Back in the swing of things

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Razzinold
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Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

I have to say it feels great to be jumping back into the world of pen and paper RPGs, Rifts specifically in this case.

Everything has been on hiatus but now we are jumping in with both feet. I decided I would try one more time to get some kind of group going, even if it was just with my family (even though we tried that a few times and things got too busy with other stuff and it never worked out), and I have to say I'm quite surprised with the results.

I offered to run a game for my oldest daughter and for those of you that have know me for a while on these boards you have heard many stories about my family and have pretty much watched them grow up on these boards. Well she is now 15 and I have been posting on here since she was born so you all now have my permission to feel as old as I do, :lol:

Back to the point... the first month or so of the new school year turned up zero results, but then her circle of friends grew a little wider and we quickly jumped from no kids wanting to play to 1 kid wanting to play, then 2 days later 2 more wanting to join. The first kid that wanted to play used to play D&D and has wanted to get back into pen & paper for a bit now so he thought it sounded great, not sure if the other people have played before or not.
My daughter wanted my wife to play as well, she has been playing Rifts with us, as in my old groups, since before my kids were even born.

My youngest is feeling a little left out so I told her I would run a family game as well, I know having to tone it down to a 9 (almost 10) year old level will not hold the interest of a bunch of high school kids. So I go from no games to two separate games in the space of a couple of days.

So far the group consists of:
Wife - Grackle Tooth Heavy Weapons Expert
Daughter - Monamo Headhunter
Haven't met with the other 3 players yet

Now the direction I would like this game to go is more of a "city building" type of game. ever since way back when rat_bastard maintained that thread on the city they were building I had always wanted to try that. Back in high school we touched on it a bit in my original group but then the GM had other plans.
I don't want to force them to do it I just want to present it as one of the options and hope they go for it. As much as I love the typical "mercs cruising around in the mystery machine solving cases", I would like to add some real substance. Now I know it sounds like I'm being sarcastic but I'm not, I really do love those campaigns were you have no ties but to your friends and your vehicle isn't just a mode of transportation it's your home, like the way the crew of Serenity feel.

That being said I would like this campaign to be something more like the Dresden Files novels, the group has a large city they reside in and they put down roots and actually care about the locale. I'm not saying every bit of the story will take place there, but I think it would add a nice element to the game. If that's not their cup of tea for this campaign then that's cool too, I will just make the trip between their destinations fun and exciting as well so they don't get bored of being on the road all the time.
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Razzinold
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

Looking to build a Rogue Scholar as the group NPC who got a hold of some Pre-Rifts movies. Anybody know which book(s) would have examples of whips that deal both sdc and md ?
Can anyone recommend a good light armour ? I was thinking of going with base 4 clothing out of triax and maybe adding the long coat from New West
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Blue_Lion »

Razzinold wrote:Looking to build a Rogue Scholar as the group NPC who got a hold of some Pre-Rifts movies. Anybody know which book(s) would have examples of whips that deal both sdc and md ?
Can anyone recommend a good light armour ? I was thinking of going with base 4 clothing out of triax and maybe adding the long coat from New West

ONe of the early Rifters has a TW MD flight suit 35 MD (the stats for tw armor in RUE apear to be the same), the same rifter has a MD leather flight jacket.

Typically weapons deal one damage or the other only phase weapons deal both that i know of.
Stock weapons.
Living whip PG 264 BOM deals MD.
Whip of pain 322 BOM does SDC but inflicts spell agony.(the spell will affect MD so it is the better stock choice.)

Home brewed-these are not in the books, you could say they are a prototype or a new item on the market if you want to use them.
Wilks laser whip-this whip uses a special MD fiber optic cable that has the ability to release light at the point of impact. range 10' Damage unpowered 2d6 SDC powered 2d6 MD 25 powered strikes per e-clip.(pure hand waveium)

Bandito Tesla Whip-Whip is made of a insulated handle and a long flexible cable and capacitor that can hold a charge that arcs into the target struck. Range 8' Unpowered strike 2d6 sdc powered 3d6 MD 16 powered strikes per e-clip.
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Razzinold
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

Blue_Lion wrote:
Razzinold wrote:Looking to build a Rogue Scholar as the group NPC who got a hold of some Pre-Rifts movies. Anybody know which book(s) would have examples of whips that deal both sdc and md ?
Can anyone recommend a good light armour ? I was thinking of going with base 4 clothing out of triax and maybe adding the long coat from New West

ONe of the early Rifters has a TW MD flight suit 35 MD (the stats for tw armor in RUE apear to be the same), the same rifter has a MD leather flight jacket.

Typically weapons deal one damage or the other only phase weapons deal both that i know of.
Stock weapons.
Living whip PG 264 BOM deals MD.
Whip of pain 322 BOM does SDC but inflicts spell agony.(the spell will affect MD so it is the better stock choice.)

Home brewed-these are not in the books, you could say they are a prototype or a new item on the market if you want to use them.
Wilks laser whip-this whip uses a special MD fiber optic cable that has the ability to release light at the point of impact. range 10' Damage unpowered 2d6 SDC powered 2d6 MD 25 powered strikes per e-clip.(pure hand waveium)

Bandito Tesla Whip-Whip is made of a insulated handle and a long flexible cable and capacitor that can hold a charge that arcs into the target struck. Range 8' Unpowered strike 2d6 sdc powered 3d6 MD 16 powered strikes per e-clip.


Thanks I will check those out, your homebrew ideas are pretty cool so I may just steal borrow them, and I will clear up my lazy writing in the post above.
What I meant was examples of whips that do sdc and examples of whips that did MD (not one whip that did both)
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Razzinold
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Re: Back in the swing of things

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Well I read up on the whips they used for the majority of filming and they normally used an 8 foot and a 10 foot bullwhip. When it came time to film certain stunts, the length changed from anywhere between 6 - 16 feet long.

I think for this campaign I am going to give him the actual whip used when filming. You know how some phenomenon is created by so many people believing in it ? Well everyone loved the character and the whip is so iconic that it became a minor rune weapon. It's not going to be ultra powerful, I was thinking only like doing 1D6, or 2D6, SDC and the equivalent in MD when facing an MDC opponent. Other than that I think I will have the whip length, to a certain point, if needed.
I mean Indy could always reach the log, person, gun, etc. no matter the distance.

I don't think that makes for an overpowered weapon, low damage and the size can change. Heck I've seen weapons in the book the do SD to SDC and MD to MDC so it's not that far fetched for my weapon.

I will either make a base 4 leather jacket or look through my Rifters, which could take forever, lol
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by The Oh So Amazing Nate »

Blue_Lion wrote:Home brewed-these are not in the books, you could say they are a prototype or a new item on the market if you want to use them.

Bandito Tesla Whip-Whip is made of a insulated handle and a long flexible cable and capacitor that can hold a charge that arcs into the target struck. Range 8' Unpowered strike 2d6 sdc powered 3d6 MD 16 powered strikes per e-clip.



They had a weapon like this in Kingsmen: The Golden Circle. It acted like a regular whip until it was activated then watch out! They also pulled off the same effect with a lasso. When activated it cut a guy in half as neat as you please.

https://youtu.be/fk2bdqy88H0
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Razzinold wrote:Well everyone loved the character and the whip is so iconic that it became a minor rune weapon. It's not going to be ultra powerful, I was thinking only like doing 1D6, or 2D6, SDC and the equivalent in MD when facing an MDC opponent. Other than that I think I will have the whip length, to a certain point, if needed.
I mean Indy could always reach the log, person, gun, etc. no matter the distance.

I don't think that makes for an overpowered weapon, low damage and the size can change. Heck I've seen weapons in the book the do SD to SDC and MD to MDC so it's not that far fetched for my weapon.
So if it's not supposed to be ultra powerful, why make it a rune weapon? Why not simply design a telescoping whip that looks ordinary like the one in Indiana Jones?
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Razzinold
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

Stone Gargoyle wrote:
Razzinold wrote:Well everyone loved the character and the whip is so iconic that it became a minor rune weapon. It's not going to be ultra powerful, I was thinking only like doing 1D6, or 2D6, SDC and the equivalent in MD when facing an MDC opponent. Other than that I think I will have the whip length, to a certain point, if needed.
I mean Indy could always reach the log, person, gun, etc. no matter the distance.

I don't think that makes for an overpowered weapon, low damage and the size can change. Heck I've seen weapons in the book the do SD to SDC and MD to MDC so it's not that far fetched for my weapon.
So if it's not supposed to be ultra powerful, why make it a rune weapon? Why not simply design a telescoping whip that looks ordinary like the one in Indiana Jones?


I suppose I could have made it a TW item instead of a Minor Rune weapon but since the character isn't a mage or psychic he couldn't charge it back up. It's mostly just flavour text anyway, it's for an NPC, which is why I didn't make it ultra powerful. I just thought it would be kind of cool that he found the actual whip and it was imbued with power because of the idolization of it by the people watching the movies. Basically the whip became a Tulpa, an object born from thought. Everyone watching believed the whip could do all these amazing things so now it can.
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

The Oh So Amazing Nate wrote:
Blue_Lion wrote:Home brewed-these are not in the books, you could say they are a prototype or a new item on the market if you want to use them.

Bandito Tesla Whip-Whip is made of a insulated handle and a long flexible cable and capacitor that can hold a charge that arcs into the target struck. Range 8' Unpowered strike 2d6 sdc powered 3d6 MD 16 powered strikes per e-clip.



They had a weapon like this in Kingsmen: The Golden Circle. It acted like a regular whip until it was activated then watch out! They also pulled off the same effect with a lasso. When activated it cut a guy in half as neat as you please.

https://youtu.be/fk2bdqy88H0


Cool! Haven't seen the sequel but that clip looked awesome.
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Re: Back in the swing of things

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I'm looking for a good mage class. Nothing fancy just some heavy hitting damage spells, don't need fancy teleporting or stopping time, can anyone recommend anything ?
I need to take a break from Ley Line Walkers and Shifters. Anybody know which book the combat mage is in ?
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Re: Back in the swing of things

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Razzinold wrote:Anybody know which book the combat mage is in ?

Greetings and Salutations. The Combat Mage is in Mercenary Adventures. How well it'll fit what you're looking for, I'm not sure. Farewell and safe journeys for now.
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Rifter #45; Of Bows & Arrows (Archery; expanding rules and abilities)
Rifter #52; From Ruins to Runes (Living Rune Weapons; playable characters and NPC)
Rifter #55; Home Away From Home (Quorian Culture; expanded from PF Book 9: Baalgor Wastelands)

Official PDF versions of Rifter #45, #52, and #55 can be found at DriveThruRPG.
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Dustin Fireblade »

Razzinold wrote:Looking to build a Rogue Scholar as the group NPC who got a hold of some Pre-Rifts movies. Anybody know which book(s) would have examples of whips that deal both sdc and md ?
Can anyone recommend a good light armour ? I was thinking of going with base 4 clothing out of triax and maybe adding the long coat from New West


Northern Gun 2 has a number of options for light armor clothing. (I think it's book 2)
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Re: Back in the swing of things

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Razzinold wrote:I'm looking for a good mage class. Nothing fancy just some heavy hitting damage spells, don't need fancy teleporting or stopping time, can anyone recommend anything ?
I need to take a break from Ley Line Walkers and Shifters. Anybody know which book the combat mage is in ?

Suggestions:
Battle Magus (Federation of Magic)
Temporal Warrior (England)
Air Warlock or Fire/Air Warlock (Conversion Book 1)
Tattooed Man (Atlantis / Spkynn Dimensional Market/ Secrets of the Atlanteans)
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Razzinold
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

Dustin Fireblade wrote:
Razzinold wrote:Looking to build a Rogue Scholar as the group NPC who got a hold of some Pre-Rifts movies. Anybody know which book(s) would have examples of whips that deal both sdc and md ?
Can anyone recommend a good light armour ? I was thinking of going with base 4 clothing out of triax and maybe adding the long coat from New West


Northern Gun 2 has a number of options for light armor clothing. (I think it's book 2)


Thank you for the assistance, but I do not own either of those faboulous books.
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Re: Back in the swing of things

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Glistam wrote:
Razzinold wrote:I'm looking for a good mage class. Nothing fancy just some heavy hitting damage spells, don't need fancy teleporting or stopping time, can anyone recommend anything ?
I need to take a break from Ley Line Walkers and Shifters. Anybody know which book the combat mage is in ?

Suggestions:
Battle Magus (Federation of Magic)
Temporal Warrior (England)
Air Warlock or Fire/Air Warlock (Conversion Book 1)
Tattooed Man (Atlantis / Spkynn Dimensional Market/ Secrets of the Atlanteans)


Funny you should say that because I read that right after I looked up the Combat Mage.
I think I'm going to use the Battle Magus for this character and the Combat Mage for another. I am going to make a Combat Mage/Sniper. That power of farsight would be an awesome use of of that spell, IMO.
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by 13eowulf »

Razzinold wrote:
Glistam wrote:
Razzinold wrote:I'm looking for a good mage class. Nothing fancy just some heavy hitting damage spells, don't need fancy teleporting or stopping time, can anyone recommend anything ?
I need to take a break from Ley Line Walkers and Shifters. Anybody know which book the combat mage is in ?

Suggestions:
Battle Magus (Federation of Magic)
Temporal Warrior (England)
Air Warlock or Fire/Air Warlock (Conversion Book 1)
Tattooed Man (Atlantis / Spkynn Dimensional Market/ Secrets of the Atlanteans)


Funny you should say that because I read that right after I looked up the Combat Mage.
I think I'm going to use the Battle Magus for this character and the Combat Mage for another. I am going to make a Combat Mage/Sniper. That power of farsight would be an awesome use of of that spell, IMO.

I always envisioned a majical sniper using a combination of Distant Voice and Deathword.
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Razzinold
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Re: Back in the swing of things

Unread post by Razzinold »

13eowulf wrote:
Razzinold wrote:
Glistam wrote:
Razzinold wrote:I'm looking for a good mage class. Nothing fancy just some heavy hitting damage spells, don't need fancy teleporting or stopping time, can anyone recommend anything ?
I need to take a break from Ley Line Walkers and Shifters. Anybody know which book the combat mage is in ?

Suggestions:
Battle Magus (Federation of Magic)
Temporal Warrior (England)
Air Warlock or Fire/Air Warlock (Conversion Book 1)
Tattooed Man (Atlantis / Spkynn Dimensional Market/ Secrets of the Atlanteans)


Funny you should say that because I read that right after I looked up the Combat Mage.
I think I'm going to use the Battle Magus for this character and the Combat Mage for another. I am going to make a Combat Mage/Sniper. That power of farsight would be an awesome use of of that spell, IMO.

I always envisioned a majical sniper using a combination of Distant Voice and Deathword.


That's an awesome idea :ok:

I'm going to keep mine a little more tech based though, he will use the sight power but use a laser rifle to make the kill. Just for fun though I might have him use a rifle that doesn't have a scope. This way nobody will ever believe he can make the shot without a scope ,until he does, at least they will think that until either a] have seen him shoot before or b] they figure out he's using magic.
Now I know him not using the scope is anything either then fluff to add to the story, but it's my way of fleshing out the character more by giving him some little quirks or traits.
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