Night's Black Agents vs Vaesen
Compare Night's Black Agents and Vaesen side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Night's Black Agents | Vaesen | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Horror |
| Tags | Investigation, Espionage, Character-Driven, Gritty | Investigation, Narrative, Atmospheric, Mystery, Character-Driven, Gritty, Deadly |
| Core Mechanic | GUMSHOE engine. Investigative abilities auto-succeed: if you have the skill and there's a clue, you find it. General abilities (combat, athletics) roll 1d6 + spent points vs. difficulty 4. Point pools refresh between sessions, creating resource-management tension. Four play modes (Burn, Dust, Mirror, Stakes) tune mechanics to your preferred espionage tone. | Roll a d6 dice pool (attribute + skill). Each 6 is a success. Push your roll to reroll failures but take a Condition (Exhausted, Wounded, Frightened, Hopeless). Mysteries follow a structured investigation format. Between mysteries, upgrade your shared headquarters. |
| Dice | d6 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | Book tools not listed | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | GUMSHOE SRD (CC BY 3.0 / OGL) | Year Zero Engine OGL |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Pelgrane Press | Free League Publishing |
| Year | 2012 | 2025 |
| Languages | English | English, Swedish, German, Italian, Spanish, French |
| Best For | Groups who want spy-thriller action fused with supernatural horror: burned agents unraveling a vampire conspiracy through investigation, chases, and tradecraft. | Investigation-focused Nordic horror campaigns where players uncover folklore mysteries, confront tragic mythological creatures, and build up a shared headquarters between cases. |
| Highlights | Investigation never stalls: clues flow automatically, Conspyramid campaign structure is a well-designed GM tool, four tonal modes let you dial in the spy genre you want, highly modular vampire creation system, works stripped of vampires for pure espionage | Strong atmosphere and thematic design, structured mystery format keeps investigations focused, push mechanic creates tension, headquarters upgrades add campaign investment |
| Considerations | NPC combat math can feel unbalanced against PCs, multiple point pools to track can bottleneck play, narrow genre focus limits reuse, requires significant GM prep for conspiracy networks | Investigation success is heavily GM-dependent, narrow 19th century Nordic horror focus, dice system can feel too simple for complex mysteries, information layout can be hard to navigate |