Rifts vs Wyld
Compare Rifts and Wyld side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Rifts | Wyld | |
|---|---|---|
| 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, Classless, Dark Fantasy, One-Shot Friendly, Roll to Cast, Inventory Management, CC-Licensed Rules |
| 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 plus the relevant ability point (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Empathy, each rated 0–4) for any risky action: 10+ is a Success, 7–9 a Partial Success that lands with a complication, 6 or less a Failure. Double 6 is a Critical Success that grants the player a Fortune Point (spendable to boost any later roll, max 3); double 1 is a Critical Failure that hands the GM a Misfortune Point (spendable for out-of-turn foe actions, max 5). Physical attacks bypass the test: the attacker rolls the weapon's damage die, adds STR (melee) or DEX (ranged), subtracts the target's Armour Protection, and applies the remainder to Hit Points. Spellcasting reuses the 2d6 test against INT (Primordial utility) or EMP (Elemental damage), with a partial success triggering a d20 Wyld Flare table for unintended magical chaos. |
| Dice | d20, d100 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Very High | Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Medium |
| License | All Rights Reserved | CC BY 4.0 |
| 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 | $$ | Free |
| Publisher | Palladium Books Inc. | Quest Giver Games |
| Year | 2005 | 2026 |
| Languages | English | English |
| 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. | Small groups who want a short, classless fantasy zine for anthropomorphic animal-folk in a pastoral world that gradually darkens: built for the tonal slide from cozy Wyld Folk daily life into encounters with corrupted Ravenous, Carrion undead, and ascending Mythics. |
| 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. | Weapons strike without a roll: physical attacks resolve as damage die plus STR or DEX minus Armour Protection, removing the to-hit layer that slows similar 2d6 systems and reserving the test mechanic for risky non-attack actions, spellcasting, and contests. Magic splits into Elemental spells (EMP: damage with element-specific riders such as Air pushing the target, Earth knocking them prone, Fire bypassing armour, Light blinding, Dark dropping Strength) and Primordial spells (INT: non-damage utility from 25 paired opposites like Repel/Attract, Heat/Cool, Shrink/Grow, Slick/Friction), with a partial success on either rolling on a d20 Wyld Flare table for chaotic side-effects instead of a wasted turn. Hitting exactly 0 HP triggers the Scars table: rather than wound penalties, every entry pairs a permanent cosmetic mark (a limp, coloured-vein blood poisoning, lingering green spots, an inner-child episode) with a chance to raise an ability score or add to maximum HP, so near-death consistently bends toward leaving the Wyld Folk marked and more capable. |
| 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. | Combat is one-way damage (attackers roll, defenders don't, with no dodge, parry, or active defensive reaction beyond Armour Protection), so player agency in defense is limited to wearing or removing armour rather than mid-combat maneuvering. The world of Sunder is sketched in broad strokes: its history, factions, geography, and the nature of the encroaching darkness are conveyed across a few paragraphs and bestiary entries, leaving the GM to fill in most lore at the table. Character growth caps at level 10 with a hard ceiling of 4 in any ability score: numerical advancement runs out quickly, with later gains limited to extra Martial Foci or additional spells slotted within those existing caps. |