Fear of the Unknown vs Hogwarts: An RPG

Compare Fear of the Unknown and Hogwarts: An RPG side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Fear of the Unknown	Hogwarts: An RPG
Genre	Horror	Fantasy
Tags	Tag-Based, Fiction-First, Collaborative, Investigation, Mystery, Fear & Stress Mechanics, One-Shot Friendly, Rules-Light	Magic School, Licensed IP, Family-Friendly, Mystery, Rules-Light, Roll to Cast, One-Shot Friendly, CC-Licensed Rules
Core Mechanic	Roll 2d6 and add tags: invoke up to three of your character's tags for +1 each, while the Oracle invokes up to two against you for -1 each. On 10+ you fully succeed, on 7-9 you succeed at a cost, and on 6 or less the Oracle chooses a consequence. The Encounter True Horror move instead adds your accumulated Horror to the roll, where a higher total is worse, so encounters grow more dangerous as dread builds.	Roll 2d6 + trait (Bravery, Cunning, Intellect, Loyalty, or Magic). On 10+, full success. On 7–9, success with a cost or complication. On 6 or less, fail but mark Experience. Moves are triggered by the fiction: Basic Moves cover danger, stealth, persuasion, and knowledge; Magic Moves handle spellcasting, potions, dueling, and magical creatures; Quidditch Moves resolve matches.
Dice	2d6	2d6
Complexity	Low	Very Low
Availability	Free quickstart	Free core rules
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	Book tools not listed
License	Proprietary	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (original non-Harry Potter content and rules only; Harry Potter IP/trademarks excluded)
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Not yet researched
Publisher	Sixpence Games	David Brunell-Brutman
Year	2023	2020
Languages	English	English, Czech, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukrainian
Best For	Groups who want a rules-light collaborative horror mystery that plays to completion in a single session, especially fans of horror films who want to investigate a mystery and face escalating dread without any GM prep. Works well for convention one-shots and players new to narrative RPGs.	Harry Potter fans who want a rules-light, narrative RPG for playing out original stories at Hogwarts: especially groups with younger or first-time players
Highlights	Every successful Investigate roll hands the player a clue tied to the question they asked, so the mystery advances from what characters do at the table rather than from clues the Oracle hid in advance. The tags a player invokes on a roll become the fictional elements of the resulting scene, so each character's specific traits, not just the dice result, shape what happens in play. Each supernatural encounter permanently raises a character's Horror, which is added to future horror rolls, building escalating dread without a separate countdown.	Complete 16-page game with character sheets, spell lists organized by school year, Quidditch match rules, and setting reference: all free. Mysteries mechanic drives story forward with player-generated questions. Friends & Rivals system creates immediate inter-character drama. Conditions track both emotional and physical harm with distinct recovery paths.
Considerations	A single Face Peril roll resolves every dangerous situation, from a fistfight to a fall, with no initiative or enemy stats, so groups wanting tactical combat must build it themselves. The Oracle prepares no clues and improvises every answer to investigation questions live, which demands real on-the-spot creativity rather than prepared structure. The three-act structure and epilogue are built for self-contained one-shots, with no advancement loop for ongoing characters beyond gaining and losing tags.	Unlicensed fan game with no official support from the IP holders. No structured character classes or playbooks: characters differ mainly by trait scores and House. Advancement is slow, tied to accumulating four Experience. No rules for combat beyond the Duel magic move: physical conflicts use the same basic moves as everything else.