Splicers as setting vs. supplement

[Steve Dubya]

So I am due to be getting Splicers any day now, and I am curious what about this setting made it unique enough to be considered a different game line (a la Nightbane vs. BtS) from Rifts.

Why not a Dimension Book? I mean, Wormwood was pretty much that planet... And it is hinted that Phase World is just on the opposite end of the universe from Earth Variant X.

I am curious to see others' take on why Splicers was considered different enough from Rifts to warrant it's own line.

[Steve Dubya]

No magic, for one. Random Rifts are cautioned to be extremely rare and seem to be plot devices more than anything else.

Fair enough - but I don't know if I would necessarily call that a disqualifying factor. Does Rifts require the use of magic?

The way Splicers was written, it just feels like a completely different universe. I would say it's easily as far away from Rifts: Earth as, say, Systems Failure is.

Hmmm. A likely better analogy than the Splicers -> Rifts as Rifts -> PFRPG.

I guess I will have to wait and read it.

[Steve Dubya]

The setting of Rifts requires magic, yes. The setting of Splicers does not.

I think I see where my confusion is starting to set in - see the other thread I started here.

Would you necessarily NEED to have magic in a given "Rifts" setting?

[Steve Dubya]

The dimension books all have connections back to Rifts: Earth in some way and all tie back to that original theme of magic, technology, and how societies deal with the mix.

As for the first part, from what I know of Splicers it would seem to meet that caveat (as well as Wormwood does, anyway).

As for the second part, I don't know if one of those two ingredients necessarily NEEDS to be present - with Wormwood being my example again. It isn't as if most of the stuff going on in Wormwood has a lot with regard to the tech side of things. On the opposite side of the coin, MiO has very little to do with the more magical aspects of Rifts (there is always a little, but it is pretty few and far between).

[Steve Dubya]

As for the first part, from what I know of Splicers it would seem to meet that caveat (as well as Wormwood does, anyway).

Not explicitly, no. You can randomly Rift people in, but it's made pretty clear that such a thing would be a GM plot device.

Ture, but since the planet itself is fairly unidentified, is it out of the question that it couldn't have been an expedition from the "Golden Age" of pre-Rifts Earth gone amuck? Wouldn't require the introduction of the "rift-plot-device" (one which I am particularly loathe of - nothing like getting dropped in some bass-ackwards dimension when you weren't expecting it).

Another problem is the nano-plague. Splicers was written specifically so that it could be played without even touching Rifts.

From what I remember hearing (and I must stress that I have not actually see the book as of yet so I might be waaaaaay off), the nanoplague doesn't affect the characters if they are away from whatever planet they are on - or something to that effect. So if by some "rift-plot-device" they got sucked to Rifts Earth, they wouldn't infect the rest of the populace (decimating humanity for good more than likely).

Regardless, I still don't see how that would disqualify itself as a Rifts setting, per se. Heck, all the Wormwood stuff is supposed to be contained to Wormwood (with the exception of like the Holy Terror, but they didn't come from there), which means that if you want to play a Wormwood character, they are more than likely going to be restricted to Wormwood to do the cool symbiote related stuff.

Ooh, that made me think of a different question...

[Steve Dubya]

The way the history is described, I doubt it. I don't think enough time has passed on Rifts: Earth, honestly.

That seems reasonable enough. I am assuming that it would peg the timeline waaaaaaaay past the Golden Age-and-then-some?

I was referring more to the fact that the typical person from Rifts: Earth would have a hell of a time surviving their first day on the Splicers world.

Ahhhhh. Gotcha. Wasn't looking at it from that particular perspective.

So, it is sort of like NB in that regard (where trying to bring tech in poses different-but-equally-unpleasant problems).

[RockJock]

Another issue is that Splicers with the Nanoplague is meant to be isolated from the rest of the Megaverse so it doesn't contaiminate it.

[Mudang]

Another issue is that Splicers with the Nanoplague is meant to be isolated from the rest of the Megaverse so it doesn't contaiminate it.

Considering that the nanoplague is not self-replicating, I don't see that as being so much of an issue.

[Marrowlight]

Would you necessarily NEED to have magic in a given "Rifts" setting?

It would make explaining the mile long lines of energy and Rifts to other dimensions interesting without magic.



Hmmm...actually that's an idea.

[Spinachcat]

I am working on a Splicers / Rifts / Phase World / Nightbane crossover and as long as you are willing to drop canon, then Splicers is a great supplement.

I like yanking pieces from books and then redefining the fluff to fit my created game world.

[taalismn]

I am working on a Splicers / Rifts / Phase World / Nightbane crossover and as long as you are willing to drop canon, then Splicers is a great supplement.

I like yanking pieces from books and then redefining the fluff to fit my created game world.

Anything is possible in a Megaverse...especially the impossible.

[Spinachcat]

Why do you need to add Splicer in, Phase Worlds and Rifts have their own Gene-techs and Gene-splicers respectively.....

Splicers does a great job giving you lots of biotech weaponry and the living body armor and host armor creation rules plus biotech specific OCCs such as the Biotics are exactly what I need for this particular campaign which will be focussed on biotech instead of hard tech.