Rifts vs Tiny Dungeon
Compare Rifts and Tiny Dungeon side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Rifts | Tiny Dungeon | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero | Fantasy |
| Tags | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical | Rules-Light, Beginner-Friendly, One-Shot Friendly, Low-Prep, Fast-Paced, Dungeon Crawl, Theater of the Mind, Heroic, Tag-Based |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | Roll 2d6: if any die shows 5 or 6, you succeed. Advantage grants 3d6; Disadvantage drops you to 1d6. No attributes, no skill list: Traits grant situational Advantage, and weapon Mastery/Proficiency determines combat dice. |
| Dice | d20, d100 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Very High | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary (TinyD6) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Palladium Books Internet Policy limited license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Palladium Books Inc. | Gallant Knight Games |
| Year | 2005 | 2018 |
| Languages | English | English, Spanish, French, German, Polish |
| Best For | 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. | Groups wanting fast, minimalist fantasy with almost zero rules overhead: character creation in minutes, core mechanic in one sentence, and tons of optional modules to bolt on. |
| Highlights | 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. | Entire core rules fit in ~20 pages, character fits on an index card, huge trait list for customization without complexity, 17 included microsettings, extensive optional rules (martial disciplines, magic schools, ship combat) let you dial complexity up |
| Considerations | 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. | Binary pass/fail with no degrees of success, fantasy-only (other TinyD6 games cover sci-fi), no built-in advancement by default (optional), very light on tactical depth |