Fallout: The Roleplaying Game vs Rifts
Compare Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Fallout: The Roleplaying Game | Rifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero |
| Tags | Tactical, Exploration, Survival, Character Building, Cinematic, Crunchy, Resource Management, Mission-Based, Lore-Heavy, Licensed IP | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d20 against the sum of an attribute and a skill. Each die at or below that total scores a success. A roll of 1 scores two successes, and tagged skills extend this critical range to the skill rank. Meet the difficulty with your total successes. Extra successes become shared Action Points that can buy more dice or information. A roll of 20 creates a complication even when the test succeeds. | 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 dice pool | d20, d100 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Noncommercial only — Palladium Books Internet Policy limited license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Modiphius Entertainment | Palladium Books Inc. |
| Year | 2021 | 2005 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want Fallout campaigns built around wasteland quests, scavenging, and customizable survivors. Groups who enjoy tactical firefights and turning recovered junk into equipment upgrades. | 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 | Shared Action Points let the group turn strong rolls into support for later tests. Perks and equipment modifications let survivors develop distinct specialties without classes. Scavenging tables connect dangerous locations to supplies and crafting materials. | 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 | Attacks can trigger several damage effects alongside armor checks for the struck body part. Ammunition and carried weight require ongoing bookkeeping. The core setting concentrates on the Commonwealth from Fallout 4. | 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. |