Grynning
2010-01-05, 09:13 PM
So, after many years of my giant collection of Rifts books collecting dust and feeling sad and lonely while we all played newer, sexier RPG's, my longtime 4th edition D&D group has grown tired of game balance and consistent rules and wants some old-fashioned silliness. I happily volunteered to run Rifts, so now I have to come up with a decent idea for a campaign, and I've got a bit of writer's block, so I thought I'd kick off some brainstorming here.
PLEASE NOTE: I'm NOT worried too much about the system; I understand the numerous flaws of Rifts and Palladium games in general and am prepared to compensate for them. My players know that I am house-ruling a lot and won't have a problem with that. I've ran Rifts a couple times and Heroes Unlimited a bit, so I'm not new to the game, but I'm not an old vet at it either.
I am most likely going to have 4 players. They are all very experienced gamers, but only two of them have played Rifts before, and then only once, and none of them really know the setting and story, though I know at least one of them will be voraciously reading my books and will probably absorb a lot of the details. One has expressed a desire to play a Glitter Boy and has come up with a decent back story and agreed to some balancing considerations, and another (the above mentioned voracious reader) has said he's interested in a Techno-wizard, but nothing more specific than that. The other two, who have played before, have not really discussed any concepts with me as yet, but I have a feeling at least one of them will want to be a psychic or a spellcaster of sorts.
My issue is that I originally planned to set the game around Los Alamo (we live in Austin, it seemed appropriate) but I may nix that since I know there will be spellcasters and possibly D-bees in the group and I don't want to spend too much time dealing with the Los Alamo authorities harassing them. I plan to set the game during the buildup to the Tolkeen War, and I plan on using both the CS and evil mages as bad guys at some point.
So, fellow Rifts lore geeks, my requests:
1) Suggestions for a location. I kind of like Kingsdale, but I was thinking of somewhere more remote and further West. It should be a place with a good level of tech, relatively tolerant of magic/D-bees, and not so close to the CS that there would be a major force nearby, but close enough that they would be encountered.
2) Advice on painting a good picture of the world of Rifts. I've been explaining the basic story behind the setting and really building up the aspect that it's a world where anything can happen and you can be/meet anyone and anything.
3) Some ideas for combat encounters that are cool but not too deadly. I'm going to be starting the characters at relatively low level (1-3 depending on what classes they pick). I know I've already got some of them a bit terrified of the combat, because I've explained how unbalanced and random it can be compared to D&D and how stupidly powerful some of the monsters are. I'm looking for stuff that makes for challenging battles but isn't going to cause a TPK with a couple lucky shots. I've never really gotten a good gauge on how tough fights should be in Rifts, so I welcome the advice of more experienced GM's.
PLEASE NOTE: I'm NOT worried too much about the system; I understand the numerous flaws of Rifts and Palladium games in general and am prepared to compensate for them. My players know that I am house-ruling a lot and won't have a problem with that. I've ran Rifts a couple times and Heroes Unlimited a bit, so I'm not new to the game, but I'm not an old vet at it either.
I am most likely going to have 4 players. They are all very experienced gamers, but only two of them have played Rifts before, and then only once, and none of them really know the setting and story, though I know at least one of them will be voraciously reading my books and will probably absorb a lot of the details. One has expressed a desire to play a Glitter Boy and has come up with a decent back story and agreed to some balancing considerations, and another (the above mentioned voracious reader) has said he's interested in a Techno-wizard, but nothing more specific than that. The other two, who have played before, have not really discussed any concepts with me as yet, but I have a feeling at least one of them will want to be a psychic or a spellcaster of sorts.
My issue is that I originally planned to set the game around Los Alamo (we live in Austin, it seemed appropriate) but I may nix that since I know there will be spellcasters and possibly D-bees in the group and I don't want to spend too much time dealing with the Los Alamo authorities harassing them. I plan to set the game during the buildup to the Tolkeen War, and I plan on using both the CS and evil mages as bad guys at some point.
So, fellow Rifts lore geeks, my requests:
1) Suggestions for a location. I kind of like Kingsdale, but I was thinking of somewhere more remote and further West. It should be a place with a good level of tech, relatively tolerant of magic/D-bees, and not so close to the CS that there would be a major force nearby, but close enough that they would be encountered.
2) Advice on painting a good picture of the world of Rifts. I've been explaining the basic story behind the setting and really building up the aspect that it's a world where anything can happen and you can be/meet anyone and anything.
3) Some ideas for combat encounters that are cool but not too deadly. I'm going to be starting the characters at relatively low level (1-3 depending on what classes they pick). I know I've already got some of them a bit terrified of the combat, because I've explained how unbalanced and random it can be compared to D&D and how stupidly powerful some of the monsters are. I'm looking for stuff that makes for challenging battles but isn't going to cause a TPK with a couple lucky shots. I've never really gotten a good gauge on how tough fights should be in Rifts, so I welcome the advice of more experienced GM's.