Rifts Campaign.

[flatline]

What kinds of characters will be involved?

--flatline

[Mack]

The players are also free to explore. One player has already expressed interest in rolling a Glitter Boy, which I'm dreading (hes the kind of guy who never leaves his armour).

You might mention to him that no one in Char (or for 500 miles in any direction) can repair Glitterboy armor. nudge-nudge

Or just say "No."

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Hillbilly goblins!?! I love it!!

[boxee]

Mainbook only seems very limiting. I have to agree you might talk to the glitterboy and make sure he know it will be hard to get repairs.

[flatline]

Mainbook only seems very limiting. I have to agree you might talk to the glitterboy and make sure he know it will be hard to get repairs.

If one of the other player characters is a caster with Mend the Broken, it might be manageable.

Of course, sticking to the main book, I think that's only possible with a Shifter unless the players pool their starting funds and the GM allows the a LLW or TechnoW to purchase the spell early on.

--flatline

[Icefalcon]

Low level swamp Necromancer making zombie gators.

[flatline]

Mainbook only seems very limiting. I have to agree you might talk to the glitterboy and make sure he know it will be hard to get repairs.

Hmm agreed, i want to make sure its fun for him. But on the other hand I don't want ever hamlet and village to have a setting breaking qualified robot engineer with a full workshop.

As for the limiting from the main book issues. I think personally the main book covers all the main classes, everything else tends to be either more powerful versions or almost carbon copies with a slightly different selection of skills/spells/abilites. That being said, I'm open to ideas of other OCC you might think would be appropriate for a eastern US setting.

I only have a limited selection of books though. (Converstion, Merc source, source book one, mechanoids, fed of magic).

On the other hand, I am willing to let them pick other races for the conversion books since thier contact with the coalition will limited to "its the coalition!" pew pew pew.

If you can pick up a used copy of England for cheap, you should. The temporal wizard is the most empowering magic class in the game and the temporal warrior is the most pragmatic. Since neither class has been updated since RUE was written, you might want to tweak them a bit by increasing their starting PPE (temporal wizard has more starting PPE than an RMB ley line walker, so use that as your scale) and letting the temporal warrior cast spells using the RUE casting speeds (RMB only let casters cast 2 spells per melee, so the warrior's 3 actions per spell was actually FASTER than other casters at mid level).

Skill lists might need to be tweaked a bit (Astronomy no longer exists, for example).

--flatline

[Grand Paladin]

Mainbook only seems very limiting. I have to agree you might talk to the glitterboy and make sure he know it will be hard to get repairs.

Hmm agreed, i want to make sure its fun for him. But on the other hand I don't want ever hamlet and village to have a setting breaking qualified robot engineer with a full workshop.

As for the limiting from the main book issues. I think personally the main book covers all the main classes, everything else tends to be either more powerful versions or almost carbon copies with a slightly different selection of skills/spells/abilites. That being said, I'm open to ideas of other OCC you might think would be appropriate for a eastern US setting.

I only have a limited selection of books though. (Converstion, Merc source, source book one, mechanoids, fed of magic).

On the other hand, I am willing to let them pick other races for the conversion books since thier contact with the coalition will limited to "its the coalition!" pew pew pew.

If you can pick up a used copy of England for cheap, you should. The temporal wizard is the most empowering magic class in the game and the temporal warrior is the most pragmatic. Since neither class has been updated since RUE was written, you might want to tweak them a bit by increasing their starting PPE (temporal wizard has more starting PPE than an RMB ley line walker, so use that as your scale) and letting the temporal warrior cast spells using the RUE casting speeds (RMB only let casters cast 2 spells per melee, so the warrior's 3 actions per spell was actually FASTER than other casters at mid level).

Skill lists might need to be tweaked a bit (Astronomy no longer exists, for example).

--flatline

Agreed with flatline for most. Except that Astronomy does exist in R:UE, only it also encompasses navigation skills as well.

[boxee]

I do not think the england book should be used in the setting you described, it is power creep. Stick to the north america books. If you allow conversion book races I suggest you only allow sdc races and not were creatures, again for power creep.
The books you have should give alot of character choices and weapon choices.
Another thought you might want to tell the GB pilot that ammo is not going to grow on trees. A way around this is to have a energy weapon built in, after all GBs are often handed down. So like a forearm weapon from a borg would work well even if it is the light laser weapon and it will not over balance any more then the GB itself.
The problem you have is you said mainbook characters and did not put any limits on the mainbook classes. So the player may feel cheated out of playing what he wants to play.
You might want to just let him play it and take it from there.

[flatline]

I do not think the england book should be used in the setting you described, it is power creep.

Meh, the temporal wizard was power creep compared to the magic classes in RMB because he had access to a small number of high level spells starting out (more specifically, Talisman, which was a huge deal before RUE upgraded ley lines and casting times). Compared to the RUE Shifter or LLW variant, he's no longer special in that regard.

Unless you consider utility to be power creep. Temporal magic offers some great utility spells that aren't available to any RUE classes starting out (Dimensional Pocket, Dimensional Envelope, Time Warp:Send, Retro-Viewing, D-phase, etc). None of them are combat monsters, but they can all be tremendously useful.

--flatline

[Akashic Soldier]

Underestimating the utility of the Temporal Classes just because their P.P.E. was not increased with the R:UE is unwise. Keep in mind, they don't just start with a "few high level spells" all Temporal Spells are AT LEAST 7th level and comparatively more powerful than normal invocations.

[flatline]

Underestimating the utility of the Temporal Classes just because their P.P.E. was not increased with the R:UE is unwise. Keep in mind, they don't just start with a "few high level spells" all Temporal Spells are AT LEAST 7th level and comparatively more powerful than normal invocations.

I don't think anyone is underestimating the Temporal Classes (I mean, really, they're AWESOME!), but their awesomeness isn't the kind of awesomeness that will impact stats or combat directly which is what "power creep" usually refers to. For instance, I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain that the Chiang-Ku knows every single domestic skill.

--flatline

[Greyaxe]

No Wilderness Scout. That will be tough for a technology heavy group to live without.

[Alrik Vas]

No Wilderness Scout. That will be tough for a technology heavy group to live without.

I think that depends on how the Cyber-Knight picks their skills.

[flatline]

Too bad there's only one magic user. No synergy from pooling PPE or teaching spells.

1 magic user is as effective as 1 magic user.
2 magic users are at least 3 times as effective as 1 magic user.

Diminishing returns kick in once you have a large enough PPE pool to easily cast your most expensive commonly used spell (like Talisman or Dimensional Portal).

We usually tried to have three magic users in a party of five or two in a party of four.

--flatline

[flatline]

No Wilderness Scout. That will be tough for a technology heavy group to live without.

I think that depends on how the Cyber-Knight picks their skills.

You beat me to it. Well played.

--flatline

[Alrik Vas]

A much needed commodity in the wilderness. /nod

[Morik]

I think this group will do fine. The repairs will be expensive but as long as you follow good leads on jobs and loot it shouldn't be a problem. Hell, they could get partial sponsorship from the town itself if they do enough good for the community.

The shifter can summon whatever scout the party needs so don't worry about that. A shadow beast at night can do wonders for Intel.

[Icefalcon]

The repairs will be hard to come by considering the OP says the game is set in and around Char, which is the only city of any size in all of Dino Swamp. Technology is a rare commodity in that area which is going to make repairs more than expensive.

[Morik]

The repairs will be hard to come by considering the OP says the game is set in and around Char, which is the only city of any size in all of Dino Swamp. Technology is a rare commodity in that area which is going to make repairs more than expensive.

More than expensive does not mean unmanageable. The GB's range alone could negate all damage taken. They just need to plan combat accordingly. I'd be more worried about payload.

[Icefalcon]

The repairs will be hard to come by considering the OP says the game is set in and around Char, which is the only city of any size in all of Dino Swamp. Technology is a rare commodity in that area which is going to make repairs more than expensive.

More than expensive does not mean unmanageable. The GB's range alone could negate all damage taken. They just need to plan combat accordingly. I'd be more worried about payload.

The range means next to nothing if you can't see through all the trees. And they are MDC trees at that.

[MADMANMIKE]

Sounds like a brilliant campaign. I had great difficulty at the beginning dealing with characters in their power armor, but now I don't worry about it much. There are plenty of things out there that can whittle away at a Glitterboy, and you can always impose health consequences for extended stays in the suit. If they argue that the suit has a built in waste disposal system, hit them with a Urinary Tract infection from the catheter.. Likewise even the best air filtration system is going to fail to cover body odor after a few days, and that can lead to lung infections..

The trick is to not have them get attacked when they step out of the armor; let them realize that it's psychotic to fear leaving the suit.

[Nightmask]

Who the hell would want to have a catheter in every day anyway?!?!?!

RPers who have no clue how painful that actually would be so will blithely say 'oh yeah my character's fine with that!'.

[Morik]

They don't even use catheter's in space. It's a condom with a tube that collects the waste. Unless it's a female pilot...unfortunately they have to wear a really tight diaper. Gross.

[Noon]

And I thought space toilets would be cool! Disenchanted!

[Alrik Vas]

I think that saying, "There are plenty of things that can whittle away at a Glitter Boy" is a dangerous statement. And i realize that you probably aren't taking it from a position of, "GM vs Players" but a lot of GM's do that. They think about how powerful their PC's are what to throw at them. Well, sometimes you don't do that. Sometimes they're in an area where nothing really can challenge a power armor. These are the kinds of situations that create self proclaimed kings ruling over a parcel of land because no one can stop them and their invincible armor. Then eventually the townsfolk get sick of it, hire some other adventurers (or a cyber knight passes by) and they stop them...well, only if they're tyrannical. Obviously no one wants to overthrow the guy if he's doing a good job (and none of the locals are incredibly ambitious). Anyway, i'm getting off topic. When dealing with power armor in a game, just remember it has a specific purpose and if you aren't fulfilling that purpose, you probably shouldn't be using it for the job you're on as it's just going to cause complications and perhaps a huge hit to your pocket book.

[MADMANMIKE]

I think that saying, "There are plenty of things that can whittle away at a Glitter Boy" is a dangerous statement. And i realize that you probably aren't taking it from a position of, "GM vs Players" but a lot of GM's do that. They think about how powerful their PC's are what to throw at them. Well, sometimes you don't do that. Sometimes they're in an area where nothing really can challenge a power armor. These are the kinds of situations that create self proclaimed kings ruling over a parcel of land because no one can stop them and their invincible armor. Then eventually the townsfolk get sick of it, hire some other adventurers (or a cyber knight passes by) and they stop them...well, only if they're tyrannical. Obviously no one wants to overthrow the guy if he's doing a good job (and none of the locals are incredibly ambitious). Anyway, i'm getting off topic. When dealing with power armor in a game, just remember it has a specific purpose and if you aren't fulfilling that purpose, you probably shouldn't be using it for the job you're on as it's just going to cause complications and perhaps a huge hit to your pocket book.

Wow.. I haven't seen anything in any of 4shadow's previous posts to suggest he'd be so bad a GM as to let a player be that big of a jerk in his games. Sounds like you've had some bad gaming experiences, sorry to hear it.

You are correct, I never take a GM vs Players position (except in Hackmaster); it's counter productive to the purpose of playing a game (having fun). I'm not sure what areas there may be that cannot challenge a suit of Power Armor (particularly where this game is situated).. There are plenty of monsters and mercenaries and D-Bees and CS patrols all around..

[Noon]

Not sure why certain amounts of GM vs player isn't considered fun.

Indeed, how do you even roll an attack by that CS patrol against a PC, without atleast a tiny, teeny weeny bit of GM vs player attitude?

[Mack]

4shadow has an easy tool to deal with the Glitterboy: a swamp!

[Bladesplint]

Who the hell would want to have a catheter in every day anyway?!?!?!

I think they wear adult diapers.


The picture in the main book of the pilot in his internal suit gave me the impression that Glitterboy jocks, and perhaps all RPA jocks that pilot a one-person suit, must use the equivalent of MDC Depends.


Just sayin'.


Alright, now the real post (sorry, I couldn't resist).

A swamp setting is going to make things very tough for any RPA that can't fly. Your GB player is going to have one heck of a time trying to fire his main weapon since his pylons won't grant solid footing in such spongy soil; he'll shoot and the recoil will blow him right out of the ground. Also, just walking around could be problematic. A GB is one of the heaviest suits ever built, essentially a walking tank. He's going to be up to his waist in swamp mud, if not deeper in some parts. Quicksand could prove to be a lethal problem, if the party has no means by which to lift the pilot free.

If there is a mage in the party, perhaps this situation could build cooperative play between party members. Carpet of Adhesion could be a real boon to your GB pilot, as well as levitation spells. Ditto the creation of stone, or hardening mud into stone, magical flight, etc.

As I think about it, this entire problem may prove to be a great game hook.

Here the PC's are, all decked out in new gear, in an area which they must adapt to, or navigate around, in order to be effective on the ground at all. This would mean the party must make decisions and self-regulate their game in an attempt to reduce attrition; their creative juices would start to flow as they figure out how to find areas in this terrain that play to the GB's strong suites (i.e. hard pack ground, ruins with stone streets and foundations, etc.) Of course, they'll need a map, or good intel. How will they find it? Where would they begin looking? Someone would have to interact with the locals, and make some kind of inquiry.

See where this is going?


Now, as for working out broad strokes as a GM...

FWIW, I'll toss out some antagonist ideas, which aren't necessarily bad guys, but who would react strongly against being intruded upon, or having a bunch of PC's come blasting into their turfs.

First idea - I'd throw some Hydrokineticists into the swamp. In fact, going off memory, I read about a school or academy for Soakers down in NC, and I think faculty and staff would have a very unpleasant view toward a group of PC's stomping around near their campus, lighting off a Boom Gun and creating panic in their budding Soaker student body. You can imagine the havoc that a squad of Soakers could create if the PC's got on their bad side.

You can take this any direction you like;

A second idea for you would be an extra nasty fella which used to be one of my personal PC's. Premise is a Murder Mage (from an older issue of The Rifter) who realized that his chosen path was destroying his body (reduced PB, etc) and not beneficial to general or mental health. He halted level progression in Murder Mage and became an Herbalist (England book). Don't laugh, just wait.

To construct this NPC, roll yourself a 9th level Murder Mage, 6th level Herbalist and you have a VERY nasty piece of work, who just wants to seek harmony and be left alone in peace. He's a recluse, growing a stunning garden full of gorgeous trees and a huge number of rare plants from which he makes many magical items, wands, teas, talismans, etc. and let me stress - just wants to be LEFT ALONE! This guy is trying to steer away from Necromancy, and has more than one insanity from dealing with it. Now all he seeks is serenity, drinking his mystical teas, and cultivating his gardens in as beautiful a setting as he can possibly grow. His garden is the only thing keeping him from sliding back into Murder Mage territory.

The PC's might come across his hidden garden, very tranquil and with a high degree of 'zen,' wind chimes, incense, you get the idea? Exotic plants everywhere; lots of fruit and veggies growing. Maybe a few faeries in alignment with him, helping cultivate mystical plants and shrooms, etc.

My personal PC last I played him, was placed in the lush woods of Washington state, near the old ruins of Seattle. But I give you this idea to use in your campaign, because of the deep trouble anyone would have if they unwittingly came across him, invaded his garden, and assumed he was just some tree-hugging hippie.

This setting is this guy's 'happy place.'

Any disturbance in his patiently cultivated orchards would be met with uhhm...
Extreme Prejudice.

I know the combination of Murder Mage/Herbalist sounds ridiculous. The GM who had originally run me as I levelled the MM portion was trying to have me killed, since he found the MM extremely difficult to balance in his game worlds. Eventually, he gave me the option of multi-classing, or handing my character sheet to him, now playable only as one of his villains. So to keep playing my own PC, I settled on multi-classing. Most options I chose were met with GM disapproval. However, he allowed me to start at level one as an Herbalist. BUT he didn't read the Herbalist rules. All he saw were 'magic teas and potions.' and agreed.

BIG MISTAKE.

I took full advantage, and boy - was he sorry he let me choose this combination. One of my truly most devastating PC's I ever ran. If you need a name, I called him Sabatticus. Let me know if you want to use him as an NPC. I can either email you a JPEG of his sheet, or I can give you the names of some of the more potent magical items he has at his disposal. However you choose, just have fun.


Cheers!



Blade

[Noon]

MDepends

For when incontinence makes you wish for a GI Joe rule...

[Shorty Lickens]

I like the RUE better. Has a few more classes and better defines the old classes.
In fact I think they added special abilities for Wilderness Scouts that werent in the RMB.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Keep us updated! I love reading other peoples adventure recaps.

[Alrik Vas]

First let me say that i like the idea, and i think that it's awesome you put some real work into your campaign.

Though how much conflict do you imagine these flowers causing? Magic power sources aren't exactly difficult to come by on Rifts Earth, eh?

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Incase anyone is intrested/care/wants to put them in the game. Heres some stats for Glowblooms.

Glow bloom (mcguffin and power source).

Aka: Ghost Flowers.

A magical flower from another dimension that grows in magic rich environments. The plant resembles a Daffodil with 1 to 3 glowing white flowers that give of gravity defying white embers that dissapate after a few seconds. Glowblooms also chime softly in the wind. Once picked the flowers lose thier glow, becoming inert after 12-24 hours, wilting to nothing in less than a week. Glowblooms are found within 15km of a leyline and/or nexus points and are most common around the habitats of other magical beings. Glowblooms can be distilled by a techno wizard with the brewing skill and an appropriate technowizard still into White Oil that can be used to fuel PPE devices and technology, unfortunately the flowers are exceedingly rare in all parts of the world except the region of the Carolinas, Virgina, south coast of Atlantis, the west coast of Scotland and remote parts of Eastern Europe. Mages will kill one another (figuratively) over a live potted Glowbloom, as the plant resists horticultural attempts to grow it and is admired for its sublime beauty. A mage who successfully pots a Glowbloom would be the envy of his peers. The human locals of North Carolina regard Glowblooms as both sacrosanct and cursed, believing them to be manifestations of those who died in the cataclysm.

Rules:
PPE draw from a fresh Glow Bloom: 6D6 PPE (per flower on the plant).
PPE draw from a wilting Glow Bloom: 1D6 PPE (per flower)
Blackmarket Price per flower: 5000cr. (rare due to the short lived nature of the flower).

White Oil is worth 50,000cr per fluid oz. It is increadibly rare and coveted because of its use in advanced golem creation, PPE batteries, PPE power system creation and ritual magic. No PPE can be drawn from Oil directly.

The Catch:
Glow Blooms are magical and reside in the domains of creatures who embody magical forces. Such creatures both horrific and beautiful will see picking those rare plants as a violation of thier territory, regardless of thier alignment, and will respond with deadly force. Glowblooms also have an enchanting effect on the weak willed, anyone with a ME of 8 or less must make a saving throw verses spells or sit mezmerised by the flower, simply staring at it and admiring its breath taking beauty (-1 to strike, parry, and dodge if attacked and automatically loses the iniative. First round of combat only).

very nice great job on this.

[MikelAmroni]

You've got a great start on your game. I'm curious, do you have the dinosaur swamp books? Somehow I'm thinking by your description you don't. I could be wrong. If not, I HIGHLY suggest them. They have some of the best rules for heat exhaustion, moving in swamps, etc in any Rifts book, including in Vampire Kingdoms. Todd Yoho did an awesome job on them. They are hands down some of my favorite Rifts books (and I usually run CS games, so that should tell you something). I also happen to live right in the middle of the Dinosaur swamp (well Middle Georgia current day actually, but hey, why not).

I should note that while your version of Char is much more advanced than the source book version of the city, that's okay. Keep what you have, but make sure you have the other stuff at your disposal. The ghosts of the confederate soldiers in particular are a LOT of fun to mess with PCs. My last game in the Dinosaur Swmap had a PAB Agent (from Chaos Earth) and Local Mind Melter operating out of Fort Hawkins in Macon. Considering we all live there current day, it was particularly appropriate and fun.

The irony to the repairs problem is that actually there is a great source of MDC material around that can be molded into almost anything - Steel-Trees! That said, those areas would lose the reflective quality and the smiths that forge the stuff are particularly cranky. There are TWs and Operators in Char though, so quality repairs are possible (just 'spensive).

[Shorty Lickens]

I think that saying, "There are plenty of things that can whittle away at a Glitter Boy" is a dangerous statement. And i realize that you probably aren't taking it from a position of, "GM vs Players" but a lot of GM's do that. They think about how powerful their PC's are what to throw at them. Well, sometimes you don't do that. Sometimes they're in an area where nothing really can challenge a power armor. These are the kinds of situations that create self proclaimed kings ruling over a parcel of land because no one can stop them and their invincible armor. Then eventually the townsfolk get sick of it, hire some other adventurers (or a cyber knight passes by) and they stop them...well, only if they're tyrannical. Obviously no one wants to overthrow the guy if he's doing a good job (and none of the locals are incredibly ambitious). Anyway, i'm getting off topic. When dealing with power armor in a game, just remember it has a specific purpose and if you aren't fulfilling that purpose, you probably shouldn't be using it for the job you're on as it's just going to cause complications and perhaps a huge hit to your pocket book.

Yeah thats something I often have to remind my players about. The tougher somebody is the more likely he will draw attention from the villains, or a third party who may feel threatened. Thats why parties full of heavy borgs dont always fare well. They sometimes keep going until they get in over their heads.

Also a Glitterboy might survive a fight, but now he's gotta repair that expensive armor, ditto borgs who lose a limb or essential systems.

Vehicles too. You may feel a sense of accomplishment when you finally get a nice big Naruni hover tank, but one bad adventure can land you right back in the poor house.

[flatline]

I think that saying, "There are plenty of things that can whittle away at a Glitter Boy" is a dangerous statement. And i realize that you probably aren't taking it from a position of, "GM vs Players" but a lot of GM's do that. They think about how powerful their PC's are what to throw at them. Well, sometimes you don't do that. Sometimes they're in an area where nothing really can challenge a power armor. These are the kinds of situations that create self proclaimed kings ruling over a parcel of land because no one can stop them and their invincible armor. Then eventually the townsfolk get sick of it, hire some other adventurers (or a cyber knight passes by) and they stop them...well, only if they're tyrannical. Obviously no one wants to overthrow the guy if he's doing a good job (and none of the locals are incredibly ambitious). Anyway, i'm getting off topic. When dealing with power armor in a game, just remember it has a specific purpose and if you aren't fulfilling that purpose, you probably shouldn't be using it for the job you're on as it's just going to cause complications and perhaps a huge hit to your pocket book.

Yeah thats something I often have to remind my players about. The tougher somebody is the more likely he will draw attention from the villains, or a third party who may feel threatened. Thats why parties full of heavy borgs dont always fare well. They sometimes keep going until they get in over their heads.

Also a Glitterboy might survive a fight, but now he's gotta repair that expensive armor, ditto borgs who lose a limb or essential systems.

Vehicles too. You may feel a sense of accomplishment when you finally get a nice big Naruni hover tank, but one bad adventure can land you right back in the poor house.

That's why we always treated vehicles, armor, and power armor as disposable. Buy whatever you can afford, do your best to keep it up, but always know that at some point you'll have to replace it.

--flatline