Why I feel there is a powercreep. . .

[Nekira Sudacne]

I understand but that's too silly or just plain wrong therefore not in my game. This is just another powercreep

you know I just felt that uneasy queezy feeling that I get about D&D

that feeling of disgust when I hear about magic slippers in every shoe shop or a fighter who BARELY recognizes a Bastard Sword+2 and throws it on the cart with the rest of the nominal magic items of not so wonderous power

I remember a time when my friend Justin first played rifts and he got his hands on awilks laser pistol the D4 version
and he said well that sucked
and then the gm explained the MD rules and was floored

boy things are different now huh

something about this made me feel like I need to post it, but to give it it's own topic as well. and in the forum where it's most applicable.

yes, there IS a power creep in Rifts. and D&D. and PF for that matter (look at some of those crytal stuff)

there is power creep in HU, with it's Mega Heros, which were specifically forbidden in the origional HU.

there is power creep in D&D

V:tM

and every other RPG out there that comes out with regular suppliments.

why?

because do you REALLY want everything to do the same damage from book to book?

do you think the aurthor want to write such books?

that gets boring.

now you get "ho-hum, another laser pistol that does 2d4, just like the other 20 brands"

when your writing a book, there is a feeling of a need to outdo your previous one.

that means upping the scale

bit by bit. . .

I'm not saying it isn't weird, or sometimes overdone, but I'm saying it's unavoidalbe.

the authors would get bored writing it if all the weapons all did the same damage.

people would get bored reading it. they'd want something a little better. . .

maybe it's bad for game balance, but for business, and gaming enjoyment, it's unavoidable.

that is all.

and yes, just one set CAN and will be fun all by itself.

providing you arn't planning on any new releases ever.

it's a business you know. always gotta come out with something new to keep money coming in.

[Sureshot]

I understand but that's too silly or just plain wrong therefore not in my game. This is just another powercreep

you know I just felt that uneasy queezy feeling that I get about D&D

that feeling of disgust when I hear about magic slippers in every shoe shop or a fighter who BARELY recognizes a Bastard Sword+2 and throws it on the cart with the rest of the nominal magic items of not so wonderous power

I remember a time when my friend Justin first played rifts and he got his hands on awilks laser pistol the D4 version
and he said well that sucked
and then the gm explained the MD rules and was floored

boy things are different now huh

something about this made me feel like I need to post it, but to give it it's own topic as well. and in the forum where it's most applicable.

yes, there IS a power creep in Rifts. and D&D. and PF for that matter (look at some of those crytal stuff)

there is power creep in HU, with it's Mega Heros, which were specifically forbidden in the origional HU.

there is power creep in D&D

V:tM

and every other RPG out there that comes out with regular suppliments.

why?

because do you REALLY want everything to do the same damage from book to book?

do you think the aurthor want to write such books?

that gets boring.

now you get "ho-hum, another laser pistol that does 2d4, just like the other 20 brands"

when your writing a book, there is a feeling of a need to outdo your previous one.

that means upping the scale

bit by bit. . .

I'm not saying it isn't weird, or sometimes overdone, but I'm saying it's unavoidalbe.

the authors would get bored writing it if all the weapons all did the same damage.

people would get bored reading it. they'd want something a little better. . .

maybe it's bad for game balance, but for business, and gaming enjoyment, it's unavoidable.

that is all.

and yes, just one set CAN and will be fun all by itself.

providing you arn't planning on any new releases ever.

it's a business you know. always gotta come out with something new to keep money coming in.

I completely agree. There are almost no games that I know of out on the market that do not add new rules or at the very least new sourcebooks. Compnaies need to make a profit and most fans want new material. That is done by coming out with more books with new material.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Well spoken, but in the case of Dinosaur Swamp, we have a good book with LESS powerful items throughout. Food for thought.

but that's a special case. . .

the reason why you all like it so much is because it's DIFFERENT from the normal powercreep.

the novelty factor will make it a seller.

but if all the newcoming books are like that, low tech and armor with less MDC and damage capisity. . .

people will start to want more than just the same old low tech.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Well, in my book there doesn't have to be powercreep if Palladium would do one thing.

Don't make new gear to replace the old gear. Make new gear we have never seen before in the game, but are common in real life.

How about....oh....say.....a mortar. It is military hardware. We can use it. It probably is blacklisted because it doesn't allow the victim to shoot back, which is why there seems to be no artillery guns of any kind.

Ok, how about a cargo plane. My gamming group flys around in "Mom's Kitchen" cargo planes we borrowed from the RoboTech books. There just are no common cargo planes from Rifts.

Lots of low tech gear like improvised tanks made from cars, or semi-truck tractors.

Hell, cobble job tanks like the Orks of Warhammer 40k would be fitting for Rifts. This is a game based on lost technology where the majority of people can't even read.

Propeller powered aircraft just went extinct I guess. Nobody has a homegrown airforce of lowtech crop dusters that have been armored and straped a few railguns onto them.

I want to see more of that, particularily since the major governments of the world have been covered. Now it is time for the hordes of little guys to be spotlighted.

5 words for you

Rifts Mercenaries, Golden Age Weaponsmiths.

besides, there already is the compendium of modern weapons.

and besides that, even that will get old, and the urge for new stuff begins anew. . .

[Nekira Sudacne]

Dude, you're entirely right, but for all the wrong reasons.

Fans, naturally, want more material. You're entirely right. However, it's the means that material is sorted out.

Material isn't just equipment. Warlords of Russia offered us plenty of new material, even though a large chunk of it is gear, it isn't entirely a book of guns.

All of the cyborg shocktroopers are region-specific. So if nothing else, they're fun because, depending on where you are, you will run into different enemies.

Despite the general feeling on here that the NA borgs use the Armour in the MB, and Russian borgs use the Russian armour, they generally completely revamped the cyborg OCC's into something that really works. Light, heavy, super-heavy. It allows some scaling.

It highlights weaponry geared towards a theme: Heavy. Servo-rigs (new) and high numbers galore. Fitting for a place heavily influenced by MD bionics and magic.

Then it also leads into Mystic Russia. A book mostly filled with information, occupations limited to Russia itself (Hidden Witch, a much-needed Necromancer update, etc) and plenty of magical goodies.

Those two books show how new material, a mixture of new (themed) equipment and world information (with relevant supporting info). It skipped the small-arms garbage (by simply saying the Sovietski use Triax-designed/imported weapons) and kept the space pretty on track.

The problem with new material and a power creep is that many of the redundant books often do the exact opposite of a power creep (while the flavour text says the opposite) and generally is just a lazy piece of work.

I don't like books that are packed full of stats unless you can convince me they're worth it.

I disliked Coalition War Campaign's wasted space on small arms (the majority are equal-to, or inferior, to previous CS weapons), which could have gone into telling us exactly what the standard make-up of a CS force looks like (don't mention the Sourcebook, I don't want to buy a book 'War Campaign' then find out I need to buy another book just to find out what a platoon looks like).

The problem is that we keep seeing pistols printed, rifles printed, and such. It gets tiresome, really quickly. Or simply misleading titles (Psyscape, anyone?).

Woo, off topic a bit. Heh. Either way, your argument is right. We want material, but there's a fair ways more to do it except "Here's more OCC's, rifles, pistols and armor!"

yea, I know that. that was what I was saying.

[Vrykolas2k]

There's also the fact that tech advances, weopons and other-wise... for instance the weopons in the Juicer Uprising book were a slight power-creep at times, BUT it had been awhile since the time between the main books and that one. They are equal to the weopns in NGR for the most part...

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

hardly. i'll take a JA-12 over any Triax rifle any day.

[RockJock]

In our games we pick and chose. Something like the JA-12 laser rifle is extremely powerful. It is one of the only real sniper type weapons with a combination of range and damage to get the job done, it is light enough for the average Grunt to use, and is multi use. It isn't all that uncommon for a single character in our group to have one, but only a SINGLE chracter. We have just made the JA-12 a Pre-Rift relic. There are not crates of them at the local Black Market Pawn Shop. We make in more like the Rift's novel where the CS sniper finds one and gets it refurbished. By doing a few things like that you leave Triax and Wilks as the best small arms manufacturers to the Western World followed by the CS then the Black Market, NG, WI ect.

South America has some quite powerful small arms. Most are limited by being alien tech like the Arkron, ML, New Babylon ect, or projectile based with a finite ammo load away from South America. Russia has already been covered. Yes they have heavy weapons, but they are almost crew served, and not really available in NA. IMHO the Republic of Japan and the New Navy should actually have better tech that is the equal of NEMA from Chaos Earth since they are left overs from Pre Rift times without major loss of tech.

[Vrykolas2k]

I wouldn't make a JA-12 a pre-rifts relic, but they are intended to be fairly rare... the JA-11 and JA-9 are also both uncommon, the way I see things. Your not going to find crates of any of them... if lucky, you can order one or if really lucky find one... other than that, you'll have to kill a juicer {or become one}.

[RockJock]

My point was if a piece of technology, gun, magic bean, whatever is too powerful in your mind, make it part of Rift's but not something you see everyday.

[kamikazzijoe]

Palladium has been really good about the power creep in Rifts. Looking at any one region of the world and the power levels are comparable. Sure teh NGR has ten missles for every one the CS has but the CS isn't fighting against gargoyle hords who each have 400 mdc + body armour. If let your pcs shop for any gun from any where in the world then of course you're going to have problems.
My friends and went through our phase where everyone had a phase field, a naurani field, the tri-beam rifle, anti-armour gun, and rocket rail guns. "What do you mean we have to do another 40,00 to break through the forcefield?"
Once we limited equipment to an occ's starting location and monitored the amount of money given out, the power levels dropped dramatically and suddenly the samas from book one became a major foe to defeat.

[Dr. Doom III]

There is no such thing as power creep.
Doom can point at stuff in every book that is less powerful then what came before.
It’s power variety.
People always latch onto the powerful stuff and ignore the rest.
Is Rifts: Mercenaries power creep? It has Naruni stuff but it also has Chipwell stuff.


As to the first post.
Wilk's pistols sucked even when there was only the Rifts Mainbook. At least untill the New West.

[Killer Cyborg]

There is no such thing as power creep.
Doom can point at stuff in every book that is less powerful then what came before.
It’s power variety.
People always latch onto the powerful stuff and ignore the rest.
Is Rifts: Mercenaries power creep? It has Naruni stuff but it also has Chipwell stuff.

Your usually superb logic is faulty here, Doom.

The inclusion of lesser powered gear does nothing to negate the fact that the standard for the higher powered gear keeps being raised.

That's like saying that there was no arms race between the US and the USSR, because our governments bought mops as well as nukes.

Besides which, there are plenty of non-gear related examples of power creep:

1. Make a T-Rex according to the dino tables in the back of the main book.
Compare it to New West or Dinosaur Swamps.
2. Supernatural Strength used to do SDC, now it does MDC.
3. The power level of magic has risen drastically. You used to have to be 10th level or so to do 1d6x10 MD with a spell. Now anybody who learns Sub-particle Accelleration can do that much damage.
4. Compare the Headhunter class in the main book to the Headhunter: Technowarrior in Rifts:Canada.
The sub-OCC of Techno-warrior literally has every single advantage the regular Headhunter has, plus special OCC abilities, more skills, better bonuses and the ability for more bionics.
Basically, the power level of the OCC crept up.

[Dr. Doom III]

1. Make a T-Rex according to the dino tables in the back of the main book.
Compare it to New West or Dinosaur Swamps.

Those stats sucked.

2. Supernatural Strength used to do SDC, now it does MDC.

Dragons? Hello?

3. The power level of magic has risen drastically. You used to have to be 10th level or so to do 1d6x10 MD with a spell. Now anybody who learns Sub-particle Accelleration can do that much damage.

Magic was and still is under powered.

4. Compare the Headhunter class in the main book to the Headhunter: Technowarrior in Rifts:Canada.
The sub-OCC of Techno-warrior literally has every single advantage the regular Headhunter has, plus special OCC abilities, more skills, better bonuses and the ability for more bionics.
Basically, the power level of the OCC crept up.

Variety.

[Killer Cyborg]

1. Make a T-Rex according to the dino tables in the back of the main book.
Compare it to New West or Dinosaur Swamps.

Those stats sucked.

No, those stats were already pumped up way beyond the capabilities of real dinosaurs.

Following the main book (original edition) rules, the Raptors in Jurassic Park would have been bullet-proof, able to eat through concrete wall like butter, and able to survive up a couple direct hits by LAW rockets!!

The reason why people tend to pretend that Power Creep doesn't exist is because they seem to have little conception of exactly how powerful your average Rogue Scholar in Plastic Man armor is.
People constantly want their characters to be more powerful, but that's absurd considering how powerful their characters are to begin with.
Sure, a dinosaur from the main book would't pose much threat to your standard Rifts character.
But your standard Rifts chartacter is practically a GOD!
They have MDC gear in a primarily SDC world, and this makes them more powerful than any super hero from Heroes Unlimited, more powerful than a modern tank, and much more powerful than any discontinued series of proto-reptiles that couldn't survive a comet and a few rats coming their way.
In short, take a party of vagabonds up against some main book Dinos and see what the results are. Vagabonds were supposed to be the standard; the average person.
Now the standard seems to be a heavily armed and armored merc or headhunter, and THAT is the reason behind the power creep.
Loss of perspective regarding what is the norm for the gameworld.

[Killer Cyborg]

2. Supernatural Strength used to do SDC, now it does MDC.

Dragons? Hello?

3. The power level of magic has risen drastically. You used to have to be 10th level or so to do 1d6x10 MD with a spell. Now anybody who learns Sub-particle Accelleration can do that much damage.

Magic was and still is under powered.

4. Compare the Headhunter class in the main book to the Headhunter: Technowarrior in Rifts:Canada.
The sub-OCC of Techno-warrior literally has every single advantage the regular Headhunter has, plus special OCC abilities, more skills, better bonuses and the ability for more bionics.
Basically, the power level of the OCC crept up.

Variety.

2. Dragons didn't do Megadamage because of their Supernatural Strength, they did megadamage because they were Dragons.
And how much Megadamage could they do?
2d6 for claws, 2d4 for a bite.
Regardless of how high or how low the PS was.
A Great Horned Hatchling Dragon with PS of 6 would do 2d6 with his claws, and a Great Horned Hatchling Dragon with PS of 36 would do 2d6 with his claws.
Not because of Supernatural Strength, but because dragons are magical creatures.

Also note Xiticix in the main book.
They do SDC on most hand to hand attacks.
They are able to do Megadamage on a power punch or leap attack, but not nearly as much damage as they do after the Supernatural Strength tables in Conversion Book 1 crept up the power level of everybody with supernatural strength.

Also, there is the rule where supernatural strength punch damage is added to MD weapon attacks.
A dragon with a vibro-knife used to do 1d6 MD.
Now a dragon with a vibro-knife does 3d6+ MD.
Yet there is no such thing as power creep...?

[Killer Cyborg]

3. The power level of magic has risen drastically. You used to have to be 10th level or so to do 1d6x10 MD with a spell. Now anybody who learns Sub-particle Accelleration can do that much damage.

Magic was and still is under powered.

4. Compare the Headhunter class in the main book to the Headhunter: Technowarrior in Rifts:Canada.
The sub-OCC of Techno-warrior literally has every single advantage the regular Headhunter has, plus special OCC abilities, more skills, better bonuses and the ability for more bionics.
Basically, the power level of the OCC crept up.

Variety.

3. Your opinion on this doesn't change the fact that spells have gotten a LOT more powerful than they used to be.

4. No, that's not variety.
Variety is the difference between a headhunter, a CS soldier, an NGR soldier, and some of the OCCs in Rifts: Mercenaries.

The Techno-Warrior is a case where a new OCC rendered the original OCC obsolete. As in, you can have one but why bother?
If you were shopping for a new car, computer, etc. and were looking at two different models...
One model was pretty neat and reasonably priced.
The other model could literally do everything the other model could, plus one heck of a lot more, and the prices were exactly the same, would you have any difficulty making your choice?
Would you chalk the differences up to variety, or would you ask "why are they even bothing to sell this piece of garbage when my new computer is so much better for the same price?"
The Techno-Warriors aren't exclusive to Canada or any other region. They aren't exclusive to any government, religion, or philosophy, and they aren't even an update to the original OCC.
Barring GM intervention, anytime you could roll up a main book headhunter you could roll up a Techno-warrior, so the cost is the same.
The power level of the game has crept up to the point where a main book Headhunter wasn't considered to be a viable character anymore, so they made a more powerful class.
Power Creep, in short.

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

so there's a power creep.
big deal.

[Dr. Doom III]

so there's a power creep.
big deal.

No there is just a perception of power creep.

[Temporalmage]

No, those stats were already pumped up way beyond the capabilities of real dinosaurs.

Not to be rude or anything, but I got one question for ya Killer.......can I borrow your time machine when you get done playing with it???

[Daniel Stoker]

1. Make a T-Rex according to the dino tables in the back of the main book.
Compare it to New West or Dinosaur Swamps.

Those stats sucked.

No, those stats were already pumped up way beyond the capabilities of real dinosaurs.

Following the main book (original edition) rules, the Raptors in Jurassic Park would have been bullet-proof, able to eat through concrete wall like butter, and able to survive up a couple direct hits by LAW rockets!!

Well yes they would have.... if they lived in a magic rich world that somehow empowered them to that level like in Rifts. So what's your point?



Daniel Stoker

[Killer Cyborg]

so there's a power creep.
big deal.

No there is just a perception of power creep.

Doom,
Unless you have evidence to the contrary, I have demonstrated that the power level of the game has increased since the game began.
New OCCs are rendering old OCCs obsolete.
Old creatures have become much more powerful than they originally were, with no in-game explanation.
Guns are more powerful, armor is more powerful, spells are more powerful.

How is that just "perception of power creep"?
Things started out at one power level, and they have increased ever since.
I suppose you could say that what I percieve as Power Creep would be more accurately described as
"Insane Power Hopping"
But it IS there.

[Dr. Doom III]

Doom,
Unless you have evidence to the contrary, I have demonstrated that the power level of the game has increased since the game began.
New OCCs are rendering old OCCs obsolete.
Old creatures have become much more powerful than they originally were, with no in-game explanation.
Guns are more powerful, armor is more powerful, spells are more powerful.

How is that just "perception of power creep"?
Things started out at one power level, and they have increased ever since.
I suppose you could say that what I percieve as Power Creep would be more accurately described as
"Insane Power Hopping"
But it IS there.

Not to Doom's satisfaction you haven't.

There are not to many weapons more powerful then a Boomgun, Power Armor more powerful then a Glitterboy, or character classes stronger then a Dragon. All from the Main Book.
If there weren’t we would not be talking about "power creep" we would be talking about stagnation.

[The Galactus Kid]

Doom, usually I would agree with you, but I think that one would have to be blind to ignore the power creep in RIFTS. I see that there is a creep (with the few NOTED exceptions by Doom), and the evidence is overwhelming. I don't think that the power creep is really that big of a deal, especially when you take into consideration the eents transpiring in the world.

Technological advancements will occur just because you have people trying to improve what they have. Of course there are also other elements to technological advancement, like the CS war on tolkeen. That event caused such a military buildup and to think that it would have no impact on weapons developent is luncay. Just look at the advancements made in weapon tech during WWII.

Magical advancements can be said to have happened for the same reasons. There is a war brewing. We need better spells, so they send bunches of mages to search for spells of legend, research new spells, or find new magical equipment. They realized that the TW flaming sword was just not going to cut it.

[Temporalmage]

They realized that the TW flaming sword was just not going to cut it.

OH that's Punny!! Flaming sword.....cut it......

[Killer Cyborg]

Power creep is really, inherently driven by the fact that rather than putting all or even MOST of the OCCs/RCCs in the main book, they are spread out. Then combine that with the "mega-damage" concept, which basically makes any "regular" class worthless. For example, you can't just make a samurai using the rules in the RMB. It has to be updated to be competetive/balanced in an MDC world. The Gunfighter is another good example. If it were an entirely SDC system, you wouldn't need to make books and books worth of OCCs which just rip off existing archetypes, but boost them in power enough for them to be fun to play in a world where MDC exists.

You're basically right, but it just shows how the writers of Rifts aren't thinking.

Take Samurai, for example.
The makers of Rifts: Japan could have:
a) Stuck to the very good and original concept that Japan was destroyed.
b) Had Rifts: Japan be a primarily SDC environment.
c) Had Samurai use vibro-swords and MDC armor that looks more Japanese than the stuff in the main book, but has roughly the same MDC.

Now look at the Gunslinger:
The makers of New West could have:
a) stuck to the concept that there was "less than 1 human or humanoid D-Bee per 300 square miles" in the western territories.
b)Had the New West be a Low MDC environment, where light MD weapons were common but where armor was rare and had very light MD.
(This would have also made the West more exciting.
The tension in the typical western Show Down comes from the fact that whoever draws first is likely to kill the other person.
The best guns in the west were those fast enough to draw and fire after his foe has started to draw but before he can get a shot off.
You have to be GOOD with a gun for that, and it can be a very tense situation.
The Rifts showdown is boring.
Take your time drawing. As long as you have more MDC than them, you'll be fine.
The fastest draw in the west will lose out to the guy with the best armor.
Yawn.
Not nearly as intense as two SDC guys using Wilk's 320s!)

[Killer Cyborg]

Doom,
Unless you have evidence to the contrary, I have demonstrated that the power level of the game has increased since the game began.
New OCCs are rendering old OCCs obsolete.
Old creatures have become much more powerful than they originally were, with no in-game explanation.
Guns are more powerful, armor is more powerful, spells are more powerful.

How is that just "perception of power creep"?
Things started out at one power level, and they have increased ever since.
I suppose you could say that what I percieve as Power Creep would be more accurately described as
"Insane Power Hopping"
But it IS there.

Not to Doom's satisfaction you haven't.

There are not to many weapons more powerful then a Boomgun, Power Armor more powerful then a Glitterboy, or character classes stronger then a Dragon. All from the Main Book.
If there weren’t we would not be talking about "power creep" we would be talking about stagnation.

So, what... you seem to be saying that as long as the Boom Gun is top of the line there isn't any power creep?
Nonsense.
Power Creep is the raising of the standard for the game overall, not just for the most powerful characters.

[Hystrix]

So, what... you seem to be saying that as long as the Boom Gun is top of the line there isn't any power creep?
Nonsense.
Power Creep is the raising of the standard for the game overall, not just for the most powerful characters.

I am absolutly with KC on this. The power creep is also represnted by laser pistols that are doing 4 or 5d6 MD on average (the RMB has the high end oned doing 2d4!

[Daniel Stoker]

the ng 57 does 3d6, and thats the main book.

But thats me

It's not a laser pistol though, it's an Ion one.



Daniel Stoker

[Preacher]

So, what... you seem to be saying that as long as the Boom Gun is top of the line there isn't any power creep?
Nonsense.
Power Creep is the raising of the standard for the game overall, not just for the most powerful characters.

I am absolutly with KC on this. The power creep is also represnted by laser pistols that are doing 4 or 5d6 MD on average (the RMB has the high end oned doing 2d4!

OK refresh an old mans memory and point me to this AVERAGE of 4 and 5D6MD Laser Pistols? I was thinking the average was 2 or 3D6MD and maybe the odd one or two that does 3D6+4MD or some such but not 4 or 5D6?!?!?!?

[Nekira Sudacne]

So, what... you seem to be saying that as long as the Boom Gun is top of the line there isn't any power creep?
Nonsense.
Power Creep is the raising of the standard for the game overall, not just for the most powerful characters.

I am absolutly with KC on this. The power creep is also represnted by laser pistols that are doing 4 or 5d6 MD on average (the RMB has the high end oned doing 2d4!

OK refresh an old mans memory and point me to this AVERAGE of 4 and 5D6MD Laser Pistols? I was thinking the average was 2 or 3D6MD and maybe the odd one or two that does 3D6+4MD or some such but not 4 or 5D6?!?!?!?

the average is between 2 and 3 d6.

only the very rare pulse lasers do around 4 or 5.

[grandmaster z0b]

Power Creep does exist. But, it should be celebrated, rather than mourned.

I totally agree, I mean I like the fact that there were dragons, glitter boys and vagabonds in the RMB, and the fact that there was plastic man armour and CS heavy armour. However, I think there was too much of a gap between the ultra-powerful and the completely normal. The average power has gone up, but I don't think to the detriment of the game. I personally like guns that do more damage not because I'm a munchkin but because I like combat to be fast and deadly.

I also like the tech development angle, I like starting before CWC and having it happen around the characters, then the power creep means something.

Bring on the Power Creep!

[Killer Cyborg]

Power Creep does exist. But, it should be celebrated, rather than mourned.

I totally agree, I mean I like the fact that there were dragons, glitter boys and vagabonds in the RMB, and the fact that there was plastic man armour and CS heavy armour. However, I think there was too much of a gap between the ultra-powerful and the completely normal. The average power has gone up, but I don't think to the detriment of the game. I personally like guns that do more damage not because I'm a munchkin but because I like combat to be fast and deadly.

I also like the tech development angle, I like starting before CWC and having it happen around the characters, then the power creep means something.

Bring on the Power Creep!

1. Combat in Rifts has always been pretty deadly. Power creep hasn't done much to change that, especially since part of the power creep is upping the average MDC of everything.
2. The advancing technology doesn't explain power creep. First of all, in the main book the best technology is stuff from the Golden Age. The CS is the main tech power and they can't even really improve on things, just swipe old ideas and claim that they came up with them on their own.
Second of all, no advance in technology can explain why dinosaurs went from a handful of MDC to hundreds of MDC. Or why creatures with supernatural strength started to inflict megadamage. Or any of the other examples of power creep that have nothing to do with new technology.