A tabletop roleplaying game for sci-fi stories

Riftbound is a TTRPG that I've been working on for a long time. I want to keep it approachable for beginners, but maintain a lot of depth for experienced players.

I'm trying to combine wargamey and roleplay-focused elements so there's something for everyone.

Riftbound is still very much in active development, so I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Try it out

draftCore rules draftCharacter sheet (A5) draftExtended character sheet (A5) draftCreature profiles

Changelog

(upcoming)

• Hyperlinks in the rules document
• A proper digital character sheet, maybe
• More content
• Balance changes

alpha1

• Major version increase 😎 wow. I decided to increase the major version because the core systems are now feature-complete. Obviously there will be more levels, equipment, vehicles, abilities, etc in the beta version but all the core systems are in place.
• Engineer
• Added the Engineer, the fourth and final (for now) Class option with a focus on working with machines.
• Added their Signature Equpiment, the Signature Augmentation, and their Ability, Jury-rig.
• I am looking at buffing the Healer because Jury-rig does feel like it's stepping on their toes a bit. It's not like they're doing particularly well to begin with.
• The Scout
• The sixth and final (for now) Role is an AGI-scaling burst DPS.
• Added their abilities Focus and All Out.
• I'm not very confident in their current state (I think the free actions from Focus might be too strong and I think the reward for building AGI might not be strong enough)
• Vehicle rework
• Vehicles have been streamlined: they should be easier to understand and play with. Pilots should simultaneously enjoy reduced busywork and increased strategic depth. Here are some highlights:
• Vehicles explicitly do not require any Watts outside combat. Pilots are no longer required to calculate their Charge spending during downtime and travel.
• Watts and the economy surrounding them have been overhauled. Watts no longer expire at the end of each round: the original implementation was interesting in theory, but now that Vehicle Actions are considered full Actions, the Watt costs were basically redundant.
• Engines have been replaced with Capacitors, which store Watts instead of Charge. Now the only interaction between vehicles and Charge is a single Action to convert Charge into Watts. (Engines will return later as a way to regenerate Watts over time using fuel.)
• The total number of Watts available on a "full tank" has been significantly lowered to make Pilots consider leaving their vehicles from time to time.
• System Weight is largely unchanged, but it has been rephrased as Slots which I think is a clearer analogy. Slots are tied to specific types of System, which might be reverted later as Signature Equipment becomes increasingly modular.
• System profiles have been made generally shorter. All Vehicle Actions now say their Watts cost in brackets at the front, and all Systems now use 1 Slot by default.
• The new character sheet
• Feast your eyes on all eighteen pages of the new and beautiful extended character sheet, now updated for Riftbound alpha and rendered for your viewing pleasure in a moreish A5 form factor.
• The revolutionary expansion page system means the new and beautiful extended character sheet supports UNLIMITED Abilities, Attacks, Equipment and more. Riftbound now has THE LONGEST CHARACTER SHEET EVER MADE (until you run out of paper).
• Pilots and Biologists will love the all-new Vehicle and Companion sheets, all in one convenient place.
• And if that wasn't enough, the new and beautiful extended character sheet also includes your very own blank page for truly limitless customisation.
• In order to support these enhancements I have bravely removed the editable form fields from the PDF. If you want them back please add them yourself (and then send it to me). I actually can't stand working with PDFs.
• Misc.
• Buffed Surge because the Scout can basically do that every other turn at level 1.
• Patch Up explicitly does not work on Vehicles to differentiate it from Jury-rig. I don't think it would be fair to the Healer or to Robot PCs to also stop it working on Robots, though.
• Renamed Charge (the Damage Ability) to Blitz to distinguish it from Charge (the keyword) and Charge (the resource).
• Assorted tiny clarifications and adjustments.

indev4.1

• Generally added more shots to weapons and enemy attacks, aiming for about 2-3 more damage per attack, and buffed enemy defenses
• Patch Up now costs 1SP, but has 2 extra healing to compensate
• Lessened the effect on Indirect to -2
• Actually explained what HP and SP are
• The Robotic Ability no longer reduces your HP and SP (for now)
• Changed a certain enemy's Webbed condition to use the Grappled status effect
• Clarifications & corrections

indev4

• The third Class option, the Biologist, and their Signature Companion
• The fifth Role option, the Sentinel - another Defense Role
• The Signature Ability rule now applies to single Actions rather than whole Abilities to avoid confusion with Lockdown's two active effects.

indev3.2

• Several clarifications and corrections

indev3.1b

• Renamed Move Carefully to Simple But Effective to better fit its new effect
• Added The Captain to the Building your character section
• Reverted the Operate Action. Vehicle Actions now use one Action each. The Operate Action meant you could Prepare WIS for free every turn which was cringe.

indev3.1

• Added the Operate Action which lets you take as many Vehicle Actions as you like. I think this is how I originally intended vehicles to work because otherwise Watts don't mean much for single-operator vehicles.
• Evasive Manoeuvres has been replaced by Backup, which lets a Pilot call on their Signature Vehicle for aid even when it's not right next to them. This change and the next change are meant to give Pilots something to do when they are inside a building.
• Both Classes now additionally start with a choice of a few different weapons. This replaces the Gunner's simple melee weapon.
• Move Carefully now gives Gunners some extra stats to bring them more in line with Pilots.
• Added the Signature Vehicle (Mechsuit) and its Systems.
• Added a ramming Attack to the Giant Wheels Mk1.
• Clarified rules for the range of Vehicle Attacks.
• Updated the Building your character section appropriately.
• The engine Systems now tell you the total number of Watts they generate from a full charge for convenience

indev3b

• The defensive Skilled effect for melee weapons is now the same everywhere (reroll 1 die). I don't want another indev1 light armour situation.

indev3

• Vehicles
• Added rules for vehicles. Currently the only vehicles are the Pilot's Signature Vehicles.
• Pilot
• Added the Pilot, the second Class option. They are focused on Vehicles.
• Added their Signature Equipment, the three different Signature Vehicles
• Added Evasive Manoeuvres, their level 1 Ability
• The Captain
• Added The Captain, the fourth Role and the second Support Role. They are focused on manipulating turn order.
• Added some Abilities for them.
• Skilled
• Added the Skilled keyword. The Traits system was great for roleplay stuff, but it didn't allow your character to be good with a particular kind of weapon, for example. That's what Skilled is for.
• Your Class and Signature Equipment now make you Skilled with certain weapons, or vehicles in the Pilot's case.
• Most weapons and vehicles now gain an additional bonus when you are Skilled with them. In summary:
• Most vehicles cannot be piloted unless you are Skilled with them.
• Melee Weapons can be used as worse shields against only Melee attacks.
• You can only Attack with a shield if you are Skilled.
• You can only Grapple with a whip if you are Skilled.
• Pistols can be Reloaded/Recharged as an Instant instead of an Action.
• The longer-range Attack on rifles can now only be used if you are Skilled.
• Cannons are not Heavy if you are Skilled.
• You can now choose to spend your Prestige to do something that would normally require you to be Skilled, or to reroll something as before.
• Misc.
• Added the Quick Ability
• Renamed Photon Gun to Photon Cannon to make it clear that it's a Cannon.
• Fixed various typos

indev2

• First playtest brought up enough QoL issues to warrant a minor version increase! There are some serious breaking changes in this one. (The new Classes will have to wait for indev3.)
• Attribute adjustments
• Renamed Celerity (CEL) to Agility (AGI). A thesaurus is not part of Riftbound's intended user experience.
• VSN ended up being used a lot. Observation, investigation, ranged attacks and stealth cover a lot of situations. Changed the guidance to suggest using WIS for detailed investigation and AGI for stealth.
• AGI is now at serious risk of becoming overloaded. For this reason, the Move Action no longer considers AGI. Everyone now moves a nice round 10m.
• (WIS is also at risk of becoming overloaded in indev3 when piloting becomes relevant. I'm looking into the options for separating piloting from WIS: after all, the archetypical sci-fi pilot is not particularly wise.)
• Signature Weapon adjustments
• Renamed Signature Armaments to Signature Weapons.
• Generally buffed Signature Weapons. Since all Gunners get a Simple Melee Weapon, their Signature needs to feel special. Some Signatures needed more help than others because they were just bad.
• Signature Weapon (Melee):
• Split the Signature Weapon (Melee) into multiple separate profiles.
• One-handed: Shots 1 ⟶ 4, Damage 6 ⟶ 2 (Max damage 6 ⟶ 8)
• Two-handed: Shots 1 ⟶ 2, Damage 8 ⟶ 5 (Max damage 8 ⟶ 10)
• Added Heavy and Spear options.
• Signature Weapon (Ranged):
• Ballistic Pistol: Shots 2 ⟶ 4. Uses 2 ⟶ 1 Ammo. (Max damage 4 ⟶ 8. I want the Pistols' unique strength to be their Ammo/Charge efficiency.)
• Laser Pistol: Damage 2 ⟶ 4. Uses 10 ⟶ 5 Charge. (Max damage 4 ⟶ 8).
• Ballistic Rifle and Laser Rifle:
50m: Shots 4 ⟶ 5. (Max damage 8 ⟶ 10)
100m: Shots 2 ⟶ 3. (Max damage 4 ⟶ 6)
• Ballistic Cannon: Shots 1d6 ⟶ 2d6 + 2. Damage 2 ⟶ 1. (Max damage 12 ⟶ 14. I want to lean into the Ballistic Cannon's chaotic and random identity.)
• Laser Cannon: Damage 8 ⟶ 12. (Max damage 8 ⟶ 12. On the other hand, I want to lean into the Laser Cannon's all-or-nothing identity. Both Cannons are meant to be about risk and reward.)
• Signature Weapon (Shield):
• One-handed: Shots 1 ⟶ 2. (Max damage 2 ⟶ 4)
• Two-handed: Shots 1 ⟶ 2. Automatically block 2 ⟶ 1 shot(s). New: The Instant effect can be used any number of times per Dodge Roll. (Max damage 4 ⟶ 8)
• Signature Weapon (Whip):
• The Whip's Snaring effect has been moved to the Grapple Action. Now, the Whip's special effect is that it can Grapple at a range of 2m.
• Because it lost this unique strength, it needs more damage. Shots 1 ⟶ 2.
• Now ignores the Point Blanc rule (see below).
• Also added weaker, non-signature versions of the Laser Pistol, cannons, shields, Whip and Heavy Melee weapons.
• Rethinking Shots
• During the playtest, most Attacks completely missed. Everyone was rolling below average, but this meant they did no damage at all - much more frustrating than doing only a little damage. The only weapon that felt good was one character's Signature ballistic cannon - a weapon with lots of Shots. Almost every time it fired, it at least did something.
• As such, most weapons are having some of their power shifted from Damage to Shots. The only weapons with one Shot will be ones where being all-or-nothing is part of that weapon's identity (like the previous example of the Laser Cannon).
• Here's an exhaustive list of those weapons (apart from the Signatures, which were mentioned earlier).
• Hardlight Bayonet: Shots 1 ⟶ 2, Damage 6 ⟶ 3.
• Precision Rifle: Shots 2/1 ⟶ 4/2, Damage 3 ⟶ 2. (Now it's more similar to the Signature Ballistic Rifle.)
• Primitive Bayonet: Shots 1 ⟶ 2, Damage 4 ⟶ 2.
• Simple Baton/Shortsword: Shots 1 ⟶ 3, Damage 6 ⟶ 2.
• Simple Club/Longsword: Shots 1 ⟶ 2, Damage 8 ⟶ 4.
• Simple Dagger (Melee): Shots 1 ⟶ 4, Damage 4 ⟶ 1.
• Simple Spear: Shots 1 ⟶ 2, Damage 6 ⟶ 3. New: This Attack ignores the Point Blanc rule. (explained below)
• Sonic Rifle: Shots 2/1 ⟶ 4/4, Damage 8/4 ⟶ 2/1.
• Standard Pistol: Shots 2 ⟶ 3. (Damage unchanged because I don't want it to be that much worse than the Signature.)
• The enemies have also been given more Shots.
• Armour changes
• For the same reason, both kinds of Armour have been fully reworked. They are now generally weaker. This should give The Tank, and especially the poor Healer, a reason to exist.
• On the other hand, it'll also let the Tank take damage from time to time, so their HP is a meaningful resource that can run out.
• Heavy Armour: Heavy 0. You must use 4+ instead of your ▯AGI for Dodge Rolls.
• Light Armour: You can choose to use 5+ instead of your ▯AGI for Dodge Rolls.
• The Point Blanc rule
• Unless you and the target were in Melee range of each other, you could previously fire non-Melee attacks into and out of combat with no penalty. This was an unintended oversight.
• Named this rule Point Blanc so it's easy to make specific Attacks ignore it (e.g. spears), and added it to the Don't Forget section.
• Now, if you use a non-Melee Attack:
• If the target is in base contact with their enemy, you suffer -1 to hit.
• If you are in base contact with your enemy, you suffer -2 to hit instead.
• Grappling
• Moved the Whip's Snaring effect to a Grapple action that everyone can use, and added an additional option to apply the Grappled status effect.
• Added the Grappled status effect for when another creature is holding you so that you can't move.
• Overwatch tweaks
• Overwatch can now be triggered by any movement, not just the Move Action, including involuntary movement.
• Overwatch can now be cancelled by taking damage and failing a WIL check.
• You can't take any other Actions after taking Overwatch. That way, you have to stand still.
• Misc. changes
• When you use Intercept's Reaction (both I and II), you now move to either the unit or the attacker. It was hard to visualise The Tank blocking shots when they were a whole 3m away from the action. This should also open up some fun ways to get into Combat.
• The Alien Beast was absolutely matrix dodging everything. Reduced its ▯AGI to just +1, a value more befitting its Level, giving it a healthier 4+ to dodge.
• The Guard Robot II's Cleave Attack now only does one type of damage, and no longer has random Damage.
• You now have to use your shield before you make a Dodge Roll, not during. The Shield is now also a Melee Weapon, which I don't think changes anything.
• Dual wielding is now explicitly allowed, but it doesn't exempt you from Attack Counters.
• Each Attack Token now gives you -2 to hit. They weren't impactful enough to discourage Attack spam.
• It's now possible to stop being prone.
• Adjusted some wording.
• Improved the formatting of the character sheet's editable fields.

indev1.4b

• The whip now specifies that it does sharp damage
• You can now choose to start with Professional outfits as well as Everyday

indev1.4

• Reworked Ammo and Charge to generally be more forgiving
• Renamed Ammo Clips to Ammo Magazines upon instruction from someone who knows what they're talking about
• Made Ammo Magazines twice the size - this means you now start with twice as much Ammo
• Made Ammo Magazines into Adventuring Gear and gave them a mC value (oops)
• Made Batteries bigger and cheaper
• The Adventuring Kit now contains extra Batteries for each Charge equipment you have.
• Added the Solar Array, an expensive but situationally powerful Adventuring Gear option that lets you generate Charge while off the grid.
• Gave the player more control over their Attribute Scores
• Added a pity system when rolling for attributes
• Let the player choose what scores to keep, i.e. they can be bad on purpose
• Fixed Gunner description to reflect the growing number of Signature options
• Added Hedonism, another suggested Ideal

indev1.3b

• Clarified wording of the Active keyword, Seizing the Initiative and the Signature Armament (Whip)
• Added Pep Talk, a Support Ability aimed at The Captain but available to everyone
• Reduced the AP cost of Clear Mind and clarified (haha) its wording. 3 Actions is a lot so hopefully this will make it more appealing for all Support characters.
• Attack Counters are no longer lost when your turn starts. This reverts an unintended buff to Seizing the Initiative.
• Added the minimum HP gain to the Don't Forget section

indev1.3

• Added Attack Counters to nerf Attack spam and buff Overwatch.
• Added somewhere to keep track of easy-to-forget rules that aren't referred to anywhere on the character sheet.

indev1.2

• Added Prone and Taunted status effects
• Added Signature Armament (Whip), another option aimed at Tank/Gunners (and eventually Sentinel/Gunners)
• Added more Simple Melee Weapons for Gunners to choose from
• Added unarmed and improvised Attacks

indev1.1b

• Heavy Armour now only reduces CEL by 1

indev1.1

• Minor Ability adjustments
• Changed some wording

indev1

• First version!!
• The Lancer, The Healer and The Tank
• Gunner
• Up to level 4