Scum and Villainy vs The Sprawl
Compare Scum and Villainy and The Sprawl side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Scum and Villainy | The Sprawl | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Narrative, Heist, Faction Play, Low-Prep, Roleplay-Heavy, Exploration, Atmospheric | Mission-Based, Espionage, Heist, Noir, Gritty, Faction Play, Playbook-Driven, Fiction-First, Player-Only Rolls, One-Shot Friendly |
| Core Mechanic | Forged in the Dark. Roll d6 dice pool, read highest: 6 = full success, 4–5 = partial success, 1–3 = bad outcome. Position (controlled/risky/desperate) sets stakes. Flashbacks replace planning. Progress clocks track complex obstacles. | When an action matches a move's fictional trigger, roll 2d6 plus Cool, Edge, Meat, Mind, Style, or Synth. A 10+ is a strong hit, 7-9 is a weak hit, and a 6 or less lets the MC make a move. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Availability | Paid | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Forged in the Dark | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Evil Hat Productions / Off Guard Games | Ardens Ludere |
| Year | 2018 | 2016 |
| Languages | English | English, French |
| Best For | Groups who want Firefly/Star Wars-style spaceship crew adventures with Blades in the Dark's fiction-first mechanics. | Groups who want structured heist-style missions with a hacking minigame and a growing web of corporate rivals across a campaign. It suits players who enjoy risky planning and personal ties that complicate the crew's loyalties. |
| Highlights | Flashbacks eliminate tedious planning, ship playbooks level up alongside characters, detailed faction system, low GM prep | Countdown Clocks track legwork noise, mission alertness, and corporate attention on separate tracks, giving missions a visible pressure gauge instead of a single doom clock. Cyberdeck ratings and tiered ICE turn hacking into its own tactical minigame layered on the standard moves. The Legwork and Action phase structure lets intel and gear earned through investigation convert directly into narrated advantages during the mission itself. |
| Considerations | The game is tightly tied to its specific setting. Ship playbook progression can overshadow individual characters. The faction system requires significant GM prep between sessions. | Combat and infiltration rely on fictional positioning and MC judgment as much as dice modifiers, so groups who want tightly defined tactical rules may find some outcomes settled by table discussion. Running an ongoing campaign means the MC tracks separate Countdown Clocks for every corporation, threat, and mission in play at once. Choosing how a character paid for their starting cyberware can permanently tie that character to being owned or hunted by a specific corporation. |