The Job (2023) is a heist game that, true to its origins, goes about its business in a snappy and stylish manner and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Let’s see. No attributes. Each character is a very lite packet of Apocalypse World-like “stunts” and equipment purchased via the job’s budget. Risky actions roll 2d6, with 1-6 failing, 10+ succeeding and 7-9 mixed. There are also dice stacks. The first is set up at the start and has the same number of dice as the heist’s “heat,” its difficulty. Failed rolls (and some mixed successes) add one die to the stack, until it collapses. Then a second stack is built, with failures adding two dice. Then a third, with three dice failures. If that third stack falls, the group fails the heist and is arrested.

The first half of the game is planning. The GM gives the players a brief consisting of a object (the torch of the Statue of Liberty), a location (a national park) and six complications (guards, tourists, restricted air space, etc) which the players plan to overcome. The second half put their plan into action across a series of about a dozen 5-10 minute scenes derived from the plan, each featuring only a couple of rolls. Failures ramp up dice stacks and the tension, mixed successes introduce setbacks. The game is highly improvisational, but fast playing and highly structured. A one-shot should take about three hours, max. Try it out and maybe get rich along the way!

Oh, Exalted Funeral recently crowdfunded a boxed second edition that looks super cool. So keep an eye out for that; I don’t know if the stand-alone hardcover is really available at this point.