Advice recommended!

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RainbowDevil
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Advice recommended!

Unread post by RainbowDevil »

Hey folks,

I have some advice I'd like to ask of you all! :)

So, I have bought quite a few Palladium pdf books over the last few months for the After the Bomb campaign I'm running. The campaign has elements of BtS and Chaos Earth added into it too, especially psionics and I'm now bringing in more supernatural/demonic baddies. I am thinking about adding some stuff in the Astral Plane (and the idea of a Dreamscape also appeals to me). Usually I buy hard copy versions of all the books I really like and use a lot, much preferring actual books than pdfs. Naturally Nightbane book 2: Nightlands and Nightbane book 1: Beyond the Shadows really appeal to me since they both seem to talk a lot about the Astral Plane and similar "parallel/alternate" dimensions that I can introduce into my campaign. However, since they're not available on pdf I don't know how much useful information they have for "general" campaigns.

So, my question. All of you who have purchased either of those 2 books, do they have a lot of juicy and interesting information in them, or is it more like a cursory skim over it all? If the bulk of the books are mostly just OCCs, villains, etc without much actual information about the mechanics of the dimensions, then there's not much point. But if they include rules on creating your own dream objects, travel to the different dimensions, travelling in groups, new (preferably psionic) powers to get you there, etc. then perfect!

Thank you for your recommendations.

RD
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Glistam
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by Glistam »

Nightbane Book 1: Between the Shadows is a lot of good information on both the Astral Plane and the Dreamstream. There's some setting specific stuff in there but it's easy to ignore if you want. It has new powers as well as new O.C.C.'s that aren't setting-specific.

Nightbane Book 2: Nightlands is really just specific to the Nightbane world. The Nightlands is another dimension that exists on the other side of the mirror but everything about that place ties into the metaplot of the Nightbane book. You'll find less use from this book than you would from Book 1.
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Temporal Wizard O.C.C. update 0.8 | Rifts random encounters
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Grim Gulf, the Nightlands version of Century Station

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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

NB:BTS is a megaversial sourcebook themed as a NB book. I recommend this book for use of the text in Rifts, BTS, and HU.

NB:NL is a "world book". While this can be used to fill out other settings it is mainly only useful for NB Games.
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kaid
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by kaid »

I tend to recommend to anybody wanting to do anything with the astral plane in rifts to pick up between the shadows. It is the most indepth info on it anywhere in any of their systems and it has a lot of interesting stuff. I really like the OCC that lets you setup your own astral domain and given the nature of the astral plane and psionics pretty easy to tie it in with any of their main systems.
RainbowDevil
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by RainbowDevil »

Awesome! Thanks a lot for that folks. I'm definitely going to order the first one then! I only wish it was on pdf so I could see it quicker... :)

Are there rules for taking others across with you to the Astral Plane? I remember in D&D there was a power Astral Caravan, which could be used to bring a group together, but still required the actual Astral Projection power. Is there anything similar in this?

RD
Shark_Force
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by Shark_Force »

one of the things you can do when you create an astral domain (for the few that get the ability to do so) is create a gate that can allow anyone to get to the astral plane (not so much the coexistence portion of astral projection though). or at least, into your domain, from which they can get to the astral plane.

it further stands to reason that even if nobody in your group has the ability to create such a gate, there are probably some astral gates somewhere in the world if you know the right people to get in contact with ;)
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Glistam
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by Glistam »

There is a magic spell in Between the Shadows which opens a portal into the Astral Plane and others can travel through it as well.
Zerebus: "I like MDC. MDC is a hundred times better than SDC."

kiralon: "...the best way to kill an old one is to crash a moon into it."

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Temporal Wizard O.C.C. update 0.8 | Rifts random encounters
New Fire magic | New Temporal magic
Grim Gulf, the Nightlands version of Century Station

Let Chaos Magic flow in your campaigns.
RainbowDevil
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by RainbowDevil »

Cool! Thanks! :)

Hmm... I'm wondering if I can modify that spell to make it a psionic power...
RainbowDevil
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by RainbowDevil »

I really shouldn't have asked this question. Now I'm super keen to get the book, but I have to wait until pay day! :p

Mind you, with my recent experience, I'm not sure if I should hold my breath about ordering stuff from Palladium. :/
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MADMANMIKE
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by MADMANMIKE »

Between the Shadows is one of my favorite books, hands down. Also check out The Rifter #9, which has a great article expanding on Astral Domains and some pretty cool O.C.C.'s like the Astral Junkie and the Astral Knight.

Nightlands is a great book, but as was mentioned it is very setting specific to Nightbane.. It does however have the Sword Bearer O.C.C., which is pretty cool..

Through the Glass Darkly has some pretty cool different takes on Magic, including "Living Portals".. you might want to check that one out.
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RainbowDevil
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by RainbowDevil »

Thanks Madmanmike!! I'll go look for it right now! :D
By "living portals", I hope you don't mean along the lines of that woman in the Russian movie Night Watch? ;)

Thanks a lot for all your recommendations people! I placed the order last week for Between the Shadows, and it's now on its way! :)

Regards,
RD
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by Shark_Force »

a living portal is basically a magical portal that has gained some form of conscience and can be used to travel along a path between places. each portal generally has a personality, and may or may not be willing to take you to certain places (or at all). they could take almost any physical form iirc, so it might be a person. or it might not. depends on the portal really.
RainbowDevil
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Re: Advice recommended!

Unread post by RainbowDevil »

Thanks a lot for that! :)
Sounds a bit like the Fiddler's Green "sentient dreamscape" character from the Sandman comics. :)
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