Old-School Essentials vs Worlds Without Number
Compare Old-School Essentials and Worlds Without Number side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Old-School Essentials | Worlds Without Number | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Dungeon Crawl, Exploration, Hexcrawl, Deadly, Sandbox, Resource Management, Inventory Management, Random Tables, Vancian Casting, Strong GM Support | Sandbox, Exploration, Faction Play, Strong GM Support, Gritty, Classic Fantasy, Random Tables, Hexcrawl, Low-Prep, Domain Management |
| Core Mechanic | Attacks roll d20 against an attack matrix or an optional ascending Armour Class target. Saving throws meet a category target on d20. Ability checks roll at or below an ability score on d20. | Skill checks roll 2d6 plus the relevant skill level and attribute modifier against a difficulty. Attacks roll d20 plus base attack bonus, combat skill, and attribute modifier against the target's Armor Class. A missed melee attack can still inflict Shock damage when the target's AC is low enough. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d6 / d20 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | OGL 1.0a | CC0 1.0 Universal (SRD 1.0); proprietary core books |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Commercial publishing allowed — Worlds Without Number System Reference Document (SRD 1.0) under CC0 1.0 Universal |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Necrotic Gnome | Sine Nomine Publishing |
| Year | 2019 | 2021 |
| Languages | English, Italian, Spanish, French, Czech, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean | English |
| Best For | Groups who want treasure-driven dungeon expeditions and open wilderness campaigns with fragile starting characters. | Groups who want an open fantasy sandbox where their own goals drive play. Faction turns and campaign-building tools keep the world moving between sessions. |
| Highlights | Treasure recovered from adventures provides most experience points, rewarding successful exploration over fighting alone. Reaction and optional morale rolls let encounters lead to negotiation or flight instead of automatic combat. Stronghold construction and taxation let accumulated wealth support a growing domain. | The campaign chapter turns worldbuilding into procedures, with tags and tables that keep sandbox preparation to one session ahead. Faction turns let rival powers act between sessions, so the setting changes even when the players are elsewhere. Shock damage keeps melee misses meaningful and makes armor and shields matter in close combat. |
| Considerations | Characters die at zero hit points, and failed poison saves are usually fatal. Demihuman characters combine ancestry with class and have lower level limits than human classes. Declared spells are lost if the caster is hit or fails a saving throw before acting. | Combat resolution is deliberately simple, with positioning and Shock carrying most of the tactical weight. The rules assume a sandbox campaign and offer little structure for pre-planned story arcs. Social conflict is handled by skill checks and GM judgment rather than a dedicated subsystem. |