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Palladium Book's The Western Empire was not a supplement I had great expectations for. To be honest the revamping of the whole game to the second edition was not good. Let it be said I am no fun of Rifts. Or maybe I am an old fuddy-duddy.

The Western Empire is simply the best supplement for a game setting since they released Book III: Adventure on the High Seas. After the line had been languishing (in a new revision or declining supplements during the last edition) this book came as a complete surprise. When I saw it in my local game store (Attactix) I flipped throught it and bought it a few minutes later.

The setting (The Western Empire, natch) is huge and Coffin doe snto get too ambitious in trying to detail every single city, village or forest. Rather the setting portuion is divided into empirial regions and the leading family of the region and the capital are fleshed out. The other noble families, cities and regions are given a quick travel guide and notes.

The cities that are fleshed out are all reasonably well done and each has enough hooks to keep any party busy for a while. Especially when you add in empirial intrigue, rivalry between the provinces and the monsters in the Old Kingdom and Yin-Sloth Jungles. Many of the cities are high lighted in the same way and may seem repeditive to the casual reader.

The personalities of the empire are done reasonably well. Though the fact that so many nobles are corrupt, greedy, short sighted and often tanked is a bit overplayed. With a weak nobility how could any empire survive? Ah ha! The emperor is strong willed and knows what he wants. The squeaky wheel gets crushed...or something like that bad metaphor.

The interior art is not overdone and it is surprising how much text is in the book! However most of the art is passable and there are a few really good drawings in there. The maps are another story, while adequate they are not terribly pretty too look at. The cover, painted by Brom, is simply fantastic and one fo the best Palladium has slapped onto a book in a long, long time.

While The Western Empire is jam packed with information, it really needed a bit better organization. I found the province sectiosn to be a bit jumbled and could have been made easier to read. Also the maps of the provincial regions were odd and only showed the 3 (or so) provinces in relation to each other and not the empire/world. That would have been nice. None of this takes away from what makes the book good: the content.

The sections after the setting section of the book (approximately 80 pages) is somewhat useful. The city making chapter I found useless and inadequate like all other generate a city, villian organization, etc. But if a GM does not have the time or does not like world building this is adequate, just not my cup of tea.

The sections pertaining to the Paladium Fantasy system are surprisingly light. The entire book can work for the last edition or the current one equally well. The section on magic items is good and I liked the idea that the items had a solid description and history.

If you really like the Paladium Fantasy setting or the game, this book is well worth you while. If you are lookign for an interesting supplement to use for your own world, it still works well. Many of the cities and sites can be juxtaposed with only a little work. At $20.95 is a bargain to boot.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Western Empire
Author: Bill Coffin & Kevin Siembieda Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Books Cost: 20.95 Page count: 224 ISBN: 1-57457-015-3 Capsule Review by Wes Johnson on 12/04/98. Genre tags: Fantasy	Palladium Book's The Western Empire was not a supplement I had great expectations for. To be honest the revamping of the whole game to the second edition was not good. Let it be said I am no fun of Rifts. Or maybe I am an old fuddy-duddy. The Western Empire is simply the best supplement for a game setting since they released Book III: Adventure on the High Seas. After the line had been languishing (in a new revision or declining supplements during the last edition) this book came as a complete surprise. When I saw it in my local game store (Attactix) I flipped throught it and bought it a few minutes later. The setting (The Western Empire, natch) is huge and Coffin doe snto get too ambitious in trying to detail every single city, village or forest. Rather the setting portuion is divided into empirial regions and the leading family of the region and the capital are fleshed out. The other noble families, cities and regions are given a quick travel guide and notes. The cities that are fleshed out are all reasonably well done and each has enough hooks to keep any party busy for a while. Especially when you add in empirial intrigue, rivalry between the provinces and the monsters in the Old Kingdom and Yin-Sloth Jungles. Many of the cities are high lighted in the same way and may seem repeditive to the casual reader. The personalities of the empire are done reasonably well. Though the fact that so many nobles are corrupt, greedy, short sighted and often tanked is a bit overplayed. With a weak nobility how could any empire survive? Ah ha! The emperor is strong willed and knows what he wants. The squeaky wheel gets crushed...or something like that bad metaphor. The interior art is not overdone and it is surprising how much text is in the book! However most of the art is passable and there are a few really good drawings in there. The maps are another story, while adequate they are not terribly pretty too look at. The cover, painted by Brom, is simply fantastic and one fo the best Palladium has slapped onto a book in a long, long time. While The Western Empire is jam packed with information, it really needed a bit better organization. I found the province sectiosn to be a bit jumbled and could have been made easier to read. Also the maps of the provincial regions were odd and only showed the 3 (or so) provinces in relation to each other and not the empire/world. That would have been nice. None of this takes away from what makes the book good: the content. The sections after the setting section of the book (approximately 80 pages) is somewhat useful. The city making chapter I found useless and inadequate like all other generate a city, villian organization, etc. But if a GM does not have the time or does not like world building this is adequate, just not my cup of tea. The sections pertaining to the Paladium Fantasy system are surprisingly light. The entire book can work for the last edition or the current one equally well. The section on magic items is good and I liked the idea that the items had a solid description and history. If you really like the Paladium Fantasy setting or the game, this book is well worth you while. If you are lookign for an interesting supplement to use for your own world, it still works well. Many of the cities and sites can be juxtaposed with only a little work. At $20.95 is a bargain to boot. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)