Thrive to Survive vs Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Compare Thrive to Survive and Werewolf: The Apocalypse side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Thrive to Survive	Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Genre	Horror, Modern, Post-Apocalyptic	Horror, Modern, Fantasy
Tags	Survival, Tactical, Crunchy, Resource Management, Base-Building, Character Building, Simulation, Skill-Based	Atmospheric, Base-Building, Character Building, Character-Driven, Combat-Heavy, Corruption, Lore-Heavy, Strong GM Support, Superpowers, Urban Fantasy
Core Mechanic	Roll d20 + skill ranks + the related attribute and meet or beat a difficulty set by the Apocalypse Master. An untrained skill adds half its attribute, while opposed checks compare totals.	Build a d10 dice pool, usually from an Attribute plus a Skill. Each 6 or higher is a success, and meeting the Storyteller-set Difficulty wins. Pairs of 10s add successes. Rage dice replace regular dice up to current Rage and can cause Brutal outcomes.
Dice	d20	d10 dice pool
Complexity	High	High
Accessibility	Medium	Medium
Runnability	High	Very High
License	Proprietary	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$$	$$
Publisher	Caden Humpherys	Renegade Game Studios
Year	2026	2023
Best For	Groups who want a long-form modern zombie-survival campaign built around tactical grid combat, body-location injuries, detailed crafting, and turning scavenged materials into a defended settlement. It suits an Apocalypse Master who wants tools for custom infections, encounters, and campaign goals.	Groups who want long-form modern horror about shapeshifter packs defending communities from ecological and spiritual threats, with violent power constrained by moral and social consequences.
Highlights	Attacks pair maneuver-specific hit numbers with 2d10 location rolls, so armor, crippling injuries, and targeted strikes make each body part matter. Crafting links designs, material types, construction, generators, and storage, turning scavenged supplies into weapons and a working refuge. The Apocalypse Master chooses an infection model and modifies zombie templates, allowing campaigns to shift from base defense to a cure hunt without changing the core rules.	Rage dice make supernatural power volatile because Brutal results can redirect failed actions into destruction or magnify successful violence. Choosing a Garou form changes a character's capabilities, creating tactical and narrative options. Caerns give the pack an improvable spiritual home whose traits connect campaign advancement to territory and community.
Considerations	Combat resolves attacks through hit checks, location rolls, armor reduction, location health, and injury effects, creating multiple steps for every successful strike. Characters track food, water, sleep, fatigue, carry weight, ammunition, and ten crafting materials, making resource bookkeeping a central part of play. The system assumes a modern zombie apocalypse, so adapting it to other settings requires replacing much of its equipment, infection, and campaign material.	After a turn without a kill, Crinos requires Willpower each turn or frenzy follows, making the war form difficult to sustain outside violent scenes. Harano and Hauglosk can remove a Garou from play when despair or absolutism fills either track, making moral decline a campaign-level consequence. The game centers mature environmental and spiritual horror, including graphic violence and themes of exploitation and extremism that require deliberate table boundaries.