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<blockquote data-quote="Kannik" data-source="post: 9172558" data-attributes="member: 984">Whooo, where to begin.&nbsp; Just keeping this to the mechanics/system (and not the worlds/settings*), it's quite a mess.&nbsp; While the Palladium RPG as a clone/riff on D&amp;D-esque fantasy has some interesting takes when it was released (even though Mechanoids was the first published), it was already kinda fiddly and inconsistent.&nbsp; Throw in all the additional bits to make it the 'Megaversal' system and it often becomes incoherent, without unified resolution bases, different subsystems that interact funny, and many arbitrary and odd dictates (4 missiles hit every time!).&nbsp; All in a system that has not, in over 40 years, been updated in any great fashion.&nbsp; Add to that a noticable perpensity for power escalation as further source books are released, yet also coupled with odd assignments of values:&nbsp; some portable rifle might do 1d4x10 damage on a burst, while a giant cannon on a large mecha unit does 3d6 damage only (or 6d6 for a double blast!).&nbsp; And then there's the &quot;take the boxing skill and gain +1 attack per round, even if you're piloting said giant mecha...&quot;&quot;X Palladium game, but in a different ruleset,&quot; became something of a meme for a time in gaming circles and lore.&nbsp; And our best Rifts games were the ones where we never touched the dice... so I voted for &quot;pretty bad&quot;.* To which I will note are generally, if not excellent per se, they are compelling/fascinating.&nbsp; And while the graphic design of the book is hardly design (plain two column to this day, I believe), the art tends to be strong as well.&nbsp; Which is a strong reason why that meme existed -- we wanted to play in the Palladium settings, but after seeing and playing much better rules systems it was hard to go back.&nbsp; I myself did some conversions in Space Master, D6, and HERO.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kannik, post: 9172558, member: 984"] Whooo, where to begin. Just keeping this to the mechanics/system (and not the worlds/settings*), it's quite a mess. While the Palladium RPG as a clone/riff on D&D-esque fantasy has some interesting takes when it was released (even though Mechanoids was the first published), it was already kinda fiddly and inconsistent. Throw in all the additional bits to make it the 'Megaversal' system and it often becomes incoherent, without unified resolution bases, different subsystems that interact funny, and many arbitrary and odd dictates (4 missiles hit every time!). All in a system that has not, in over 40 years, been updated in any great fashion. Add to that a noticable perpensity for power escalation as further source books are released, yet also coupled with odd assignments of values: some portable rifle might do 1d4x10 damage on a burst, while a giant cannon on a large mecha unit does 3d6 damage only (or 6d6 for a double blast!). And then there's the "take the boxing skill and gain +1 attack per round, even if you're piloting said giant mecha..." "X Palladium game, but in a different ruleset," became something of a meme for a time in gaming circles and lore. And our best Rifts games were the ones where we never touched the dice... so I voted for "pretty bad". * To which I will note are generally, if not excellent per se, they are compelling/fascinating. And while the graphic design of the book is hardly design (plain two column to this day, I believe), the art tends to be strong as well. Which is a strong reason why that meme existed -- we wanted to play in the Palladium settings, but after seeing and playing much better rules systems it was hard to go back. I myself did some conversions in Space Master, D6, and HERO. [/QUOTE]

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