Ideas for Starting a Campaign (for new Palladium players)

[Pike]

Those are some good ideas but I wouldn't recommend making them roll up new characters right after they get used to the ones they made. They might not like you.

[the Captain]

You have a great start with the whole Planet of the Apes riff, way back in the day I used the same inspiration. Actually had them getting shot down by battle satellites while trying to reenter the atmosphere(makes for a pretty dramatic opener). In addition to coming out of cryo, a few had amnesia(I had judged it to be a side effect of cryosleep) some couldn't even remember their own names(thank goodness for name tags). The landing sequence was completely automated, all they could do was strap in and listen to parts of the hull burn away. Someone near a player starts freaking out, the player is ordered to "secure that man, knock him out if you have to."

I had them start off with a crew of 36, after the crash landing 23. All of the gear was wrecked, drugs from the med bay were leaking out all over the floor, communication equipment had a tree limb punch right through it, and the guy who had been freaking out during the reentry, oops. I scored some brilliant dialogue from the players when they started complaining about having salvageable flotation devices, on dry land. No weapons...

Now about here is where things got grim in my game, when you talk about the cataclysm, do you know what REALLY killed a lot of people. Diseases. Basically anyone who didn't get killed in the disaster movie sequences, died later on from all kinds of stuff. You don't even have to include the insane pathogens coming through the rifts, but when you add those into the mix, it ain't going to be pretty. These guys have no immunity for 200 years of plagues and extra dimensional bird flu, and no more super science med bay.

So the Captain gives a short speech and asks the players to forage for food and fire wood etc. The player group has one NPC with them, when they get away from the rest of the survivors, the NPC shows the players something. It's the very last injector of universal anti pathogen or whatever you want to call it. Of course there is only enough for the people standing there at that very moment, that's why the NPC had volunteered to accompany them foraging. The NPC remembers more, has an idea of how long it has been, explains the danger, he also has has a red cross on his jump suit. "The numbers are right, I took it as a sign" he tells them. Everyone there takes the injection, starts to gather whatever they can find.

That night they have their first monster attack, the beast isn't even MDC, but it is a monster, and people start wondering aloud if they are actually on Earth. One of biologists tells them they are full of crap "this is Quercus Rubra, there was one growing in my front yard as a kid, it had a tire swing tied to one of the branches." Yeah, but the monster that just attacked our survivors(and probably ate the doctor guy if you want) clearly isn't.

When they wake up the next morning, some people are already showing some symptoms. Somebody will come by and hand each of the PCs a cup of coffee, it's terrible ration stuff. "This is the last of it. Enjoy."

Then someone yells "LOOK" everyone turns to see...

End of the first session, leave them with a cliffhanger.

The best part will be when they tell someone they are from 200 years in the past, every survivor will get a black bag over their head and their hands zip tied behind their backs. That is if they are lucky enough to be found by other humans. Best part will be if they go with the whole, "you got to believe us" line, then your NPCs can tell them that they DO believe them, and that is exactly why they are being abducted.

[the Captain]

Sure, or they are returning from Alpha Centauri... what happened out there, did they make first contact? Would that even matter now? Did they find something, and bring it back? Was it dangerous or could it be in the wrong hands? Maybe it was in a part of the ship that came down farther away. Now will they have to find it, stop whoever is using it. What happens if the original owners come looking for it?

That is what is great about the whole amnesia thing, you get to slowly reveal things over the course of the campaign. When they first get done with the crash landing, all they will try and do is survive. Eventually they start getting their memories back, and putting all the pieces together, and OMG!!!

I would recommend against having them pick new characters, unless someone really wants to play a new character, or someone dies. There is no reason that they wouldn't know how to pilot Robots or Power Armor, perhaps they had similar hazardous environment equipment on the mission. Hell, they will probably be the most highly trained individuals on the planet.

[the Captain]

The ship was called Icarus, fitting I thought.

[the Captain]

I would go with having almost all of their "advanced equipment" completely trashed. Have them acquire, steal and scrounge for new. They were on an exploration mission, there might be some weapons, but nothing like a Glitter Boy, and they would probably be SDC class. One of the PCs should be an Tech/Operator, maybe he could jury rig some salvageable mining gear into some kind of plasma weapon. What could a golden age technician do with advanced mining gear? Plasma flame thrower?

Maybe they can find a section of the ship that has yet to be noticed by locals/scavengers. Most of the section is just so much scrap, but there is an intact storage lacker from a lander. Don't ask about the rest of the lander, it isn't in the vicinity.

Some items they might find.
Mark II environmental suit, with a working exoskeleton, the other suits are trashed. You could use TRIAX terrain hopper, or something like it, don't show them the picture or give them any frame of reference. It's just a Mark II.
A first aid kit, nothing state of the art, but it can handle cuts and burns. Don't hint to them that this is probably the most valuable thing they own. Pack it full of IRMS and all that good stuff. It would be no bigger than a shoe box. To them its "just a first aid kit" all the stuff inside says made in Switzerland. I like details like that in a game.
A set of radios, with headsets, enough for the team plus a few extras. The system has built in military grade encryption.
One portable power unit, Basically a nuclear reactor that fits in a briefcase, can be rigged up to all kinds of things by the Operator.
Full spectrum imager, us the SNARLS from rifts Japan if you want something super high tech, but it's just a bulky binocular like device.
Two handheld computers, a scanner like device, etc. Think of the things that they might have for a landing party, universal survival shelter, those kinds of things.
Last, a sealed bottle of Scotch, and some hermetically sealed cigars in a "Mr Humiditron" in a case that has the captains name on. They found his secret stash in lander four, the one that never got used during the mission. In the case is an open bottle with a desiccated brown film in the bottom and some of the Cigar containers are open and empty. The last bottle of Islay single malt and cuban cigars in the universe, the players might think they are valuable, but if anyone knows about that kind of crap after 200 hundred years, I would be shocked, a Rouge Scholar MAYBE.

Another plot device to use.

When trying to make an escape, they have to leave behind a really sick comrade who didn't get the injection. Go with the "Just leave me" if the characters insist on never leaving anyone behind. Make it heroic, he takes one of their guns and will cover their escape. Much later, the characters are having all kinds of trouble with the warlord they escaped from, who is just too well informed. After some investigations they might find out their old comrade actually survived, and is now working for the warlord! Or maybe they get recaptured, and guess who comes into the kicking room to gloat! Always loved that one, the players end up feeling guilty AND betrayed. If the players do get a chance to plead their case, they might be able to convince their old friend that they left him because he insisted. The NPC was mad because he/she didn't remember that and only had the warlords version of events to go by. Or you can get all hash on them and have the NPC not give a damn, no matter what the PCs say.

[Shorty Lickens]

As a general rule when introducing players to a new role-playing system, I find it best to use a closed, relatively rail-roaded campaign, especially with something as complicated as Rifts. This goes double if the players are new to role-playing entirely. By the time they get done they will be begging for an open campaign.

Recommend you make it somewhat short with a slightly rigid story line. In fact limiting their choice of OCC or even giving them barebones characters & letting them just flesh out the details would probably be the best way to go about it. Again, by the time its all over they will have a very good idea of what kinda PC's and group they will want for their next campaign. Dont require elaborate problem solving to complete any one mission, but if the players choose to do something out of the ordinary, go ahead and let them.