Getting Started in Rifts and an Introduction

[rmckee78]

I purchased Rifts at GenCon this year after hearing about it for years. At the time I bought it, I thought that I had never purchased a Palladium book before, it turns out this is not true. I have a pretty good size collection of Robotech books that came with some BattleTech stuff I bought on eBay a few years ago. So, I have never read a Palladium book, but apparently I own quite a few.

To put my post in context, I have been gaming for over 25 years, I started in middle school. My first gaming experiences were with game books like ICE's Tolkien's Quest books. When my friend and I had played those to death we began making our own adventures using the rules and monsters from those books. Eventually a classmate pointed out to us that someone had already done all that work for us and turned us on to Frank Mentzer's D&D Basic Set. Sadly, as this was the '80s and my mother had not yet been exposed to Mike Stackpole's defense of gaming, my mother quickly banned D&D. My mother was a Tolkien fan though, and had no problem with other games like MERP and Flying Buffalo's Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes. Eventually she was convinced that these were all the same thing and D&D was allowed. Much 1st Edition AD&D followed.

As I cut my gaming teeth in the 1990's, I am no stranger to wacky '90s settings, organization, and rule sets. We played many hours of Traveller: The New Era, Underground, Shatterzone, Cyperpunk 2020, early Shadowrun, GURPS and WEG Star Wars. After high school I kept up with D&D and GURPS, eventually moving on to Savage Worlds and Castles and Crusades.

With that bit of history in mind, it is odd that I completely missed the whole Palladium scene. After all I am pretty much exactly the right age for Rifts, and I played almost all its contemporaries of note. Somehow it never caught on with my group. When I first got my RUE home and opened it, I was immediately transported back to the '90s. The layout, the feel of the paper, the at style, even the smell of the book. Especially the smell of the book! It was like the olfactory version of Van Halen's "Right Now".

I have just finished my first read through and I have some observations. My first impression was that the layout was a bit old school, but as I read I came to appreciate that. I like two columns of clear text on a white background. A lot of modern books are cluttered and can be hard to read. The organization is also very old school, this is a bit more of a problem especially in the areas of character creation and combat. As a veteran of Gygax penned rule books, I was able to suss out the rules, but if I was completely new to RPGs and had picked this up in Barnes and Noble, I could be in trouble.

In all honesty, organization is not the only problem with the rules, especially the combat rules which are murky at best. A quick glance around these forums tells me I don't need to go into any greater detail on this subject. Needless to say I will be house-ruling combat, this isn't a problem for me. I will probably develop an oral combat system that will hew very closely to what is described, and a separate map combat system that involves far more revision. Different games, and in fact, different encounters will call for different combat systems. Luckily, the skeleton that is present is very easy to adapt to either an oral system or a more crunchy map system. I don't see my oral system being that much more complicated than Basic D&D, and there is enough detail here to reach an almost BattleTech level of complexity (I will stop short of that) for my map system. So while I worry what the reaction of new players, for me the foundations of a great toolbox are present here.

Another old school element is the mixing of crunch and fluff throughout the rules. Over the years I have grown so used to the modern strict separation that this threw me for a bit of a loop at first. But this is the kind of thing that the gaming industry should not have abandoned. This rule book is fun to read, and it is just a core book. Every O.C.C., Skill, and Spell reveals a little bit more about the world in its description. I can see why people buy Palladium books even if they are only going to read them.

And I enjoyed the setting revealed by those descriptions. In the past I had always seen Rifts described as a completely gonzo, over the top setting, and it is in a good way. The setting is set up so that it is easily compartmentalized and is obviously intended to be customized. There are several parts of the setting that I am anxious to learn more about, China, Japan, the Vampire Kingdoms, and Underwater. I will almost certainly be grabbing the books for those settings over the next few months.

I have no issue with the disparate power levels of the O.C.C.s. They just showed me that there are many different kinds of campaigns that can be run in Rifts.

I am launching a Star Wars: Edge of Empire campaign tomorrow night at my FLGS, so it will be a while before I get a chance to start a Rifts campaign, but I intend to. I may run a one shot in the near future to build interest.

I am going to order the Game Master's Guide tomorrow, followed by Magic and Adventures. What should I be looking to get after that? I am thinking of picking up Japan as my first worldbook. After all, what is more '90s than a RPG in fantasy/sci fi Japan? Any suggestions for someone starting out are welcome. I will continue to update this thread as I learn more and prepare my first campaign.

[Akashic Soldier]

I know how things look, but before you go changing things around just try them out. In play it works. If you have the R:GMG and the R:UE you have all the rules for combat. Essentially the R:UE is everything you need to know how to play and the R:GMG is everything you need to run combat as the Game Master. At least, that is my experience. I want to come back to this post when I am a little more awake (I've been pulling an all-nighter). You said a lot of interesting stuff I'd like to address.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Welcome rmckee!
As far as RPG's go I've only EVER played palladium stuff. I started out in the late mid-late 80's with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, move to Heroes Unlimited 1st ed. revised, then after about a 20 year hiatus moved to After the Bomb 2ed. Just this year alone I've been introduced to my first Palladium Fantasy and Rifts games. After playing all of these different settings for such a long period of time I feel confident giving an informed opinion..

AK is right. The system works. It only falls apart or gets "too clunky" when you start comparing it to other things/systems. No it's not a super hard, rigid framework of unbreakable rules, nor is it a fast and loose just wing it type of game. It fits right in the middle by offering a working/usable set of rules that are easily malleable when needed. Heck, even the games designer says it's ok to house rule and change what you need. However, if the system were crap as some opponents will argue, then they wouldn't have survived (and continue to survive) as a company since 1981.

My advice (and I hope it is helpful) is to view the system as an individual and not compare it to the games you've played in the past (the same as you would a person). It is not this game or that game. It is its own game with its own flaws and merits. To compare it's value based on your experience with other systems ..well it's just not a good idea. (a lesson I believe anyone who has ever watched a romantic comedy can agree on).

[Morik]

Any suggestions for someone starting out are welcome.


Depends on what you want in your game. I'd say at first stick to a region and let the characters make real changes to the community they are in. Let them make roots and establish NPC's and storyline.

Cities to have a good home base are:

Juarez (WB1)

Old Bones (WB 22)

Merctown

Arzno (WB 28)

The Colorado Baronies. (WB 15)

Los Alamo (WB 10)

New Camelot (WB 3)

The Floating city of Tritonia (WB 7)

Kingdom of Tarnow (SB 3)

City of Windshorn in Kolodenko's war camp (WB 17)

Honestly a ton of cities of various sizes and dispositions in a great read Rifts Canada (WB 20)

If you want to curb power creep completely ban South America book 1 and 2.

[slade the sniper]

Building on Morik's suggestions, I would also say that you can run a very good Coalition based game. While the CS are often considered villains, the best and longest running RIFTS games I have played in and GMed have been Coalition based ones. There are two reasons for a CS based game: the simplicity of having the PCs operate as a group (which is really quite a time saver, especially for new RIFTS players/GMs) and, the power level of a CS based game starts the PCs at equivalent levels. Additionally, being in the CS gives a lot or reasons for the PCs to move around North America.

-STS

[Sureshot]

Welcome.

I suggest against running a CS campaign. Not unless as a GM your planning on making them the good guys as the setting. It's imo kind of hard to play the good guys when the entire government and military is corrupt, evil and the ruler is a fan of fascism. Which some who run the CS forget. The CS is not the USA of the future. They are imo the american dream corrupted by the whims of a power hungry leader. They are not sterotypical Nazi to be sure. Yet neither are they the pargons of virtue some make them out to be. Some missions may involve burning down and killing off a village of D-bees. Another hunting down and capturing/ killing preferably killing mages. Whether the mages were a threat or not. One can remove all the unsavory elements of fascism to be sure. That then requires altering some elements of the setting.

As well I suggest having at least one player taking the Operator OCC or similar class. Repairs in the game can be expensive. Requiring the players to either scavange everything or have enough money to purchase what they need as well.

[rmckee78]

Thanks everybody.

I will probably not run a CS campaign, or even a NA area one (except maybe Mexico) to start with. I am somewhat less intrigued by the stuff going on there than by what I am reading about in some of the more exotic areas. Japan and Russia have really drawn my eye, I will have to see how I feel after getting some world books.

I am looking forward to my GMG arriving. Does it have a good amount of setting information? What does everyone suggest as a good monster/enemy source?

[Akashic Soldier]

Sorry, I was up working all night again and this skipped my mind completely until 5 minutes before bed when I do my rounds.

To answer your question, no. The R:GMG has virtually no setting information in it. If you are looking for the "GM's how to run Rifts" book you want to pick up the Rifts Adventure Guide (one of my favorite books in the line). What the R:GMG has is VIRTUALLY every weapon/robot/vehicle in the entire game, tons of rules clarifications, including more details on the rules mentioned in the R:UE, and advise on how to run your game (not what is in it).

Essentially, the R:GMG is a giant weapons catalog/rule book with maps of all over the world based in the back.

A lot of people don't like it for that reason, but trust me, its best to just ignore them. They're just nitpicking.
As a new Game Master to Rifts being able to find the rifle you like, then see what book its in or having a list of robots/vehicles in a quick easy to find place (instead of having to search through 10 books) is invaluable.

Here are the books I always recomend to new GMs, get these and you should be cake from now into infinity and you can just add new dimension/world books as you go.

1. Rifts: Ultimate Edition
2. Rifts: Game Master Guide
3. Rifts Adventure Guide
4. Rifts Conversion Book 1 (Expanded and Revised) -- It has a ton of monsters and the more traditional RPG races (Elf, Dwarf, etc.)
5. Book of Magic
6. Bionics Source Book
7. Merc Ops -- Its essentially a book full of gadgets. I always call it the Batman Utility Belt of Rifts equipment.
8. Rifts Source Book One (Expanded and Revised) -- Rules for customizing robots and repairing/salvaging costs
9. Rifts Black Market -- I just like it a lot, its basically how to run the criminal element in your game and it can be used for anywhere in the setting. It covers stuff like weapon/item availability and has some cool new "generic" O.C.C.s that are well-written and fun.
10. D-Bees of North America or Aliens Unlimited. Essentially both books are just a catalog of alien races. Of the two, I think Aliens Unlimited is the better book because it also has an awesome equipment section at the back. However, its probably better to get D-Bees of North America if you are starting out.

Then, you just pick up whatever world book/dimension book you like the look of and you will never run out of material. Like, ever.

[Morik]

What does everyone suggest as a good monster/enemy source?

If your going Japan I suggest either the ONI for a straight up good vs evil, or if you want a cyberpukish/merc ops theme go any other government vs the Otomo Shogunate. (If you do get the Japan book RIFTS Underseas/Lemuria would help flush out the area and add some other elements to the story.)

Russia is a awesome area, now I don't own Mystic Russia but I've heard nothing but good things about it. I suggest picking a good(well kinda good) warlord camp or the Sovietski and running missions against Demons and the horrible camps of Orloff and Sokolov.

[Witchcraft]

I have to agree. For me, the big appeal of RIFTS was the fact that you can be and do ANYTHING! A Coalition campaign means placing artificial restrictions on yourself in a Megaverse that's basically without rules. A Coalition is GREAT for folks who are new to the setting because it strips down a lot of that freedom (can be kinda overwhelming for new people) and basically says, "here's your orders, here's your squad, this is what you believe, this is why we're right, this is why everyone else is wrong, and...away...we...go!"

It sounds like the original poster is leaning toward and intrigued by the EXOTIC -- and that just-so-happens to be my specialty! One of my favorite exotic locations on Rifts Earth is MEXICO! Central / South America is filled with vampires, Vampire Intelligences, mutants, psychics, pucaran giants, neo-achilles, Larhold, cibola, millennium tree druids and elves, reed's rangers, a WHOLE NEW SOURCEBOOK for the Vampire Kingdoms with Bone Jaguars and Hunting magic and...man, I can't even stop to take a breath!

Vampires and werewolves are very familiar 'tropes and dark magic, incas, ancient ruins, nazca power lines, etc. are some really spooky locations that make for AWESOME settings. I think you could really dig up some fun adventures with this particular area of RIFTS Earth.

[rmckee78]

Thanks again. I ordered both the GMG and Adventures book last night. The store owner threw in a used copy of Vampire Kingdoms he has had around without selling forever. It seems to be an older edition of the book than the one I saw at GenCon, have there been significant changes? I am glad to hear that there will be maps in the GMG, that was one of my main concerns about the RUE, I thought maybe Palladium just didn't do maps.

[Akashic Soldier]

It seems to be an older edition of the book than the one I saw at GenCon, have there been significant changes?

They re virtually different books.

I am glad to hear that there will be maps in the GMG, that was one of my main concerns about the RUE, I thought maybe Palladium just didn't do maps.

Its not that common but with your R:GMG you'll get maps of all the various locations (there is no Atlas) but if you crudely cut them out you might be able to stick one together (I don't recommend it). One of the big reasons Palladium tends not to make maps is because they want the GM to have their own freedom. So they don't feel like just because there is no little town on the map that there can't be one there in their game.

[rmckee78]

I am glad to hear that there will be maps in the GMG, that was one of my main concerns about the RUE, I thought maybe Palladium just didn't do maps.

Its not that common but with your R:GMG you'll get maps of all the various locations (there is no Atlas) but if you crudely cut them out you might be able to stick one together (I don't recommend it). One of the big reasons Palladium tends not to make maps is because they want the GM to have their own freedom. So they don't feel like just because there is no little town on the map that there can't be one there in their game.

Oh that's good, I am just looking for the lay of the land anyway. General geographic regions and any new coastlines. I'll fill in anything I need as I go.

[flatline]

Here are my book recommendations for a new GM. Be warned that I value ideas and setting over stats and my own house rules have ditched MD/MDC, so things that balance well in my house rules might not balance so well if you decide to use the MD system as presented in the books.

Rifts Main Book: In most things, I prefer RMB to RUE. Also, most of my other book recommendations will be older books that were written before RUE. If RUE is all you have for context, some of the stuff in the older books might seem strange.

Book of Magic: It's just too handy to have most of your spells in one place.

South America 1 and 2: this is, in my opinion, the best designed setting in all of Rifts Earth. Lots of interesting regional powers that span the whole spectrum from pure magic to pure tech with lots of interesting stuff in between. No author fiat required to make it a relatively stable setting (unlike North America).

Atlantis: much of the the SA material depends on you already having Atlantis. Which is fine since Atlantis is a great book that you should have anyways. It's great source material for bad guys (splugorth and all their minions) and good guys (true atlanteans).

Wormwood: this is the best setting ever published by Palladium, unfortunately, it's also only about half baked so the GM has to do a lot of work to fill in the gaps. However, even if you're not interested in a wormwood campaign, SA2 refers to wormwood material a fair amount so it's good to have as a sourcebook to flesh out the SA setting.

That right there is enough to give you an almost fully fleshed out SA setting with way more campaign potential than any other setting in Rifts Earth.

Other books that I heartily recommend:
England: a somewhat simple setting, but it has great character classes in it. It's worth getting if only so you have access to the Temporal Wizard, Warrior, and Raider. In my opinion, the Temporal Wizard is the best OCC in the game.
Game Master Guide: ignore the rules clarifications (they're not as good as your house rules are going to be). The equipment lists are great to flip through. Tons of ideas for your own material.
Conversion Book 1 (not the revised edition): This covers most of the gaps that RMB had. The revised edition removed lots of good stuff, so you're much better off buying the original used off Amazon or something (only a couple of bucks that way, so it's win/win!).
Conversion Book 2 (Pantheaons): SA references it quite a bit and having rules for Godlings and Demi-gods will give you lots of material. The SA books try to give you what you need, but you lose some of the variety.

House rules I recommend you at least consider:
1. Tone down MD or get rid of it all together. I use 1:3 MD:SD ratio with some additional tweaks.
2. Get rid of attacks per melee. Find a more fluid way of handling combat that works for you.

Good luck! I hope you have lots of fun!

--flatline

[Akashic Soldier]

Game Master Guide: ignore the rules clarifications (they're not as good as your house rules are going to be).

*Moans and then starts to openly weep*

This mentality is why no one knows the actual rules to the game and says they don't work.

[flatline]

Game Master Guide: ignore the rules clarifications (they're not as good as your house rules are going to be).

*Moans and then starts to openly weep*

This mentality is why no one knows the actual rules to the game and says they don't work.

We've read the rules, but they're predicated on things that we've already rejected (like attacks per melee).

--flatline

[Morik]

Game Master Guide: ignore the rules clarifications (they're not as good as your house rules are going to be).

*Moans and then starts to openly weep*

This mentality is why no one knows the actual rules to the game and says they don't work.

We've read the rules, but they're predicated on things that we've already rejected (like attacks per melee).

--flatline

Gonna have to agree I use the rules and they work well. The only thing I don't do is re roll initiative each round. Only attacks and spells will modify initiative.

[rmckee78]

I was looking at the box of Robotech books I have, and I noticed that some of them are digest size. Are Rifts books available in this size? These would be much more convenient to carry around and even to read.

[Akashic Soldier]

We've read the rules, but they're predicated on things that we've already rejected (like attacks per melee).--flatline

Gonna have to agree I use the rules and they work well. The only thing I don't do is re roll initiative each round. Only attacks and spells will modify initiative.

Thank you.

[rmckee78]

I got my GMG and read through it over the last few days. I can see it being really useful as an index once I start building my campaign, and useful at the table as a reference. I wish they had gone with more setting information in place of the fairly routine GM advice sections. The weapon section was nice and there was some setting information in there to help me with my planning.

I am still planning to start with either Japan, China, or Russia as my setting, at least for a short start. I am thinking of looking into moving on to a Pacific based game, probably centered on the New Navy. But that will wait until I learn more.

I am still waiting on my Adventure Guide. After that I will probably grab Japan so I can start putting together my game.

[Greyaxe]

Salutations.
I echo the advice of my predecessors. use Vampires as a basis to start they are classic evils an easy to identify with. Mexico is a great foundation for Rifts.

Use the rules they work if you work them.

[Morik]

I got my GMG and read through it over the last few days. I can see it being really useful as an index once I start building my campaign, and useful at the table as a reference. I wish they had gone with more setting information in place of the fairly routine GM advice sections. The weapon section was nice and there was some setting information in there to help me with my planning.

I am still planning to start with either Japan, China, or Russia as my setting, at least for a short start. I am thinking of looking into moving on to a Pacific based game, probably centered on the New Navy. But that will wait until I learn more.

I am still waiting on my Adventure Guide. After that I will probably grab Japan so I can start putting together my game.

If you have Rifts Underseas just make your players mercenaries who work with the New Navy. Having them have to give reports to a superior officer will be just as limiting as a Coalition Campaign. Unless you make them DEEEP undercover recon/Intel to try and get info on the powers in Japan. (that sound freaking fun!)

[rmckee78]

I picked up my Adventure Guide (and free Vampire Kingdoms 1st ed.) tonight. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I liked the artwork I saw while flipping through. I especially liked the series of panels where the GM is imagining the world and it slowly comes into being. Nice touch.

I have been sorting through old RPG books to cull the collection over the last few days. In doing so I read through all of the Robotech books that I got with a Battletech lot a few years ago. As a lifelong (well since 7) Robotech fan I really enjoyed the read through. Even the "extended universe" stuff that fills the gaps and extends the stories. Actually, as someone who has spent a good amount of time in Viet Nam, I enjoyed the focus on the region quite a bit. I would love to see those re-released but updated with more accurate information. Obviously, at the time these books were released much of the region was behind the "Bamboo Curtain" so information was thin on the ground.

As much as I enjoyed the old Robotech book, I just don't see them getting play use for me, so I am going to have to get rid of them. I will be keeping the newer digest books as they take up far less space.

In that stack there was also a copy of the Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy. This was a pretty neat glimpse into the earlier days of the system, and had some pretty cool ideas in its own right. I wish there was some more guidance and setting information in the books though.

Anyway, back to Rifts.

[rmckee78]

I got my GMG and read through it over the last few days. I can see it being really useful as an index once I start building my campaign, and useful at the table as a reference. I wish they had gone with more setting information in place of the fairly routine GM advice sections. The weapon section was nice and there was some setting information in there to help me with my planning.

I am still planning to start with either Japan, China, or Russia as my setting, at least for a short start. I am thinking of looking into moving on to a Pacific based game, probably centered on the New Navy. But that will wait until I learn more.

I am still waiting on my Adventure Guide. After that I will probably grab Japan so I can start putting together my game.

If you have Rifts Underseas just make your players mercenaries who work with the New Navy. Having them have to give reports to a superior officer will be just as limiting as a Coalition Campaign. Unless you make them DEEEP undercover recon/Intel to try and get info on the powers in Japan. (that sound freaking fun!)

This is almost exactly what I have planned.

[Tiree]

I have to agree - a CS campaign is not a bad idea. Most soldiers believe they are doing 'Good' and can be 'Good' characters. It's the overall 'Plan' that they are not a part of that is truly evil. You can send the characters on missions into Mexico, deal with Underground groups. Track down criminals and criminal activity.

If someone is bent on playing a Psychic or Mage, you can even incorporate them as a 'Mercenary' attache to the team group. They have to play under a certain set of rules, and that's fine. As the group expands their 'strict and narrow' view of the world, they may see that their superiors were wrong to begin with. And with that they can always go rogue with more campaign idea's.

The best part is - their gear gets replaced and fixed for free. They don't have to worry about dealing with that aspect of the game till later.

[MADMANMIKE]

Hey, welcome to the community. I don't know if we met at GenCon (I was the blonde with the shaved head at the booth most of the time), but I did spend quite a bit of time on the RIFTS side of the rack talking about it with people who stopped to look.

As you saw with your initial review of the boards, there is no shortage of opinions about the pros and cons of the Palladium System. You seem to be able to form a good unbiased opinion of those yourself so I won't address them.

For my part, I cut my teeth on TMNT in '89, then quickly collected every Palladium Book setting sans Robotech, and had my copy of RIFTS three days after it shipped. I designed the official character sheets and Game Master Screens in '96 (found on the main pages Cutting Room Floor) and have some more recent revisions in my sig (there's also a thread on the Game Master's Forum, check for a series of links to other people's fine designs at the end of the thread).

One book I will recommend that hasn't been mentioned yet, RIFTS Mercenaries. It's a great resource for adventuring fighters, and has the original iteration of the Mercenary Companies rules (note I designed a worksheet for those rules found on the above mentioned Cutting Room Floor). It's not just limited to North America, and many of it's character classes are listed as options in several of the races presented in later books.

As to the difference between Vampire Kingdoms then and now; the new version, coupled with the Vampire Sourcebook are the first book expanded and updated for the current timeline. When RIFTS first hit the shelves the timeline centered around 101P.A., and over the years it's progressed through major events by several years. The beauty of Palladium's style however is that most of it's material is useable in whatever timeline you choose to run. The Siege on Tolkeen books for example; The Final Siege book details the city of Tolkeen, which in the book has been largely destroyed, but is still presented in a format useable before the war.

I will say that a Coalition game is (as mentioned before) a good way to get into the setting; I've run several as introductory adventures over the years and find the party dynamics are easy to adapt to for beginners. That said, if you've got buddies that know their way around the block of RPGs, it's not always necessary to baby-step them in. I'm sure after 20+ years of gaming you know your strengths and weaknesses.

Again, welcome!

[Alrik Vas]

Underseas Mercs sounds fun to me, and though you said mercenary in the suggestions, so i was already sold. When do we start?

[Bladesplint]

Welcome to the forums, and more importantly, welcome to the Palladium Megaverse!

You will find Rifts particularly entertaining, richly populated with many races, factions, powers, and so forth. As you continue your gaming travels, you may want to take a look at World of Darkness (horror/supernatural genre) and have fun, no matter what. One of my personal favorite books in the Rifts line is Psyscape; lots of excellent roleplaying have been centered around this single book for the last eight or nine years.

The Palladium line is also excellent; densely populated with races, monsters, powers, etc. which provide fertile gaming ground for your more straightforward fantasy-fiction-oriented gamer. There's nothing quite like playing a Wolfen Ranger, tracking through the snows of the Northern Wilderness as he sniffs out monster lairs and mages, under the directive of his vicount. I ran a very enjoyable campaign and took a level one Mercenary all the way up to level eleven; gaining a remote keep and an army of people who have pledged allegiance.

Again, welcome!


Blade

[rmckee78]

Welcome to the forums, and more importantly, welcome to the Palladium Megaverse!

You will find Rifts particularly entertaining, richly populated with many races, factions, powers, and so forth. As you continue your gaming travels, you may want to take a look at World of Darkness (horror/supernatural genre) and have fun, no matter what. One of my personal favorite books in the Rifts line is Psyscape; lots of excellent roleplaying have been centered around this single book for the last eight or nine years.

The Palladium line is also excellent; densely populated with races, monsters, powers, etc. which provide fertile gaming ground for your more straightforward fantasy-fiction-oriented gamer. There's nothing quite like playing a Wolfen Ranger, tracking through the snows of the Northern Wilderness as he sniffs out monster lairs and mages, under the directive of his vicount. I ran a very enjoyable campaign and took a level one Mercenary all the way up to level eleven; gaining a remote keep and an army of people who have pledged allegiance.

Again, welcome!


Blade

Thanks,

I played WoD years ago and really enjoyed it back in the day. I especially liked Werewolf: The Wild West. I am also really interested in Palladium Fantasy. I picked up the 1st Ed Revised book on RPGNow and there is a lot of cool things in it. I am looking forward to learning more about the setting as the setting implied in the rulebook seems pretty interesting.

[Bladesplint]

Excellent stuff.

WoD recently underwent a complete revision and is now completely different in mechanics and texture. The Werewolf: Apocalypse line has now been renamed Werewolf: The Forsaken and our group has been involved with it heavily for roughly three years. New rules make it a completely restructured game, unlike the previous edition completely. If interested, you will need to buy the WoD core rulebook, as well as the Werewolf : The Forsaken rulebook (which we jokingly abbreviate as the Doubleyou Tee Eff book, heh).

I think you will like it.

It seems you prefer a more supernatural flavor to your games; if so, may I suggest Rifts Mystic Russia, Federation of Magic, and an early book called Wormwood - another of my favorites. Wormwood is not set on Rifts Earth, but on another planet being overtaken by demonic forces. Wormwood has a gritty, almost medieval theme, with humanity clinging to pockets of beseiged villages and towns that resemble old English or gothic era structures. The church plays heavily in this setting, as do demons and organic items which the planet itself produces.

If you prefer game architecture that revolves around the PC's going on the offensive, I highly encourage you to have a look at the Apok PCC of Wormwood. This is essentially a Rifts version of a holy monk on steroids or a paladin capable of dealing ridiculous amounts of damage against supernatural evil. In a group of six gamers, four of them wanted to roll up Apoks. I allowed it, but had to create a storyline that brought all four of these zealots together - and a strike team, going on the offensive, worked perfectly.

Overpowered? Absolutely. But then, it wouldn't be any fun if everyone played squishy PC's all the time, now would it?

Again, if you have a taste for dark realities, truely gritty settings and a creating a sense of constant nervousness in your PC's, then Wormwood is for you.

Think 'H.P. Lovecraft, DnD, and machine guns.'


Cheers!


Blade

[rmckee78]

Finally got a chance to read the Adventure Guide. The first portion is mostly GM advice, and fairly entry level stuff. It certainly isn't bad GM advice, but it is aimed at newer GMs. It was enjoyable to read though. The second half is far more useful for a larger audience. I almost want to say that the 'Burbs overview belongs in the main rulebook. This gave me a much better idea of what the Rifts world is like than anything I have read so far. The overview of the wilderness and the city creator are also pretty cool. I liked that a method for creating travelling shows is included. I almost want to do a Rifts World Wrestling Championship game after reading that section. The adventure ideas are also useful for getting a better idea of what the setting is like. I am unlikely to use any of them without heavy modification, but I don't think they are really intended for that anyway.

I am currently reading the copy of Vampire Kingdoms (1st edition) that I got for free when I bought this book. I am only about a quarter done, but it is pretty good so far, and I am getting some ideas.

[Carl Gleba]

Welcome to the Megaverse rmckee78. Any questions we can help with don't hesitate to ask.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Welcome to the Megaverse rmckee78. Any questions we can help with don't hesitate to ask.

And watch out for the drama that normally comes with the answers.

[MikelAmroni]

Hey rmckee78, Welcome to the boards, as everyone else has said. Insofar as one shots go, one of the Megaversal Ambassadors (Novastar) made up some pretty useable demos with pre-gen characters and a pretty simple concept. It doesn't delve into the right or wrong of the situation, merely puts two different groups together with different goals and different views on the situation and has players give them a shot. It's a CS squad versus a squad of D-Bees and mages. These are not complete characters, but they are definitely complete enough for a pre-gen situation. They also include one of the more ingenious house rules on time keeping and tracking attacks per melee that I have begun to use whole cloth in my games. It makes certain things make a whole lot more sense ("How far can I go in a melee round?" "What's your speed? That times five." as opposed to: "How far can I go. "It's Phase 1. What's your speed? That many meters (or yards if you prefer)." It greatly simplifies the issue.

That and a few other basic common sense house rules to fit my personal style are pretty much all I use. I otherwise run it RUE with GMG backup.

As a bonus, this same thread also includes a Rifts Japan One-Shot, though it's honestly more of a clue type game than a normal rifts game. It could honestly be played out sans rules, but I like it none the less.

Link: viewtopic.php?f=54&t=110882

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If you have any rules questions (where to find rules on such and such), look first here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=119140 It's a pretty good listing of the various rules spread out across the books. If you don't have the particular book, PM me and I'll be happy to give you the run down on them. I'm sure others would as well.

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I've got a GM's tool kit much like the others:

RUE
GMG
Adventure Sourcebook
Merc Ops (for the gear not in GMG)
Bionics Sourcebook (it is for bionics what GMG is for gear and rules, plus the alternate City Rats are fun)
Atlantis (for some of the baddest enemies around, plus loads of race options)
Vampire Kingdoms (Doesn't really matter which version. The info on the Kingdoms is fine, but all I use regularly is the Vampire entries)
Dinosaur Swamps 1 & 2 (not for the regional info, which is cool, but for the critters and rules for dealing with hot humid swamps which are awesome, plus some new gear and OCC options for Wilderness Scouts, some of which would be awesome for any locale)
Conversion Book 1 (Revised) (if you're looking for anything fantasy in nature, odds are, it's here)
Dark Conversions (for demonic stuff, as well as a few other nasties)
Black Market: Not for the OCC abilities, but for the world info on how the Black Market operates, especially in locales outside of NA.
DBees of North America: Good collection of D-Bees, many good worldwide.

As for Campaign: based on what you've said, I'd suggest one of two options:

Option 1: Japan (Using Japan, China 1, and Underseas. Warlords of Russia and Mystic Russia are nice, but not overly necessary. Stick to RUE classes though, as much as you can. They may not seem as sexy as the others in the worldbooks, but I promise there is a reason they are in the main book. Iconic cultural ones are different of course, but for the others, compare it to RUE versions first. Make sure to expand your skill selection to include GMG, underseas, and Japan, and ensure your bionics have access to Japanese bionics/cybernetics. There's some good stuff in there. I personally let everyone around the world have access to them, but that's me. Campaign modes can be anything from wandering mercenaries to covert military operatives to espionage and crime fighting.

Option 2: Russia (Using Warlords of Russia, Mystic Russia, Canada, Underseas, China 1 (for the demons and maybe some of the martial artists/monks), and possibly China 2 would be my choice. One of my favorite PCs someone played in a Russian game was a Flesh covered cyborg (out of the Bionics Sourcebook) from Japan. He had been fighting some oni and had gotten rifted into central Russia and was trying to get back home. The Russian characters (A Mystic Kuznya and a Gypsy Witch) were nomads anyway, and agreed to help him. Much fun was had battling all kinds of beasties out of Mystic Russia, as well as Conversion Book 1. It's really easy to do a wandering band of do-gooders in Russia. It's better if you don't go with heavily cybered folks though, unless you have some sort of support agreement, or you choose not to worry about things like regular maintenance for the bionic structure. A lot of what you read in RUE about travelling through the wilderness applies in spades to Russia, except you've also got cold weather to deal with, oh yeah, and shapechanging demons of all sorts, not to mention tricksy gypsies, and the various minions of the Warlords, who would just as soon spit on you as look at you. Canada and the Russia books cover quite a bit of the issues adventuring in the frozen north. Plus, there is actually a semi-permanent rift between the two areas. So you could technically run a game between both areas.

[Kagashi]

I was looking at the box of Robotech books I have, and I noticed that some of them are digest size. Are Rifts books available in this size? These would be much more convenient to carry around and even to read.

Oh Lord no. Manga sized (I assume this is the version of book you have received) was a complete flop and Palladium has ceased production on them and those books will be printed in standard sized from now on.

[Tiree]

I was looking at the box of Robotech books I have, and I noticed that some of them are digest size. Are Rifts books available in this size? These would be much more convenient to carry around and even to read.

Oh Lord no. Manga sized (I assume this is the version of book you have received) was a complete flop and Palladium has ceased production on them and those books will be printed in standard sized from now on.

It may have been a complete flop. But I am actually quite fond of it. I have to admit, I was against it when they came out. But afterwords, I really am enjoying it. I still prefer PDF though.

[flatline]

As long as the party trusts the GM to be fair and responsible, you can treat the game more like a narrative and not have to spend eight hours slogging through forty-five seconds of combat, or hire a CPA to keep track of experience points.

I totally agree with this. If the group trusts the GM's judgement, you can throw the majority of the rules out the window and let most things in-game be decided by GM fiat.

--flatline

[rmckee78]

I picked up Rifts Japan at my FLGS yesterday. Looks good on a first flip through, can't wait to dive in.

[cyberdon]

I started with Rifts Ultimate Edition and the Adventure Guide. Everything went smoothly.