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From the April 2 Weekly Update:

UPDATE: The Rifter® #70 – in production – ships end of April

The articles and source material for The Rifter® #70 have ALL been selected, artwork has been assigned, and text is currently undergoing editing and rewrites (where appropriate). It is another great issue – half of which is “official” source material for Rifts® and Splicers®. There are dimension-traveling monsters (official), the Frost Mage and 40 new magic spells (official and suitable for Fantasy, Rifts® and most settings), the Splicers® Technojacker extremely expanded (official), a Rifts® town, exploring the oceans and seas of Rifts Earth, the conclusion to Irvin Jackson’s Rifts® short story, and more! All of it is good stuff. See the new description elsewhere in this Update or in the online store.

AND

Splicers® – Blood and Iron™, “official” source material by Brandon Aten – the Technojacker revisited and expanded, and much more.

This is a small preview of the book being worked on by myself, Krispy and Guy LeDouche

Yup the next issue sounds good highly looking forward to it. I shall get my splicers stuff any which way I can.

The Galactus Kid wrote:This is a small preview of the book being worked on by myself, Krispy and Guy LeDouche

Excellent news!

I just want to remind everyone that this is simply a small taste f the excellent Splicers material coming down the pipe. There are tons of cool things that are in the book that just couldn't make it into the article. However, there are things in the article that point to other things, such as references to old Congressional technology and the use of cybernetics. There are two examples of TJ groups, but they are just a samll part of the overall additions to the setting. All in all, this book will make TJ fans super happy, but additions to N.E.X.U.S. are equal parts cool and terrifying.

It was a great experience collaborating with these guys on the book

The Splice Will Flow!!!

How would new generations of TecJacs (Techno Jackers) incorporate splice tech with their own abilities? Graphene clad predators that heal like host armor but drains energy cells? Something like Warhammer 40k Obliterators that could use Tyranid biomorphs?

Side note: Why would some TJs work for Nexus?

89er wrote:Side note: Why would some TJs work for Nexus?

Survival

technojackers can't use splicers biotech. well, i mean, they can wear the created (non-living) body armour. but that's it.

or is that something that changed in the new rifter material?

I dont really agree that houses would shun techno jackers. Seems like giving up a resource in a war they are not winning. I have them as part of my houses in my settings, not that I have gotten to run them yet.

well, bear in mind that the technojackers are literally a walking hazard to everyone else.

when you consider that they could very well walk into your city and accidentally touch a piece of gear which is harmless to them against something and then suddenly a killer drone laser rifle is wandering around their outpost shooting unarmoured civilians, it makes a lot of sense that while you might want to make use of their skills from time to time... you're not going to invite them into your home for dinner any time soon.

Shark_Force wrote:well, bear in mind that the technojackers are literally a walking hazard to everyone else.

when you consider that they could very well walk into your city and accidentally touch a piece of gear which is harmless to them against something and then suddenly a killer drone laser rifle is wandering around their outpost shooting unarmoured civilians, it makes a lot of sense that while you might want to make use of their skills from time to time... you're not going to invite them into your home for dinner any time soon.

Not sure what your talking about.

TJ walks into the Splicer/Mundane camp and sets his machine laser rifle down and Joe Splicer's toddler being sneaky starts touching the big shiny thing... then it kills him...

Slight001 wrote:TJ walks into the Splicer/Mundane camp and sets his machine laser rifle down and Joe Splicer's toddler being sneaky starts touching the big shiny thing... then it kills him...

or even just the TJ leans against a wall in a slaughtering pen that's covered with blood (nanoplague triggered), or the family dog licks his laser pistol (nanoplague triggered), or has a chunk of metal stuck in his boot that touches the ground near a gene pool (nanoplague triggered), and so forth.

TJs don't trigger the nanoplague. but they don't suppress it either. it may not react to them, but it will react to everyone around them.

sure, it won't happen every time. but nobody can be perfectly cautious all the time, and it doesn't take a lot of incidents where multiple civilians (especially children) are slaughtered before the rule becomes absolutely no technojackers in the outpost at all.

even a tiny piece of metal has the potential to become a deadly weapon if it touches the wrong thing. and the only people who can bring it into splicers communities accidentally (provided you wait a while to check for nanoplague reactions before entering, which is a simple safety precaution to observe) would be technojackers.

Shark_Force wrote:TJs don't trigger the nanoplague. but they don't suppress it either. it may not react to them, but it will react to everyone around them.

Forgot about that... actually had to confirm it. Personally I'd give them a suppression 'halo' around them that prevents the nanoplague response... if for no other than to make it possible for them to work with splicers/mundanes.

if you want technojackers to be on good terms with splicers, then yes, that is probably a good idea (though it still leaves things pretty risky if the TJ ever sets their gear on the ground or anything). if you want the setting to be the way it already is, though, it makes perfect sense.

i mean, it isn't the technojacker's fault or anything, they never chose to be a technojacker. that doesn't make it any less dangerous to have one around. and as a result, it makes perfect sense that nobody wants to have them around.

A careless techno jacker is a problem. But then again so is anyone else in this setting. Said child or dog find the house supplies of squigs and play with them.....
The key word is caution. Without it you are dead. Now a house that has techno jackers would have a place the techno jackers could leave their gear where it would be safe from children and idiots.

the thing is, it only takes one mistake to create a horrible disaster, and it's pretty easy to make that mistake.

besides which, if your technojackers are living separately from the rest of your community, how is that particularly different?

boxee wrote:I dont really agree that houses would shun techno jackers. Seems like giving up a resource in a war they are not winning. I have them as part of my houses in my settings, not that I have gotten to run them yet.

Well there is the problem that these guys typically are going to have their gear which has a high concentration of metal that is harmful to deadly to anybody else they meet. Would you want some people wandering around your house and work place when you know they have one or more deadly snakes draped on them? Sure they have good control over them but if you bump into one by accident do you want to risk getting bitten and killed? Those people may be useful but they are not going to be folks that normal people are going to want anywhere near them.

I always had the impression that the Great Houses either had safe "meeting places" or if the Jacker was allowed in, they had "decontamination protocols" to follow. Have the TJ go into a tent/room/whatever, strip down and store all of his stuff. Then the TJ moves into the next tent/room/whatever and get screened by HA with Electromagnetic Vision to root out any tech. Then he moves into another tent/room/whatever and gets a "pat down" by an expendable biotic or Homunculus to be safe. If at any point the TJ holds out on tech, he is immediately destroyed on the spot. If the TJ complies, he could be allowed temporary access to the Great House. Am I that far off?

kaid wrote:

boxee wrote:I dont really agree that houses would shun techno jackers. Seems like giving up a resource in a war they are not winning. I have them as part of my houses in my settings, not that I have gotten to run them yet.

Well there is the problem that these guys typically are going to have their gear which has a high concentration of metal that is harmful to deadly to anybody else they meet. Would you want some people wandering around your house and work place when you know they have one or more deadly snakes draped on them? Sure they have good control over them but if you bump into one by accident do you want to risk getting bitten and killed? Those people may be useful but they are not going to be folks that normal people are going to want anywhere near them.

Leave the snakes at the door please......

RiftJunkie wrote:I always had the impression that the Great Houses either had safe "meeting places" or if the Jacker was allowed in, they had "decontamination protocols" to follow. Have the TJ go into a tent/room/whatever, strip down and store all of his stuff. Then the TJ moves into the next tent/room/whatever and get screened by HA with Electromagnetic Vision to root out any tech. Then he moves into another tent/room/whatever and gets a "pat down" by an expendable biotic or Homunculus to be safe. If at any point the TJ holds out on tech, he is immediately destroyed on the spot. If the TJ complies, he could be allowed temporary access to the Great House. Am I that far off?

something along those lines sounds fine for visiting.

the thing is, how many technojackers do you think are gonna be totally ok with being treated like they're a biohazardous material for their entire life? in order for them to live with regular splicers folk, both sides need to be totally ok with it. (and remember, from the technojacker perspective, splicers are the dangerous people... the technojacker can go all over the place carrying their favourite laser rifle with no problems... as long as there are no splicers around to trigger the nanoplague which will cost them their favourite weapon and threaten their lives).

plus, once again, remember that technojackers cannot use biotechnology... for whatever reason, they cannot form the neural connection that is required. in a splicers city, that probably extends to all sorts of things... imagine if you lived in north america and all the technology doesn't work for you; you can't drive a car (but can ride in someone else's), automatic doors don't open for you, you can't make phone calls without someone else's help, the hospitals can't treat you for anything, etc.

you have a very visible disability that singles you out as being different. combine that with suspiscion that maybe the machine deliberately created you as a spy, and any memories of accidents that happened (either before the protocol for entering cities was properly established, or as a result of failures in the protocol to perfectly detect potential threats after it was established), and quite frankly, i don't think most technojackers are ever going to truly feel welcome in a splicers city.

i think that, as the setting is given to us, it makes perfect sense for technojackers and regular splicers to have an uneasy alliance that causes neither of them to fully feel comfortable living with the other. both want the same goal generally speaking (the defeat of the machine), and both value the resources the other has available to them (the technojacker's ability to take over machines and use the devices that read splicers currency are of great value, and the splicers have truly incredible war machines that individually and collectively outclass anything the technojackers could hope to have)... but neither of them can use the other's technology directly, and when you get them together they're a hazard to each others' lives.

Shark_Force wrote:

RiftJunkie wrote:I always had the impression that the Great Houses either had safe "meeting places" or if the Jacker was allowed in, they had "decontamination protocols" to follow. Have the TJ go into a tent/room/whatever, strip down and store all of his stuff. Then the TJ moves into the next tent/room/whatever and get screened by HA with Electromagnetic Vision to root out any tech. Then he moves into another tent/room/whatever and gets a "pat down" by an expendable biotic or Homunculus to be safe. If at any point the TJ holds out on tech, he is immediately destroyed on the spot. If the TJ complies, he could be allowed temporary access to the Great House. Am I that far off?

something along those lines sounds fine for visiting.

the thing is, how many technojackers do you think are gonna be totally ok with being treated like they're a biohazardous material for their entire life? in order for them to live with regular splicers folk, both sides need to be totally ok with it. (and remember, from the technojacker perspective, splicers are the dangerous people... the technojacker can go all over the place carrying their favourite laser rifle with no problems... as long as there are no splicers around to trigger the nanoplague which will cost them their favourite weapon and threaten their lives).

plus, once again, remember that technojackers cannot use biotechnology... for whatever reason, they cannot form the neural connection that is required. in a splicers city, that probably extends to all sorts of things... imagine if you lived in north america and all the technology doesn't work for you; you can't drive a car (but can ride in someone else's), automatic doors don't open for you, you can't make phone calls without someone else's help, the hospitals can't treat you for anything, etc.

you have a very visible disability that singles you out as being different. combine that with suspiscion that maybe the machine deliberately created you as a spy, and any memories of accidents that happened (either before the protocol for entering cities was properly established, or as a result of failures in the protocol to perfectly detect potential threats after it was established), and quite frankly, i don't think most technojackers are ever going to truly feel welcome in a splicers city.

i think that, as the setting is given to us, it makes perfect sense for technojackers and regular splicers to have an uneasy alliance that causes neither of them to fully feel comfortable living with the other. both want the same goal generally speaking (the defeat of the machine), and both value the resources the other has available to them (the technojacker's ability to take over machines and use the devices that read splicers currency are of great value, and the splicers have truly incredible war machines that individually and collectively outclass anything the technojackers could hope to have)... but neither of them can use the other's technology directly, and when you get them together they're a hazard to each others' lives.

Problem is techno jackers are born not made, so you want to give up your child because he is different, more power to you. So most people would be willing to teach their child to be overly cautious when dealing with their gifts. Also like you said techno jackers are the only ones who have any chance of finding the end game shut down code.

sure you want your kid to be safe and protected. but your kid is literally *incapable* of contributing meaningfully in your society, and is doomed to spend their entire life miserable because nothing works for them in your home or city, because for whatever reason biotech does not work for technojackers at all (though obviously, biotech creations can).

you really think it's best for them to live their entire life in isolation because of their difference instead of at least being able to contribute? at least if they live outside of the city, they have powerful abilities that they can use to contribute, to provide for themselves, to defend themselves if they attacked, to make a difference in the world. yes, it sucks that they have become exiles. but that was going to happen anyways. all the people they are really *able* to relate with, who have the same body of experience as them, are out in the world, taking over machines, and enjoying their abilities.

your kid is literally stuck between choosing to stay at home and do nothing and be nobody because they are incapable of helping, or go out into the world and in their own way be more powerful than anyone (considering your renewable resource only runs out when you run out of enemies, you are far less limited than most splicers in a way).

Also one has to consider the setting. Its not like modern day where you could work to make allowances and work arounds for disabled or different people. Check the settings way of handling mentally or physically disabled people it is to turn them into biotics. These people are on the edge of extinction and for their very survival people who cannot meaningfully contribute to the betterment of their community are either going to be killed or expelled. In this case they know that techno jackers are useful but their usefulness is out on the surface with other techno jackers or out on military operations not back in the havens.

It makes perfect sense that techno jackers would tend to band together and form their own subculture. They are still able to connect and use relics of their past while on the flip side being totally unable to directly interact with any of humanities new technologies.

ok personally I can see it working and from what your saying you cant, so going to drop this before it turns into a bad thing. I respect your ideas.

i'm not saying it can't work, i'm saying that it legitimately does make sense for technojackers and regular splicers to live separately considering the situation they're in. if you change the rules and setting that create the situation, sure it can work.

but as presented, it really does make sense to be the way it is in the rulebooks.

There are some great houses that work closely with Technojackers, but the TJs would be relegated to separate, isolated areas within the havens. Many houses have agreements with allied TJ clans to send children identified to be TJs to live with them in order to best learn to control their abilities. Since the clans are allies, they can occasionally see their family, but many clans are nomadic so these visits could be few and far between.

I got my subscription copy this weekend, and it looks great. I hope you all like the material. I just have to say though, that we saved the best material for the actual book, much of which is hinted at in the article.

Was hoping my copy would get to me today looks like it will probably be tomorrow at this point oh well looking forward to it.

Just got it. Pretty good stuff. Now we just need official Splicers power armors. I guess we could substitute Rifts SAMAS or Robotech Cyclone / SC Power Armors till then. But there has to be something humans piloted prior to the plague that these guys can pilot.

why do we need that? technojackers can coat themselves in armour and can take over a robot vehicle any time they need one.

Kagashi wrote:Just got it. Pretty good stuff. Now we just need official Splicers power armors. I guess we could substitute Rifts SAMAS or Robotech Cyclone / SC Power Armors till then. But there has to be something humans piloted prior to the plague that these guys can pilot.

They will be coming, with full detail and an explaination as to why they even still exist. Some TJs are awesome pilots. Some just like to hit stuff.

Shark_Force wrote:why do we need that? technojackers can coat themselves in armour and can take over a robot vehicle any time they need one.

Read Rifter 70 and you'll see.

Just got the new one today cover reads-
"Nixon to take trip to China".....
God damn it this is the magazine from under grandma's bed.

I has a sad. Cant buy it yet but will as soon as I can!

Hahahaha

Thank you, thank you, I'm here till Thursday, enjoy the veal.

While I did not read the full new rifter last night due to trees over pollinating my eyes I did get a chance to read the new technojacker stuff. Looks really good helps flesh them out a good bit and gives them room for improvement as they gain experience which is nice.

kaid wrote:While I did not read the full new rifter last night due to trees over pollinating my eyes I did get a chance to read the new technojacker stuff. Looks really good helps flesh them out a good bit and gives them room for improvement as they gain experience which is nice.

I'm glad you like it. Believe me when I say that this is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the new stuff. Krispy and Guy did some really cool stuff, and in my opinion, the best material has been held back for publication of the full sourcebook.

It is a good way to go with them and plays to the splicers flavor of each person being pretty highly personalized ability wise and everybody ending up pretty different from similar starting points.

The Galactus Kid wrote:

kaid wrote:While I did not read the full new rifter last night due to trees over pollinating my eyes I did get a chance to read the new technojacker stuff. Looks really good helps flesh them out a good bit and gives them room for improvement as they gain experience which is nice.

I'm glad you like it. Believe me when I say that this is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the new stuff. Krispy and Guy did some really cool stuff, and in my opinion, the best material has been held back for publication of the full sourcebook.

Thanks mate

Not trying to be rude. (and I do like the stuff in the Rifters) Any ideas on when we might see a sourcebook? I REALLY prefer sourcebooks over Rifters. While I like the stuff in Rifters, too much of it is the Palladium catalog that I already have most of it. It would be nice if KS would spit out books instead of writing articles about spitting out books. Sorry, just frustration here.

Too busy making CCGs, NGage video games, miniature tactics games and worrying about movie options which will never happen than actually writing RPG books. And the books that are in the pipe are mucked down with so much micro management, they take forever to be published (1998 for Mechanoids Space...I was still in college...just sayin). I rather like having the Rifter publish official material from time to time...at least we get SOMETHING.

They are coming