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12/5/02





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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.

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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.

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