Xmas surprise package for getting started with Rifts

[coffeeman]

I would like to take advantage of the Palladium Books xmas surprise package. I am interested in getting into Rifts for the first time and need help building a "wish list." What would you put on it for an introduction to Rifts?

I'm thinking the Ultimate Edition in hardcover, the GM's guide... what else?

Thank you! Happy holidays!

[Orin J.]

GM's guide is less than great, but the books i always suggest for people wanting to start their rifts collection are the first sourcebook, the mercenary book, and the new west world book. even if the adventures don't matter to ya all three of them are full of useful stuff for any campaign, both for the GM and the players.

[darthauthor]

After you have the Rifts Ultimate Edition it depends on which settings you want to play in.

Vampires / Mexico

Wild West

Canada

Dinosaurs

I'd recommend the "New West" book and Mercenaries book.

[ShadowLogan]

I agree with the notion that after Rifts Ultimate Edition what books to add to the list are going to come down to what you are looking for in terms of use (theme, location).

I'm not sure if I would recommend the GM's Guide. I would recommend the Book of Magic IF you are looking at Magic gear (in quick summary, something you'll find for the GM Guide for regular stuff and you'd still need the original book for full fluff) and a one-stop location for "spells" descriptions, for OCC you'd still need the original books.

I would also recommend the Bionics Source Book. The Bionics listing in RUE isn't as compressive as it was in the previous RMB version of the main book (which was added to in various World Books), so if you want to use them this is a must have.

[desrocfc]

The blog post below may give you a good indication of where to start. It's served a number of people doing the same as you:

Concentrating first on the "Baseline" section, sprinkle in other books to flavour. There are links to reviews of the books I have up on the blog as well, to give you an indication of contents and "feel" for them. In a library of dozens of books, there are very (VERY) few misses in terms of good resources to leverage.

https://www.scholarlyadventures.com/pos ... or-new-gms

Happy shopping, and welcome to the wide, wonderful, and sometimes wacky world of Rifts!

Cheers.