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.
The game starts off strong, introducing the great cataclysm, establishing post-apocalyptic earth as new member of the Palladium Megaverse, the setting in which all Palladium RPGs—including TMNT and Other Strangeness—take place. Players of other games will see some familiar elements here, including alignments and stats.
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.
The book details the extreme amount of character classes players may choose from and explains the concept of rifts—portals from other parts of the Megaverse—along with key organizations, politics, weaponry and mechanics for the game.
The rifts themselves are based on the concept of ley lines—straight lines connecting three or more prehistoric or ancient sites, associated with lines of energy and other paranormal phenomena, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In the game, the rifts are the crossing of two ley lines and the stuff that comes out of these things is insane. As the series progresses, things become even more overpowered and amazing.
World monuments such as Stonehenge and the Nazca Lines in Peru contain their own rifts. In this game, the lost continent of Atlantis returns to earth and each part of the world has its own dystopian existence. It's quite interesting and fun to read about, even if one doesn't get the opportunity to play.
Rifts is complicated, both to GM and play. There is a plethora of character classes from which to choose—from Bio-Wizards to Cyborgs, Dimensional Beings, Psionicist, Dog Boys, Grunts, Juicers, and many more—and character creation takes a long time. To help with this, Palladium released a superb character sheet and a short guide to game mastering, RIFTS Primer – How to Play RIFTS and Create Adventures. Personally, I don't mind the system too much—my GM style plays fast and loose with the rules, for the most part—but to each their own, I suppose.
The classes and concepts are interesting and I particularly like the concept of Techno-Wizardry, which bridges the gap between magic and technology. Separating the myriad of classes into occupations such as Men at Arms, Coalition, Adventurers and Scholars and Practitioners of Magic does make things a bit easier, but it's still quite complicated at its core.
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.
No discussion of Rifts is complete without mentioning the Glitter Boy mech armor. Despite its silly name, the mech armor is one of the few intact pieces of technology that existed before the great cataclysm. In what seems to be a battle suit straight out of the wonderful Robotech RPG and TV series, the suit has a killer giant gun and some unique explanations for its use. The suit even has its own detailed, slightly checkered past, which you can read about in the sourcebook.
Ever the sucker for a massive piece of Mech Armor—I adored Gundam, MechWarrior, Robotech and Teknoman as a kid—the Glitter Boy armor was always one of my favorite things about Rifts. 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.
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.
Contributed by David J Buck
The game starts off strong, introducing the great cataclysm, establishing post-apocalyptic earth as new member of the Palladium Megaverse, the setting in which all Palladium RPGs—including TMNT and Other Strangeness—take place. Players of other games will see some familiar elements here, including alignments and stats.
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.
The book details the extreme amount of character classes players may choose from and explains the concept of rifts—portals from other parts of the Megaverse—along with key organizations, politics, weaponry and mechanics for the game.
The rifts themselves are based on the concept of ley lines—straight lines connecting three or more prehistoric or ancient sites, associated with lines of energy and other paranormal phenomena, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In the game, the rifts are the crossing of two ley lines and the stuff that comes out of these things is insane. As the series progresses, things become even more overpowered and amazing.
World monuments such as Stonehenge and the Nazca Lines in Peru contain their own rifts. In this game, the lost continent of Atlantis returns to earth and each part of the world has its own dystopian existence. It's quite interesting and fun to read about, even if one doesn't get the opportunity to play.
Rifts is complicated, both to GM and play. There is a plethora of character classes from which to choose—from Bio-Wizards to Cyborgs, Dimensional Beings, Psionicist, Dog Boys, Grunts, Juicers, and many more—and character creation takes a long time. To help with this, Palladium released a superb character sheet and a short guide to game mastering, RIFTS Primer – How to Play RIFTS and Create Adventures. Personally, I don't mind the system too much—my GM style plays fast and loose with the rules, for the most part—but to each their own, I suppose.
The classes and concepts are interesting and I particularly like the concept of Techno-Wizardry, which bridges the gap between magic and technology. Separating the myriad of classes into occupations such as Men at Arms, Coalition, Adventurers and Scholars and Practitioners of Magic does make things a bit easier, but it's still quite complicated at its core.
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.
No discussion of Rifts is complete without mentioning the Glitter Boy mech armor. Despite its silly name, the mech armor is one of the few intact pieces of technology that existed before the great cataclysm. In what seems to be a battle suit straight out of the wonderful Robotech RPG and TV series, the suit has a killer giant gun and some unique explanations for its use. The suit even has its own detailed, slightly checkered past, which you can read about in the sourcebook.
Ever the sucker for a massive piece of Mech Armor—I adored Gundam, MechWarrior, Robotech and Teknoman as a kid—the Glitter Boy armor was always one of my favorite things about Rifts. 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.
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.
Contributed by David J Buck
