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RIFTS Psyscape is, more or less, the definitive RIFTS book on psionics.

If you can't stand the RIFTS system for psionics (or magic, for that matter), then I'll say right now that you should avoid this book. There's no earth-shattering revisions to the way psionics works in this game. Psionic powers are very strictly defined, allow little room for creativity, and are predicable. There's little to no leeway regarding the interpretation of these powers. If you're a fan of Ars Magica or Mage-style magic rules for defining otherworldly powers, then RIFTS takes some getting used to. It's old-fashioned, ironclad, and dependable.

If you can get over this hump (and if you play RIFTS on a semi-regular basis, you probably can, since you're playing a game whose rules are hopelessly mired in the 1980s and have no intention of moving forward), Psyscape is a decent book. There's nothing earth-shattering here. Like many of Palladium's recent books, it seems to be content with adding some basic elements to the game without making any dynamic or exciting changes. For Psyscape, this is fine. The RIFTS system of psionics, for the most part, has been left mostly untouched since the core rulebook came out. At this point, any addition would be welcome, as long as it doesn't suck. Psyscape doesn't suck.

The actual word Psyscape refers to the kingdom of Psyscape. This hidden kingdom located in the ruins of RIFTS-post-apocalyptic North America is haven to the good humans and mutants with psychic powers of the land. The residents of Psyscape stand for truth, justice, and all sorts of other good things, doing what they can to fight evil and the dastardly Coalition States.

As with most Palladium books, once the background material is covered, Psyscape moves on to new character classes, powers, equipment, monsters, whatever. The character classes and powers -- in this case, new psychic classes and new psychic powers -- make up the better part of the material. Psychic classes are varied, if bland -- classes like Psychic Assassin and Psychic Scout seem to make up most of the list. Each offers enough in specialties, though, to warrant consideration, rather than just ignoring them all and making a standard, generic psychic character. (Actually, the Nega-Psychic character class looked cool enough to warrant special mention -- this class has no special powers apart from the fact that it completely disrupts or negates the psychic abilities of others.)

The psychic powers are also pretty mundane, but there's a lot of them, much more than the previous RIFTS books had to offer. The only ones that struck me as different or out of the ordinary were the telemechanics powers. Some of them looked as though they could allow a player character a wide latitude of control over anyone or anything with hi-tech weaponry. In this game, that's fairly common. Any GM allowing players to use these psychic powers should take a close look at them, just so they aren't abused unnecessarily. This isn't really a fault of the game or the rules; I just personally thought that these were the only powers that looked ripe for abuse.

The latter sections of the book deal with monsters and wild creatures that lurk around the wilderness surrounding Psyscape. While I understood the inclusion of a few of these creatures (namely, that they had psychic powers), some monsters just seemed to be thrown into the book on a whim. I would have rather seen more information dedicated to psychic powers (or at least psychic monsters) included in this book, rather than just creatures that could have gone into any book.

Don't expect this book to improve the rules for psychic powers in RIFTS. It's a safe, conventional book that just adds on to the existing rules and campaign background for the game very nicely.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

RIFTS World Book 12: Psyscape
Author: Kevin Siembieda Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Books Cost: $16.95 Page count: 160 ISBN: 0916211-92-0 Capsule Review by Mike Ferguson on 02/16/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Post-apocalypse	RIFTS Psyscape is, more or less, the definitive RIFTS book on psionics. If you can't stand the RIFTS system for psionics (or magic, for that matter), then I'll say right now that you should avoid this book. There's no earth-shattering revisions to the way psionics works in this game. Psionic powers are very strictly defined, allow little room for creativity, and are predicable. There's little to no leeway regarding the interpretation of these powers. If you're a fan of Ars Magica or Mage-style magic rules for defining otherworldly powers, then RIFTS takes some getting used to. It's old-fashioned, ironclad, and dependable. If you can get over this hump (and if you play RIFTS on a semi-regular basis, you probably can, since you're playing a game whose rules are hopelessly mired in the 1980s and have no intention of moving forward), Psyscape is a decent book. There's nothing earth-shattering here. Like many of Palladium's recent books, it seems to be content with adding some basic elements to the game without making any dynamic or exciting changes. For Psyscape, this is fine. The RIFTS system of psionics, for the most part, has been left mostly untouched since the core rulebook came out. At this point, any addition would be welcome, as long as it doesn't suck. Psyscape doesn't suck. The actual word Psyscape refers to the kingdom of Psyscape. This hidden kingdom located in the ruins of RIFTS-post-apocalyptic North America is haven to the good humans and mutants with psychic powers of the land. The residents of Psyscape stand for truth, justice, and all sorts of other good things, doing what they can to fight evil and the dastardly Coalition States. As with most Palladium books, once the background material is covered, Psyscape moves on to new character classes, powers, equipment, monsters, whatever. The character classes and powers -- in this case, new psychic classes and new psychic powers -- make up the better part of the material. Psychic classes are varied, if bland -- classes like Psychic Assassin and Psychic Scout seem to make up most of the list. Each offers enough in specialties, though, to warrant consideration, rather than just ignoring them all and making a standard, generic psychic character. (Actually, the Nega-Psychic character class looked cool enough to warrant special mention -- this class has no special powers apart from the fact that it completely disrupts or negates the psychic abilities of others.) The psychic powers are also pretty mundane, but there's a lot of them, much more than the previous RIFTS books had to offer. The only ones that struck me as different or out of the ordinary were the telemechanics powers. Some of them looked as though they could allow a player character a wide latitude of control over anyone or anything with hi-tech weaponry. In this game, that's fairly common. Any GM allowing players to use these psychic powers should take a close look at them, just so they aren't abused unnecessarily. This isn't really a fault of the game or the rules; I just personally thought that these were the only powers that looked ripe for abuse. The latter sections of the book deal with monsters and wild creatures that lurk around the wilderness surrounding Psyscape. While I understood the inclusion of a few of these creatures (namely, that they had psychic powers), some monsters just seemed to be thrown into the book on a whim. I would have rather seen more information dedicated to psychic powers (or at least psychic monsters) included in this book, rather than just creatures that could have gone into any book. Don't expect this book to improve the rules for psychic powers in RIFTS. It's a safe, conventional book that just adds on to the existing rules and campaign background for the game very nicely. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

RIFTS World Book 12: Psyscape