Mythic Bastionland vs Rifts
Compare Mythic Bastionland and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mythic Bastionland | Rifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Hexcrawl, Exploration, Attacks Always Hit, Domain Management, Sandbox, Atmospheric | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Attacks always hit: roll weapon damage directly with simultaneous combat. Guard absorbs damage before Virtues (Vigour, Clarity, Spirit). Gambits trigger on 4+ damage rolls for special maneuvers. Omen tables guide myth discovery across hexcrawl exploration. | 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 | d6–d10 | d20, d100 |
| Complexity | Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | High | 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 | Free | $$ |
| Publisher | Bastionland Press | Palladium Books Inc. |
| Year | 2025 | 2005 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Arthurian-style campaigns of knights seeking glory, ruling domains, and hunting strange mythological creatures across a wild realm. Great for groups who want structured hexcrawl play with emergent storytelling. | 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 | Simultaneous combat system, detailed hexcrawl and myth-hunting framework, award-winning layout and art (2025 Ennie Gold), domain management adds campaign depth | 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 | Combat has more procedural steps than it first appears, omen system can feel prescriptive, Arthurian tone limits flexibility, setting context buried deep in the book | 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. |