The Inside Scoop on Gaming

To start off, I would like to say that Rifts Australia is one of the best Rifts world books I have seen. Compared to other world books in Rifts, this would definately be rated a ten. The book is a very well balanced work, with not too much of any one thing, but enough of everything. The author

The book starts off with the setting, I don't want to spoil anything, but it is COMPLETELY unique for Rifts. Utterly. There is no other place on Rifts Earth like Australia. The setting is well fleshed out, contains writing by people besides Erin Tarn, and gives a great deal of detail helpful for GMs. The setting includes a detailed description of all the major, and quite a few of the minor locales on the continent. Australia has been surprisingly changed by the Rifts, so all of it is very interesting, in both game terms and for pure reading fun.

The fun thing about Australia is that it is in no way connected to the rest of the Rifts world. In every other book, there is mention of their relations to the Splugorth, Coalition States, The New German Republic, the Vampire Kingdoms, and more. In Australia there are new villains, governments, and a whole different aspect on life. Everything about it is unique, I have not seen anything like anything in Australia in any other book. This is extremely refreshing, and offers vast potential.

There is a section included on how to make an Outback town, which is extremely useful, based on a similar system included in Rifts Mercenaries and the Vampire Kingdoms. This is very useful in GMing, allowing a good deal of balancing in play. By reading the directions for town creation, a GM also gets more of a feel of Australia, and how to manage it. This section is crowned with examples for many of the available styles of Outback community, a feature I enjoyed, because it reveals anything involved in the process that the description left out.

Rifts Australia also contains 28 new OCC/RCCs, a very large number, almost equal to, or surpassing the number given in the original Rifts RPG. These stay with the books originality, getting rid of the normal cliches of magical men and fighters. There are difference in Australia, and the OCCs and RCCs show this very well. Some OCCs, like the Roadganger and Road Setinel are very obviously influenced by other sources. In this case it is Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. This however is not a bad thing, as that was a very good film, and seemed Rifts-like all along. Besides the occasional influence, the OCCs and RCCs are great fun, and completely inspired.

The equipment included in the book is not as large a quantity as that of a book like Triax and the NGR, but is still quite large. There are some new ideas for weapons (like the lava gun) that get rid of the pattern of various new types of the same basic laser/rail gun. There are some very, very cool new innovations in vehicles, which also fit into the Australia setting, but could be used anywhere else. I don't want to ruin anything, so read the book to see them.

There are a few downsides to the book. One is that the setting is incomplete. The book is completely full, and as is often true of Rifts books, not everything could fit in. There are promises throughout the book of more Australia world books to come, but until then Australia is incomplete. The main reason for this is the complete lack of anything to do with the Aboriginals. This is a very, very large part of the setting, as is stated often, yet no information is included. This is a real pain, but perhaps is for the better. I say this because there is going to be (supposedly) a full sized book for the Aboriginals alone. One aspect of the aboriginal culture that is not included is the Dreamtime magic. This is also mentioned often, and there are few magic OCCs because of the lack of this system.

Speaking of the magic, that is another down of Australia. Players who know and love the current Rifts world may not like Australia. This does not mean people who like the current world will not like Australia, and those who dislike the way things are now will like Australia. It just means that Australia is not typical in any way. There are very different rules of life, and even a whole different outlook on weapons. Another thing current Rifts players may not like is the lack of magic. Currently, there are only two semi-magical OCCs. This may be fixed in the Mystic Australia and/or Dreamtime world books, but right now, magic-addicted players will have a hard time.

Despite these downs, Australia is a very, very good book. It is chock full of information, and does not seem at all stretched. Some Rifts World Books feel as if the authors struggled to fill up the pages. This book feels as if Ben Cassin Lucas struggled to push all of his juicy thoughts into a tight fitting container, failed, and so pushed the overflow into forthcoming books. I would reccomend this book to most players, and everyone.

Isaac VanDuyn

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Rifts© World Book 19: Rifts© Australia™
Author: Ben Cassin Lucas, some text by Kevin Siembieda Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Books© Cost: $20.95 Page count: 224 pgs ISBN: 157457-018-8 Capsule Review by Isaac VanDuyn on 03/18/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Post-apocalypse	To start off, I would like to say that Rifts Australia is one of the best Rifts world books I have seen. Compared to other world books in Rifts, this would definately be rated a ten. The book is a very well balanced work, with not too much of any one thing, but enough of everything. The author The book starts off with the setting, I don't want to spoil anything, but it is COMPLETELY unique for Rifts. Utterly. There is no other place on Rifts Earth like Australia. The setting is well fleshed out, contains writing by people besides Erin Tarn, and gives a great deal of detail helpful for GMs. The setting includes a detailed description of all the major, and quite a few of the minor locales on the continent. Australia has been surprisingly changed by the Rifts, so all of it is very interesting, in both game terms and for pure reading fun. The fun thing about Australia is that it is in no way connected to the rest of the Rifts world. In every other book, there is mention of their relations to the Splugorth, Coalition States, The New German Republic, the Vampire Kingdoms, and more. In Australia there are new villains, governments, and a whole different aspect on life. Everything about it is unique, I have not seen anything like anything in Australia in any other book. This is extremely refreshing, and offers vast potential. There is a section included on how to make an Outback town, which is extremely useful, based on a similar system included in Rifts Mercenaries and the Vampire Kingdoms. This is very useful in GMing, allowing a good deal of balancing in play. By reading the directions for town creation, a GM also gets more of a feel of Australia, and how to manage it. This section is crowned with examples for many of the available styles of Outback community, a feature I enjoyed, because it reveals anything involved in the process that the description left out. Rifts Australia also contains 28 new OCC/RCCs, a very large number, almost equal to, or surpassing the number given in the original Rifts RPG. These stay with the books originality, getting rid of the normal cliches of magical men and fighters. There are difference in Australia, and the OCCs and RCCs show this very well. Some OCCs, like the Roadganger and Road Setinel are very obviously influenced by other sources. In this case it is Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. This however is not a bad thing, as that was a very good film, and seemed Rifts-like all along. Besides the occasional influence, the OCCs and RCCs are great fun, and completely inspired. The equipment included in the book is not as large a quantity as that of a book like Triax and the NGR, but is still quite large. There are some new ideas for weapons (like the lava gun) that get rid of the pattern of various new types of the same basic laser/rail gun. There are some very, very cool new innovations in vehicles, which also fit into the Australia setting, but could be used anywhere else. I don't want to ruin anything, so read the book to see them. There are a few downsides to the book. One is that the setting is incomplete. The book is completely full, and as is often true of Rifts books, not everything could fit in. There are promises throughout the book of more Australia world books to come, but until then Australia is incomplete. The main reason for this is the complete lack of anything to do with the Aboriginals. This is a very, very large part of the setting, as is stated often, yet no information is included. This is a real pain, but perhaps is for the better. I say this because there is going to be (supposedly) a full sized book for the Aboriginals alone. One aspect of the aboriginal culture that is not included is the Dreamtime magic. This is also mentioned often, and there are few magic OCCs because of the lack of this system. Speaking of the magic, that is another down of Australia. Players who know and love the current Rifts world may not like Australia. This does not mean people who like the current world will not like Australia, and those who dislike the way things are now will like Australia. It just means that Australia is not typical in any way. There are very different rules of life, and even a whole different outlook on weapons. Another thing current Rifts players may not like is the lack of magic. Currently, there are only two semi-magical OCCs. This may be fixed in the Mystic Australia and/or Dreamtime world books, but right now, magic-addicted players will have a hard time. Despite these downs, Australia is a very, very good book. It is chock full of information, and does not seem at all stretched. Some Rifts World Books feel as if the authors struggled to fill up the pages. This book feels as if Ben Cassin Lucas struggled to push all of his juicy thoughts into a tight fitting container, failed, and so pushed the overflow into forthcoming books. I would reccomend this book to most players, and everyone. Isaac VanDuyn Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Rifts© World Book 19: Rifts© Australia™