Vampire: The Masquerade vs We Can Be Heroes
Compare Vampire: The Masquerade and We Can Be Heroes side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Vampire: The Masquerade | We Can Be Heroes | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Superhero, Modern |
| Tags | Social Intrigue, Faction Play, Urban Fantasy, Corruption, Drama, Character-Driven, Resource Management, Superpowers, Social Combat, Lore-Heavy | Heroic, Superpowers, Combat-Heavy, Cinematic, Character Building, Faction Play |
| Core Mechanic | Roll attribute plus skill in d10s, counting 6+ as successes against a difficulty. Paired 10s add extra successes. Hunger replaces ordinary dice in most pools: a winning critical containing a Hunger 10 becomes messy, while a failed test containing a Hunger 1 becomes a bestial failure. | Roll d20 + Talent Modifier vs. GM-set threshold for Talent Checks. Superpowers use Target Die (d12 at levels 1–9, d20 at levels 10–20) + Superpower Die + Moxie. Superpower Attacks always hit: damage is the variable. Hero's Favor points fuel superpowers and creative power use. Action Points govern turns with Primary (3 AP) and Secondary (2 AP) actions. Public Merit tracks faction reputation for favors, intel, and gear upgrades. Hero's Moment rewards critical failures with one-per-level power-ups. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d4–d20 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | Book tools not listed |
| License | Community Content Agreement for the Storytellers Vault | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Renegade Game Studios | BudStuff Games |
| Year | 2018 | 2024 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese | English |
| Best For | Groups who want campaigns about vampire coteries balancing political ambition, predatory hunger, and relationships with the humans they still care about. | Groups who want crunchy superhero campaigns with detailed character builds, tiered superpowers, and a reputation system that ties heroism to community relationships. |
| Highlights | Using supernatural powers can increase Hunger, making the next hunt harder to postpone. Convictions and human Touchstones make moral compromise carry consequences beyond winning the immediate conflict. Coteries share hunting territories and social assets, giving political ambitions a foothold in the city. | Public Merit system ties heroism to community impact through faction reputation, six superpower archetypes with five-tier progression and Auxiliary Powers for build variety, Hero's Moment turns critical failures into one-per-level power-ups, Hero's Favor points enable out-of-combat power use (freezing locks, creating barriers, boosting checks) |
| Considerations | Messy criticals and bestial failures can put predation or compulsions into scenes where players hoped to stay in control. Character creation requires choices across clans, powers, feeding habits, advantages, and human ties. Establishing the chronicle’s relationships and boundaries for mature themes takes group preparation even when using a published city. | Character creation requires multiple derived calculations (Moxie, DT, HP, Vigilance, Initiative), 20-level progression has many repetitive incremental steps, combat-heavy with limited non-combat mechanical support |