Hmmm Rifts...Can you sell me on it?

[random_username]

Some earlier forums articles I wrote on recognizing and overcoming the basic challenges of the mechanics of Rifts.

Common Sense Gaming Disclaimer: http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=132650 Sums up the ongoing issues with game mechanics.

Campaign Challenge Level vs Players' Characters' Competence: http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=129640 Intro and Part One being of primary relevance to begin to address some of your questions.

[Akashic Soldier]

Hey New Blood,
First up, welcome and salutations. Next, following this post will likely be an entourage of people ragging on the system saying it is unplayable. You need patches, house rules, etc. Ignore those people. That is their opinion, and they have a right to it but me and my group (and another group I am a player in) have been playing every weekend for over two years and we have a blast.

If you are serious about giving the game a go and running it "properly", I recommend reading the Rifts: Adventure Guide. It is essentially a book dedicated to answering the questions you've asked (and a bunch of others) and its one of my favorite books. It basically taught me how to be a good G.M. and I am thankful for it each day... or at least every other day.

However, you don't really need a book to tell you how to do it, it just helps. You really just have to keep in mind that "Rifts" is gritty 80-90's shock-gore Anime/Manga meets comic books. So you end up with teams somewhat like the new Avengers films where you should make sure there are more than combat scenes that are relevant to the outcome of an adventure. For example, your psychic might not have been so great against a squad of fully armed Coalition Soldiers, but he's your go to guy for floating the key off the shelf "over there" and to the cell to get everyone out. Just like the attractive espionage agent, is probably going to have a better time seducing information out of someone than the Junkie in a juicer harness is. Once you tackle the art of "combat is only 50% of the solution", than you can really shine as a Game Master and the game is a lot of fun.

Rifts has a lot of "invisible" balances, like racism, persecution and ignorance ("We don't need no book learnin' no how!") and you will typically find the more your characters stray away from "I am just a dude" the harder it should be for them to fit into society. At least, in most places. In other places being a normal dude means... well, its pretty much the same thing as being food. To put things in perspective, there is a merchant in Atlantis who charges more money for more defiant and zealous CS Soldiers... because the people who buy them and then wear them like Huts wearing princesses think "Thats cute" and "amusing".

I have to head off to bed now, I've pulled an all nighter but I will check back later. If you go to "Rifts Online" in my signature, then start clicking around the site you'll find the record of my game, my player characters, adventures, etc.

Rifts is a lot of fun, the most fun I have had with any RPG (and I've played a lot). The COOL thing about Rifts is it has pretty much anything. When I first started playing Rifts, I would go to cons and everyone would rag on it (even when they hadn't played it) and so I came up with a game. Its called... "Whatcha wanna play?"

If the player can guess something I cannot make using the Megaversal System, they don't have to play it. However, if I can they have to try at least one game. That works wonders. Plus, you end up with some wonderfully absurd concepts that just wouldn't work in another setting. I've only had one player come up with a character I couldn't make, but at the time it was because I am not as familiar with the system as I am now.

In closing, you are a W40K guy, so you should understand the dangers of "super killy ****", one of the biggest obstacles people have (which you yourself have expressed), is the power of M.D. You just need to keep in mind, that the person with the "laser pistol", doesn't have a Star Wars blaster. They have something that packs more of a punch than five Abran Tanks firing on a target simultaneously. It just happens to be so compact and small that it is the size and shape of a Star Wars Blaster. This is the reason the most "effective" tactics in Rifts are small squads (adventuring parties) and ambush tactics. I once watched a 2nd level Mystic (who was essentially a glorified Bard) and a 3rd level Water Warlock (who was essentially an overweight loser), take out a 12th level Greater Demon with THOUSANDS of M.D.C. and they were able to do this using a few tricky applications of magic, some strategy and taking advantage of their environment. I cant recommend enough using the cover in a firefight. Rifts isnt the game where you want to stand out in the open and shoot at one another, that'll get you dead... FAST. Fight like soldiers (or Stargate if you are not familiar with trench warfare). Dive behind trees and shoot blasts. Run away. Find your enemies weaknesses, blind them, trap them in pits, etc, etc, etc.

All of this **** is WAY safer and more effective than just punching the crap out of something, because most of the time stuff you will be fighting will punch harder (since as a G.M. its easier to run one big baddie, than 10 little ones) and because being out in the open means you can get caught in a volley of missiles and that's the end of you son.



Again, welcome to the board. I hope you enjoy the game. I love it. Its the perfect blend of "realism" and "insane RPG game" goodness.

[say652]

FreshMeat. Yay. Rifts us a great genre in which any possible idea for a character us possible. Coalition States suck but hey no world is perfect.

[Mechghost]

Rifts gives you the setting for just about any style of campaign and group of characters. From city skulking to merc warfare to world shaking mystic events. but at the heart of it you characters can die if you're not careful, be rich, a general etc if you're smart, it's extremely open. If your players are use to Deathwatch break them in as a CS long range patrol etc.
In short its a great system but the GM makes the game in the end.
Of course a psionic taking a missile in the chest is bad in any game LOL I had a Kill-Cat accidentally melted down by a friendly fire incident (robot pilot fired last missile thinking it was AP - it was plasma)

[say652]

Its a fun fun place to fight. But rifts earth always turns into a dimensional jump point.

[Incriptus]

Rifts runs on the rule of cool. One plays Rifts because they want to do something unique in a setting where I'm fairly sure there is a kitchen sink R.C.C. somewhere. Play to that strength of the game.

On the subject of balance, the most important thing is to have the GM and the players shake hands and decide what the main thrust of the game is. Once you develop a theme for the game must of the balance issues are greatly decreased. In my experience the balance issue isn't about the time when one person playing a hatchling dragon and the other person playing a rogue scholar. It's more about that time one person played a juicer and the other person played a "better" juicer.

So my main piece of advice to a GM of Rifts it would be to let your players be good at what they want to do. Let them be awesome. Be excellent to each other!

[say652]

And game balancw buha! Pfft pfft what is this strange phrase mean. Let them go ape-snit. Create the strongest stuff they can think of.

Then promptly stomp them down with a CS division.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Welcome to the Forums truck.

Your one friend was right. They sort of did take every possible genre available and smush it all together. But just because everything CAN exist doesn't mean it HAS to exist..at least not all in one spot.

The Rifts game i was in we fought genocidal robots, dinosaurs, zombies, cultists, and drug fueled supermen. There was the possibility of dragons, demons, magic users, super tech guys, and everything else you could possibly imagine, but since it didn't make sense to the story or add anything cool to it the GM didn't throw it at us (just for the sake of throwing it in there).

Akashic Soldier also made a good point, it is possible to make dang near any type of PC the player can imagine.

Heck in my 1st(and only) Rifts game I amused the GM with my concept so he let me play an Electro/Tele-kinetic Anthropomorphic Multi-colored Unicorn Man that was exiled from his home dimension for impregnating a princess. I wasn't a powerhouse by any means, but I was having great fun with the character concept and back story. That's what sold me on Rifts. I was able to play the character I wanted without breaking (maybe tweaking a little) the rules. I was invested and that made it fun.

So if you have a surly player that moans because they, "Can't play what they want", tell them about the guy that played a 7' tall, lightning slinging, teleporting, telekinetic, my little pony inspired, blue and purple unicorn man. If they can think it up, it can probably be played.

[CyCo]

Imagine if Cthulhu, Elvis, Katie Couric, Admiral Rick Hunter, and Jack Nicholson all donated some 'little sailors' to impregnate Jillian Anderson.

Rifts would be the kid.

Gillian Anderson. Heathen.

8p

[Eclipse]

I'd recommend houseruling it as the rule of cool suggested. Plus, even though it's a kitchen sink setting, you can pick a flavor and stick to it for a while, if you're concerned about it getting too goofy. And maybe relax the rule about enviro body armor being proof against all psionics rubbish. If that was true, they wouldn't be hunting down the psychics so ruthlessly. I'd just apply that to power armor or giant robots as you thought reasonable. Besides, psychics can only control one person at a time, so that limits some of their power - try making a hypnotic suggestion to the leader of a group of coalition soldiers - the rest of them will gun you down if you're too obvious or their dogboy(s) yells out that you're using psionics. And borgs aren't going to be easily mind controlled either.

[Incriptus]

So if you have a surly player that moans because they, "Can't play what they want", tell them about the guy that played a 7' tall, lightning slinging, teleporting, telekinetic, my little pony inspired, blue and purple unicorn man. If they can think it up, it can probably be played.

And when that scares them into never wanting to play such a game ***I'm teasing, but only a little*** remind them that for every one of them there is "An embittered man who after losing his family to monsters from beyond the veil sacrificed his his future to become a juicer and take the fight to the enemy", or "A young street rat who's gang tries to protect the people of the burbs from the coalition patrols and the darker side of the black market", or "A cyber knight, a wandering protector bringing hope and security to the wilderness people", or "A para-military organization who's members have powers beyond those of the normal man, who sale their strength to the highest bidder", or "A soldier who honestly believes that as a coalition grunt he is the thin line that stands between humanity and extinction", or "A shapeshifting Dolphin with power armor" ... The point is that you can do what you want, it doesn't have to be anything you don't want it to be.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

So if you have a surly player that moans because they, "Can't play what they want", tell them about the guy that played a 7' tall, lightning slinging, teleporting, telekinetic, my little pony inspired, blue and purple unicorn man. If they can think it up, it can probably be played.

And when that scares them into never wanting to play such a game ***I'm teasing, but only a little*** remind them that for every one of them there is "An embittered man who after losing his family to monsters from beyond the veil sacrificed his his future to become a juicer and take the fight to the enemy", or "A young street rat who's gang tries to protect the people of the burbs from the coalition patrols and the darker side of the black market", or "A cyber knight, a wandering protector bringing hope and security to the wilderness people", or "A para-military organization who's members have powers beyond those of the normal man, who sale their strength to the highest bidder", or "A soldier who honestly believes that as a coalition grunt he is the thin line that stands between humanity and extinction", or "A shapeshifting Dolphin with power armor" ... The point is that you can do what you want, it doesn't have to be anything you don't want it to be.

Hey Now!! My Pc had a deep seated purpose and motivation. He had to prove himself worthy to end his exile and return home before the birth of his child. So he joined up with the fine folks of Psyscape to fight Nyxla and the Soulharvesters. Just because I looked outlandish from the skin up doesn't mean there wasn't something worthwhile underneath. A fine lesson for the players to remember (just because it looks like a monster doesn't mean that it is).

[Zer0 Kay]

Rifts gives you the setting for just about any style of campaign and group of characters. From city skulking to merc warfare to world shaking mystic events. but at the heart of it you characters can die if you're not careful, be rich, a general etc if you're smart, it's extremely open. If your players are use to Deathwatch break them in as a CS long range patrol etc.
In short its a great system but the GM makes the game in the end.
Of course a psionic taking a missile in the chest is bad in any game LOL I had a Kill-Cat accidentally melted down by a friendly fire incident (robot pilot fired last missile thinking it was AP - it was plasma)

But if thats all he's looking for he could go with TORG or GURPS

[Zer0 Kay]

So if you have a surly player that moans because they, "Can't play what they want", tell them about the guy that played a 7' tall, lightning slinging, teleporting, telekinetic, my little pony inspired, blue and purple unicorn man. If they can think it up, it can probably be played.

And when that scares them into never wanting to play such a game ***I'm teasing, but only a little*** remind them that for every one of them there is "An embittered man who after losing his family to monsters from beyond the veil sacrificed his his future to become a juicer and take the fight to the enemy", or "A young street rat who's gang tries to protect the people of the burbs from the coalition patrols and the darker side of the black market", or "A cyber knight, a wandering protector bringing hope and security to the wilderness people", or "A para-military organization who's members have powers beyond those of the normal man, who sale their strength to the highest bidder", or "A soldier who honestly believes that as a coalition grunt he is the thin line that stands between humanity and extinction", or "A shapeshifting Dolphin with power armor" ... The point is that you can do what you want, it doesn't have to be anything you don't want it to be.

Or the future Empress of Earth the gateway to the Megaverse. Who rules from the Black Throne which was once known as Chi-Town, but is currently trying to escape an ancient Goqua, with the occasionall aid of a Dragon God, both, unknown by her present self, sent by her future self to ensure she turns out the way she needs to in order to ascend the throne. From killing her doting mother and assuming her mother's identity but becoming abusive and then later framing her for her mother's death, to cloning her and dispursing her clones throughout the megaverse with all the clones memories directly linked to her to drive her mad. All caused by the loyal Goqua servant of her future self.

Thats what i dropped on a long time player on what i thought was going to be our last game. Ya, she becomes the Empress of the Black Throne with all of Earth under her rule and her rule spilling out into the millions of worlds to which the rifts connect. A couple years into your rule you find a great hornex dragon hatchling that you recognize and a young goqua comes andoffer you its services. When she reveals her name you realize who it is and accept her service, expecting trechery. Many years later they both prove to be equally loyal servants. The terrible realization comes upon you and you share your past with them. They understand they must make sure you become who you are now.

The Goqua willing to do anything for you goes back in time and ensures that everything happens the way you said it did. Finding that your mother is a loving and devoted mother she confronts your mother in your childhood home apologizes to her and prays that the Empress of the Black Throne forgives her, before she breaks your mothers neck and stuffs her in a barrel.

The dragon on the other hand decides that in order to bring you back and save you from the pain she'd have to become supremely powerful. She travels through time and dimension to the Palladium world durring the war that would put the Great Old Ones to sleep. She is the one who transported Xy to the circle that would turn him into Thoth and returned him to the battle, participating in the war and as with all other dragons who survived became a dragon god... and yet she was helpless, most of the time only able to arrive after a horrible fate befell you, her beloved master.

While I told this story the player started out thinking... cool, but ended with his jaw slack, with the realization that I was saying she did it all to herself. She really did kill her mother and all the other horrible things done to her were ALL HER FAULT!

[Zer0 Kay]

So... though any game system, to include D&D can be made to support multiple genres and some are made to do so like TORG, GURPS and even Macho Women With Guns (hysterical game) the amount of flavor already present in Rifts to include the rest of the Megaverse, which would have even more flavor when combined IF KS was just a little more legal savvy and not so trusting of liers... I mean lawwyers. Sell you on it? If you love more than one of their other products then the chance to have a setting to mix them up should make you love RIFTS. If your just looking for a system that mixes all the stuff together... then just get something generic.

[say652]

Heroes Unlimited. Best palladium rules set. Allows the most creativity in character generation.

[Jerell]

Lasers in rifts for some reason always made me think of the laser weapons from Dune. Need to laz through a tank? No problem.

[guardiandashi]

rifts is one of those games where if you can think it up (and convince the gm to allow it) you can play just about anything...
one of my long term chars (over 5 years) was a char that started out as a special forces char from rifts mercs, was rebuilt as a partial conversion borg (sort of) by archie 3oz, and later became the goddess of high tech warfare...
another char was a char that looked like a D&D green dragon, but was actually from a battletech style "house" and was a battlemech R&D engineer and so was able to build, on rifts a full up LAM, that used a fusion reactor, and ran on hydrogen fuel her biggest issue was ALL the ammunition she used had to be custom built, as NO ONE could duplicate it because the tech was so different.

another char I did recently was a "dog boy", a genetically engineered wolf, that was big, and strong, plus it turned out she was smarter (but not educated) than the scientists that made her...

[Devjannz]

For me as a player and GM, the thing I love most about RIFTS (and Palladium in general) is the array of things you can use to put together a unique game experience for everyone.

As a player I have played characters ranging from a DemiGod Galactic Tracer from Alexandria who specializes in tracking people across dimensions (he has the abilities of a Ley Line Rifter), a GlitterBoy Pilot with a bad attitude, a Coalition Wilderness Scout who had a soft spot for the very people he was supposed to hate, a human looking Transferred Intelligence Robot from another dimension who befriended A.R.C.H.I.E. 3 in the years before he went crazy and a Fire Dragon hatchling with a thing for 1980's Hair Metal music (which he loved to sit in his cave and play on the vintage electric guitar he found).

As a GM, I have had a campaign where the group started out on Earth in the New West, were transported to Phase World, made a deal with Naruni Enterprises and then came back to Earth to battle an evil from 2 worlds: Palladium and Wormwood. Players for these games had characters from RIFTS, Heroes Unlimited, Palladium Fantasy and Robotech.

I love how all these different games and settings can be used to put together just the game you want to play.

[Zer0 Kay]

Lasers in rifts for some reason always made me think of the laser weapons from Dune. Need to laz through a tank? No problem.

Just don't shoot a Holtzman forcefield!

[Zer0 Kay]

Heroes Unlimited. Best palladium rules set. Allows the most creativity in character generation.

But Rifts potentially includes that, and Nightspawn, and TMNT and Ninjas and Superspies

[Jerell]

Lasers in rifts for some reason always made me think of the laser weapons from Dune. Need to laz through a tank? No problem.

Just don't shoot a Holtzman forcefield!

No, I'm using my laser. If they want to keep up their shield and get some nuclear fusion going on in their face, that's on them.

[Zer0 Kay]

Lasers in rifts for some reason always made me think of the laser weapons from Dune. Need to laz through a tank? No problem.

Just don't shoot a Holtzman forcefield!

No, I'm using my laser. If they want to keep up their shield and get some nuclear fusion going on in their face, that's on them.

U sure iirc the blast is unpredictable from shield user only to more powerful than the atomics they used to devestate Earth.

[Jerell]

There's always the 'duck and cover' method. Let the Lasers fly I say.

[Zer0 Kay]

There's also the proven jump and cover method.
http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=SOSE6TPSX7o
I hope that's the right one.