NUKED! vs The Quiet Year
Compare NUKED! and The Quiet Year side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| NUKED! | The Quiet Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic | Post-Apocalyptic |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Survival, Classless, Resource Management, Deadly, Random Character Creation, Open Source | GM-Less, Worldbuilding, Collaborative, Narrative, Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Fiction-First, Map-Drawing |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under the relevant ability score to succeed. Six abilities (Muscle, Agility, Guts, Brains, Sense, Weird) range from 8 to 18. In opposed tests, both sides roll and the highest successful result wins. Advantage and disadvantage modify rolls based on situational factors. Combat uses an action economy of one move and one action per turn; defenders choose to counter-attack or dodge. Damage dice explode on their maximum value. Usage dice (Ud4 to Ud12) track item durability, rations, water, and gasoline: roll after use, and on a 1 or 2 the die steps down one size until the item breaks. | 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 | d20 | Diceless |
| Complexity | Low | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | High | Low |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International | Proprietary |
| Cost | $ | $ |
| Publisher | Harsh Realm Press | Buried Without Ceremony (Avery Alder) |
| Year | 2023 | 2013 |
| Best For | Groups who want a fast, streamlined post-apocalyptic game with OSR sensibilities where classless scavengers explore irradiated ruins, manage dwindling supplies, and customize characters through perks and mutations rather than class levels. | Groups who want to collaboratively build a community's story through map-drawing: 52 weeks of discoveries, projects, and tensions before everything changes. |
| Highlights | Classless system where character identity comes from carried equipment, perks, and mutations rather than predetermined roles. Usage dice track item durability, rations, water, and gasoline, making resource management central without complex bookkeeping. 50 level-less perks and mutations allow character customization at any stage of advancement. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license allows free modification and redistribution. | 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 | 40-page core book means limited depth in any individual subsystem. No structured social encounter mechanics beyond ability tests. Vehicle rules are brief and cover basic chases and ramming but lack detailed options. | 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 |