Cepheus Deluxe vs Rifts
Compare Cepheus Deluxe and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Cepheus Deluxe | Rifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero |
| Tags | Space Opera, Career-Based, Skill-Based, Sandbox, Ship-Based, Exploration, Random Tables, Toolkit | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6, add a relevant skill and characteristic modifier, and meet or beat the target number. The margin is Effect, and Advantage means rolling 3d6 and keeping the best two. | Combat and saving throws use a d20 plus bonuses, with high results overcoming a target number or opposing roll. Skills use d100 and succeed when the result is at or below the character's percentage. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d20, d100 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | OGL 1.0a; Cepheus Deluxe Compatibility-Statement License | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Noncommercial only — Palladium Books Internet Policy limited license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Free | $$ |
| Publisher | Stellagama Publishing | Palladium Books Inc. |
| Year | 2022 | 2005 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a self-contained interstellar sandbox where career histories feed a shared shipboard trade loop. | Groups who want long-form science-fantasy campaigns that move from a ruined Earth to other dimensions. The game suits tables whose GM will decide which parts of the broad setting a campaign uses. |
| Highlights | Career terms turn character history into usable relationships and obligations that already point toward adventures. World profiles feed local law and trade into the crew's travel decisions, giving generated destinations mechanical consequences. Space combat assigns distinct actions across bridge and engineering roles, keeping the whole crew involved. | Occupational and racial class packages assign distinct abilities and advancement tracks, giving each archetype a different role in the party. Mega-Damage places many supernatural creatures and war machines on a separate durability scale beyond the reach of ordinary Structural Damage Capacity attacks. Rifts and ley lines make dimensional travel a standing feature of the setting, letting campaigns move between devastated Earth and other worlds. |
| Considerations | Career creation can span several career terms before play, making a fresh crew slower to build than the basic 2d6 mechanic suggests. A ship-based campaign tracks recurring operating costs and cargo prices, making accounting part of the travel loop. The book supplies generators and adventure seeds rather than a ready-made sector or campaign, so the Referee must turn those pieces into an inhabited frontier. | Character creation combines rolled attributes with extensive skill selection, making first-time preparation lengthy. Combat asks each player to track an action economy, active defenses, and which damage scale applies. Magic and psionics use separate point pools and power procedures, adding class-specific rules to the shared system. |