Red Markets vs Vampire: The Masquerade
Compare Red Markets and Vampire: The Masquerade side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Red Markets | Vampire: The Masquerade | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Post-Apocalyptic | Horror, Modern |
| Play Style | Horror, Gritty, Resource Management, Roleplay-Heavy, Character-Driven | Social Intrigue, Faction Play, Urban Fantasy, Corruption, Drama, Investigation, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d10: one black (skill), one red (threat). Black higher than red means success; doubles are critical results. Characters track economic resources via Bounty (currency), gear with limited charges and upkeep costs, and a negotiation system using a Sway Tracker. Humanity erodes through Trauma, Stress, and Detachment tracks. | Roll a pool of d10s (attribute + skill), count successes (6+). Hunger dice replace regular dice in the pool: their 10s trigger Messy Criticals and their 1s trigger Bestial Failures, making the Beast an ever-present threat. |
| Dice | 2d10 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | Low | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Hebanon Games | Renegade Game Studios |
| Year | 2017 | 2018 |
| Best For | Groups who want a zombie RPG that's really about economic survival: negotiating contracts, managing resources, and deciding what you're willing to sacrifice to keep your dependents alive. | Drama-heavy campaigns exploring themes of addiction, power, and losing your humanity. |
| Highlights | Economic focus makes every job feel high-stakes, negotiation mechanics add tension before combat even starts, humanity/trauma system creates character arcs, zombie threat serves a story about capitalism and survival | Hunger system mechanically integrates the vampire's predatory nature into every dice roll. Clan membership and sect politics structure who a character allies with and opposes, giving the social game mechanical weight. Humanity and Stains system tracks moral erosion with narrative consequences. |
| Considerations | Heavy bookkeeping with multiple resource tracks, relentlessly bleak tone, steep learning curve for the Profit system, limited availability of the full rulebook | Hunger dice inject swingy results at the worst moments, since a Bestial Failure can surface on a critical roll. Play leans heavily on social and political maneuvering, so groups expecting frequent combat will find that side of the system thin. Choosing a clan and predator type at creation assumes setting knowledge the player may not have yet. |