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Rifts

DevilUknowDevilUknow
edited February 2011 in Role Playing Games
Rifts! Mega Damage! DeeBees! Glitter Boys! Splugorths! Percentage Based Skills! RAAR!

The mechanics are a terrible, fucked up, flipper baby love child of D&D 2e and GURPS and Palladium, the creators, seem to take some kind of sick satisfaction in never updating them. Even worse, their entire business model seems to revolve around book after book of ever more powerful OCCs (occupational character classes) and RCCs (racial character classes) in crazier and crazier settings. Character creation takes about a billion years and a level 1 PC can be either worthless or LUDICROUSLY powerful (Mega Damage bitches!).

The setting is essentially a mashup of genres, settings and themes; Magic hating Future Nazis fight Wizards with Giant Robots and Dragons in Chicago, Germany uses Battle Mechs to fight an evil empire of fairytale beasts in the Black Forest, Manitoba is infested with other-dimensional bug monsters which are kept in check by hard-ass remnants of the RCMP, Atlantis has returned and is Las Vegas for Demons and Elder Gods, Australia is Mad Max world, etc. This is all justified by "Rifts" opening up all over the world leading to different dimensions, time periods and planets. Basically, it is all an excuse for the players to play as anything and go anywhere or anywhen.

The world books are full of villains and settings that are designed from the bottom up to the mixed and matched as needed, usually with pretty snazzy art (and some utterly fucking terrible art because, you know, RPGs). Also, as Palladium basically takes the Eternal Moment approach to world building (a term I'm pretty sure I just made up) the world never moves forwards and every subsequent release basically just broadened the setting.

It is terrible and crazy and awesome and fun and I was wondering if there is any love for it on the FRC.

Comments

  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    edited February 2011
    Scott will likely say it's a dice-pool cluttered munchkin fest. I'm a bit easier on it.

    I dig the setting, but I'd probably just adapt it for Burning Wheel.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • AprecheApreche
    I dig the setting, but I'd probably just adapt it for Burning Wheel.
    No, don't adapt it for Burning Wheel, that doesn't work. You need different rules for a different game. Why do you think Burning Empires and Mouse Guard are completely separate? Burning Wheel is about an adventuring party with intense intra and extra party conflicts with severe consequences. No matter how you change the flavor text, that's the kind of game that will happen. Burning Empires is about fighting the Valen, and no matter how you change the flavor text, it's always going to be a game about fighting hidden infiltrators. That would actually work quite good if you were playing a Terminator post-judgement day game, now that I think of it. D&D; is about fighting and getting loot and leveling up, and no matter how you change the flavor text, that doesn't change.

    But yeah, people really need to get away from this idea that you can play every role playing setting and scenario with the same rules. The rules shape the game more than anything else, so you need to pick rules that have the same shape as the game you want to play. The shape of the Burning Wheel Rules does not match the kind of game you want with Rifts.
  • CremlianCremlian
    edited February 2011
    Ummm.. but if they like the setting than all they are doing is exactly what you are saying they are changing the flavor text of burning wheel with the flavor text of Rifts.... Obviously they would still be playing a game full of intra and extra party conflicts....So whatever.
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    edited February 2011
    Burning Empires is about fighting the Valen, and no matter how you change the flavor text, it's always going to be a game about fighting hidden infiltrators. That would actually work quite good if you were playing a BATTLESTAR FUCKING GALLACTICA game, now that I think of it.
    Now I know what game I want to run next.

    Also, that system sounds notoriously like they're trying to emulate the feel of Doctor Who, plus fanboyism.
    Post edited by YoshoKatana on
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Ohhhh shit BSG RPG.
  • DevilUknowDevilUknow
    Ohhhh shit BSG RPG.
    I'm personally not a fan of RPGs set in universes that service shows / books / comics / etc that are primarily character driven. Typically, the world building is done according to the needs of character development and every major event hinges on the actions of those characters.

    As a result, you end up with a situation where either:

    1. Players just create the characters on the show or carbon copies
    2. You are relegated to some kind of side story that doesn't impact the world
    3. It diverges from the plot and just becomes something else

    That's been my experience anyways (playing Firefly and Lord of the Rings). Maybe we were just doing it wrong.
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