Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game vs Shadow of the Demon Lord
Compare Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game and Shadow of the Demon Lord side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game | Shadow of the Demon Lord | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Historical | Fantasy, Horror |
| Play Style | Horror, Player-Only Rolls, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Character-Driven, Narrative, Low-Prep, Licensed IP | Grimdark, Fast Sessions, Beginner-Friendly, GM-Friendly |
| Core Mechanic | The GM rates a task from difficulty 0 to 10 and multiplies it by 3 for the target number; difficulty 0 succeeds automatically. When a roll is required, players roll a d20 for tasks, attacks, and defenses and succeed by meeting or beating the target. Skills, assets, and Effort spent from Might, Speed, or Intellect Pools ease the difficulty; Edge reduces those Pool costs. | Roll d20 + modifier vs. target number 10. Boons and banes (d6s) add or subtract from the roll, canceling each other out. |
| Dice | d20 | d20 |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Forbidden Rules SRD |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Monte Cook Games | Schwalb Entertainment |
| Year | 2023 | 2015 |
| Best For | Groups seeking community-rooted horror in early 20th-century Appalachia, with player-controlled risk spending and theater-of-the-mind action. It suits GMs who prefer flexible adjudication and explicit horror-safety conversations. | Groups who want fast, dark fantasy with streamlined d20 mechanics and a sense of impending doom. |
| Highlights | Character arcs award XP for steps in GM-approved arcs and for climaxes even when their final goals fail, keeping personal stories mechanically active. Single-use cyphers turn folk charms and strange objects into frequently changing powers, encouraging players to spend unusual tools instead of hoarding them. What Wakes Mode widens the natural-roll range for GM intrusions until a ten-hour recovery roll resets it, turning supernatural attention into escalating mechanical pressure. | Fast character creation, quick sessions, single boon/bane mechanic replaces most modifiers, 11 levels keep campaigns short |
| Considerations | Stat Pools serve as both health and spending resources, so Effort and abilities can leave characters less able to absorb harm. The GM sets task difficulties and decides when to introduce complications, placing much of the game's consistency in GM adjudication. The game is built around alternate Appalachia in the 1920s and 1930s rather than a portable generic-horror setting. | Dark horror tone limits genre range, setting tightly coupled to core rules |