North American midwest for a returning gamer and help finding a book or two

[Olorandir]

Hi,

I played RIFTS in 1990-something with high school friends and we made an absolute mess of things; it was a blast!

We had a book that had magic circles and symbols, I'm pretty sure the class involved was the Diabolost but that was a long time ago with many systems in between.

I've had an idea for a campaign after reading In the Garden of Beasts that would fit well into the 104 P.A. RIFTS version of the North American midwest and have picked up RUE, RGMG, BoM, and AG. I'm thinking D-Bees of North America next and then maybe FoM, NG, CWC, XI, and the new one on Titan Robotics, but that Diabolost keeps lurking in the back of my mind as the sort of thing Tolkeen and Lazlo would have instead of the CS Military Specialist. Can't for the life of me remember if that was a RIFTS book or just Palladium Fantasy.

Five categories of questions;
1. What book(s) have all those circles and symbols, plus the class if it was ever brought over to RIFTS?
2. Am I out of my gourd re: the way magical societies would conduct intelligence and espionage? How do you GMs do it?
3. Do oldies like Rifts Canada, Source Book 1, and the Vampire Kingdoms still hold up in RUE? If not, what's good for this area in the UE? I'm looking to expand the collection in manageable chunks and without too much power creep.
4. Is the Bestiary or the Conversion Guide the book to use like a monster manual of random wandering nonsense the RIFTS dropped off where the local hardware store used to be? I like the wilderness wild and full of giant beasts, demons, and the like.
5. What question is it clear to an experienced RIFTS UE player that I should have asked, but didn't?

I have both a sense of humor and don't take things personally, so any constructive responses are welcome. Many thanks in advance if you've read this far!

Olo

[Dustin Fireblade]

1. Sounds like Palladium Fantasy book
2. Most likely, but what are you thinking?
3. Canada does, SB1 and Vampire Kingdoms have new Revised editions. Mainly updated the timeline and added more material.
4. Yep that works. If you have the original Rifts Main Book, it has the awesome monster generator in the back.
5. The D-Bee's of NA is awesome and must have. Depending on "where" in the Midwest, the next books might change.

[Olorandir]

1. Thanks! Will give it a look over and maybe incorporate it.
2. None of the Rifts Practitioners of Magic get intelligence,(this is incorrect as it turns out) for some reason I thought Diabolist got access to that, or a similar, skill. Plus spells that would allow for reconnaissance and some mind control. The Ley Line Walker isn’t so subtle, the Shifter certainly isn’t unless those summoned rats can spy. Am I missing a magical class that can spy master?
3. Sounds good, will have to find those in storage!
4. I lent my RMB to a college buddy ages ago, you can fill in the rest. Is that generator reprinted anywhere else? I picked up Beastiary Vol 1 but didn’t see it.
5. Also picked up D-Bees of NA and the Bionics book. The former looks great! I’m fleshing out the Lazlo Foreign Service and having the players make operatives or attachés. Lazlo never got a book as far as I know. I was thinking Federation of Magic and Xiticix Invasion next?

[Dustin Fireblade]

2 - I'm pretty sure the Ley Line Walker and Shifter both have access to the Intelligence skill. Anyway, yeah get the Federation of Magic and check out those OCC's listed there. You also want Rifts Mercenaries. Also, some digging around you should be able to find something that helps out spell wise. I'm also thinking either the Book of Magic and/or one of the Tolkeen War books talks about using magic in terms of intelligence/espionage. The other thing I'd note is that magic societies and such will make good use of minions...
3. Speaking of Mercenaries, just grab all the other books about Mercenaries. Merc-Town, Merc-Ops, Adventures.
4. Sadly, it has not.
5. Yes get FoM. As for the Xiticix Invasion, only if you plan on being in their territory a lot is it really necessary. Free Quebec may be more useful but if nothing else for the section on "Old Bones"
If you are planning on going up against the CS, note that Coalition War Campaign is set during 105 PA setting the stage for the Tolkeen War, but a lot of the OCC's and other material already "existed" in universe.

[Olorandir]

2. You’re correct, thanks for pointing that out. I missed it.
I’ll take a look at the Tolkeen War books as the FLGS.
5. I like the bugs, having one all-evil-no-shades-of-grey enemy is a useful thing. Enemies might even unite to fight them for a while. Free Quebec isn’t a book I’m familiar with. Thanks!

[Zer0 Kay]

Diabolist pg 117 in PFRPG 2E but they're wards. Summoners deal in circles.

I think your giving leyline walkers too much of your own head canon as to them being "not subtle. On the contrary the their "device" of choice and the methods they use to spy, they are extremely subtle. Like James Bond using Mardigras or Carnival for cover but still being able to garner sensitive Information amongst the "noise". Granted just like those two examples though the particular spy abilities are limited to only where the "parade" is marching or the leylines flow. Better spy mages would be the temporal mages from the England Book (pg 66) or Phase Mystic from Phase world but that is really psychic as it is ISP based. As for summoner why is it just rats your thinking of? A freaking dinosaur would be sufficient spy platform... if you were in dinosaur swamp. What does and does not work for spycraft is always dependant on where you are. A spy in an Armani suit is going to be out of place and unable to do their job in the middle of a hometown Southern BBQ. THAT would be not "so subtle". On the other hand an actual spy class that then has a few magic devices would still be a superior spy to a mage who has some spycraft.