Rifts

[Jimp]

After reading about the Rifts game I'm considering buying some of the books. Before I do though, I'd like some views from those who have played it. So, opinions anyone?

[horseboy]

After reading about the Rifts game I'm considering buying some of the books. Before I do though, I'd like some views from those who have played it. So, opinions anyone?

Rifts doesn't suffer from "Codex Creap" it suffers from "Codex get the hell up and run a mile a minute away." If you decide to play, limit your characters to the classes in the Core book only, otherwise you're going to loose the main focus.
The mechanics are close enough to 3.x that your players shouldn't have too much trouble learning it.

Oh, an Wykin rules! I know, I lived there.

[Starsinger]

I love Rifts, having played it when I was a youth. However, it's a bit complicated as is, combat wise, but simplifying it via house rules makes it less of a headache.

In Rifts, there is no large attempt at balance, if everyone is having fun, it doesn't matter if one character is a godling and another is a peasant, with a pitch fork.

I think Rifts is great, although there's less growth for some character types than others. For example, "fighter" type classes tend to only grow by their gear, and a bit of skill increases per level. Whereas, some psychic/magic classes grow in a more traditional, power by level format.

[talsine]

The Ultimate Editon and GM's Guide fixed a lot of the combat issues, making some of the gross classes not as gross. Every world book made after book 1 (vampire kingsdoms) and before Federation of MAgic (13 or 14 i believe) is broken. Especialy South America.

To be honest, Rifts has some great setting materials, i've rarely heard people complain out that part, but the mechanics are terrible. Its worth looking at, and i buy a book now and again because it was my first game system and i still enjoy the metaplot, but its not playable.

[MrNexx]

Rifts has, as people say, great setting materials. The system can be a bit obscure in all it's detail, but it's fairly simple at its core... combat is opposed d20 rolls, and skills are roll-under percentile. The alignment system is very simple, and a lot easier to adjudicate (or simply ignore) than D&D's.

As others have said, there's no attempt to balance the classes or races within the game; it's assumed that if the GM wants a balanced game, he'll tell the players what they can play (and the best games I've been in have had limits on PC selection; "Only Coalition characters" or "All True Atlanteans"), rather than trying for an artificial balance.

The real trap with Rifts is allowing everything, and ignoring common sense. A couple combinations from different world books will lead to severe silliness, but preventing that is pretty easy.

[Nogard]

To be honest, Rifts has some great setting materials, i've rarely heard people complain out that part, but the mechanics are terrible.

That pretty much sums it up... its fun to read, but pointless to play.

[Diggorian]

Rifts. Where else can horribly min-maxed team of interdimensional/trans-genre/mega-damage dealing bounty hunters conquer Australia, New Zealand, and Micronesia. We were the Green Leafy Vegetables.

As a GM that started in that system, and is unaware of what's become, I'd still recommend buying maybe just the main book then translating the fluff to D20.

You have to run a high powered game cause I dont think they know how to make medium or lower challenge monsters (unless their vampires, a water pistol can do them in; not even holy water but that helps )

[Jimp]

Would it be worth it to get some of the setting books just for the fluff of space rifts and invasions and such for use in another game?

[Diggorian]

Hard for me to judge. I can take fluff from any sci-fi I see and add to a games setting.

[Hell Puppi]

I love Rifts, but they are right, it's horrible to try and play, especially if you have a gaming group like mine who all want to be something different. We had a Dragon Juicer ina party with a just hatched dragon, a zombie, a loup-garou (me, I'm a pain) , a psi-mage and a dog boy.
That and the tables...oh god the tables....
Roll for damage...now roll on this table to see what it's done. Roll on the table that shows if theres any adverse mental effects..... *shudder*

That being said, Rifts can be fun, but it seems to go more smoothly if you take the time to convert the rules a bit. And also to make sure your party knows what it's doing in that big 'ol world.

[kjones]

It is very important to note that the classes are not balanced. Set aside a day just for rolling up characters together, so you can make sure that they remain at comparable caster levels.

I have played in two Rifts games. In the first, I played a Burster who was useless compared to the Glitterboy in the group. In the latter, we all played different Coalition soldiers; thus, it was much more fun.

I really love Juicers; if you're looking for a good adventure for anyone (but especially Juicers), check out the Juicer Uprising book. Good stuff.

[Alex Knight]

Personally, I converted the setting over to GURPS, and did away with MDC.

[kjones]

Why do they even bother with S. D. C. rules? If you don't have an M. D. C. weapon in that game, you might as well just jump off a bridge. It's bringing a knife to a gunfight, sometimes literally.

[Swordguy]

Why do they even bother with S. D. C. rules? If you don't have an M. D. C. weapon in that game, you might as well just jump off a bridge. It's bringing a knife to a gunfight, sometimes literally.

Because sometimes, despite your best efforts, you're out of your power armor/Mecha/etc.

[-Cor-]

Ahh... Rifts. As a lot of people have already said: fun to read, hard to play.

I'll second the limiting your world view perspective of Rifts. Allow in more than 2 books and you're just asking for trouble. I'd suggest sticking close to Chi-town and the core at first.

[Alex Knight]

Because sometimes, despite your best efforts, you're out of your power armor/Mecha/etc.

And then the M.D.C. forest critters turn you into hamburger. I stopped even thinking about M.D.C. when I saw that a handheld rifle did more damage than the 18" guns on the USS Iowa.

[Amphimir Míriel]

Ah, Rifts...

havent played it in 15 years, but it makes an indelible impression.

I still remember playing a "Rogue Scholar" with close to no armor and a pitiful hold-out pistol, managing to avoid getting plastered by the Coalition... My character somehow managed to live longer than the Glitter Boy and the were-panther in the party...

Still, for the following campaign, since everybody was playing even-more-super-powered characters I caved in and rolled up an Atlantean Cyberknight with magic tatoos...

Semi off topic: What's up with Siembieda and White Wolf both deciding that my country (Mexico) is overrun with evil vampires?? Did you guys have a bad experience in Tijuana or something?

[Rob Knotts]

If you're really interested in Rifts, the books I'd most recommend, aside from the main rulebook (any edition): Juicer Uprising, Rifts Japan, Pantheons of the Megaverse, and d20 Modern

[Rob Knotts]

Semi off topic: What's up with Siembieda and White Wolf both deciding that my country (Mexico) is overrun with evil vampires?? Did you guys have a bad experience in Tijuana or something?

As far as Rifts goes, my guess would be the El Santo movies (or dubbed english versions of them), although if that's the case Siembieda really dropped the ball by not also including psuedo-mystical MDC Luchadores as a character class. They'd be at least as much fun to play as a dragon or a Glitter Boy.

Edit: Come to think of it, cinematic mexican wrestlers could easily fit into a World of Darkness game (or at least a human-based "hunters" game). Might really annoy gothic fans, though...

[Jayabalard]

Semi off topic: What's up with Siembieda and White Wolf both deciding that my country (Mexico) is overrun with evil vampires?? Did you guys have a bad experience in Tijuana or something?

iirc, you have real vampire bats in mexico/central america, in addition to Chupacabra....there's even a scooby doo in mexico featuring a vampire.

[MrNexx]

I'm really not getting all the people saying that Rifts is hard to play. The rules are pretty straightforward for most situations.

[Rob Knotts]

The rules are pretty straightforward for most situations.

Rules?

[The Valiant Turtle]

if that's the case Siembieda really dropped the ball by not also including psuedo-mystical MDC Luchadores as a character class. They'd be at least as much fun to play as a dragon or a Glitter Boy.

Edit: Come to think of it, cinematic mexican wrestlers could easily fit into a World of Darkness game (or at least a human-based "hunters" game). Might really annoy gothic fans, though...

That would be absolutely hysterical, and I know a certain Llama who would be all over that.

I don't think Rifts is hard to play, it's just among the worst balanced games ever invented, but balance is sometimes over-rated, and Rifts can be a hell of a lot of fun. I'd love to see the world setting converted to D20 Modern.

One of the most famous lines in our gaming group comes from a Rifts game long, long ago. I was a Telekinetics focused Mind Melter and had telekinetically picked up one of those giant interdimensional bug things and another one was attacking me. I didn't have anything to parry with, so the DM let me parry with one I had picked up, thus inventing the term "bug parry".

...it was alot funnier in the game, I promise.

[Ssiauhll]

RIFTS is a terrible system. It is slow, it is tedious, and broken as all hell. There is no attempt at balance. None. It simply doesn't exist. It is made worse by the fact that there is mad crazy power creep, or power running, maybe power sprinting.

The skill system sucks. Again the skill system sucks. I have never seen a worse one ever. Don't play a skill based character as you can not progress at all.

The palladium system should have been junked years ago but for some reason it remains unchanged and thats not a good thing. RIFTS is what happens when you have a guy who thinks he is awesome but never pauses to edit, or think, or listen to reason, or even give credit where credit is due.

As far as buying the books, I wouldn't recommend buying them. They are badly written, and unless you love the system because you have a MOM implant you won't find much to use.

That said it can be a crazy fun experience. The setting has all sorts of crazy weird stuff just thrown in at random. Some things are just plain stupid, some things don't make since, and some times that ok. In some ways it is the ultimate cross over game, but is makes about as much since. And you have to have a good, fair GM or you will want to just walk away in frustration.

[....]

I love that Rifts dosn't have class balance.

Because lets face it, a guy in a giant glittering suit of armor with a half-ton rail cannon on his shoulder is going to do more damage than the guy on 'roids.

Its a system I grew up with and colored the way I play all RPGs, where the rules aren't as important as the game. Back in the big days of Palladium and AD&D, the rules were very detailed for a few things, and then empty on everything else. That led to more imaginative gameplay, and no one complained that wizards were more powerful than fighters, because it was assumed they would be.

The new generation of RPGs seems to focus way to much on the rules, meaning that when people look at old systems like Rifts, they can't see how anyone ever managed. It was simple, we just ignored the rules we didn't like, and had fun playing a game where people could blow up buildings with their minds.

[Jayabalard]

There is no attempt at balance. None. It simply doesn't exist.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[Rob Knotts]

In all seriousness, it's my opinion that the rules for Rifts are so superfluous to the setting that if the books contained nothing but fluff text, no game mechanics of any kind, Rifts would literally be just as playable as a stand-alone game. The setting is just so wacky* it really defies any mechanics more complicated than FUDGE

*It's probably been 20 years since I last used the word "wacky", but no other term seemed as appropriate.

[Ssiauhll]

Having classes that suck completely means that as a player you end up doing a whole bunch of nothing.

[Amphimir Míriel]

As far as Rifts goes, my guess would be the El Santo movies (or dubbed english versions of them), although if that's the case Siembieda really dropped the ball by not also including psuedo-mystical MDC Luchadores as a character class. They'd be at least as much fun to play as a dragon or a Glitter Boy.

Edit: Come to think of it, cinematic mexican wrestlers could easily fit into a World of Darkness game (or at least a human-based "hunters" game). Might really annoy gothic fans, though...

Ah! El Santo contra las Mujeres Vampiro... thanks, that was the link I was missing...

But you are absolutely right, if Siembieda was thinking of early 60's Mexican B films, why skip the wrestlers? I am sure you could add a brotherhood of mystical unarmed fighters that get superhuman physical strenght and endurance from their totemic masks...

[Hell Puppi]

Because sometimes, despite your best efforts, you're out of your power armor/Mecha/etc.

Heh actually the loup garou char I played was considered an SDC creature, but I could deal MDC damage.
Why would I play somthing like that? Because the loup garou is COMPLETLY IMMUNE to anything but silver weapons.
That's right.
Glitter Boy cannon to the face- 0 damage.
Spells- 0 damage
Chainsaw- 0 damage
BUT RUN HE'S GOT A SILVER KNIFE!!!!

...our gm didn't look too close at the char I made.