[OT] What can you all tell me about Rifts?

[Kerrick]

Rifts rocks! Yes, after the first couple books it went into a serious arms race, and the rules system is really badly done, but it's still fun. I played with a group several years ago for just over a year, and we loved it. Our DM was used to running high-power campaigns, which helped a bit and kept it in balance (he was the one who called it an "arms race").
Just recently, I joined up in a Rifts chat game. we're all playing CS soldiers, and we're enjoying it immensely. The game runs heavy toward role-playing instead of combat, but that's cool too.
It's basically all in how the GM runs things - you could easily play the system "as is" with few changes, just by limiting what you'll use and won't use, and keep a modicum of game balance and have a great time.

 

[Humanophile]

Tsyr, the graffiti problem would be less glaring if the book didn't go to lengths before to tell how viciously anti-literacy the CS was, to the point of making posession of a book illegal and severely punished in most cases. So I don't mind letting the average person have enough bare-bones knowledge to recognize call numbers and signs, but anything more than that pretty much shoots the "keep the masses ignorant and docile" policy in the foot. Besides, if you were in a gang, would you rather spraypaint a stylized symbol/figure to mark your turf, or would you rather write something the average opposing gang member wouldn't understand, while at the same time letting the dead boys know that you're more trouble than the common rabble? I know this is a minor issue, but still it's one of those things that seems poorly put together about the world, and the flaws at the joints bug me almost as much as the stink the local munchkin raises to get to use the newest, latest, and greatest world-shattering power available in whatever the newest kewl powerz book is.

And I don't mind so much the occasional collector's fascination with pre-rifts artifacts, but I think the average citizen would treat them about the same as they would equivalent post-rifts tech, provided said technology existed afterwards. (And I don't just mean CS citizen by "average citizen". I mean anyone without disposable income and luxury time, which is the vast majority of the human population in Rifts.) Pre-rifts stuff can be really high quality, but I don't think that even a literate farmer out there in the sticks would trade anything for your authentic, pre-rifts copy of "Green Eggs and Ham". So while your points are valid, only #'s 2 and 3 would explain a collector's fascination, and only for a small handful of individuals.

 

[EOL]

I generally agree with what appears to be the consensus, great setting, weak rules and too much power inflation, so I write just to mention my pet peeve, <rant>that there is no rhyme or reason to armor (MDC) a SAMAS (depending on which over powered version you use) can have 250 main body armor and it's basically a single person suit (maybe 7 or 8 feet tall) whereas something 1000 times as big in terms of volume and expense will have at most 20 times the armor (5000), and only 10 times the firepower. When I was running rifts I spent months trying to rebalance the Mecha. It could not be done it was obvious that there was no core design rules....</rant>

We now return you to your normally scheduled "great setting, horribly overpowered" post.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi all!

Can anyone tell me if the Rifts/Palladium Old Ones book actually has details/stats for the Old Ones themselves?

The information I could find at Palladiums website was non-conclusive.

The Old Ones is a giant adventure/source book for the Palladium RPG. The Nine Adventures range from short, one nighter scenarios to two epic adventures that can easily turn into a campaign (one took five months to play-test).

Thieves, giants, minotaurs, wizards, dragons, ancient ruins, dwarven curses and the dreaded Old Ones await to test your courage and cunning.

Thanks.