Does anyone still play Rifts?

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

I loved Rifts years ago. While replacing a bookshelf in my bedroom, I cam across my old books, and have been pouring through them again. I know that it can be a very divisive game, but can we get a thread going to praise the positive aspects of Rifts?

[digiman619]

I have an ironic story about Rifts. I'm 95% certain that my (I think) 10th grade English teacher married Palladium founder Siembieda, as she mentioned that her then fiancee had written a RPG book , which I remember having the classes referred to as OCCs. The irony is that she used to give me guff me guff that I played Magic rather than RPGs (I graduated in '02, so 2nd Edition was long old news, and 3rd hadn't been written yet), and my brother got into Rifts for the designs and setting, but never played the game.

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

I have an ironic story about Rifts. I'm 95% certain that my (I think) 10th grade English teacher married Palladium founder Siembieda, as she mentioned that her then fiancee had written a RPG book , which I remember having the classes referred to as OCCs. The irony is that she used to give me guff me guff that I played Magic rather than RPGs (I graduated in '02, so 2nd Edition was long old news, and 3rd hadn't been written yet), and my brother got into Rifts for the designs and setting, but never played the game.

That's a funny story. The designs (I'm assuming you mean of the game's tech and creatures?) are usually pretty fantastic, and its an overall awesome setting. Its a super fun game to play, though you do need a GM who doesn't take the minutiae of the system too seriously.

[Grinner]

I have an ironic story about Rifts. I'm 95% certain that my (I think) 10th grade English teacher married Palladium founder Siembieda, as she mentioned that her then fiancee had written a RPG book , which I remember having the classes referred to as OCCs.

Was her last name Donald by any chance?


The irony is that she used to give me guff me guff that I played Magic rather than RPGs (I graduated in '02, so 2nd Edition was long old news, and 3rd hadn't been written yet), and my brother got into Rifts for the designs and setting, but never played the game.

Speaking of liking it for the setting, I'm one of those people. Not enough to actually put out money for the books, but I do like the idea of Rifts. It sounds like a nightmare mechanically, but there's this unutterable coolness about it when you hear the post-game reports.

It sits alongside Exalted and Eclipse Phase for really-cool-games-that-I'll-never-play.

[digiman619]

Also the general aesthetic.

[WolfLordBran]

I absolutely love the idea of Rifts- I just dont like the percentile system (hey I'm a highly skilled Destroid Pilot, i have a 60% chance to pilot my MAC-II) or the monstrous difference in character power. like i had a game where i played a Dog Boy. Three variants of Glitterboy, a Ley Line Walker, and a Dragon showed up as well.

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

I absolutely love the idea of Rifts- I just dont like the percentile system (hey I'm a highly skilled Destroid Pilot, i have a 60% chance to pilot my MAC-II) or the monstrous difference in character power. like i had a game where i played a Dog Boy. Three variants of Glitterboy, a Ley Line Walker, and a Dragon showed up as well.

Rifts is a game that is intentionally built to avoid any kind of game balance. Its kind of a double-edged sword. Again, I think Rifts really comes down to the GM. Even the lowest powered characters can still be useful. If the game is something other than a meaningless string of fighting, a Rogue Scientist or Operator can actually be super fun to play.

[Segev]

Rifts is a fun setting, and it really is purpose-built for the Paladium system. Unfortunately, the Paladium system is...clunky. It really, really badly needs an edition update that overhauls it at LEAST as much as 3e D&D did 2e AD&D. Given where RPG rules technology is now, it probably needs a bigger step. But at the same time, it has its charm, and you wouldn't want to abandon what makes it feel like it does (as 4e did to D&D).

I'm playing in a Rifts game IRL that a friend runs. It's been enjoyable so far. One of the PCs had just become a Warlord of the Pecos a little before I joined; I was broken out along with an NPC ally of theirs from a Coalition prison camp in Fort Pinnacle. Now we're trying to stamp out a group called Armageddon Unlimited that has unquestionable ties to greater demons and had taken over New San Antonio under a guise of respectability that is surprisingly hard to dispel. Especially since everybody seems terrified that if the CS figures out about the greater demons, they'll solve the problem with a scorched earth method that will leave the Pecos uninhabitable.

[Quertus]

Angela is proud of her heritage. Generations of pilots guide her reflexes, making her almost one with her machine. Coupled with her divinely-wrought reflexes, Angela grew up knowing where her destiny lay. Even at a young age, she could make the towering metal man, symbol of hope and freedom, do things even experienced pilots would have difficulty repeating. Her father, an immortal god who was watching over humanity during the dark age, has even hinted that the blood of the legendary neemans flows in her veins. Imagine if that were true! But mother looks perfectly human - it's hard to imagine some godlike superhuman D-Bees in her ancestory.

Angela, though, is radiant. When she opens the cockpit, amid the sparkling cascade of light, and she unfurles her wings to join the masses on the ground, there is no doubt that her ancestors were not all human.

Pros: where else can you build a character like this (short of point buy)?

Cons: where else would a character like this have a 40% chance to fail to pilot their mech, or a character more beautiful and more charismatic than Aphrodite have a ~40% chance on seduction?

[LibraryOgre]

FWIW, Pinnacle has announced that a Rifts: Savage Worlds kickstarter will be launching April 26th.

I played for years, even writing a book for them, but I've moved on. The system is poor, and the world is seldom well connected or thought out... A bunch of awesome ideas thrown at a wall, and you get to decide what sticks.

[themaque]

I'm looking forward to see what they have come up with for Savage Worlds. What little they have said in interviews has me cautiously optimistic.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm looking forward to see what they have come up with for Savage Worlds. What little they have said in interviews has me cautiously optimistic.

Really, it's a different "They". The "They" of Palladium isn't directly involved in this; the "They" of Pinnacle is.

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

Really, it's a different "They". The "They" of Palladium isn't directly involved in this; the "They" of Pinnacle is.

I was honestly amazed when I saw that. Surprised Palladium was cool with licensing the setting, seemed a bit out of character for them from what I've seen in the past.

[themaque]

Really, it's a different "They". The "They" of Palladium isn't directly involved in this; the "They" of Pinnacle is.

Yes, I was aware, although that statement might not be for ME but for the audience now that I think about it. It's WHY I'm optimistic considering what I've seen happen to writers working directly with Palladium.

[LibraryOgre]

I was honestly amazed when I saw that. Surprised Palladium was cool with licensing the setting, seemed a bit out of character for them from what I've seen in the past.

Palladium's been having some interesting times, recently.


Yes, I was aware, although that statement might not be for ME but for the audience now that I think about it. It's WHY I'm optimistic considering what I've seen happen to writers working directly with Palladium.

It's not all about you, Marsha. :smallbiggrin:

[themaque]

It's not all about you, Marsha. :smallbiggrin:

BLASPHEMY! You take that back right now!

I hear they toyed with the idea removing MD but eventually brought it back, but attempted to bring it back into the realm of the original concept.

Mech Suit = Mega Damage
Rockets = Mega Damage

Re-enforced Vest = Normal Damage
Laser Hand Pistol = Normal Damage

Various different brands have tweaked the Savage World system to varying degrees.

Deadlands tweaked it so make their classes feel unique while Hell on Earth could barely be bothered to changed the paint.

I'm excited to see how good a balance they achieved in Savage Rifts.

[ghanjrho]

From what I have heard, the MDC solution was just to use the Heavy Weapons/Armor rules already in core Savage Worlds, along with generally reducing the number of MDC (now Heavy) weapons.

For the uninitiated, in Savage Worlds Heavy Weapons (explosives, anti-materiel rifles, vehicle-based weapons, etc.) are needed to penetrate Heavy Armor (vehicle armor). However, there is no multiplier when attacking non-Heavy armor. So a M2 Browning is going to do 2d10 damage whether it's attacking a Panzer IV or the zombies summoned by the SS necromancer.

[Beelzebub1111]

I recently played a game that was Rifts:Chaos Earth but where the PCs were all Heroes Unlimited superheroes. That was fun.

I played as El Santo, returned from heaven to fight off the vampiric invasion into mexico. I knew exactly how to fight them, because I fought them all the time in movies I've been in. It was great.

[Telok]

More than 20 years ago now I was banned from playing. Broke that campaign with a rogue scientist, a love of hard science fiction, and salvaging stuff from defeated enemies. Plus smart missiles. We got thirty or fourty with the GM thinking we would shoot them or sell them. I pulled the brains from them and welded autonomous laser turrets all over our mecha. Good times.
I recall that my solution to the megadamage issue was to use the over-penetration rule when MD weapons were used on SDC stuff. Except explosions, but there was scatter for misses and chain detonations that made people cautious about using them close up.

But yeah, there's no 'power level' or 'challenge rating' mechanic like people are used to these days. As long as all the characters are about even in power it works ok.

The skills did always bother me untill I ran across a guy who only used them for risky stunts and serious emergencies and did a sliding scale of success. So you only rolled piloting if the wing got blown off or you tried to fly under a highway overpass at Mach 2.

[Blackhawk748]

FWIW, Pinnacle has announced that a Rifts: Savage Worlds kickstarter will be launching April 26th.

I played for years, even writing a book for them, but I've moved on. The system is poor, and the world is seldom well connected or thought out... A bunch of awesome ideas thrown at a wall, and you get to decide what sticks.

Ooh cool. I like Savage Worlds, started playing Deadlands in it so i bought the basic rulebook and i use it for when i want a grittier game. Ill be intrigued to see where this goes.

[Donnadogsoth]

The skills did always bother me untill I ran across a guy who only used them for risky stunts and serious emergencies and did a sliding scale of success. So you only rolled piloting if the wing got blown off or you tried to fly under a highway overpass at Mach 2.

Yes, it's the realisation that basic things shouldn't require a roll which escaped me, as a bad GM, until much later in my gaming career. Very important thing to remember.

I found RIFTS intriguing, with sharp art, but the system and the kitchen sink-ness sunk it for me.

[themaque]

I won't link it here, not the right thread, but it's easily found. The Kickstarter to the mentioned Savage Worlds RIFTS is up and running. It reached it's goal and all stretch goals in the first few hours so It's happening one way or another now.

[Malifice]

I am really really really excited to get into Savage Rifts.

There is some stuff in rifts that could be super awesome in a different system.

The system as it is is clunky as hell, but with the right DM it can make for a fantastic game. An inexperienced DM and a clever munchkin and it can get wrecked pretty quickly.

[themaque]

I wish they had a full list of what's in the main book, but they are going to town on options, and just released a preview on the new take on Glitterboys.

[Raimun]

I have never played Rifts but I'm really interested of the new version under Savage Worlds-ruleset. Sounds like it would be a blast to play, what with all the different types of PCs.

[Ceiling_Squid]

Alright, damn it, I'm backing it.

I'm a sucker for Savage Worlds (though I need a regular group to play it more often). Never played Rifts before, but the gonzo setting sounds damn fun, upon reading up on it a bit. And I think this could finally entice my group to play more SW.

I have never considered playing a Palladium property before, but that's largely because I was warned off from the clunky system. With that out of the picture, there's nothing stopping me from grabbing this.

[Deathra13]

Actually yeah. Currently running a game through roll20. Granted it's been heavily modified with homebrew and rifter rules. The game is absolutely delightful but it is one of the most broken things ever written. However it's the only system I've found where no matter what a player wants to play they can. That guy who's always asking for a shotgun in dnd, or the person who wants a wizard in the space opera. It always works pretty well.

[Malifice]

Im impressed by the new Glitter Boy preview.

[CE DM]

I loved Rifts years ago. While replacing a bookshelf in my bedroom, I cam across my old books, and have been pouring through them again. I know that it can be a very divisive game, but can we get a thread going to praise the positive aspects of Rifts?


Sure, it's very imaginative, fun, a bit gonzo on a dark leaning.

I can't say I still play it, or that I really wanted to ever DM it (but several people always wanted me to do so/love the game), but it's got lots of cool things lurking in those many pages & books.

[Ceiling_Squid]

Im impressed by the new Glitter Boy preview.

Absolutely.

I'm just as intrigued by the other PDF they shared, detailing their design ethos with a few examples (Mega damage, vampires, and Juicers).

I'm new to this setting and don't have any previous attachment to it, but it does please me to see the Pinnacle guys are trying to preserve the heart of a beloved setting while also not being afraid to re-examine and tune parts of it to work better in a new system context.

The new rules regarding Juicer burnout sound pretty interesting, in particular. They aren't just slavishly adapting Rifts, but apparently distilling and refining it.

One question, though...their Mega Damage preview mentions a specific scenario where a Glitterboy Pilot is sitting by a campfire in regular body armor. He gets jumped by a guy in leather armor wielding a spear. Apparently, in core Rifts, the likely scenario is the spear wielder has no chance of even hurting the pilot, and he proceeds to get pasted by the pilot's laser pistol?

If so, I'm kind of glad the Pinnacle guys are getting a fresh crack at Rifts and altering that scenario. I've heard from group members that original Rifts combat can either be insanely lethal if you run into a bigger fish, or very sloggy if you're on an even level with the enemy.

I like that Savage Worlds is liable to tear that assumption down a little. In the right circumstances (ambush, planning, lucky rolls, catching enemy without his fancy powersuit), the little guy ought to have a shot at dealing a deadly blow.

And, judging by the preview, a Glitter Boy can potentially one-shot another Glitter Boy, instead of trading shots round after round. As someone who prefers a bit of expediency and lethality that can swing both ways on the power scale, this interests me.

Seriously, though, if you guys haven't checked out the Kickstarter yet, there's a link on the RPG kickstarter thread. They've added more stretch goals I'd love to see them meet. Apparently this is the beginning of a whole new Savage Rifts line, rather than just a one-time conversion.

[Knaight]

It looks pretty solid in general, and while I'm not the biggest Savage Worlds fan getting away from the mess that is the Palladium system can only be a good thing.

[Malifice]

And, judging by the preview, a Glitter Boy can potentially one-shot another Glitter Boy, instead of trading shots round after round. As someone who prefers a bit of expediency and lethality that can swing both ways on the power scale, this interests me.

Actually this is my one concern.

If you look closely you'll see the GB has +18 MDC armor. Meaning if the pilot has an average Vitality dice of d6 and a toughness value of 5, he starts with a combined toughness of 23.

The Boom gun has an AP of 25. Meaning it ignores up to 25 points of armor. A GB shooting another GB ignores the armor and deals its 4d12+6 damage direct to the opposing pilot.

29 damage vs a toughness of 5 = 5 raises and incapacitated.

The target number to hit = 2 (+2 for size).

Bennies (for vigor rolls) are going to be flying left right and center unless I'm missing something.

[LibraryOgre]

Bennies (for vigor rolls) are going to be flying left right and center unless I'm missing something.

The other Glitter Boy pilot fervently hopes you are missing his Glitter Boy. :smallbiggrin:

[Malifice]

The other Glitter Boy pilot fervently hopes you are missing his Glitter Boy. :smallbiggrin:

Unlikely. The second GB gets +2 to hit due to size, cancels up to -2 for movement, and if you have your own pylons deployed gets another +2 to hit you. Against a target number of 4 at tabletop scale.

Meaning a target number of 0 whenever you have your pylons deployed; or 2 otherwise.

A raise is inevitable on your to hit roll, and factoring in AP 25 vs AV 18, it means you're rolling 4d12+6+1d6 -with exploding die - vs a toughness of around 5 on average.

Which (barring a fumble on the attack roll or some pretty rubbish damage rolls) equates around 6-7 raises over Toughness on average (3 wounds and incapacitated every single time).

With target numbers that low, and rolls that high, it makes rolling to hit and damage a little... pointless. You may as well handwave (to hit and damage) and just ask the target for a bennie and proceed to roll soak. First person to run out of bennies, dies.

I might look at tweaking the AP and AV scores, or messing with MDC. My current feeling is the devs are a little bit of 'slaves to whats come before' (panzerfausts and 120mm cannons have APs over the boom gun - heck the late 20th century 120mm tank gun has an AP of 68 - 30 with HE rounds).

I'm thinking a tripartate system of: Normal weapons, Heavy weapons and MDC weapons. Theyre all functionally the same, but MDC weapons treat non AP values as 5 times higher against non MDC armor, and MDC armor reduces non MDC weapon AP values by a factor of 5 when shot by them (or something similar).

From there I can tinker with the AP/AV values a bit. For example with the GB, Id like to see the Boom guns AP reduced to 5 (so in a GB v GB scenario, the 4d12+6 [average 29] damage roll is made against [AV + toughness] of around 17-20, with a result of 29-32 needed to incapacitate - making it a 50/50 proposition of being insta gibbed instead of a monty). That said however this nerfs the Boom Gun bad compared to other modern weapons (a 120mm tank gun firing AP rounds is AP 68 - heck even with HE rounds it spits out an AP of 30).

Ill have to wait till I see the full list of weapons and armor before I math hammer it out a bit better.

[Beelzebub1111]

I will soon be running a rifts game (palladium ruleset) that will focus on Archie vs The Republicans. It will also invove a bit of Mindwerks expansion into the Americas, Shemarians vs Splugorth/Horune, and a treasure hunt to the sunken City of Atlantic.

[AnachroNinja]

I really enjoy rifts and still play it anytime I can find a group for it. Just as a side note, I've never actually played in a game where you had to make skill rolls for basic tasks like just flying straight. I just assumed that was normal. Even when using skills, we always used all kinds of situational modifiers for basic stuff vs hard stuff.

[LibraryOgre]

Rifts has a somewhat similar design philosophy to early D&D, which assumed that you were going to make up a lot of the rules necessary to fit a given situation. As time went on, it's main fanbase tended towards pure textualists, IME, which leads to really weird situations.

[Beelzebub1111]

I really enjoy rifts and still play it anytime I can find a group for it. Just as a side note, I've never actually played in a game where you had to make skill rolls for basic tasks like just flying straight. I just assumed that was normal. Even when using skills, we always used all kinds of situational modifiers for basic stuff vs hard stuff.
For us that sort of stuff was determined wether it was a related or secondary skill. As a secondary skill you needed to make rolls for simpler tasks that wouldn't require one for a related. While you would roll for complex tasks.

For example Whittling a wooden stake, if you had it as a secondary skill you'd need to make a roll so it was still sharp and a good size while someone with a related skill wouldn't make the roll to make a stake. However if they wanted to make a small wooden toy horse the roll would determine how good looking the horse came out.

[LibraryOgre]

For us that sort of stuff was determined wether it was a related or secondary skill. As a secondary skill you needed to make rolls for simpler tasks that wouldn't require one for a related. While you would roll for complex tasks.

For example Whittling a wooden stake, if you had it as a secondary skill you'd need to make a roll so it was still sharp and a good size while someone with a related skill wouldn't make the roll to make a stake. However if they wanted to make a small wooden toy horse the roll would determine how good looking the horse came out.

Interesting method I've never heard anyone put forward. I like it.

[Beelzebub1111]

Interesting method I've never heard anyone put forward. I like it.

Yeah, the way it was explained to my was that OCC and Related skills are things that you trained in. Secondary skills are things you learn in your spare time. And I think it mentions it on one page of the rule-book, that the quality of crafts depends on whether its related to OCC/Related or secondary, so I figured I'd expand on that.

[Blue Duke]

I've never played it...i.......i own a ton of books for it because i like the setting and fluff but i've never managed to get my head around the rules, if i could i'm sure the group would give it a shot.....i'd ask for house rules and stuff that make it more manageable but i doubt i'd understand those either. Maybe i will stick to Cortex.

[Spamotron]

Backers have started receiving the first Savage Rifts PDF the Tomorrow Legion Player's guide. So far I've noticed a lot of improvements. The Iconic Frameworks appear to distinguish characters better than the O.C.C.s did. Crazies are no longer just inferior Juicers for example. Weapon fluff actually matches mechanics and choices between laser, ion, plasma, and rail guns are more meaningful than just damage and range. The Hero's Journey tables seem to be a solid compromise to bring in Palladium's traditional love of random tables for character creation while still leaving 90% of the process completely in player control.

The only thing I didn't like was bringing Paladin style falling mechanics to the Cyber-Knight. To me that doesn't fit their fluff or the Rift's setting at all.

[thorr-kan]

I've never played it...i.......i own a ton of books for it because i like the setting and fluff but i've never managed to get my head around the rules, if i could i'm sure the group would give it a shot.....i'd ask for house rules and stuff that make it more manageable but i doubt i'd understand those either. Maybe i will stick to Cortex.
There's no shame in that.

Palladium's materials ooze, nay splatter, ideas. The mechanics are secondary.

[Beelzebub1111]

I was looking through super psychic powers to give the Brodkil my plauers will be fighting, and...well I won't be using it, but I thought it was funny. Psychosomatic Sickness. What you do is, you walk up to someone and say: "you look a little pale, You might have malasian elk flu. There's been a bit of that going around. If you start to vomit, get a terrible rash, or explosive diareha you should probably find a doctor." and then in 1-4 hours they start to experience the symptoms you discribe. I can't believe I never used it before.

[Tinkerer]

Yeah I was one of those people who had all the books due to loving the world but couldn't seem to get a group together. The only people who wanted to play were the old school D&Ders, a lot of the newer players just couldn't wrap their heads around it.

Just starting up a new campaign under the Savage system though. Definitely fairly impressed with it so far despite some oddities in a few of the numbers as some people pointed out above (Savage Worlds can break at high numbers and Savage Worlds: Rifts starts at those high numbers). Seems as though my players are going to be forming a Futurama style delivery/mercenary company which is honestly one of my favorite group concepts that I've seen them come up with. Looking forward to finally using this entire awesome world that has been living in my head for the past 26 years :smallbiggrin:

[Blue Duke]

Come to think of it if any one has any house rules that would make combat and such easier for some one that started RPG's playing 3.5/D20 Modern/Star Wars RCR....PM me, i am going to get use out of my books one day!

[Beelzebub1111]

Come to think of it if any one has any house rules that would make combat and such easier for some one that started RPG's playing 3.5/D20 Modern/Star Wars RCR....PM me, i am going to get use out of my books one day!

The most common I've seen is Instead of re-rolling initative after every Melee round (once everyone has used up all their actions), just keep the same order.

Don't worry about hit locations unless aimed and assume all hits go to center mass.

I can't think of any others right now...I'll get back to you.

[AnachroNinja]

My biggest suggestion is try to keep a decent link between the strength of your players and what they are fighting. If they are using 2d6 MD lasers, don't have combats with 300+ MDC opponents. While yeah it may be a fair fight for them, it will take forever. That's one if the biggest reasons I don't hold my players back from a lot of the high end newer man portable weapons. A 1d6x10 plasma rifle means opponents in body armor don't take 15 rounds to whittle down.

I've seen a lot of GM's try to control the pace because they fear power creep and so you end up with the equivalent of a bb gun fight.

[Blue Duke]

I'm sitting here pondering a possible campaign, right now I've got the 'elevator pitch' of 'Northern Gun hires you and other mercenaries to go on an expedition to California and then up into the old state of Washington looking for tech' of course then I'd have to design some kind of Northern gun Airship as the expeditions base and a bunch of NPC's for it but it would be worth it!

[Spamotron]

Sounds fun. Just be aware that lorewise the west coast was virtually swept clean by constant tsunamis and mega-storms during the Dark Age and the Rockies were reshaped by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes and any passes through them are unknown and unmapped. The airship idea handles the latter but for the former its more likely that NG has a lead on something specific that could have plausibly survived like an underground bunker rather than attempting a blanket search. As GM you are of course free to change anything you want. I'm just giving a small warning in case you have a player who's really into the traditional lore.

[Blue Duke]

No issue there, i'm the only person that even KNOWS the lore enough to know what traditionally is said about the west coast.....i am err...using GM Prerogative to change it for the fun of the story.....except the Rockies shifting to block passages since i -reeeally- like airships. thinking i'll go with a 'broken coasts' sort of thing with California i just need to figure out how i want to map it and where i want/would make sense to hide some fun toys.

[Beelzebub1111]

Aren't the Rockies part of the Xiticix Invasion? If I'm not mistaken, anyway. Those guys are a blast.

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

I am overjoyed that this thread didn't just sink.

Speaking of the West Coast, in high school I wrote up a thing about how Nikola Tesla got himself sucked through to Rift's Earth in the ruins of SF, and built himself a lonely little robot empire.

[Beelzebub1111]

I am overjoyed that this thread didn't just sink.

Speaking of the West Coast, in high school I wrote up a thing about how Nikola Tesla got himself sucked through to Rift's Earth in the ruins of SF, and built himself a lonely little robot empire.

Wouldn't it make more sense for him to be Jerseyside or close to Madhaven? Since that's where his lab was, if I remember. Maybe ARCHIE-3 would recognize him and put him to work developing weapons with Hagan. And the players would need to rescue him.

[LibraryOgre]

No issue there, i'm the only person that even KNOWS the lore enough to know what traditionally is said about the west coast.....i am err...using GM Prerogative to change it for the fun of the story.....except the Rockies shifting to block passages since i -reeeally- like airships. thinking i'll go with a 'broken coasts' sort of thing with California i just need to figure out how i want to map it and where i want/would make sense to hide some fun toys.

You might steal some maps from Deadlands; their version of California has the broken coasts.

[Legendairy]

Livermore in CA if you look at a map in the hills is a Nuclear/biological/chemical.....thing....built into the foothills going from the valley to the coast I.E. From Modesto/Stockton to San Francisco or San Jose. Area.

Edit: by built in I mean the doors lead into the mountain.

[TerrickTerran]

I play Rifts (and Palladium) when I can. I enjoy the elaborate worlds and the company itself is great. There are some rules issues but I always have fun so it doesn't matter to me.