I was re-reading the Rifts Japan worldbook and it struck me.

Imagine you're a common person in the world of Rifts. You have no high tech (MD) gear. You eke out a living on a family farm. Every few months you go into the village to trade and chat. You hear rumors and legends, but they've never touched you in person. So far...

One day, this fucking thing floats into the village during one of your visits.



It cackles manically as it snatches a child up from the street and gobbles the poor kid down as a snack. The screams are interrupted by crunching bone and the blood dribbles down it's chin. The eerily beautiful women leap from the barge and begin capturing villagers. You somehow manage to find a hiding place, as the creatures cut down anyone who raises a pitiful weapon to them.

Your family is gone. Stolen and/or eaten by the disgusting thing. The smoking remains of the village are all that's left of them. Your family is gone. Taken for ends that you can't bring yourself to imagine.

I think that anyone in that world would pick up some quirks. I think there's a reason why the original Rifts RPG rulebook had the Insanity section near the beginning. And the Crazy OCC just wears that on it's sleeve. Beat the rush, get some metal stuck in your brain and join in on the crazy.

This guy here wears a skull helmet and wages war against wizards.



Here is a 4 armed cyborg who dresses like a cowboy and fights vampires.



Putting a skull on your tank is probably the least crazy thing a person in this situation could do.

People are superstitious because in Rifts, superstition is reality. That woman with a strange birthmark could really be a witch, in consort with demonic forces.

Even the 'sanest' are a bit touched. Putting a monstrous face on your cyborg head to intimidate your enemies.



Is it practical? Fuck practicality when you're fighting a goddamn gargoyle or werewolf or demon. You'll probably be dead by tomorrow, if you're one of the lucky ones.

So people cope with the extreme craziness of the Rifts world by becoming a little crazy themselves. People in the New West dress like cowboys. They watch a pre-Rifts cowboy flick and think, "That's cool", and that's enough reason for a lot of them.

So I know it's a post-hoc rationalization, but I think a lot of the text itself supports the idea.
Everyone in Rifts is a little nuts.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;923115So I know it's a post-hoc rationalization, but I think a lot of the text itself supports the idea.
Everyone in Rifts is a little nuts.

No. Just people adapted to a different environment.

People from 1000 years ago would probably think modern life is insane if you described how people act.
Hell. Look at how modern Americans react sometimes when someone describes life in modern Japan. And probably vis-a-vis.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;923115... I think there's a reason why the original Rifts RPG rulebook had the Insanity section near the beginning...

Although the idea in general of people in the Rifts world generally being a bit nuts has merit, the reason the Insanity section was near the beginning is because layout is hard, and Kevin S. usually re-used as much of the layout for other books in the Rifts book.  It's near the start of the Palladium Fantasy rules, and TMNT as well.

But it is an insane world.  But then, most post apocolyptic settings involve folks who've gone a little crazy in some way.

Kitchen-sink, psycho-bullshit setting that some people seem to like. But then, all those "shattered earth/time-universe spillage/everywhere" universes are like that. If hearing Glitterboy and Boom Gun give you a stiffie, this is your whackin' mag.

It's a post-apocalyptic world. Mad Max with demons, wizards, and mecha. Look at how crazy people are in Mad Max, and add that extra layer of paranormal on top of it.

OP is spot on and it's always a good thing to keep in mind.

In a world as insane as Rifts Earth, keeping your wits about you would be the real deviancy.

Why aren't there any rifts that open to nice aliens?  Benevolent robot overlords? Tau?

Quote from: AaronBrown99;923743Why aren't there any rifts that open to nice aliens?  Benevolent robot overlords? Tau?

Because that would be boring!

Some D-Bees (people from the Rifts) are pretty benign, or at least not slobbering hell monsters.



Floopers are lazy (except when having fun) they teleport around and like to do acrobatics.



The Simvan are aggresive and violent, but have a code of behavior and respect strength. So you can at least parley with them, konk then on the noggin if they get out of line, and that's that.



Shapers change parts of their body. Like the Floopers, they're more interested in having fun than anything else.

But man, it only takes one of these to ruin a person's whole outlook on things from the Rifts

Aaand I just lost d4 SAN looking at that last one....

Quote from: Omega;923129No. Just people adapted to a different environment.

People from 1000 years ago would probably think modern life is insane if you described how people act.
Hell. Look at how modern Americans react sometimes when someone describes life in modern Japan. And probably vis-a-vis.

Pretty much this.

What one man considers insane, another man considers normal.

Well duh. It's a post-apocalyptic setting. Everyone would get a bit nuts.  Like what happened in Europe after the Black Death (and that was a much milder apocalypse).

Quote from: RPGPundit;924544Well duh. It's a post-apocalyptic setting. Everyone would get a bit nuts.  Like what happened in Europe after the Black Death (and that was a much milder apocalypse).

Insane by our standards, not by theirs.  That's something we need to realize.  We're working with more information, we know more about the real situation back then, and even then, we have things like the American Presidential Election, the various Olympic and FIFA scandals and tomfockery among the more recent insanities.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;924720Insane by our standards, not by theirs.  That's something we need to realize.  We're working with more information, we know more about the real situation back then, and even then, we have things like the American Presidential Election, the various Olympic and FIFA scandals and tomfockery among the more recent insanities.

I think you are wrong.  I think they recognized both the instability in their world. And in their own mind.

Quote from: Headless;924872I think you are wrong.  I think they recognized both the instability in their world. And in their own mind.

Ah.  The thing is, one doesn't preclude the other.  We KNOW that certain things that are happening RIGHT now is pretty much insanity defined, and yet, we still ACCEPT it.  What's to say those living on RIFTS Earth don't either?

So I'll grant you that they see the world as nuts, but maybe not so much nuts in their own mind.  After all, we may think the Americans are insane by sticking with their current presidential choices (for example) but do you think that they believe they are completely off their rockers?

Quote from: Ratman_tf;923115I was re-reading the Rifts Japan worldbook and it struck me.

Imagine you're a common person in the world of Rifts. You have no high tech (MD) gear. You eke out a living on a family farm. Every few months you go into the village to trade and chat. You hear rumors and legends, but they've never touched you in person. So far...

One day, this fucking thing floats into the village during one of your visits.



It cackles manically as it snatches a child up from the street and gobbles the poor kid down as a snack. The screams are interrupted by crunching bone and the blood dribbles down it's chin. The eerily beautiful women leap from the barge and begin capturing villagers. You somehow manage to find a hiding place, as the creatures cut down anyone who raises a pitiful weapon to them.

Your family is gone. Stolen and/or eaten by the disgusting thing. The smoking remains of the village are all that's left of them. Your family is gone. Taken for ends that you can't bring yourself to imagine.

Just going to point out the origin story hidden inside a good point. I'm thinking Cyber-Knight.