Kill Him Faster vs Lancer
Compare Kill Him Faster and Lancer side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Kill Him Faster | Lancer | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi, Historical | Scifi |
| Play Style | Comedy, Gonzo, Combat-Heavy, Tactical, Cinematic, Mission-Based, Pulp Action, Fast-Paced | Tactical, Mecha, Grid-Based, Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Heroic, Crunchy |
| Core Mechanic | Two parallel resolution systems. In match combat, every weapon has an associated set of dice and a Kill Roll value — roll under the Kill Roll on any rolled die to kill a nazi (e.g. a combat knife rolls a d4 and kills on a 1–3). For everything else, roll the polyhedral die assigned to one of four stats (Fightin', Hustle, Lookin' Good, Talkin' Nice — d6 through d12) and succeed on a 4 or higher. Each athlete spends Action Points equal to their current Durability per round on attacks or zone shifts, positioning enemies across Melee, Near, Far, and Distant zones tuned to specific weapon ranges. | Narrative scenes use d20 roll-over (10+ succeeds), with backgrounds granting advantage and triggers adding flat bonuses. Mech combat is grid-based and tactical — no initiative, players and NPCs alternate turns. Pilots progress through License Levels (LL0–LL12), unlocking new chassis, weapons, and systems across five manufacturers with 30+ mech frames. |
| Dice | d4–d12 | d20 + d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | Low | High |
| License | Standard commercial | Lancer Third Party License |
| Cost | $$ | Free (PDF) / $$ |
| Publisher | Korvidae Games | Massif Press |
| Year | 2026 | 2019 |
| Best For | Groups who want a gonzo, comedic co-op RPG that splits its focus between fast tactical FPS-style firefights and team-management drama — pre-game rap battles, post-game press conferences, trade days, and off-season scandals. Designed for a GM and four players each managing a roster of time-traveling sports stars. | Groups who want deep tactical mech combat with meaningful customization layered on top of accessible narrative play — giant robot enthusiasts seeking a modern alternative to BattleTech. |
| Highlights | Two distinct resolution systems split match combat (roll low under a weapon's Kill Roll) from non-combat actions (roll a stat die, 4+ succeeds). Zone-based combat (Melee, Near, Far, Distant, Ambush) tunes each weapon to a specific range and is designed to feel like a first-person shooter at the table. Twenty Quirk archetypes, each with three escalating drawback tiers, gained through play and off-season vignettes that double as quirk-granting roleplay scenes. Full league simulation wraps the matches: pre-game rap-battle weigh-ins, post-game journalist interviews, trade days, season championships, and off-season scandals. | Free core PDF, extensive mech customization with 30+ frames, clean split between rules-light narrative and crunchy tactical combat, Comp/Con companion app is well-integrated |
| Considerations | Premise is intentionally gonzo — killing Hitler is the central conceit and the rulebook leans into the joke throughout. Built specifically for five (one GM plus four players each managing a roster of four athletes); other group sizes need adjustment. Match combat is co-op against the GM-controlled enemies by default; head-to-head PvP requires the optional scoring system in which both teams play the same scenario in turn. Heavy framing as a futuristic sports league means tables uninterested in the team-management layer (rosters, hype meters, trade days) will lose a substantial portion of the design. | Mech combat dominates — narrative half feels thin by comparison, steep learning curve from sheer volume of mech options, genre-locked to sci-fi mech fiction, requires grid/VTT for combat |