Monsterhearts vs Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Compare Monsterhearts and Werewolf: The Apocalypse side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Monsterhearts | Werewolf: The Apocalypse | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Horror, Modern, Fantasy |
| Tags | Narrative, Fiction-First, Character-Driven, Drama, Roleplay-Heavy, Playbook-Driven, Player-Only Rolls, Theater of the Mind, Collaborative, Atmospheric | Atmospheric, Base-Building, Character Building, Character-Driven, Corruption, Drama, Lore-Heavy, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | When a move calls for dice, roll 2d6 plus Hot, Cold, Volatile, or Dark. A 10+ is good, a 7–9 is complicated, and a 6 or less lets the MC introduce unpleasant consequences. Strings represent emotional leverage that characters can spend during interactions, while the MC never rolls dice. | Build a d10 dice pool, usually from an Attribute plus a Skill. Each 6 or higher is a success, and meeting the Storyteller-set Difficulty wins. Each pair of 10s counts as four successes. Rage dice replace regular dice up to current Rage and can cause Brutal outcomes. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Buried Without Ceremony | Renegade Game Studios |
| Year | 2017 | 2023 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups who want collaborative teen-monster horror driven by desire, social leverage, and messy relationships. It suits an MC ready to discuss boundaries and facilitate safety practices. | Groups who want long-form modern horror about shapeshifter packs defending communities from ecological and spiritual threats, with violent power constrained by moral and social consequences. |
| Highlights | Strings turn emotional leverage into a spendable resource, so relationships mechanically shape influence and risk. Every Skin carries distinct moves and an economy that gives each monster archetype a different mechanical focus. A fifth advance unlocks Season Advances for everybody, then the current session plus one more session take the campaign toward its close. | Brutal outcomes can force destructive failures or add four successes to actions the Storyteller judges can benefit from Rage. Choosing a Garou form changes a character's capabilities, creating tactical and narrative options. Caerns give the pack an improvable spiritual home whose traits connect campaign advancement to territory and community. |
| Considerations | The game addresses sex, abuse, and trauma, and it calls for upfront conversations about boundaries. Physical violence uses the Lash Out Physically move, resolving harm through immediate consequences rather than a separate combat procedure. Strings and Conditions shape social interactions, while Skin-specific resources add extra tracking. | A Crinos-form Garou who did not kill in the previous turn must spend Willpower at the start of the next turn or enter frenzy, making the war form difficult to sustain outside violent scenes. Harano and Hauglosk can remove a Garou from play when despair or absolutism fills either track, making moral decline a campaign-level consequence. The game centers mature environmental and spiritual horror, including graphic violence and themes of exploitation and extremism that require deliberate table boundaries. |