Stonetop vs Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City
Compare Stonetop and Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Stonetop | Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | CC-Licensed Rules, Playbook-Driven, Resource Management, Fiction-First, Strong GM Support, Base-Building, Journey, Character-Driven, Worldbuilding, Exploration | Journey, Exploration, Sandbox, Resource Management, Inventory Management, Random Tables, Improvisation, Strong GM Support, Gonzo, Weird |
| Core Mechanic | Describe what your character does; when it meets a move's trigger, roll 2d6 and add a stat from -1 to +3. A 10+ is a strong hit and a 7-9 is a weak hit: partial success or success with a cost. On a 6-, PCs normally mark XP and the GM makes a hard move unless the move says otherwise. Advantage or disadvantage normally adds a third d6 and drops the lowest or highest; damage rolls instead roll damage twice and keep the best or worst result. The GM does not generally roll during play. | Roll d20 + the relevant stat + a trained skill bonus to exceed a target number. A natural 1 fails and a natural 20 succeeds. Advantage adds a die and keeps the better result; disadvantage keeps the worse result, and the two cancel. Some tests instead read the total on an outcome table. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d20 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Commercial publishing allowed — When Time Fades compatibility license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Lampblack & Brimstone | Exalted Funeral Press |
| Year | 2026 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups who want a long-running hearth-fantasy campaign centered on a village as much as its heroes. Play alternates dangerous expeditions into a darkening iron-age world with homefront scenes of courtship, harvest, and community projects. | Groups who want a long science-fantasy caravan campaign centered on exploration, trade, and survival across an open-ended world. |
| Highlights | The steading playbook tracks the village's Fortunes and Surplus, so projects and disasters change what Stonetop can withstand. Seasons Change generates or consumes Surplus and grants seasonal gains, so the village's resources change with each passing season. Expeditions make preparation matter by weighing load and supplies against GM-presented travel challenges. | Weekly travel procedures connect supplies and setbacks to the time available for exploration. Discoveries award experience for reaching and investigating unfamiliar places. Market research and trade-route investments let a caravan turn geographical knowledge into income. |
| Considerations | The game is built around defending one village, so rootless or wandering parties leave its homefront engine behind. Combat relies on spotlighting, abstract range tags, and fictional positioning, which may not suit groups that want a detailed tactical combat procedure. Supplies, load, provisions, and village Surplus are tracked in several places, adding steady bookkeeping to expeditions and downtime. | The included SEACAT rules are an excerpt rather than the complete engine, and most spells are omitted. A week of rest normally restores only one damaged attribute or condition. The setting includes slavery, drug addiction, and body horror. |