Forums of the Megaverse®

Blackwater Sniper

Rifts is a lot like LIFE ... it just doesn't make sense.

Any GM can allow a character to learn any skill if they have the aptitude.

Blackwater Sniper

How would you plan a civil war within the Coalition? Military Coup? Just fed up with Prosek? Or maybe a shape changer has infiltrated the upper echelon and is causing chaos from the inside. I have my plans already on paper. I’m interested in how you would begin, whether outside forces would take adv...

Blackwater Sniper

While we've always left OLD EARTH religions that focus on a god out of the games, those that have a basis on animalism, shamanism, or taking the individual to a higher state of being may be practiced in minor tribal settings. The more tech-oriented a society has become, the more they move away from ...

Blackwater Sniper

I wish I could say it was me, or that I had a hand in its inception, but I just ran into the most hilarious situation. We had a new player join our band and his introduction was spot on playing a Crazy with a couple cyborg attachments. At random times, an internal playlist would blast out over imbed...

Blackwater Sniper

Whether or not crosses are useful against vampires on Rifts Earth, I would rule there has to be an actual belief in The Cross and what it stands for, not merely showing a cross-like symbol. Cool. Why? Religion, as we know it today, is not a big part of Rifts Earth. There are some theorists who beli...

Blackwater Sniper

I used to work with a guy who was a bit.... jumpy. You could walk up to him while he was concentrating on something, say his name or even "HI" and he would nearly jump out of his skin. It's similar to those who are scared by walking around a corner or opening a door and unexpectedly findin...

Blackwater Sniper

In no particular order: Education – All Coalition Citizens are required to attend a Montessori-Style schooling system for 1st-12th Grades, or until they age out at 16 years old. Those who show an aptitude for STEM classes are allowed to go further. The Coalition cannot exist without an educated popu...

Blackwater Sniper

Whether or not crosses are useful against vampires on Rifts Earth, I would rule there has to be an actual belief in The Cross and what it stands for, not merely showing a cross-like symbol.

Blackwater Sniper

I agree with your ratio, it's one I've used for years. In a MD-world, everyone must have energy weapons to survive. We had rules that small caliber handguns and rifles couldn't damage armor of certain a type, regardless of how much actual damage was dealt. I like the visual of kinetic rounds instead...

Blackwater Sniper

I had a LLW who wanted to cast a protection spell to cover the robot they were piloting. After some table discussion, we decided the protection would only be viable to the individual, not the vehicle they were inside. There are some specific robot/power armor models that come with a suit of armor fo...

Blackwater Sniper

I've never liked the Physical Beauty attribute in a multi-racial game. Even in a single race game, where everyone is humanoid, beauty is truly "in the eye of the beholder." I'm attracted to a certain body shape, hair/skin color, smile (or lack of), and am willing to overlook certain "...

Blackwater Sniper

I think it's like athletic ability; some people were born to play professional sports, some try all their lives to achieve 'the next higher goal,' but not everyone has the ability.

Blackwater Sniper

Part of my job is operating a "hi-lo" forklift. A "hi-lo" is a kind of forklift where you stand with a 360* ZTR and a joystick for the forks. I'm a basic novice, while some of my contemporaries can swivel, square-up, and raise/lower the forks all while moving in 'at speed.' They'...

Blackwater Sniper

Which matters more in your games: Character Level or Power Level? In Level-based systems (e.g. DnD) you wouldn't want to play a Level 3 Doomstalker with a party of Level 7-9 characters. In Rifts a low-level Rahu-Man Cyber-Knight would fit right in with an upper-level party of SDC-based characters in...

Blackwater Sniper

New Technology is never born out of a vacuum, it takes steps from older, established approaches. Look at our main methods of mass transportation: trains, planes, and automobiles; each began as crude, inefficient ways of getting from Point A to Point B and now, by today’s standards, are so economical...

Blackwater Sniper

For the low-down on what's happening in Land/Space Warfare in the early 21st Century, check out "FM 3-14 Army Space Operations."

It shows the intricacies of what it takes to conduct modern operations.

It’s also good if you’re having a hard time falling asleep.

Blackwater Sniper

I expected to read a reworking of (and possibly more buff version of the already powerful) the Four Horsemen.

I was pleased to see a thought-out Continent.

Blackwater Sniper

Immediately after 'Wormwood' came out of course our group had a player who wanted to bring an Apok to Rifts Earth. Liking the OCC, we brainstormed a good way to make it so, without being overpowered. I think we decided to have the symbiote mask tap into the wearer's PPE base and reduce the available...

Blackwater Sniper

I recently played a fast and loose short-term game where we used the 75% rule: Base rolls were 75% of max (rounded down) and then you added/subtract any bonuses afterward. Humans had a cross-the-board base of 13 (18*75%=13.5). None of those stats give any bonuses, but, with OCC skills, allows you to...

Blackwater Sniper

I would always allow a Dragon Juicer to "try" to find a compatible dragon.

It could lead to a great long-term campaign. Imagine having a pact with a dragon!

You could be tasked with keeping "your dragon" safe from outside threats.

The ideas are as endless as your imagination.

Blackwater Sniper

I haven’t read most of the posts, so if it’s already been posted, just disregard. One of the biggest differences between Rifts warfare and “modern 21st century warfare” is the lack of satellites. Today everything on the battlefield is interlinked with satellite communications. We can hardly think of...

Blackwater Sniper

Is there a single interactive character sheet (in Excel) that includes most Rifts OCCs, races, magics, psionics? The sheet on the Palladium site looks great, I love the layout, and the fact that spells/abilities are automatically modified with character stats/level (saves a ton of time) is a godsend...

Blackwater Sniper

What do humans do when faced with an invasive species? To be considered ‘invasive,’ a species can’t be native to the land, must be able to adapt quickly to the new environment, be of serious harm to native species, and cause physical environmental or economic harm. Some are introduced to the non-nat...

Blackwater Sniper

Name a movie, book, TV Show where the "new aliens" in town are considered good and welcomed by the human populace? It's far more likely that you'll have various factions of aliens coming to Earth where some are allied with humans against a third faction. With that in mind, humanity is doin...

Blackwater Sniper

Palladium Rifts is an enigma that will give you headaches for years if you try to figure things out logically. At its core, it is a game that involves magic, dragons, aliens, on a post-apocalyptic Earth which can be inhabited by every monster in cinema history. I really enjoy reading when someone co...

Blackwater Sniper

Rifts is one of those games which allows GMs to modify the rules in nearly any way they can imagine. I've found rules contradicting rules contradicting rules. I think if a player wants an item enchanted with D-Pockets or D-Envelope, you should use the duration of the spell as listed but max out the ...

Blackwater Sniper

You know all those warnings on lawn mowers? (Even the stupid ones like: "Don't clean the undercarriage with your hands while the blade is spinning") They all got there because someone did something stupid and sued the company. Even people posting on YouTube have to say "Don't do this ...

Blackwater Sniper

This is where the backstory of the character(s) should determine what equipment they do/don't start with. Just "giving" a character what they start with cheapens the items. How does a first level character end up with a pristine suit of Glitter-Boy armor? Imagine a crew of hijackers taking...

Blackwater Sniper

Was it a story in a RIFTER or on these boards?

In a weird way, it sounds similar to a story I was spit-balling.

Blackwater Sniper

With those limitations, it seems like he just ripped the guts out of what makes Rifts - "Rifts."

TL;DR every post to see how things went.

Does the GM run the game or do the players have a voice in where they go and what they do?

Blackwater Sniper

If you are trying to sneak in, get the info, and get out without being detected, a large force will only complicate matters and put everyone on a higher alert status. When no attack is happening or directly imminent, people become complacent, let down their guard, think about what they will do when ...

Blackwater Sniper

Aside from remote recon outposts which are by nature covert, I'd say that a CS base would be pretty much impossible for even a large player group; hire some mercenaries to help. At least a reinforced platoon, but a full battalion would be better. Actually it would be just the opposite. The larger t...

Blackwater Sniper

If you want "real" for your story; (1) look at who would want to attack that specific base and how you would defend against that threat or (2) decide what is being protected and decide how important it is, the more valuable, the harder you want to make to get through each line defense and ...

Blackwater Sniper

Whatever you choose to do, remember that drones, semi-/autonomous robot systems work best as a first line of defense. They can be easily and rapidly deployed in most terrains and don't get tired/bored/hungry/distracted. And with realtime electronic monitoring, the Dog-boys, psi-stalkers, and flyers ...

Blackwater Sniper

No.

There's nothing normal about me.

Blackwater Sniper

I don't use anything that takes away from the core concept of Rifts or anything I would stay away from today; anything that has to do with the American West, the dinosaurs, vampires in general, and some of the stuff that is way to OP or could be swapped for Jar Jar Binks. My games usually revolved a...

Blackwater Sniper

Look to the type of battle you are in: If the ones going up against your PCs are out to kill; yes, they may just unload if the threat is high enough. If a scouting party accidentally runs across them, having over-powering weapons may not be in their inventory. Looking to take prisoners or salvage pa...

Blackwater Sniper

It really depends on how it is opened in the first place. Something physically opened forcefully will want to close with the same amount of force, but this is magic. Nothing in nature happens instantaneously no matter how fast it may appear to us. Even lightning has a few steps it must follow before...

Blackwater Sniper

This can be very problematic for races with hundreds of MDC, they would be out of action for a weeks if not months. If 1 Day = 4MDC, 1 Wk = 28MDC, 1 Month = ~112MDC, 6 Months = ~672MDC I would look for a similar creature and slip in natural regeneration. Palladium seems to focus much more on story t...

Blackwater Sniper

There should be a difference between a(n) PC/NPC stepping through and something long and drawn out going through; someone walking is much different than a snake moving through. Someone merely stepping through would be in one dimension or the other depending on where the greatest mass is centered; it...

Blackwater Sniper

This is one of those issues with the Rifts books that not having a comprehensive template brings up periodically.

How do other RPGs with combo melee/ranged combat bonuses deal with the issue? I've only dealt with those who have specific delineation for HtH and ranged weapons.

Blackwater Sniper

First, it's indestructible. None of the others are. I'll look for the reference, I have read it in this collection of Rifts books. I know it's indestructible and only becomes "inert" once the Host is removed from Wormwood, but we didn't take that as indestructible off Wormwood. We had som...

Blackwater Sniper

Fenris2020 wrote:The mask specifically doesn't die when brought to Rifts Earth.

The Mask is a symbiotic organism created by the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 57)

Symbiotes die within 1D6 hours of being removed from the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 45, 91)

Unless I missed the exception somewhere.

Blackwater Sniper

The Apok always confounded our group back in the day. According to the book you basically have a new character if changing from one OCC to Apok during a mid-PC crisis. We had people who wanted to play an Apok on Rifts Earth, but couldn't because the main aspect of the OCC, the mask, is a symbiote wh...

Blackwater Sniper

Even though Rifts is one of the most malleable RPGs I've heard of, we all modify the game to fit our needs once in a while. Whether it's to allow an alignment shift outside the zone, bumping character creation stats, RCC/OCC combinations that are questionable, or whatever flavors the game to your ad...

Blackwater Sniper

My first instinct is to say "No"; When a PC focuses on a ranged weapon (ala the Archer or Glitter-Boy) they gain separate bonuses for HtH and ranged combat. That being said, an argument could made that a person with a higher PP attribute would have better Hand/Eye coordination and therefor...

Blackwater Sniper

In the real world you wouldn't lose all your old skills. Just because I went from a truck-driver to an accountant doesn't mean I suddenly forgot how to drive. I would think those skills would be frozen. Only the skills common between the two would progress when the levels become equal. I wouldn't be...

Blackwater Sniper

I've been researching how the GB could have been designed and manufactured with some cutting-edge technology we have today but don't have the means to apply it. I've got the armor and power supply, but I haven't tackled the Boom-Gun yet. "An army marches on its stomach" --Napoleon Bonaparte

Blackwater Sniper

Remember: Palladium books are not closely written. These are not WotC books where adjectives are crucially important and consistently applied (i.e. a natural armor bonus, an enhancement bonus, or an enhancement to a natural armor bonus all being distinct things), but books where there's going to be...

Blackwater Sniper

Only if raised by non-verbal speakers should a character NOT have a starting native language.

The story of 'raised by wolves' comes to mind. If you never interacted with anyone there's no way you could learn a proper language past grunts, whines, and bellows.

Search found 163 matches