Deep Sky Ballad vs Rifts

Compare Deep Sky Ballad and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Deep Sky Ballad	Rifts
Genre	Scifi, Post-Apocalyptic	Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero
Tags	Crunchy, Ship-Based, Tactical, Character-Driven, Drama, Pulp Action, Diceless	Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical
Core Mechanic	Blackjack System: each player and the GM draw from their own poker deck (cards 1–10 in each suit, no face cards). On a Challenge, draw two cards, then up to (Attribute) more, then remove up to (Skill) cards from the table. The remaining hand must reach the difficulty (Easy 16, Medium 18, Hard 19, Very Hard 20, Extreme 21) without exceeding 21. Hitting exactly 21 before the elimination phase is a Critical Success; busting over 21 is automatic failure regardless of the target. Aces count as 1 or 11. Emotional Bonds with crewmates can be spent during play to fuel near-superhuman cinematic abilities.	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	Diceless	d20, d100
Complexity	High	Very High
Accessibility	High	Medium
Runnability	Low	Very High
License	Proprietary	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	$$	$$
Publisher	Winged Lion Games	Palladium Books Inc.
Year	2023	2005
Best For	Groups who want a Space Western centered on cinematic crew drama and modular spaceship combat, with a card-based resolution that turns every challenge into a poker hand. Designed for a Posse of adventurers who share ownership of an interstellar ship and chase wealth across the wreckage of a fallen galaxy.	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	Card-based resolution gives players visible information about their hand before committing to a Challenge, turning each roll into a press-your-luck decision. Six-axis Hardboiled System tracks Loyalty/Rivalry, Affection/Hatred, and Trust/Grudge between Posse members at multiple stages, granting bond-fueled cinematic abilities tied to those relationships. Spaceship combat uses a hex-grid module map with simultaneous six-phase turns (Maneuvers, Movement, Shield, Mine Release, Fire, Resolution), requiring each crewmember to act from their assigned station. Modular ship construction lets the Posse design custom hulls under Energy and Charge limits and upgrade modules over the campaign.	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	Heavy mechanical load: separate subsystems track Vigor, Resources, Fatigue, Mental Fatigue, Emotional Bond stages and tokens, Wear, and Spaceship Conflict each with their own rules. Card-based resolution requires a full poker deck per player plus a separate GM deck (an official Discord bot exists as a substitute). Spaceship combat's simultaneous-phase structure expects every player to participate from a different ship module and slows considerably with larger crews. Designed specifically for Space Western themes within the New Frontier setting: not a generic engine for other genres.	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.