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The [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] managed to survive the great cataclysm, though Canada itself did not. The Mounties have become an independent law enforcement force called the '''Tundra Rangers''', patrolling the northern wilderness. |
The [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] managed to survive the great cataclysm, though Canada itself did not. The Mounties have become an independent law enforcement force called the '''Tundra Rangers''', patrolling the northern wilderness. |
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'''Tolkeen''' was a major city in the former [[Minneapolis]] region in early rifts books; the city welcomed users of magic. Recently, a military campaign made by the Coalition States resulted in the magic-user kingdom being wiped off the map (This is covered in the highly debated, six-volume series of sourcebooks "Coalition Wars: Siege on Tolkeen"). |
'''[[Tolkeen]]''' was a major city in the former [[Minneapolis]] region in early rifts books; the city welcomed users of magic. Recently, a military campaign made by the Coalition States resulted in the magic-user kingdom being wiped off the map (This is covered in the highly debated, six-volume series of sourcebooks "Coalition Wars: Siege on Tolkeen"). |
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====South America==== |
====South America==== |
Revision as of 18:07, 15 August 2006
Designers | Kevin Siembieda |
---|---|
Publishers | Palladium Books |
Publication | 1990 |
Genres | Science fiction, fantasy, horror, western |
Systems | Megaversal system |
Rifts is a multi-genre role-playing game created by Kevin Siembieda in 1990 and published continuously by Palladium Books since then. Rifts takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, deriving elements from science fiction, fantasy, horror, western, and many other genres. Since its creation, over 250,000 copies of the original Rifts rule book have been sold and over 60 books have been created.
Rifts serves as a cross-over environment for a variety of other Palladium games with different universes connected through "rifts" in space, time, and reality. Through Palladium's universal combat and conversion system, characters and elements from different games can interact and combine in new ways, resulting in a completely unique role-playing setting that Palladium calls the "Rifts Megaverse".
The Rifts game contains subject matter which some readers find objectionable including descriptions of violence, magic, drugs, insanity and evil. Each Rifts volume contains a disclaimer and warning about being inappropriate for young readers. Rifts also describes itself as an "advanced" role-playing game and not an introduction for those new to the concept. Palladium estimates that "1.5+ million gamers have played Rifts and many times that number have heard of it."
Palladium continues to publish books for the Rifts series, with five published between April and December of 2005. Rifts "Ultimate Edition" was released in August 2005 and designed to update the game with Palladium's incremental changes to its system, changes in the game world, and additional information and character types. The web site is quick to point out that this is not a second edition but an improvement and expansion of the original role playing game.[1]
Setting
The setting of Rifts forms a unique backdrop for story-telling and role-playing. The foundations for the Rifts world were originally developed in the Palladium game Beyond the Supernatural (first released in 1987), which uses Lovecraftian storytelling techniques for a role-playing experience based on horror fiction.
This setting is very versatile; almost anything can happen in a Rifts game, and Rifts stories can be anything from dark and haunting to odd and whimsical. The rifts allow characters to travel through time, to new worlds or to parallel universes. Alien magic far beyond the fairy tales of Earth's past exists alongside futuristic hyper-advanced technology capable of giving the user something of a chance against these supernatural forces. It is not uncommon for a game of Rifts to involve a wizard battling a fleet of flying robots, nor unthinkable for an elf or dwarf to receive a bionic arm. Creatures of magic such as faeries and dragons are, due to their supernatural nature, incapable of receiving artificial limbs or implants of a purely technical/cybernetic variety. This is also true of any creature possessing regenerative abilities as said implants would be rejected as their body repairs itself. Another unique factor, known as "Techno Wizardry" is a bridge-point between modern technology and ancient magic, allowing magically powered weapons, armor and vehicles.
Some of the important concepts upon which the Rifts setting is based:
- Supernatural events today are rare, generally discounted by science, and difficult or impossible to prove.
- The Rifts world is Earth, but hundreds of years into the future.
- Magic energy exists, and is called potential psychic energy (PPE). PPE can be found in certain places, objects, and animals, but one of its greatest sources is human beings. While this has a variety of applications, upon a human's death, the energy is doubled, and then released into the surrounding environment.
- Ley lines, lines of magic energy, criss-cross the earth forming supernatural geographic areas such as the Bermuda Triangle. In the Rifts game, points where ley lines intersect, called a nexus, are places of powerful magic, such as the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge. If a ley line nexus grows very strong, the very fabric of space and time can be torn thus creating a rift, a hole in space-time leading to another place, time or a new or parallel dimension. Ley Lines are normally invisible, but in the magic-saturated world of Riftsˈ Earth, they are clearly visible as massive bands of blue-white energy half a mile wide, and stretching for many miles.
Earth
Rifts begins with two future-historical premises: first, that there will be a golden age of humanity with tremendous advances in science, technology, military, and society. Much of the solar system was conquered, humanity's wars end, and harmony reigns. Second, this golden age will be followed by an apocalyptic nuclear war in South America during the year 2098. Billions die, the major cities of Argentina and Chile obliterate one another. The PPE of billions dying simultaneously energizes the ley lines and causes many rifts to open. Many creatures, both mythical beasts and alien beings, come through them to wreak havoc. This period is covered in Palladium's Rifts: Chaos Earth spin-off series. Also disgorged by the rifts are aliens unwillingly ripped from their homes. The combined release of PPE triggers further catastrophic natural disasters and fantastic landscape changes. With it, the lost continent of Atlantis (located near the Bermuda Triangle) reappears from its dimensional void, reshaping coastlines all over the Atlantic and flooding coastal areas. As these disasters claim more and more victims, more PPE is released into the ley lines and makes the disasters worse. By the time everything slows down somewhat, the old world is gone.
Rifts game play takes place roughly 300 years after this event, described as 103 P.A., or "Post-Apocalypse", a calendar established at the formation of the Coalition States. This is equivalent to the year 2389, according to the New German Republic. Although different storylines may begin before or after, such as with the invasion of Chi-Town by the Federation of Magic (before) or as the Four Horsemen appear in Africa (after), most of the series "World Books" are described with a kind of snapshot of 103 P.A. At the latest World Books, the current date is around 110 P.A.(2396).
By this time most of the disasters have quieted down, but Earth is still bathed in the released PPE. The planet's mystical energy has attracted untold numbers of alien beings from other dimensions, who continue to arrive through the Rifts. These creatures include humanoid Dimensional Beings (called D-Bees). Some are familiar fantasy races, such as elves and dwarfs, others have never before been seen on Earth. Also now sharing the planet are monstrous creatures and demons with hides a hundred times stronger than tank armor. The most powerful (and a common theme in Rifts) are the "Alien Intelligences," Lovecraftian, living mountains of flesh, lidless eyes and wriggling tentacles with great supernatural powers.
To cope with these natural, supernatural, and alien menaces, the human race has tried to change in a variety of ways, many of them borrowed from the technological developments of the lost golden age. Augmentation of the human body has become common with three basic categories: the "Juicers" do it chemically, the "Borgs" do it mechanically, and the "Crazies" make use of performance-enhancing brain implants. All such augmentations boost strength, speed, endurance and dexterity to superhuman levels. However, they all come at great cost. Chemicals cause the body to wear out faster, decreasing life span to a few short years. Mechanical Borg augmentation causes a loss of humanity, causing those with multiple limb and organ replacements to become more machine than human, also making use of magic impossible. Brain implants cause mental instability ranging from mild phobias to crippling neurosis or psychosis. Those people who choose to be augmented in these ways accept these risks in order to become powerful. Some are required to receive these augmentations either for defense or for work. The poor, hungry and weak are often forced or coerced into these roles to serve their rulers.
Some turn to other means to become "more" than human. Magic abounds on Rifts Earth, and many people turn to the magical arts. Others form pacts with alien intelligences or deities in exchange for great magical knowledge, almost always becoming pawns of the beings they dared turn to for power. Still others discover that they have great psionic potential, and dedicate their lives to discovering the abilities of their own minds.
The Ley Lines, formerly invisible, now dominate the landscape, appearing as massive lines of bluish energy half a mile wide, some twice that tall, stretching thousands of miles, crisscrossing the globe. The largest can even be seen from space, at least at night.
Template:Spoiler If you are, or plan to be, a player character in a Rifts campaign, reading further in this section may compromise plot elements your Game Master may be planning.
The strongest power in North America is the Coalition States based in the arcology/Mega-City of Chi-Town (near the ruins of old Chicago), a collection of fascist, Human supremacist states with a powerful army. The Coalition is ruled by Emperor Karl Prosek, and is genocidally opposed to all aliens, D-bees (beings from other dimensions), human mutations, and Magic. Their technological superiority is based on Golden Age technology primarily extracted from NEMA sources.
Mexico is ruled by a group of vampire kingdoms, who treat humans as little more than cattle to feed upon. North of the Rio Grande, west of Texas and roaming most of the American South West are large nomadic bands/tribes of bandits collectively called the "Pecos Bandits", though not part of a cohesive power structure or political organization. Much of the western United States has more or less willingly reverted to a mix of modern and past technology, and the days of the Wild West, where outlaws ride hovercycles into battle, Cowboys are as likely to raise dinosaurs as they are cattle, Cyborgs prospect for gold and other minerals, and wild Buffalo, sent to another dimension to prevent their extinction, have returned to the plains in the millions.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police managed to survive the great cataclysm, though Canada itself did not. The Mounties have become an independent law enforcement force called the Tundra Rangers, patrolling the northern wilderness.
Tolkeen was a major city in the former Minneapolis region in early rifts books; the city welcomed users of magic. Recently, a military campaign made by the Coalition States resulted in the magic-user kingdom being wiped off the map (This is covered in the highly debated, six-volume series of sourcebooks "Coalition Wars: Siege on Tolkeen").
South America
The Amazon River has flooded most of the western part of the continent, giving it the nickname "The Land of a Thousand Islands". In Colombia, a nation of humans and Dwarves fight against a kingdom of Vampires. The gods of the Inca have returned to their ancient holdings in the Andes, and fight a battle against alien invaders. Much of the rest of the continent is a wide collection of states ranging from democracies, corrupt oligarchies, and communist guerrillas, to Mutants, Amazons, Aliens, Transdimensional Mercenaries, pre-historic creatures and dozens of others.
- England has become a vast wilderness again, broken up by the occasional giant Millennium Tree or feudal kingdom, complete with a New Camelot and a new King Arthur, partially being manipulated by the ethereal extension of an alien intelligence (disguised as the wizard Merlin). Also the magic of Druids and Faeries has become commonplace.
- In Germany, the New German Republic, with assistance from the Triax corporation, battles against an empire of Gargoyles that have taken much of Europe.
- France has already been overrun by Gargoyle hordes and other monsters and cults.
- Russia is presently ruled by a collection of Warlords, who rule through the use of vast armies and Cyborg troops.
Much of China has been overrun by demons. The remnants of the People's Republic of China live in the pre-rifts city Geofront, possessing pre-rifts technology equal or exceeding any other human nation on Rifts earth, fighting to free their nation from the grip of the Yama Kings.
Japan has become a mixture of tradition and technology. The Samurai warriors of the New Empire battle Oni demons and high-tech raiders from the Otomo Shogunate. One of their closest allies is the Republic of Japan, an alliance of four Pre-Rifts cities (including Nagasaki) accidentally rifted off the planet at the exact moment of the Great Cataclysm.
Korea - both North and South - has been completely overrun by demons with nothing remaining of the pre-rifts nations.
Much of Africa has gone back to nature, making the land a wild, mysterious Dark Continent again, where only those foolhardy enough to ignore the tales of this land would willingly go to.
In Egypt, the ley lines coursing through the pyramids have brought Rama-Set, an evil oriental-type Dragon who has conquered the locals and established the Phoenix Empire (with him leading it as Pharaoh).
Meanwhile, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (the powerful supernatural beings legends name as War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death) are traveling across the continent, seeking to reunite and combine their powers into an ultimate destroyer of a monster; but a group of powerful adventurers is hot on their tails, including the legendary rogue scholar Erin Tarn (marked for death by the Coalition States for her writings, which criticize the Coalition States), and the 20th century's most accomplished time-displaced expert on the paranormal, Victor Lazlo (whose writings were so popular among P.A. magic-users that they named a kingdom after him), and even the disguised (and unfortunately amnesiac) Egyptian Goddess Isis. (See Rifts: World Book 4: Africa)
The lost continent of Atlantis appeared after the cataclysm that caused the RIFTS. According to some it rose from the sea, but more accurately it returned from an alternate dimension which it had shifted to ages ago.
Controlled by the Splugorth, a race of Supernatural Intelligences, Atlantis is a land ruled by magic and monsters. An inter-dimensional marketplace where any number of creatures, including humans, are bought and sold as slaves, and often serve as fodder in gladiatorial arenas. Enhanced by parasites or other magic, they are then pitted against one another or bizarre, monstrous creatures.
The Splugorth are evil spell casters that are reminiscent of some creature from an H.P. Lovecraft novel. They are huge tentacled monstrosities with a giant eye atop their massive, amorphous bodies. The Splugorth rule through the use of subject races enslaved by biowizardry, a form of mysticism that involves the use of parasites and symbiotes to enhance one's abilities. The Splugorth are also masters of Rune Magic (such as the creation of the fabled rune weapons), an offshoot of Bio-Wizardry. They are an evil power that spans many dimensions and are the sworn enemies of the True Atlanteans who have been banished from Atlantis. The Splugorth minions are a particular threat on the coast lines of adjacent North and South America, conducting slave raids against human and D-Bee settlements to feed the insatiable hunger of the Atlantean slave markets, and in some cases, the hunger (often literal) of Atlantis' extradimensional visitors.
A vast inland sea has flooded the centre of the continent leaving notable landmarks like Uluru completely submerged. With the return of magic to the land, the Aborigines have enjoyed resurgence and many practice Dreamtime magic. The "civilized" world has devolved into often competing city-states, with Melbourne and Perth the most technologically advanced.
Deep within the Marianas Trench, a massive, evil Alien Intelligence known as the Lord of the Deep (Alternately, the Kraken or Leviathan) plots to devour every living thing on the planet. It is opposed by the Whale Singers, rebellious creations of the monster, and the descendants of the US Navy. Other forces above and below the waves include a floating city, pirates, monsters, dolphins, and extradimensional invaders.
Other settings
Further supplements to the Rifts game have expanded the setting to include:
- Mutants in Orbit - Several Space Stations and Colonies existed in orbit at the time of the Great Cataclysm. The descendants of their inhabitants, including many Moreau-style mutant animals, still survive in space, fighting against each other, and trying to prevent any force from entering or leaving Earth.
- The Three Galaxies - an alternative space opera setting of a series of galaxies centered around the planet and dimensional nexus of Phase World. Several explorers, cults, and interstellar and intergalactic states are presently involved in the search for the Cosmic Forge, a powerful artifact that is said to have created the universe.
- Skraypers - Superheroes lead a resistance movement against alien conquerors amongst the massive cities of their home planet. Like Mutants in Orbit, Skraypers is designed for both Rifts (where it is set in the Three Galaxies), and another Palladium game, in this case Heroes Unlimited.
- Wormwood - Knights and symbiote-bearing warriors fight against demons on a living planet.
- Chaos Earth - Earth as it was during and immediately after the devastation of the Apocalypse.
- Splicers - A planet in which humans use bio-technology to fight against an A.I. in a post-apocalyptic world.
- Manhunter Universe - an alternative dimension to Rifts:Earth, published as a sourcebook under license from Palladium Books by Myrmidon Press. In this dimension, humankind fights an intense battle against artificially intelligent robots bent on human extermination.
Additionally any other Palladium RPG can become the setting for a Rifts style campaign.
Weapons and technology
Despite the near-total collapse of human civilization, most of the powerful technology managed to survive the centuries, and was in fact instrumental to the continued survival of mankind in a world where many monsters could survive fire from the main cannon of a modern tank.
The most prolific weapons on Rifts Earth, In nearly all regions, are lasers, rail guns, and miniaturized rockets appropriately called Mini-Missiles. Due to the proliferation of supernatural monsters such as vampires, silver-plated melee weapons have also risen in popularity. For more conventional opponents, vibro-blades are the weapon of choice for those inclined for close combat.
It should be noted that Rifts is one of the few universes that recognizes that laser weapons are mostly silent (except for a thunderlike crackle) in real life. However, in-universe, it also mentions that people tend to want the various sound effects used in different Science Fiction series. Thus, weapon manufacturers such as "Wilk's" and "Northern Gun" actually install devices into their weapons that provide appropriate sound effects when the trigger is pulled.
Rail guns are highly advanced in Rifts, and are used in a way similar to machineguns in modern times. However, the weapon, ammunition drums/clips, and energy packs to power the weapon make most rail guns very heavy, and are usually restricted to Powered Armor, Borgs, and vehicles. One of the most famous rail guns on Rifts Earth is the "Boom Gun" used famously by the USA-G10 Glitter Boy, a weapon so powerful that it creates deafening sonic booms whenever it is fired.
Ion weapons are also popular, presumably because they do provide sound and recoil unlike lasers. Heavy weapons are generally Plasma or Particle-beam weapons, which have great stopping power, but generally a short range.
Alongside hover vehicles and Powered Armor, a common vehicle used in battle in Rifts Earth is the Giant Robot. In addition to their role as war machines, Giant Robots are also intimidating, and turned out to be good in combatting very large supernatural creatures, such as dragons, demons, and of course giants.
A popular use of technology that is rising fast is Techno-Wizardry, which is a fusion of magic and technology, essentially using magic to not only power technology, but to make it do more than it was originally able to do. Techno-Wizardry has also expanded to the creation of more traditional magic weapons, so a Techno-Wizard can make both a flaming sword or a plasma cannon, often with many of the same components and spells.
The ultimate in magic are Rune Weapons, indestructible, extremely powerful weapons with the life-force of an intelligent being driving them. Rune weapons are capable of communicating with their wielders, animating and fighting by themselves, casting magic, and may burn potential users if they don't like their alignment. Some of the strongest Rune Weapons are Soul Drinkers, capable of tearing the soul out of their victims, irrevocably killing them with only the slightest scratch.
System
Conflict
Rifts is an environment embroiled in conflict between different groups, factions, and interests. It employs many concepts of enormous evil, treachery, racism (or species-ism), and more to tell a story of enormous change. Its backdrop allows for a great variety of storytelling and exchange, giving players a great variety between "hack-and-slash" style role-play against the more cerebral problem-solving or political games, and all shades in-between.
Damage and firepower
One important note about Rifts versus other game systems is scale: weaponry and combat in Rifts are far more destructive than in traditional gaming systems. For example, in Rifts and other Palladium games, a simple knife inflicts between 1 and 4 "points" of damage. This point system makes sense when considering a small animal killed has between 1 and 4 "hit points," which make it realistic that it could be killed by a single strike. Yet even a basic Rifts-era laser pistol will cause between 100 and 400 points of damage (more than enough to totally destroy a small car in one shot). This means someone shot by such a laser pistol would be literally cut in half without protective armor and trees, bystanders, or anything else in the line of fire would meet a similar fate. Thus, an average person in Rifts Earth with standard-issue armor and weapons has the effective durability and firepower of a modern tank. Even minimal skirmishes may leave deep craters, level towns, and kill many bystanders.
To accommodate this scale, Mega Damage Capacity or MDC is an important game concept. Each point of mega-damage is equal to 100 points of "Structural Damage" or SDC, enough to destroy a small car. Personal armor has on average 40 MDC, and armored vehicles start around 80-100 MDC. Exceedingly powerful beings such as Dragons, gods and alien intelligences have mega-damage skin that can soar into the thousands of MDC.
As Rifts has no systematic method of designing weaponry, the game is criticized frequently for severe power escalation; often magic or equipment from new books are drastically more powerful than magic or mecha from an earlier one, requiring players to buy the most recent supplement to keep up with the power curve (This is parodied in an 8-bit Theater episode fittingly titled "Glitter Boy"[2]). Rifts Conversion Books are designed to help facilitate the transition of magic and psychic characters into this new landscape, for which many automatically gain increased benefits due to the magic-rich environment.[3] But a pistol that fires projectiles in our time fires the same bullets with the same effects during Rifts times and is effectively useless in most combat situations. It does retain certain value as an antique, and from a survival standpoint can be desirable as a hunting weapon.
Character classes
Character Classes are divided into two categories: Occupational Character Classes (O.C.C.), and Racial Character Classes (R.C.C.). Both indicate a character's training and learned skills, as well as specifying one's initial weapons and equipment. An R.C.C. indicates that the character's racial background prevents the selection of an O.C.C.: some races (such as human) may choose an O.C.C. on top of their race, while some, usually due to culture or other conditions (such as game balance), are a Character Class in and of themselves.
Example Occupational Character Classes
- Apok
- Battle Magus
- Biomancer
- Body Fixer (doctor)
- Bounty Hunter
- Burster
- City Rat
- Coalition Grunt
- Coalition RCSG (Rift Control Study Group) Scientist
- Coalition RPA Pilot
- Coalition Special Forces
- Cyborg Shocktrooper
- Cyber-Knight
- Glitter Boy pilot
- Grey Seer
- Gunslinger
- Headhunter
- Techno-Warrior
- Assassin
- Anti-Robot Specialist
- Techno-Hound
- Momano Hunter
- Inuit Shaman
- Juicer
- Delphi Juicer
- Dragon Juicer
- Hyperion Juicer
- Mega-Juicer
- Phaeton Juicer
- Titan Juicer
- Knight
- Ley line Walker
- Marine
- Megaversal Legion Soldier
- Mind Melter (psychic)
- Mystic Kuznya
- Nazca Line Warrior
- Nega-Psychic
- NGR Robot Combat Pilot
- Operator (Mechanic)
- Rogue Scholar
- Shifter
- Special Forces
- Super-Spy
- Techno-Wizard
- Travelling Storyteller
- Tundra Ranger
- Warlock
- Whale Singer
- Wilderness Scout
Example Racial Character Classes
The expected favorites are available as well as a host of new ones.
- D-Bee - A generic term, short for "Dimensional Being" for most of the non-human races below, as well as the many hundreds more who exist on the planet.
- Altarian Blind Warrior Woman
- Amorph
- Dog Boy - A race of mutant dogs created by the Coalition, capable of literally sniffing out magic-users and supernatural beings.
- Dolphin
- Dragon Hatchling
- Asama-Tatsu
- Basilisk
- Chiang-Ku
- Cockatrice
- Fire Dragon
- Great Horned Dragon
- Hydra
- Ice Dragon
- Kukulcan
- Kumo-Mi
- Lo-Dox (Dragon Turtle)
- Night Stalker
- Ogopogo
- Serpent of the Wind
- Shikome Kido-Mi
- Thunder Lizard
- Ultucan
- Wooly Dragon
- Zaayr Crystal Dragon
- Dwarf
- Eandroth
- Elf
- Flame Panther
- Grackle-Tooth
- Holy Terror
- Humpback Whale
- Jungle Elf
- Khreegor
- Kittani
- Lizard Man
- Noli Bushman
- Ogre
- Orc
- Power Leech
- Sea Titan
- Seljuk
- Trimadore
- Vanguard Brawler
- Wolfen
- Yeno
Skills
Rifts, like other Palladium games, uses percentile dice to calculate skill success. Each character, based on training, intelligence, and experience level, has a base percentage chance of success. If a number equal to or below a player's percentage is rolled on percentile dice, then the use of the skill is considered to be a success. While modifiers are suggested in cases of unusual difficulty or proficiency, these are rarely enumerated in the system, except in the case of rare or special skills. Some criticize this as being more cumbersome than the D&D D20 System while Palladium defends their method as allowing for a wider variety of skills.
Associated Palladium games
The Rifts world is based on parts of several other Palladium Books games, including:
- Beyond the Supernatural - (discussed above)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness - This game's focus on mutant animals is used primarily in Rifts World Book 13: Lone Star
- After the Bomb - A post-apocalyptic expansion series for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness. An expansion book, Mutants in Orbit, also contained information for Rifts.
- Nightbane - A horror/dark fantasy role playing game created by C.J. Carella and published in 1995.
- The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game - One of Palladium Books' earlier RPGs, this fantasy role-playing setting is unusual, as it has a fleshed-out world setting rather than a vague world with fleshed-out regions. Some of this material has reappeared in other Palladium books, including Rifts World Book 3: England.
- Ninjas and Superspies - This Cyberpunk-style game's approach to cybernetics influenced that of Rifts, although its plethora of martial arts elements have largely been omitted.
- The Mechanoid Invasion - This, Palladium's first game, was the source for Rifts Sourcebook 2: Mechanoids
- Robotech - This role playing system was Palladium's first use of the Mega-Damage concept for futuristic combat technology, and its influence can still be seen in Rifts' use of power armor and giant robots.
- Chaos Earth - Chaos Earth is a Palladium Rifts spin-off that lets players portray characters in the "Great Cataclysm" time period that led to the formation of the world as it is in Rifts. The game is set in the devastation and war (and return of magic, and opening of the Rifts to other worlds/dimensions) that ultimately bring about an entirely new world built from the ashes of our own.
- Heroes Unlimited and Villians Unlimited - A superhero RPG with little influence on Rifts. Notable exceptions include the corporation that would later produce GlitterBoy armor, the presence of a supercomputer named A.R.C.H.I.E., and the occasional crossover character.
Spinoffs
Several novels, a MUD,[4] and large amounts of fan fiction have been based on the world of Rifts. A licensed Rifts video game, (Rifts Promise of Power) was released in November of 2005 for the Nokia N-Gage, as was a short-lived collectible card game.
Rifts Movie
According to a March 2004 press release, noted film producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean, Top Gun, The Rock) and writer David Franzoni (Gladiator) have become interested in creating a Rifts movie.[5] According to the Palladium Web site, Franzoni is working on a script for the production.
So far, according to the Internet Movie Database, Jerry Bruckheimer is not yet listed as working on a Rifts movie.[6] Because there are references to movies projects through 2007, it may be estimated that we will not see a release until at least 2007.
References
- ^ "Rifts® Ultimate Edition™". Palladium Books Online. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
- ^ "Episode 645: Glitter Boy". 8-bit Theatre. January 7th, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|year=
(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Rifts® Conversion Books". Palladium Books Online. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
- ^ "RiftsMUD".
- ^ "Palladium Books® Press Release". March 10, 2004. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Jerry Bruckheimer". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
External links
- Rifts official home page (www.palladiumbooks.com)
- Palladium Books' online catalog of Rifts products
- Rifts Web Ring Hub
- Rifts - Promise of Power N-Gage game.