The Inside Scoop on Gaming

In 192 pages, Mark Sumimoto manages to not only build upon Atlantis, but he does it without invalidating any of the old material. All of the things that made Game Masters enjoy the first book are expanded upon. This means new classes, new creatures, new monsters, and new magic.

Starting with the history of why Splynn was created on Rifts Earth, and why it's so popular throughout the Megaverse, the book gives GM's advice on how to prevent characters from getting any item they want, or at least having to earn the item. Many methods of making money are available to those willing to fight for it in the arenas, or to do work for the many minions of the Splugorth themselves.

One of the biggest problems with Atlantis as a setting is that it's very unfriendly to human characters. While that doesn't change with this book, the Liberated Underground gives players a fighting chance to get out alive. Lead by Max, a powerful Undead Slayer, this group has many factions working with it including Vampire Intelligences, Zeus, and even A.R.C.H.I.E. Three from Rifts Sourcebook One. The characters like Sergeant Beta and White Raven give the GM some faces to help the players out and a method of escaping Atlantis should things prove more difficult than first imagined.

For those players who manage to make it into Splynn, there are several merchants detailed who often have brief introductions which can serve to get the players involved with the factions of Splynn. Some of them involve illegal activities, but most are simple hooks to get the players into new adventures.

One of the most interesting things about Splynn is the Skyborne Excrusions where people are given a city tours through the use of aircraft. Strangely enough, this is the last section of the book, but it manages to touch on how much a tour costs, the types of ships available, and the two owners, Miles Sky, a hatchling dragon, and Andruu Realm, a demigod.

Since Splynn is a dimension market where almost anything can be bought, there are several new slave races revealed for the first time. The Staphra are a humanoid warrior race being prepped for Minion status, and while some of them fight against their inhuman masters, others have gone on to become Staphra Warlords, beings with bio-borg augmentation. Still, to run a dimensional market, one needs to be able to communicate with hundreds of races and the Rulian translators fill this slot nicely. These creatures may seem cold and logical, but they have the souls of poets within them.

For those who prefer monsters to races, the demonrunners are incredibly fast animals that look like a cross between a dragon and a cat, or the kryygorth shellback, one of the main food sources for the Splugorth.

At long last we have new magic tattoos. Originally introduced over fifteen world books ago, these abilities haven't been updated in a long time. Some of the new tattoos enable the user to drain P.P.E. from a victim with a Weapon Smashing a Heart, or to use the Beautiful Dancer Tattoo to confound opponents. A whole new slew of magical tattoos are introduced as well. These special tattoos can only be used by the Tattoed Archer, or "T-Archer". These power arrows include death arrows which ignore body armor and inflict damage straight to hit points, to shadow arrows which do increased damage to monsters linked to shadows.

Those who fondly remember the old bio-wizard organisms will delight to the new abominations presented in this book. Some are simple like the Black Claw. A parasite that launches itself into the arm of another being, and over time, gives that arm super natural strength, the ability to inflict mega damage, and to take mega damage. Unfortunately, at the end of two years, the arm falls off as the worm dies, leaving behind three new Black Claws. Some, like the Faceshaper, are less likely to end up in player's hands as these creatures allow the user to alter his facial features, and most of those who purchase this monster use it to restore their youth and increase their beauty.

For those Game Masters who want to add some strangeness to their players without massive side effects, the symbiotic organisms often add a touch of the weird without fatalities. The Electrone, a bug like organism, wraps its tentacles around the torso or arm of it's host and this grants the user the ability to use numerous electric based powers like jolt touch which inflicts standard structural damage capacity, or the electric bolt which can inflict mega damage.

Some may not be satisfied with the horror of the bio-wizard parasites but the bio-wizard weapons should satiated their need for the exotic. Some of these devices, such as those made with Faerie Folk components, are staffs, guns, and rods that draw on the life force of faeries that are imprisoned in the item itself.

A section on bio-borgs gives creative players a chance to see just how strange they can make their characters. Some of the important decisions that have to be made when creating a bio-borg: is the character a partial or full bio borg? What purpose was the borg made for? Bio-borgs can suffer many side effects though such as insanity. A small section on specific types of bio-borgs shines some hope that detailed versions will be forthcoming in an issue of the Rifter or another supplement.

But what about the Kittani? They do not go unmentioned. In addition to several new weapons like the Plasma Whit, and Plasm Chainsaw, the new power armors Flying Fox, a match for even a Coalition Super SAMAS, and the Kittani Centipede make their debut. The other weaponry detailed is that of the Octurill, one of the many races found in Splynn. These octopus like creatures have vibro axes and particle ejectors, while other races, such as the Kizh, have plasma pistols and ion rifles.

One of the strongest points of Splynn is the art. Starting with a fantastic wrap around cover of a typical street in Splynn, to interior art by Kent Burles, Wayne Breaux Jr. and Scott Johnson, among others, the art really shines through. Kent Burles time and again manages to convey an alien feel to the setting, while Wayne Breaux often captures the cold feel of technology. Scott Johnson, more familiar to fans of the Palladium Fantasy series, is right at home in showcasing several T-Archers and their different tattoos.

The weak point of Splynn though is maps. There is no map of the city and Palladium didn't include the original map from the first Atlantis book, so there are no maps in the book. Another problem with Splynn is that even with all of the great detail, it's still no place for human player characters. At least, not if they want to get out alive. The odds are so heavily packed against them that it's better to leave the humans behind and play something like a hatchling dragon! A few adventure seeds, or Hook, Line and Sinker adventures would've gone a long way in fixing this problem.

Still, players who are hungry for new tattoos, races, and classes will be pleased with this book, while Game Masters who want more information on Atlantis, will find Splynn an indispensable reference.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Rifts World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market
Author: Mark Sumimoto Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Games Line: Rifts Cost: $20.95 Page count: 192 ISBN: 1574570277 SKU: 836 Capsule Review by Joe G Kushner on 11/05/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction	In 192 pages, Mark Sumimoto manages to not only build upon Atlantis, but he does it without invalidating any of the old material. All of the things that made Game Masters enjoy the first book are expanded upon. This means new classes, new creatures, new monsters, and new magic. Starting with the history of why Splynn was created on Rifts Earth, and why it's so popular throughout the Megaverse, the book gives GM's advice on how to prevent characters from getting any item they want, or at least having to earn the item. Many methods of making money are available to those willing to fight for it in the arenas, or to do work for the many minions of the Splugorth themselves. One of the biggest problems with Atlantis as a setting is that it's very unfriendly to human characters. While that doesn't change with this book, the Liberated Underground gives players a fighting chance to get out alive. Lead by Max, a powerful Undead Slayer, this group has many factions working with it including Vampire Intelligences, Zeus, and even A.R.C.H.I.E. Three from Rifts Sourcebook One. The characters like Sergeant Beta and White Raven give the GM some faces to help the players out and a method of escaping Atlantis should things prove more difficult than first imagined. For those players who manage to make it into Splynn, there are several merchants detailed who often have brief introductions which can serve to get the players involved with the factions of Splynn. Some of them involve illegal activities, but most are simple hooks to get the players into new adventures. One of the most interesting things about Splynn is the Skyborne Excrusions where people are given a city tours through the use of aircraft. Strangely enough, this is the last section of the book, but it manages to touch on how much a tour costs, the types of ships available, and the two owners, Miles Sky, a hatchling dragon, and Andruu Realm, a demigod. Since Splynn is a dimension market where almost anything can be bought, there are several new slave races revealed for the first time. The Staphra are a humanoid warrior race being prepped for Minion status, and while some of them fight against their inhuman masters, others have gone on to become Staphra Warlords, beings with bio-borg augmentation. Still, to run a dimensional market, one needs to be able to communicate with hundreds of races and the Rulian translators fill this slot nicely. These creatures may seem cold and logical, but they have the souls of poets within them. For those who prefer monsters to races, the demonrunners are incredibly fast animals that look like a cross between a dragon and a cat, or the kryygorth shellback, one of the main food sources for the Splugorth. At long last we have new magic tattoos. Originally introduced over fifteen world books ago, these abilities haven't been updated in a long time. Some of the new tattoos enable the user to drain P.P.E. from a victim with a Weapon Smashing a Heart, or to use the Beautiful Dancer Tattoo to confound opponents. A whole new slew of magical tattoos are introduced as well. These special tattoos can only be used by the Tattoed Archer, or "T-Archer". These power arrows include death arrows which ignore body armor and inflict damage straight to hit points, to shadow arrows which do increased damage to monsters linked to shadows. Those who fondly remember the old bio-wizard organisms will delight to the new abominations presented in this book. Some are simple like the Black Claw. A parasite that launches itself into the arm of another being, and over time, gives that arm super natural strength, the ability to inflict mega damage, and to take mega damage. Unfortunately, at the end of two years, the arm falls off as the worm dies, leaving behind three new Black Claws. Some, like the Faceshaper, are less likely to end up in player's hands as these creatures allow the user to alter his facial features, and most of those who purchase this monster use it to restore their youth and increase their beauty. For those Game Masters who want to add some strangeness to their players without massive side effects, the symbiotic organisms often add a touch of the weird without fatalities. The Electrone, a bug like organism, wraps its tentacles around the torso or arm of it's host and this grants the user the ability to use numerous electric based powers like jolt touch which inflicts standard structural damage capacity, or the electric bolt which can inflict mega damage. Some may not be satisfied with the horror of the bio-wizard parasites but the bio-wizard weapons should satiated their need for the exotic. Some of these devices, such as those made with Faerie Folk components, are staffs, guns, and rods that draw on the life force of faeries that are imprisoned in the item itself. A section on bio-borgs gives creative players a chance to see just how strange they can make their characters. Some of the important decisions that have to be made when creating a bio-borg: is the character a partial or full bio borg? What purpose was the borg made for? Bio-borgs can suffer many side effects though such as insanity. A small section on specific types of bio-borgs shines some hope that detailed versions will be forthcoming in an issue of the Rifter or another supplement. But what about the Kittani? They do not go unmentioned. In addition to several new weapons like the Plasma Whit, and Plasm Chainsaw, the new power armors Flying Fox, a match for even a Coalition Super SAMAS, and the Kittani Centipede make their debut. The other weaponry detailed is that of the Octurill, one of the many races found in Splynn. These octopus like creatures have vibro axes and particle ejectors, while other races, such as the Kizh, have plasma pistols and ion rifles. One of the strongest points of Splynn is the art. Starting with a fantastic wrap around cover of a typical street in Splynn, to interior art by Kent Burles, Wayne Breaux Jr. and Scott Johnson, among others, the art really shines through. Kent Burles time and again manages to convey an alien feel to the setting, while Wayne Breaux often captures the cold feel of technology. Scott Johnson, more familiar to fans of the Palladium Fantasy series, is right at home in showcasing several T-Archers and their different tattoos. The weak point of Splynn though is maps. There is no map of the city and Palladium didn't include the original map from the first Atlantis book, so there are no maps in the book. Another problem with Splynn is that even with all of the great detail, it's still no place for human player characters. At least, not if they want to get out alive. The odds are so heavily packed against them that it's better to leave the humans behind and play something like a hatchling dragon! A few adventure seeds, or Hook, Line and Sinker adventures would've gone a long way in fixing this problem. Still, players who are hungry for new tattoos, races, and classes will be pleased with this book, while Game Masters who want more information on Atlantis, will find Splynn an indispensable reference. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Rifts World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market