How did you start playing RIFTS?

Daniel Stoker · Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:14 pm

My first game ever was the old Red Box D&D game a friend of mine had who never quite explained the rules and we had to take his word for what was going on.

But my first exposure to Rifts was when I asked my parents for 'Role Playing game books' for the Holidays and my Dad went to the one game store in our mall and the guy there suggested ShadowRun or Rifts, so my dad being my dad got me both.

Daniel Stoker

dark brandon · Unread post by **dark brandon** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:31 pm

Ugly tenticle monsters + hot women with guns = why and how I started playing RIFTS/

dark brandon · Unread post by **dark brandon** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:39 pm

Josh Hilden wrote:
dark brandon wrote:Ugly tenticle monsters + hot women with guns = why and how I started playing RIFTS/

Dark Brandon, Tentacle Porn Advocate of Northern Kentucky.

Remove "tentacle" and you have it right. I'm all inclusive.

Subjugator · Unread post by **Subjugator** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:06 pm

I was 19 when I started playing Rifts. I was 15 when I started playing Palladium games.

I was dragged into Rifts kicking and screaming, and once I saw it, ran in crying that nobody would show it to me before then.

Now I'm the Super Fan!

/Sub

Big Red · Unread post by **Big Red** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:55 pm

I started with D&D (green box?) years and years ago, probably when I was 11 or 12. I played that sparingly at best. I picked up TMNT a few years later because I was a fan of the comics. I already had some Marvel Superheroes stuff at the time, and while I enjoyed playing it on occasion (mostly just made up characters), I enjoyed the Palladium system much more. I bought all the TMNT books as they came out, and picked up a lot of the other Palladium stuff. I started working at a comic book store when I was 16 (in '88), which made buying all the Palladium stuff a lot easier, and I managed to play a bit of D&D and Robotech when people would run games in the shop on the weekends. I picked up the Magic of Palladium Books as they came out, and the hype for Rifts got me rather excited. I started buying everything as it came out, but at that point none of my friends were into RPG's. A couple years later, while drinking and playing poker at a friend's house, we all thought it would be fun to drink and play Marvel Superheroes, so the next weekend we started a game that lasted a year or so. As that game was winding down, one guy was getting tired of RPG's, while the others were looking for something more in-depth. I brought out all my Palladium stuff (two huges boxes full at that point). I should point out that, during the two years or so that I got away from even thinking about gaming, I had sold off most of my Palladium stuff, with the exception of my TMNT stuff and, thankfully, my copy of the Justice Machine. Even though I hadn't re-bought everything yet, the "stack" of books I brought that first night filled two huge paper boxes. We played Rifts for a year or so, then that group broke up rather abruptly, and I started up a campaign with another group of guys. That didn't get too far, but got me through almost to the end of my college years, when I started devoting a great deal of time and energy to writing. I did a lot of writing, probably up through '97 or '98, but never got anywhere with it (didn't finish most of it), and while I was still buying al lthe Rifts books as they came out, my interest in gaming waned a bit. I held onto all my stuff because I suspected my son might take an interest to it at some point, but quit buying books in '01 or so. Last fall, after looking at my old books from time to time over the course of a year or so, my son started showing a real interest in playing Rifts. I got my books out and started brushing up on the rules and buying stuff that I'd missed in the intervening years. I also started writing some new material, and even got back into doing some artwork. I'm all set to kick off a campaign with a new group of potential fans, and just need to get another free day or two to finish up their characters and have our first gaming session.

Incriptus · Unread post by **Incriptus** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:55 pm

Infinity Gauntlet

Oddly enough the first rifts book I ever had was the first sourcebook, it belonged to a buddy of mine, and I had the main Earthdawn book . . . we decided to trade.

Since the palladium rule set is essentially the same for all the games my first rifts experience was that I was going to play as a Northern Gun Hunter pilot, and my buddy was a brodkill. We pretty much figured on freestyling the details.

Zer0 Kay · Unread post by **Zer0 Kay** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:05 pm

I started playing RT in '88 then TMNT, PFRPG, well... all other PB games when we saw an add for Rifts we thought cool now they'll have rules for what we've been doing with all the crossovers. We figured since the add mentioned rips in time and space and using the MD system that it was essentially PB's explination of what was beyond the boundry in Transdimensional TMNT.

sennin · Unread post by **sennin** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:37 pm

How I got hooked on Rifts was really just a chain of happenstance and impulse. I got first truly introduced to roleplaying when I was about 10. I was in a gifted program where one of the classes I took had to do with science fiction. In this class we read The Time Machine and played Star Frontiers (I loved that class). that Christmas, I told my mom that I wanted the Star Frontier Books. When she went to the gaming store, she found out that Star Frontiers was out of print (this was 1991). She wanted to get me a gaming book, so she bought me a copy of Macross II (she knew I liked to watch Robotech and recognized the mech on the cover of the book). I really liked the book and wanted more. I pocketed some Christmas money and she took me and my older brother (he was 14) to the gaming store. While lookig for another Macross II/Robotech book (which they didn't have any more of), my older brother picked up a copy of Rifts and said "Hey this looks cool". I agreed and bought it. 16 years and a whole hell of a lot of money later, it is still my favorite rpg.

AdmTolval · Unread post by **AdmTolval** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:49 pm

Was playing Robotech for a couple of years and began running it in college in '94. Started looking for new mecha, friend recommended Rifts. I liked the artwork and story. That day bought the main book, 1st three sourcebooks, and Conversion Book 1. Spent a week reading them. Went back and started buying a World Book a week up to #5. I then had to wait until the started releasing more. Addicted to Rifts and all the Palladium Games. I have almost all of the books for every Rifts games. Just need a couple of the older books that came out at the start, i.e. original Mechanoids, Valley of the Pharoahs.

Ahulane · Unread post by **Ahulane** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:56 am

Was playing DnD 2E forever, then a friend of mine got invited to a game and couldn't stop talking about how awsome Rifts was compared to DnD...pretty much switched about 3 months after that when he got his 1st book and haven't turned back since...though now he's trying to get me to go back to DnD since he says the Palladium system is too complicated and not as cool as the d20 system...personally I think he's crazy.

Warwolf · Unread post by **Warwolf** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:17 pm

I guess this warrants re-telling here. Spring of '95, my friend James invited me to his birthday party (we were in fifth grade at that point, so birthday parties that didn't involve copious amounts of alcohol were still cool). Instead of the usual festivities that I had expected, he informed me once I got there that he had conned his older brother into running a game for all of us as a birthday present. I had played the original Dragon Strike before (which I had gotten my mother to run for us at my birthday the month before, as it was her game) but had never looked further into RPG's and didn't really grasp what they were at that point.

That night I was given my first introduction to a true RPG and had an AWESOME time (even if Kyle had some interesting takes on the rules) playing a pre-made juice with random-rolled equipment as we took a trip through time. I even got to blow away half of a Nazi encampment a single shot of my JA-11 (didn't I say the GM had an interesting take on the rules?). :lol:

We had such a great time that night, James and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning developing our own RPG setting. I later went on to game with the three brothers (Tom, the youngest of the three, even GMed a couple sessions) and several others at multiple Scouting events, and started GMing my own group during my 8th or 9th grade year.

I recently re-connected with the brothers to thank them for introducing me to role-playing and Palladium. It is because of that first out-of-the-blue game that got me hooked on Rifts, ultimately leading to my current position as a freelancer. Needless to say, I owe them signed books. :lol:

Qev · Unread post by **Qev** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:12 am

I think it went something like this:

AD&D 1st ed (sometime 'round '83) -> D&D (red box) -> D&D (blue box) -> AD&D 1st ed (again!) -> Star Frontiers -> (several of our own, awesome, home-made RPGs) -> Marvel Superheroes -> AD&D 2nd ed -> Robotech -> TMNT/ATB -> Heroes Unlimited -> Rifts

My hometown friends and I have been playing RPGs forever. Basically it was just a steady progression of games, then someone would pick up a few books of a new system, and off we'd go. Of course, once we hit Palladium games it got really silly, since it was all one system and we'd have characters spanning the whole run of them. :lol:

AllMightyRCB · Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:44 pm

I started playing Rifts in 1995. A couple of days into my freshman year in highschool a guy invited me to play Rifts with him and a few of his friends. Two of them I had already known from junior high, and ended up friends with all three. We played almost every weekend throughout the first three years of high school, then sometimes after that. Rifts has been my all time favorite game every since, though I haven't got to play it for some time now. I still have my original character (a Diabolic Elf Fire/Air Warlock), though he is my second favorite. He was my favorite for years though. The first mission I played, I killed another PC before I met their characters. (he wasn't wearing armor when exiting a town, and had a valuable looking shield, so My Warlock hid in some bushes and proceded to shoot him in the back with a plasma ejector killing him instantly.) Needless to say, that resulted in in-game group hostility.

Crazy Lou · Unread post by **Crazy Lou** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:35 pm

I started in Rifts Japan with (as I later learned) a much larger than normal game group of around 8-12 per week. None of us'd played Rifts before (this was my second ever RP experience I'd played AD&D 1E only once and only for 2 hours b/c everybody else was too young to have the attention span -- I was the exception but... whatever) so the GM (who'd played lots and owned every Rift book ever) wrote up a bunch of PCs for us to pick from (one for each class in Japan WB, w/ no outside classes). Unfortunately at the start of the game he didn't have every class's PC finished and I'd said ever since he started work on the campaign that I wanted to play a dragon (I love them) and since Japan only had Drag. Borgs that's what I wanted, but it wasn't ready. So I started off w/ a cyberoid punk. He started off by telling us all the "brief" history of Rifts; the cataclysm, ley line surges, etc, etc, etc. Then the campaign started. Of course, we first started in a bar...(the group knew each other only a little as it'd formed only about a week prior to the start of the game) I think it was something of a joke for those who'd RPed before. Anyway, from that first session, Rifts has become my #3 thing in life (after family and GPA)

Warwolf · Unread post by **Warwolf** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:17 pm

Josh Hilden wrote:
Warwolf wrote:Spring of '95, my friend James invited me to his birthday party (we were in fifth grade at that point, so birthday parties that didn't involve copious amounts of alcohol were still cool).

This is why you make me feel old.

In 1995 I was already living with my soon to be wife.

..........now get off my lawn!!!!!

Once again, I accomplish my mission flawlessly.

Fine, I'll just go party next door and turn my Rock n' Roll up louder.

Crazy Lou · Unread post by **Crazy Lou** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:07 pm

AP78 wrote:When I was younger by Brother let me play D&D once with his friends ... but since I was still young I did not really get the game I really did no how to role play so I just watched them play instead.
Once I got older My Bro moved out and stopped playing. One of my friends Bro had most of the books for rifts and after being explained how it works we played for a bit until his Bro got to busy and was unable to GM

a few years later(which would be now) we finally got a good group of people really wanting to play RIFTS ... I can seriously say everyone in the group is addicted and can't wait to play usually about once a month and I am the GM now ... still new to GMing and make crazy amount of mistakes but still having a blast

Huh, that's extremely close to my own experience except my first Rifts experience lasted longer, and the few years later (now) I still don't have a new group

Nikoli · Unread post by **Nikoli** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:52 pm

I had been playing D&D with my high school buddies and they had a by invitation only Rifts game on the side. The GM heard about my play style and invited me, this from my first Rp experence ever.
Sadly, they were power gamers, which not a bad thing, we all tend to go through it from time to time, but if you weren't dishing out 100+ MDC per strike, you weren't keeping up. I did not yet know how to break the game as I did not have the books at the time. So i made a utility character with a really high strength (Raman Mystic with a 54 SN str).

It's been an addiction ever since.

Damian Magecraft · Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:45 pm

30 years ago I got the D&D box set for my 10th birthday....then the AD&D 1st core books,....then the AD&D 2nd ed core books....then I found the PF core book...this led to a life long conversion to Palladium in general....but first some explanations...after getting the D&D basic set I found a few like minded friends who wanted to play plus an older friend (he was 14) who had GMed before so he ran the games for a while...but I kept complaining about the dungeon crawls we were doing, (too smart for my own good..."wait...what keeps the umberhulks from devouring the orcs?") well the GM got fed up with me at one point and said "If you think you can do better then you run a game!" so thats what i did....at the end of the game the GM was speechless...I had done it better...(note never do this if you wish to ever be a player again) from that point forward I was the GM....well back in those days D&D wasnt the rules heavy system it is now...you had to have a "GMs Bible" (a note book with all your ajudications, and rules tweaks) by the time 2nd ed hit my bible had grown from a simple spiral bound note book to two 3inch D ring binders over stuffed with pages of quick fixes and house rules (i had practically re-written the system). Then I stumbled across a copy of PF while at a game shop with one of my players....I read through some of the mechanics in the shop...went and got my "bible", started compareing things i noticed....threw away my "bible" bought the PF core book and told my buddy "we wont be needing those notes anymore, this is my house ruled system!"
that was roughly 25 years ago been playing/GMing Palladium ever since.

sennin · Unread post by **sennin** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:26 am

Crazy Lou wrote:Huh, that's extremely close to my own experience except my first Rifts experience lasted longer, and the few years later (now) I still don't have a new group

I understand your pain. Luckily for me, once I properly introduced my wife to Rifts (her first experience was unpleasant) she fell in love with it. Best of all, she prefers to GM.

DhAkael · Unread post by **DhAkael** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:43 am

Got sick of D&D and their never ending quest to squeeze out a buck on the "Handbook" series for each character class.
Started playing lots of Battletech, but wanted more role-play as opposed to "ROLE"; Found Robotech (my entry drug).
When I heard about Rifts being in the pipe-line I coudn't wait, and was there at the Silver Snail (local iconic comic & hoby store) on shipping day to be first to nabb the book.

Took a while to get the ball rolling (some people hate change; and on RPG.net they STILL hate Rifts...morons), but I finally started my first campaign a year after the Rifts Main Book came out.
From that point on, the same general campaign story line has been playing out ever since, and I still dip into events / Pc's / villans from game sessions over a decade old.

Aramanthus · Unread post by **Aramanthus** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:38 pm

I have to say my own experience began similiarly to Damian Magecraft began his. It occured about the same time although I was 15 when I got my boxed set of D&D with the mage and the red dragon on the cover.
Later I got the 1st Ed of AD&D, played many game voraciously during the time until I found Robotech which is my first Palladium Book which I purchased in 1986. Then I started seeing some interesting ads from PB about something new called "Rifts". I bought it and loved it. It has remained one of my favorite games ever since. I love that I can do practically anything with it!

Warwolf · Unread post by **Warwolf** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:34 pm

Damian Magecraft wrote:note never do this if you wish to ever be a player again

Tell me about it. I was never supposed to start Gming, but my friend got ahold of the books and read them for a bit before deciding he couldn't do it. Since I was the only other one with experience in the system, that made me de-facto GM. I look back on those early games and laugh at myself, but I hit my stride and am apparently pretty good at what I do now.

Though it is rare that I get the chance to play... :-x

Damian Magecraft · Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:22 am

Warwolf wrote:
Damian Magecraft wrote:note never do this if you wish to ever be a player again

Tell me about it. I was never supposed to start Gming, but my friend got ahold of the books and read them for a bit before deciding he couldn't do it. Since I was the only other one with experience in the system, that made me de-facto GM. I look back on those early games and laugh at myself, but I hit my stride and am apparently pretty good at what I do now.

Though it is rare that I get the chance to play...

dont get me wrong....it was worth it....the look on the old GMs face was priceless...

Subjugator · Unread post by **Subjugator** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 5:05 pm

duck-foot wrote:i started when a friend of mine told me it was like thundar the barbarian. i bought a book on ebay and played

I loved that 'toon, and it is!

-Dennis

Kagashi · Unread post by **Kagashi** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:55 am

dark brandon wrote:Ugly tenticle monsters + hot women with guns = why and how I started playing RIFTS/

LOL, i remember looking at the cover of RMB and flipping through Shadow Run, checking to see if anybody was watching me look at it and feeling guilty (going to a Cathoic school at the time, i felt I might as well be looking at a Playbody...)

Anyway, it was the Red Box Basic D&D for me when I was in 3rd (1985)grade or so. We moved up through the colored boxes till I moved to Alabama and on to Battletech. In 6th grade, I discovered AD&D and later that year my Math teacher introduced me to TMNT and the difference between the cartoons/Archie Comics and the Eastman and Laird Comics. Finally, I saw the Robotech RPG (in a local grocery store none-the-less) and got it, but could not find anybody to play with till college (it was all HU and TMNT till that point)! I rolled up a Veritech Pilot and my buddy said, hey, lets play Rifts. I said..."Whats Rifts?" and bam...here I am today.

GreenGhost · Unread post by **GreenGhost** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:47 pm

I started playing Rifts when I saw the book in '90

slade the sniper · Sun Aug 19, 2007 3:32 pm

First RPG ever was Robotech, which was also my first anime. Started playing RT in 1990 and then got into TMNT. When RIFTS came out, I bought it the first week (two copies, one for me, one for my brother). Loved it. Still play it every chance I get though the family is much more a D&D family (wife and kids love fantasy, so I am the sole techno-monger gamer). I'm just happy that I have a gamer family!

SkyeFyre · Unread post by **SkyeFyre** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:46 pm

I would walk by one of the classrooms in my highschool and see a bunch of guys (and one girl) pretending to be crazy people from some crazy place. "Ooohhhh role playing! Sounds like awesome!" I said sarcastically. Basically after laughing at the RPGers for about 2 years, one of the guys (one of my friends at the time) offered to run a small game using some pre-made characters for me and my brother. Well, after that I wanted to look a little further into this intriguing game and world. It had me interested but not hooked.

So I wanted to look into this a bit more, however without a store where I could look over the book and maybe purchase it, and without access to a book (My friend didn't even have a copy) I decided to take the less appropriate route... (No credit card, or money for that matter so online purchases wouldn't work either) I downloaded a load of the books. I printed them up, I read through them, eventually got completely hooked. Started running a game, and then over time (Actually within about a year) I had replaced all of my downloaded copies with sometimes multiple copies of the same book.

So basically, I went from laughing at the concept, then friend introduced me to the game with only two sheets of paper, no dice, no book, just our imaginations and I took it from there.