Rifts Roswell? New Mexico? or other places 4 the Pecos Psi-X

[Axelmania]

I was combing through Lone Star (World Book 13) today and pretty much had the same experience as Mikel mentions in this locked 2013 thread https://palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewt ... 8&t=136961

It's labelled on all the maps but I can't find any reference to it. Does anyone? Canonical or otherwise, I'd be interested in fan ideas too.

The biggest map to include it is I think the full-page one on page 14. It's on the upper-left, in the "New Mexico" area.

New Mexico doesn't seem like an area I recall being explored in any books. Page 23 of WB14 (New West) does highlight it and do a small description, but only to say there are mountains to the west, vamps to the south, that White Sands Army Missile Range is just a crater... which if I check a map is to the south-east of Roswell, and directly north of El Paso. I imagine any goings-on there would have more of an impact on El Paso than on Roswell. It looks like there is the "Mescalero Reservation" and "Lincoln National Forest" in between WSAMR and Roswell too.

no mention AT ALL about Roswell though, despite Lone Star highlighting it so prominently... that implies to me there might've been plans to eventually do something for it.

Pg 20 mentions how Sagebrush is bound in NM canyons
Pg 23 also mentions how the Rockies run through NM
Pg 25 left mentions the native tribes in NM are Apache, Navajo, and Pueblo...
Pg 25 (left+right) mentions "except for a handful of select locations" for NM, implying that other than those, there aren't any ley lines.
Pg 25 right mentions Cyber-Knights are common there
Pg 25 right also mentions the Pecos Bandits regularly raid NM
Pg 26 reiterates vampires in the south
Pg 29 mentions the Apache of Arizona sometimes stray into parts of NM
Pg 97 mentions Justice Rangers sometimes stray that far south
Pg 112 mentions ranches and cattle trails are numerous...
Pg 143 mentions Great Canyon Worms are sometimes found in NM
Pg 144 mentions Great Dream Snake found on top of a New Mexico mountaintop (unspecified)
Pg 148 mentions Gylack are common there
Pg 155 mentions Ostrosaurus are there
Pg 160 mentions Rhino Buffalo hang out there
Pg 161 mentions scorpions are common in NM...
Pg 163 mentions Tiger Claw Raptors are common in NM
Pg 171 mentions Bandito has an outlet in NM

Adjacent to this map is the pg 15 description of Odessa (south-east of Roswell) and the Skelray and Amarillo bases both north-east of it, on page 13.

El Paso and Ciudad Juarez are to the south-west and I remember they were in Vampire Kingdoms.

Had an identical instinct to to "notafraid" as well ("Making it dive community for rogue Psi-X Aliens would be great")

I was also thinking it might be fun to build on that by importing one of the 1st ed BTS creatures who didn't make it into the Conversion Book, the "UFOnauts" from pg 174. They apparently live/play "on mountain tops" for refuge. The Rockies are too far, but there is a "Capitan Mountains Wilderness" about 62 miles (by road) west of Roswell. I'll round that down to 60 miles for a straight flight. Flying at Mach 5 (~3836.35 mph) it should only take ~56 seconds to cover that distance.

There are also the "Brokeoff Mountains" (about 123 miles by road) so you're looking at ~2 minutes UFOnaut flight time instead of 1. A natural base/defence IMO. The "Carlsbad Caverns" are just to the east of this.

One thing that occurs to me is that since Psi-X aliens can hover 4 feet above the ground, this probably makes it super-easy to traverse rough terrain like mountaintops that would be difficult for others to climb. If it's even possibly for them to fall, they all have bio-regeneration to heal the SDC damage that might result. They have "hawk-like" vision, so hiding in the mountains would help give them a big line of sight on any approaching threats.

The Psi-X seem like natural companions for any UFOnauts who might live in the mountains. They are not easily scared (+5 vs HF) and all have 'detect psionics', which should help in finding them if they're hiding behind rocks and stuff (which they would need to do, since they are big (minimum car sized) glowing things.

If one were importing the Guardians from Nightbane, Roswell also might be an interesting place to use them.

Pg 98 after all mentions "one of his young victims screamed about how he had been turned into a bug-eyed Roswell alien", which pretty much answers dragonfett's speculation ("With all of the "legends" of the old west that survived, I am sure that legends and rumors of Roswell would have survived") because even some young victim (this presumably refers to the 'many' who were between 13 and 20) knows about it, meaning it could easily be street-level knowledge, if you think about who Bradford would've targeted, like people who wouldn't be easily missed.

If this is as common-knowledge as it seems, then the collective association of Roswell with aliens could've driven the Psi-X (despite initially being released into the Pecos Badlands per LS98, which just means Pecos Empire per LS136) to seek it out. LS170's map shows the Pecos Empire is largely to the south of Lone Star, and unless you went north (through Coalition territory) to navigate to Roswell you'd have to go through "The Bend", PERHAPS encountering vampires along the way?

This seems to be named after "Big Bend National Park" though there's no mention of that on LS170.

This would make a good outpost for the psi-X, because there are caverns within the mountains for Psi-X to hide (their nightvision is useful here) and it has ley lines within to boost their psychic abilities and also jam any Psi-Stalkers from sensing them. These mountains would also make a good outpost for the UFO-nauts, perhaps to begin protecting them along their path to the river.

I don't think Lone Star gives a mention of the mountain ranges in the Big Bend territory, but they appear to include Guadalupe Mountains, Texas Davis Mountains, Davis Mountains, Chalk Mountains, Franklin Mountains and Beach Mountains.

This makes me wonder... can vampires feed on Psi-X blood? Turn them? These caverns seem like a natural place for vampires to be drawn to, assuming they learned of them. However if there weren't vampires investing them, navigating the sub-mountain caverns in The Bend could carve a protected path all the way up into New Mexico (even further north than El Paso).

Psi-X have great nightvision, so maybe they'd be able to deal with vamps better at night. At the same time, their poor day vision might predispose Psi-X to travel at night instead of safely bunkering down, which might make them at higher risk to vamps. Especially if drawn to natural shelters like these Bend mountains.

One of the major things these mountains have going for them is of course that the Rio Grande is to the south of them, so vamps would need to get across that first before establishing a base in the mountains. If a vampire intelligence ever did though... LOOK OUT. They'd be boxed in by the Rio Grande on the west and the Pecos River on the right all the way up to Sante Fe, but I don't think the RG and PR actually meet, so if they got past the Santa Fe chokeopoint (and past Eagle Nest Lake they could spill into Colorado...

Looking at how the Pecos River on the west branches inward (Penasco, Hondo) vamps would probably avoid most of Chaves County (where Roswell is located). The most vulnerable portion is the south-western tip below the Rio Penasco bordering Ojero and Eddy.

The portion of Chaves containing Roswell IS technically to the west of the Pecos River, so vamps COULD get to it, but to avoid crossing they'd need to skip not just the Penasco and the river north of it (whose name I can't find) but also both arms of the Hondo, without going so far north as to hit the river north of the Hondo (whose name I also can't find)

The "Two Rivers Reservoir" would probably make a natural bolt-hole to refill squirtguns if vampires ever did storm.

I'd still say travel up the Pecos River (or maybe on it's eastern side) to avoid vamps, and then just cross over to the west side after passing the River Hondo, to get to Roswell.

The mountains north of New Mexico (I think the Rockies) being inhabited by UFOnauts and/or Guardians (perhaps later assisted by Psi-X) might also help explain why Xiticix Hives haven't taken over and used it as a launching point to colonize the New West?

[HarleeKnight]

I was combing through Lone Star (World Book 13) today and pretty much had the same experience as Mikel mentions in this locked 2013 thread https://palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewt ... 8&t=136961

It's labelled on all the maps but I can't find any reference to it. Does anyone? Canonical or otherwise, I'd be interested in fan ideas too.

The biggest map to include it is I think the full-page one on page 14. It's on the upper-left, in the "New Mexico" area.

New Mexico doesn't seem like an area I recall being explored in any books. Page 23 of WB14 (New West) does highlight it and do a small description, but only to say there are mountains to the west, vamps to the south, that White Sands Army Missile Range is just a crater... which if I check a map is to the south-east of Roswell, and directly north of El Paso. I imagine any goings-on there would have more of an impact on El Paso than on Roswell. It looks like there is the "Mescalero Reservation" and "Lincoln National Forest" in between WSAMR and Roswell too.

no mention AT ALL about Roswell though, despite Lone Star highlighting it so prominently... that implies to me there might've been plans to eventually do something for it.

Pg 20 mentions how Sagebrush is bound in NM canyons
Pg 23 also mentions how the Rockies run through NM
Pg 25 left mentions the native tribes in NM are Apache, Navajo, and Pueblo...
Pg 25 (left+right) mentions "except for a handful of select locations" for NM, implying that other than those, there aren't any ley lines.
Pg 25 right mentions Cyber-Knights are common there
Pg 25 right also mentions the Pecos Bandits regularly raid NM
Pg 26 reiterates vampires in the south
Pg 29 mentions the Apache of Arizona sometimes stray into parts of NM
Pg 97 mentions Justice Rangers sometimes stray that far south
Pg 112 mentions ranches and cattle trails are numerous...
Pg 143 mentions Great Canyon Worms are sometimes found in NM
Pg 144 mentions Great Dream Snake found on top of a New Mexico mountaintop (unspecified)
Pg 148 mentions Gylack are common there
Pg 155 mentions Ostrosaurus are there
Pg 160 mentions Rhino Buffalo hang out there
Pg 161 mentions scorpions are common in NM...
Pg 163 mentions Tiger Claw Raptors are common in NM
Pg 171 mentions Bandito has an outlet in NM

Adjacent to this map is the pg 15 description of Odessa (south-east of Roswell) and the Skelray and Amarillo bases both north-east of it, on page 13.

El Paso and Ciudad Juarez are to the south-west and I remember they were in Vampire Kingdoms.

Had an identical instinct to to "notafraid" as well ("Making it dive community for rogue Psi-X Aliens would be great")

I was also thinking it might be fun to build on that by importing one of the 1st ed BTS creatures who didn't make it into the Conversion Book, the "UFOnauts" from pg 174. They apparently live/play "on mountain tops" for refuge. The Rockies are too far, but there is a "Capitan Mountains Wilderness" about 62 miles (by road) west of Roswell. I'll round that down to 60 miles for a straight flight. Flying at Mach 5 (~3836.35 mph) it should only take ~56 seconds to cover that distance.

There are also the "Brokeoff Mountains" (about 123 miles by road) so you're looking at ~2 minutes UFOnaut flight time instead of 1. A natural base/defence IMO. The "Carlsbad Caverns" are just to the east of this.

One thing that occurs to me is that since Psi-X aliens can hover 4 feet above the ground, this probably makes it super-easy to traverse rough terrain like mountaintops that would be difficult for others to climb. If it's even possibly for them to fall, they all have bio-regeneration to heal the SDC damage that might result. They have "hawk-like" vision, so hiding in the mountains would help give them a big line of sight on any approaching threats.

The Psi-X seem like natural companions for any UFOnauts who might live in the mountains. They are not easily scared (+5 vs HF) and all have 'detect psionics', which should help in finding them if they're hiding behind rocks and stuff (which they would need to do, since they are big (minimum car sized) glowing things.

If one were importing the Guardians from Nightbane, Roswell also might be an interesting place to use them.

Pg 98 after all mentions "one of his young victims screamed about how he had been turned into a bug-eyed Roswell alien", which pretty much answers dragonfett's speculation ("With all of the "legends" of the old west that survived, I am sure that legends and rumors of Roswell would have survived") because even some young victim (this presumably refers to the 'many' who were between 13 and 20) knows about it, meaning it could easily be street-level knowledge, if you think about who Bradford would've targeted, like people who wouldn't be easily missed.

If this is as common-knowledge as it seems, then the collective association of Roswell with aliens could've driven the Psi-X (despite initially being released into the Pecos Badlands per LS98, which just means Pecos Empire per LS136) to seek it out. LS170's map shows the Pecos Empire is largely to the south of Lone Star, and unless you went north (through Coalition territory) to navigate to Roswell you'd have to go through "The Bend", PERHAPS encountering vampires along the way?

This seems to be named after "Big Bend National Park" though there's no mention of that on LS170.

This would make a good outpost for the psi-X, because there are caverns within the mountains for Psi-X to hide (their nightvision is useful here) and it has ley lines within to boost their psychic abilities and also jam any Psi-Stalkers from sensing them. These mountains would also make a good outpost for the UFO-nauts, perhaps to begin protecting them along their path to the river.

I don't think Lone Star gives a mention of the mountain ranges in the Big Bend territory, but they appear to include Guadalupe Mountains, Texas Davis Mountains, Davis Mountains, Chalk Mountains, Franklin Mountains and Beach Mountains.

This makes me wonder... can vampires feed on Psi-X blood? Turn them? These caverns seem like a natural place for vampires to be drawn to, assuming they learned of them. However if there weren't vampires investing them, navigating the sub-mountain caverns in The Bend could carve a protected path all the way up into New Mexico (even further north than El Paso).

Psi-X have great nightvision, so maybe they'd be able to deal with vamps better at night. At the same time, their poor day vision might predispose Psi-X to travel at night instead of safely bunkering down, which might make them at higher risk to vamps. Especially if drawn to natural shelters like these Bend mountains.

One of the major things these mountains have going for them is of course that the Rio Grande is to the south of them, so vamps would need to get across that first before establishing a base in the mountains. If a vampire intelligence ever did though... LOOK OUT. They'd be boxed in by the Rio Grande on the west and the Pecos River on the right all the way up to Sante Fe, but I don't think the RG and PR actually meet, so if they got past the Santa Fe chokeopoint (and past Eagle Nest Lake they could spill into Colorado...

Looking at how the Pecos River on the west branches inward (Penasco, Hondo) vamps would probably avoid most of Chaves County (where Roswell is located). The most vulnerable portion is the south-western tip below the Rio Penasco bordering Ojero and Eddy.

The portion of Chaves containing Roswell IS technically to the west of the Pecos River, so vamps COULD get to it, but to avoid crossing they'd need to skip not just the Penasco and the river north of it (whose name I can't find) but also both arms of the Hondo, without going so far north as to hit the river north of the Hondo (whose name I also can't find)

The "Two Rivers Reservoir" would probably make a natural bolt-hole to refill squirtguns if vampires ever did storm.

I'd still say travel up the Pecos River (or maybe on it's eastern side) to avoid vamps, and then just cross over to the west side after passing the River Hondo, to get to Roswell.

The mountains north of New Mexico (I think the Rockies) being inhabited by UFOnauts and/or Guardians (perhaps later assisted by Psi-X) might also help explain why Xiticix Hives haven't taken over and used it as a launching point to colonize the New West?

Rifter #69 has the most information about New Mexico that I have seen but it tells the story about what happened there right after the Cataclysm, so it's really meant for Chaos Earth. It's on pages 64 to 75. There is a map and descriptions on major characters and towns in the area. Except for the people, there is no reason most of what's there shouldn't still be around... at least in some form. There are a few other articles in the Rifters on New Mexico but I think they are mainly short stories.

[Soldier of Od]

I recently ran a campaign through that area and I made Roswell a ruin that had been repopulated by Psi-X Alien escapees and other fugitive mutant animals - a focal point for the "Animal Underground". They have (unknowingly) been allowed to survive so close to Lone Star because Desmond Bradford is "studying their behaviour in the wild". I also added the settlements of Mesa Bay and Purespring (from the Diary of William McKinnith in the New West book) to New Mexico.