Oceania 2084 vs Wanderhome
Compare Oceania 2084 and Wanderhome side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Oceania 2084 | Wanderhome | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi, Cyberpunk | Fantasy |
| Tags | GM-Less, Narrative, Collaborative, Drama, Roleplay-Heavy, Solo-Friendly, Crunchy, CC-Licensed Rules | Cozy, Narrative, Diceless, GM-Less, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Atmospheric, Rules-Light, Roleplay-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Resistance characters' Acts normally succeed as narrated within a six-phase Day in Dystopia. When a Value is challenged, roll d6 against the linked Emotion: Good Values succeed on a roll above it and Bad Values on a roll below it. | 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 | Diceless |
| Complexity | High | Very Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Jocher Symbolic Systems | Possum Creek Games |
| Year | 2024 | 2021 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a politically explicit dystopian campaign about preserving private bonds under state surveillance. It suits tables comfortable sharing narrative authority with an adversarial Big Brother player, character turnover, and post-session debriefs. | 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 | Acts normally resolve through narration rather than task rolls, keeping attention on what resistance costs instead of whether a character can perform it. Value Tests turn public loyalty and private belief into emotional pressure: success shifts a shadow emotion, and failure causes an outburst or Stress. Physical Notes written by dead characters grant 2 Hope when another dissident finds them; a Note carried into interrogation can be confiscated as evidence. | 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 | The campaign assumes the regime eventually breaks or vaporizes its dissidents, so it does not support a conventional revolution or heroic victory arc. The Big Brother player tracks a concealed surveillance economy and interprets its Reaction tables, making that role more demanding than a neutral facilitator. The game requires a shared willingness to portray propaganda, betrayal, and emotional distress, even though it includes safety and debrief procedures. | 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. |