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When I heard there was a revised edition of the Conversion Book I was intrigued. I imagined they would excise the TMNT and Robotech related material, along with those creatures whose stats have appeared in other Rifts products, and perhaps edit out those portions of the book which no longer made sense. I had no idea what they might include in the free space they would now have, (save perhaps Experience tables for the Warlock O.C.C.) nor what kind of changes they would make to the existing rules in the Conversion book. I'm sorry to say the book wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.
The first thing I should say is that Palladium has less information in the revised edition of the Conversion book than in the original. According to the inside text, the decision was made that this volume would have general Palladium conversion rules, along with special rules for Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited, and Ninjas and Superspies. There is a (already released) Dark Conversion books book, covering Beyond the Supernatural, Nightbane, and other monstrous creatures, and there is to be a third book, entitled "Dragons & Gods," covering dragons and gods (presumably different than the one announced in 1996 that never materialized), and no mention is made if this D&G will supplement/replace the Pantheons of the Megaverse sourcebook.
While it makes sense that Palladium would want to reorganize all their Conversion books, I felt this worth mentioning for those who own the original and thought they would be getting a complete revision of that book in the Revised edition---there are many things missing from this version that appeared in the original, so you may wish to page through it before buying it, to make certain the material you want is actually in this volume. Also worth noting is that there is at least one line of text in the revised edition that refers to dragons and demons as though they are stated in the Revised edition of the Conversion Book, so maybe Palladium originally intended to reprint the Conversion book as a straight revision, without shifting material into other books.
The Introduction of the book is odd. It mentions that in 1996 the Rifts Conversion book underwent revision, but it was not noted on the cover and apparently only a few changes were done compared to this version that has the word "Revised" as part of its title. I make note of that because my copy of the original edition is from one of the first printings, done long before 1996, so if you see me commenting on something that's different than your original copy of the Conversion book this may be why. We're also told that the game worlds of other Palladium releases are NOT a part of the official Rifts game setting. I'll just leave you to wonder how a game world can not be a part of the same game setting as Rifts, but the creatures and artifacts that come to Rifts Earth from those game worlds are "official."
A section on rules clarifications and questions comes next. Some of this information is reprinted from the Rifts Game Master Guide, while a few bits are unique to this volume. One thing that bears mentioning is that there are currently three super strength types, namely bionic, robotic, and supernatural. With this Revised edition certain supernatural creatures have now been reclassified so that their supernatural strength is only equivalent to one of the lesser types for purposes of damage, lifting, etc, as noted in their individual listings in this book. Also, a few creatures (such as the S.D.C Bearmen) suddenly have bionic strength. While on the one hand I like the idea that some supernaturals are stronger than others, this change in rules can cause problems in the effectiveness of certain characters in combat. Fortunately only a handful of entries in this book are so affected, but it's something to keep an eye out for later in the book.
Another big thing in this section is that FINALLY rules are given exactly for how it works when creatures with supernatural strength use melee weapons. In my review of the Rifts Game Master Guide I commented on how several conflicting ways of handling melee weapons used by supernaturally strong characters have appeared in various Rifts books. Well, there is now one official ruling, but it, in my opinion, sucks.
You see, when a creature with supernatural strength uses a hand weapon that does M.D., it either does the weapon's damage or it does its natural hand-to-hand M.D., whichever is higher. You do NOT combine the damage of the weapon with the hand-to-hand damage value of the character (We're told that if a character has a special Bonus ability to inflict M.D. damage with weapon attacks it can use that, but I've never seen that in ANY Rifts book.).
I might be able to accept that ruling as reasonable, if not for all the entities in previous Rifts books who had amazing supernatural strength stats, but were written as using Vibro-Blades, giant-sized weapons, and other things that did far less damage than their supernatural strength did in HTH combat. It's like all these years those characters and monsters were fighting below their capability just because they wanted to show off with the cool weapon they bought or because they wanted to prolong combat. What was the point of supernaturally strong creatures spending thousands of credits on melee weapons, if they could do even more damage for free with their bare hands? I really have no idea why they revised the rules this way.
Next up is general M.D.C. conversion rules, and rules for converting Heroes Unlimited, After the Bomb, Ninjas & Superspies, Palladium Fantasy, and Beyond the Supernatural characters; in the case of BTS, the conversion is only for O.C.C.s, which (I presume) why it's here and not in the Dark Conversions sourcebook. For the most part this section is excellent, though I was a little bit confused with regards to superhumans (a conversion section separate from Heroes Unlimited, for some reason) and Heroes Unlimited.
The generic superhuman conversion rules (and I call them generic because they're not listed as being used for conversion from TMNT, After the Bomb, or other game, though some references in this section seem related to HU) have several powers that are identical in name or effects to HU powers that are in this book, but have vastly different rules in each section. For example, in the generic section being able to go intangible doesn't include a vulnerability to electricity, as the HU version does. Conversely, the Invulnerability power for HU is far more powerful than the generic rules for it. Depending on which set of conversion rules (or if you decide to mix and match them) you use it can be very easy to minimax your character, even for a Rifts campaign.
The HU section has several flaws with it. Sadly, the table for giving Rifts characters superhuman powers has been done away with, instead referring the reader to the HU main book. I'll be the first to admit the table was obviously cobbled together and could easily be abused, and was only a paragraph in size. Despite that, I found it very useful over the years whenever I needed to pump up my PCs' opponents, giving me a good outline on how to increase the threat level of a character without making him a monster capable of taking out all the PCs with the wave of his hand. I really miss that chart in this edition.
The other main gripe comes with how certain powers work out in Rifts terms. Invulnerability has been bumped down a notch (though still very nice) compared to the original Conversion book, but the real standout to me is a lack of consistency in converting powers. A long-standing problem in Rifts has been when a skill or power adds or allows recovery of S.D.C., but the character possessing it is an M.D.C. character; does the character get the S.D.C as equivalent M.D.C., or does he flat out lose the bonus? In this conversion section, there seems to have been arbitrary decisions that certain powers provide/allow recovery of S.D.C./M.D.C. as appropriate to the character, while others still only provide S.D.C., with no explanation of what happens to M.D.C. characters with the power. That's something I was really hoping to see revised in this book.
Additionally, those characters from HU who have enhanced strength may find it converted to being the equivalent of bionic, augmented, or supernatural. Players who converted characters with Extraordinary Physical Strength with the old Conversion book will no doubt be disappointed that they no longer have supernatural strength, having it suddenly dropped to bionic levels. Also, those characters with Extraordinary Physical Endurance now have a base M.D.C. of 5d4, rather than 2d4 x 10 +20. Why powers that were relatively weak to begin with were reduced even further is beyond me.
The Warlock O.C.C. is covered next. Unfortunately, no experience point table has been introduced yet, and the spells for the class are no longer in the Conversion book; you have to buy Rifts: Book of Magic for that, and are referred to the as-yet unreleased Dragons & Gods for elementals rules
Next up is the majority of the book, namely a conversion listing for the inhabitants of the Palladium RPG world. In a very odd note, it's mentioned that the vast majority of Palladium world creatures are very rare on Rifts Earth, and so should be used sparingly in a game. Right, give us dozens of pages of stats for critters, and then tell us we should barely use them in our games. I'm sure we'll all follow that advice.
The majority (or perhaps all-I haven't had time to go page by page and compare each creature entry) of Palladium Fantasy creatures (excepting demons, devils, and dragons) are reprinted from the original Conversion book, along with some new entries (I believe) culled from the latest Palladium Fantasy releases, and one or two entries updated with information from recent Rifts books. I'm amused by the flavor text for some entries, which I enjoyed in the original Conversion Book as well. Some of them are interesting and provide neat ideas for GMs to use in their campaigns, while a few should have been excised in this latest version of the book. For example, the original book mentioned a Rahu-Man (a giant humanoid race that eats the bodies of their fallen foes) as being a hero of the New German Republic; the original Conversion book was released before the NGR book, which revealed that country's pro-human, anti-inhuman stance. However, in the Revised Conversion Book the Rahu-Man is still listed as a hero of the republic.
As for changes in the stats for the entities covered here, aside from the strength modifications I mentioned earlier, not too much jumped out at me. Some giants now have less M.D.C. (though some now have healing rates listed) and minotaurs are slightly tougher creatures, bearmen get an extra D6 of Hit Points and bionic strength. Coyles can still be Juicers, but they get only half the bonuses, etc. Really, I didn't really see any great changes in any of the beings listed here, or any reason for most of the changes that occurred, for that matter. I expected there to be more changes or descriptions of why changes were made, but there were none of the latter.
So, do I recommend the Rifts Conversion Book Revised? If you have the original book, I'd say stick with it, as there are not enough changes in this volume to warrent you buying it. If you lack the original however, it'd probably be easier for you to buy this book rather than trying to hunt down an original edition of it.
One note regarding my rating: I'm giving it a 2 Substance because I'm looking at it as compared to the original, un-revised edition. If I had no previous knowledge of that version I probably would have given it a 3.
