Twilight Sword vs Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City
Compare Twilight Sword and Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Twilight Sword | Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | JRPG, Heroic, Beginner-Friendly, Theater of the Mind, Inventory Management, Journey, Random Tables | Journey, Exploration, Sandbox, Resource Management, Inventory Management, Random Tables, Improvisation, Strong GM Support, Gonzo, Weird |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d12 against one of eight Abilities and score equal to or under it to succeed, so low rolls are good. A 1 is always a critical success and a 12 always a critical failure, whatever the Ability score. Modifiers shift the target by up to 3 in either direction. Advantage rolls 2d12 and keeps the lower result, while Disadvantage keeps the higher. | 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 | d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary (third-party license pending) | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — When Time Fades compatibility license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Two Little Mice / Free League Publishing | Exalted Funeral Press |
| Year | 2026 | 2019 |
| Languages | English, Italian | English, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups who want the feel of JRPG and adventure video games at the table, with a core roll simple enough to teach newcomers. The low-lethality tone suits family or mixed-experience tables running long campaigns of travel and monster hunting. | Groups who want a long science-fantasy caravan campaign centered on exploration, trade, and survival across an open-ended world. |
| Highlights | Eight elements form a cycle where each beats the next, so picking an element against a monster's affinity is a puzzle rather than a flat damage bonus. A monster's Threat rating sets both how many the party should face and how many turns it takes each round, letting one number carry encounter balance and battlefield pacing. Advancement runs off a shared Hope track earned by completing deeds, tying character growth to how much of the world the party has restored. | 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 | Defeated Champions are knocked out rather than killed, and permanent death exists only as an optional rule the table must agree to before play begins. Cooking and brewing each require assembling a dice pool from gathered ingredients and reading it against a tiered effect table, a separate procedure from core resolution. Combat positioning uses four abstract ranges rather than measured distances, and the optional battle-map conversion is a short note rather than a developed ruleset. | 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. |