Ultimate Rifts. Improvement or Same Old Stuff?

[Kanegrundar]

True, but the lack of play balance- or even a nod to play balance- can easily ruin the fun for half the group while the glitterboy and juicer defeat the bad guys in two rounds. :\

Which is why I take the flavor and play Rifts with D20 Modern.

Kane

 

[mcrow]

I don't get why people harp on KS about refering to this or that book for info. I mean it's not like no other RPGs do the same thing. geeez!

It's how RPG's make money, similar to expansions in CCGs.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

True, but the lack of play balance- or even a nod to play balance- can easily ruin the fun for half the group while the glitterboy and juicer defeat the bad guys in two rounds.

When I ran RIFTS, I used that balance disparity to my advantage and to inject a little realism.

While powerful, that glitterboy (or similarly powerful PC) is going to attract attention- LOTS of it- and its best not to be around when it gets noticed by a force of equivalent power. Even though he may be able to take down a lot of things, there are some he cannot, and the rest of the party can't help him with it either. Thus, after a few incidents, the players learned that some situations were best handled by 1) scattering like roaches or 2) running away completely. This is realistic. This is what happens with mixed forces (like Armor with Infantry support) on battlefields around the world.

In other words, they stopped merely assuming that they could handle ANYTHING, and thus, standing and fighting to the bitter end and started thinking tactically. (Which, BTW, is one thing that is, IMHO, encouraged by games that demand balance.)

Then, of course, there are some things that glitterboys are ill equipped to handle that will require the rest of the party to step up...like combat in enclosed spaces.

So, unbalanced O.C.C.'s and R.C.C's weren't a problem for me.

Clunky rules, however, were- I have a nice, large folder of houserules I've accumulated for RIFTS over the years dealing with to hit mods, how armor works, autofire/jamming rules, and even what kind of campaigns I do and do not use Mega-damage for.

 

[kyloss]

I Have it, same sytem cleaned up and more ordered clarified some of the things that were changed in other books like the glitter boy pyro etc, along with some new/ replaced classes-ie all the dragon hatchling rcc's. and it tells you where to find what in what different books, so you actualy now what is where. reminds me of the 3.0 to 3.5 with out as many rules changes, mostly clarifing and organising. forgive my spelling please.

 

[Tolen Mar]

I don't get why people harp on KS about refering to this or that book for info. I mean it's not like no other RPGs do the same thing. geeez!

It's how RPG's make money, similar to expansions in CCGs.

Ok, so its good to list all of the old equipment, then follow it by saying 'this is obsolete, go here instead?' It's one thing to refer to a different book, but to out and out say this piece doesnt work anymore after reprinting all of the stuff is nothing more than a money grab.

This is supposed to be the ultimate edition after all. Why not give us some of the new gear instead of telling us this stuff is worthless?

 

[mcrow]

Ok, so its good to list all of the old equipment, then follow it by saying 'this is obsolete, go here instead?' It's one thing to refer to a different book, but to out and out say this piece doesnt work anymore after reprinting all of the stuff is nothing more than a money grab.

This is supposed to be the ultimate edition after all. Why not give us some of the new gear instead of telling us this stuff is worthless?

I'm no Rifts expert but what I think he meant there is that in the most current time they are obsolete. I don't see any reason you couldn't use the old equipment running a game that takes place @ and earlier time.

If they put all the updated new tech in the core book then we would have the people who bought the supplement all PO'd cuz the book they spent $15-20 is now in the core book.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I was extremely disappointed in the answers I got to my questions.

Old time Rifts fan but completely dropped it after Siege on Tolkieen which had the map for Tolkeen in the last book as opposed to the first! Ugh!

and yeah, almost every question I had that could make me at least look at the new edition was a "no." so no sale.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I absolutely love Rifts but not as much as DnD/D20. I have played it and love being a player in it. I did buy the new Ultimate Edition and I can tell you that there is more art inside and more options for players, more O.C.Cs and R.C.C.s. If I didn't like the Rifts Megaverse I wouldn't have taken on Palladiums website as one of my responsibilities as a newshound. I'm looking forward to getting use out of my Ultimate Edition hardbound.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

If anyone is interested in the Ultimate Edition GamingReport.com has 4 downloadable previews for it. If youd rather just grab all of them without having to deal with multiple downloads I have compiled them into one pdf for easy reference.

 

[Remathilis]

Here's Joe's thread from RPG.net:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=213345

A few gems...

"The CS equipment is all the stuff from the old mainbook. The new book states that all of it is obsolete and directs the reader to Coalition War Campaign."

"Q. What types of maps are there? What level of detail? What level of quality?
A. None, except verbal ones."

"It looked like someone took an '81 Ford Tarus and tried cramming a Viper frame on top of it."

"Q. Does it talk about having characters of various power levels travelling together?"
"A. All characters in Rifts are "balanced" and "playtested." "

"Q. Does it have clear military rankings for Coalition and non-Coalition areas?"
"A. No. Buy Coalition War Campaign. "

Cheers!

This is why I'd rather have my genitalia pounded flat with a wooden hammer than play 15 minutes of a paladium game.

Remathilis "Knight of the Wrongfun" Ooi.