Flying Circus vs Shadow of the Demon Lord
Compare Flying Circus and Shadow of the Demon Lord side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Flying Circus | Shadow of the Demon Lord | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Horror |
| Tags | Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Sandbox | Dark Fantasy, Gritty, Deadly, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Corruption, Character Building, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Atmospheric, Strong GM Support |
| 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. | Roll d20 plus an attribute modifier against 10 for a challenge or the target’s Defense or attribute for an attack. Boons and banes cancel one for one. Roll the remaining d6s and add the highest boon or subtract the highest bane. |
| Dice | 2d10 | d20, d6 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary (PbtA) | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Newstand Press | Schwalb Entertainment |
| Year | 2020 | 2015 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Chinese |
| 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 lethal fantasy horror with flexible character paths and campaigns built around eleven adventures. |
| 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 | Novice, expert and master paths combine freely to create specialized characters. Fast turns trade movement for an earlier action. Insanity and Corruption give frightening encounters and forbidden acts lasting mechanical consequences. |
| Considerations | Dense and intimidating to learn, very niche aerial-combat focus, requires printing instrument panels and component cards, limited to its specific setting | Starting characters can die from a single strong hit. The rules include graphic body horror and disturbing effects of forbidden magic. Advancement ends at level 10 after the campaign’s final adventure. |