questions about palladium fantasy

[Thom001]

Hello all, I have been playing rifts for a bit now but never played or previously been interested in palladium fantasy. Also I have no other background in rpgs other than video games. I have been thinking about buying the main book and trying out palladium fantasy.

My question is really more of just wondering what it is all about? I mean rifts is our world that stuff happened to way in the future. Rifts has a very sci-fi almost cyberpunk kind of feel to it. Does palladium fantasy have a main this is the world and what happened or any kind of close association with popular media? Does it have kind of like king Arthur or Merlin with fantasy creatures put in or more like lord of the rings movies?

Also I read something about wearing armor restricting magic use? How does that work?
I guess I'm really just asking about palladium fantasy in general and the differences between the two games.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The PF world has it's own history much like Middle Earth has its own history.

Mages that wear more then just light armor they get a penalty to casting and to the amount of PPE they need to cast the spell. Basically no metal armor.

[Prysus]

Hello all, I have been playing rifts for a bit now but never played or previously been interested in palladium fantasy. Also I have no other background in rpgs other than video games. I have been thinking about buying the main book and trying out palladium fantasy.

My question is really more of just wondering what it is all about?

Greetings and Salutations. Okay, I'll try to help you out the best I can. First, I'll address your questions, then might add some additional comments.

I mean rifts is our world that stuff happened to way in the future. Rifts has a very sci-fi almost cyberpunk kind of feel to it. Does palladium fantasy have a main this is the world and what happened or any kind of close association with popular media? Does it have kind of like king Arthur or Merlin with fantasy creatures put in or more like lord of the rings movies?

Closer to Lord of the Rings movies. This is not Earth, but a different world. The main book includes at least 10 pages of history (including a timeline) and regional overviews (including map). This helps gives you a better feel of the world.

There are also 27 O.C.C. and 14 playable races (from a quick count of both) included in the main book, plus Demons and Deevils stats. There are also lists and stats for various equipment (weapons and armor among them), food, magic items, drugs, etc. With only the main book, I think you can run games for a long time to come. The additional world/sourcebooks only help to add to the world and flesh it out, providing additional options and such. However, I do not believe they are required (just useful) as the main book really covers all your basics.

Also I read something about wearing armor restricting magic use? How does that work?

Metal hampers their magic. They can wear it, but they have magic casting penalties (kind of like how wearing EBA in Rifts can cause problems with magic, just different specifics).

I guess I'm really just asking about palladium fantasy in general and the differences between the two games.

Being familiar with Rifts, you should already have a good handle on the rules, character creation, combat, O.C.C. selection, magic and psionics, etc. However, being a fantasy setting, take out the guns (for the most part) and M.D.C. Power level also tends to be lower than Rifts (less skills, for example). There are other differences as well, but that's the main difference you'll see if you're already familiar with Rifts.

Another difference (and this can be important, but doesn't really hurt the setting itself) is that PF doesn't see much support. A new book is coming out, and there are a few writers on these forums (including myself) working on more source material, but new material for PF has been pretty much non-existent for a while now (basically since the departure of Bill Coffin from the company). So if you're the type who needs lots of new books to support your ability to play, this will become a problem. PF basically has 18 books (more or less, depending on 1st/2nd Edition preferences and your level of completionism), with the last one coming out in 2009 and the one before that 2002. We may be getting a new one in 2014 (fingers crossed, though it may slide into 2015?), and unsure when any future ones will come out (if ever). This lack of support has caused some to leave and head to other companies with more support (and/or rules systems they like better). This is not meant to discourage you, merely inform you so you're aware.

I personally think it's a great setting and love it. I hope this helps some. If you have any additional questions, or would like to know something more specific, I'll be happy to help to the best of my abilities (as I'm sure many of the other wonderful fans on these forums will do as well). Farewell and safe journeys for now.



P.S. Just for a basic review of additional books in the PF line and their level of priority/use, I'll include my standard review in a Spoiler tag. Enjoy.

Spoiler:

I've got Palladium 1st edition, Mysteries of Magic, and Weapons, Armor, and Castles (which isn't technically fantasy).

So if I were to use the grab bags to start an instant Palladium Fantasy collection, what books should I ask for besides the 2nd edition core book?

--flatline

Greetings and Salutations. If you hop over to the PF forum you'll find threads with very similar questions (you may have to search for them though). Might be a good idea to swing by and check out other people's opinions on the matter. However, my thoughts are...

1) Monsters & Animals. Lots of monsters, both playable and potential enemies (ranging from minor annoyance to big bad). Also, it has animal stats which are useful for pets, random encounters, familiars, and more. I'd call this one essential after the main book.

2) Dragons & Gods. It includes dragons, elementals, spirits of light, A.I., and gods. Even if none of those things appeal to you, they come in handy if someone is playing a clergy type or a warlock. Also provides a few hidden clues to the setting and such. If none if those things appeal to you though, feel free to pass. This is more likely for very high powered campaigns and/or NPC.

After those two it becomes a lot more personal taste. I'd recommend whichever location the game is going to be set. So if the Western Empire is the campaign setting, get the Western Empire book. I'll provide some added info all the same.

Old Ones: Timiro setting, and a high level campaign included.

Adventures on the High Seas: Bizantium setting. Lots of island adventures, a plethora of new O.C.C., stats on ships, and a few hidden notes (like Kingdom colors based upon nation flags). Highly recommended by me.

Wolfen Empire: Lots of Wolfen Empire info. If that's where the campaign will take place, you're playing a Wolfen, or you just like the furry humanoids, a good pick. If you prefer, you can go with the two classic [Further] Adventures in the Northern Wilderness books. Wolfen Empire is effectively those two books combined. There are definite differences, but you needn't worry about that too much just starting off.

Island at the Edge of the World: First edition adventure book. While it has setting info too, I won't recommend it for starting your collection.

Yin-Sloth Jungles: Another 1st Edition book. Lots of O.C.C. and monsters, but they'll all need to be converted. Setting info too. Good book, but due to the need conversions I don't recommend it to start off.

Western Empire: Good if this is where the campaign will be held or you want to use them as bad guys. While different, for a quick analogy I think if them like the CS. Even if you don't want to be them, still nice to have their stats when the players face them. Also has some new magic/Alchemists items, if you're into that kind of thing.

Baalgor Wastelands: Another setting book. Lots of new monsters/races. I personally really enjoy this book. However if you're not looking for new monsters/races and you're not interested in the area, it may not hold much use for a new comer to PF. I still think it's a cool book, but your mileage may vary.

Mount Nimro: Giants! A few new O.C.C., but mostly restricted to giants and that region.

Eastern Territory: Another area book. Good if you want a game there. As a G.M., it's one of my favorite places to start a game (if I'm sticking to the established setting).

Library of Bletherad: Very useful book in many ways, but also limited. They give you new schools of magic, but no way to learn them and no O.C.C. info. Rune items you can't find, etc. Also gives some setting info such as Currency and a few other gems like that. I think it's great, but more flavor and something to build/expand upon than a use as is (to me). Probably not something I'd recommend fresh out, but an early addition later. If someone is going TO the library, then essential, of course.

Northern Hinterlands: Region specific, but good book. More designed as a lead-in for the Land of the Damned though. Lots of optional O.C.C. such as Blacksmith and Artisan. Also has the Barbarians, which some people really like. Your mileage may very upon personal tastes.

Land of the Damned 1&2: Good books, but not really my type of thing. I don't use them, and actually avoid them (primarily because some of the races for it are super munchy, and after it first came out you see almost everyone trying to make one of these super ultra rare races that you never find outside this specific region, which ultimately ticked me off). High level stuff. If you're running a high powered campaign, sure. Otherwise I suggest avoiding until later. Even if you find the books interesting, not very useful for someone starting out and region specific more designed for epic level games.

Anyways, that's just a quick rundown from my point of view. I hope that helps. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys to all.

[Thom001]

Thanks. The responses helped a lot. I guess my next question then is that Prysus mentioned a few times having to convert because this item or that item is first edition, what would I be converting?

Also the adventures on the high seas book sounds fun and useful, even in my rifts games. I definitely love water/coastal games. Lemuria is on my list as next to get for rifts. Do you recommend any other water or underwater reference material for either setting?

Also I noticed you said that there is A.I. in palladium fantasy? and guns? How does that play in there?

[Prysus]

Thanks. The responses helped a lot. I guess my next question then is that Prysus mentioned a few times having to convert because this item or that item is first edition, what would I be converting?

Greetings and Salutations. Well, I've never played 1st Edition, but the main differences are ...

1st Edition had no S.D.C. (and I think had slightly higher H.P.?)
1st Edition had no P.P.E./I.S.P. (for magic/psionics)
1st Edition didn't have the O.C.C. system you're familiar with (still had O.C.C., but more or less a different system and you'd need to make adjustments to make them compatable with a 2nd Edition stuff).

Also the adventures on the high seas book sounds fun and useful, even in my rifts games. I definitely love water/coastal games. Lemuria is on my list as next to get for rifts. Do you recommend any other water or underwater reference material for either setting?

Nothing comes to mind, but I don't know Rifts very well. Um ... CS Navy or something like that (Sourcebook 4 I think it was), maybe? I don't know. Underseas and Lemuria for Rifts, AotHS for PF ... can't think of much more than that.

Also I noticed you said that there is A.I. in palladium fantasy?

A.I. as in Alien Intelligences (not Artificial Intelligences), for note. However, they play out much the same as they would in Rifts, just everything else tends to be a bit weaker. If you've played enough Rifts you may have read something about Splugorth (and I think maybe A.I. and V.I. in general) being like lesser/weaker cousins of the Old Ones. Well, Old Ones are part of the PF mythology. So really, stuff from PF made it into Rifts, just that people don't tend to realize it started in PF. Mind you, I wouldn't recommend player characters going up against an A.I., but the stats are there all the same.

and guns? How does that play in there?

Guns are in PF, but in a very minor capacity. The same way rifts open up to Rifts Earth and bring people from various dimensions, rifts can open up on the Palladium World as well, bringing all sorts of things (including guns). The general rule though is that M.D.C. stuff doesn't exist in PF, so if you bring M.D.C. armor and a M.D. gun with you, they become S.D.C. with a 1 to 1 conversion (kind of gimps the M.D. stuff, but there you have it). Even having the gun though, you probably won't be able to reload (unless you happen to have spare clips). So once you're out of ammo, you have a big paperweight on your hands.

Hope some of that helps. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys once again.

[kiralon]

Greetings and Salutations. Well, I've never played 1st Edition, but the main differences are ...

1st Edition had no S.D.C. (and I think had slightly higher H.P.?)
1st Edition had no P.P.E./I.S.P. (for magic/psionics)
1st Edition didn't have the O.C.C. system you're familiar with (still had O.C.C., but more or less a different system and you'd need to make adjustments to make them compatable with a 2nd Edition stuff).

1st ed has sdc for armour and items, but not people
HP are the same as second ed
Spells are casts per day but Psionics has ISP
OCC's still had occ, primary and secondary skills, but the secondary skill list was a different list of skills to the primary (elective skills). OCC skills could come from either elective and secondary but are set by the OCC you choose.
1st ed has a different type of hand to hand for each of the major classes (i.e. hth Merc, hth soldier, knight, paladin, thief, ranger, gladiator, non men at arms etc) rather than just basic, expert, martial arts and assassin.

the different hth styles is one of the things that attracted me to palladium in the first place.

[Thom001]

Okay. Well I think I'll stick to 2nd edition then.

Also my group has gotten the idea to go hopping dimensions after a ley line rifter and one of the stops will be pf. We were just going to do a 5 to 1 ratio for md gear but after reading the comments here and someone on another thread said md stuff brought to an sdc world might not work we are currently revisiting that topic.

[kiralon]

The way I play tech in palladium is
Normal weapons do no damage to MDC items
Magic/magic items/psionics/magic creatures etc does MDC damage to the mdc armour/items even though it does sdc damage normally.
Really high tech devices have a %10 chance cumulative of failure (plasma rifles, anti grav belts, vibroblades etc) per use/activation.
standard weapons (ak47's p90's etc) that use ammo are fine, but if the wielder gets hit by magic fire the ammo has a %50 of autoigniting (going off), this includes grenades and missiles.

I had an adventure that skipped through many worlds, from w40k (the druid tamed a genestealer, and called it fluffy), to rifts to aliens, to forgotten realms, deverry, middle earth, nightbane, bts (1920's earth, the animated t-rex skeleton was awesome), earthsea, osten ard and otherland, chaos wars, krynn, midkemia, spelljammer, Camelot, Shannara, RandLand (wheel of time) and lots of others.

[zyanitevp]

Okay. Well I think I'll stick to 2nd edition then.

Also my group has gotten the idea to go hopping dimensions after a ley line rifter and one of the stops will be pf. We were just going to do a 5 to 1 ratio for md gear but after reading the comments here and someone on another thread said md stuff brought to an sdc world might not work we are currently revisiting that topic.

You can also just say that the universe/atmosphere/magic energy makes all of the MDC weapons SDC- or just magically change them- that rifle becomes a long bow....

[Thom001]

The way I play tech in palladium is
Normal weapons do no damage to MDC items
Magic/magic items/psionics/magic creatures etc does MDC damage to the mdc armour/items even though it does sdc damage normally.
Really high tech devices have a %10 chance cumulative of failure (plasma rifles, anti grav belts, vibroblades etc) per use/activation.
standard weapons (ak47's p90's etc) that use ammo are fine, but if the wielder gets hit by magic fire the ammo has a %50 of autoigniting (going off), this includes grenades and missiles.

I had an adventure that skipped through many worlds, from w40k (the druid tamed a genestealer, and called it fluffy), to rifts to aliens, to forgotten realms, deverry, middle earth, nightbane, bts (1920's earth, the animated t-rex skeleton was awesome), earthsea, osten ard and otherland, chaos wars, krynn, midkemia, spelljammer, Camelot, Shannara, RandLand (wheel of time) and lots of others.

The ammo setting on fire is definitely something we never thought of. The idea that seems to be winning out is having the sdc weapons and armor work but of course the characters are going to have to figure out there is no reloading them. If we end up with any kind of tradesman/smuggler type character he is going to try to stock up on the alchemical objects, mystical potions, etc to bring to the next world.

Okay. Well I think I'll stick to 2nd edition then.

Also my group has gotten the idea to go hopping dimensions after a ley line rifter and one of the stops will be pf. We were just going to do a 5 to 1 ratio for md gear but after reading the comments here and someone on another thread said md stuff brought to an sdc world might not work we are currently revisiting that topic.

You can also just say that the universe/atmosphere/magic energy makes all of the MDC weapons SDC- or just magically change them- that rifle becomes a long bow....

And as for the MD weapons and armor we are tossing around the idea you suggested of transforming it or doing some kind of techno wizard type thing where only the characters can operate their md weapons, just with no md damage. Also if there is an md creature the idea has been thrown out that they will be transformed into some other creature from pf that is in the conversion book.


Hopefully when or if we get back to rifts we will have a much more seasoned team with some real unique gear and/or knowledge.