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Warlords of Russia is a thorough, well-developed RPG supplement that achieves what all good RPG books set out to achieve. After finishing Warlords of Russia, I wanted to go out and run a campaign based on this book. Immediately. Probably won't happen -- there's a number of camapigns that I've been meaning to run for some time that still haven't gotten off the ground either -- but my next Rifts game will at least be heavily influenced by this book, if not based entirely on it.

Why? Because this is one of the first RIFTS books I've seen that's managed to capture the feel, flavor, and personality of an entire culture. A lot of material is spent detailing the Sovietski (the "new" Soviet Union that has arisen from the ashes of the Great Cataclysm) and the Warlords of Russia themselves -- the nomadic leaders of feudal kingdoms scattered throughout the Russian territories. The Warlords are not all power-crazed lunatics, either. Several pages are spent detailing them and their "Camps", the term used for their loyal followers and armies, and how they interact with one another. The Sovietski and the Warlords are provided with enough detail to become fleshed-out campaign settings, not just bland names and places with bad guys to fight.

Warlords of Russia is also filled with tons of new character classes, new weapons, new skills, and new armor. A player could literally make at least twenty new types of characters from the pages of this book alone, ranging from a simple traveling story-teller to a Holocaust Cyborg, whose name is a pretty good description of his abilites. Warlords of Russia also lists other characters from other RIFTS supplements that would fit in well to the Russian game setting. The equipment lists also reflect this diversity. A GM would have no problem running either a low-powered or a high-technology campaign based on the wide variety of equipment listed and detailed in this book.

The cover art is impressive, with a depiction of hammer-and-sickle wielding Thunderhammer Shocktroopers. The art inside ranged from good to mediocre. The layout of the books was okay, although certain sections seemed to have just been thrown together. Nine pages are dedicated to describing the Warlords of Russia, for example, and then the tenth page is proudly titled "Warlords of Russia" in big, screaming type. Wouldn't this have been better placed on the first page detailing the Warlords?

The main problem with this book is that in order to really use it, the GM will have to set his/her RIFTS campign within the setting of Warlords of Russia. If a campaign is already set in the Coalition States of North America, for example, I don't see how a GM is going to be able to use this material without some difficulty. Considering that the books went out of its way to describe how to incorporate material from other RIFTS World Books into Warlords of Russia, I feel that even just one page would have been well-spent explaining how to incorporate Warlords of Russia into the rest of the RIFTS Universe. There's also the fact that this book contains nothing about magic or supernatural creatures -- they will be featured in the forthcoming RIFTS World Book 18: Mystic Russia, meaning you'll have to part with another twenty bucks or so in order to get that information. Finally, I was disappointed that the books contained no suggestions for short adventures. In other supplements , RIFTS Books contain "Hook, Line, and Sinker" adventure ideas -- short, detailed adventure suggestions that can give a novice GM good ideas for several gaming sessions. I'm not sure that a novice GM would know where to begin a campaign from the vast amount of material listed in Warlords of Russia.

Still, Warlords of Russia represents a new supplement for the RIFTS campaign that is rich with new ideas and campaign concepts. Palladium should be commended for this book. It's easily the best game supplement they've put out this year. If you're looking to start a new RIFTS campaign, I highly recommend Warlords of Russia. You and the players in your campaign will not be disappointed.

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

RIFTS World Book 17: Warlords of Russia
Author: Kevin Siembieda Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Books Cost: $20.95 Page count: 224 ISBN: 1-57457-010-2 Capsule Review by Mike Ferguson on 09/07/98. Genre tags: none	Warlords of Russia is a thorough, well-developed RPG supplement that achieves what all good RPG books set out to achieve. After finishing Warlords of Russia, I wanted to go out and run a campaign based on this book. Immediately. Probably won't happen -- there's a number of camapigns that I've been meaning to run for some time that still haven't gotten off the ground either -- but my next Rifts game will at least be heavily influenced by this book, if not based entirely on it. Why? Because this is one of the first RIFTS books I've seen that's managed to capture the feel, flavor, and personality of an entire culture. A lot of material is spent detailing the Sovietski (the "new" Soviet Union that has arisen from the ashes of the Great Cataclysm) and the Warlords of Russia themselves -- the nomadic leaders of feudal kingdoms scattered throughout the Russian territories. The Warlords are not all power-crazed lunatics, either. Several pages are spent detailing them and their "Camps", the term used for their loyal followers and armies, and how they interact with one another. The Sovietski and the Warlords are provided with enough detail to become fleshed-out campaign settings, not just bland names and places with bad guys to fight. Warlords of Russia is also filled with tons of new character classes, new weapons, new skills, and new armor. A player could literally make at least twenty new types of characters from the pages of this book alone, ranging from a simple traveling story-teller to a Holocaust Cyborg, whose name is a pretty good description of his abilites. Warlords of Russia also lists other characters from other RIFTS supplements that would fit in well to the Russian game setting. The equipment lists also reflect this diversity. A GM would have no problem running either a low-powered or a high-technology campaign based on the wide variety of equipment listed and detailed in this book. The cover art is impressive, with a depiction of hammer-and-sickle wielding Thunderhammer Shocktroopers. The art inside ranged from good to mediocre. The layout of the books was okay, although certain sections seemed to have just been thrown together. Nine pages are dedicated to describing the Warlords of Russia, for example, and then the tenth page is proudly titled "Warlords of Russia" in big, screaming type. Wouldn't this have been better placed on the first page detailing the Warlords? The main problem with this book is that in order to really use it, the GM will have to set his/her RIFTS campign within the setting of Warlords of Russia. If a campaign is already set in the Coalition States of North America, for example, I don't see how a GM is going to be able to use this material without some difficulty. Considering that the books went out of its way to describe how to incorporate material from other RIFTS World Books into Warlords of Russia, I feel that even just one page would have been well-spent explaining how to incorporate Warlords of Russia into the rest of the RIFTS Universe. There's also the fact that this book contains nothing about magic or supernatural creatures -- they will be featured in the forthcoming RIFTS World Book 18: Mystic Russia, meaning you'll have to part with another twenty bucks or so in order to get that information. Finally, I was disappointed that the books contained no suggestions for short adventures. In other supplements , RIFTS Books contain "Hook, Line, and Sinker" adventure ideas -- short, detailed adventure suggestions that can give a novice GM good ideas for several gaming sessions. I'm not sure that a novice GM would know where to begin a campaign from the vast amount of material listed in Warlords of Russia. Still, Warlords of Russia represents a new supplement for the RIFTS campaign that is rich with new ideas and campaign concepts. Palladium should be commended for this book. It's easily the best game supplement they've put out this year. If you're looking to start a new RIFTS campaign, I highly recommend Warlords of Russia. You and the players in your campaign will not be disappointed. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

RIFTS World Book 17: Warlords of Russia