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The Chinese Geofront is a unique construct. I know because I wrote it that way. No one else on earth had anything close to it in ambition and design.

While the other nations during the Golden Age were reaching for the stars with orbital platforms, the Chinese went in the other direction, planning to use the technology for more advanced moon and planet colonization in addition to a method to deal with population grown and resource allocation. The full story about the Geofront is in Rifter 28. The Rifter material IS Official, by the way. What's in China 2 is really just a hollow a glossing over.

Ah, I see. In terms of scale and ambition, that seems consistent. You're not saying that no-one else went underground, but rather that no-one else did it to such an extent. Building a Hong Kong-sized city underground trumps even ARCHIE's complex, Lone Star, and Mindwerks, though all three of those have housed many thousands of people.

The additional (and dimensional) growth since the Coming of the Rifts make Geofront quite a large nation in its own right.

Thanks for writing that up, by the way. I enjoyed it.

gaby wrote:Rifts:New Roman empire,Human and Wolfen united to save Italy and it,s people from Monsters of the Rifts.

As an actual Italian i can only say....
YESS YESSSS !
The idea is kind of ok with me

Another Worldbook i would like would be Japan 2, mostly because i think we need better Yokai, Bakemono, Majin, shinto gods and of course Kajiu than the Oni of the thousand that look like less cool(I'm generous wiht words i know) version of the Nightbanes(in fact replace the oni with everything in Nightbane books...IT work surprisingly well)

Todd Yoho wrote:The Chinese Geofront is a unique construct. I know because I wrote it that way. No one else on earth had anything close to it in ambition and design.

While the other nations during the Golden Age were reaching for the stars with orbital platforms, the Chinese went in the other direction, planning to use the technology for more advanced moon and planet colonization in addition to a method to deal with population grown and resource allocation. The full story about the Geofront is in Rifter 28. The Rifter material IS Official, by the way. What's in China 2 is really just a hollow a glossing over.

so what would you say is the 'upper limit' for non-chinese pre-rifts subterranean development? under 2 million people?

Actually I'd like them to stop everything else, including Rifters, until they get the books out that they have been promising for over a year!! Yes, I'm a little frustrated when I see new releases and its not NG1 or 2!

Gryphon wrote:wakiza, you may or may not have heard, but Palladium did a pre-release special for the NG1 book at Gencon to show off what they had, and noted (second hand information here) that they expect to have NG1 fully wrapped within a short period of time, and NG2 is supposed to follow within a short while as well, apparently sometime before November or December I believe. We'll see how that pans out, but the copy of the pre-release my buddy got me was pretty decent, though the name dropping for supporters in bold faced type was...irritating really.

Yes, I heard about the pre-release. Actually I think that is more annoying than all the delays. So PB sells us a partial release hoping many will buy it because we have been waiting so freaking long for the book. Then PB gets you again when the book comes out! Thereby PB benefits from its continuing inability to release books in a timely manner. Sigh! Just annoyed especially when I heard about the Atlantean sourcebook, which I am sure we won't see for at least three years and will likely contain too much copied text from the rifters!

I love the game, but come on!!! I was okay paying for new versions of old books that contained quite a bit of the same text as the old version to help PB out of the hole it found itself in. But the repeated delays are just Errrr! Didn't the initial estimate say these books would be out in 2012?

Again just frustrated and I only put up with it because the world PB created is by far and away the best RPG world out there. Hell, I stopped collecting Image comic books back during its first few years because they could never get anything out on time. The artists and creators should not be the ones running the business, yes they need a strong voice, but running the show, no way. Sorry, now I am just rambling . . .

I agree with the Middle East idea. I think Israel could probably be lumped in there too as well, unless they got lucky through some sort of dimensional anomaly like certain Japanese cities, the country probably would have suffered the same fate as South Florida and other low-lying coastal areas. It would be cool to see a New Navy-style force tracing its roots back the Israeli Army with MDC Merkava tanks and such, I just don't really think Israel needs a whole book. I would also like to see much more done with Sub-Saharan Africa. Depending on what they do with it, Rifts: Antarctica could be great or it could just be another Australia-style book that's cool and unique but useless in larger campaign settings. I want it either way, though

FrankSerpico wrote:I agree with the Middle East idea. I think Israel could probably be lumped in there too as well, unless they got lucky through some sort of dimensional anomaly like certain Japanese cities, the country probably would have suffered the same fate as South Florida and other low-lying coastal areas. It would be cool to see a New Navy-style force tracing its roots back the Israeli Army with MDC Merkava tanks and such, I just don't really think Israel needs a whole book. I would also like to see much more done with Sub-Saharan Africa. Depending on what they do with it, Rifts: Antarctica could be great or it could just be another Australia-style book that's cool and unique but useless in larger campaign settings. I want it either way, though

Would like to see isreal as well. as for antartica..could lump that other remote locations too small for a world book in another all its own. Considering the miitary bent of the area a Fall out style Bunker system that Nema used in Maryiland could work here too.

I'd like to see India and or Tibet. The Pantheon book kind of covers India with the Gods. I'd like to see the Buddha and Buddhist Deities translated into RIFTS.

Buddhism doesn't really have a pantheon like Hinduism, Greek mythology and most of the stuff covered in Pantheons of the Megaverse. IIRC the Shinto brand of Buddhism is still the dominant religion in certain parts of Rifts Japan though.

Ok to update.....

I would like to see: (in no particular order and as far as I know none of these are in production)

World Books:

CS Chi-Town
CS Iron Heart
CS Arkansas/Missouri
Lazlo/New Lazlo
Golden Age Weaponsmiths
Canada 2 (1 left out so much that could have been done in my opinion)
Middle East
Space (I had started work on this but lost all my notes and information that I had already done I do plan to start over soon I hope)
Arctic/Antarctica
Japan 2
Atlantis 2
Australia 2
England 2


Sourcebooks:

NGR Navy
NGR Luftwaffe
CS Air Force
Wilks
New Navy


Adventure Books:

Any small Kingdom could easily be done as a small splat book like they did for Chi Town Burbs, the Vanguard, Black Vault and sort of like Shemarrian Nation. In fact I think they should focus on more of these type books (64 pages or less) ingeneral as they are faster to produce relatively speaking. That being said:

A small adventure like book for each kingdom in NA and SA would be cool to flesh them out further than they have been already with more detailed info.


Phaseworld:

United Worlds of Warlocks
Fleets 2
CCW
Kreeghor Empire


Honestly I think once the above has been done, Rifts will have run it's course.

FrankSerpico wrote:Buddhism doesn't really have a pantheon like Hinduism, Greek mythology and most of the stuff covered in Pantheons of the Megaverse. IIRC the Shinto brand of Buddhism is still the dominant religion in certain parts of Rifts Japan though.

depends on the type of buddhism.. some have complex systems of 'enlightened spirits' that provide various benefits to those who seek help from them through rituals and 'secret knowledge'. basically, if they claim to offer ways to effect the physical world through ritual and such, they usually have some sort of quasi-diety entities.

FrankSerpico wrote:Buddhism doesn't really have a pantheon like Hinduism, Greek mythology and most of the stuff covered in Pantheons of the Megaverse. IIRC the Shinto brand of Buddhism is still the dominant religion in certain parts of Rifts Japan though.

Tibetan Buddhism has lots of Deities.. Chenrezig, Manjushri, Tara, Medicine Buddha, Kuan Yin, And others.

Rifts: Scotland. Which hopefully detail Ireland as well, and the final destruction of Camelot after the alien intelligence is discovered (anyone with Presence Sense and Sense Evil should work).

FrankSerpico wrote:Buddhism doesn't really have a pantheon like Hinduism, Greek mythology and most of the stuff covered in Pantheons of the Megaverse. IIRC the Shinto brand of Buddhism is still the dominant religion in certain parts of Rifts Japan though.

Buddhism depending on branch does have a "pantheon" but derived from Hinduism or local systems. Shintosm & Buddhism are separate faiths but often practiced together by some Japanese. I used to practice both Jodo Shin Shu & Nicherin (Sp?) Buddhism, which are the two main forms of Buddhism in Japan.

CS Chi-Town
CS Iron Heart
CS Arkansas/Missouri
Lazlo/New Lazlo
Middle East

I thought I saw a rifts antartica book in one of the rifters..
granted.. all snow and limited humanization and mutant penguins running around might be a scary thing...

I maintain that Rifts needs to go backwards in time with it's new books. Rifts: Dark Ages

Questions needs to be answered. What were the CS troops wearing during the Campaign of Blood? How was the Chi-Town Arcology rebuilt? How much survived from the Golden Age? How much information has the current CS truly suppressed?

In addition, some very important questions about the Golden Age need to be answered. How high of technology did they attain? How much tech was available to civilians versus military? What were the average toys when the Time of Troubles fell? How well prepared were the True Patriots (i.e. Paranoids) when it all went dark?

The Baron of chaos wrote:...and of course Kajiu

Yeah! There needs to be giant Kaiju (monsters) coming through every week for the defence force to beat back. Maybe something sent from the Lord of the Deep or something if not just rifting from ley line triangle near by... Also Japan MUST HAVE MASER TECHNOLOGY! They need a GB with a huge Maser. And you just know they'd have some giant super mecha as a secret weapon, complete with either shooting fingers or a rocket fist.

To be clear I'm talking about something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEGLZ4Bf6uQ

We have very little or no data on the following places which have been mentioned in previous titles (to include Chaos Earth):

-India (CE said they have MD tech...so what was it?)
-Space (30 pages in the back of a HU source book hardly counts as a world book)
-Lazlo
-Scandinavia (supposed to be high tech, enough to try and get into space)
-Israel (did they have MD tech or not),
-"Middle East",
-Dark Woods (Necromancers!),
-Korea (anybody notice it just mentions "Korea" in Chaos Earth...no North or South...what happened to unify Korea????).

Id like to see more on the Pacific Islands, perhaps in Underseas 2.

Id also think a world book on various, canon, small kingdoms that dot the world would be cool. Think Kingsdale, Whykin, Hope, or Queenston Harbor-like city/states, like 20 of them, in one book. There are a few kingdoms that are mentioned in places like the Rifts Conversion book (like two large Gromek collectives in North America that need some love).

Kagashi wrote:We have very little or no data on the following places which have been mentioned in previous titles (to include Chaos Earth):

-India (CE said they have MD tech...so what was it?)
-Space (30 pages in the back of a HU source book hardly counts as a world book)
-Lazlo
-Scandinavia (supposed to be high tech, enough to try and get into space)
-Israel (did they have MD tech or not),
-"Middle East",
-Dark Woods (Necromancers!),
-Korea (anybody notice it just mentions "Korea" in Chaos Earth...no North or South...what happened to unify Korea????).

Id like to see more on the Pacific Islands, perhaps in Underseas 2.

Id also think a world book on various, canon, small kingdoms that dot the world would be cool. Think Kingsdale, Whykin, Hope, or Queenston Harbor-like city/states, like 20 of them, in one book. There are a few kingdoms that are mentioned in places like the Rifts Conversion book (like two large Gromek collectives in North America that need some love).

-India has always been tech central for phone assistance in some fields for a number nations. Look at how many nations now a days use nations like them because its cheap labor. So ya that would be an interesting place once they started using what they researched or hired out cheap labor for others. Of course this is once they settle there food and resources issues in the Golden Age. Right now...theyy don't look so good in there own resources.

-Scandinavia is where a lot of current science and military weapons come from..despite the fact they are one of the most peaceful nations..in some cases. More importantly...VIKINGGGGSSSSSS HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

-Isreal would have had MDC..they too have a huge interest in military research and applications..just ask any terrorist who tried to hijack a plane and lives. Plus they have decent tanks and are one the more noted and innovative weapons designers out there. not as many designs, but there a few nice weapons they have are top of the line.

-due to the heavy politics of Korea they'd probably have both sides take heavy losses then forget or atleast put there conflict on hold for survival reasons.

Rimmerdal wrote:-Scandinavia is where a lot of current science and military weapons come from..despite the fact they are one of the most peaceful nations..in some cases. More importantly...VIKINGGGGSSSSSS HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I remember having a conversation with a poster on this forum, who was working on his (or her) version of Rifts Scandinavia. I remember talking about them having lots of cool tanks... I wonder if that guy ever finished his manuscript?

it's still in the works.
books are not quick to write, especially if you want real quality writing.

glitterboy2098 wrote:it's still in the works.
books are not quick to write, especially if you want real quality writing.

Good, I recall that one myself..I hope they finish it and get published. that is a gold mine and a nice work that would give the NGR lots of depth

glitterboy2098 wrote:it's still in the works.
books are not quick to write, especially if you want real quality writing.

Please, no Vikings in MDC fur underwear and rune axes. We already have Pantheons of the Megaverse.

Kagashi wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:it's still in the works.
books are not quick to write, especially if you want real quality writing.

Please, no Vikings in MDC fur underwear and rune axes. We already have Pantheons of the Megaverse.

Nah just make the Viking MDC themselves....

I just want a book that has Rune Magic that actually uses Runes... for magic.

Haven't there been some mentions of Scandinavia having near-NGR level tech?

FrankSerpico wrote:Haven't there been some mentions of Scandinavia having near-NGR level tech?

Well since that area of the world is noted for weapons and tank development it would not surprise me. The US military does get some of its hardware from that area.

Rimmerdal wrote:

Kagashi wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:it's still in the works.
books are not quick to write, especially if you want real quality writing.

Please, no Vikings in MDC fur underwear and rune axes. We already have Pantheons of the Megaverse.

Nah just make the Viking MDC themselves....

Pfft, dont count on me to pre-order that.

Kagashi wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:it's still in the works.
books are not quick to write, especially if you want real quality writing.

Please, no Vikings in MDC fur underwear and rune axes. We already have Pantheons of the Megaverse.

i won't lie, there is stuff that could let you create something like that if you wanted.. but it's not a part of the groups and setting i'm writing. i agree that if you want MDC movie vikings, you should get Pantheons.

i hold a Master's degree in history, with my focus being on medieval northern europe.. vikings, real vikings, IE the Norse, are something i studied heavily, because i love the history of them. so i've drawn on local folklore from the time heavily for the mystical elements. but i think that culture is just not one that would reappear. the over the top stylized ancient cultures from New West and Japan have some semi-valid excuses to exist. Queenstown is basically a fantasy from its founder. but you can't really make a good argument for vikings, be they historical or movie style, making a return. ultimately the elements that define vikings in peoples minds are their raids and warrior focused culture.. strip away the fur and helmets from the pop culture image and you've basically got mercenaries, pirates, thugs, bandits, and the occasional serial killer. something Rifts has an abundance of everywhere already.

Bobboky wrote:I just want a book that has Rune Magic that actually uses Runes... for magic.

well, i can't call it rune magic due to the PFRPG style already being in rifts, but a FUTHARK based magic system is included. i've based it off studies of the folklore and Edda's, then filtered through a large amount of my own original concepts, so it might be a bit different from what you expect.

Rimmerdal wrote:

FrankSerpico wrote:Haven't there been some mentions of Scandinavia having near-NGR level tech?

Well since that area of the world is noted for weapons and tank development it would not surprise me. The US military does get some of its hardware from that area.

actually, the line is "technology on par with Triax". and i will say, it is very hard to make that accurate, while remaining distinct from Triax's technology focus's. i spent a lot of time doing research into the real world technology's coming out of the area, in order to get a feel for what they might have in rifts.. the end result is, IMO, something that is very unique for rifts, offers some options not yet seen in the game, and manages to be as advanced as Triax without just being Triax. they've focused their technology along different lines than Triax.. mainly because they had a different starting technology base to work with, and different enemies to counter.

glitterboy2098 wrote:i hold a Master's degree in history, with my focus being on medieval northern europe.. vikings, real vikings, IE the Norse, are something i studied heavily, because i love the history of them. so i've drawn on local folklore from the time heavily for the mystical elements. but i think that culture is just not one that would reappear. the over the top stylized ancient cultures from New West and Japan have some semi-valid excuses to exist. Queenstown is basically a fantasy from its founder. but you can't really make a good argument for vikings, be they historical or movie style, making a return. ultimately the elements that define vikings in peoples minds are their raids and warrior focused culture.. strip away the fur and helmets from the pop culture image and you've basically got mercenaries, pirates, thugs, bandits, and the occasional serial killer. something Rifts has an abundance of everywhere already.

That actually makes me feel much better about the Viking issue. As a fellow Masters degree historian (Civil War emphasis, but historian non-the-less), I often shake my head when it comes to the pop culture view on the stereotypes abound in Rifts. I've got no problem borrowing ideas from history, but I do have a problem with the pop culture image of any group of people. It almost comes across as offensive in many situations.

I'm glad you put some thought into what the Vikings should be in this book. The moment I saw the cover adorned with horns and fur, I would have walked away.

Really, Vikings should only be a small part of this book, IMHO. It should really focus on the technological advancements the Scandinavians have achieved over the past 300 years (they were not super powers in Chaos Earth, so it would have to be a recent development), their space program, the support they provided to the NGR during the Gargoyle War, their and relationship with the Russian Warlords. Also, we would have to address, if they are so technologically advanced, why have they not been a major player in the past 33 world books? Got to find a reason there.

Kagashi wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:i hold a Master's degree in history, with my focus being on medieval northern europe.. vikings, real vikings, IE the Norse, are something i studied heavily, because i love the history of them. so i've drawn on local folklore from the time heavily for the mystical elements. but i think that culture is just not one that would reappear. the over the top stylized ancient cultures from New West and Japan have some semi-valid excuses to exist. Queenstown is basically a fantasy from its founder. but you can't really make a good argument for vikings, be they historical or movie style, making a return. ultimately the elements that define vikings in peoples minds are their raids and warrior focused culture.. strip away the fur and helmets from the pop culture image and you've basically got mercenaries, pirates, thugs, bandits, and the occasional serial killer. something Rifts has an abundance of everywhere already.

That actually makes me feel much better about the Viking issue. As a fellow Masters degree historian (Civil War emphasis, but historian non-the-less), I often shake my head when it comes to the pop culture view on the stereotypes abound in Rifts. I've got no problem borrowing ideas from history, but I do have a problem with the pop culture image of any group of people. It almost comes across as offensive in many situations.

I'm glad you put some thought into what the Vikings should be in this book. The moment I saw the cover adorned with horns and fur, I would have walked away.

Really, Vikings should only be a small part of this book, IMHO. It should really focus on the technological advancements the Scandinavians have achieved over the past 300 years (they were not super powers in Chaos Earth, so it would have to be a recent development), their space program, the support they provided to the NGR during the Gargoyle War, their and relationship with the Russian Warlords. Also, we would have to address, if they are so technologically advanced, why have they not been a major player in the past 33 world books? Got to find a reason there.

well, authors have no say about the cover's of their book's and palladium is bad about having covers with little to do with their contents, so it may still end up looking like that. so do yourself a favor.. at least flip through the book a bit before walking away. and i mean this for all their books.

glitterboy2098 wrote:well, authors have no say about the cover's of their book's and palladium is bad about having covers with little to do with their contents, so it may still end up looking like that. so do yourself a favor.. at least flip through the book a bit before walking away. and i mean this for all their books.

Cool, now all I need to do is get a store to actually put Palladium on the shelves and/or have Palladium produce quality PDFs for download and I CAN flip through a book before judging it by its cover!

no need to get snippy. if you buy online, you have this forum as a resource. you can ask what is in it before buying. plenty of people here who buy all the books, and you can bet people will be discussing it when it comes out.

glitterboy2098 wrote:no need to get snippy. if you buy online, you have this forum as a resource. you can ask what is in it before buying. plenty of people here who buy all the books, and you can bet people will be discussing it when it comes out.

Didn't mean to sound snippy. It was in jest. Perhaps I should use more emoticons.

West coast of NA.

I.e., the Barrier Wall, Ruins of Las Vegas, untamed California-Oregon-Washington

Rifts Triax 4