The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Two years ago, the sight of a black leather cover with the silver-embossed "RIFTS" logo somehow managed to instill an urge to spend A$50+ to purchase the RIFTS Limited Edition. It did give me the time to read it cover-to-cover at my leisure, after playing it with friends previously.

The Setting

RIFTS occupies a genre many call "Science-fantasy'; it combines elements of a high-tech 'future' age with those of a "Dungeons & Dragons"- style genre. ln the RIFTS setting, Earth is recovering from a centuries-old apocalypse which wiped out most of its population. Magic has returned to the world, and with it, rifts- magical gateways to other dimensions. Many creatures, good and evil, have come through the rifts to Earth. However, technology is nowhere near dead; several factions of humanity, as well as other-worldly eivilisations, manufacture advanced items such as laser weapons, flying vehicles, suits of powered armour and giant robots. The players are usually cast in the role of adventurers, exploring this new land and looking for fame and fortune.

The RIFTS book concentrates primarily on North America, although notes are provided in the form of a travelogue by a historian, and is reasonably thorough, although the areas detailed in summary are not truly delved into anywhere else in the book. Chi Town, a massive arcology that is the hub of the fascist Coalition States, is covered in some detail, and there are a few O.C.C.s that can be used in its cyberpunk urban setting, but unless you're palying a camapign that directly involves the Coalition States, you won't be using Chi Town too often.

Detailed pictures of the world are promised in later World Books. RIFTS does not have to be played on Earth itself - several Dimension Books have been published, detailing alternate realities that can be discovered on the other side of a rift. An interesting marketing idea is that other Palladium books (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robotech, Palladium Fantasy, Nightbane) can serve as "alternate realities" that can either be visited through a rift or can be used as the source for other-dimensional characters in the RIFTS setting.

The System

Character attributes are generated by dice rolls. The basic character definition is its Occupational Character Class (O.C.C.); this defines the areas of skills they can choose from (for example, a robot pilot O.C.C. would concentrate on piloting, combat and navigation skills, whereas a magic user O.C.C. would concentrate on spells and magical theory). The equipment a character begins with (ie, weapons, armour, personal items, money etc.) is also defined by the O.C.C.

Tasks that do not directly involve an attack or defence are accomplished by rolling two ten- sided dice and comparing them to your skill level, if the total of the dice is equal to or below your skill rating, you have accomplished the task. Combat works on a randomly-determined turn basis-- each player rolls a die to determine who goes when in a single combat turn. Actual manoeuvres (shooting, kicking, punching, dodging an attack) are dealt with by rolling twenty-sided dice- the attacker rolls to 'strike' and the defender may roll to dodge or parry the strike. Whoever has the highest total of dice roll and any "modifiers" (additions or subtractions to the dice roll depending on skill and situation) succeeds in their action.

Character advancement is measured in levels, which are increased by experience points. Experience points are assigned on a task-by-task basis; whenever the player characters do something, they can expect to be assigned experience points for it (the amount depends on what the character did and how well they did it). Either the players or the game master MUST keep a running total of each playees experience: when it reaches a certain total, the player characters increase one experience level. When a new level is reached, ALL the character's skills increase by a set increment.

The Palladium rules system tends drastically toward simplicity over realism. Although this can make for easier gaming, some may feel that the system is just too unreal. The experience 'level' method means that, if a character has been only using a few of their-skills in a game, when they accrue enough points, all of their skills are increased. This is countered by the fact that an O.C.C. concentrates on particular sets of skills (a pilot rarely has artistic skills, so when he goes up a level, only piloting-related skills increase).

The O.C.C. system, unkile other archetype-based systems, is extremely specific: there are no catch-all categories like "warrior" or "mage" to provide a skeleton artound which you can build a character. You must have a Cyber-knight, Glitter Boy, Coalition Soldier, Shifter, Techno-Wizard, etc. Typically, such O.C.C.s delineate the character you play in its entirety, although that won't stop someone with a fair amount of imagination. If another O.C.C. than those in the basic book is desired, creating a new one can be very time-consuming for the gamemaster.

Dice-rolling can be a great aid to the entire system; it allows skill tests and combat to be accomplished rapidly. Where other systems usually require lengthy math to determine success of a character action, Palladium simply requires one dice roll. However, the random characteristic generation system tends to cut down on actual participation in the character creation process: because a character's natural attributes are determined by dice, players cannot truly "build" their characters (determining how good or bad their characters are by assigning values rather than rolling dice for them). Your characteristics also determine what O.C.C.s your character can choose from, further limiting your options. This can annoy experienced roleplayers.

The random turn order for the combat system doesn't account for character ability or skill. Also, the system uses a crude Hit Point method to determine damage to characters: once you run out of hit points, you die, and feel nearly no ill-effect before that. Although this does speed procedures up, Palladium Combat can take ages to resolve. This is compounded by the fact that vehicles use a similar damage system to characters, the large armoured vehicles, which use MDC (Mega Damage Capacity), often have damage resistance values numbering into hundreds of points; more than most Mega Damage guns can inflict even with a long burst.

The Presentation

I'm nto sure what it is with Palladium, but they haven't changed the presentation of their books since they first commenced releasing their product. Typesetting, graphic insertion and layout have never varied from the simple, black-and-white (aside from rare colour panels), two-column, Times-esque font appearance. Admittedly, this does make room for more information than books which go for eye-candy, but some of the info that is crammed into RIFTS isn't really necessary.

Overall

The simplicity of the system would make it good for roleplaying novices if they weren't chafed by the hour-long combats; experienced roleplayers who have seen other systems would likely find Palladium's chafing. The game does have bright spots. The data on Post-Apocalypse North America is very broad and detailed and the equipment section is fairly thorough. There is definitely enough data to allow a game master of average ability and imagination to create a good adventure. However, to get the complete basic data, including corrections for some of the errata (some of which are rather serious - an entire spell and the data for the Glitter Boy Pilot Suit are missing), you'll need to buy Rifts Sourcebook One as well.

However, the Limited Edition does not provide anything new. Aside from the spiffy cover and a revised dedication, there is no difference between the Limited Edition and the original book. Even the omissions mentioned above are not fixed, after five years.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)

RIFTS Collector's Edition
Author: Kevin Siembieda Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Books Cost: $32.95 Page count: 256 ISBN: O916211-87-8 Capsule Review by Robert Farquhar on 11/27/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Post-apocalypse	Two years ago, the sight of a black leather cover with the silver-embossed "RIFTS" logo somehow managed to instill an urge to spend A$50+ to purchase the RIFTS Limited Edition. It did give me the time to read it cover-to-cover at my leisure, after playing it with friends previously. The Setting RIFTS occupies a genre many call "Science-fantasy'; it combines elements of a high-tech 'future' age with those of a "Dungeons & Dragons"- style genre. ln the RIFTS setting, Earth is recovering from a centuries-old apocalypse which wiped out most of its population. Magic has returned to the world, and with it, rifts- magical gateways to other dimensions. Many creatures, good and evil, have come through the rifts to Earth. However, technology is nowhere near dead; several factions of humanity, as well as other-worldly eivilisations, manufacture advanced items such as laser weapons, flying vehicles, suits of powered armour and giant robots. The players are usually cast in the role of adventurers, exploring this new land and looking for fame and fortune. The RIFTS book concentrates primarily on North America, although notes are provided in the form of a travelogue by a historian, and is reasonably thorough, although the areas detailed in summary are not truly delved into anywhere else in the book. Chi Town, a massive arcology that is the hub of the fascist Coalition States, is covered in some detail, and there are a few O.C.C.s that can be used in its cyberpunk urban setting, but unless you're palying a camapign that directly involves the Coalition States, you won't be using Chi Town too often. Detailed pictures of the world are promised in later World Books. RIFTS does not have to be played on Earth itself - several Dimension Books have been published, detailing alternate realities that can be discovered on the other side of a rift. An interesting marketing idea is that other Palladium books (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robotech, Palladium Fantasy, Nightbane) can serve as "alternate realities" that can either be visited through a rift or can be used as the source for other-dimensional characters in the RIFTS setting. The System Character attributes are generated by dice rolls. The basic character definition is its Occupational Character Class (O.C.C.); this defines the areas of skills they can choose from (for example, a robot pilot O.C.C. would concentrate on piloting, combat and navigation skills, whereas a magic user O.C.C. would concentrate on spells and magical theory). The equipment a character begins with (ie, weapons, armour, personal items, money etc.) is also defined by the O.C.C. Tasks that do not directly involve an attack or defence are accomplished by rolling two ten- sided dice and comparing them to your skill level, if the total of the dice is equal to or below your skill rating, you have accomplished the task. Combat works on a randomly-determined turn basis-- each player rolls a die to determine who goes when in a single combat turn. Actual manoeuvres (shooting, kicking, punching, dodging an attack) are dealt with by rolling twenty-sided dice- the attacker rolls to 'strike' and the defender may roll to dodge or parry the strike. Whoever has the highest total of dice roll and any "modifiers" (additions or subtractions to the dice roll depending on skill and situation) succeeds in their action. Character advancement is measured in levels, which are increased by experience points. Experience points are assigned on a task-by-task basis; whenever the player characters do something, they can expect to be assigned experience points for it (the amount depends on what the character did and how well they did it). Either the players or the game master MUST keep a running total of each playees experience: when it reaches a certain total, the player characters increase one experience level. When a new level is reached, ALL the character's skills increase by a set increment. The Palladium rules system tends drastically toward simplicity over realism. Although this can make for easier gaming, some may feel that the system is just too unreal. The experience 'level' method means that, if a character has been only using a few of their-skills in a game, when they accrue enough points, all of their skills are increased. This is countered by the fact that an O.C.C. concentrates on particular sets of skills (a pilot rarely has artistic skills, so when he goes up a level, only piloting-related skills increase). The O.C.C. system, unkile other archetype-based systems, is extremely specific: there are no catch-all categories like "warrior" or "mage" to provide a skeleton artound which you can build a character. You must have a Cyber-knight, Glitter Boy, Coalition Soldier, Shifter, Techno-Wizard, etc. Typically, such O.C.C.s delineate the character you play in its entirety, although that won't stop someone with a fair amount of imagination. If another O.C.C. than those in the basic book is desired, creating a new one can be very time-consuming for the gamemaster. Dice-rolling can be a great aid to the entire system; it allows skill tests and combat to be accomplished rapidly. Where other systems usually require lengthy math to determine success of a character action, Palladium simply requires one dice roll. However, the random characteristic generation system tends to cut down on actual participation in the character creation process: because a character's natural attributes are determined by dice, players cannot truly "build" their characters (determining how good or bad their characters are by assigning values rather than rolling dice for them). Your characteristics also determine what O.C.C.s your character can choose from, further limiting your options. This can annoy experienced roleplayers. The random turn order for the combat system doesn't account for character ability or skill. Also, the system uses a crude Hit Point method to determine damage to characters: once you run out of hit points, you die, and feel nearly no ill-effect before that. Although this does speed procedures up, Palladium Combat can take ages to resolve. This is compounded by the fact that vehicles use a similar damage system to characters, the large armoured vehicles, which use MDC (Mega Damage Capacity), often have damage resistance values numbering into hundreds of points; more than most Mega Damage guns can inflict even with a long burst. The Presentation I'm nto sure what it is with Palladium, but they haven't changed the presentation of their books since they first commenced releasing their product. Typesetting, graphic insertion and layout have never varied from the simple, black-and-white (aside from rare colour panels), two-column, Times-esque font appearance. Admittedly, this does make room for more information than books which go for eye-candy, but some of the info that is crammed into RIFTS isn't really necessary. Overall The simplicity of the system would make it good for roleplaying novices if they weren't chafed by the hour-long combats; experienced roleplayers who have seen other systems would likely find Palladium's chafing. The game does have bright spots. The data on Post-Apocalypse North America is very broad and detailed and the equipment section is fairly thorough. There is definitely enough data to allow a game master of average ability and imagination to create a good adventure. However, to get the complete basic data, including corrections for some of the errata (some of which are rather serious - an entire spell and the data for the Glitter Boy Pilot Suit are missing), you'll need to buy Rifts Sourcebook One as well. However, the Limited Edition does not provide anything new. Aside from the spiffy cover and a revised dedication, there is no difference between the Limited Edition and the original book. Even the omissions mentioned above are not fixed, after five years. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 3 (Average)

RIFTS Collector's Edition

The Setting

The System

The Presentation

Overall