I've picked up a bunch of used Rifts book from a book store for real cheap, and the setting I've been reading seems really cool. My groups doesn't really care about how good systems are and really just want to do cool shit, so this game seems ideal.
The only problem is I'm at a loss for coming up with ideas for stories. So I'm asking what kinds of plots and ideas have worked well for you, or work well for the Rifts setting.
Also, Rifts in general. I really don't see enough discussion of this game anywhere, not just /tg/.
>>48198666
Most important thing is to first decide which part of the setting you intend to run your game in. A game set in Japan will be way different from one set in the Vampire Kingdoms or the NGR or the Federation of Magic.
Pick a starting location and at least one destination Mad Max/Death Race your way through the wilderness in between
As much super science and magic as there is in RIFTS such things still only exist in relatively small pockets compared to the rest of the world a trip through the American South-West with a little dip into Mexico can be life threatening for most low level PCs especially those unprepared for the vampires
>>48198666
Have the rest of the boooks to complete your collection
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/3wjc3rr9zqufo/Rifts
For an episodic game you can set the PCs up as mercenaries or bounty hunters and send them up against a different enemy or group of enemies each session. This premise works for larger organizations as well like the NGR or the Federation of Magic and the Coalition
Resistance slave break in Atlantis.
>>48199135
I ran a Rifts game that lasted 3 years I was in the Marine Corps with a revolving cast of players. We played almost every day when aboard ship. The PCs ran in a Mercenary outfit called Moore's Marauders.
bump for Rifts interest
>>48198666
If you want serious discussion of this game, you go to the Forums of the Megaverse. But be prepared to bite your tongue and never criticize the game or its writers, or you'll be banned real fast.
>>48198666
A travelogue through the wilderness would be the best starting scenario for Rifts. There's an adventure in Sourcebook 1 you can use too.
Pick a World Book and run a chase or long-distance pursuit through that territory. That way you can have all the monsters and settlements encountered by the PCs along the way.
Arzno is a good starting location. Don't start in Chi-Town, Coaltion territory like Lone Star or weird magical places like Psyscape until you've gotten more experience with the game.
I want to run my RIFTS game like this.
>>48202808
isn't it already like what?
Also, what ever happened to the new edition of Gamma World? That seemed like something close to Rifts in style and tone.
>>48198666
Bumpin' Rifts for Satan
Anybody ever play the Splicers setting by Palladium?
>>48198666
>I really don't see enough discussion of this game anywhere, not just /tg/
Because the system is a train wreck, and we aren't the NTSB.
Not a campaign idea but helpful advice
Remember that MDC armor and weapons are there for those that have ready access to them or can afford them
Most of the general population outside large cities should still be using SDC equipment
Your average douchebag isn't going to be walking around looking like this
Sometimes you want to throw SDC enemies at MDC players just to show how badly they can fuck up most things especially if they just went through a tough fight in the previous session
>>48198666
First piece of advice: Use the old books for fluff, but pick up the new Savage Worlds version for the rules. And I say this as someone who's been playing Rifts since 1993.
>>48208501
Is the savage words book out yet?
>>48208518
Only for backers. You can probably find illicit copies of it floating around, though. A final version with some updates and errata is incoming too. (Like Glitter Boys getting a Toughness bump.)
>>48203383
I don't think WotC gave it much attention after its release and it quietly died off.
It's a shame, since I've heard good things about the power system and how you generate characters.
>>48207024
Haven't played the actual setting but I'm currently playing a Dreadguard in a homebrew game
Shit's pretty cash
>>48207600
This is a meme perpetuated by new school gaming hipsters. If you want completely over the top comic book gaming the system is fine. If you want a more realistic Post-Apoc game you will need a few simple house rules like any other game. Most of the Rifts hate is due to Big Kev being a litigious ego-maniac.
>>48212374
Bullshit. I've been playing since 1993, and the system being shit is something that's been discussed since the days of the fucking Palladium Books mailing list. Kev's attitude exacerbates it, but the system is unwieldy, clunky, self-contradictory, poorly explained or overly explained by turns, and generally a mess. It's playable, but only on the bottom-of-the-barrel definition of that word.
>>48213235
Not to mention every new book uses copy pasted rules from old books without fixing anything in regards to rules clarifications typos or even spelling
I mean I love RIFTS as a setting and even most of the system but the crazy amounts of skills the poor layout of the rules and the blatantly contradictory or outright missing rules make it a trying experience to run the game even for an experienced player
>>48213711
That copy-pasting is entirely because Palladium was using wax paper layouts until around 2004 or 2005. They didn't switch over to original-digital layout until then.
>>48213762
Jesus I knew their business practices were outdated but that shit is ridiculous
>>48213235
What's unplayable about it? The system is incredibly simple. Yes the rulebook is a joke when it come to organisation but everything is there once you work it out. Yes MDC is ridiculous if you want realism but just house rule it. I've been running it off and on since it came out and I've never had any problems. It is no more unplayable than 1st edition DnD if you use that as written.
Kev is old school. Before 3rd edition it was expected that dm's would change a system to fit their style or just make shit up. Rifts gets hate because of Kev and most of is is deserved. Look at Cyberpunk 2020, one of my favourite games, that system is straight up broken. The combat system basically doesn't work once you introduce skinweave and the skill resolution system is impossible as written unless you pretty much have 10 in every stat but Mike is a great guy so people still like the game.
>>48214560
Okay so question: How do skills work? Because the book *never explains them*. You can assume it's "roll percent under the skill level," but what about modifiers? Is it exactly as hard to repair an engine while the car is stopped as it is while it's moving? Because there's never an explanation about that, it's just assumed you should know it.
Rifts is new player unfriendly in the extreme, has a design philosophy that was outdated in 1991, and self-contradicts rules within a couple of pages. (How many attacks per round do you get if you don't have a Hand to Hand skill? Do the skills replace those attacks or add on to them? And on and on and on.)
>>48214655
Page 301 in the ultimate edition has skill modifiers. You get as many attacks as your HtH skill. Doesn't surprise me Kev doesn't explain roll under because he is coming from a different generation of gamers. RPG books in the 80's and early 90's weren't written like they are now. I fully agree that Rifts is not a good game for beginners but it isn't broken or unplayable it's just poorly organised and assumes you have played other games because rpg players in the late 80's and 90's had all played DnD at the least. I actually respect Kev in a way for not changing the game so the main rulebook I bought in 1991 is still in use. Pretty good investment of 20 bucks when I was 13 compared to nearly every other game we play.
>>48214925
"It's in Ultimate Edition" isn't an answer to 15+ years of rule questions, especially since RUE then goes on to contradict itself in places too. And not changing things isn't a virtue when you consider it's a cost-saving measure, not some sort of statement about the worth of the system.
>>48215284
I just think the unplayable meme is really over-stated online. I've had probably 40 players over the years play rifts and out of all the games we have played it is still the most requested at my table so it clearly isn't broken. At the end of the day the core system is just a house-ruled dnd - roll 20 to hit, roll under % to succeed. It is no less unplayable than pretty much every game from the 80's. Most games from that era are either dead or are on their 5th edition. Rifts perseverance is both a strength and a weakness I guess because it is so old school.
>>48213960
Hey, what a coincidence; I made that map.
Does anyone have the backer pdfs for Savage Worlds Rifts?
>>48215605
Rifts was my first tabletop RPG. Palladium Fantasy was my second. I didn't play anything that wasn't from Palladium for about 4 or 5 years. So I know the system isn't unplayable. But man, it's really hard to go back to it now that I've seen other games are like. Which is why I'm overjoyed we're getting an official Savage Worlds conversion.
>>48219355
The PDFs are watermarked with the backer's name. So most people aren't going to want to post theirs.
Anyone else like the death skull/spider motifs of the Coalition?
Motherfucker fascists know how to party in a post-apoc world.
>>48224718
>>48220592
God damn it.
I really wanted to back it, but I didn't find out about it until I was between paychecks right St the end of the campaign.
>>48225962
It should be out for the general public in a few months. As a KS backer, let me say that it was totally worth it and you should pick it up as soon as it's out.
The Mercanaries book has a pre-written adventure at the very end, as does Juicer Uprising.
The Mercenary Adventures book has a cool kind of introductory campaign.
Finally, there's a ton of Hook, Line, Sinkers in the Adventure Book.
I also recommend setting up a theme for your game. RIFTS can be all over the place and it helps a lot if you focus from the outset.
>>48226077
>As a KS backer, let me say that it was totally worth it and you should pick it up as soon as it's out.
Well you would say that, wouldn't you? Sunk cost fallacy, ego and all that.
I'll wait for some objective reviews.
>>48228249
Who shit in your cereal, man?
Bumping for more Rifts nonsense
I'm a Savage Rifts KS backer and I'm currently in the process of putting together a game for my regular group. Of the six players, four have made characters. So far we have:
*An Altara Juicer who's pretending to be human to avoid unpleasant questions about where she came from, but the entirety of her disguise is a pair of wraparound sunglasses.
*A dragon hatchling whose racial memories include a bounty hunting package (his random tables gave him Investigation, Survival, and Tracking)
*A human Glitter Boy pilot modeling herself after Tank Girl
*A human Burster whose hometown was destroyed by the Coalition
The group so far seems to be pretty well suited for solving their problems with heavy duty firepower and not so much through talking. The game is looking like it's going to be hilarious.
One of the things I love about RIFTS is that you can take anything from any other Palladium game and stick it in RIFTS no problem all you need is change a few numbers and convert SDC to MDC where appropriate
>>48224718
It kinda clashes with their propaganda narrative. If you're trying to sell the masses on the idea that you're the pure and noble heroes standing against evil, why do you make all your stuff look sinister?
>>48233045
For my image.
>>48233045
Because it makes you looks STRONG and BADASS and DEADLY TO YOUR ENEMIES. Basically the same reason the Nazis did it but were still able to sell the "noble defenders of the homeland" vibe to their supporters.
>>48220592
I still think that there should be an OSR-style retroclone of Palladium's core rules in the same vein as S&W, LL, etc. Something that cleans up the core rules and organizes them better while retaining the feel of the original game.
Oh no! I just realized who would be a perfect fit for Emperor Prosek.
You know it to be true, /tg/.
>>48220592
>>The PDFs are watermarked with the backer's name
And? 7th Sea 2e's were as well and there was a clean one up for /tg/ with 48 hours of it releasing to backers.
>>48233767
Palladiumfags are actual fanboys and fags though. And semi-literate fanboys, so they don't know how to remove watermarks. No chance of an actual working copy here.
>>48228249
Man, you're really upset. It's almost like he is suggesting a game that we both want based of of another game we both like.
>>48234033
Who are you talking to?
>>48234162
Did you check the time? Anon's long gone. You're here all by yourself. Post something interesting about Rifts or go to sleep, lonely guy.
>>48233077
>>48233045
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU
>>48212374
The system was bad in the 80s, and it still is bad now. I know this because the 80s were when I last tried to play anything from Palladium, and a quick flip tells me it hasn't changed, "Ultimate" edition or not.
>>48235225
Bad in the 80's? In the 80's Palladium Fantasy was superior to DnD 1st and 2nd edition in every way. Best fantasy campaign I ever ran was back then with Palladium and a heap of groups swore by it. The only system from the 80's that holds up to post 3rd edition/FATE sensibilities is CoC and even that is probably starting to be considered to detailed/hard for the casuals.
>>48198666
>>48238951
can someone remind me what hte fish on her backpack did? The fetus was a power source so was the fish a transformer or something?
With the interdimensional aspect, the possibilities are endless...
>>48235182
Also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ukFAvYP3UU
Is the best way to buy physical Rifts books from the Palladium website? I already have a collection of the pdfs but much prefer real books.
>>48241125
If by best you mean easiest? Then yes.
If by best you want great prices, you can find them all over the net on amazon and ebay and shit and if you know any old book/game stores that have loads of old stock they often have boxes of them stashed somewhere since no one buys them.
