Iron Valley vs Wanderhome
Compare Iron Valley and Wanderhome side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Iron Valley | Wanderhome | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Cozy, Solo-Friendly, Rules-Light, Narrative, Beginner-Friendly, CC-Licensed Rules, Random Tables | Cozy, Narrative, Diceless, GM-Less, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Atmospheric, Rules-Light, Roleplay-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d6 (action die) + stat against 2d10 (challenge dice). Beat both challenge dice for a strong hit, beat one for a weak hit, beat neither for a miss. A simplified hack of Ironsworn with only 10 moves. Promises replace vows, satisfaction replaces XP, and a favor economy drives gift-giving and relationships. Extensive oracle tables (50+ pages) generate characters, events, locations, and heart events for solo play. | No dice, no GM. Belonging Outside Belonging engine: earn tokens by inconveniencing yourself or stepping outside your comfort zone; spend tokens to help others, reveal secrets, or achieve difficult actions. Violence is explicitly absent. Playbooks define each character's nature through lists of things they can always do, things that earn tokens, and things that cost tokens. Seasons and nature guide the journey. |
| Dice | d6 + 2d10 | Diceless |
| Complexity | Very Low | Very Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 3 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY 4.0 | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | M. Kirin | Possum Creek Games |
| Year | 2023 | 2021 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Solo players who want a cozy, low-stakes RPG about building a life in a small town: farming, crafting, making friends, and maybe falling in love, with no combat or death mechanics. | Groups who want gentle, non-violent storytelling about animal-folk journeying through a pastoral world: exploring themes of community, seasons, and small acts of kindness. |
| Highlights | Fills a cozy niche in TTRPGs: no combat, no death, just wholesome small-town life, extensive oracle tables support solo replayability, simple rules accessible to complete beginners, CC BY 4.0 license encourages sharing and hacking | Best TTRPG 2021 from Polygon and Dicebreaker, token economy (earn tokens by stepping outside comfort zone, spend them to help others) mechanically enforces non-violent play, Belonging Outside Belonging engine removes dice and GM roles, seasonal calendar structures the journey |
| Considerations | Oracle tables can produce repetitive prompts over multiple sessions. Minimal mechanical depth limits replay variety. There is no structured campaign or arc progression. | Tokens are earned and spent to take certain actions, so a table that loses track of them can stall its own pacing. Shared narrative authority spreads scene framing across the whole group, which can leave participation uneven when confidence differs. Playbook Natures fix a character's emotional register, which can feel constraining across a long campaign. |