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Wheee
Jun 17, 2005 19:16:09 GMT -5
Post by Jona on Jun 17, 2005 19:16:09 GMT -5
*hugs it, loves it, calls it George, arms it with a plasma cannon and then kick is out the door*
For those of you who don't know what it is... think Thundar the Barbarian and you wouldn't be far off the mark.
It's the world we knew, 500 years after we nearly wiped ourselves out. Magic, demons, monsters, aliens and of course the ever resilient humans are all here. Humans are struggling to survive in a world that's pretty much gone to pot.
I'll be the first to admit that upon first look, the game looks complicated and that there are flaws in the mechanics, but I love it. The over arcing story line is strong, and you like the characters that continue to make appearances and you wonder when they disappear. As each book comes out more and more of the world is visited, some places humans dominate, other places just barely and some... well it's out and out war.
I've been playing this game since I found out about it way back in 1994, and I can pretty much run it from memory. Yes I am that obssessed with it. It is also a system where if you can think of it, chances are I can find it. You want to play it, chances are I'll let you play it. Yes that includes Gods and other Things as well.
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Wheee
Jun 17, 2005 23:35:58 GMT -5
Post by Relthar on Jun 17, 2005 23:35:58 GMT -5
And just so we're clear folks, he's talking specifically about Rifts here. Palladium makes other games, all of which use the same system (Palladium Fantasy RPG, TMNT & Other Strangeness, Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, Robotech [Macross, Southern Cross, Invid Invasion], Robotech II, Macross II are just some). I enjoyed the Rifts backstory and found it very cool. I especially liked that magic was a mana point system ;D Too bad magic paled next to technology so much. I had most of the Rifts books as they were coming out in '94 until about '97 (I think) when my interest waned. But I sold them all a couple years ago. My favorite two were Rifts Atlantis and Triax & the NGR. I ran a number of games while attending Ursinus college - including one brief Coalition based game (the characters were all Coalition soldiers or officers). However, there are more than just flaws in the mechanics. The game has holes a mile wide in a number of places, and it isn't just limited to Rifts - the Palladium rules system as a whole is this way. Character creation is a prime example. It took me more than a few read-throughs to understand just that part. And unfortunately I found for me that combat began to bog down horribly once more than 6-7 individuals were involved, though for the most part the combat mechanics were pretty straighforward. My last two beefs are with the XP system and the ability scores. Both suffered from AD&D syndrome. It took forever to level up, and ability scores meant almost nothing unless they were quite high. All of this is only IMO. As with any game, YMMV. Now if the Rifts backstory were tied to a rules system that wasn't so buggy (IMO), that would be awesome. While the Rifts rules wouldn't stop me from enjoying the game as a player, it did eventually stop me from enjoying the game as a GM. I'd welcome the opportunity to see the game presented through the eyes of someone who truly 'gets the big picture' of the world better than I did.
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 0:34:57 GMT -5
Post by Jona on Jun 18, 2005 0:34:57 GMT -5
*whistles innocently, eyes the now overflowing collection of books* Hehe... me, obsessed? Naw...
Magic got a serious boost with the introduction of the Federation of Magic book, finally you had access to spells that could equal the damage of more 'traditional' energy weapons, some of the OCCs got a little out there, but even that cooled down after time.
To date, Tolkien is gone. The Colalition finally geared up and geared out and went head to head with Tolkien. This upset me, in my game world, the player characters have a chance to stop that from happening.
The Federation of Magic is gearing up for another tussle with the Colalition, Triax is slowly losing it's war with the Gargoyle Empire, there's an old Juicer out there with his own army, he's going on 12 now.
Life in the 3 Galaxies is getting uglier, the Cosmic Knights have their hands full with an alien invasion and people now actively looking for the Cosmic Forge. The Kreegor Empire is having a host of problems as whole systems rebel against their rule.
Damn.... I could go on and on about this.
I'll freely make this offer, if people want an occassional game, be it saterday, friday, sunday I'd be more then happy to run something. Heh and I'll even make it easy for everyone to and use D20 rules. Hell I'm working on them off and on for about a month now.
However I use and keep the SDC/MDC system, SDC is for squishes like your average everyday human and most races out there. MDC are things like advanced body armor, tank armor, dragons and gods, don't care how powerful that custom shotgun of yours is, it ain't gonna scratch a tank and a dragon. *grins* Of course, if your creative you can do just about anything.
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 8:34:17 GMT -5
Post by Matt Droz on Jun 18, 2005 8:34:17 GMT -5
information ... overload ... brain ... shutting doooooooowwwwwnnnnn
this does sound cool tho', but with Eberron starting soon, i can't really process another game just yet. Maybe in a few months...
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 12:44:55 GMT -5
Post by Keikan300 on Jun 18, 2005 12:44:55 GMT -5
Gaming gaming every where and not a dice to roll. I liked the world and the over-all setting... I have to agree with Charles though in that the combat system had a serious clunkiness to it. a few characters were ok, but when you got to 6+ it took forever. I like the different OCC's (Occupational Career Choice) * I think* and some were very cool. I have the Psiscape, Atlantis, Wormwood and Mindwerks books. My first character was an anthropomorphic Wolf Cyber Knight and then I played a True Atlantean Undead Slayer. (Tattoo magic rocks!!!!!) I think a lack of players and a general inability to buy all the supplements made for limited gaming time. Just as an obsessed fan comment..... I found the rules for a Green Lantern Ring in the Rifts world
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 18:18:59 GMT -5
Post by Relthar on Jun 18, 2005 18:18:59 GMT -5
I'll freely make this offer, if people want an occassional game, be it saterday, friday, sunday I'd be more then happy to run something. Heh and I'll even make it easy for everyone to and use D20 rules. Hell I'm working on them off and on for about a month now. While I'd love to play some time, I think all of us have our plates somewhat full right now with two D&D games and the occassional Champions game. Maybe a one-shot at some point. If I were to play we may as well stick to the Palladium rules if SDC/MDC will be used. I still own Robotech, TMNT, and Ninjas & Superspies, so I have ready access to the Palladium rules and remember most of how they work. The scary part is that such an item wouldn't necessarily be overpowered. And don't forget that the Rifts Conversion book (the only one I still own becasue no one wanted it) had rules for bringing in Heroes Unlimited characters. So it isn't that out of place. The one campagin I ran in college for Rifts had a Robotech REF Veritech pilot (with his Alpha fighter) in the group. Mix and match as you see fit. That's what the interdimensional Rifts are for.
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 21:32:17 GMT -5
Post by Keikan300 on Jun 18, 2005 21:32:17 GMT -5
* rubs hands with glee*
Holds up green glowing lantern-shaped object...
You who are wicked and evil and mean I'm the nastiest bastard you EVER have seen! Come one, come all, put up a fight I'll whup your asses with Green Lantern's light!
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 21:46:29 GMT -5
Post by Jona on Jun 18, 2005 21:46:29 GMT -5
I would love to run it charles, but like you said our plates are kinda full at the moment with 2-3 games being played in or run at the present time.
However I'd like to try the D20 Rifts system out, because for honesty's sake, it'll cut down on character creation from the average 3hrs for vets like us, to the more managable and fun time of about 30 minutes and I honestly like the skill point system. Better customization of things.
As for running a game at some point, I've waited a very long time, read years, to run another game. Another few months or a year isn't that long to wait. Esp with vetran adult gamers.
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Wheee
Jun 18, 2005 22:11:38 GMT -5
Post by Relthar on Jun 18, 2005 22:11:38 GMT -5
However I'd like to try the D20 Rifts system out, because for honesty's sake, it'll cut down on character creation from the average 3hrs for vets like us, to the more managable and fun time of about 30 minutes and I honestly like the skill point system. Better customization of things. There is that too. d20 is definitely more streamlined. I know I started a similar conversion project - converting the Robotech mecha from the Palladium system into Mekton Zeta. This should also make Simon salivate: I still have a text file for Guyver armor in Rifts on my harddrive. ;D
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Wheee
Jun 19, 2005 6:04:36 GMT -5
Post by Keikan300 on Jun 19, 2005 6:04:36 GMT -5
I know I started a similar conversion project - converting the Robotech mecha from the Palladium system into Mekton Zeta. This should also make Simon salivate: I still have a text file for Guyver armor in Rifts on my harddrive. ;D AH... Mekton Zeta... Big robots and space opera!!! Veritechs, Guyvers and Stuff ... Oh MY!!! Actually, I might have the Palladium Guyver also. I still have all the data files from the Star Blade game we played... including Devon the human soda psychic!
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