Godbound vs Rifts
Compare Godbound and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Godbound | Rifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero |
| Tags | Sandbox, High-Power, Worldbuilding, Toolkit, Ascending AC, Mana Points | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Attribute checks: roll 1d20 equal to or above (21 minus attribute score). Attacks: roll 1d20 + attack bonus vs AC. Fray die deals automatic damage to lesser foes each round. Divine powers fueled by Effort (commit to activate gifts). Dominion points spent to reshape the world at large. | 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 | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | OGL (Free Edition available) | 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 | Sine Nomine Publishing | Palladium Books Inc. |
| Year | 2016 | 2005 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want to play divine heroes reshaping nations and battling gods: epic-scale OSR sandbox campaigns with world-building baked in. | 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 | Free edition is a complete game, Dominion/Faction system for world-shaping, Fray die handles demigod power level cleanly, detailed GM sandbox tools, compatible with OSR modules | 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 | High-power premise limits traditional dungeon crawling, Effort tracking across multiple Words gets complex, Arcem setting is deeply baked in | 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. |