if you could rewrite a Rifts book, which one would you do?

[glitterboy2098]

this is for all the Non-Freelancers out there. if you had to pick one book to rewrite, which one would it be, why, and what would you do instead?

Please answer all three parts of the question with coherant, insightful answers. just saying "because it sucks" doesn't cut it. i'd like at least a paragraph of answer. this is not a gripe thread, its a constructive criticism thread. i've seen lots of posts about how people hate such and such book or such and such thing, but never really get a good answer as to why beyond "it sucks" or "it doesn't fit in rifts". (a sentiment i never understood, given that rifts is multi-genra and connected to an infinite megaverse. IDIC)



for myself, i'd have to say Rifts Africa. far too much attention was payed to the four horsemen and the gathering of hero's, and far too little on the continent itself. this makes it rather unplayable unless you use that metaplot. i'd have added a few small nations in various places, like maybe a tech nation in south africa, a magical kingdom in the congo, and include more on the different tribes and groups found across the continent. with that basic information, game masters could run games set in the dark continent without having to include the 4 horsemen or the gathering.

[Killer Cyborg]

I'd edit New West and wipe gunslingers out of existence.

I'd also re-do New West.
When I was through, it would be more like a post-apocalyptic Oregon Trail, and less like a Mega-Damage version of Trigun.

[Braden Campbell]

Rifts: Canada.

No Tundra Rangers, no headhunter variants, just a big honkin' section on the CS State of Iron Heart, and another on the City of Lazlo.

[glitterboy2098]

I'd edit New West and wipe gunslingers out of existence.

I'd also re-do New West.
When I was through, it would be more like a post-apocalyptic Oregon Trail, and less like a Mega-Damage version of Trigun.

and why do you not like Gunslingers? full paragraph please, not a simple "i don't"

Rifts: Canada.

No Tundra Rangers, no headhunter variants, just a big honkin' section on the CS State of Iron Heart, and another on the City of Lazlo.

and why would you get rid of tundra rangers and the head hunter variants?
as above, a full paragraph and not a simple "i don't like them"


what is wrong with the concept of gunslinger, or of tundra rangers? i'll admit there are some technical problems with them, but why would you drop them entirely instead of just fixing the problems?

[Dustin Fireblade]

Rifts: Canada.

No Tundra Rangers, no headhunter variants, just a big honkin' section on the CS State of Iron Heart, and another on the City of Lazlo.

Wouldn't that be two books? Maybe a sourcebook size for each? (ie 96 to 128 pages or so). Now that the D-Bee's have been re-printed, there's no reason to include them I think. The only thing really left is all the little communities and those could be in a third sourcebook.

Calgary could be a fourth sourcebook.

Hmm, I guess if I were to re-write it I'd be breaking it down a good bit. I agree though get rid of the Tundra Ranger's. They just really don't need to be there I think, and I'm sure Braden can tell everyone why. (IIRC it was him that had a good paragraph or two on what was wrong with them.)

[Dustin Fireblade]

Coalition War Campaign would be my re-write.

This is the prequel to SoT. What I would have down would be to write up more on how the CS military is organized, expanding or modifying what was in the old Sourcebook 1. I would give samples of CS units, perhaps breaking down a infantry battalion. From there I'd go into tactics and strategy. Samples of CS fortifications would also be included.

I'd also re-work the OCC's a bit, and for sake of conveinance, re-print the main book CS OCC's (again re-worked a bit).

[Giant2005]

I'd rewrite Coalition Wars 06 - Final Siege. I'd completely change the outcome of the war and have Tolkeen as the winner.
Statistically, Tolkeen should have been able to wipe the floor with the CS and imo, Tolkeen's victory would cause a huge shift in power on the American continent making Aftermath a whole lot more interesting.

[JTwig]

I'd rewrite Coalition Wars 06 - Final Siege. I'd completely change the outcome of the war and have Tolkeen as the winner.
Statistically, Tolkeen should have been able to wipe the floor with the CS and imo, Tolkeen's victory would cause a huge shift in power on the American continent making Aftermath a whole lot more interesting.

I would of had it be a draw. Having fall into a Cold War facing, with both sides never actually declaring a ending to hostilities (like North and South Korea). While all out war has plenty of adventure opportunities it has to eventually end, while a Cold War has almost as many adventure opportunities and can go on as long as a GM wants.

As for Canada: Id also would have gotten ride of the Tundra Rangers, only because North America doesn't need another technologically advanced major independent faction and they are not vital to the setting (unlike the CS, Lazlo, Tolkeen, Free Quebec, and the Federation of Magic which have history and major events/storylines tied to them).

I'd leave the Headhunters, most were unique and better thought out than many of the O.C.C. from Rifts Mercenaries. I thought they added some flavor the Class. Plus they need an update, while they had an impressive amount of skills the power-creep of the later O.C.C.s, were every one had to have its own unique powers and abilities (like the Cyber-Knight Zen Combat as one example), had caused the O.C.C. (along with many of the Core Book O.C.C.s prior to Rifts Ultimate) to show its age. It made the Headhunter unique, while staying faithful to the original concept.

I'd definitely add a large section on Iron Heart. It seems to me that we need more detail on this State, but it doesn't require its own book like Quebec. As a major manufacturing center, both military and civilian, for the CS it deserves a little more detail for the GM to work with.

[Proseksword]

Triax & the NGR. I'd actually provide background and setting and information on the NGR beyond a Mecha Catalog. Oh, and I'd flesh out the rest of Europe a little better too. I don't need six pages of "France? France is completely wiped out. There are monsters there. Spain? Spain is wiped out, monsters there too." Come on, give me something to work with! At least say "There's some towns near Bordeaux with large numbers of psychics" or "Most of the towns in the region are dominated by Neuron Beasts" or something!

[Braden Campbell]

what is wrong with the concept of ... tundra rangers? i'll admit there are some technical problems with them, but why would you drop them entirely instead of just fixing the problems?

Man, oh man. Have you honestly never heard me go off on the Tundra Rangers before? I thought everyone around here had...

As a Canadian, they offend me. They are nothing more than the Coalition in snowsuits, and as such are thoroughly Un-Canadian.

But wait, you say, the last years before the Coming of the Rifts were ones of military build-ups. Let me just remind everyone that Canada, although wedged right between America and the Soviet Union all throughout the Cold War, never built massive arctic bases or stockpiled thousands of soldiers. (we built a prtotype interceptor but later scrapped it because it was too expensive, and we built advanced warning RADAR stations... but that was about it). Military buildup is simply not the Canadian way... it's the American way; that's why the USA is in Iraq and we are not, even though we were cordially invited by President Bush.

Thus, we would never have so many soldiers to begin with, and even if we did, they would be stationed around the globe on peace keeping missions. Also, if you do the math... one out of every three people living in the Rifts Canadian Arctic is a bloody Tundra Ranger! It's like that Flintstones episode where the boy scouts all help Betty Rubble cross the same street, back and forth, because there's no one else around to do good deeds for.

I find them cliched in the extreme, and they take up 15 pages all told... more than enough room to describe Iron Heart if nothing else.

[glitterboy2098]

them being a subset of NEMA troops would make alot of sense. the alliance of canada, US and mexico would also seem to help explain the canadian military build up.

of course, you'd have to cut the tundra ranger #'s by at least 20x anyway.

[TechnoGothic]

RIFTS AFRICA
Information about the place that could be useful.
A Nation of Intelligent APEs (Gorllias and Chimps and bamboons) in the Congo and Central Mountain areas. They will be a Technology based nation. The Intelligent Bamboons will be the Mystics and Psychics.
I'd place a Human nation in South Africa. They are at WAR with the APEs. These humans however no longer use Hard-Tech as we know. They use "Organitech" (System Failure) and Spliceing Technologies. After the Rifts opened up years ago, alien BUGS entered the world. They were forced to stop using normal technology because of these bugs. They developed Splicing Techniques to give People the powers of the Bugs...but turned them into Hybrid Human-Bug Men. Roughly 25% are these Bugmen. After the defeat of the Bugs, the humans turned to giving people the abilties of certain APEs. This backfired for some reason. The new Ape Men rebelled. The Ape Men were forced north by the Bug men at a great cost 75% fatalities. The Ape Nation uses both Hard Tech and Organitech now. Their homes are Eco-friendly Organitech. The Humans are turning more and more to their Bugmen creation again as WAR heats up.

RIFTS ENGLAND
No Merlin, or Camalot crap.
Pure Celtic inspired mixed with Modern day. Nation of Elves, Nation of Dwarven, and a Nation of Wolven. No Humans nations yet. The few humans there come from mainland...NGR. NGR has made a deal to build a Base of Operation with the Elven as a staging point to get Food from the CS in America. The Elven as payment take 10% of any Food that passes through the base. American travelers visit by way of NGR ships or Rifts. The Elven and Dwarven are not friendly towards each other, but they are not at war. The Orcs live everywhere and form the peasent class if they live in Elf/Dwarf terroritories. The Wolven act like both Norse Invaders and Roman Legionairs of olden times.


next time...
Rifts North Armerica

[DocS]

Rifts Africa and... (ah, the memories....) from a thread longtime back.

Oooh, War with Nukes and the urge to use 'em... now we're cookin with Evil gas!

Each of the Horsemen needed some sort of ability to rain GLOBAL destruction. This is good for them as a menace and good to bring characters involved. I would think it fitting to have a worldwide plague of some sort that strikes all, human and deebee alike, shuts down everything else and has Pestilence as the center. No more of this 'Psychics have bad dreams so heroes are going to Africa', no no no no no. More like 15% of the CS dies due to some horrible virulent nastyness, and everywhere in North America, xiticix, Kittani, even dragons, are dying of this same thing, and the only lead is the one Psi-Bat plague survivor who just sits around mumbling and scribbling out a map of Africa...

Add some good Famine (or be a little more creative. A Worldwide drought or perhaps PPE shortage? What can be strangled to make Rift's Earth squeeze?). Make some sort of worldwide shortage that is bringing everyone to their knees.

Add the self destruction of formerly close allies. Why is Atlantis not taking over? For some reason, Splynncryth has a Kydian civil war brewing and he's trying to not have his little cash cow get destroyed by it! In fact, have Splyncryth take a holiday somewhere safer leaving Atlantis in less competent hands because things have gotten a little 'unstable'. Splynny is wondering if keeping Atlantis may become more trouble than its worth.

The Four Horsemen were supposed to be one of the Great Four Menaces of Rifts Earth, it would not have been overpowered to give them enough power to make everyone desperate! Well, everyone but The Lord of The Deep, perhaps The Lord wouldn't care, or does it have The Plague and is going even more insane and frenzied? It may die, but with its lifespan it will be the last one to go and in the meantime it's berserk.

For however long The Horsemen Ride, all differences are temporarily forgotten. If it doesn't get this bad, then there's no reason for the gathering of heroes. Now with all the World books, people can play with exactly how bad things would get in different parts of the world.

The whole 'necromancers siding with Death' idea... I don't like it. Being undead isn't so bad. I'd have Death be total and absolute ending of existence. Have Necromancers actually fearing this being. It doesn't consume you or possess you or any of that rot. Being killed, possessed or consumed, Necromancers can work with that. When this being is done with you, you simply do not exist any more. You're done, gone, kaput. Its goal is the total ending of all existence, living, undead, robotic, sentient, non-sentient, When universes die, this is the being that comes for them. For one glorious world book, have Murder wraiths and cyber knights agree, THIS BEING MUST BE STOPPED!

So, once every other continent is feeling like they're going through a whole new cataclysm, then the Heroes start to come to Africa because it's the only lead they got. Then you can make Africa the MEANEST, NASTIEST, continent. Why is it again the 'dark continent'? Because the Horsemens' presence has locked it off and the poor humans there are surviving in a permanent ongoing apocalypse which if continued will leave the entire place absolutely lifeless. It also needs a barrier of some kind. What fun is it if the party can go to Africa and run out again to grab bigger guns?

maybe that's Death's gig. He has linked with the land and he links with any living/undead/robotic/magical thing that steps upon it. If someone tries to leave it while Death is still present, they die. Now there's motivation to go down to wherever he is and try to put a nuke up his butt. Does it work on dragons? Yes. Does it work on Gods? Yes, which is why no gods will come anywhere near that continent. No one can radio out, people who come in are stuck, the whole continent is cursed. No more of this 'Thor could take War in a fight' malarky. Every pantheon has empty thrones which used to held by Gods who tried to stand against The Horsemen.

To this add the post-apocalyptic African ideas. It would, in this point, be fair to say the Africans are the meanest and toughest beings on the planet and no one knew because they were unable to leave the continent. Don't worry about the taking over once it's over. Since Africa is a perpetual killzone (and the fun would be making enough kinds of horrific killzones to keep every misbegotten inch of that place interesting), the population of Africa is far less than anywhere else. For those poor folks, The Cataclysm never really ended, it just went on for a century.

Here is where I'd have technology and magic working together since the endless horrors are beyond anything that one or the other can handle. Power armor pilots who wear magic fetishes, enchanted plasma guns, What remains of South Africa is a fascist dictatorship because it needs to be because things are just that bad! Human tech and magic alongside some Deebees who were unfortunate enough to rift in here and are stuck trying desperately to survive.

This would be the only place where I'd put a random encounter table. This continent *is* supposed to be so dangerous that you can't go three days of travel without something trying to kill you. And all of it is horrendous abominations that are really nothing but extensions of the nearest Horseman.

Now, how would one defeat these Horsemen? What would their weaknesses be (Millenium wood weapons.. LAME!!!)? Any suggestions? Ponder ponder ponder ponder....

[Killer Cyborg]

I'd edit New West and wipe gunslingers out of existence.

I'd also re-do New West.
When I was through, it would be more like a post-apocalyptic Oregon Trail, and less like a Mega-Damage version of Trigun.

and why do you not like Gunslingers? full paragraph please, not a simple "i don't"

They're an unnecessary class, and one that makes no sense.
Person A trained their entire life with a pistol or rifle.
Person B trained their entire life with a pistol or rifle.

But since person B grew up west of the Mississippi, he's got all sorts of mad skills and bonuses that person B doesn't get.

It's stupid.

A gunman is a gunman, and a bandit is a bandit.

[Killer Cyborg]

It's HOW they trained.

Okay.
HOW do they train out west that makes them such badasses compared to, for example, the professional soldiers in a certain military empire out east?

More to the point, do you honestly believe that the writers of New West thought about things logically, and decided that professional gunslingers out West have drastically better training than professional bounty hunters and soldiers out East?

Or did they just think it would be kewl?

[Killer Cyborg]

I quickly realized that a rewrite of either Triax or CWC would only be a band-aid for the problems that now plague Rifts.

Therefore, my choice is the Rifts Core Rulebook itself.

The game has strayed from it's original post-apocalyptic vision and needs a total overhaul. Like a lot of RPGs that have been on the shelf a long time, Rifts is bloated and out of shape. Power-creep is everywhere. It has too many national, inter-national and inter-stellar kingdoms. Too many weapons manufacturers. Too many O.C.C.s. Too many monsters. Too many people period. And, sadly, it has too little of what counts - info on the everyday world of Rifts. Furthermore, many of the themed settings are uninspired derivatives of existing mythologies and cultures, and a lot of the politics are simplistic and the villains black-and-white caricatures. The layout and art all need to be redone (full color anyone?). The rules themselves, the backbone of the megaversal system, are clumsy, out-dated and not even close to being realistic. This last part I can't understand at all, as this game draws from such a large base of ex-military, tech-heads and weapon buffs.

So I say start from scratch. Tabula rasa, baby.

Ooh!
I wanna change my answer to this one!

[Colonel Wolfe]

I'd re-write Africa.
the 4 horsemen come from the intimate relationship of Victor
Lazlo and Erin tarn. Right as Vic and Erin finsh the dirty dead, several Rifts open up, with TrueAtlanteans trying to stop the Predicted future of a Woman having sex with her own Great-GrandPa and creating an unmatched Evil. the Atlanteans seeing they have failed commit ritual suicide, and in an Alien-esqu Cheat-burst Erin explodea into 4 Deamon babies.... who run to the 4 corners of Africa.. Victor feeling bad about what happens become abstinant and joind the Cyb0r-Knights, the African off shoot of the NorthAmerican Cyber-Knights. Cyb0r-Knights have all kinds of Anti-tech powers... and are Super Hax0r cool. in the End Erin Tarn is resurected by Isis, but wont fight against her children.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Rifts Australia.

Reason: Many many reasons. The giant frog? that about 80% of the country is simply gone so you don't have to detail it, that the Austrailian magic was left out with the promise of a second book that never came? That somone watched a bit too much MadMax and then did a lackluster job of trying to pull it off...

I've said it before. "Mutants down under" done 20 years ago, in a small splat book was 100 times better than Rifts Australia.

Mutant killer MDC killer Koala bears? Giant fanged Riding Kangagroos? (( ok the roo's ont he cover were kinda cool but Burles pic in the book was vomit inducing.))

How would I fix it?

1) Compleate rewrite. Throw the entire first book away.
2) Get Muma, Love, Perez and Love's Husband (( I forget the guys name at 1:30 in the morning and don't feel like looking it up)) To illistrate it.
3) Make sure that while, the Aboriginal magic doesn't dominate the book. It's more than just mentioned. At least give some space to that.
4) Get rid of the "We're all cave men using weapons made of sharpened hockey sticks and bladed shovels" mentality. They're not going to be any worse off than the people in NA are.
5) Probably get rid of the "Supercity utopia vs Stone age primitive" main storyline.
6) Come up with some cool DBees that arn't "Drop bears" that is a running joke from Australia. I still can't believe the guy got that past the editors. lol
7) Use the RIFTS in Austraila, the Dream lines are perfect example of laylines and there's plenty of history of that there.
Remember that 99% of Australia's human population lived along the coasts and include some stuff about the water and the Great Barrier Reef, but NOT Turn it into Rifts Undersees 2
9) Remember Tazmania and New Zealand but don't instantly put them at war with the mainland, but then again, they don't need to be instant friends either. Either one could be dominated by ...... Ghost, Mutant animals, Deebees, the "bad guy" that each book must have, Mystery, Atlanteenian out post, lush paradice.... ect ect ect.


Um... I could probably go on for a while but it's getting a little late and I think you get the point.

[Fyrpower]

Rifts England, simply because it should have been so much better

Arthur idea scrapped, change Camelot to Avalon (more historic), put in a nely formed true atlantean settlement instread to begin there return to reclaim atlantis (by starting with London Splnn, keep mrylnn and zazshan in it, put the real lady of the lake in it as a powerful godling/water spirit. Druid mythology, new faeire folk incorporated more into it. (not just pixies and sprites, more like different warrior spirits for the seasons all associated with each seasonal faction)

Hints that rift ireland is a kingdom of faeire folk, with faerie folk deities for the 4 seasons (with influences over Western england and Wales). They are also at war with the Splugorth but are not friendly with the Atlanteans, maybe with the druids because they are closely linked to nature.

Keep everything else in it though.

[Fyrpower]

Well my comment comes from the feeling of me being an Englishman and I find alot of it a clichéd, stereotypical sort of book (a bit like how Braden sums up the tundra rangers). I think the word to describe it would be 'cheesy'...don't get me wrong, I liked the feral and wild aspect of the book with the druids, alien plants, d-bees, monsters etc. I thought that was well done but Camelot more like Cringe-a-lot.

[DocS]

Now those are Horseman of the Apocalypse.

Well, I thought the single worst part of the Horsemen was.... for beings who were supposed to be able to destory the world... they never said 'HOW' they were going to be able to do this! Moreover they never gave a compelling reason to go to Africa and get them anyway (they weren't causing any trouble anywhere else other than giving psychics nightmares)... Oooh, now *there's* an idea....

So in the 'gathering of heroes' section, you have the top names from all around the world as folks banding together. Perhaps Romanov herself goes to Africa, King Arthuu, a team from The empire of The Sun, some bizarre folks from Greenland, etc. And a couple of them... make them mechanoids.

Mechanoids are psychic. Would they think of The Horsemen as a greater threat? Or would they be so twisted that they would be OK with total extermination of their own race, provided that they get to see Humanoids exterminated FIRST (I think War would be able to make that bargain). Of course, this would require slight change to the Horsemens' design (they don't look humanoid, they look like they are part of whatever race is looking at them).

heheh, mechanoid turncoat.

[glitterboy2098]

Well, I thought the single worst part of the Horsemen was.... for beings who were supposed to be able to destory the world... they never said 'HOW' they were going to be able to do this!

just have the joined horsemen merge with the pyramids to awaken Ya-blik (iirc), the old one that spawned the horsemen. i think an active Old One would be enough to destroy a planet, don't you?

[Giant2005]

South America. agian whats not to change?

I actually like South America, it about the only continent in the world of Rifts that has been fleshed out enough to actually run a campaign in without having to improvise and make up your own kingdoms for. It doesn't have places like the mysterious Lazlo which have little to no information on.

[Proseksword]

South America. agian whats not to change?

I actually like South America, it about the only continent in the world of Rifts that has been fleshed out enough to actually run a campaign in without having to improvise and make up your own kingdoms for. It doesn't have places like the mysterious Lazlo which have little to no information on.

Well, South America, particularly South America 2 is a little overpowered, but it is well fleshed out. It does seem a little densely populated for a part of RIFTs Earth as well, but I agree with you that it is really annoying how things are continually mentioned in other sourcebooks and then not explained in any detail. Now that we finally got the Republicans, I'd like to see some material on Lazlo and Shaedo, please!

[Steve Dubya]

I'd rewrite Coalition Wars 06 - Final Siege. I'd completely change the outcome of the war and have Tolkeen as the winner.

Funny, I would change it so that there were two possible conclusions - depending on what the PCs managed to accomplish with regard to whatever side they were fighting for (or maybe against).

Otherwise, doesn't seem to be much of a point for the PC to even participate in the events that unfold.

[Daniel Stoker]

I'd redo Psyscape and make it either 2 books with information on new Psychic Classes (P.C.C.'s) and a book about Psyscape and the surrounding areas, or I'd make it a bigger book and still focus more on the actual city of Psyscape and maybe focus more on the place of Psychics in Rifts NA.


Daniel Stoker

[TechnoGothic]

I've long thought that Rifts needed a dedicated book covering space, not just the afterthought that is the Rifts section of Mutants in Orbit. I've been working on a manuscript for a long time now, but haven't gotten around to finishing it yet. My real job and life have gotten in the way thus far. Maybe after I finish my next Rifter article for Systems Failure.

Here's my thinking on what the defining characteristic of Rifts: Sol System is, though. As one gets farther out from Earth, the less the residents think about Earth.

Earth Space: It's a no-man's land of orbital debris, killer satellites, and an enforced quarantine... but not so much because of what's going on below. The American, Sovietski, and Chinese stations are locked in a vicious three-way war of attrition where exclusion zones (orbital paths surrounding each station) are rigidly enforced. Unidentified contacts approaching the Sovietski and Chinese exclusion zones are summarily destroyed. The NGR expedition made it to the remnants of an old international space station, actually, and were rescued by the Americans from a Chinese attack force. They were not allowed to return home and were presumed lost.

Lunar Space: The war of attrition is fed by support bases on the Moon, who are also fighting each other for the best mining sites. Supply runs to each station is always a very tense affair because anti-ship weapons from the lunar surface and interdictor patrols in high Earth orbit are a constant threat. American and European spacecraft typically race to the allied supply depot at the L4 point for respite before making their final run to Liberty Station. An independent station built on a captured comet at L5 gives berthing to anyone who can pay or barter, with the understanding that open warfare in the vicinity means refueling privileges are cut off. Chinese and Russian supply ships will stop here if they can't make the run straight through.

Mars Space: The colonists here began to fight the same war as their brethren on Earth, but the goal on Mars was to take control of the planet's giant terraforming and atmospheric processing facilities that had thickened the sky enough for people to move in the open with winter gear and respirators. The northern plains had flooded into shallow sea as outgassing and polar melt brought water back to the surface. One of the factions in the South believed they could turn the tide in their favor by unleashing on the others genetically-engineered organisms originally intended to be a new workforce with superior numbers. However, a hasty alliance of the Northern colonies against the Southern forces led to the destruction of the control facility and relay satellites. All hell broke loose as the creations turned on their masters and the Northern colonies retreated to the safety of the sea. Human life goes on in the Great Martian Ocean, while the highlands have been abandoned to the semi-intelligent creatures that were designed to inhabit and shape them.

The Asteroid Belt: Independent mining colonies trade their raw resources for manufactured goods to just about anyone who will barter. Brigands who don't want to get caught up in the Colonial War and are too afraid of the Swarm on Mars find it relatively easy to hide in the rubble and eke a life out here... so long as their quarry is less armed than they are.

Jupiter Space: The Gateway to the Outer Solar System. The colonists on Jupiter's moons tended to be fairly self-reliant and independently minded to begin with. When the discovery of alien life on Europa was suppressed by Earth governments that feared a breakdown in social order and civil unrest, the colonists became even more sequestered and began to view themselves even more as Jovians instead of Terrans. The Cataclysm and the Colonial War convinced the scientists, engineers, and researchers out here that it was time to start over and do it right. They've created a meritocracy where each person is judged according to their ability and their sense of humanity... though even that seems a little anachronistic given the Jovians' embrace of transhumanism. Genetic modification for sustained life on the Galilean moons has transformed the Jovians into something beyond human and there is a growing sense that if the Singularity - the point where information processing and evolution surpasses man's ability to comprehend it on a self-sustaining level - comes, it might start here. The Jovians engaged in heavy trade with the asteroid belt miners, believing that sustaining that independent spirit is useful in both providing a buffer zone against the inhumanity of the Colonial War and developing hardy stocks of human DNA that might be useful one day.

Saturn Space: Some Jovians have fully immersed themselves in figuring out how to bring on the Singularity. To allow themselves the space and relative tranquility required to focus on such research, these individuals (both transhuman and AI entities) have established colonies of their own on Saturn's moons. These are easily the most alien places in the Solar System, especially considering that the founders are the descendants of human colonists from Earth! The research of Saturnian scientists into the fundamental nature of the universe is approaching a level not seen since the Atlanteans first mastered dimensional magic and has surpassed the point where Clarke's Law states that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...

Do not forget to include info on the ARCHON Alien Space Fleet on Mars. Introduced in SA2...

[TechnoGothic]

South America. agian whats not to change?

I actually like South America, it about the only continent in the world of Rifts that has been fleshed out enough to actually run a campaign in without having to improvise and make up your own kingdoms for. It doesn't have places like the mysterious Lazlo which have little to no information on.

Yes I agree. I like both SA books alot. 2 books, but it feels more "complete" than NA does. Yet left so open to actually explore/adventure in without the books getting in the way at all.

[Dead Boy]

I would re-do the entire Siege on Tolkeen series. A war such as that deserved to be far more detailed in how it was fought and what the parties were up to for their respective sides. It needed to start out as more of a Vietnam-esque down-and-dirty war completely lacking any front-lines because of the two sides respective abilities, with the CS ruling the sky with tech and Tolkeen holding control of the ground through magic. But above all, not only should have Tolkeen fell sooner under the weight of the CS million man army (half of which being Dog Boys), but the Coalition's commitment of troops should have proven too tempting for their other enemies to resists. The second half of the ToS series should have been the CS having to fend off an uncoordinated attack on virtually all their borders from the Pecos Empire from the south, the Federation of Magic from the east, and a small demon army from Calgary from the north. And while fighting to reclaim their lands avenge the deaths of countless civilians from the invasions, there's still the matter of actually squashing what's left of Tolkeen. I might have even gone so far at to have a second FoM siege on the Chi-Town Fortress, more so to wound their pride and harden their future resolve than anything else.

I still would have had the CS win, but the price they paid would have been steep and bloody, ending with a slightly less dominant and vastly more aggressive CS that is more concerned with rebuilding their infrastructure and military than expanding their territory. Also, because war has a way of rapidly advancing a nation's level of technology, I would have ultimately reduced the CS Army's size, but put them at a post-war tech level somewhere between the NGR and Japan so they easy picking for an aggressive alien invader who stayed out of the fight and is still fresh (like the Splugorth, Mechanoids, Xiticix, the Republicans...).

[Library Ogre]

Lone Star.

Until yesterday, I haven't owned a copy of Juicer Uprisings in years... don't play/write a lot of Rifts. I had no idea... ZERO... that Los Alamo was built on the remains of Austin.

Oh, and CS Navy is pretty close to that, because you have a peaceful and growing town of Houstown in 101 PA, while the CS apparently destroyed a city 70 miles away less than a year ago.

[asajosh]

This is a REALLY small thing, but it bugs me.
D-Bees of North America should be a Source Book, not a World book...
That's all I got so far.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

I'd go with Yipes answer.

Otherwise, I'd redo the Conversion book and add in a D20 conversion just so everyone would shut up about it already.

[Colt47]

What is wrong is that they pretty much stereotyped a lot of things all over the world instead of making something new and interesting. Also, they've completely ignored detailing the topography of Rifts Earth. All they give people are the words "savage wilderness", which could stand for just about anything. Give some detailed streamlined topography of Rifts North America. The world has changed drastically from the world we know and thus the need for a good map.

Edit: I might start working on designing maps for Rifts Earth based on the books if I have to. Student in design and Illustration over at College of DuPage.

[Giant2005]

Just for kicks I've decided to tally up the votes for which books people want re-written. It's fairly spread out (and some listed more than 1 book making things a bit difficult to count), but there are a few clear front-runners.

Tied at the top of the "please re-write me" heap...

Africa: 5

RMB/RUE: 5

Disliked almost as much...

England: 4

Somewhat unhappy with the results...

Coalition War Campaign: 2

Siege of Tolkeen Series: 2

Triax and the NGR: 2

And all the rest with 1 vote each...

Australia
Canada
Dinosaur Swamp
Game Master's Guide
Lone Star
New West
Psyscape

So it appears that Africa and England are considered the World Books that are most in need of revision. No real surprise there for anyone who owns them. However, I was a bit surprised that the RMB/RUE re-write option got so many votes. I thought I would be the only one who would want such a radical change. Interesting.

Of course, Palladium would never redo their main rulebook in such a drastic fashion, but there is one way they could get their flagship game "back to basics" as it were - make a Rifts: Alternate Earth Dimension Book (or a series of books starting with North America). And to take things one more step, they could make it not only an alternate setting but contain an alternate/streamlined set of rules as well with a built-in conversion table for existing characters. This way, they could change Rifts and the broken rules system without forcing players to repurchase all of their books. Well, just a thought.

Sincerely,

Yipe

This is really interesting - people generally complain about the SA books a lot but yet no one wishes to change them (At least people prefer to change other books before them).

[Proseksword]

I think they are good books, just unbalancing when taken in the context of the rest of RIFTs Earth...

[Phadeout]

I'd have to go with 2 things, in this order:

RMB/RUE:
Ultimate edition was just not what I was hoping. It changed nothing and just made things more convoluted than they already are.

There needs to be a Rifts: 2nd Edition. Unified OCCs (not a reprint of the same occ with a slightly new skill set so there are 20 different bandit/headhunder/soldier variants), unified Magic and Psychics, rebalanced and well thought out weapons/armaments, and most importantly - world information that a GM needs (maps, "how x and y work", why the CS isn't taken over by Magic/Psychics and a real trim down of MDC equipment and make SDC equipment far more common).

The second which would have to be done to match the first, is the GMG. The GMG would be a full add-on to the main book, detailing world information for the GM's eyes only, maps for the GM only, info on the CS and other major powers for the GM only, and a fleshed out N.A. ready to play a game in.


I could go into more detail on a "revised" Rifts RMB/GMG but I'd be here all day...

[Phadeout]

Oh, another thing I should mention. Rifts should be split up into these categories:

Player's Books:

Core Books (RMB, expansions on Magic, Pyschics etc)
Conversion Books (detailing Conversion from other Palladium systems only, not Gods, Dragons or Monsters)
World Books (similar to current world books, but no or very few new OCCs, monsters, NPCs.. just world info)

GM Books Only
GMG
Monster Books
Adventures
Sourcebooks (detailing info for the GM's eyes only, similar to World Books but just not for Players)

[T-Willard]

I'd like to rewrite the power armor descriptions and text, maybe even some of the mechanics involving high-tech combat.

As for full books, I'd LOVE to rewrite the Coalition/Tolkeen War series. Make it a little more "realistic" in terms of tactics, what happened, and the like. Just sit down and rewrite the whole thing, depending less on Holmes' "Deus Ex Machina" victory from behind. Having it so that Holmes' maneuver just enabled the CS to break the siege early.

It bugs me sooooooo bad to read the basis ignorance of military strategy and tactics that appears in the books, on both sides of the conflict. The lack of high-tech battlefield integration, and the whole nine yards.

The basic actions and events would be the same, but I'd redo the whole thing to make each side seem a little more professional, rather than two groups of half-literate morons slugging it out, depending on the bigger and tougher guns rather than any type of strategy or tactics.

I'd also love to do a chapter or two in the Coalition War book detailing the various training facilities and the rest that should have appeared. For example, there's no description of officer, NCO, command, or general schools. Contrary to popular belief, you have to go to school to learn how to be a command officer. Just putting on the pretty uniform and being called Major or Colonel doesn't make you a real officer.

But that's just me.

[Prince Artemis]

Rifts: Canada.

No Tundra Rangers, no headhunter variants, just a big honkin' section on the CS State of Iron Heart, and another on the City of Lazlo.

Honestly that's no really re-writting rifts canada. Since Rifts Canada didn't touch on those two you could just right additional source books for them, so does that really count in this topic?

[Novastar]

I would have redone RIFTS: England, and made it a more "magical" place...

I seriously wondered why there was a tech-based power (New Camelot), or techno-wizard items (supposedly, a NA exclusive) in England, supposedly a place so magical it makes Antlantis look like a dry spot...

[Jefffar]

Rifts Main Book:

Why: Because it sets the tone and the mechanic for the entire series and while i am a big rifts fan, over the 18 years I've played palladium RPGs there are numerous situations that I've come across that aren't handled as well by the rules as I think they should be.

What I'd do: I'd leave most of the flavour text alone - except where it contradicted with the changes I was making to game mechanic and system stats. All the nuts and bolts of the system would be organized and categorized and well defined so that they handled easily and intuitively. Lots of charts and tables would make be used to make the rules and game mechanic easy to understand at a glance. Everythign would be systemized so that new add ons in the future books could be plugged in without having to make any rules changes.

[Jefram_denkar]

Given the option, I would have totally re-written Canada.

Look, it's Canada. Yes, I know the Palladium group in Detroit have fond memories of Canada...but face facts, it's Canada. It's not a world power, it never will BE a world power. It never needed a military buildup because its population is tiny, its territory is too big, and it has the world's most powerful nation as its neighbor. It doesn't ever NEED to do a military buildup because the only thing it could use it for is protection against the US and if it came down to that...the reality of the situation is that Canada would fall.

Instead of making a Canada book, I would simply make it about Lazlo and then a general bit of info about the frozen north that is the remnants of post apocalypse Canada. I don't give a rats ass how much national pride a Canadian might have in his/her nation...at 30 million you can pretty much expect the Canadian population to be gone. No Tundra Rangers, no MDC Mounties...just gone. Use the book space to detail Lazlo and New Lazlo, just what the hell IS Plato's agenda (perfectly gentle and wise and kind dragon my ass....), ABSOLUTELY NO ALIEN INTELLIGENCES, and Lazlo's techno-wizard army. "

The problem with that statement is your only counting military power.

Your forgetting economical power, industrial power, vast resources, and political history (their is a reason that Canada is a member of the G8.) The only thing Canada is lacking is a large military.

Also when you look at a map of Canada you realize that most of the major population centers are in the middle of the country (Toronto, Windsor, Sudbury, Hamilton, Ottawa, etc...) much different then the US where most major cities sit on the coast. Remember most of the places that were wiped out were on the coastline when the Rifts came thanks to the return of Atlantis. That fact alone shows Canada having a higher surviving population.

Plus there are hundreds of self sufficient small communities scattered across Canada (many so remote you need a float plane to get to them.) Many would go unnoticed in the chaos and the people their would continue living they way they always have.

[Proseksword]

The real problem is that RIFTs: Canada doesn't cover any of that. The whole book consists of Headhunter O.C.C.s, D-Bee R.C.C.s, some reprinted blurbs about Lazlo, Northern Gun, Manistique & Iron Heart, with some half-hearted crap about Tundra Rangers thrown on at the end. Hell, it's obvious from the Cover art they were originally intended to be Coalition Troops and then suddenly they were Post-RIFTs Mounties, because, hey, it's Canadian!

If they would have covered Lazlo, Ixion, and othe regions of Canada in detail instead of slapping reprints and errata together and calling it good, I'd be a lot more impressed. Canada is probably the worst World Book ever published.

[Jefram_denkar]

Given the option, I would have totally re-written Canada.

Look, it's Canada. Yes, I know the Palladium group in Detroit have fond memories of Canada...but face facts, it's Canada. It's not a world power, it never will BE a world power. It never needed a military buildup because its population is tiny, its territory is too big, and it has the world's most powerful nation as its neighbor. It doesn't ever NEED to do a military buildup because the only thing it could use it for is protection against the US and if it came down to that...the reality of the situation is that Canada would fall.

Instead of making a Canada book, I would simply make it about Lazlo and then a general bit of info about the frozen north that is the remnants of post apocalypse Canada. I don't give a rats ass how much national pride a Canadian might have in his/her nation...at 30 million you can pretty much expect the Canadian population to be gone. No Tundra Rangers, no MDC Mounties...just gone. Use the book space to detail Lazlo and New Lazlo, just what the hell IS Plato's agenda (perfectly gentle and wise and kind dragon my ass....), ABSOLUTELY NO ALIEN INTELLIGENCES, and Lazlo's techno-wizard army. "

The problem with that statement is your only counting military power.

Your forgetting economical power, industrial power, vast resources, and political history (their is a reason that Canada is a member of the G8.) The only thing Canada is lacking is a large military.

Also when you look at a map of Canada you realize that most of the major population centers are in the middle of the country (Toronto, Windsor, Sudbury, Hamilton, Ottawa, etc...) much different then the US where most major cities sit on the coast. Remember most of the places that were wiped out were on the coastline when the Rifts came thanks to the return of Atlantis. That fact alone shows Canada having a higher surviving population.

Plus there are hundreds of self sufficient small communities scattered across Canada (many so remote you need a float plane to get to them.) Many would go unnoticed in the chaos and the people their would continue living they way they always have.

Without military power or protection, you're doomed. No nation has survived on just a strong economy for any period of time without someone guarding their ass. Why? Because someone who has money but no gun will lose all his money to a poor man with a gun...unless rich man has a bodyguard. If not for the US keeping both oceans clear and safe, Canada would not be in such a nice position. I'm not saying "OMG CANADA SUX!" and things of that nature...I'm just saying that no matter what resources it has, if it can't protect them somehow it's just a colony all over again.

As for surviving in Canada with the coming of the Rifts...you're forgetting ley line storms and more importantly the Calgary Rift amongst other disasters. Consider how behind the times Canada is in military power (not to make fun but Canada's navy is a bunch of hand-me-downs that are more dangerous to their own sailors than any enemy), add in its chewy concentrated population, and said population's inability to escape and the result is an ex-Canada. Did you neglect to see just where Xiticix territory is?

Also, those self-sufficient communities are doomed because of the ash from Old Faithful's eruption which coated the entire NA continent in ash which stopped all flying. These now completely unreachable communities are extinct as soon as one mega-damage beaver wanders in.

No, Canada is toast.

Well I do think Calgary is toast (Most of the West coast for that matter) the fact remains is Canada is not defenceless. Our military is one of the few during the Golden Age of Man with MDC weapons (which gives us better odds then 9/10s of the rest of the world). As well we also have alot of American hardware in our nation along with the troops to man it. (American and other allies run joint exercises all the time up here).

As for the Navy yes the Victoria Class Subs and Sea King Helicopters have cause alot of problems, but the Victoria's have been rebuild and now work great (fact is they were sitting without any care for 10 years before Canada got them did not help) And the Sea Kings are beng replaced and retired.

But we can't forget that the Halifax class frigate (Canadian designed and build) is being looked at by the US Navy as their new frigate design. (Yea a buddy of mine in the Navy let me in on that one.)

As for the small communities many of them are native canadians (indians) or have large populations of natives and as such would gain alot of protection. Have you ever read Spirit West??? Canada Native population is alot more organised and (more powerful politically) then in the US.

For the Xiticix, well from everything I have read they did not show up till the P.A Calander kicked in. Thus their a non issue if we are talking about the Dark ages.

One other thing Canada dose not have a large military but we have a long Military history. The fact is the world had forgotten that in light of our peace keeping history. We kicked butt in every war we been in. I recommend reading up on Leo Major to give you an idea of Canadians in war time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Major

I'm not saying we get away unscathed (we get rimmed like everybody else) but I am saying like the US Mid West. Central Canada's (Ontario and Quebec mostley) got to much going for it to be wiped out.

[Jefffar]

I supopsoe someoen should point out that the nucleaus of what would become CS Iron Heart, Free Quebec and Lazlo are all based in Canada - far from getting wiped out, I'd say Canada came off better than much of the US did.

[asajosh]

I supopsoe someoen should point out that the nucleaus of what would become CS Iron Heart, Free Quebec and Lazlo are all based in Canada - far from getting wiped out, I'd say Canada came off better than much of the US did.

Yup.
I'm gonna break out the ol' Canada book and see if I can find out why.

[Jefffar]

It does have NEMA troops.

[Warwolf]

Rifts Aftermath, dumping the massive cut & paste material for more useful stuff.

[Fyrpower]

Rifts Aftermath, dumping the massive cut & paste material for more useful stuff.

I second that. Kev's original ideas were so much better than what happened to this book. The history behind this book is that various people (particularly on these boards) were moaning for an update of what was going on around the world...I think the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for" comes into play, apart from the North America and Archie update, it's quite possibly one of the most useless and un-resourceful books a GM could possible use (I read it once, maybe twice considering the Archie-3 info). I think I was looking forward to seeing The Unbidden in that book and some new material. I mean come on, to have Kev update the ENTIRE world of Rifts is RIDICULOUS, it's going to stop people (freelancers, himself included etc.) coming up with fresh new ideas for other places, off course it's going to be copy and paste material, plus he could change his mind in the future about various places. Extremely pointless idea for a book when various areas have not been completely described and detailed.