Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
View From The Rifts: Looking At Palladium's Rifts Role-Playing Game
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Nostalgia Ward" data-source="post: 7731403" data-attributes="member: 6909862"><p>Every <strong>Palladium</strong> fan probably knows the story behind 1990's <strong>Rifts—</strong>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.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]92275[/ATTACH]</p><p>[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]</p><p>The game starts off strong, introducing the great cataclysm, establishing post-apocalyptic earth as new member of the <strong>Palladium Megaverse</strong>, the setting in which all Palladium RPGs—including <strong><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?4626-Look-Back-In-Strangeness-The-Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-and-Other-Strangeness-Game" target="_blank">TMNT and Other Strangeness</a></strong>—take place. Players of other games will see some familiar elements here, including alignments and stats.</p><p></p><p>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 <strong>Rifts</strong>. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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 <strong>Oxford English Dictionary</strong>. 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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rifts</strong> 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, <strong><a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/204381/RiftsR-Primer--How-to-Play-RiftsR-and-Create-Adventures?cPath=4816_5190" target="_blank">RIFTS Primer – How to Play RIFTS and Create Adventures</a></strong>. 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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>After the core book, Palladium released the first <strong>RIFTS Sourcebook, </strong>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.</p><p></p><p>No discussion of <strong>Rifts</strong> 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 <strong>Robotech </strong>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.</p><p> </p><p>Ever the sucker for a massive piece of Mech Armor—I adored <strong>Gundam</strong><em>, </em><strong>MechWarrior</strong><em>, </em><strong>Robotech</strong> and <strong>Teknoman</strong> as a kid—the Glitter Boy armor was always one of my favorite things about <strong>Rifts. </strong>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. <strong>Rifts </strong>is fun, but brutal.</p><p> </p><p>If you're planning to get into <strong>Rifts </strong>anytime soon, the <strong>Rifts: Ultimate Edition </strong>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 <strong>Palladium</strong>.</p><p> </p><p><em>Contributed by David J Buck</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nostalgia Ward, post: 7731403, member: 6909862"] Every [B]Palladium[/B] fan probably knows the story behind 1990's [B]Rifts—[/B]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. [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]92275[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The game starts off strong, introducing the great cataclysm, establishing post-apocalyptic earth as new member of the [B]Palladium Megaverse[/B], the setting in which all Palladium RPGs—including [B][URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?4626-Look-Back-In-Strangeness-The-Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-and-Other-Strangeness-Game"]TMNT and Other Strangeness[/URL][/B]—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 [B]Rifts[/B]. 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 [B]Oxford English Dictionary[/B]. 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. [B]Rifts[/B] 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, [B][URL="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/204381/RiftsR-Primer--How-to-Play-RiftsR-and-Create-Adventures?cPath=4816_5190"]RIFTS Primer – How to Play RIFTS and Create Adventures[/URL][/B]. 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 [B]RIFTS Sourcebook, [/B]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 [B]Rifts[/B] 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 [B]Robotech [/B]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 [B]Gundam[/B][I], [/I][B]MechWarrior[/B][I], [/I][B]Robotech[/B] and [B]Teknoman[/B] as a kid—the Glitter Boy armor was always one of my favorite things about [B]Rifts. [/B]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. [B]Rifts [/B]is fun, but brutal. If you're planning to get into [B]Rifts [/B]anytime soon, the [B]Rifts: Ultimate Edition [/B]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 [B]Palladium[/B]. [I]Contributed by David J Buck[/I] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
View From The Rifts: Looking At Palladium's Rifts Role-Playing Game
Top