Skies Above vs Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Compare Skies Above and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Skies Above | Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | JRPG, Cinematic, Combat-Heavy, Tactical, High-Fantasy, Heroic, Character Building, Mana Points, Theater of the Mind, Lore-Heavy | Gritty, Deadly, Career-Based, Dark Fantasy, Roleplay-Heavy, Atmospheric, Low-Fantasy, Investigation, Corruption, Lore-Heavy, Licensed Setting, Random Character Creation, Roll to Cast, Grimdark |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d8 + two Attributes + modifiers against a Target Number (typically 10, increasing in steps of 4 for harder tasks). Natural 8s explode, rolling and adding again; every additional 8 raises the Critical Level, scaling damage and effects. A natural 1 is an Epic Fail that halves the character's Defences until their next turn. Critical hits dealt and taken generate Overdrive — once eight stacks accumulate, characters spend them to take an additional action that round, modeling the limit-break payoff of classic JRPGs. | Roll d100 under skill or characteristic. Success Levels measure degree of success by comparing the tens digits of the target and the roll. Advantage accumulates during combat, adding +10 per point to attack tests. |
| Dice | d8 | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Community | Low | Medium |
| License | All Rights Reserved | No open license |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Lost Haven Studio | Cubicle 7 |
| Year | 2026 | 2018 |
| Best For | Groups who want a JRPG-inspired tabletop adventure — picking from twelve jobs like Dragoon, Dark Mage, or Engineer, channeling elemental magic blessed by eight goddesses, and journeying by airship across floating sky-islands in the aftermath of a magical cataclysm. | Groups who want dark, gritty fantasy where ordinary people face extraordinary dangers in a richly detailed setting. The career system creates unique character arcs from rat catcher to witch hunter. |
| Highlights | Exploding d8 with stacking Critical Levels — multiple natural 8s in a row cascade into larger crits and bigger effects, so heroic moments scale rather than cap. Overdrive accumulates from critical hits dealt and received, and spending eight stacks grants an additional action that round, giving combat a JRPG limit-break rhythm. Twelve job roles span melee, magic, ranged, and support archetypes, and characters add a second job at level 12 to cross-pollinate abilities and weapon ranks. Eight elemental goddesses anchor both magic and the bestiary — every Skyfolk lineage is blessed with resistance to one element, and creatures carry specific elemental weaknesses that double incoming damage. | Detailed grimdark setting, career system creates varied character arcs, combat carries real consequences |
| Considerations | Combat is the most heavily detailed pillar of the rules, with conditions, elemental damage, front/back row positioning, and an optional battlefield grid — investigation, intrigue, and downtime get coverage but less mechanical depth. Light and Dark Mages cannot learn from the opposing path, locking each spellcaster out of half the elemental spell list and pushing magical variety into multi-job characters. The exploding-d8 swing is wide — consecutive 8s can demolish encounters while a natural 1 halves a character's Defences and opens them to brutal counters. Setting and mechanics are tightly woven: Skyfolk lineages, the eight Goddesses, and post-Breaking lore are baked into character options rather than presented as swappable flavor. | Tightly bound to the Old World setting, Success Level math can slow play, expensive supplement line |