Okay what book am i suspsoed to learn from?

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

You should start learning from Rifts Ultimate Edition, as it has the most recent version of the core rules.

Yes, the dimension books are compatible.

Welcome to the Boards.



~ Josh

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Rifts Ultimate Edition is a great starting point, and has a section listing which books are useful depending what type of adventures you want to run.

Rifts GM Guide is a great book has almost everything listed weapon and vechile and power armor wise. cuts down on the number of books you need to carry around.

[Shotgun Jolly]

Welcome to the MegaVerse TBone

Figured I would offer my 2 cents worth on what books one would need to learn from.

Here is what I would buy or borrow to get a good grasp on things when it comes to the core information that I think a person would need to get started playing. Everything else would be extra flavor.

R:UE
Book of Magic
Bionic Source Book.
GM Guide
Conversion book one, or Revised coversion book 1 and Dark Conversions.

The above list should help you get well on your way. Mind you there are a dozen books that you could add to give you a ton of new equipment/OCC's and what ever. But this should allow you to get your guys playing in the world of Rifts. Then when you get the feel for it you can buy/borrow what ever world books you would want to suit your needs. Atlantis, CWC, Juicer Uprising, Xiticix Invasion, what ever you suits your style.

For extra Gear and equipment.
Mercenaries and/or Merc OPs/ and Source Book 1 (any version should do. I dont have the newer one yet tho)

Based on what you have, with R:UE and Federation of Magic should do you plenty well in regards to magic. Book of magic just has everything piled in one location which makes it alot easier to cart around to your games. So you are good on that aspect. As for the Demensional Market. I dont have that book yet.. BUT its next of my "to get" list. lots of cool stuff in there from what i have seen.

The list of books that you have listed should do you pretty good tho.

Anyways, I hope what I said helps.

Regards

[Shotgun Jolly]

lol

Thanks duck-foot.

and to prove the point even more.. If you look, I also stated the CS war campaign in my post.. just called it the CWC tho.


Funny..

[Nxla666]

Three key books needed...

#1: Rifts Ultimate Edition
#2: Gamemasters Guide
#3: Book of Magic

Other books that are quite useful...

#1: Rifts Mercenaries
#2: Rifts MercTown
#3: Rifts MercOps

Then flavor your game with the books most appropriate to the area your playing in.

DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO INCLUDE EVERYTHING IN THE BOOKS!

[MASTERMIND]

Three key books needed...

#1: Rifts Ultimate Edition
#2: Gamemasters Guide
#3: Book of Magic

Other books that are quite useful...

#1: Rifts Mercenaries
#2: Rifts MercTown
#3: Rifts MercOps

Then flavor your game with the books most appropriate to the area your playing in.

DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO INCLUDE EVERYTHING IN THE BOOKS!

Run many merc campaigns? Hehe, you may want to check out Ninjas & Superspies too although it is by no means a core book.

[Greyaxe]

Ill need to take a look at aftermath, it sounds intriguing.

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

Buy Rifts Madhaven.

[Jmur]

The Ultimate Edition is the most important one that you will need. As it has character generations and fairly good background information. Although it is more generalized and doesn't expand on a lot of worlds. (Thats what world books are for!)

[Mack]

I'm actually going to disagree with the Book of Magic and GM's Guide.

Now here's the reason: Those are two great reference books, but that's not what he needs to read right now. They are intended for players who are already familiar with the setting and just need a memory jogger. He's looking to learn about Rifts.

Focus exclusively on Rifts Ultimate Edition for now (or the original Rifts Main Book). It will provide you the best overview information you're looking for. It's intended to be the starting place for Rifts and will give you a taste of everything. Once you've got a good feel for it, then you'll have an idea of what you'll want to read next.

Most of the supplements (source books, world books, dimension books, etc) serve two functions. (1) They'll dive deeper into a certain topic. Such as the Federation of Magic will detail that group and location. (2) It's provide new Characters and equipment that relate to the topic. Such as new types of mages. Let your interests from reading Rifts Ultimate Edition guide you.

Finally, let your GM help. Don't waste your time reading the Wormwood book if your group will never go there.

[Shotgun Jolly]

Hi Mack.

I agree partly with your view on the Book of Magic and Federation of Magic source books. Here is why.

R:UE has spells listed under the OCCs selections that are NOT printed in the spell section of the rules. So, that is why I would say to go with the BoM.

but..

If he has the Federation of Magic Version 1, then yeah he is good, he gets the spells listed there plus info and some newer OCCs. But if he has the revised version, then he will not have the spell descriptions that are listed as some of the choices of the OCC in R:UE.

So, if he has version 1 of FoM then he is fine but if he only has the revised version, he is hosed.

But, thats just my two cents worth anyway.

Regards

[Xar]

I'd go with this order from what you've said you have:

1)Rifts Ultimate edition
----- main rules and setting
2)Rifts Conversion book one
----- for beasties
3)dark conversions
----- for scarier beasties
4)rifts adventur guide
----- how to construct adventures
5)federation of magic
------ for yin to Coalition yang
6)england
7)africa
splyyn dimensional market
9)south america
------setting books. You don't need to use them unless you go there. However, each of these books really builds on material in Rifts: Atlantis to be fully understood.

10)dragons and gods
11)monsters and animals
These are Palladium Fantasy books that work well with Rifts, but don't specifically add to the Rifts genre partucularly. M&A=more beasties, both mundane and magical. However CB1 fills this need.
If you want some to add Deific influence in addition to what is printed in Rifts: Africa (Gods of Light and Dark), D&G is a great resource.

12)wormwood--dimension book, and as someone said, if you aren't going there, you don't need it.(except there is a small crossover in SA)

13Rifts--good to have as a reference. There's some spells in it that aren't in RUE, and there is a random demon generator in the back that is useful also. As an old-school player, I still can't find a damn thing in RUE, but my Rifts main book pretty much falls over to where I need to go. You won't have this problem.