M-SPACE vs SAKE
Compare M-SPACE and SAKE side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| M-SPACE | SAKE | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Fantasy |
| Tags | Toolkit, Modular, Skill-Based, Classless, Ship-Based, Tactical, Social Combat, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Random Tables | Crunchy, Modular, Domain Management, Sandbox, Ship-Based, Faction Play, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 without adding a modifier to the roll and succeed at or below the skill's percentage after difficulty adjusts that target. Critical successes fall within one tenth of the adjusted skill, rounded up. Opposed tests compare success levels and break successful ties with the higher roll. | Roll d20 + Skill Ranks + attribute modifier against a Difficulty Level. Characters are built with a point-buy system using Experience Points to purchase Skill Ranks, abilities, Health Points, and spells. In combat, the attacker rolls d20 + Attack against the defender's d20 + Parrying, with weapon damage reduced by armour's Damage Reduction. Sorcery uses Spellpoints and is divided into six schools, each with its own risks: failed casting rolls can trigger consequences from exhaustion to madness to summoning hostile spirits. |
| Dice | d100 | d20 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All rights reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | FrostByte Books | Seventh Son Publishing |
| Year | 2020 | 2025 |
| Languages | English, French, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want to build a science-fiction campaign around a starship crew and competing organizations. Optional extended conflicts give negotiations and chases the same round-by-round attention as fights. | Groups who want a comprehensive sandbox toolkit that seamlessly blends traditional adventuring with domain-level strategy: managing kingdoms, trading across oceans, waging wars, and navigating a detailed early-modern caste society. |
| Highlights | Modular ship construction connects crew space and equipment choices to handling and damage in combat. Extended Conflicts use depleting pools to make withdrawal a meaningful choice during negotiations and chases. Passions turn personal loyalties into skill bonuses and conflicts between competing commitments. | Four modular systems (Adventuring, Sorcery/Otherworld, Domain/Warfare, and Trade/Seafaring) each function independently and integrate with the others. Domain management operates through quarterly Domain Turns with taxes, construction, random events, espionage, and faction politics. Overseas trade system models supply, demand, and piracy across a mapped world with named trade regions and goods. Magic carries real consequences: learning spells risks madness, and failed castings can summon hostile spirits or damage the caster's soul. |
| Considerations | The core supplies creation tools rather than a ready-made campaign setting or playable adventure. Default combat tracks hit points by body location, and a Major Wound incapacitates immediately and can kill outright on a failed Endurance roll. Starship motion uses an abstract Speed value that mostly ignores conservation of momentum. | 590-page rulebook requires significant reading investment before play, even with modular adoption. Character creation can take several hours for first-time players. The default setting (Asteanic World) is deeply integrated into many rules: the caste system, trade routes, and political factions assume that setting. |