The Inside Scoop on Gaming

WARNING:THIS REVIEW REFERS TO SOME GM'S EYES ONLY INFORMATION.

(NOTE:This review is based on the first printing.)

When I finished reading Palladium's "RIFTS World Book Seven (Underseas)", I was left with the same feeling that I had after reviewing "GURPS:Terradyne", that of unfulfilled potential.

"Underseas" is the seventh of a series of "RIFTS World Book's" released for Palladium's "RIFTS" setting, a post-apocalyptic world in which the megadeaths of World War Three reawakened magic and transformed Earth into dimensional nexus, to be fought over by forces both fair & foul.

This book deals with the worlds oceans, it begins with an introduction by series creator Kevin Siembieda thanking all those who assisted in writing the book and outlining the future plans for underwater soucebooks including the infamous(?) "RIFTS Underseas: Lemuria & Easter Island".

Following this introduction is an overview of the ocean environment and a sampling of some of the "non-aligned" creatures that exist in that environment.

The rest of the book consists of a series of descriptions of the major undersea power groups, character types associated with them, their relationships to each other and any equipment/magic that the power group uses.

The power groups listed in this book are:

GENE-SPLICERS.

Insane geneticists detailed in "RIFTS Sourcebook Three:Mindwerks", these guys like to make monsters and turn em' loose.

THE LORD OF THE DEEP.

Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, this giant squid wants to eat everything in the world, to help in the process it offers cultists 20 years of power before eating them & merges different species together to make slaves, a process that doesn't always work out...

WHALE SINGERS, DOLPHINS & CETACEANS.

This loose alliance of sea mammals & humans is opposed to the Lord of the Deep, some members are "Pneuma-Biforms", cetaceans & humans merged by the malign power of the Lord of the Deep (One of the creatures failures.) and able to change form from one to the other if they so desire.

TRITONIA

A former commercial sea platform now a floating city, part of the population is made up of Amphibs, descendants of a disasterous attempt to create sea dwelling humans.

NEW NAVY

Descendants of the United States Navy, their super submarines oppose both the Lord of the Deep and other invaders of Earth's oceans.

NAUT Y'LL

Interdimensional invaders, their goal is to conquer Earth, starting with the oceans, so far they're not having much luck.

HORUNE PIRATES

The ultimate freebooters, all these people are interested in is plunder.

ATLANTIS

Servants of the Splugorth (see "RIFTS Atlantis"), these nasties want slaves & control of the planet.

THE NEW GERMAN REPUBLIC

Detailed in the fifth "RIFTS" sourcebook, this embattled power has created a 'secret' navy in a desparate attempt to defeat the powers that surround it.

LEMURIANS

These people are good guys, to learn more just wait for "RIFTS Underseas: Lemuria & Easter Island", which will come out just as soon as Palladium can find someone to write it.

OPINIONS & EDITORIAL COMMENT

The main problem of this book is one that is common to a lot of Palladium products, namely that the authors allegedly, came up with too many ideas to be put into the sourcebook right away, resulting in some information (e.g. Everything regarding Lemuria) being left out to be published at a later date, either as a full blown "RIFTS World Book" or as a "RIFTS Sourcebook". It is particularly annoying that in this case the introduction to "Underseas" strongly implies that a lot of the material not included, had been prepared and that release in some form would follow in short order. Instead one delay followed another and recent correspondance indicates that "Lemuria" has been cancelled. This is one case where this should not have been allowed to happen as it is obvious from the few hints contained in "Underseas" that Lemuria is a major player in the undersea world of "RIFTS".

Editorial ranting aside, "Underseas" is a solid and well written suppliment, the artwork while not brilliant does its job and there are no obvious errata.

I give this two 3's.

RIFTS World Book Seven:Underseas
RIFTS World Book Seven:Underseas Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 11/12/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) An incomplete, but still useful suppliment. Hopefully Palladium will finish this one before they go out of business. Product: RIFTS World Book Seven:Underseas Author: Kevin Siembieda, C.J. Carella, Steve Sheiring, Kevin Long & Julius Rosenstein Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Palladium Books Line: RIFTS Cost: Page count: 216 Year published: 1995 ISBN: 0-916211-72-X SKU: 815 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 11/12/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Science Fiction Far Future Post-apocalyse	WARNING:THIS REVIEW REFERS TO SOME GM'S EYES ONLY INFORMATION. (NOTE:This review is based on the first printing.) When I finished reading Palladium's "RIFTS World Book Seven (Underseas)", I was left with the same feeling that I had after reviewing "GURPS:Terradyne", that of unfulfilled potential. "Underseas" is the seventh of a series of "RIFTS World Book's" released for Palladium's "RIFTS" setting, a post-apocalyptic world in which the megadeaths of World War Three reawakened magic and transformed Earth into dimensional nexus, to be fought over by forces both fair & foul. This book deals with the worlds oceans, it begins with an introduction by series creator Kevin Siembieda thanking all those who assisted in writing the book and outlining the future plans for underwater soucebooks including the infamous(?) "RIFTS Underseas: Lemuria & Easter Island". Following this introduction is an overview of the ocean environment and a sampling of some of the "non-aligned" creatures that exist in that environment. The rest of the book consists of a series of descriptions of the major undersea power groups, character types associated with them, their relationships to each other and any equipment/magic that the power group uses. The power groups listed in this book are: GENE-SPLICERS. Insane geneticists detailed in "RIFTS Sourcebook Three:Mindwerks", these guys like to make monsters and turn em' loose. THE LORD OF THE DEEP. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, this giant squid wants to eat everything in the world, to help in the process it offers cultists 20 years of power before eating them & merges different species together to make slaves, a process that doesn't always work out... WHALE SINGERS, DOLPHINS & CETACEANS. This loose alliance of sea mammals & humans is opposed to the Lord of the Deep, some members are "Pneuma-Biforms", cetaceans & humans merged by the malign power of the Lord of the Deep (One of the creatures failures.) and able to change form from one to the other if they so desire. TRITONIA A former commercial sea platform now a floating city, part of the population is made up of Amphibs, descendants of a disasterous attempt to create sea dwelling humans. NEW NAVY Descendants of the United States Navy, their super submarines oppose both the Lord of the Deep and other invaders of Earth's oceans. NAUT Y'LL Interdimensional invaders, their goal is to conquer Earth, starting with the oceans, so far they're not having much luck. HORUNE PIRATES The ultimate freebooters, all these people are interested in is plunder. ATLANTIS Servants of the Splugorth (see "RIFTS Atlantis"), these nasties want slaves & control of the planet. THE NEW GERMAN REPUBLIC Detailed in the fifth "RIFTS" sourcebook, this embattled power has created a 'secret' navy in a desparate attempt to defeat the powers that surround it. LEMURIANS These people are good guys, to learn more just wait for "RIFTS Underseas: Lemuria & Easter Island", which will come out just as soon as Palladium can find someone to write it. OPINIONS & EDITORIAL COMMENT The main problem of this book is one that is common to a lot of Palladium products, namely that the authors allegedly, came up with too many ideas to be put into the sourcebook right away, resulting in some information (e.g. Everything regarding Lemuria) being left out to be published at a later date, either as a full blown "RIFTS World Book" or as a "RIFTS Sourcebook". It is particularly annoying that in this case the introduction to "Underseas" strongly implies that a lot of the material not included, had been prepared and that release in some form would follow in short order. Instead one delay followed another and recent correspondance indicates that "Lemuria" has been cancelled. This is one case where this should not have been allowed to happen as it is obvious from the few hints contained in "Underseas" that Lemuria is a major player in the undersea world of "RIFTS". Editorial ranting aside, "Underseas" is a solid and well written suppliment, the artwork while not brilliant does its job and there are no obvious errata. I give this two 3's.

RIFTS World Book Seven:Underseas