Palladium books?

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you really want to give the world of RIFTS a try, do one of the following:

1) ditch the rules and use Mutants and Masterminds

2) ditch the rules and use Savage Worlds

3) ditch the rules and use Marvel Superheroes/RASERIP

4) ditch the rules and just make it up as you go along.

Any of these suggestions will work better than the "rules" they put in the books.

FWIW, when I ran RIFTS with a different system, I used HERO. Worked fine...so I'll back that suggestion for using the conceptually similar M&M as a good idea.

 

[Twowolves]

I thought about including HERO, but I decided I liked M&M better for a "point-buy, do anything" kind of system. Different strokes and all that.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I thought about including HERO, but I decided I liked M&M better for a "point-buy, do anything" kind of system. Different strokes and all that.

I can see that- HERO is my favorite system, bar none, but M&M is, IMHO, an excellent system that delivers much of the same capability with a slightly less complex ruleset. Thus, it comes in at #3 on my all-time faves list.

My main problem with it is that, while its structure makes it easy for those coming from other D20 based games to grasp, certain design decisions just don't seem to feel right to some of those players. One that proved to be a major hurdle for my group when I tried to run a campaign was M&M's dislike of iterative attacks. Players who wanted to do "Autofire" type attacks simply didn't care for the way M&M handled them- the rules didn't mesh well with the feel they wanted, namely actual additional attacks. HERO would have made them happier in this instance.

 

[Wik]

Fun story - I remember reading the original RIFTS book's summary of North America, and thinking that it was pretty well thought out. Siembieda seemed to have a bit more knowledge of North America than many writers.

But then I started reading world books of places I'd actually visited, and realized that, nope, he was just using popular cliches and using that to inform his knowledge of the area.

For example, RIFTS Canada. The chapter on British Columbia (the west coast of Canada! Bigger than California! If it were a country, it'd still be one of the top 20 largest countries in the world!) is exactly one page. Apparently, nobody lives here.

Vancouver? The western hub? One of the greatest cities of North America, and one of the largest in Canada? Not a word is mentioned. Nope, apparently, it's just a bunch of natives, trees, and ley lines. I believe he also mentions that Vancouver is situated on Vancouver Island, which, while a common mistake among tourists, shows that he never picked up a book.

And that's the problem. The books are written by someone who will not do fact-checking, and will assume he already knows about the subject. Always. And if anyone questions that, he never says "Oops, my mistake".

RIFTS England is just a bunch of Arthurian stuff with very little info on Geography or places to explore (except i think Big Ben is now a supercomputer, which is pretty much de rigeur for Siembieda). RIFTS South America is about vampires. Etc.

Long Story short, the setting is just too Wahoo for me.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

well going away from palladium, what about d2o modern?

is this any good?

 

[invokethehojo]

Rifts is the only game where I feel the fluff was worth the price of the book alone.

Juicers... that is all I have to say

 

[Zelda Themelin]

Rifts setting is awesome IMO. Though there is quality differances between books. Rules are bit wonky. I know some people loving them, though. I have played other Palladium games though, and always thought that megadamage ruined their own system.
You see, it makes some classes irrelevant, and causes other more relevant issues.


I always liked Beyond the Supernatural but maybe it's more because of fun campaing we had than merit of sytem itselft. I like it's new take on vampires and stuff, turning them all very "evil entities from beyond" type encounters. I also loved how magic worked.

There is also game called Nightbane, which is sorta spawn-superheroish IMO. I didn't like it that but this one guy in my group was really into that.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If you're looking for a zombie game, and have yet to purchase a system, Eden Studios' All Flesh Must Be Eaten is widely considered to be the gold standard, with enough supplements to let you do all sorts of strange zombie mash-ups.

 

[Twowolves]

I can see that- HERO is my favorite system, bar none, but M&M is, IMHO, an excellent system that delivers much of the same capability with a slightly less complex ruleset. Thus, it comes in at #3 on my all-time faves list.

My main problem with it is that, while its structure makes it easy for those coming from other D20 based games to grasp, certain design decisions just don't seem to feel right to some of those players. One that proved to be a major hurdle for my group when I tried to run a campaign was M&M's dislike of iterative attacks. Players who wanted to do "Autofire" type attacks simply didn't care for the way M&M handled them- the rules didn't mesh well with the feel they wanted, namely actual additional attacks. HERO would have made them happier in this instance.

I can't get away from that speed chart. Nope, can't do it.

That and the whole "3d6 bell curve" where a +1 means a 10% probability swing, unless it means a 2% probability swing.

I understand some folks like vanilla and some like chocolate, but I never had a problem with how M&M handles things. People who can't make the swing from iterative attacks to one attack/round usually can't handle the change from a hp-based system to the Toughness save mechanic either. Unfortunately, M&M 3rd ed seems to have evolved a bit further, and to the detriment of this exacty sort of player (the d20 convert). It's evolved on it's own line of thinking (as it did from 1st to 2nd ed) and is internally logical (mostly), but it's far enough away from standard d20 that IMO it's no longer easily grokked by most people coming from a d20 background.

On the other hand, I never had an issue with d20 games (like Spycraft) that essentially gave you two actions per round, and you could use them for an attack or a move or any combination of the two. /shrug.

 

[scourger]

Rifts is definitely worth getting. That's why I still have 2 copies on my shelf 20 years later when many, many other games are gone (including d20 Modern). Rifts is very old school: very rich setting, gonzo options and a rules engine that is somewhat broken. But, having attempted a d20 conversion, the wonky rules are part of its charm. The expansion books presented a lot of power creep, and we didn't get into those. Machinations of Doom is a very cool graphic novel & sourcebook combination, and I also recommend getting that.

I agree with the poster upthread that Savage Worlds could make a fine Rifts-flavored game; but I think it would lose something in translation. If you're just looking for a game to do zombies, then check out Savage Worlds with Zombie Run.