Salvage Union vs Thrive to Survive
Compare Salvage Union and Thrive to Survive side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Salvage Union | Thrive to Survive | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic | Horror, Modern, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | Mecha, Resource Management, Base-Building, Character Building, Exploration, Sandbox, Tactical, Survival, Narrative, Strong GM Support | Survival, Tactical, Crunchy, Resource Management, Base-Building, Character Building, Simulation, Skill-Based |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | 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 | d20 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Salvage Union Open Game Licence 1.0b | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Leyline Press | Caden Humpherys |
| Year | 2023 | 2026 |
| Languages | English, Italian | English |
| Best For | Groups who enjoy building custom mechs, scavenging parts, and managing a shared stockpile of scrap to maintain and improve their equipment and mobile settlement. | 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 | 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. | 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 | 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. | 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. |