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I have been reading about oil well drilling/natural gas, releasing dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas. This is also a naturally occurring phenomenon known as "Mash Gas". Coal mines have several forms of "damp" of dangerous gases, most notable of these is "firedamp" which is a flammable gas often lit by lamps.
There is also Landfill gas, mostly Methane and CO2 in dangerous concentrations. It could be argued that most of the golden age cities became one national landfill due to ocean swamping and the terrific earthquakes.

All of this of course does not take into account the wacky things that can happen due to rift activity. The sudden surge of energies could (and probably have) created any number of environmental byproducts (such as increased radioactive material deposits) or simply even left dangerous material behind, entire chunks of alien atmosphere, land, flora, etc. Places where different rules for physics are in effect (the ambient atmosphere becomes either too thick or too thin to support humanoid life, the atmospheric pressure radically alters requiring environmental armor or a pressurized atmosphere like a vehicle, etc).
A radiation that only inhibits red blood cells from carrying oxygen.
An area with an ambient temperature of over 500 degrees that looks entirely normal otherwise.
A lake of permanently frozen ammonia with surface temps at -30 degrees.
Air Snakes.
Giant Bumblebees from Mars (yes that IS a thing, look it up).
Legally Distinct Pre-Adult Genetically Aberrant Martial Arts inclined Terrapins and other strangeness.


Also what about hazards left over from the golden age? I know of at least one city ruin on my map that is filled with a persistent deadly gas can kill even supernatural life forms (it inhibits regeneration and slowly shrivels their flesh after blinding them). What about a localized plague of rogue nanobots that strip the meat right off the bones of the living? An area where underground deposits of something are either burning or radioactive, releasing deadly radiation and poisoning the water?

All of these and so many more that I cannot even imagine should really be used to challenge and plague the players. America is a HUGE place, and I think there is room for all of these and many more.

What have you, as player or GM, experienced so far?

Somebody's been reading "A Roadside Picnic"......

Most of the games have been pretty cookie-cutter.

Man vs the environment has not been a big thing.

Most of the players prefer enemies they can shot or punch and that are just evil.

the player characters fight criminals
Not unemployment or homelessness.
Not diseases or pollution
Not a draught or a flood.

I remember something in the Canada book about environmental damage of cold weather.
Same with the vampire book and heat-stroke and such.

Most of my fellow gamers want a run and gun.
Playing penality accountant of their health and condition counter is tedious.
Even overpowered characters are too powerful for most of the environmental stuff.
While the only human ones are a rare player character. Rarely alone but with an OP character like a baby dragon who soars above it all...

In theory, one could kill a Juicer by dehydrating them to death or getting them so desperate/impatient that they drink foul water.

None of my fellow players want to be beaten by a flu or common cold.
Zombie plague is somewhat exceptable but kind of makes it an all or nothing saving throw situation.

The environmental problems you describe are real in real life but in game it is more about the entertainment value for the players.
IF the can't rob it, kill it intimidate it or resuce it most players I have played with don't want anything to do with it.

Robotech's 1E REF Field Guide and Book 6 Revised have environmental challenges on their random generated "tunnels" for the Robotech Factory Satellite used in their respective adventures (C&Ped, used). And these challenges do consider MD equipment being involved and how they would play out, since by default some "dangers" are might be nullified by EBA in Rifts (as RT has EBA).

Rifts Canada does have rules for cold environments. Phaseworld DBs also include information on "hostile worlds" (in DB2's random alien tables) that could be used for environments (might also be similar tables elsewhere), and at least 1x race that is a (multi_ plague carrier (DB5 or 6 for these last two bits).

(Robotech 2E's NG SB or was it Genesis Pits also has consolidated rules for environment likely pulled from Rifts).

I was thinking that in this whole continent that there should be more no-mans lands, places that people avoid completely. I mean there are several places like that NOW in REAL America. Whole towns have been evacuated/abandoned due to radioactive fallout or underground coal fires or toxic waste disposal in the ground water. It REALLY happens. I just figured that the rifts and a society ending apocalypse would make it happen MORE that's all lol.

RMB characters tend to start off with Geiger counters.
I always figured there was a good reason for that.

Killer Cyborg wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 7:14 pm RMB characters tend to start off with Geiger counters.
I always figured there was a good reason for that.

Sure, there might be caches of dumped radioactive waste in a desert somewhere, contaminated water tables near ancient power plants, leaky fission warheads from the old days, radiating superpowered mutants, wreckage from a recent mech battle, or simply a factory full of those glow-in-the-dark clock faces. However, it is all relative to exposure. Even airburst fallout is relatively safe after a few decades... downright healthy compared to all the other nastiness Rifts Earth has to throw at a PC... like the GMO beef outta Lone Star!!!

slade2501 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 11:44 am I was thinking that in this whole continent that there should be more no-mans lands, places that people avoid completely. I mean there are several places like that NOW in REAL America. Whole towns have been evacuated/abandoned due to radioactive fallout or underground coal fires or toxic waste disposal in the ground water. It REALLY happens. I just figured that the rifts and a society ending apocalypse would make it happen MORE that's all lol.

To an extent yes and no. But one also has to remember that:
-there are various "alien" species who might find such places hospitable (or might have "cleaned" it up, and I don't mean just sentient aliens but also the more animal/basic-intelligence types to)
-it's also suggested that some "dimensional" swapping has taken place at locations, and we know phenomena like D-Shifting happens (Fade Towns being one example) so areas might be "cleaned up" by this phenomena (maybe in some cases some Power is responsible?) or other temporal shifts (Japan's 4-cities, Tundra Rangers base)
-tech and magic could also render these "issues" impotent or "set dressing" for short encounters (ex. toxic air is meaningless if the characters are in EBA)
-300+ years have elapsed IINM, allowing Mother Nature/Time to have "cleaned up" some sites alone or with help (like above) so depending on time frame of when the danger originated and how much time has elapsed and the nature of the issue