Riffing off Pundit's Torg thread.
First of all, kind readers/posters, I beseech you, please, do not make this thread about the Palladium system. Everyone (except Kevin Siembieda, Pundy and Sett) knows the Palladium system as it exists today is a mess in dire need of a major overhaul by someone who knows his way around writing a viable RPG rules engine. Not unplayable, as the RPGnet hivemind would have us believe, but a mess nonetheless.
I feel Rifts is one of the most brilliant settings ever, period, full stop. Sure, it's gonzo as all hell, with some elements veering way too deep into the Land of Stupid, but the end result is something far bigger than the sum of its parts.
As it exists in its published form, a Rifts game can be anything from ill-equipped adventurers scavenging tech and magic and clawing their way through ruined America, to mecha-centric MilSF in war-ravaged Germany, to cyberpunk intrigues in Japan, to a crazy cross-genre world- and time-travelling epic which makes Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion(s) stories look tame.
Nonetheless, I'd like to make the argument that there's actually plenty of room for improvement in Rifts. The setting has accumulated a ton a cruft from what probably adds up to 50+ sourcebooks, worldbooks, dimension books, conversion books, etc.
This is tricky, because much of the gonzo wackiness is integral to Rifts' charm, and I've given up on this several times because Rifts without some of its craziest elements just doesn't feel right.
Off the top of my head, I'd love to see a less caricatural Coalition that didn't put skulls on everything, vampires that don't melt in the rain, more focus on slugthrowers and less on beam weapons; less stupid mecha like the Spider-Skull Walker (and more awesome mecha like the Glitter Boy or the Ulti-Max); the Coalition fighting a war against someone we can give a shit about (i.e. not Tolkeen or Free Quebec); the British Isles, Africa and South America redone from scratch.
What about you? What would you redo? Hell, what did you redo?
I like it as presented in the main rulebook. None of that stupid Tolkien war or other meta-plot will ever happen in my campaigns.
Well, it's a bit system related but I'd make things like glitter boys and full conversion borgs work more like prestige classes. Everyone starts out as a nobody and works up from there. Want a higher powered game start at fifth level you know?
I think the fundamentals of the setting are sound, a collapsed civilization, wastelands, and pockets of technology with a big bad expanding empire in a couple spots. If I were doing a new edition I'd probably keep the current back story and have the coalition find themselves up against their equal and opposite number an expanding evil magical empire with mega damage equivilant "orcs" While I'd put the heart of the empire out in China I think it would be an extradimensional empire and would only have Oriental themed stuff in the native units.
Quote from: David Johansen;419163Well, it's a bit system related but I'd make things like glitter boys and full conversion borgs work more like prestige classes. Everyone starts out as a nobody and works up from there. Want a higher powered game start at fifth level you know?
Thats kind of what they did in the N Gage title. You started out as a basic class then a couple levels in became Glitter Boys or in my case a Cyber Knight.
I'd personally just use Chaos Earth as written. Shit just got real, the world is going to hell in a handbasket and the PCs are in the middle of the madness trying to save what little of humanity is left.
I love the "All Skulls, All-The-Time" motif of the CS. Their death obsession is awesome for a society that's all Kill or Be Killed in its view of the world.
There is something odd that waterguns are da bestest against Vampires, but it certainly changes up tactics and thinking in actual play.
I don't know about slugthrowers. I do want more varied weaponry that are differentiated by more than just damage dice.
The British Isles and Africa need a redo. There are a few great threads on the PB forums about redoing Africa and there some cool ideas.
As for my British Isles, I drop the whole Camelot thing. Instead, its completely a land of faeries and myth creatures...except London which is a human city devoted to magic and TW devices. Think Howl's Magic Castle. And of course, England is a monarchy. There is the House of Lords and the House of Monsters because all the Fae creatures are also represented in the London court.
I like the South America books, but I tweak all the numbers. I prefer a more post-apoc feel to my RIFTS, so I cut all population numbers by 90%.
Quote from: The Butcher;419140Fuck Torg, what would your RIFTS look like?
Reworked, organized & updated
My RIFTS would play like the old Thundarr the Barbarian cartoon.
Hmmm...
I'll second deMonica's suggestion, and agree with danbuter's approach to the game.
And you Butcher, I like the cut of your jib.
My pie in the sky dream:
Rifts ported legally into other systems like GURPS, D6 and so on.
K.S. could make a nice bit off of doing something like that, I'd guess, but I don't know how that sort of industry stuff is done.
Quote from: Spinachcat;419225I love the "All Skulls, All-The-Time" motif of the CS. Their death obsession is awesome for a society that's all Kill or Be Killed in its view of the world.
I can see the reasoning behind this and it is kind of awesome (skull motifs have been used as military insignia for centuries). But the Spider-Skull Walker and especiallyu the Death's Head airship feel a tad too silly and cartoonish to me.
Quote from: Spinachcat;419225There is something odd that waterguns are da bestest against Vampires, but it certainly changes up tactics and thinking in actual play.
It does, and I also like the "vampires are fucked-up elementals" idea, but the water vulnerability has to go. Do you really want to be lethally vulnerable to the most abundant substance on Planet Earth? It was just as stupid when M. Night Shyamalan did it in "Signs".
Quote from: Spinachcat;419225As for my British Isles, I drop the whole Camelot thing. Instead, its completely a land of faeries and myth creatures...except London which is a human city devoted to magic and TW devices. Think Howl's Magic Castle. And of course, England is a monarchy. There is the House of Lords and the House of Monsters because all the Fae creatures are also represented in the London court.
Throw in some Dickensian aesthetics, complete with a steampunk look to the TW stuff, and I say we've got ourselves a winner. "House of Monsters" is pure fucking genius; extra points if an enterprising magician has animated the Oliver Cromwell statue by the entrance into a Golem, and equipped it with the Black Rod of the Gentleman Usher (a rune weapon, of course). :D
Quote from: Spinachcat;419225I like the South America books, but I tweak all the numbers. I prefer a more post-apoc feel to my RIFTS, so I cut all population numbers by 90%.
Like any other book, South America is a mixed bag. Only here I find the good/bad ratio really low, enough to warrant a complete redo in my book.
Quote from: Spinachcat;419225There is something odd that waterguns are da bestest against Vampires,
.
My players would strongly disagree with this statement, I suspect. They have, in actual play, quickly decided that railguns firing silver bullets are by far the best weapon against vampires.
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Quote from: RPGPundit;419379My players would strongly disagree with this statement, I suspect. They have, in actual play, quickly decided that railguns firing silver bullets are by far the best weapon against vampires.
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I thought silver was the anti-werewolf metal....
Quote from: jeff37923;419487I thought silver was the anti-werewolf metal....
Silver also harms vamps in Rifts.
But wood and water are way cheaper.
Quote from: The Butcher;419498Silver also harms vamps in Rifts.
But wood and water are way cheaper.
Good point. My players are spoiled by having the resources of the Robotech Alliance behind them.
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