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View From The Rifts: Looking At Palladium's Rifts Role-Playing Game
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord_Blacksteel" data-source="post: 7731470" data-attributes="member: 53082"><p>If you're interested just get an original Rifts book (cheaper usually) or Ultimate Rifts (more up to date) and they cover the breadth of the setting pretty well. Most later books are either regional guides like Germany or Japan or Australia or metaplot updates like the war updates. I'd say you'll either love or hate the game after reading just the main book and the supplements will just reinforce your initial feelings. </p><p></p><p><em>"Every Palladium fan probably knows the story behind 1990's Rifts—following a "small" nuclear war, the world is plunged into over 200 years of utter chaos. Then, dimensional rifts rupture the planet. All over the earth, strange creatures, inter-dimensional beings (D-Bees), cyborgs and aliens walk among men. After that, things get interesting."</em></p><p></p><p>Er, not exactly. The nuclear war rapidly expands and during this same war as people die en masse in seconds large amounts of psychic energy are released - large enough to flood the old ley lines criss-crossing the earth and the energy is so great that anywhere they cross a rift tears open and lots of horrible things come swarming through. Death giving large amounts of this energy is a core concept of the setting, from the origin story to why bad guys like to sacrifice living intelligent beings. Super-technology directly causes the introduction of the supernatural and civilization is wrecked almost completely.</p><p></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"One of my favorite concepts from other Palladium RPGs—Structural Damage Capacity (SDC)—shows up here as well, with the bonus of mega damage becoming a possibility during game play, mostly because of the insane weaponry available to players in Rifts."</em></p><p></p><p> SDC plays a pretty small role in most Rifts campaigns. Pretty much every character starts with MDC weapons and armor and can rather easily acquire more once the game begins. MDC is not a bonus or a possibility - it's the standard in every Rifts game I've ever run, played, seen, or heard of, with the exception of one game that started inside Chi-Town. </p><p></p><p></p><p> <em>"Rifts is complicated, both to GM and play."</em></p><p></p><p>I would disagree. The game itself is not that complicated, being roughly comparable to second edition D&D. The fact that it has a large number of character options really doesn't matter once you start playing as it doesn't really do multiclassing nor does it have a feat or advantage type system so you're pretty much just running down the list of levels as you advance. Skills are a straight-up percentage chance to do something so there are not a lot of complicating factors there either. By the book, Rifts is pretty straightforward.</p><p></p><p>If you try to fight the rules, if you try to make them make sense, if you try to turn them into a unified mechanics type of game, then it gets tricky real fast. A lot of us tried to do this over the years and if you can get to something that makes you and your players happy then it can be fun but the simplest answer may be to just let go and stick with the rules as written and only make an adjustment when there is no clear simple answer. </p><p></p><p>If you really want a coherent ruleset then the Savage Worlds version is defintiely worth a look.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"After the core book, Palladium released the first RIFTS Sourcebook, which provided further detail about the world of the post cataclysm earth. It's relatively easy to find, inexpensive and worth picking up for the illustrations alone."</em></p><p></p><p>I don't understand this comment - they released a whole bunch of sourcebooks which cover the main world, other worlds, other dimensions, and even other time periods. There are at least 70 supporting books for Rifts. They even revised and updated that first sourcebook a few years back into a much stronger book. There's a lot of interesting, inspiring art in pretty much any Rifts book. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>"If you're planning to get into Rifts anytime soon, the Rifts: Ultimate Edition is probably as good a place as any to start. It's the most recently updated and expanded version of the game, readily available at online retailers or directly from Palladium."</em></p><p></p><p>Well it is the current main rulebook for the game so yes. It was published more than a decade ago though which seems like a long time for a core book these days. There's also Rifts for Savage Worlds which was the subject of a pretty big kickstarter in 2016 so we might mention that as well. </p><p></p><p></p><p>This whole article seems like its written by someone who hasn't actually done much with the game</p><p></p><p><em>"The one and only campaign I ever participated in saw my character playing around with one of these things, only to be horribly swarmed and killed by a gang of ruthless vampires in the Yucatan. Rifts is fun, but brutal."</em></p><p></p><p>Ah - there it is. </p><p></p><p>The main attractions of Rifts are:</p><p></p><p>- The setting - which gives a coherent and internally consistent background for an anything-goes campaign (which is probably closest to "post-apocalyptic superheroes" if I had to boil it down to one phrase) </p><p></p><p>- the character options - which cover just about anything you could think of from dragon hatchling to cyborg to Jedi to superhero to ninja turtle to fireball-tossing fantasy wizard. </p><p></p><p>What it really takes is a GM that is inspired by the source material to create a game people want to play, probably by focusing in on one aspect of the world:</p><p></p><p>- You can run it as a location-based campaign of exploring a region and defending your home town. </p><p>- You can run an epic quest game with a journey across a world full of hostile and not-so hostile creatures. </p><p>- You can run it as a mercenary game where you're just trying to get by and make some money in a world gone mad. </p><p>- You can run strangers in a strange land where none of your PC's are actually from Rifts Earth as it is now. </p><p>- You can run a war campaign fighting against (or with) the Coalition states or the Vampires of Mexico or Triax and the NGR against the gargoyles. </p><p></p><p>Deciding what part of the setting you want to explore first can be the toughest choice. North America alone has threats like the Coalition, ARCHIE, the Xiticix, the Splugorth, the Vampires, the Kingdom of Magic, and probably a half dozen-others I am forgetting. Or you can get some power armor and go fight dinosaurs in what's left of Florida. </p><p></p><p>The rules are not the reason to play the game but they work well enough with some tweaks to suit your group. </p><p></p><p>I would reiterate that in my experience Rifts either inspires you or repulses you. If you're at all interested then pick up a copy of one of the main rule books and see where you fall. The game's been continuously in print for 27 years with minimal edition changes. That's not luck or an accident. Now with the SW edition out there is a whole 'nother set of options for playing in the Rifts universe.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord_Blacksteel, post: 7731470, member: 53082"] If you're interested just get an original Rifts book (cheaper usually) or Ultimate Rifts (more up to date) and they cover the breadth of the setting pretty well. Most later books are either regional guides like Germany or Japan or Australia or metaplot updates like the war updates. I'd say you'll either love or hate the game after reading just the main book and the supplements will just reinforce your initial feelings. [I]"Every Palladium fan probably knows the story behind 1990's Rifts—following a "small" nuclear war, the world is plunged into over 200 years of utter chaos. Then, dimensional rifts rupture the planet. All over the earth, strange creatures, inter-dimensional beings (D-Bees), cyborgs and aliens walk among men. After that, things get interesting."[/I] Er, not exactly. The nuclear war rapidly expands and during this same war as people die en masse in seconds large amounts of psychic energy are released - large enough to flood the old ley lines criss-crossing the earth and the energy is so great that anywhere they cross a rift tears open and lots of horrible things come swarming through. Death giving large amounts of this energy is a core concept of the setting, from the origin story to why bad guys like to sacrifice living intelligent beings. Super-technology directly causes the introduction of the supernatural and civilization is wrecked almost completely. [I] "One of my favorite concepts from other Palladium RPGs—Structural Damage Capacity (SDC)—shows up here as well, with the bonus of mega damage becoming a possibility during game play, mostly because of the insane weaponry available to players in Rifts."[/I] SDC plays a pretty small role in most Rifts campaigns. Pretty much every character starts with MDC weapons and armor and can rather easily acquire more once the game begins. MDC is not a bonus or a possibility - it's the standard in every Rifts game I've ever run, played, seen, or heard of, with the exception of one game that started inside Chi-Town. [I]"Rifts is complicated, both to GM and play."[/I] I would disagree. The game itself is not that complicated, being roughly comparable to second edition D&D. The fact that it has a large number of character options really doesn't matter once you start playing as it doesn't really do multiclassing nor does it have a feat or advantage type system so you're pretty much just running down the list of levels as you advance. Skills are a straight-up percentage chance to do something so there are not a lot of complicating factors there either. By the book, Rifts is pretty straightforward. If you try to fight the rules, if you try to make them make sense, if you try to turn them into a unified mechanics type of game, then it gets tricky real fast. A lot of us tried to do this over the years and if you can get to something that makes you and your players happy then it can be fun but the simplest answer may be to just let go and stick with the rules as written and only make an adjustment when there is no clear simple answer. If you really want a coherent ruleset then the Savage Worlds version is defintiely worth a look. [I] "After the core book, Palladium released the first RIFTS Sourcebook, which provided further detail about the world of the post cataclysm earth. It's relatively easy to find, inexpensive and worth picking up for the illustrations alone."[/I] I don't understand this comment - they released a whole bunch of sourcebooks which cover the main world, other worlds, other dimensions, and even other time periods. There are at least 70 supporting books for Rifts. They even revised and updated that first sourcebook a few years back into a much stronger book. There's a lot of interesting, inspiring art in pretty much any Rifts book. [I]"If you're planning to get into Rifts anytime soon, the Rifts: Ultimate Edition is probably as good a place as any to start. It's the most recently updated and expanded version of the game, readily available at online retailers or directly from Palladium."[/I] Well it is the current main rulebook for the game so yes. It was published more than a decade ago though which seems like a long time for a core book these days. There's also Rifts for Savage Worlds which was the subject of a pretty big kickstarter in 2016 so we might mention that as well. This whole article seems like its written by someone who hasn't actually done much with the game [I]"The one and only campaign I ever participated in saw my character playing around with one of these things, only to be horribly swarmed and killed by a gang of ruthless vampires in the Yucatan. Rifts is fun, but brutal."[/I] Ah - there it is. The main attractions of Rifts are: - The setting - which gives a coherent and internally consistent background for an anything-goes campaign (which is probably closest to "post-apocalyptic superheroes" if I had to boil it down to one phrase) - the character options - which cover just about anything you could think of from dragon hatchling to cyborg to Jedi to superhero to ninja turtle to fireball-tossing fantasy wizard. What it really takes is a GM that is inspired by the source material to create a game people want to play, probably by focusing in on one aspect of the world: - You can run it as a location-based campaign of exploring a region and defending your home town. - You can run an epic quest game with a journey across a world full of hostile and not-so hostile creatures. - You can run it as a mercenary game where you're just trying to get by and make some money in a world gone mad. - You can run strangers in a strange land where none of your PC's are actually from Rifts Earth as it is now. - You can run a war campaign fighting against (or with) the Coalition states or the Vampires of Mexico or Triax and the NGR against the gargoyles. Deciding what part of the setting you want to explore first can be the toughest choice. North America alone has threats like the Coalition, ARCHIE, the Xiticix, the Splugorth, the Vampires, the Kingdom of Magic, and probably a half dozen-others I am forgetting. Or you can get some power armor and go fight dinosaurs in what's left of Florida. The rules are not the reason to play the game but they work well enough with some tweaks to suit your group. I would reiterate that in my experience Rifts either inspires you or repulses you. If you're at all interested then pick up a copy of one of the main rule books and see where you fall. The game's been continuously in print for 27 years with minimal edition changes. That's not luck or an accident. Now with the SW edition out there is a whole 'nother set of options for playing in the Rifts universe. [/QUOTE]
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