How does Acheron compare to Dungeons and Dragons?

Tabletop role-playing games thrive when they combine accessible mechanics with compelling themes. Acheron, developed by Dark World Studios, sets out to be a sprawling, atmospheric RPG with elements of cosmic horror and grim punk aesthetics. Yet according to reviewers Steve Kellams and Christina Stiso from The Epic Adventure Podcast, its size and structure often obscure the ideas at its core.

While both reviewers appreciated the passion behind the project, they struggled with inconsistent themes, scattered mechanics, and confusing organization. At more than six hundred pages, the game requires a significant investment of time and effort before players can hope to understand its world. For some, that challenge might be part of the appeal. For others, it could present a barrier too high to climb.

Confusion Over Theme and Tone

One of the main concerns raised was Acheron’s unclear identity. Promotional material referred to it alternately as “grim noir,” “grim punk,” and even “1930s grim punk.” Kellams found that the rulebook did not establish a clear tone early on, leaving readers unsure whether the setting was dystopian, noir-inspired, or cosmic horror.

This lack of cohesion extends to the artwork. While individual pieces are praised for their technical quality, the collection feels inconsistent. Some illustrations evoke Dungeons & Dragons, others resemble Call of Cthulhu, while still others lean toward cyberpunk. The effect is disorienting and makes it difficult to place the game in a specific narrative space.

The reviewers compared the experience to starting a television show at its final season without context. Important elements of the setting, such as the existence of a massive wall enclosing the world, appear late in the book rather than in the introduction where they might ground new readers.

Related: An Overview of the Horror-infused Acheron TTRPG Core Rulebook

Character Creation and Mechanical Density

Christina Stiso approached the game through its character creation system, a process she described as complex and dense. Numerous steps involve attributes, quirks, hindrances, abilities, and modifiers, all of which draw comparisons to Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Difficulty checks can climb as high as 35, demanding multiple dice and modifiers to resolve actions.

While experienced players of math-heavy systems may find this familiar, newcomers may struggle. The placement of essential explanations further complicates the process. Stiso criticized the book for placing clarifications of key mechanics at the end, rather than alongside character creation instructions.

The assumption that players already understand the structure of other major RPGs, such as Dungeons & Dragons, left both reviewers frustrated. They noted that while Acheron borrows from familiar systems, it introduces changes without sufficient early guidance.

Interesting Mechanics Amid Complexity

Despite their criticisms, both reviewers found merit in some of the game’s unique ideas. One standout system is a layered sanity mechanic, which tracks different levels of psychological strain and produces varied consequences depending on where failures occur. The complexity of this system impressed both Kellams and Stiso, even as they lamented how buried it was in the massive text.

Another mechanic highlighted was the “You Are What You Wear” skill, which allows characters to temporarily gain relevant abilities from disguises. Wearing a plumber’s outfit, for instance, could grant plumbing knowledge. The idea struck both reviewers as inventive and fun, adding flavorful role-playing opportunities.

Yet these creative touches are scattered across a sprawling manual. The reviewers suggested that with stronger editing, clearer introductions, and tighter organization, these systems could shine more brightly. As it stands, players must sift through hundreds of pages to uncover them.

Accessibility Versus Depth

In their conclusion, Kellams and Stiso described Acheron as a fiddly but ambitious game. It offers depth for players who enjoy reading and re-reading complex rulebooks, piecing together tone from community discussion, and experimenting with dense mechanics. However, they also emphasized that the game is not beginner-friendly.

For players who prefer streamlined rules and cohesive themes, Acheron may prove inaccessible. For others who enjoy dissecting deep systems and exploring creative mechanics, it could become a rewarding challenge. The reviewers recommended reaching out to online communities to better understand the setting, noting that much of the game’s lore is implied rather than explicitly detailed.

Where to Learn More About The Epic Adventure Podcast

Listen to the Podcast | Facebook | Apple Podcasts | X (Twitter)

Where to Learn More About Acheron

Kickstarter for Acheron TTRPG – Nightmares, Esoteric powers, and Mad Science. The campaign is over, but players can get the book for under MSRP here for so long as late pledges are open.

Dark World Studios | Store | YouTube | Reddit | Discord | Instagram | Facebook | X (Twitter)

Check out the full transcript and videos of Acheron’s two-part Actual Play below.

Key Takeaways

• Acheron is a tabletop RPG from Dark World Studios spanning over 600 pages.
• Reviewers found its tone and theme inconsistent, with conflicting descriptions such as grim noir and grim punk.
• Character creation is complex, drawing comparisons to Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.
• Unique mechanics include a layered sanity system and “You Are What You Wear” disguise skill.
• The rulebook’s organization makes it difficult to access crucial information.
• The game may appeal to players who enjoy deep, fiddly systems, but it lacks accessibility for newcomers.

Transcript: Unleashing Chaos: Acheron Grim Punk RPG Review – Is It Too Complex?

Steve Kellam: Hello. I’m Steve Kellams.

Christina Stiso: And I’m Christina Stiso.

Steve Kellam: And we just stopped over from The Epic Adventure Podcast to take a few minutes and give you a quick game review. Now, the game we’re going to review is Acheron, and that comes to us from Dark World Studios. The Acheron game was sent to us to review, and we did read it several times, although we have not played it.

Confusion About Theme and Promotion

So, keep that in mind during this review. And since we’re gonna try to keep this short, I’m just gonna start. I had problems with this game, and really it started with not being sure what I was trying to play.

The press release that came out with it talked about how it was supposed to be a grim noir, grim punk game. They said it was Orwell’s 1984 mixed with Call of Cthulhu. And that I thought was really cool, except I didn’t read that at the beginning at all. The other press release that’s on their website talks about it being a 1930s grim punk game, which also would be an interesting thought, except I don’t get that at the beginning either.

As a matter of fact, reading through this, there’s so much information kind of left out at the beginning. Now, the game is built on a lot of love. There are a lot of people involved in it, obviously a tremendous amount of work and energy, but not knowing what game I’m playing really made me struggle reading through this and getting the rules.

Character Creation Challenges

And I read through it several times, speaking of rules… Yeah. So when I approach this, I approach this like I do anytime I get a new game, first thing I do is I sit down and I try to create a character. 

Christina Stiso: And the walkthrough for character creation is… It’s a little dense. There’s a lot of steps to creating a character.

There’s a lot going on. Unfortunately, the rules section that explain what all those different things mean doesn’t come till the very end of the book, which is one of my personal pet peeves, but that’s just a layout issue.

Dense Mechanics and Comparisons

Mechanically, it’s, it’s very similar. If you’re familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, fifth edition, it will be pretty similar to you.

Steve Kellam: Had a big Pathfinder feel with me.

Christina Stiso: Very Pathfindery.

Math-Heavy Systems

Steve Kellam: If you’re a pathfinder second edition person or your first edition, it’ll probably be pretty familiar, which means there’s a lot of math in this thing.

Christina Stiso: Yes, yeah, you got the same I was, I was looking it up like, so you’re to create your character. You have attributes, skills, Quirk there’s also quirks and hindrances, like hindrances and merits, like from Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, that sort of stuff. Then there’s also abilities, which are closer to feats.

Steve Kellam: And all those are added to a 20 sided die roll, which means you get difficulty checks in this game that go up to 35. So lots of bonuses they’re getting included in those die rolls.

Organizational Issues

Christina Stiso: Right? It’s not just dice. There’s also numerical modifiers. 

So most of the rolls that I was looking at were like, four or five specific dice, you know, based on stats and different things, plus a modifier. So it it gets, it can get a little complicated.

Steve Kellam: And again, we go back to the rule book, which I think is where my biggest problem is, is almost organization. I felt like I wanted to take a razor blade, rip it all up and reform it. Because when I talked about tone or theme, I read 200 and almost 50 pages before I found the fact that there’s a big wall surrounding the world here.

Late Explanations and Assumptions

Christina Stiso: Yeah. That’s at the very, very end.

Steve Kellam: That should be something early in this book, kind of explaining what it is. The core mechanic of this book isn’t described till page 350. Again, something I would like to see much earlier in the book, to give me an idea, when I get into that character creation, what I’m trying to do.

Christina Stiso: Yeah. It almost feels like it’s written with the assumption that you’re coming from Dungeons and Dragons and that you’re assuming everything is the same, which is not an assumption that I have, but is probably an assumption a large number of people do, but it’s not exactly the same, because there’s no advantage or disadvantage, like the major thing of Dungeons and Dragons,

Feeling Lost in the Setting

Steve Kellam: Well, you talk about an assumption coming in, I felt like I was tuning into the final season of Supernatural television show.

Christina Stiso: Kinda yeah.

Related: What Are the Most Popular 6d6 TTRPG to Play?

Steve Kellam: I’ve never watched the ones before. I think that, as we said, we hadn’t played it, we only read it, which was a real struggle for me. Maybe if I had an experienced Game Master that was running the game that was able to ease me into that lore would make sense to…

Missing Explanations and Inconsistent Art

I’ve read this book four times now, and I still don’t know why the agents are wearing masks at the beginning. Yeah, it seems to be something important. It seems to be a thing, but then it completely disappears within the book.

Also, the art doesn’t help, because some of the art which the individual pieces are nice. It’s well done. No complaint about the artist.

It’s tone. One is obviously from a D&D style setting. The next art piece you’ll see could be out of Call of Cthulhu.

Disjointed Visual and Tonal Identity

The next one is a modern cyberpunk piece. And so it just it threw me entirely as to when this was supposed to be. Taking place, or what the tone or themes were going to be. Is this a fantasy setting?

And I know as it’s been described as grim dark, I just didn’t see that all kind of fit in, right.

Christina Stiso: Yeah, grim dark is probably the least accurate description, description that they’ve brought up, that I would apply to it. It’s, it’s definitely called Cthulhu-esque.

Cosmic Horror Overtones

There’s a lot of, like, cosmic horror elements. But there’s, there’s, I would not describe it as grim dark.

Steve Kellam: Now, what did you like?

Christina Stiso: What did I like? There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on. Like a lot of the individual systems that are sort of existing in here, like their sanity mechanic.

Steve Kellam: Yes.

Unique Mechanics Highlighted

Christina Stiso: It’s actually pretty interesting. Like, they’ve, it’s, it’s very complex. There’s like three different layers of sanity, and each one is affected by different things, and they all have their unique sort of fallout if you fail their roles. That’s a very interesting system.

Steve Kellam: And there’s a couple of really neat skills or merits that were in there. One I really liked was you are. You are what you wear, I think was the name of it. And when you put on a piece of clothing as a disguise, obviously you kind of take on or earn some skills that that clothing would have given you.

Editing and Cohesion Issues

So if you’re pretending to be a plumber and you’re wearing a plumber’s outfit, all of a sudden you can do some plumbing. I really like that idea within the game. But those things tend to be spread out through this sprawling, 600 page book, and I really wish, I really wish I had some editing that made it more concise.

That put an introduction at the beginning, that gave me a real good feel for the tone and theme of this game, as well as the overall story that I was going to be telling stories in.

Christina Stiso: Yeah, I feel like there’s, there’s, like, four or five ideas in here that are really good, and they’ve all been sort of mushed together in a way that they sort of, there’s almost too much going on. So like I would, I could definitely see pulling individual elements out of this system and incorporating them other places, putting them all together in one game that is too much, that is too much for me to handle.

Final Thoughts and Audience Fit

Steve Kellam: This is going to be a great game for some of you out there. It is very fiddly. Obviously. It’s very in depth, and lots of different systems. If you like that, you might like this as well.

I would recommend that taking a lot of time to really, kind of in in, to really, kind of learn the background. And you’re gonna have to read this many times, and you’re gonna have to make some stuff up, maybe even reach out to some of the online communities that are already talking about this and get an idea for what that was meant. Because I think if you do that, you may be able to turn this into something that you like, but for me, it’s just not something that I would go for.

Christina Stiso: Yeah, same.

Steve Kellam: And there you have it, a nice quick review from us over at epic adventure podcast. Have a great day!

Watch an Actual Play of Acheron

The Heart of Gold Casino Part 1, An Acheron One-shot

The Heart of Gold Casino Part 2, An Acheron One-shot

Where to Learn More About The Epic Adventure Podcast

Listen to the Podcast | Facebook | Apple Podcasts | X (Twitter)

Where to Learn More About Acheron

Acheron TTRPG – Nightmares, Esoteric powers, and Mad Science on Kickstarter. The campaign is over, but players can get the book for under MSRP here for so long as late pledges are open.

Dark World Studios | Store | YouTube | Reddit | Discord | Instagram | Facebook | X (Twitter)

Next: Discuss Acheron and your other favorite TTRPG on the PopGeeks Tabletop Forum.