The Rifter (July 2004 issue)

From: Palladium Books
Reviewed by: Ron McClung & Tracie Ellis

The Rifter (July 2004 issue) is a new RPG Sourcebook for the Palladium Megaverse from Palladium Books.

Please Note:  I’ve recruited help with these Rifts reviews -a  long time Rifts GM and player, Tracie Ellis.  Hopefully, between my overview of the products and her comments of the good and the bad, you will get a worthwhile review out of this.

From the front cover: “Your Guide to the Megaverse ”

Rifter is a source-‘zine put out for by Palladium books for all its games contained in the Mageverse. Number 27, the July Issue, contains a wide variety of items including articles for RPGs like Chaos Earth, Palladium Fantasy, Nightbane, Heroes Unlimited, and Rifts. It also contains Palladium news and convention reports.

The sourcebook opens with another letter from Kevin Siembieda and a News section, giving the reader a full rundown on the latest information on Palladium, their conventions, and their products. What you basically find out is that the gaming industry is a slow one and very little can change in a month or two.  The convention updates are interesting including mention of a resurgence of the Amber Diceless RPG.

The first article is one about Britain for the Chaos Earth RPG (prequel RPG to Rifts.)  It tells the story, in a timeline format, of Britain during the apocalyptic chaos of the Wwars that created Rifts Earth and describes keys areas of the British isles along the way.  It then describes a British organization called the Special Forces Executive and includes three O.C.C.s -SFE Commando, Psionic Collective, and Combat Spook.  The article ends with a list of interesting equipment.

Following this is a Rifts article called Running a Character Driven Mercenary Campaign.  This article says it is for a mercenary company, but you can set up and use some of the background stuff for any campaign and have it be successful.  This section allows a GM to have his PCs take a greater part in running the action in a game/campaign and directing where play goes based on their characters’ backgrounds.  It’s a nice setup.  It also has information on how to setup a mercenary company and settling things like running the store, funding, etc.

Next is Palladium Fantasy article called The Palladium Orient.  Palladium Orient, to quote the book, is “an amalgamation of all the wonders found in Earth’s Orient, with its own unique and distinct society”.  This Oriental society is placed in the Palladium fantasy setting, but again, as with all the books, can really be put anywhere.  It introduces four new Warrior OCCs – Samurai/Ronin, Ninja, Martial Arts Master, and Warrior Monk (may be more of a priest type, using spells).  There is the option to use Monster OCCs from Mystic China and Rifts Japan.

Following this is an article for Nightbane RPG, called The Pros and Cons of Studying Magic.  It is an article presenting new optional sorcerous proficiencies and limitations for Nightbane. 

Next is a article for Heroes Unlimited called The Software Valley War.  It is a series of adventure scenarios.  They have lots of action, if your GM is good at what he/she does.  A good point of these scenerios is that the major NPCs for both sides are written up.  A negative point is that the PCs who are supposed to be the heroes are taken for a ride on this one.  It seems to be too much like another game system (I don’t know if that is a problem or not).  I just found that it is much like a dead system born back in the early 90s with chip-heads and cyberware and a little magic to make it fun.  There are only minor modifications listed per ability/technique or stat.  Chi and PPE are converted one to one, so there is no significant loss there and I believe it’s a good thing.

This Rifter ends with the 27th installment of the on-going saga of The Hammer of the Forge.

In conclusion, this Rifter has less variety and less value.  #26 seemed to have a lot of fantasy where this one was dominated by Heroes Unlimited.  However, #26 came across as having more variety. 

For more details on Palladium Books and their new RPG Sourcebook for the Palladium Megaverse “The Rifter (July 2004 issue)” check them out at their website http://www.palladiumbooks.com and at all of your local game stores.

The Rifter (July 2004 issue)
From: Palladium Books
Type of Game: RPG Sourcebook for the Palladium Megaverse
Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith
Contributing Authors: James M.G. Cannon, K.G. Carlson, Greg Diaczyk, Ian Schroen, Kevin Siembieda, Alez Tulloch, Ed Woodward II, Todd Yoho
Cover Art by: Igino Giordano
Additional Art by: Kent Burles, Drunken Style Studios, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Apollo Okamura, Chuck Walton, Freddie Williams II
Number of Pages: 96
Game Components Included: One Softback book
Game Components Not Included: Core Palladium Megaverse rulebooks
Retail Price: $ 9.95
Item Number: 127
ISBN: 157457-101-X
Website: www.palladiumbooks.com

Reviewed by: Ron McClung & Tracie Ellis