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I have a limited budget, but am considering picking up some Rifter issues. As a Heroes Unlimited fan, what would be your top five picks, and why?

It depends on what you are looking for.

Matt Reed has done some great work on revising the Skilled heroes:
Rifter 79 - Stage Magician
Rifter 81 - Super Sleuth - This is the best one
Rifter 82 - Physical Training
All three of these make these characters a lot more fun to play so if you want non powered NPCs or PCs these are great issues.

Along these lines Rifter 37 has an expanded Mega Hero if you are looking to run a game of those.

If you use the Century Station / Gramarcy Island books:
Rifter 69 - Locations, NPCs and equipment for Century Station

If you like Aliens Unlimited Setting
Rifter 14 - Atorian Empire
Rifter 60 - CSV New Hope which is a ship or setting for adventure

Just in general you have
Rifter 50 - Hero Legacies which I love for creating some of my characters for convention games which is Official material.
Rifter 5 - Isn't a favorite but it has Heroes throughout the Ages which I use to add to the Legacies stuff.

I know this is more than 5 but I think I use the Rifter for Heroes more than any other game so it was hard to choose.

woot, thank you Warshield.

I like the one that has new mega-heroes also, 37, I think?

I would concur with Warshield. I would also include Rifter 18 which has expanded unusual characteristics for mutants and aliens. I also highly recommend Rifter
#69 with the Century Station material.

Hrmm... I'm all-digital these days; so if the issue isn’t out in digital form, I’m not getting it (yet). I simply don’t have the physical space to do otherwise. That puts Rifters 79, 81, and 82 out of reach for the time being (which means I won’t get the benefit of the current sale; oh well).

I agree with these, they were incredibly useful!

Rifter 79 - Stage Magician
Rifter 81 - Super Sleuth

thank you, Idahobeef!

zerombr wrote:woot, thank you Warshield.

I like the one that has new mega-heroes also, 37, I think?

No problem it's great stuff, are you going to try and get your Super Spy update in for Rifter 83 or 84?

Warshield73 wrote:No problem it's great stuff, are you going to try and get your Super Spy update in for Rifter 83 or 84?

Its been sent, so it is out of my hands now.

Palladium Books really should look into shifting their focus to producing PDFs, with print-on-demand for customers who want physical copies. Cheaper and easier to produce, and could substantially increase their rate of releases. Plus, not as much concern about warehousing product or books going out of print.

dataweaver wrote:Palladium Books really should look into shifting their focus to producing PDFs, with print-on-demand for customers who want physical copies. Cheaper and easier to produce, and could substantially increase their rate of releases. Plus, not as much concern about warehousing product or books going out of print.

That's a great idea. I wonder if they've ever explored that option.

zerombr wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:No problem it's great stuff, are you going to try and get your Super Spy update in for Rifter 83 or 84?

Its been sent, so it is out of my hands now.

Well, here's hoping it makes into 83. I am making characters for a convention at the end of February and I am using the Super Sleuth and Physical Training, it would be cool to have the Super Spy.

Jack Burton wrote:

dataweaver wrote:Palladium Books really should look into shifting their focus to producing PDFs, with print-on-demand for customers who want physical copies. Cheaper and easier to produce, and could substantially increase their rate of releases. Plus, not as much concern about warehousing product or books going out of print.

That's a great idea. I wonder if they've ever explored that option.

This is something that keeps coming up, printing the books is not a huge cost, especially if you do a decent sized print run. The cost is in art and writing and just keeping the lights on. Also how would doing things digitally increase production? The delays are always in writing and editing which won't go any faster without a hard copy.

It would be a great replacement for the Rifter though but if they are going to make any money on it, and to quicken the pace, they need to get cheaper art for these products. And, if it is just digital, color art maybe.

I my self do not buy digital i love getting a new book in my hands , Also i support my local game shop by buying from them witch in turn supports PB . And not to mention others might get interested in there books by seeing them on the shelf at a local shop.

PS i have nerved missed a Rifter issue , and at my local shop if it is a new palladium book i get it .

I'm glad you have room for it.

dataweaver wrote:I'm glad you have room for it.

While I too own everything Palladium, and I mean everything, it does take up a lot of space. One entire book shelf with nothing but Palladium books and one entire shelf is just Rifters so I get only wanting them digitally. The good news is things are coming out slowly but surely.

For me the crucial ones for HU are:
#37: Mega-Heroes
#74: Ancient Weapon Master: Specialist
#79: Setting the Stage with the Stage Magician
#81: Hitting the Streets with the Super Sleuth
#82: Hitting the Gym with the Physical Training Hero

However some secondary ones that might interest you are:
#7: World Warriors
#25: The Enthralled
#44: Telekinesis and Ectoplasm
#50: Chaos Earth Psychics

the new forms of psionics were a good choice! thanks for reminding me.

Rifter 12 has some superpowers and character ideas that didn't make into a book yet. Including a couple of super teams.

Rifter #1 has powers that didn't make it into HU2 or any of the Powers Unlimited books, and those that did get reprinted were changed, so it's a nice look at "Raw" versions of those powers.

Rifter #11 has a short section of new superpowers as well.

Rifter #25 has Psionic Powers for Rifts that are fairly powerful and worth considering for Heroes Unlimited psychics (standard 1:1 M.D.C. to S.D.C. conversion).

Rifter #49 has both a Stage Magician upgrade I really liked, plus new versions of Vampires that are pretty cool and could work well in Heroes Unlimited as antagonists.

Rifter #50 has the Chaos Earth psychics and the Nightbane Mortificant, both of which could translate well into Heroes Unlimited.

Glistam wrote:Rifter #49 has both a Stage Magician upgrade I really liked, plus new versions of Vampires that are pretty cool and could work well in Heroes Unlimited as antagonists.

I had forgotten about the Vampire variants. I have my own vampire types for modern day games (HU, BTS, NB) but I used a lot of stuff from this issue so yet another reason to have it.

I would look at Rifter 18 for an expanded unusual traits articel and Rifter 22 for an expanded super soldier article.