Fiasco vs LIFTS

Compare Fiasco and LIFTS side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Fiasco	LIFTS
Genre	Modern	Universal
Tags	GM-Less, One-Shot Friendly, Rules-Light, Narrative, Collaborative, Drama, Fiction-First, Low-Prep	Experimental, Diceless, Comedy, Gonzo, Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Narrative, GM-Less, Collaborative, Mission-Based
Core Mechanic	No GM. Setup uses cards (or dice in Classic edition) to establish relationships, needs, locations, and objects between characters. Scenes alternate between Establish and Resolve: other players either frame the scene or choose its outcome. The Tilt at the midpoint introduces chaos. The Aftermath tallies white and black dice to determine each character's fate.	Resolution is diceless and varies by the included game. In Roboflex, a disagreement with the Muscle Master becomes an exercise challenge. Minor conflicts set an easy, moderate, or hard target (5, 10, or 20 sit-ups in a social conflict), multiplied by the player's self-chosen fitness level of one to three. Major conflicts pit the player directly against the Muscle Master, such as a sprint to the end of the block and back. A relevant skill or profession grants a small edge, such as crunches instead of sit-ups or a head start. The winner is right about the disputed outcome. Several Volume 2 games instead attach an exercise to each move, with a 0 Flex failure and a list of selectable Flex effects. The Moon game grades success against both the Muscle Master and the player's previous rep count. Vegetables: The Recommended has each move spend a day from the player's logged meal planner, and that day's Flex rating sets the result.
Dice	d6	Diceless
Complexity	Very Low	Low
Availability	Free core rules	Paid
Runnability	4 of 5 book tools	3 of 5 book tools
License	Proprietary	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	No verified route found
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	Bully Pulpit Games	Korvidae Games
Year	2020	2019
Languages	English, French, German, Spanish	English
Best For	One-shots where players collaboratively build and then dismantle a story of desperate people with big ambitions: inspired by Coen Brothers films and crime-gone-wrong cinema.	Groups who want to turn game night into a workout, playing short comedic parodies of familiar RPG genres where push-ups, planks, and runs decide outcomes instead of dice.
Highlights	Zero prep, no GM required, playsets define different settings and genres for each session, Diana Jones Award winner, plays in 2–3 hours	Roboflex lets each player pick a fitness level from one to three that multiplies minor-conflict targets, so mixed-fitness groups face individually scaled exercise counts. Several games tie in-game power to real habits between sessions, such as vampire Vitae earned from gym visits and healthy meals. Eliminated Muscle of the Week players can still change a survivor's conflict outcome by holding a wall sit, though they cannot defeat the monster this way.
Considerations	Heavily dependent on player chemistry and group dynamic, Tilt can derail carefully established narrative threads, new players often struggle with self-directed scene framing, outcome quality varies significantly between groups	Most games require real exertion and open space: ShadowRunning missions are group runs of 30 to 90 minutes, and The Forest Gymn & Picnic recommends a two to four mile hike. For players who cannot perform an exercise, the exercise-based games say only to find an alternative and give no structured adaptation list. Some games draw on players' real lives: the Moon game invites each player to share a personal problem for group advice, and Vegetables expects a week of logged meals, with a preset Flex fallback for players who cannot log.