for points, rather than a traditional fantasy campaign with combat and character progression. It works well for one-shots or short runs, and even for dropping a familiar character from another game into a single guest episode. |
| Highlights | The Decrease Dice mechanic collapses health and resolution into a single die, so every roll both tests the action and visibly wears the character down as the die shrinks toward d4. Forcing the scale lets a player turn any failure into a guaranteed success by stepping their die down a size, making each clutch moment a deliberate trade of long-term stamina for an immediate result. Monsters are rated by a Threat Die that attacks and spells whittle down, and several (the chitin-armored cockroach, the static-charged dustbunny) shrug off ordinary weapons until players expose a weak spot or switch to fire, water, or magic. | Rolling all sixes on an attempt grants a brand-new skill one level higher than the one used, so characters grow directly out of the actions players choose to try. Every failed roll banks a point of experience toward upgrading a skill, so failing at the table always feeds progress instead of stalling it. During the solo Endeavors, each contestant's attempt is submitted in secret and then played out in an order the host chooses, building game-show reveal tension into every round. |
| Considerations | Combat has no initiative or turn order (the GM narrates enemy intent and players react with defensive rolls), so there is little structure for tactical positioning. Rolling a 1 on any skill check (including routine Stealth, Alertness, or social rolls) steps the die down the same as taking a hit in combat, so avoiding unnecessary rolls becomes a survival strategy rather than a purely narrative choice. There is no advancement system: skills are fixed at character creation and the Decrease Die only ever recovers to its starting size, so characters do not grow mechanically over a campaign. | Character creation carries no mechanical weight, since the creature type, quirk, and personality options are roleplay flavor that never affects a roll. Most quests are scored however the host decides unless the quest states its own criteria, which can frustrate players who want transparent win conditions. There are no rules for combat, injury, or death, so groups wanting a mechanically consequential fantasy adventure will not find one here. |