Rifts (Starting Campaigns in General)

[Elven Paladin]

Now, I know that when someone posts in these forums it's usually a question about some game involved with the d20 system. However, today, mine's not.

I've recently began reading through the Rifts book. It's only the first one, I don't have any supplements, and it's not the newest edition either. But all of that aside, I've been wondering how to start a game. It just seems like a huge setting, and I'm not too sure how to start.

In fact, I think I'd like to hear other people's opinions in how they start writing their own camapaigns, because it's always been something I've struggled with.

Thanks for any feedback.

[Jayabalard]

hmm... it's been a while since I've looked through the rifts books...And I agree, the size of the world and the number of source books can be kind of daunting.

I'd say that with the rifts world, especially for your first game, you'd be best off going with the "we all work for the same boss" sort of campaign beginning.

Get your players together and talk about the various sides/factions that the players could be working for; maybe they're coalition (egad, is that the right name? the new US fascist government), or some group of freedom fighters, or perhaps they're all part of some mercenary company, etc. Decide on one to be working for, who they are likely to be opposed by, and create characters with that in mind.

[Starsinger]

It really depends on what the players are playing. I mean, if you're doing an all from the base book game, then just start them off living in some town, you could even use your town as ruins for some sort of familiarity. But if you're using more and more source books with different things, it's a little stranger for a Coalition Grunt, Godling, Gargoyle Mage, and a mutated Giant Hampster with a battle axe to be working from Podunk, USA.

So really, which books are you using?

[Jayabalard]

I've recently began reading through the Rifts book. It's only the first one, I don't have any supplements, and it's not the newest edition either.

Seems pretty straightforward which books he has.

If you're new to the system (and it sounds like you might be) then I'd stick to the KISS principle, and just stick to a group of characters that don't need some sort of far fetched reason for them to be together.

[Starsinger]

My humblest apologies, I missed that, and now feel rather stupid.

A good idea, if you have people who want to be from different "sides" like some people who want to be Coalition Soldiers and Dogboys and then another person wants to be a Ley-Line Walker or a Burster or something, have it start with the Coalition people doing a routine search of the area where the non-coalition people are. Then have them stumble upon something else, which will cause them to put their differences aside, atleast until the bigger threat is taken care of.

[Matthew]

I usually go with a 'start small' and 'build outwards' ethic. With Rifts, it's not so easy, as there are seemingly endless possibilities. An initial adventure idea seems like the most useful beginning. As Jayabalard says, consider getting the Players together and having them generate their Characters (as difficult a task as that might be for Rifts) with the idea that they will all be working for the same 'boss'. Give them an idea of the kind of environment you envision for the initial adventure and go from there.

[Counterspin]

I would suggest deciding where in the world you are. If I remember, the Rifts core book only has a fair amount of information on the coalition states, so inside the coalition, or along it's borders, would be a good place to start. Of course, if your characters decide to play unregistered magic or psi users, that can cause a problem, but if you're strapped for a story idea for a session, you'll always have that one as back up, particularly if they become wanted.