Scum and Villainy vs Traveller
Compare Scum and Villainy and Traveller side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Scum and Villainy | Traveller | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Play Style | Narrative, Heist, Faction Play, Low-Prep, Roleplay-Heavy, Exploration, Atmospheric | Sandbox, Simulation, Exploration, Deadly, Character Building, Faction Play |
| 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. | Roll 2d6 + skill + modifier ≥ 8 to succeed. Character generation is a mini-game. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | Forged in the Dark | Traveller Fair Use Policy |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Evil Hat Productions / Off Guard Games | Mongoose Publishing |
| Year | 2018 | 2022 |
| Best For | Groups who want Firefly/Star Wars-style spaceship crew adventures with Blades in the Dark's fiction-first mechanics. | Hard sci-fi sandbox campaigns with trading, exploration, and realistic space travel. |
| Highlights | Flashbacks eliminate tedious planning, ship playbooks level up alongside characters, detailed faction system, low GM prep | Comprehensive sci-fi toolkit, lifepath character creation, detailed trade/travel systems |
| Considerations | Tightly tied to its specific setting, ship playbook progression can overshadow individual characters, faction system requires significant GM prep between sessions | Lifepath character creation rolls for aging and career mishaps, so a Traveller can leave chargen weakened or pushed onto an unwanted path. Subsystem rules are spread across multiple supplements, so the core book leaves several procedures without full depth. Characteristics are recorded as a hexadecimal Universal Personality Profile string, an unusual notation newcomers must learn before they can read a stat block. |