6 thoughts on “I’m curious.”

  1. Oh wow, I mean, there are huge differences. Dungeon Planet is Dungeon World in space, I believe? Uncharted Worlds isn’t doing D&D, its more like trying to do Traveller. So its more like Planet is all about that Flash Gordon, John Carter action while Uncharted is all about The Foundation, KillJoys, I feel like.

    The mechanics aren’t very different between them — at their most basic, its all 2d6 plus a stat — but the implementations are very different. Dungeon World/Dungeon Planet are about your party versus the dangers of the world/cosmos and in practice your party is basically an island. Uncharted Worlds makes a huge deal out of the factions, the movers and shakers of space, and how they intersect with your characters’ lives. I’d say Uncharted Worlds is more cosmopolitan than Dungeon World/Planet is.

    The Class system, too, is completely different. Dungeon Planet has you picking a class with a dozen+ moves and sticking to that while you level up from wild raucous adventures, while Uncharted World has you combining three shorter classes to make up your character’s identity and you get experience from doing very particular and iconic things for who you’re supposed to be.

    Thats all just off the top of my head, but they’re remarkably different and I have a hard time saying what the biggest difference is. Definitely the element of “modernism” in Uncharted, I think.

  2. Interesting question! Though both are heavily based in the PbtA system, there are quite a few differences, both in setting as well as mechanics.

    In the broad sense, UW is heavily founded on player-shaped setting, right from the start (Faction creation) and when setting the stage for the story (Prompting during prologue/opening scene). Also, UW’s ‘default’ is the assumption that the party owns a Jump-capable ship, with all the planet-hopping freedom that entails.

    There are a whole bunch of mechanical differences. UW doesn’t have defined Alignment or Bonds, and has a very different character creation system (build-your-own archetype, rather than playbooks/classes)

    Weaponry and gear also follows the “build-your-own” system, where each piece of gear has a base template and gets different upgrades.

    The combat is very different as well, taking a more narrative one-roll for resolution, rather than multiple attacks with damage rolls. 

    [edit] Aaaaaand Alfred Rudzki beat me to the punch while I was writing this! Hahah

  3. Also, Alfred Rudzki brings up a good point about the Factions; one of the core elements of opposition/danger is the characters’ interaction with the social super-structure. Think Star Wars’ Empire vs Rebels vs Criminals (Hutts). Or Firefly’s Browncoats vs Alliance vs Criminal enterprises (Badger, Niska, etc)

    This ties in with one of the other big differences between the two systems; the reward structure. Owing to its D&D roots, Planet uses monetary gain as part of its reward structure. UW, on the other hand, has a reward loop of paying off debt to the Factions that control almost everything. Money is handwaved and nebulous, but debts and favor are the rock-solid currency of UW.

    The Debt system is one of the major motivating forces to get the characters in trouble. Faction will demand a major service/task to pay off a Debt.

  4. Awesome! thanks for responding. I’ve never played dungeon planet and actually didn’t start investigating it until after I got interested in UW. Uncharted Worlds feels a lot fresher, and to me, that’s a good thing. I’m too young to remember the ‘good ole days’ of D&D original. 

  5. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that Dungeon Planet is “stale” or anything. I love what it does, the pulp-sci-fi John Carter feel of it is fantastic. My own humble offering to the Sci Fi PbtA space is just heavily inspired by different sources (hence the “Space Opera” tagline)

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