RIFTS: Canada

[ShrinkyLink]

Believe it or not, I've never really heard of RIFTS until this week, when a female gamer friend gushed about it. I saw the book RIFTS: Canada today, and being Canadian, was very intrigued. Is this book a good introduction to RIFTS or is there another volume I should try and find?

 

[sfgiants]

Rifts is a huge expansive game. There are probably over 50 different books (I am guessing, I stopped buying them about 5 years ago and I had 40 of them). Rifts canada is an interesting read, but I would suggest starting with the main book if you are looking for a feel of the game. It has quite a bit of setting info, and the core game itself. Good luck!

 

[Michael Tree]

The best introduction to Rifts would be the rifts core book. A new version of the core book came out a few months ago, though I've only flipped through it.

Rifts is a great setting with lots of potential, but is saddled with a system that's widely accepted as one of the worst game systems still in print.

The supplements vary greatly in quality. I haven't read Rifts Canada, but from what I remember from flipping through a friend's copy it's one of the more low-key and sedate* supplements.

* Canada low-key and sedate, perish the thought! (I'm Canadian BTW)

 

[Dwarven Godfather]

Rifts: Canada is a sourcebook along with Free Quebec which was my favorite that is also a Sourcebook for the Main book of Rifts by Palladium Books which is just as expensive as any really good game system out there but the books are cheaper to buy. $20.00 is the average price for their worldbooks which is very good source material

Just to bad you are asking now about six months ago, I traded off my whole Palladium collection of 50+ books for D20/OGL books since I dropped Palladium like an old habit.

I was planning a while back to do a Canada/Free Quebec campaign for Rifts with a couple of my friends and would have been fun. If you get into this system cantact me and I'll give you my recommendations of which books are the best ones to get into.

 

[Vasteel]

Free Quebec is one of the cooler zones in Rifts, but to really appreciate it, you also want Coalition War Campaign. If you're looking to get into Rifts, all you really need is the main book, GMs Guide, and Book of Magic. If you are still interested in the series at all, drop me a line- I have a ton of Rifts stuff for sale, and I'll hook you up cheap!

 

[Kanegrundar]

Beyond the main book (I can't suggest the Ultimate Edition at all, it took a game that was fouled up to begin with and made it worse), I would suggest:

Rifts: Atlantis
Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms
Rifts: Underseas
Rifts: Japan

IMO, the Rifts system is one of the worst, if not THE worst system on the market. The setting can be fun, but is not anywhere close to cohesive or internally consistent. Just to warn you...

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Beyond the main book (I can't suggest the Ultimate Edition at all, it took a game that was fouled up to begin with and made it worse), I would suggest:

Rifts: Atlantis
Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms
Rifts: Underseas
Rifts: Japan

IMO, the Rifts system is one of the worst, if not THE worst system on the market. The setting can be fun, but is not anywhere close to cohesive or internally consistent. Just to warn you...

The thing I could never get past, which came up the few times we tried playing Rifts, was the total lack of play balance between characters. On the one hand, you have the Glitterboy, who starts play with a nigh-invulnerable suit of powered armour that's strong enough to stop an army by itself. On the other hand, you have the Crazy, who's crazy and jumps around a lot.

Gameplay: Glitterboy tries to solve every problem by firing a MDC gun at it. Crazy acts like a loon and draws fire but is otherwise useless. Skill-based characters handle the things that can't be handled by the glitterboy, which isn't much considering how most problems can be solved by a plasma cannon.

The setting is fantastic. Well-written, deep, full of interesting characters and places. But for god's sake they need to rebuild the OCCs from the ground up!