Non MDC dimensions and players

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Thinyser
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Thinyser »

Diamond_J wrote:I was thinking a few days ago, what's RIFTS without well...rifts. I decided I was going to send my players through anouther dimension then the problem struck me MDC vs SDC. Logically if you send players to say Nightbane they would all retain there MDC weapons. If you sent the group to an MDC tech setting such as Robotech there isn't enough magic for Dragons to be MDC beings. One of my players is a dragon, in almost all cases he gets screwed. I could send them to an SDC environment and take away there MDC weapons but unfortunatly there is a partial conversion borg in the group. I can't take anything away without leaving him an amputy. Can you see my problem? There is even published material that raises these questions. Keep in mind a dragon must revert to full size becoming to large to carry MDC weapons or armor.

If I send them to an MDC tech high magic environment I can only send them to Wormwood.

NB like PF does not allow MD they are SD only dimensions.

As to Robotech yeah thats a bummer SDC magic MD tech means that SN critters and CoM are squishy just like the rest of those not in armor/mecha. Get armor and/or mecha.
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Unread post by Dustin Fireblade »

I could be wrong, but I think Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder has what you are looking for.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Killer Cyborg »

Diamond_J wrote:
Thinyser wrote:NB like PF does not allow MD they are SD only dimensions.


I don't know if you're saying; NB is an SDC environment and as such has no native MDC or All MDC weapons and armor becomes SDC in this setting.

If it's the latter not the former that's a confusing statement. Technolodgy is technolodgy regardless of were you go. An ion beem in another reality still does MDC damage. Unless of course the physics of the Universe works differently, but I think the group would find that hard to swallow.

Still this may be my only option to preserve balance.


Palladium eventually decided that there are MDC Dimensions and SDC Dimensions, and if you take MDC stuff into an SDC dimension, it gets converted to SDC.

Personally, I don't like that explanation; I think it's weak.

Here's how I handle things:
-IF I want to nerf things (as I did for an extended tour in PFRPG universe), I blamed it on the Rift that the party went through. It wasn't that PFRPG universe couldn't sustain mega-damage; it was that the rift altered the molecular structure of everything going through it, turning it into SDC.
-Usually, instead of nerfing things, I set up the story so that the PCs can't take MDC gear with them. Again, I tend to use Rifts for this. Once the rift destroyed any Mega-Damage gear, another time the rift repelled any metal, so the PCs couldn't take any of their good gear with them.
(I realize that this one wouldn't work with your Borg)
-I just play things as they lie. The PCs get to take their mega-damage gear into an SDC world, and go with it.
Supernatural creatures would be SDC, because the magic level would be too low to (in most dimensions), but tech is tech is tech.
Just make sure they don't have nuclear power supplies or other endless sources of ammunition. Mega-Damage weapons in an SDC environment are usually as big of a penalty as anything else.
Armor's more of a problem than weapons, if it's EBA (non-EBA could be given an Armor Rating), so that's what you have to worry about.
One way to do that is to control how the party gets to that other dimension. Give the Rift a weight allowance that will let the PCs through, but not take much gear with them (just small and light stuff). Or have the Rift located someplace where the PCs can't get to unless they squeeze through (armor's too bulky to go, and they don't have time to widen the cave/tunnel/airshaft/whatever). Or pull a Terminator, where "nothing dead will go" through the rift, except actual bionics or other things that are part of a person.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Thinyser »

Diamond_J wrote:
Thinyser wrote:NB like PF does not allow MD they are SD only dimensions.


I don't know if you're saying; NB is an SDC environment and as such has no native MDC or All MDC weapons and armor becomes SDC in this setting.

If it's the latter not the former that's a confusing statement.
Not at all if you know Palladium canon but I forget that many here do not know it nearly as well as some of us. Sorry if it didnt explain why but the statement itself wasnt confusing. Those dimesions simply do not allow MD.

Technolodgy is technolodgy regardless of were you go. An ion beem in another reality still does MDC damage.
One would think so wouldn't they... but in Palladium Megaverse they'd be wrong.

Unless of course the physics of the Universe works differently, but I think the group would find that hard to swallow.

Still this may be my only option to preserve balance.

Yes, by canon the physics do work differently. And yes it is a convention invented by Palladium to save balance and asside from abandoning MD altogether is about the only way to save balance.

I don't buy it any more than KC does but it works nontheless.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Tinker Dragoon »

Diamond_J wrote:If you sent the group to an MDC tech setting such as Robotech there isn't enough magic for Dragons to be MDC beings.


If the magic level in Robotech is high enough for Perytonian Wizards to have M.D.C. spells, then it's high enough for dragons to be M.D.C. creatures (though they probably have less M.D.C. than in Rifts).
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by The Beast »

Tinker Dragoon wrote:
Diamond_J wrote:If you sent the group to an MDC tech setting such as Robotech there isn't enough magic for Dragons to be MDC beings.


If the magic level in Robotech is high enough for Perytonian Wizards to have M.D.C. spells, then it's high enough for dragons to be M.D.C. creatures (though they probably have less M.D.C. than in Rifts).


Acording to the first CB1, they lose MDC. I'll find the page as soon as I can.

UPDATE: It's on page 120. They lose 70% of MDC, 50% of ISP & PPE.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

Thinyser wrote:snip....
As to Robotech yeah thats a bummer SDC magic MD tech means that SN critters and CoM are squishy just like the rest of those not in armor/mecha. Get armor and/or mecha.


Hu...what? RT is sdc magic? *Gets out my Sentinels book page 34* Nope nice MD spells. And MDC armor spell on page 35.

And look on page 30, there, its a MD Psi power.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Thinyser »

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:
Thinyser wrote:snip....
As to Robotech yeah thats a bummer SDC magic MD tech means that SN critters and CoM are squishy just like the rest of those not in armor/mecha. Get armor and/or mecha.


Hu...what? RT is sdc magic? *Gets out my Sentinels book page 34* Nope nice MD spells. And MDC armor spell on page 35.

And look on page 30, there, its a MD Psi power.
hey i was just going by what he said... I dont play and have never read the RT books
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Unread post by Armorlord »

If you have a cyborg you definitely do not want to want to try sending them to Nightbane, Nightlords have something up that destroys all non-magical inorganic materials trying to enter from other dimensions into Nightbane Earth/Nightlands. Being a naked brain and organ bits is not fun.

As for explanation in-character, my group has been alright with the explanation that certain dimensions support higher energy states, both fluid and solid, than others can. Also use the 2x-3x conversion suggested in Between the Shadows, or was it the Beyond Between the Shadows Rifter article. Though when traveling to Palladium World, I leave it at 1-to-1 as a trait of the dimension, which the Old Ones may have put into place.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Tinker Dragoon »

This message has been moved to the GM's Forum, where the topic is more applicable and appropriate. If you have a problem with how this post was handled please direct all inquires to deific.nmi@gmail.com, including the url to the post in question.
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Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

Dustin Fireblade wrote:I could be wrong, but I think Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder has what you are looking for.


not a big fan of their solution. a 1 to 1 MDC to SDC conversion leaves many MDC weapons as less effective than the SDC weapons.

i prefer a 1 to 10 MDC to SDC conversion for taking MDC weapons/items into an SDC world. so that 1D6md laser pistol, instead of being weaker than a 9mm, does 1D6x10sd, on par with a .50 cal, and fitting into the "handheld cannon" big of MDC weapons still. that 50mdc body armor gives you 500sd, with an AR in the 17-18 range.
makes the RIFTS characters still a strong force for as long as the ammo/E-clips last. and preserves the feel of "a human in MDC armor and armed with a laser rifle is like a human sized tank" feel.

in PFRPG, AtB, and N&SS, the PC's are superhuman this way, in HU they're able to go toe to toe with superhero's/villans.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by Carl Gleba »

As a GM I do what's easiest for me. I too have a group of players decked out with the latest MDC weapons and one is a dragon.

My latest game has the group going through Hades, an S.D.C. dimension. Since the book has all the necessary M.D. conversions I didn't bother converting all my players and their gear to the S.D.C. equivalent. I just used all the M.D.C. stats and kept the players M.D.

Sending them to Robotech I would do the same thing, except Robotech has M.D. weapons. I think a dragon hatchling even as M.D.C. will still have problems with Veritechs and other Mecha that can unload a hell of a lot of ordnance.

I take it on a case by case basis and what's easiest for me :D

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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by mobuttu »

I'm converting Rifts to a SDC world.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by mobuttu »

The cannon Rifts in the Megaverse. Actually it has ended up being a mix with MD changing into SDC when hitting above AR (per RCB1 Revised). The whole conversion is very hard to do, as it's very difficult to condense different types of PS (normal, robotic, augmented, supernatural, etc.) into one SDC system.
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Re: Non MDC dimensions and players

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

I was thinking about this for a while, and if you want to be a mean GM I have a sujestion.

Since the change in the physics between a MDC and SDC world then the e-clips would dis-charge their power. Thus they would ether need to discharge into the ground or just blow up. If you just want to be mean, then have the e-clips make a beeping that gets faster and faster. And if the char is able to drop all his e-clips they'd discharge into the ground w/o damage to the e-clip itself. But if they discharged while they were still on the char...."dude, your hair is frizzy."

As for plasma cartrage weapons.... it would be better if they didn't shoot them off, cause doing so would be like setting of a granade next to his ear. Not good when your Armor just became SDC and it blows up with the same energy as its MD rating. The plasma cartrage would be stable because of it needs something to set it off.

But that is only if you want to be mean and nasty.

Side note, the e-clips would just discharge till they only held their max payload...but in SD, so they would be useable if the guns were ajusted to new, lower power settings. Would need to reset them anyways. One good point would be that they would last 100 times longer then they would in a MD setting. 8)
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