Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay vs When the Moon Hangs Low
Compare Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and When the Moon Hangs Low side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay | When the Moon Hangs Low | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Horror, Fantasy |
| Play Style | Career-Based, Grimdark, Deadly, Investigation, Corruption, Licensed Setting | Horror, Dark Fantasy, Corruption, Investigation, Faction Play, Tactical, Solo-Friendly, Mission-Based |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | Roll a pool of d6 equal to the stat tied to the skill and count successes, with each die succeeding on 5–6 when Untrained, 4–6 when Trained, and 3–6 when Mastered. The number of successes must meet or beat a Difficulty Value set by the Gamemaster. Bonus and penalty dice adjust the pool. A penalty die that rolls 5–6 cancels a success. Opposed checks compare success counts instead of a fixed Difficulty Value. |
| Dice | d100 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Low | Medium |
| Runnability | High | Low |
| License | No open license | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Cubicle 7 | Isolation Games |
| Year | 2018 | 2023 |
| Best For | 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. | Groups who want gothic-horror monster-hunting and investigation on a contract-driven mission structure, where characters carry a permanent curse that escalates as they lean on their powers. Also supports solo or GM-less play through the built-in Lone Hunter rules. |
| Highlights | The career system structures advancement around trades, moving a character through jobs that shape both skills and story. Success Levels measure how far a d100 test beats or misses its target, turning every roll into a degree of result. Advantage accumulates during a fight, rewarding momentum with stacking bonuses to attack tests. | Each of the twelve Marks grants a supernatural Boon paired with a Curse that advances a stage every time the hunter runs out of Resolve, so power comes bundled with an escalating personal cost. Influence earned by bluffing, charming, or intimidating a faction accumulates as a spendable resource that buys concrete favors from four rival powers, turning social play into a persistent currency. A full Lone Hunter mode replaces the Gamemaster's difficulties with a success-tier table and twist tables, letting the same character and dice run solo without a separate ruleset. |
| Considerations | The rules assume the Old World setting, so moving WFRP elsewhere means reworking its careers and tone. Comparing tens digits for Success Levels on every test adds a math step that can slow combat. Advancement is career-gated, so a character often must finish or leave a career before branching into new skills. | A hunter's Mark is chosen at creation and can never be changed, locking in both its Boon and the eventual monstrous transformation the character is fated toward. The setting leaves its central mysteries, including the nature of the Bitter Sacrament and the buried ympir, deliberately unanswered for each Gamemaster to resolve or not. Most antagonists are Minions that never roll to Parry, Dodge, or Counterattack, so rank-and-file fights reduce to attackers rolling against a fixed number instead of opposed checks. |