Dinasour Swamp at the printers! Woo Hoo!

[Hystrix]

Yep, a couple more weeks and this bad boy is mine!

[Daniel Stoker]

I don't know, I'm rather ambivalent about the idea of my hometown being a free range for T-Rex's...

Needless to say, I'm going to have to get this book anyway.

My home town is a ruin and the 'assumed' name of the Coalition capitol... Can I trade ya?


Daniel Stoker

[Slag]

My home is UNDER WATER!

And what little is left is Archieville.

Can't wait fer Dino Swamp, though!

[Slag]

Better swamp than ocean!

[Slag]

Yea, Mosquitos suck...

[glitterboy2098]

actually, prehistoric mosquito's and biting flies were no larger than they are today.

the true giant bugs were the Dragonflies, and those giants dwindled after the permian-Triassic extiction event. by the jurassic period they were all but extinct.

course, in your games, go nuts.


personally, i'll ignore the insects, and fill the swamp with deinosuchus. (Terrible-Croc. a 40 foot long crocodile from the cretaceous period. a dino-eater.)


(paleo-nerd and proud of it.)

[glitterboy2098]

like i said, the paleo-bugs had the same range of size as modern ones, with a few exceptions.

the larger ones seemed more common back then, though it could be that the large ones left their imprints more often.


then again, i could be working with flawed info, its hard to find decent material from those periods, and most people don't care about the bugs.

[Todd Yoho]

I'm in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, near the foothills, so chances are I'd be at the edge of the "swamp", depending on how the map works out)

So am I, and to answer your question: Yes.

personally, i'll ignore the insects, and fill the swamp with deinosuchus. (Terrible-Croc. a 40 foot long crocodile from the cretaceous period. a dino-eater.)

Got you covered, GB2098.

[Todd Yoho]

Hmmm... any chance Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Greensboro, High Point, or other major human communities partially survived? Or do I need to shut up and go buy the darned book to find out?

Just my house. Everything else is toast. There are sure to be a few local familiar names...

[Dragon Mage]

For me Lazlo!

[Preacher]

I am glad it is at the printer for two reasons.
1. Another Rifts Book for me to read.
2. Todd Yoho has always struck me as a person of good character and so I am happy for him. Congrats Todd.

[Pox]

My old hometown of Virginia Beach is SO under so much water, but I do hope that the family land is still intact outside of Fuquay-Varina so I can start Dino hunting in familiar territory.

[Hystrix]

At least you guys don't have a hundred headed hydra laying claim to your city.

......where the heck is that?

Uh, Troy, MI...?

[Hystrix]

At least you guys don't have a hundred headed hydra laying claim to your city.

......where the heck is that?

Uh, Troy, MI...?

WAKE UP STUPID! *HITS SELF ON THE HEAD*

Argh! But seriously, what book is that in?

I don't think it is in one...

[glitterboy2098]

hey, if i was to be rifted to my current location, i would be stranded in the middle of the southwestern desert, surrounded by Wormwraiths, hostile native americans, and Carnivorous grigleapers. (so aside from the wormwraiths and grigleapers, it would be virtually unchanged. )

[Warmaster40k]

ahh anouther Virginia Beacher yeah mine would be with the fishes but if

[Pox]

MDC Tobacco Worms...hmmmm

If Australia can get Giant Roaches, why cant I get my bugs?

[Sureshot]

I just hope the the dinosaurs don't get a "jurassic park" upgrade.

[glitterboy2098]

I just hope the the dinosaurs don't get a "jurassic park" upgrade.

exactly what do you mean?

and Todd studied Paleontology, so the Dino's are likely to be as close as possible to our current theories as you can get in a RPG book.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Me can't wait!!!

Hooray for bad grammar.

I've been wiating forever for a book on the eastern united states, seeing as I live there. Dinosaur Swamp is an answer to a long drawn out prayer for Geographical Palladium Justice.

[Todd Yoho]

2. Todd Yoho has always struck me as a person of good character and so I am happy for him. Congrats Todd.

Thanks, Preacher. Now I'm all blushing and stuff.

[Sureshot]

I just hope the the dinosaurs don't get a "jurassic park" upgrade.

exactly what do you mean?

and Todd studied Paleontology, so the Dino's are likely to be as close as possible to our current theories as you can get in a RPG book.

I should have been a little more clearer. I disliked how the dinosaurs were so much more intelligent in the second and third movie of the jurassic park series. Especially that scene with the T-rex rampaging in the middle of the city and nobody being able to stop it. Or how modern firepower meant nothing in the third movie. Dinosaurs are a minor threat in rifts earth imo. The last thing I want to see is a dinosaur being a major threat to somebody in a robot. Hence the jurassic park upgrade comment.

[Todd Yoho]

I should have been a little more clearer. I disliked how the dinosaurs were so much more intelligent in the second and third movie of the jurassic park series. Especially that scene with the T-rex rampaging in the middle of the city and nobody being able to stop it. Or how modern firepower meant nothing in the third movie. Dinosaurs are a minor threat in rifts earth imo. The last thing I want to see is a dinosaur being a major threat to somebody in a robot. Hence the jurassic park upgrade comment.

Everyone sees a few B-grade movies and suddenly they're an expert in paleontology. That's why it's called science-fiction.

However, while I don't think I gave the dinosaurs a "Jurassic Park" upgrade, I will address the point in a round about fashion. The intelligence debate still rages, however I saw today on CNN how a dog is capable of understanding over 200 words, and can decypher the meaning of new words spoken to it. Given the brain casts of many theropods vs the modern canine, it's reasonable to assume that the theropod dinosaurs were at least as, if not more, intelligent than modern dogs.

As to the firepower issue, that's a debate that started over canonical writings waaaay before I tackled the DS project.

Also, I've said this before, but the Jurassic Park series is not a Rifts setting. That starts any of these arguments off on poor footing as far as I'm concerned. If anything, they are monster/slasher movies with a reasonable hard science base (well, the first JP anyway) much better realised using BTS victims rules.

Then again, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I respect what Memorax is saying. I wasn't the biggest fan of JP2 or JP3 myself...

[Sureshot]

I hope I did not come off as disrespecting your work I did not mean to.

"Everyone sees a few B-grade movies and suddenly they're an expert in paleontology. That's why it's called science-fiction."

Hey B movies are educational not in a good way. .

Dinosaurs aside I am just glad that more areas of Rifts earth are being defined. Any ETA on the lazlo book?

[glitterboy2098]

being a JP fan, normally i'd argue with you, but for the most part, you right.

in JP and TLW, the main problem though was the plot. (they tooks Crichtons "danger of Science for Sciences sake" and "lack of scientific morals" plot, and turned it into the "Dr. Frankenstein playing in the realm of God and God getting even." tripe.) the dinosaur portrayals were OK, but i hated how the carnivores were, with out fail, all bloodthirsty monsters.



in JP///, the issue was no dicernable plot, or lesson. basically it was a monster movie with dino's rather than monsters. course, the portrayal of the Carnivores as blood thirsty monsters got worse.



course, from what i've read in Todd's Mesozicland rifter articles, i'd say he knows what he's doing.



course, a lot of gamers will ignore the Dino behavior sections, and run them as bloodthirsty monsters. ugh.

[Todd Yoho]

I hope I did not come off as disrespecting your work I did not mean to.

I didn't take it that way at all. Like I said, I respect everything you said, and agree to a certain extent. As to the firepower issue in the movies, I think that's more of a deus ex machinae on the part of the film makers to make the dinosaurs even more fierce and ferocous. Not only are the dinosaurs the physical superiority of man, but they even shrug off the effects of our weapons. It's the Jason Vorhees effect, no matter what the characters in the movie do, they can't effect the "monsters."

Dinosaurs aside I am just glad that more areas of Rifts earth are being defined. Any ETA on the lazlo book?

There may be more Dinosaur Swamp material in the future, but no one should be looking for it for a while. We'll have to wait for Kevin's final approval on that. I don't know anything more than you guys about Lazlo, aside from the fact that it's high on my must have list! It's a great time to be a Palladium fan.

[Sureshot]

"It's the Jason Vorhees effect, no matter what the characters in the movie do, they can't effect the "monsters."

Like cell phones that are always out of power when the main characters need them the most.