Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert vs Rifts
Compare Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert | Rifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero |
| Tags | Classic Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Hexcrawl, Resource Management, Deadly, Vancian Casting, Descending AC, Domain Management | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d20 and meet or exceed the attack or saving-throw target supplied by class, level, Hit Dice, and descending Armor Class. Exploration, reactions, morale, thief abilities, and treasure use their own d6, 2d6, or percentile procedures. | 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 | d20 | d20, d100 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | 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 | TSR Hobbies, Inc. | Palladium Books Inc. |
| Year | 1981 | 2005 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a dangerous, referee-led fantasy campaign that starts with mapped dungeon expeditions and grows into wilderness travel, retainers, strongholds, and territorial play. | 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 | Ten-minute dungeon turns connect mapping, searching, light, encumbrance, rest, and wandering-monster pressure. Reaction and morale procedures allow negotiation, evasion, surrender, and retreat to matter alongside combat. The Expert volume expands the campaign into hex travel, naval expeditions, magical research, strongholds, settlers, and rulership. | 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 | The complete level 1 through 14 game requires both the Basic and Expert rulebooks. Descending Armor Class, class-specific tables, and separate procedures replace a universal action mechanic. Low hit points, poison saves, and other severe effects make early play highly lethal. | 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. |