Fallout: The Roleplaying Game vs The Quiet Year
Compare Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and The Quiet Year side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Fallout: The Roleplaying Game | The Quiet Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic | Post-Apocalyptic |
| Play Style | Tactical, Exploration, Survival, Character Building, Cinematic | GM-Less, Worldbuilding, Collaborative, Narrative, Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Fiction-First, Map-Drawing |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2–5d20 against a target number (Attribute + Skill). Each die at or under the target scores a success. Compare successes to difficulty (1–5). Extra successes become Action Points to buy bonus dice, extra damage, or information. | No dice, no GM. A deck of playing cards drives play: each suit is a season, each card a weekly prompt. On your turn, draw a card, answer the prompt, and choose to Discover Something New, Start a Project, or Hold a Discussion. Draw on the shared map to represent changes. Projects take multiple weeks to complete. The Contempt Token signals when a player feels unheard. The game ends when the Frost Shepherds arrive (King of Spades). |
| Dice | 2d20 + d6 | Diceless |
| Complexity | Medium | Very Low |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$$ | $ |
| Publisher | Modiphius Entertainment | Buried Without Ceremony (Avery Alder) |
| Year | 2021 | 2013 |
| Best For | Fallout fans who want to explore the Wasteland at the tabletop with SPECIAL attributes, perks, Action Points, and the iconic post-apocalyptic setting. | Groups who want to collaboratively build a community's story through map-drawing: 52 weeks of discoveries, projects, and tensions before everything changes. |
| Highlights | Faithful Fallout experience with S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats and perks, Action Point economy creates tactical depth, Combat Dice handle damage cleanly, well-supported licensed setting | Card-driven structure (one card per week across four seasons) paces the narrative through 52 turns, map-drawing produces a physical artifact of the session, Contempt Token mechanic signals when a player feels unheard, works as a standalone game or worldbuilding tool for other campaigns |
| Considerations | The 2d20 system carries a learning curve, with an Action Point economy to track alongside the dice. Tight ties to the Fallout IP constrain homebrew settings that stray from the license. Rules detail can feel crunchy for groups who want a lighter game. | Contempt mechanic can create genuine inter-player tension, no way to revisit or undo earlier map decisions, map quality depends on group comfort with drawing, limited replayability with the same group |