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Part of the utility is in the collection of charts. Need an experience point chart with all of the various awards? How about a hand to hand chart that covers almost all of the fighting styles from martial arts to basic? I personally think that they fumbled the ball by not including all of the styles, particularly Cyber-Knight Zen Combat but many martial art styles are included so it makes up for that single lacking style.
Others will find Kevin’s ramblings about his style of GMing worth while reading. I found it interesting that he normally runs a larger group and his manner of using cliff-hangers and recurring villains to add spice to the campaign even as he uses low powered NPCs to help guide, not control mind you, but guide the players to eventual goals. Such foils can also act as counter-points to the characters views when they’re out of line. “Gee, do you really think we should wipe out this whole town?”
One of the things I think Kevin bowed out of with an unsatisfactory explanation, is integrating M.D.C. characters with non-M.D.C. ones. I’m not talking about power-balance here as any player of Rifts knows that there isn’t a lot of balance between the classes, but I would’ve liked to have seen some ideas on grouping certain characters together in terms of power levels and how to provide multiple challenges where if you’ve got a Holy Terror, Cosmo-Knight and Glitter Boy, that the Cyber-Knight and Juicer aren’t wasted by the things that can challenge the big boys.
In some ways, the author must think that the system needs a master reference though as with the charts on martial arts, there is a compendium of skills broken down into skill groups and alphabetized with starting values. Some of these are old friends like Weapon Proficiencies Ancient and some are from special books like Wingrider Flying Wing, from the Rifts Russia book. Psionics are also collected here and broken down by group and alphabetical order. Need a Healing psion? How about Super-Psionics? All covered and detailed.
The compilation continues with small guns. It collections material from almost all the current world books, Rifts Mercenaries, the sourcebooks, the Dimension Books and the Coalition Wars books so if you need something, unless it comes from Phase World, it’s probably in here. Those looking for the various vehicles of the Rifts setting will be pleased to know that many details are also included in this book ranging from the good old Triax to the Megaversal Legion.
Other subjects covered include the O.C.C. master list with the names and experience point tables, but no details. Bionics from a lot of the sourcebooks with those good old insanity tables and page references to what book the material original appeared.
On the opposite side of Kevin’s notes, Bill Coffin wrote some material on Running the Game. His advice is a little more sound in voice and utility. He uses the Seven Deadly Sins as a guideline to show how GMs can often get away from the better parts of the game.
For instance, Envy is the GM stealing the Show from the players with powerful NPCs or Lust, Loving Details to Death. I know I’ve has some of the Wrath, where it’s me against the players and I know that the whole style of Gluttony, Unjust Rewards, is easy to do in a setting like Rifts. I’m a GM with a lot of experience under my belt but its good to be reminded of the traps you can fall into. Bill ends woth 100 Adventure Ideas, little paragraphs broken up by location that can help the GM get the old juices started.
The book ends with maps of the Rifts world.
Now as far as I’m concerned, this book has about three potential audiences. The first is the person who buys every Rifts book. The second is the person who only has the main Rifts book and needs a lot of information but doesn’t want to buy all the books. The third is the person hoping that this book provides a lot of answers to the Rifts setting. The first two audiences will enjoy the book but I personally have little use for it.
Sure Kevin and Bill’s advice is useful but where are the real tools? Where are the maps of common structures in the Rifts setting? Where’s an updated timeline of the setting? Where’s a 2nd edition that can help clarify the whole setting in a consistent and useful manner? The Rifts Game Master Guide doesn’t help there. It’s a collection of data and a source of ideas and advice, not a tool book.
Now some may be wondering why its so highly rated. Well the art remains some of the most enjoyable to look at in the industry. In addition, it's a huge book at a very reasonable price. I mean $24.95 for over three hundred pages of material?
If you’ve just picked up the Rifts main book or want to complete your collection, this is a perfect book to add to your collection. If you own all the books and want new information and more tools to help your campaign run smoother, this book isn’t going to help you there.
