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Tell me about the coolness of Chaos Earth. I like new games where I can tell new stories I have never told before. Tell me about your campaigns and why CE is worth the cash...or not.

Also, how different is CE in actual play vs. Rifts?

To me, Chaos Earth is the best setting that Palladium has ever produced. It's dark, gritty, and extremely rough. It's a game whose central theme is human survival... and the humans are losing. It's very dramatic.

I agree it really seems to put the survival of the human race into the players hands! I agree about it being a great setting too!

Almost as diverse as Rifts.

Darker than Nightbane.

Potentially scarier than BTS.

Arguably more Dangerous than Splicers.

With a fight for survival not unlike (arguably better than) System Failure.

That's Chaos Earth in a nutshell.

~ Josh

I think it one of the most heroic in recent times for most of the RPGs out there.

Aramanthus wrote:I think it one of the most heroic in recent times for most of the RPGs out there.

It also has the potential to be the least heroic, showcasing humanity at its worst.

Which can make it a deep and dark game.

~ Josh

Very true Josh! Very true!

I totally know the feeling about that feeling your players mention to you. Mine have said the same thing before.

What makes CE different from Rifts? Are the OCC / tech / enemies different enough to make a notable difference?

I find another attractive feature of Chaos Earth to be the ease of relation between players and characters. You can literally sit back and wonder, "What if the world as I knew it fell apart tomorrow?" Then, you can go from there. Plus, it's easy to get a sense of what things would be like (to at least a certain degree). There have been so many major disasters as of late, both natural and man-made. For inspiration, one would only need look to the stories that came out of Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, the train bombings in Great Britain, and of course Sept. 11th. To me, those stories of triumph and tragedy are the same things that a Chaos Earth campaign are about. Granted, there is a large fictional element involved in CE, and stories might be a little more grandiose, but the concept of the resilience of the human spirit in even the darkest times is the driving force behind the game.

That having been said, I'm not totally fond of everything that has been done for CE. However, my personal taste lends itself to much more "serious" literary archetype than the material I somewhat dislike. So, take my opinion for what you will, but I love the concept of CE and can't wait to see Jason's new books for it (get on it man! ).

I like Chaos Earth. It could use a little more support, but the article about England from the Rifter was a help. You have a good idea of North America, Europe, and Asia from various Rifts books. I still like the original idea for CE better, but the retro is awesome.

SkyStreak wrote:Enemies have the notable difference of having weaknesses or vulnerabilities that allow them to be hurt (or possibly killed) by non-MDC attacks, which is a big change from Rifts (up until this point).

Actually, that's by no means a big change.

There has always been demons and supernatural beings like that in Rifts.

~ Josh

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

SkyStreak wrote:Enemies have the notable difference of having weaknesses or vulnerabilities that allow them to be hurt (or possibly killed) by non-MDC attacks, which is a big change from Rifts (up until this point).

Actually, that's by no means a big change.

There has always been demons and supernatural beings like that in Rifts.

~ Josh

I'd say that it is more explicit and categorized in CE.