The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The original Aliens Unlimited came out in 1994. Since then, the Rifts line has grown with World books and Dimension books. The Palladium system itself was leaning towards a whole, unified system as evidenced by a revision not only for Palladium Fantasy, but also the Heroes Unlimited system itself. Now, five years latter, Aliens Unlimited hits the shelves again.

Quick comparisons between the two editions might not reveal too many difference at first. Oh sure, the revised edition costs a dollar more and is sixteen pages longer, but couldn't that just fancy formatting? Is there any new text? Yes and no.

The new book does have a lot of new formatting. Some of the writing has also been changed for clarity. The biggest change is the addition of the P.P.E. ability score to most of the alien races. The biggest disappointment is that while the Rifts notes are short and clear enough to use without too many problems, they only cover the Rifts and the Phase World settings, leaving out the newer Skraypers Dimension book.

Still, almost all of the redundant information has been removed. If you owned aliens Unlimited and the Heroes Unlimited 2nd edition, there was some overlap in terms of powers. Both books had the minor super abilities body weapons, multiple limbs and power channeling, as well as all the major super abilities. The revised edition does away with the super abilities, but does keep the spells, none of which are in the 2nd edition of Heroes Unlimited. The only thing in this book that is duplicated is the major psionic power Electrokinesis.

But what if you never owned Aliens Unlimited? In short, it's a great sourcebook that features over one hundred aliens races and monsters to use in either an S.D.C. setting, or the higher powered M.D.C. settings. In other words, the range can be from Heroes Unlimited, to Robotech, to Nightbane.

The alien races are broken up by type. There are amphibian aliens, aquatic aliens, ape aliens, avian aliens, canine aliens, feline aliens, humanoid aliens, insect aliens, mineral aliens, reptile aliens, and even vegetable aliens. Each alien has a brief history, character creation method that includes super abilities, natural abilities, and conversion notes for Rifts and Phase world. Some of my favorites are the human like Manarr, a dying, but noble race that embraces death by wearing skeleton based armor and using reaper like weapons. The insect Manteze race are also impressive looking, favoring spell casting to technology, while the Photins, a four armed race of humanoid bug can be found as assassins of the Splugorth, or other diabolic forces. Another plus is that every race has an accompanying illustration with it.

With so many races to choose from, the GM has to be careful about how many he uses on a continual basis. Some players could easily imagine that they are just fighting the bad guy of the week. The biggest problem is that most of these aliens are very humanoid in appearance save for their facial features. Perhaps in this case, fewer aliens would've been better.

In addition to alien races, there are some nice extras as well. The spells and psionic abilities add a little more to players' options and are not exclusive to aliens. GMs planning on long-term campaigns based around aliens will find the organizations, broken up into government and civilian, to be a quick blessing. Project Secure often tries to be the friendly arm of the government while Project Tyche, a government organization that wants to not only to protect the American citizens from the aliens, but to also harvest any advanced technology the aliens have. Each section comes with an organization chart, first introduced in Villains Unlimited, as well as NPCs to interact with the characters.

While Wayne Breaux Jr and Apollo Okamura are credited with the art chores, but Kevin Long (p. 163) and Vince Martin (p.44), older artists, also have some illustrations here. One of the great things about a book like this is that you can see the growth of Breaux as an illustrator. Considered by many to be an imitator of Kevin Long, his own style shows through with the new illustration of the Riatheonor on page 170, as opposed to the original drawing on page 172. Those looking for further proof can compare the old picture of the character Ego on page 29 to the new one on page 205. The most disappointing thing about the new art here is that some of it has seen use before in the Rifter sourcebook magazine.

If there had been more new material, more conversion notes, more meat, this book would be a must have, even for those who owned the original edition. Since it doesn't update the book for the Skraypers setting however, and does have a few minor problems, most owners of the original book should be stick with it. Those who never bought the Aliens Unlimited book should feel secure in purchasing it now. With the rarity of a new Palladium edition, I think it's safe to say that this is a solid buy for the Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition fan.

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

Aliens Unlimited Revised
Author: Wayne Breaus Jr. Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Line: Heroes Unlimited 2nd ed Cost: $20.95 Page count: 208 ISBN: 0916211762 SKU: 515 Capsule Review by Joe G Kushner on 12/30/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction	The original Aliens Unlimited came out in 1994. Since then, the Rifts line has grown with World books and Dimension books. The Palladium system itself was leaning towards a whole, unified system as evidenced by a revision not only for Palladium Fantasy, but also the Heroes Unlimited system itself. Now, five years latter, Aliens Unlimited hits the shelves again. Quick comparisons between the two editions might not reveal too many difference at first. Oh sure, the revised edition costs a dollar more and is sixteen pages longer, but couldn't that just fancy formatting? Is there any new text? Yes and no. The new book does have a lot of new formatting. Some of the writing has also been changed for clarity. The biggest change is the addition of the P.P.E. ability score to most of the alien races. The biggest disappointment is that while the Rifts notes are short and clear enough to use without too many problems, they only cover the Rifts and the Phase World settings, leaving out the newer Skraypers Dimension book. Still, almost all of the redundant information has been removed. If you owned aliens Unlimited and the Heroes Unlimited 2nd edition, there was some overlap in terms of powers. Both books had the minor super abilities body weapons, multiple limbs and power channeling, as well as all the major super abilities. The revised edition does away with the super abilities, but does keep the spells, none of which are in the 2nd edition of Heroes Unlimited. The only thing in this book that is duplicated is the major psionic power Electrokinesis. But what if you never owned Aliens Unlimited? In short, it's a great sourcebook that features over one hundred aliens races and monsters to use in either an S.D.C. setting, or the higher powered M.D.C. settings. In other words, the range can be from Heroes Unlimited, to Robotech, to Nightbane. The alien races are broken up by type. There are amphibian aliens, aquatic aliens, ape aliens, avian aliens, canine aliens, feline aliens, humanoid aliens, insect aliens, mineral aliens, reptile aliens, and even vegetable aliens. Each alien has a brief history, character creation method that includes super abilities, natural abilities, and conversion notes for Rifts and Phase world. Some of my favorites are the human like Manarr, a dying, but noble race that embraces death by wearing skeleton based armor and using reaper like weapons. The insect Manteze race are also impressive looking, favoring spell casting to technology, while the Photins, a four armed race of humanoid bug can be found as assassins of the Splugorth, or other diabolic forces. Another plus is that every race has an accompanying illustration with it. With so many races to choose from, the GM has to be careful about how many he uses on a continual basis. Some players could easily imagine that they are just fighting the bad guy of the week. The biggest problem is that most of these aliens are very humanoid in appearance save for their facial features. Perhaps in this case, fewer aliens would've been better. In addition to alien races, there are some nice extras as well. The spells and psionic abilities add a little more to players' options and are not exclusive to aliens. GMs planning on long-term campaigns based around aliens will find the organizations, broken up into government and civilian, to be a quick blessing. Project Secure often tries to be the friendly arm of the government while Project Tyche, a government organization that wants to not only to protect the American citizens from the aliens, but to also harvest any advanced technology the aliens have. Each section comes with an organization chart, first introduced in Villains Unlimited, as well as NPCs to interact with the characters. While Wayne Breaux Jr and Apollo Okamura are credited with the art chores, but Kevin Long (p. 163) and Vince Martin (p.44), older artists, also have some illustrations here. One of the great things about a book like this is that you can see the growth of Breaux as an illustrator. Considered by many to be an imitator of Kevin Long, his own style shows through with the new illustration of the Riatheonor on page 170, as opposed to the original drawing on page 172. Those looking for further proof can compare the old picture of the character Ego on page 29 to the new one on page 205. The most disappointing thing about the new art here is that some of it has seen use before in the Rifter sourcebook magazine. If there had been more new material, more conversion notes, more meat, this book would be a must have, even for those who owned the original edition. Since it doesn't update the book for the Skraypers setting however, and does have a few minor problems, most owners of the original book should be stick with it. Those who never bought the Aliens Unlimited book should feel secure in purchasing it now. With the rarity of a new Palladium edition, I think it's safe to say that this is a solid buy for the Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition fan. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Aliens Unlimited Revised