Rifts vs Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City
Compare Rifts and Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Rifts | Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero | Fantasy, Scifi, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical | Journey, Exploration, Sandbox, Resource Management, Inventory Management, Random Tables, Improvisation, Strong GM Support, Gonzo, Weird |
| 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 d20 + the relevant stat + a trained skill bonus to exceed a target number. A natural 1 fails and a natural 20 succeeds. Advantage adds a die and keeps the better result; disadvantage keeps the worse result, and the two cancel. Some tests instead read the total on an outcome table. |
| Dice | d20, d100 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very High | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Palladium Books Internet Policy limited license | Commercial publishing allowed — When Time Fades compatibility license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Palladium Books Inc. | Exalted Funeral Press |
| Year | 2005 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English, Portuguese |
| 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 who want a long science-fantasy caravan campaign centered on exploration, trade, and survival across an open-ended world. |
| 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. | Weekly travel procedures connect supplies and setbacks to the time available for exploration. Discoveries award experience for reaching and investigating unfamiliar places. Market research and trade-route investments let a caravan turn geographical knowledge into income. |
| 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. | The included SEACAT rules are an excerpt rather than the complete engine, and most spells are omitted. A week of rest normally restores only one damaged attribute or condition. The setting includes slavery, drug addiction, and body horror. |