Flying Circus vs Invisible Sun
Compare Flying Circus and Invisible Sun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Flying Circus | Invisible Sun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Sandbox | Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Crunchy, Worldbuilding, Lore-Heavy, Mana Points, Narrative, Roleplay-Heavy, Weird |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d10 + stat: 10 or less is a miss, 11–15 is a partial hit, 16+ is a full hit. Moves are triggered by fiction. Air combat uses energy management, altitude, and speed on instrument panels. Stress accumulated in missions is relieved between flights through vices and relationships. | Subtract your venture (skills, spent bene from stat pools, situational modifiers) from the GM's challenge to find the number you must meet or beat on a d10. If venture meets the challenge, no roll is needed. Spending bene from the Sorcery pool casts spells and adds extra dice to magical actions (succeed if any die meets the target), but a flux result on a magic die triggers magical flux, an unintended side effect. The Sooth Deck of 60 cards plays along the Path of Suns board, and each new card shifts which colors of magic strengthen or weaken at the table. |
| Dice | 2d10 | d10 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Availability | Paid | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary (PbtA) | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Newstand Press | Monte Cook Games |
| Year | 2020 | 2018 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a deeply detailed aerial combat game wrapped in a rich, character-driven story about mercenary pilots in a post-war fantasy world. | Groups who want long-form magical roleplaying in a surreal setting where character arcs and spellcasting matter as much as combat. Particularly suited to tables willing to invest in deep character creation and the elaborate physical components (card decks and the Path of Suns play board) that the system uses. |
| Highlights | Highly detailed air combat, setting blends WWI aviation with Miyazaki-esque fantasy, character-driven downtime system, free aircraft builder tool, 10 diverse playbook backgrounds | Four distinct magic orders each use different rules: Vance sorcerers prepare and cast spells learned from books, Makers craft lasting magical items through the Maker's Matrix, Weavers improvise spells by combining aggregates, and Goetics summon and bind demons. The Sooth Deck of 60 cards plays along a Path of Suns board to shift which colors of magic strengthen or weaken in real time. Character arcs are the primary advancement engine: players pursue personal goals to earn Acumen and Crux points, with arcs ranging from short stories to entire campaigns. Between-session 'side-scenes' let characters take significant actions in writing without taking up table time. |
| Considerations | Dense and intimidating to learn, very niche aerial-combat focus, requires printing instrument panels and component cards, limited to its specific setting | The full game uses an extensive physical-component library (Sooth Deck, multiple spell and ephemera decks, the Path of Suns board, character tomes, and stat pool sheets), all integral to play. Character creation runs eight steps across multiple chapters and typically occupies a full session before play begins. The Satyrine setting and its dream-logic surrealism are built into the rules; adapting Invisible Sun to a more conventional fantasy world requires reworking the magic registers, currency, and order structure. The Black Cube boxed set's premium pricing creates a higher barrier to entry than typical RPGs. |