Mutant: Year Zero vs Salvage Union
Compare Mutant: Year Zero and Salvage Union side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Mutant: Year Zero | Salvage Union | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic | Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | Sandbox, Survival, Exploration, Character-Driven, Worldbuilding, Narrative | Mecha, Resource Management, Base-Building, Character Building, Exploration, Sandbox, Tactical, Survival, Narrative, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a pool of d6s (attribute + skill + gear). Each 6 is a success; one success is enough. You can push your roll to reroll failures, but 1s on attribute dice cause trauma and 1s on gear dice cause damage to equipment. Mutations cost Mutation Points and can misfire with unpredictable side effects. | For a pilot's risky action, roll an unmodified d20: 20 succeeds with a bonus, 11–19 succeeds, 6–10 presents a Tough Choice, 2–5 fails with a setback, and 1 brings a severe consequence. The Mediator frames costs and consequences from the situation. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d20 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary | Salvage Union Open Game Licence 1.0b |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Free League Publishing | Leyline Press |
| Year | 2014 | 2023 |
| Languages | English | English, Italian |
| Best For | Post-apocalyptic campaigns where mutant survivors explore a deadly Zone, build up their home settlement, and search for the mythical Eden: with the Year Zero Engine that spawned a family of games. | Groups who enjoy building custom mechs, scavenging parts, and managing a shared stockpile of scrap to maintain and improve their equipment and mobile settlement. |
| Highlights | Push mechanic creates tough choices, Ark development gives players a shared home to build, Zone exploration is tense and rewarding, eight distinctive roles with built-in relationships and dreams, launched the Year Zero Engine family | Recovered scrap funds mech construction and crawler upkeep, linking equipment choices to the community's survival. Swappable mech components let players build for jobs such as hauling or hacking. Players choose setbacks when NPC actions fail, giving the table authority over consequences beyond its own characters. |
| Considerations | Mutation randomness can frustrate planners, metaplot requires significant GM commitment, Ark development bookkeeping adds between-session overhead, Zone travel can feel repetitive without varied encounters | Players track separate pilot and mech resources, including Ability Points and Heat. Unpaid crawler upkeep normally prompts a deterioration roll, making regular salvage income an ongoing pressure. Encounters follow the world's circumstances rather than guaranteed balance, making reconnaissance and retreat consequential choices. |