Fallout: The Roleplaying Game vs Thrive to Survive
Compare Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and Thrive to Survive side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Fallout: The Roleplaying Game | Thrive to Survive | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic | Horror, Modern, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | Tactical, Exploration, Survival, Character Building, Cinematic, Crunchy, Resource Management, Mission-Based, Lore-Heavy, Licensed IP | Survival, Tactical, Crunchy, Resource Management, Base-Building, Character Building, Simulation, Skill-Based |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d20 against the sum of an attribute and a skill. Each die at or below that total scores a success. A roll of 1 scores two successes, and tagged skills extend this critical range to the skill rank. Meet the difficulty with your total successes. Extra successes become shared Action Points that can buy more dice or information. A roll of 20 creates a complication even when the test succeeds. | Roll d20 + skill ranks + the related attribute and meet or beat a difficulty set by the Apocalypse Master. An untrained skill adds half its attribute, while opposed checks compare totals. |
| Dice | d20 dice pool | d20 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Modiphius Entertainment | Caden Humpherys |
| Year | 2021 | 2026 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want Fallout campaigns built around wasteland quests, scavenging, and customizable survivors. Groups who enjoy tactical firefights and turning recovered junk into equipment upgrades. | Groups who want a long-form modern zombie-survival campaign built around tactical grid combat, body-location injuries, detailed crafting, and turning scavenged materials into a defended settlement. It suits an Apocalypse Master who wants tools for custom infections, encounters, and campaign goals. |
| Highlights | Shared Action Points let the group turn strong rolls into support for later tests. Perks and equipment modifications let survivors develop distinct specialties without classes. Scavenging tables connect dangerous locations to supplies and crafting materials. | Attacks pair maneuver-specific hit numbers with 2d10 location rolls, so armor, crippling injuries, and targeted strikes make each body part matter. Crafting links designs, material types, construction, generators, and storage, turning scavenged supplies into weapons and a working refuge. The Apocalypse Master chooses an infection model and modifies zombie templates, allowing campaigns to shift from base defense to a cure hunt without changing the core rules. |
| Considerations | Attacks can trigger several damage effects alongside armor checks for the struck body part. Ammunition and carried weight require ongoing bookkeeping. The core setting concentrates on the Commonwealth from Fallout 4. | Combat resolves attacks through hit checks, location rolls, armor reduction, location health, and injury effects, creating multiple steps for every successful strike. Characters track food, water, sleep, fatigue, carry weight, ammunition, and ten crafting materials, making resource bookkeeping a central part of play. The system assumes a modern zombie apocalypse, so adapting it to other settings requires replacing much of its equipment, infection, and campaign material. |