Tirax and the NGR, a European nation-state embroiled in a seemingly endless battle against the demon hordes to the east. That pretty much makes up the main point of this book, a technologically advanced group of humans fighting for their basic survival.
I really liked the ideas in this book, but there was one major thing that bothered me about it. Out of it’s 222 pages, this book has less than 30 pages devoted to actually describing the whole continent of Europe, and at least 175 pages of toys. Now, all the toys are some of Palladium’s most interesting, but really, what kind of world book only has 30 pages of actual information? Errrr… Just that makes it impossible to run a game in that area with out having to make up things left and right.
The meager world-data there is excellent, but I get the feeling that my tongue has just been slightly whetted, and that there really could have been MUCH more world data put in. The toys in this book have been some of the most coveted since it was released, but unless you allow your PC’s to somehow find caches of extremely hard-to-find Triax military equipment, most of them are out of reach for the average character operating out of North America.
That brings me to my final point on this book: It’s not in North America. Now, I am sure that many people out there have no problem with this, but for me, North America really is big enough for all of my games. If for some reason my PC’s did end up out side of it’s borders, most of Palladium’s world books are also guilty of having sparsely detailed descriptions of the actual places, and mounds of stats and new OCC’s/RCC’s. But even then, this is one of their coolest book ideas, but it would be pretty difficult to directly incorporate into a North American campaign.
One of the book’s greatest features is it’s awesome art. The cover kicks ass. Long’s stuff shines bright through out the entire thing, and really gives the Triax stuff that slick, bad-ass look. If anything, buy this book for some neeto art to cut out and put up on your wall (or photocopy first, and then put it up on your wall; that’s what I do!). Plus the comic is pretty cool, too bad Palladium has never done another like it…
I originally didn’t buy this book because it really isn’t integral to any game you might want to run in North America. However, a few of my fellow gamers did buy it right away, and after paging through it extensively, I decided to buy I used copy at Gen Con. Was it worth my $17? Well, I would say yes, but it really wasn’t needed, just cool enough for me to spend money on. So, if your short on cash, spend your money on one of Palladium’s newer books dealing with North America, and save getting this one for when you have some money to burn.
Noticable Picture, Quote, or Stat:
A platoon of Triax X-535 Jagers with TX-871MM interchangeable Rotary Missile Drum Launchers. All I can say is VOLLEYS OF 48 SHORT RANGE PLASMA MISSLES. Considering that these things aren’t at all that big, and can still run at about 100 mph with the TX-871MM, a small group of of them could destroy pretty much anything in 1 or 2 attacks!!! Imagine 480 Short range plasma missiles being launched at once! Screw nukes, get these guys in there and make sure they have some supply trucks around for reloads!
Noticable Lame Picture, Quote, or Stat:
While I did enjoy the comic’s art, it was way to unrealistic for me. 2 Jagers vs. 2 Gurgoyle PAs. Fine. But the fact that both of the Gurgoyle bots are taken out in 1 shot?! No way! Even if that was possible, I don’t think that Glank the Gurgoyle pilot would’ve also lost all of his 400 MDC! No, those 2 poor Jagers would have still been in combat with at least 1 of their opponents when the really big-ass robots appeared… Oh well, I guess I’m just nit-picker. =)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Rifts Source Book Two Review
Ed note 2009: After watching BattleStar Galactica, wouldn’t you agree the Mechanoids are basicaly Cylon clones?
Rifts Source Book Two:
The Mechanoids
Do you like alien cyborgs who’s only point is to destroy all humanoid life? Well, I sure hope so, because that’s really all your going to get if you buy this book.
Based off of Palladium’s truly ancient RPG, The Mechanoids, this book is just basically a big conversion of the cyborgs into the world of Rifts. There is a fairly interesting background on the Mechanoids, followed by about 10 times as many pages devoted to their stats. The book also includes some OK adventuring ideas for incorporating them into your game.
On that last note, the Mechanoids are NOT a race that you can just casually bring into your campaign. They’re just too alien, war-like, and frankly annoying. I mean, you could theoretically have a game with the PC’s encountering them, exploring their lair, etc., but who want’s to? What reason would PC’s have for putsing around with these aliens? Maybe if your PC’s are all Cyber-Knights or something, but just the fact that the cyborgs usually move in platoons/groups, have MASTER psionics, and also have some pretty lethal ‘borg bodies makes them really powerful.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of them having been around for 1000’s of years (they fought the Kittani, cool!), but do they really NEED their own entire source book? I don’t think so, all they really need are stats, descriptions of their mind-less killing habits, and a history of their previous encounters. The adventures? Usually out of the scope of my campaign, it’s to big of a pain to bring them in, and all they’d ever do was shoot at my PC’s. I’m still not sure how your can have a whole RPG about them, just what is their to role-play out? “Let’s go kill some humanoids”. “OK, yes, they all must die”, and so on, this seems to be the mentality of ALL the insane borgs, the smart ones just think about it in more complicated ways.
Overall I would say that this book is definitely NOT detrimental to have in any campaign. If you like unity, buy it. If you just buy all of the books, then you probably don’t care anyway. Or, if you just need some baddies to shoot missiles at your innocent, and unfortunately humanoid PC’s for no other reason than to cause them to need to have expensive repairs done on their nice shiny vehicles and armor, then you might want to buy it. But if you’re like me, and want some detailed world data you can use to actually role-play off of, this is not the book for you.
Noticable Interesting Picture, Quote, or Stat:
The picture on pages 102-103 is pretty cool looking, it’s another tragic victim of the “let’s cut good art in half” problem though. A good representation of how ruined buildings would look like, and the two robots in it don’t look all that bad.
Noticable Lame Picture, Quote, or Stat:
Well, the piles of Mechanoid stats themselves are annoying, but overall this book doesn’t have anything that out of place. I if see something though, I’ll be sure to bring it to your attention!
Rifts Source Book Two:
The Mechanoids
Do you like alien cyborgs who’s only point is to destroy all humanoid life? Well, I sure hope so, because that’s really all your going to get if you buy this book.
Based off of Palladium’s truly ancient RPG, The Mechanoids, this book is just basically a big conversion of the cyborgs into the world of Rifts. There is a fairly interesting background on the Mechanoids, followed by about 10 times as many pages devoted to their stats. The book also includes some OK adventuring ideas for incorporating them into your game.
On that last note, the Mechanoids are NOT a race that you can just casually bring into your campaign. They’re just too alien, war-like, and frankly annoying. I mean, you could theoretically have a game with the PC’s encountering them, exploring their lair, etc., but who want’s to? What reason would PC’s have for putsing around with these aliens? Maybe if your PC’s are all Cyber-Knights or something, but just the fact that the cyborgs usually move in platoons/groups, have MASTER psionics, and also have some pretty lethal ‘borg bodies makes them really powerful.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of them having been around for 1000’s of years (they fought the Kittani, cool!), but do they really NEED their own entire source book? I don’t think so, all they really need are stats, descriptions of their mind-less killing habits, and a history of their previous encounters. The adventures? Usually out of the scope of my campaign, it’s to big of a pain to bring them in, and all they’d ever do was shoot at my PC’s. I’m still not sure how your can have a whole RPG about them, just what is their to role-play out? “Let’s go kill some humanoids”. “OK, yes, they all must die”, and so on, this seems to be the mentality of ALL the insane borgs, the smart ones just think about it in more complicated ways.
Overall I would say that this book is definitely NOT detrimental to have in any campaign. If you like unity, buy it. If you just buy all of the books, then you probably don’t care anyway. Or, if you just need some baddies to shoot missiles at your innocent, and unfortunately humanoid PC’s for no other reason than to cause them to need to have expensive repairs done on their nice shiny vehicles and armor, then you might want to buy it. But if you’re like me, and want some detailed world data you can use to actually role-play off of, this is not the book for you.
Noticable Interesting Picture, Quote, or Stat:
The picture on pages 102-103 is pretty cool looking, it’s another tragic victim of the “let’s cut good art in half” problem though. A good representation of how ruined buildings would look like, and the two robots in it don’t look all that bad.
Noticable Lame Picture, Quote, or Stat:
Well, the piles of Mechanoid stats themselves are annoying, but overall this book doesn’t have anything that out of place. I if see something though, I’ll be sure to bring it to your attention!
Rifts Source Book One Review
This is (I think, someone correct me if I’m wrong) the first Rifts Book after the Main Book. It gives new information on North America, and some new guns and bots, to supplement the (at the time) slim ammount of them.
There is much needed info on the average Coalition platoon make-ups, populations of Coalition and other towns, the North American wilderness, and a great description of the Coalition’s view point on things and more information leeding into it’s intrisities and main characters.
There are also some more demons (which appear in later books), some early info on Atlantis, some outlandishly expensive (and kind of annoying) robot creation rules, and a few rules clarifications which were needed at the time.
Plus, there is a pretty good adventure included, but as of yet I have NEVER found a player who by this time has not already read most of it’s secrets. But A.R.C.H.I.E.’s robots sure are nifty.
The book is adorned with alot of excelent art, with some of the best pieces including the picture of the new T-1000 (but it’s cut in halph by the page damnit!), the Shemerian Warrior (with the awsome rail gun!), and the NG-V7 Mobile Hunter Gun. There is also the picture of the bad-ass Forager X-500. I think the retro-old style look is awsome, it has turbines!
Overall, this book is a must for any Rifts player. I don’t know any respectable gamer who doesn’t already have one. Back when it first came out (oh so long ago), people were so entraled with Rifts, they gobbled up any new offical info like candy, and this book whetted their needs. Now I think it is more considered an old standby. The equipment and data within is considered standard, it is not a “stand-alone” style book, and the later ones refer to equipment from it pretty frequently.
Noticable Intresting Picture, Quote, or Stat:
The picture on p19 realy helps give a feel for the squalor of the burbs, I especialy liked the brand names and graffiti (they add a little culture).
Noticable Lame Picture, Quote, or Stat:
P. 104, robot weapons section: “Small Claws - 1pt of MD, 60000cr” When I read this I had to think, “what the hell?!”, I mean, why do a pair of crappy claws cost so much? I’d rather have an NG-E4 Plasma Ejector and like 3 long e-clips! The rest of the prices for annoying robot stuff are just as outragously inflated! I guess Mr. Siembada must have been slightly dazed from lack of sleep after writing the other quality information in this book, and he accidenaly added in a couple of 0’s to every thing in the robot section.
There is much needed info on the average Coalition platoon make-ups, populations of Coalition and other towns, the North American wilderness, and a great description of the Coalition’s view point on things and more information leeding into it’s intrisities and main characters.
There are also some more demons (which appear in later books), some early info on Atlantis, some outlandishly expensive (and kind of annoying) robot creation rules, and a few rules clarifications which were needed at the time.
Plus, there is a pretty good adventure included, but as of yet I have NEVER found a player who by this time has not already read most of it’s secrets. But A.R.C.H.I.E.’s robots sure are nifty.
The book is adorned with alot of excelent art, with some of the best pieces including the picture of the new T-1000 (but it’s cut in halph by the page damnit!), the Shemerian Warrior (with the awsome rail gun!), and the NG-V7 Mobile Hunter Gun. There is also the picture of the bad-ass Forager X-500. I think the retro-old style look is awsome, it has turbines!
Overall, this book is a must for any Rifts player. I don’t know any respectable gamer who doesn’t already have one. Back when it first came out (oh so long ago), people were so entraled with Rifts, they gobbled up any new offical info like candy, and this book whetted their needs. Now I think it is more considered an old standby. The equipment and data within is considered standard, it is not a “stand-alone” style book, and the later ones refer to equipment from it pretty frequently.
Noticable Intresting Picture, Quote, or Stat:
The picture on p19 realy helps give a feel for the squalor of the burbs, I especialy liked the brand names and graffiti (they add a little culture).
Noticable Lame Picture, Quote, or Stat:
P. 104, robot weapons section: “Small Claws - 1pt of MD, 60000cr” When I read this I had to think, “what the hell?!”, I mean, why do a pair of crappy claws cost so much? I’d rather have an NG-E4 Plasma Ejector and like 3 long e-clips! The rest of the prices for annoying robot stuff are just as outragously inflated! I guess Mr. Siembada must have been slightly dazed from lack of sleep after writing the other quality information in this book, and he accidenaly added in a couple of 0’s to every thing in the robot section.
Odd things about Rifts
This Section is meant to be a list of interesting things that I have notice (or have been shown to me) about the Rifts books and it’s world in general.
Borg Armor
What’s so big about borg armor? Well, the heavy varity has 420MDC and only costs 32000cr!!! My friend Kurt pointed this out to me one day,”It’s the best kept secret in the Main Book!” he exclaimed. And that it is. Borgs have always kicked ass in Rifts, with a good one able to take over 600MDC, more than that of many robot vehicles over 20ft tall. And, according to this, instead of spending 40000cr of whatever for 10MDC worth of repaires, you can just buy an entire 420 MDC suit for dirt cheap! Is this a typo? Most likely, I should ask Ms. Seimbada about it. My local group theorises that the armor is basically just bolt-on plates, which sould be cheaper than a full enviromental suit. However, even then, this armor probably should cost a little more than a measly 32K…
Note: A suit of heavy borg armor has more MDC than an entire NG-V7 Moblie Hunter Gun Robot Vehicle!!!
Those Annoying Main Book Insanity Tables
Taken right out of Heros Unlimited, many of them refer to “superpowers”, heros, anti-heros, etc. They hardly even changed the tables at all! Well, I plan on writing up an insanity table created solely for Rifts, with things that APPLY to it. I mean, if you have the insanity “power-food” or whatever, where is a post-RIfts charaacter supposed to get pre-rifts foods? (twinkies, etc.) And what “superpower” would an insane Headhunter lose? Many of the listed insanities just don’t fit too well into the Rifts megaverse.
The crappy “Summon Shadow Beast” spell
It costs 140PPE, and all you get is a crappy 2MD shadow warrior that can turn invisible. What use is it but for a spy? The example lists the command “slay so and so”, but I sure as hell don’t know how these weak things could kill any one outfited in Plastic Man and holding a vibro knife! Even if you are striking out at it wildly, you’ll hit it sometime, and it is hard to find a weapon in Rifts that can’t easily inflict 2MD in one hit. I guess you could summon packs of them, but they don’t last that long either.
Main Book Dinosaurs
Can we say sucky?! I belive some speices get what, 3d6 MD! Well, the later books definatly correct this (the Dinos are much more buff). However, prior to the new stats coming out, we always would joke about how “scary” the dinosaurs were. I mean, what’s the point of making them soooo weak?
The Main Book O.C.C.’s get the shaft
Yep, that’s right. Ever since around the release of Rifts:Mercenaries, all the new OCC’s get bonuses to start off, and even extra secondary skills as they progress! Why? After lookin at them in comparison, they usualy don’t have as high of bonuses, or as many skills to start out, but still… The old classes just don’t get initiative bonuses and such like they should.
Every Gun-Slinger Must Have Amp-Hearing…
Or He will be, basically screwed. I never did like the +6 on initiative rule, it is just too high. I let it work for the first melee against a suprise attack, but not against an already known foe. Think about it, for the money this is probably the *best* peice of cyber-ware any player can pick up out of the main book, the bonuses are really good. Too good, in my opinion.
Why would a Jager suprise Erin Tarn?
p10 of World Book Five “four Jagers came running up a lightly forested hill at a beguiling speed”. Why would she have found this so fast for a ground-based power armor? The NG-Samson can run 10mph faster (150mph compared to the Jager’s 140mph). I would think that Tarn has seen one of the NG Samsons before, they are not that uncommon…
Borg Armor
What’s so big about borg armor? Well, the heavy varity has 420MDC and only costs 32000cr!!! My friend Kurt pointed this out to me one day,”It’s the best kept secret in the Main Book!” he exclaimed. And that it is. Borgs have always kicked ass in Rifts, with a good one able to take over 600MDC, more than that of many robot vehicles over 20ft tall. And, according to this, instead of spending 40000cr of whatever for 10MDC worth of repaires, you can just buy an entire 420 MDC suit for dirt cheap! Is this a typo? Most likely, I should ask Ms. Seimbada about it. My local group theorises that the armor is basically just bolt-on plates, which sould be cheaper than a full enviromental suit. However, even then, this armor probably should cost a little more than a measly 32K…
Note: A suit of heavy borg armor has more MDC than an entire NG-V7 Moblie Hunter Gun Robot Vehicle!!!
Those Annoying Main Book Insanity Tables
Taken right out of Heros Unlimited, many of them refer to “superpowers”, heros, anti-heros, etc. They hardly even changed the tables at all! Well, I plan on writing up an insanity table created solely for Rifts, with things that APPLY to it. I mean, if you have the insanity “power-food” or whatever, where is a post-RIfts charaacter supposed to get pre-rifts foods? (twinkies, etc.) And what “superpower” would an insane Headhunter lose? Many of the listed insanities just don’t fit too well into the Rifts megaverse.
The crappy “Summon Shadow Beast” spell
It costs 140PPE, and all you get is a crappy 2MD shadow warrior that can turn invisible. What use is it but for a spy? The example lists the command “slay so and so”, but I sure as hell don’t know how these weak things could kill any one outfited in Plastic Man and holding a vibro knife! Even if you are striking out at it wildly, you’ll hit it sometime, and it is hard to find a weapon in Rifts that can’t easily inflict 2MD in one hit. I guess you could summon packs of them, but they don’t last that long either.
Main Book Dinosaurs
Can we say sucky?! I belive some speices get what, 3d6 MD! Well, the later books definatly correct this (the Dinos are much more buff). However, prior to the new stats coming out, we always would joke about how “scary” the dinosaurs were. I mean, what’s the point of making them soooo weak?
The Main Book O.C.C.’s get the shaft
Yep, that’s right. Ever since around the release of Rifts:Mercenaries, all the new OCC’s get bonuses to start off, and even extra secondary skills as they progress! Why? After lookin at them in comparison, they usualy don’t have as high of bonuses, or as many skills to start out, but still… The old classes just don’t get initiative bonuses and such like they should.
Every Gun-Slinger Must Have Amp-Hearing…
Or He will be, basically screwed. I never did like the +6 on initiative rule, it is just too high. I let it work for the first melee against a suprise attack, but not against an already known foe. Think about it, for the money this is probably the *best* peice of cyber-ware any player can pick up out of the main book, the bonuses are really good. Too good, in my opinion.
Why would a Jager suprise Erin Tarn?
p10 of World Book Five “four Jagers came running up a lightly forested hill at a beguiling speed”. Why would she have found this so fast for a ground-based power armor? The NG-Samson can run 10mph faster (150mph compared to the Jager’s 140mph). I would think that Tarn has seen one of the NG Samsons before, they are not that uncommon…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)