Genesys vs Honor + Intrigue

Compare Genesys and Honor + Intrigue side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Genesys	Honor + Intrigue
Genre	Universal	Historical
Tags	Toolkit, Narrative, Career-Based, Social Combat, Modular, Hackable, Character Building	Career-Based, Cinematic, Social Combat, Social Intrigue, Heroic, Fast-Paced, Martial Arts, Ship-Based, Pirates, Theater of the Mind
Core Mechanic	Assemble a pool of custom narrative dice: positive dice (Boost, Ability, Proficiency) from character ability and skill, negative dice (Setback, Difficulty, Challenge) from task difficulty and circumstances. Roll all dice and cancel opposing symbols: Success vs. Failure determines if the task succeeds, Advantage vs. Threat determines beneficial or harmful side effects, and Triumph/Despair trigger powerful narrative outcomes. All three axes resolve independently, so a check can succeed with complications or fail with a silver lining.	Roll 2d6 + Quality (Might, Daring, Savvy, or Flair) + Career rank vs. 9 to succeed. In combat, Combat Abilities (Brawl, Melee, Ranged, Defense) replace Careers. Bonus Dice roll 3d6 and keep the best two; Penalty Dice keep the worst two. Fortune Points let heroes escape death, add bonus dice, invoke dramatic license, or press the Advantage in duels. Advantage tracks momentum in melee: characters start at 3 and lose Advantage when hit, becoming Defeated at 0. Nine Dueling Styles (Spanish, Italian, French, and more) each grant unique maneuvers and a Final Secret at mastery. Social Combat uses the same framework, targeting Composure instead of Lifeblood.
Dice	Custom dice	2d6
Complexity	Medium	Medium
Availability	Paid	Paid
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	Genesys Foundry (community content program)	Proprietary
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Not yet researched
Publisher	Fantasy Flight Games	Basic Action Games
Year	2017	2012
Languages	English	English
Best For	Groups who want a genre-flexible system where every dice roll generates narrative texture beyond pass/fail, and who enjoy interpreting results collaboratively at the table.	Groups who want cinematic swashbuckling in the style of The Three Musketeers and Captain Blood: dashing swordplay, court intrigue, and sea battles with a fast, career-based system.
Highlights	Every roll produces multiple axes of outcome, creating layered narrative results beyond binary success/failure. Full social encounter rules give non-combat interactions the same mechanical depth as combat. The GM Toolkit provides structured guidance for creating custom settings, species, talents, and gear. Six example settings (fantasy, steampunk, weird war, modern, sci-fi, space opera) included in the core book.	Nine Dueling Styles with distinct maneuvers and masterable Final Secrets provide deep fencing differentiation. Social Combat and Repartee use the same mechanical framework as physical combat, targeting Composure. Over 30 period-specific Careers from Musketeer to Temptress replace skill lists. Includes ship-to-ship combat, battlefield rules, and a 17th-century gazetteer covering Europe, the Americas, and beyond.
Considerations	Requires proprietary narrative dice or the Genesys Dice App: standard polyhedral dice cannot be used without conversion charts. Interpreting multiple symbol types on every roll can slow play for groups unfamiliar with the system. No free quickstart or SRD available.	No free quickstart or SRD available. Advantage tracking adds a subsystem on top of basic BoL resolution. The gazetteer and setting material assume 17th-century Europe as the default, limiting out-of-the-box use for other periods.