This (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=325398) has to be the best thread ever on tBP.
It highlights what makes Palladium so dam good, IMO.
That does sound like it was a lot of fun.
Pete
All who were able to go (not me this, sadly) said it was friggin' incredible. If you get a chance to meet Kev and the rest of the gang, you see they really, truly love gaming and everything about it. And they're really, really, really nice people, too. :)
Dang. Makes me want to run TMNT.
I went this year and last year. It was a blast both times. Its great being around so many people interested in the same thing. Meeting and gaming with great people. Meeting some of the people in real life, that I only know from screen names. Not to mention meeting the people who write and illustrate the books I enjoy. Its just a fun time.
Wow.
I still have no first-hand experience with Palladium or its games, but this sounds neat. And surprising. RPG.net has always struck me as particularly (and openly) hostile toward Palladium. It's weird to see this kind of gushing shoot right out of it.
Darned cool, though. I love gamer enthusiasm like this. It's infectious.
I really want to try out Rifts someday.
Quote from: RedFoxWow.
I still have no first-hand experience with Palladium or its games, but this sounds neat. And surprising. RPG.net has always struck me as particularly (and openly) hostile toward Palladium. It's weird to see this kind of gushing shoot right out of it.
Darned cool, though. I love gamer enthusiasm like this. It's infectious.
I really want to try out Rifts someday.
I advice if you do stick with the old Rifts books.
Original Rifts Mainbook
World Books 1 - 22
Sourcebooks 1 - 4
Ignore the Seige of Tolkeen books until you are used to the setting and system. Then pick up SoT 4 Cyberknights, and SoT 6 (details the city of tolkeen).
Dimension Books worth the money:
Splicers
Phase World 1 & 2
:D
Why get old books?
I'd get Rifts Ultimate, Conversion Book 1 Revised, and, eventually, just for the toys alone, the GM's Guide. Reading through Rifts Ultimate will give you a good feel for places you want to know more about, if you decide you want World Books and such down the road...
Quote from: RedFoxWhy get old books?
Rifts books devolve in quality the farther you get from the original, with the exception that the core book has largely been dismally incomplete.
By and large, all the world books add is more classes, more races, and more guns. And they get more ridiculous, and ridiculously imbalanced, as time goes on. They're splatbooks pretending to be setting books.
Well, I'll just tell you this, Red Fox: there are some great Rifts sourcebooks and worldbooks, and there are some stinkers. Very few people seem to agree on precisely which are which. I will say I feel that Rifts has undergone a writing renaissance of sorts since about World Book 26. The freelancers they have now--Jason Richards, Todd Yoho, Carl Gleba, Brandon Aten, etc., have been doing really good work on a lot of the recent products (Arzno, Madhaven, D-Bees of North America...). There's an enthusiasm, and a spirit of cooperation and collaboration between the freelancers that I hadn't seen in a long while.
If you do ever decide you want to play/run Rifts, and are looking for advice, I'd be happy to help you out. You can tell me what genres or subgenres or genre elements you like, and I bet we can find you something you'd love.
But for starters, yeah, Rifts Ultimate and Conversion Book 1.
I like kitchen-sink mish-mashes, with a particular soft spot for space opera. Also, high-powered fantasy. Star Wars and Exalted (the setting, anyway) are right up my alley.
I'm pretty shameless about what I like. It doesn't have to be too serious or anything. And I like furries (anthropomorphic animals) for their own sake if they're thrown in anywhere.
That rpg.net post by Spinachcat... it... it... did something to me. I'm monitoring this thread closely.
By all means, do recommend some worldbooks and stuff, Zachary, and whoever else has an opinion. My taste is pretty close to Mr.Fox's.
Why is a conversion book a must have? Or does the term here mean more than some stat conversions from earlier editions?
Quote from: Pierce InverarityThat rpg.net post by Spinachcat... it... it... did something to me. I'm monitoring this thread closely.
By all means, do recommend some worldbooks and stuff, Zachary, and whoever else has an opinion. My taste is pretty close to Mr.Fox's.
Why is a conversion book a must have? Or does the term here mean more than some stat conversions from earlier editions?
The Conversion Book is very poorly named. It doesn't really "convert" anything, except from other Palladium games.
It adds some tables for generating robots, a bunch of re-statted monsters and stuff from Palladium Fantasy, and some random new rules, IIRC.
I am glad good things are happening for Palladium. Even though I no longer have any of their games and do not play their games anymore I would hate for the gamers who are a fan of their stuff to no longer get new stuff.
It does look like after the outpouring towards Palladium Kevin got humbled a little bit (which is a good thing).
Quote from: RedFoxI like kitchen-sink mish-mashes, with a particular soft spot for space opera. Also, high-powered fantasy. Star Wars and Exalted (the setting, anyway) are right up my alley.
I'm pretty shameless about what I like. It doesn't have to be too serious or anything. And I like furries (anthropomorphic animals) for their own sake if they're thrown in anywhere.
My goodness man! All that, and you haven't jumped into Rifts? I have to head out this morning, but I'll whip up a list for you, Pierce, and whomever else would care for one as quick as I can.
Of all Palladium games, Rifts is one of my favorites. More so than anything Palladium brings imagination to the gaming table, and Rifts is so jam-packed with raw fucking gamer imagination of all varieties it bursts at the seams.
The other? Road Hogs. C'mon....it's TMNT and other Strangeness meets Road Warrior. So good.
I really don't need to start re-working on my conversions...I have enough to do.....damn you all....
Quote from: Christmas ApeOf all Palladium games, Rifts is one of my favorites. More so than anything Palladium brings imagination to the gaming table, and Rifts is so jam-packed with raw fucking gamer imagination of all varieties it bursts at the seams.
And that's one the biggest reasons I love Palladium. Nicely put.
Now then, recommendations for RedFox and Co.:
Aside from the Rifts Ultimate & Conversion books, I think you might want to check out Atlantis (2), Japan (8), Lone Star (13), and possibly Phase World.But there are a lot of titles that might interest you...
Quote from: RedFoxI like kitchen-sink mish-mashes, with a particular soft spot for space opera. Also, high-powered fantasy. Star Wars and Exalted (the setting, anyway) are right up my alley.
I'm pretty shameless about what I like. It doesn't have to be too serious or anything. And I like furries (anthropomorphic animals) for their own sake if they're thrown in anywhere.
Have you ever checked out
After the Bomb? It's fur-tacular!
As for which world books to get, I'll just add this:
For the love of all that is holy, stay away from the craptacular world books Free Quebec, The Xiticix Invasion, and Canada! Most Palladium books have at least something good in them. These three are the blandest, most pointless books you've ever seen.
Quote from: jgantsHave you ever checked out After the Bomb? It's fur-tacular!
After the bomb is one of my favorite games period. Palladium or other. I wish I could have played in Erick Wujcik's AtB game at the open house. (Or really any of the other games he ran. I was just not fast enough to the tables or the sign sheets though.:( )
Quote from: jgantsHave you ever checked out After the Bomb? It's fur-tacular!
It is indeed!!!! And fully Rifts-compatible!!
Okay. For the first time in my life I looked at a Rifts book--the Ultimate Edition.
Well... it's definitely not bland. :D
Seriously, I'm quite taken. This is some crazy shit. And cheap!
Now... I'm not into the whole North America thing... I'm not looking for a postapoc flavor, with recognizable locales.
So, would Phase World be good? Atlantis? China, even?
What the hell is this Skyrapers thing? That's a campaign, right? Any good? I wouldn't mind buying an adventure, to see how you run a game like Rifts. Because I really have no idea how to do that. :D
Skraypers is a dimension book, like Phase World. A completely alternate reality that, while connected to Rifts Earth, isn't Rifts Earth. As I recall, Skraypers is a kind of "superhuman resistance fights alien occupation" set-up.
As for where you'd want to put your Rifts game, there are lots of parts of North America that really don't look anything like they used to, but the big question is would you rather your starting locale 'default' for lack of a better word to magic or technology? The New German Republic defaults to technology in a "laid-back Coalition" sort of way, while England is very magic-heavy. Atlantis mixes the two with a magic bias but is no good for human PCs, China came out after I stopped playing. but as I recall Rifts Japan has both in equal measure and in conflict with each other.
Now, how do you run a Rifts adventure? Select your favorite early nineties metal, pop open some beers, and direct a CGI music video with an unlimited budget in your head and with words. :D
Quote from: Christmas ApeNow, how do you run a Rifts adventure? Select your favorite early nineties metal, pop open some beers, and direct a CGI music video with an unlimited budget in your head and with words. :D
LOL...that's definitely one way to go about it. Really, the way you adventure in Rifts is just about the same as you would with any other game, only realize as GM, you need to stay loose, stay fast, and let the madness kind of draw you and your players along. You're adventuring in the biggest playset ever, so you won't lack for things to do. The Adventure Guide has a crapload of ideas if you're really, really stuck, or you can look at sites like Editor's Wastebasket (http://www.mymegaverse.org/Games/campaigns.shtm), Nexus Navigator (http://www.thenexusnavigator.com/index.php?title=Main_Page), or, if you can ignore the statisticians, the Palladium boards. (http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/index.php)
If you're looking for something outside of North America you could go for Triax and the NGR (WB5), Russia (one of my faves, between Warlords of Russia (WB17) and Mystic Russia (WB18), you've got a hell of a campaign setting on your hands), and even China, if you'd like to just push eastward. Japan is also really self-contained, but easily integrated. That's one of the cool features of a lot of Rifts World Books, really. Pick your flavor, or mix it all up.
If you're looking for something to tie it together...why not Underseas (WB7)? A lot of very strange stuff in that book, my friend, and plenty of chances to enjoy piracy (or anti-piracy), only as Rifts could.