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Rifts - Palladium Books
Rifts is a post apocalyptic games using Palladium's Megaversal set of
rules making it completely compatible with all of its other books.
In the future a disaster decimates the world and leaves humanity
in a very tenuous situation. Magic has flooded the world once
again and with it came the rifts, tears in the fabric of reality that
lead to and from other dimensions. Now we are not alone on Earth
anymore, they are here, beings from across the megaverse, some are
friendly, but most are easily described as monsters and even demons.
The world is a very different place. Humanity could very
easily become extinct. There is hope though, some people have
joined up with the dimensional beings, called d-bees as a generic name,
and call upon magic to save themselves, others have formed into
powerful military enclaves and battle for their lives with high
technology rescued from the golden age before the apocalypse.
The world of Rifts is a fusion of just about everything from horror,
to hard science-fiction, to fantasy, to cyberpunk. This core book
details everything needed to sit down and start playing right away.
It has full rules for character creation, combat, and rich and
detailed setting information. Characters can be anything from
psychics and mages, to human supremacist soldiers and cyborgs, to robot
jocks and knights mixing powers of technology and mind. Characters
are built using templates called OCCs that layout the type of character,
the powers, starting skills, weapons available, and information on how this
particular kind of character fits into the game world. There are
up to 30 different character classes in all. Also included are
psychic abilities, magical spells, weapons, vehicles, monsters,
alien animals, and more.
Rifts is a brilliant cross-genre game. It is a game that you
can really sink your teeth into. The setting is incredibly
detailed with incredible depth and layers of complexity. There is
a rich history and hundreds of built in plot hooks to engage the players
for years. There is information on nearly everything you can
think of, details for dozens of places in North America and ideas for
other places in the world. The game world itself has something
for everyone. It is written with a lot of style and is incredibly
exciting just to read. The author, Kevin Siembeida, has an
excellent style, and has created a living and breathing, vibrant
environment that is exceptional. Parts of it are like excellent
excerpts from an amazing novel. Eveything is tightly integrated
with all of the gaps filled, though certainly things can be left out
without harming the overall tone and feel of the game world, or being
apparent. The combat system lends itself to a fairly realistic
style of play without making the more fantastical elements seem out of
place.
Rifts also has a tonne of other books in the series that add to and
build upon the game world. Currently there are 6 Dimension Books
and counting, 30 World Books and counting (different places on
Earth), 6 Source Books and counting (different things that add to the
world), 3 Conversion Books, and 6 other reference books with more to
come. The game has also spawned 3 novels, a bunch of diecast
miniatures, and its own Collectible Card Game.
(
Thank you for reading my review.
Bob Male)
All ideas, opinions, and information are from the reviewer
and are not representative of any company or group involved with the creators
and/or staff of the materials being reviewed.